What Happened to Visor XR at Immersed IRL 2024?

[@JohnShewbrook]

If something looks too good to be true… I feel really bad for people flying in from Japan and the UK. The level of disappointment was bad enough just watching it on KZbin. Can’t imagine what must’ve been going through their heads. Goodness me.

[@damonhtoo]

If I had flown in from another country I'd consider trying to sue for reimbursement of travel expenses.

[@garybutcher4585]

At 11:30 you say the hardware is out of their control. It's... literally their product. Am I missing something? Their ads were overly hype-focussed, and feature a headset at least 20% smaller than what you tried on. Feels like false advertising.

[@overthetopesports2276]

It is false advertising. 👍

[@AWriterWandering]

There are software company with absolutely no experience or capability of producing hardware. Meaning everything except for the software running on it is almost certainly completely outsourced.

[@BarelyAverageDude]

I also preordered almost a year ago and while I am still excited for the potential I can definitely see how the demo and current state of Visor is disappointing.

[@johnlukins3809]

Finally they redeemed themselves on Twitter today.

[@BarelyAverageDude]

@johnlukins3809 yeah I saw a short video of it displaying his MacBook screen. I'm in the discord trying to keep up with all the updates. This is one of those products worth waiting for I believe 🤞

[@sonicsnake44]

​@@johnlukins3809how did they redeem themselves.

[@BeaugosseRiche]

@@johnlukins3809 Yeah they redeemed themselves by showing a partially-functioning prototype that should be used to START a Kickstarter campaign. VR's problem greatly stems from blind "believers". This is why it feels like a cult to outsiders.

[@myasoex]

Not sure when I became so naive, but.... I preordered a visor a while ago, then flight tickets, a hotel, and... in short that was a total disappointment. That was not the Visor from the advertisement. Not even close. Absolutely different. So awful (( Already canceled my order of that brick. And if I easily could get compensation for flight tickets and hotel, I would do that(including the court). Even though it could lead them to bankruptcy (let's assume that a lot people would do it), I would not care. They must take responsibility for this fail. I am really disappointed.

[@johnlukins3809]

They showed on their Twitter today that they fixed it.

[@sonicsnake44]

You should have learned from all of those broken AAA games to never pre-order anything.

[@pkla14]

They’ve showed pictures of the final next to the prototypes that are used in the ads on discord, they’re almost identical in size etc.

[@sonicsnake44]

@@pkla14 pictures??? How about a actual real device.

[@mdimascio]

Understandable to get super-excited about this product early on and pre-order it. I was one click away with my finger on the mouse button, but somehow I stopped myself. I do want Immersed to be successful in this, but they promised a lot including the sporty-visor form factor instead of just another bulky headset - albeit slightly less so - that is still embarrassing to wear in public. Another 5 years?

[@rizielv9040]

It is not something you can wear in a coffee shop as advertised.😒

[@AlejandroCaicedoPUJ]

Why can't you?

You'd look equally weird with sunglasses inside of a coffee shop. If you're at least working in VR, it's far less creepy than if you were wearing sunglasses to be able to watch people without them seeing your eyes. So it's probably actually better if it does not look like sunglasses, but a VR headset.

[@magicalhats]

​​​@@AlejandroCaicedoPUJI guess they mean, you cant wear it in coffee shops if your really self concious on your appearence.

[@Dht1kna]

It is quite large compared to even a large sunglasses but its definetly the most stylish head imo. Biggest draw back is its not that useable with just the stems

[@Mew_Stor]

If you want to have the whole room in vr you need to have this design but I think you can easily wear this outside you will just look a bit more futuristic

[@damonhtoo]

In Tatiana's review she said she asked them explicitly what the point of the cover for the front is and they said it was only cosmetic to make it look nicer in photos. She said that she considers that extremely misleading on the part of Immersed. You keep saying the founder is "a great guy" but great guys don't mislead consumers in this way. Once you realize the "visor" is just hiding a chunky headset that still needs a strap, it becomes an entirely different offer.

[@jeradtech]

Explain misleading? What was the expected functionality of the front cover? Would not the Quest 3 benefit from a front cover if it made it look more attractive? Does the front curved glass on the AVP serve a purpose other than to protect what’s behind it? I don’t see how this is misleading. Would it change things if the cover wasn’t removable?

