Update on the availability and price change of the Lynx-R1
There’s been a lot of anticipation and speculation around the availability and price of the Lynx-R1, the controllers and the change of facial interface. As communication has been insufficient on these topics, we are going to clear that up below.
Availability & Delivery
If you’re a Kickstarter backer:
You will be able to receive a headset from the very first batch that will arrive in Europe early December (due to customs delays). Headsets from this batch will not be certified (with CE, FCC, etc) so we will need your consent prior to shipping those devices to you. If you do not agree to the terms, then you will receive a unit from the first certified batch scheduled at the end of February 2023.
If you’ve pre-ordered through our website:
For those who have pre-ordered the headsets in 2021 through the website, you can claim a non-certified headset by responding to your choice on the communication sent to your registered email. Otherwise, all the pre-orders will be shipped with the first certified batch scheduled at the end of February 2023.
Our communication regarding the dates have been less due to the time it took to secure all of our components. Due to the on-going global chip shortage, it has been a real challenge to get where we are now. We’ve worked tirelessly to start the production as fast as possible and it has finally paid off. Further good news is that the reliability of this schedule is much more concrete.
Price Change
The price of both versions of the Lynx-R1 has increased due to the rise in cost of the components. There is a global increase due to the shortage thus we had to reconsider the same. For all those who have backed us during Kickstarter or have pre-ordered the headset, the price will not be affected. We appreciate your support and patience.
Controllers
For multiple reasons we had to redesign the entire controllers. It was an essential decision to make them compatible with the R1 and also the future versions of the Lynx. This impacts their availability (around Q3 2023) but they will be much more future-proof. Nonetheless, we would like to reiterate that the headset has been designed with hand tracking as the primary input method, thus most users won’t be affected. For those that really need the controllers, we’re working on a compatibility system with SteamVR controllers (that will require SteamVR Base Stations) for SteamVR games and apps. We will release an update regarding the same soon.
Facial Interface
We initially designed two different facial interfaces, one for users with glasses and one without. It resulted in multiple complex difficulties for us, thus we redesigned the facial interface to a one-size-fits-all format. By default, we’ll replace all ordered facial interfaces with the Immersive VR interface, so if you’ve ordered one additional facial interface for users with glasses you’ll receive two identical Immersive VR interfaces, the one bundled with the headset and the additional one. If you do not require additional Immersive VR interfaces for your headset, you may intimate us if you’d still like multiple foams or if single is sufficient.
Kickstarter Backers exclusive T-Shirt
All the backers who pledged for a t-shirt have been contacted, we'll ship those pretty soon ! If you haven't been contacted yet, please contact us at info@lynx-r.com.
As always, we’d like to thank you for your ongoing support, your enthusiasm and engagement towards the Lynx-R1. We wouldn’t be here without you and we won’t forget that!
Addendum regarding the non-certified headsets:
We've added that option as we had a lot of demands from developers whom wanted to get access to a Lynx-R1 as soon as possible. To be clear, those headsets are strictly identical to the mass production units. Each of the components are already certified (battery, electronics), it's the final assembly that is not as we need the first units to launch the certification process. The delay between the non certified R1s and the certified ones is around 4 weeks, so the choice is absolutely yours. We will send a survey to ask you if you want those early devices in early December.