Right to Repair legislation is sweeping across the globe and manufacturers are finally doing the right thing by releasing parts and manuals to the general public. Well, most manufacturers across some product lines might be more accurate.
Of the devices lagging behind the Right to Repair curve, today we’re looking at VR headsets. According to U.S. PIRG, VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro are among the worst-scoring products for repairability due to a lack of manuals and spare parts.
Our teardowns of the AVP and Quest 3 also highlight the extreme complexity of dismantling these devices, a result of sacrificing repairability at the altar of aesthetically pleasing design.
Manufacturers will be the first to claim that the complexity and bleeding edge nature of these products make them very difficult to design for repair. And this may have some truth to it, but it avoids answering the question: could it have been more repairable?
The new PCVR headset by Pimax, the Crystal Light, contains a partial answer to this question.
The first and most important replaceable component on any VR headset will be the cushions resting against your face and head. As someone who’s bought crusty old Quest 2s from eBay, I can’t emphasize enough how essential it is to be able to replace these. And it’s not a feature to be taken for granted either. The Valve Index does not have a replaceable head cushion. Gross.
Thankfully, the Pimax passes the first test with flying colors. Every cushion, of which there are a few, is held in place by velcro and is easily detachable and replaceable. There’s even a video guide with step by step instructions!
Removing the speakers is a pleasantly easy process: Once you remove the headband cushions, you’ve immediately got access to the standard electrical connector (a robust, reliable Japan Solderless Terminal connector) and a single Phillips-head screw. The Pimax achieves this by utilizing spring-loaded copper contacts to avoid solder points and delicate ribbon cable connections. We saw the same design used with the Valve Index, and it works really well.
This same philosophy of simplicity in design is evident in the adjustable plastic head strap—secured in place with only two Phillips-head screws—and the inner workings of the device too. The interior design offers some fascinating examples of repairability.
Once you pop away the accessory cover and unscrew and remove the faceplate underneath that forms part of the frame, you’ll be greeted with the familiar sight of electronics and optics stuffed into a space that might seem two sizes too small.
But this is a somewhat false first impression because by removing just a few screws, the entire inner assembly very neatly separates from the body! With the heart of the device removed from the confined working environment of the plastic body, any repair becomes significantly easier. The optical stack and LCD panels, along with the corkscrew gear for IPD adjustment, becomes immediately and easily accessible.
The optical stack itself has a detachable lens element that is replaceable without ever having to open the headset. This is a nifty little feature that allows custom lens inserts to correct for vision and FOV range. The Apple Vision Pro does something very similar with serialized parts that magnetically attach to the optical stack.
The Future of Repairable VR
Of course it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the land of VR repair, even on a VR headset that is more accessible than most. There remains the problem of overall complexity, something you’ll run into the moment you try to access the mainboard. While the Magnuson-Moss Act prevents manufacturers voiding your warranty simply by opening a device, a complex disassembly will increase the chances of accidental damage which certainly will void the manufacturer’s warranty.
But perhaps the biggest obstacle facing any DIY repair hero is access to spare parts. It won’t matter how accessible a device is if you can’t obtain the spare parts you need to complete your repair. This becomes especially problematic on niche devices that are priced at a premium because even salvaged spare parts can be hard to come by and extremely expensive.
Pimax set themselves apart from most other VR manufacturers—the notable exceptions being Valve and HTC—by providing replacements for consumables such as the cushions and going as far as making available the 3D printable models for the parts that they don’t sell. They even provide the option to purchase harder to obtain parts on a case by case basis by contacting their customer services team.
The controllers are the biggest pain point on this system. The design houses a built in lithium-ion battery that is difficult to access due to the amount of glue used to secure the plastics. There is a somewhat cheeky workaround to this problem: the headset can be bought by itself and without controllers, meaning you can use any controller compatible with Steam VR. If Steam’s Lighthouse can register the controller, you can use it with the system. So if you wanted to buy the headset and use the far more repairable HTC Vive controller, you can!
The VR industry, despite its rapid progress in the last decade, remains very much on the bleeding edge of consumer technology and there is a lot of room for design refinements where repairability is concerned. The Crystal Light provides us with a glimpse of what a repairable future for VR might look like. U.S. PIRG are right to call this device category out for their shortcomings but the Crystal Light might be a glimpse of what a repairable future for VR might look like.
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