[@damonhtoo]

@@jeradtech To make it look thinner and like it can be worn like glasses in marketing photos when it can't be. It's just yet another chunky VR headset except they try to hide that fact in marketing material. Similar to how Meta also pretends that the Quest 2 and Quest 3 are usable with their default straps when almost everyone has a problem with them.

[@CatTestTrophy]

The company's biggest issue seems to be their communication. Their advertisements for this sunglasses-like device felt misleading. During the livestream, many were clearly confused by the lack of a demo, and when no details about the hardware or software were shared, it left the impression that this product is either still years away from reality or may never materialize at all.

[@johnlukins3809]

@@roman_roman_roman_roman Yea, on their discord, they showed that the 4K version is barely bigger than the 2.5K version.

[@CatTestTrophy]

@@roman_roman_roman_roman I have heard these excuses. Fact is that for a year they were advertising a sunglasses like looking device as the Vizor 4K because the 2.5 was canceled already a month after launch. Everyone was surprised by the chunky Q Pro look-alike that was presented on Thursday. It is just misleading and dishonest. The CEO even says that there is no point in wearing it for longer without a head strap. That is clearly not what they were pretending to develop for a year.

[@nathanl2966]

yep, they have all these elusive tiktok style promos for the device but this marketing strategy has just backfired. Now it's time to show something of substance ASAP.

[@ShawnFumo]

That wouldn’t really make sense that it is the 2.5k version shown. They abandoned that like 6 months ago at least, so plenty of time to update marketing material. I don’t even care that much about the size as long as it is comfortable, but they need to be transparent

[@CatTestTrophy]

@@ShawnFumoExactly!

[@TechxGremlin]

I would want this for work at home. I have the quest 3 and it's cool but small text can still be kind of hard to read. So im mostly excited for the 4k screens on the visor. Might occasionally watch some video but really want this for the 4k screens so I hope the clarity is twice as good as the meta quest 3 when it comes to reading text and overall clarity.

[@Medievalguy88]

I was a Nov. 2023 FE pre-order and I just cancelled my order after they keynote. Honestly, it wasn't the trainwreck of a keynote that caused me to cancel - but rather the way the company handles transparency and criticism. I tried to ask some price clarification questions on their subreddit and my post was auto-removed. I wasn't even being critical, I just had a question and my account was over a decade old, so not a new spam account. Also the people on the discord seem so high on hopium that they give me wallstreetbets/meme stonks vibes - that's not what I'm looking for in the discussion of a professional company trying to bring a product to market.

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

People might want to look into Play For Dream MR, as its in kickstarter currently and has shown an actual working device with working software. And has even a higher resolution.

[@johnlukins3809]

There is an auto-reddit filter. It takes a day or two for their team to get to it. You might’ve prematurely canceled.

[@Medievalguy88]

@@johnlukins3809 Nah, it wasn't that my post got auto-removed immediately and that I had to message the mods that caused me to cancel - that was just one data point in my decision to cancel that I had been considering for a while. There were a lot of other factors that were just red flags to me. Also, I don't care about FOMO. It's just a headset. If it actually comes out and is good, I'll consider buying it, even if it's at a slightly higher price than what I would have paid if I didn't cancel my pre-order.

[@Methodician]

I'm literally hovering over the send button to request a pre-order cancellation while I watch this. Your reminders at the end encouraged me to give them a little more time. Conceptually, this is such an exciting product! It's exactly what I've been wishing for ever since my first original HTC Vive. "Someday we'll have crisp visuals and comfort enough to use this for work" I thought... If they can pull together a legitimate demo soon, maybe I'll hold onto my pre-order. I really don't want to see these guys fail!

[@mhfisk]

Note how the one-liner negative comments often have little if any credibility. Also they generally only bear the individuals initial. Likely too much of a wimp to put there face to it.

[@Odysseus201]

I canceled my preorder in May. After seeing this “reveal,” I’m so glad I did

[@BlacklifeDP]

Where is this button? I want cancel too

[@Odysseus201]

@@BlacklifeDP You have to email them to cancel your preorder. And they don't refund the CC fees, which was about $25 for me. But I figured I'm lucky to only have lost $25 instead of $1000

[@Upstatecashew]

When i first saw the Vizor i was expecting Basically ski goggles with native passthrough... This is basically the quest pro.

[@alongcameleo943]

Thank you for sharing this ❤

[@PandaandSparrow]

I canceled mine last month due to the company's lack of transparency. Now, I know this was the right decision. I do hate it, because I was looking forward to this headset, but perhaps another brand until ....!

