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It's been a long time since we last updated you on our progress with the Halo Mount! Today, we're going to cover what we've accomplished so far, customer feedback from the first batch we shipped, and we're sorry to announce one final delay on the road to mass production.
Production Update: Halo Mount
Last year, we shipped several test batches (known as "DVTs") to testers, most of whom are preorder customers themselves. While we saw plenty of positive feedback, the engineering team listened carefully to the negative feedback and made further improvements to the Halo Mount such as a new clip, a mount for 3rd party accessories, and the Flip-Up mechanism.
As promised in our April update, we successfully shipped the first batch of Halo Mounts to customers in June. These production units incorporate numerous design improvements, and we're happy with how well the Flip-Up mechanism is now performing.
However … :(
During our preparation for mass production, we noticed a plastic part in the Halo Mount known as the "sledge link" could break in the first batch of units, particularly if accidentally used in a manner that it is not designed for. Based on both internal and customer results, we estimate this could've affected 2-5% of customers. That may not sound large, but at mass scale, that's a lot of unhappy users with broken devices. As Bigscreen Beyond's production is growing each year to larger and larger volumes, >1% failures are unacceptable problems. And because people love to use the Bigscreen Beyond for thousands of hours, durability of the Halo Mount is paramount.
The engineering team recently decided to make another tough call to change this part from injection molded plastic to injection molded metal (MIM). Changing from plastic to steel will improve durability of the Halo Mount, but comes at a cost: one final schedule delay, as it will take a few weeks to manufacture these metal parts.
We previously expected to complete the Halo Mount preorders in the summer. That schedule has now slipped by approximately 7 weeks.
We expect to resume production by August 20, and we will ship our next batch of Halo Mounts in early September. As production ramps up, we expect the largest volume of Halo Mounts to ship in October, and to fully catch up on the Halo Mount preorder backlog in November. Based on the results from our first batch, we anticipate no further engineering changes or delays. By November, Halo Mounts will be in inventory and ship within 1-2 business days.
We're sorry!
The Halo Mount took much longer than we had anticipated. Design revisions are never free, and are particularly expensive mid-production. But we know the bigger cost is the time our community has had to wait. We're sorry about these delays. We know how frustrating it is to eagerly wait for a product and to keep experiencing production delays. We think the version shipping to customers will ultimately be worth the wait.
50,000+ orders shipped, and expanding globally
Earlier this year we crossed a proud milestone: Bigscreen has shipped 50,000+ orders since we first started shipping in 2023. We've successfully mass produced and shipped two generations of VR headsets and multiple accessories to happy customers around the world.
We also recently expanded Bigscreen Beyond 2 availability to many new countries and regions including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macao, South Korea, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Bigscreen now ships to 50+ countries around the world.
Buying your Beyond 2 and Beyond 2e
For most of this year, the Beyond 2 and Beyond 2e have been in stock and shipping within 1-2 business days, with most orders shipping same day. Custom-fit cushions take 1-3 days for custom manufacturing, and any Beyond 2 & 2e ordered with the Halo Mount & Universal-Fit Cushion will ship immediately, with just the Halo Mount shipping separately when it is completed.
We are temporarily out of stock of the Beyond 2 and the Beyond 2e VRChat Edition. We expect them to be back in stock by the end of next week. The Beyond 2e in Carbon Black, Nuclear Orange, and Crystal Clear are all in stock. If you have questions about your order status or want to discuss your options, reach out to support@bigscreenvr.com.