Still shipping?

[HackPerception]

12 minutes ago, goslingdkc said:

Oh and something else. I am kind of nervous to update the firmware on the new sensor when I get it... I have heard of people getting the same issue right after updating the firmware...

Have you come across this issue?

That's related to 1.0 stations and is a huge point of confusion in the Vive community. In short, when 1.0 basestations were first released, they didn't have any self diagnostics capabilities and could be malfunctioning and shooting out bad data but appear functional to SteamVR (with the user-experience varying by the problem). They released a firmware update that added self diagnostics and people freaked out and thought it was a bad update or Valve/HTC intentionally breaking their stations because the stations would start reporting when they were malfunctioning. One of the inventors of the base-station posted a  way to roll back the firmware on the 1.0 stations but it got taken way out of context and he later publicly stated he regretted sharing that due to all of the confusion it caused.

With 2.0 stations, I find the out of box tracking to not really be usable without the firmware update. I would recommend plugging the station into your PC via  a MicroUSB data cable, plugging in the power adapter to the back of station (without power), then plugging the power adapter into the wall - preforming the update, and then unplugging the station from the wall before unplugging the microUSB. If you do it this way, you'll never move the station while it's spinning since you'll only be touching the station when it isn't supplied power.

[HackPerception]

If you want to know more about how base-stations work, this is an in-depth talk from it's principal inventor and is the most public info about base-stations that exists. If you watch this, you'll know more about how they work than 99% of users.

 

[goslingdkc]

That was actually going to be another question I was going to throw at ya. I have seen this "fix" floating around. And a lot of people have suggested it to fix the 2.0 stations.

[HackPerception]

@goslingdkc - It's a huge misconception - I get it though. People want their expensive devices to work.

Valve added a firmware recovery option at the bottom of the basestation tools UI - that's really the only tool that can fix a station on the user side. The majority of issues you may see will be physical issues that require the station to be fixed and re-calibrated by a specialist or replaced outright. I've been working with Vive hardware for 4 years now and have never once tried to self-repair a station beyond the basics. It doesn't make sense to do so - they're calibrated devices.

[goslingdkc]

Actually a pretty neat video. Seems like a cool dude. 

Yeah I saw that. Even tried it with mine. And it just says there are no base stations that need recovering. So no bueno. 

But I feel that. And it makes sense. But being as yes, these are pretty darn expensive. Maybe having the piece of mind that the product is backed by awesome support and service would help some folks. Especially with the amount of misconceptions a lot of people who haven't tried VR have. Like it being very expensive and not worth it. Which... sometimes can be true. But then again... "worth it" is definitely a case by case.

[goslingdkc]

I am still a little confused.. I never got that email! I can't find an order number because I never got one. And the other option to check on the status involves last 4 of the credit card used. But I used Paypal...

[goslingdkc]

Alllllrighty then nvm! Just realized it sent the order confirmation to the wrong email address... Even tho I used my paypal to pay... I was logged into my HTC account which is another email address.. I figured it would send it to THAT email address since it is the account's email address... But at least I found it.