[@manueldegroot023]

@pandaandSparrow how did you cancel? I ordered the day before the keynote and tried to cancel the FE order via support and sales. But no respond at all.

[@manueldegroot023]

I got a reply mail that I will receive a refund mail within 3 days.

[@SeanBannister]

​​@@manueldegroot023apparently they have a restocking fee, someone posted in their discord that this is illegal (I have no idea, not in USA) so if you contact Immersed support and mention you're going to call your credit card provider and do a chargeback they'll refund the full amount. Interestingly they then banned the user who posted this to their discord.

[@mhfisk]

Hello Jerad, I was at the keynote and all the trimmings. Likely saw you but uncertain if we spoke. I'll too flew in. Eastern Washington is my home. My 1st reaction was mildly disappointed. Primarily in the demo as were many. After a good rest and clear mind I remain all in and will do so. My FE is paid in full with the one year membership. I'm a visionary and Renji in my opinion will not only accomplish these minor setbacks but long term will continue to build and accomplish far more than many can imagine and I for one will be a part of it God willing! The AVP was my intro to the VR/XR world and I've learned an incredible amount in less than a year. Overall I enjoyed meeting and getting acquainted with many of the folks. No complaints here. Well maybe one. The heat was not our friend! 😎 Go VISOR

[@jeradtech]

I'm hopeful as well. Yes, not used to that Austin heat. I was sweating standing still outside.

[@daoshen]

Being visionary is not the hard part. Leading a team, spending money wisely, finding partners that can also be stakeholders, and so many other things that have to be pulled together are. What we saw in Austin is a stereotypical tech-bro who has not matured enough to pull this off. Perhaps they will eventually? But we saw very clearly is that is not today. The ads and fluff turned out to be fake. There is no redemption for this. New leadership may pull the group and their stakeholders out of the fire?

[@mhfisk]

@@daoshen I don't recall seeing you in Austin. I'm surprised you have such clear knowledge of budgets, spending, leadership, the partners, and ??. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet, talk and learn from your insight. For now I'll remain a stakeholder that fire may come in handy this winter. Thanks for sharing.

[@AWriterWandering]

Unfortunately it’s not unheard of for software developers to become overwhelmed when they try to get into hardware. Anyone remember when Facebook tried to make a phone?

[@jeradtech]

Good point. I bought that phone. It was horrible.

[@pkla14]

Personally I’ve preordered and I’m keeping my order there. My take on it all and what they’ve post since is that they had an unfortunate firmware problem due to trying to do too much at the last second for the demos. They’ve since shown the product working and have stated they will do a full demo video soon showing features of the headset etc. I do expect some delays from this. If I had to point out a problem at Immersed it would be that I think they pushed things a little too fast and need to fully QA things. They’re a startup and have a startup mentality. Which is great, but sometimes can bite you in the rear (as I think they experienced with the event).

[@ShawnFumo]

I agree up to point, but what exactly happened with the firmware that they couldn’t just flash the previously working version? I mean this is a software company, so they must be using Git for version control. And the demo showed today was the absolute minimum. A few seconds of one screen mirrored. No pass through, hand tracking, eye tracking. The website still even now says FE is shipping in October. At this stage, it should have all the core functionality and maybe be a little rough around the edges. It shouldn’t be “here’s some proof that it isn’t just a brick! It does do something.” Like fly someone out and give them a prototype of the head strap version and the full functionality that works right now and be transparent about it.

[@pkla14]

@@ShawnFumo I believe they're working on that actually. But in the meantime they've stated that they're working on a full proper demo video and just put that one out to show that it is working.

[@Presious91]

Thx for this review, I don’t know why I thought this was a literal pair of sunglasses 🕶️ that operated just like apples pro , but instead it’s a just another headset except you can’t game on it

[@charlie-george]

I watched remotely but haven't purchased one yet. I also support Immersed but I hope they're more transparent about stuff in the future. If there were bugs which prevented them from showing a full demo then just be upfront about it in the keynote and don't try to tip-toe around it, leaving everyone in the lurch.

[@JMontana007]

Quest 3s just killed it

[@overthetopesports2276]

this thing was meant to ship in like 2 months? and you can't get one working for an expo? Not cool. More transparency is necessary

[@ShawnFumo]

Exactly. Not even two months. It still says on the site they are shipping Founders Edition in Oct

[@jollojakar8995]

If it was a last minute bug, where is the video demo that they surely could show now?

[@jeradtech]

Renji posted to X the other day with it working.

[@Odysseus201]

@@jeradtechthat’s a stretch to call what he posted a demo

[@brunogregorio1659]

WHat about FOV?

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

Perfectly nice looking device, but i don't think removing the facial interface will never work. Because its supposed to carry all the weight, now you have all the weight on your nose. I also think that they are not even close to having anything working. Maybe they get there, who knows.

[@raineyjayy]

FE purchaser (since January 11). Hopefully some social media influencers will get a hands on soon

[@mansona]

This was a total disappointment of an event. It was so bad, I have flashes of Rabbit R1, which if you didn't know was a HUGE scam. But at least the R1 had working demos. This event had at best....."a concept of a product". Hardware only demo? That's so insulting and disrespectful for those that spent their hard earned money to actually attend the Visor in IRL event. I'm so disappointed I may stop using Immersed app. I don't want to invest my time in a company that has mis-led their loyal user base like they have. For example, all their marketing videos are giving impression you can wear then like sunglasses. I mean even the name is a Visor. But the stems are literally just props! And the headstrap.....vaporware. Doesn't even exist beyond the video concept. I think the product should be called Vapor, not Visor, for obvious reasons.

[@johnlukins3809]

Their Twitter today shows that they fixed the demo.

[@sonicsnake44]

​@@johnlukins3809did they fix their lies as well.

[@knowsuchpeace3276]

yep. i'll be stunned if this thing ever ships.

[@ShawnFumo]

Kind of… it does seem to show a virtual screen mirroring a laptop for a few seconds, but it still isn’t clear what the status is of everything. Like is hand and eye tracking working? Passthrough? Multiple monitors? Resizing monitors? And what is the status of manufacturing the head strap, the battery/wifi/bluetooth pack? The website literally still says the FE is shipping in October. Renji told a Japanese KZbinr that they will be in Japan in December and he can have a full demo then. That certainly sounds like it won’t have shipped out even in December. I don’t care if it is a bit bulkier than planned and I can live with it taking longer to ship, but where is the transparency? If it is going to be delayed by multiple months, then they had to have known that already.

[@See3D--VR180]

During their IRL event Immersed showed a colossal level of incompetency! Even novice s/w developers know that ad-hock f/w upgrades are very risky and they may brick the device, especially when the device is an early prototype. Immersed management should have kept at least one Visor unit with an old working s/w configuration (if it ever worked at all). The dead h/w demo showed that the Visor headset is significantly bigger than advertised (even though Renji still showed slim CGI rendering of Visor during his earlier presentation). And Renji comparing himself to Gates, Jobs and Musk in the event opening video clip was rather immature. That IRL Visor demo was a massive letdown. Mr. Bijoy failed to deliver any joy to his supporters.

[@zaubermanninc4390]

You're still pretty enthusiastic for the fact that you got completly screwed over. I feel bad for all you guys which had such a long trip for nothing. Seems like this is just another cashgrab like Rabbit R1. But immainject some hopium for you guys that it's not.

[@jeradtech]

If you’ve been covering tech for long it wasn’t the first and won’t be the last disappointment.

[@isaiahnoll201]

I'll stick with my viture pro xr glasses with samsung dex

[@umihara]

Why did their lack of hardware experience give them the illusion that they could make a good product? They should remove all past hype and update with new information. To avoid more victims. I think they are deliberately hype and malicious.

[@jeradtech]

I agree with the premature hype statement.

[@mdimascio]

The company owed their visitors a reasonably-working demo. I wish Immersed good luck, but breaking their demos just ahead of the event shows poor management and poor judgement (assuming it was working for them at some point). This is a red flag to me. My company would never risk a last minute firmware or update of any kind prior to a big event. It can be soooo tempting, but the risk is too high.

[@jeradtech]

Yeah, something major fell through the cracks. 😔

[@bendunaway8296]

A natural skeptic, I did not preorder. That said, despite their failure, hoping for all success. Immersed is a fantastic work platform. I surmise the first Apple computer was a nightmare to get working too. I hope they can overcome this set back; time will tell.

[@clinicalpsychologist]

Why did I buy it.....? Oh yeah, I was lied to

[@johnlukins3809]

Demo was fixed on Twitter.

[@jwr6796]

I was excited for this, but didnt want to bite on just promises with a subscription. Glad I didn't preorder. Looking like the Meta Quest 3 is still the way to go.

[@paulbellino5330]

Just wait for the Valve Deckard. VALVE WILL SHOW YOU HOW IT IS DONE. Don't waste your time or money on this crap

[@dreamingthelife]

Ugh, what a bad look, would have been better to have a hacked together prototype unit with wires and sensors hanging all over the place to demo than diddley squat Id rather they faxed me that 💩 than fly all that way I hope they release a good product, has such great potential but they just making it look like vaporware.

[@justinchang4799]

For those out of the loop, I did a little digging... According to tons and tons of reddit users the CEO of immersed has been on discord a lot lately being a jerk. This isn't the behavior of someone who can deliver such a huge goal; or who is actually busy running a company. I guess my replies are getting removed. Oh well.

[@johnlukins3809]

That’s definitely not true. I’m active on their Discord and he answers everyone’s questions more patiently than I would. Their mods only ban people if they start insulting or trolling instead of focusing on asking genuine questions.

[@justinchang4799]

@@johnlukins3809 hes deleted comments and put people on 1 week silent bans in discord. There's images of it all over reddit /r/virtualreality

[@nathanl2966]

Reddit is a great source of hyperbolic misinformation. 👍

[@ShawnFumo]

John, I haven’t had a chance to go to the Discord lately. Has there been any transparency on what is done and what isn’t and what a realistic timeline is? The site still says FE shipping in Oct but I saw Renji telling a Japanese KZbinr they could get a demo in Japan in December. That certainly makes it sound like it won’t be shipping this year at all.

[@justinchang4799]

@@nathanl2966 thats very fair

[@asagoldstein1669]

Wow, massively disappointing. Feels like a total scam. Especially when they said they advertised it as sunglasses to “get people interested”.

[@jeradtech]

Yeah, my expectations there were not met.

[@spacearchitecture3606]

You drank the cool aid, nice guy nice guy, so what ? They lied to their customers and disrespected their user, nice guy or not

[@wsteelenyc]

Something strange is going on, All my replies are dissapearing immediately.

[@paulbellino5330]

DO NOT INVEST IN THIS SHIT. Why in the world do you think the quest Pro failed...unless the headset can Game, do media and business it will totally fail. Is there such thing as a Business computer. Not really. It's either a good computer or not. It's the software that tailors the device. Make a really good wide feild of view, light, sharp, powerful headset that all can use for all applications and then tailor the software for your applications.end of story.

[@CarnisChampion]

still no clarity for EU costumers so I will be holding off that said I hope they succeed.

[@kyoono1771]

Sounds like a scam

[@tapetwo7115]

Sorry, the CEO is rather incompetent . He needs a CEO if he wants to continue playing CTO. He should not be behind the strategic side if he can’t even handle basic operations or logistics. He’s too busy idolizing the government grant entrepreneurs aka Elon Musk’s stories.

[@HigherIdeas]

Just using the cheap trick of designing the unit to look like a small pair of sunglasses, but in fact in person it's just a giant cartoon pair of glasses - designed with proportions to appear regular-scale in a photo: That alone should have told you there's something scummy going on with this group/product. Feels on-brand that they had an emergency programmer present, still trying to make 'the code part' they had ignored until now, starting literally at the 12th hour on-site. They were probably blowing all their time and cash on H&B parties until the night before the show. Bad management, dubious deceptive-design practices, shaky product... Sometimes a slip like this helps stop a bad gang before their scam gets any bigger.

[@mk8_it]

VR industry still got Influencers. pushing scams.

[@hippopothomas1980]

It's a total scam

[@johnlukins3809]

Working demo on Twitter.

[@umihara]

​@@johnlukins3809 I am disappointed not in whether the demo works or not, but in the fact that the design is completely different. This would not be much different from the VIVE XR ELITE.

[@thomasireland1770]

the company did not have a product just a dummy prototype ..it will never be a product unless the can require over 10 billion in funding and 3 year research and development time scale.

[@ShawnFumo]

Eh, I wouldn’t go that far. Obviously the screens work, and the core hardware from Snapdragon (XR2+) has a lot of stuff built into it like eye tracking. So it really depends now on getting the software working and accessories finalized. I’m as disappointed as everyone else in the status of things, but no reason to think it isn’t possible for it to work eventually.

[@jdudleyh]

Are you auto-censoring anyone that comments with a link? I've tried to post links to videos that Renji @ Immersed has posted showing their progress getting the fixes in after the failed demo day.

[@jeradtech]

I’m not. They must be getting flagged somehow.