Well it appears Pimax has taken a Que from Mark Zuckerburg.
It appears that now to buy a Pimax VR headset you need to have a membership and make payments on your membership fee.
Basically Pimax is trying to turn their headsets into hardware as a service and their drivers as software as a service.
If you wish to purchase a Pimax VR headset you need to put down a huge down payment and then pay a membership fee.
AS per Pimax's Webstore
"Payment Option 1: Pay membership fees at once with 12% discount $999 upfront + $32.99 membership fee * 24 mo. * 88% = $1,696 USD in total
Payment Option 2: Pay membership fees over 24 month $999 upfront + $32.99 membership fee * 24 mo. = $1,791 USD in total *You'll start paying the monthly membership fees in app 10 days after activating your Crystal Super. "
"What happens if I choose the monthly plan and miss a payment? You can pay Prime at once and you never have this situation occur. But yes, if you choose for monthly payments, and miss a payment, then the Pimax Play software will stop functioning, until you complete the payment."
"After you’ve completed the 2 year subscription, you can then use it for free as long as you like? Yes. After 24 months (or if you decide to pay off Prime in one go), the whole headset is yours and you'll never be required to pay for any subscription. The subscription is tied to your headset, so even if you sell it, the subscription won't reset."
Pimax DOES NOT give the consumer the choice of buying the headset out right for a single payment. You have to put a down payment on it first, and either pay the full 2 year membership fee at once with a discount, or pay it out monthly for 24 months. And while Pimax claims its all yours free and clear after you pay it off, you are still required to maintain a membership and nothing is going to stop Pimax from deciding to move features behind a paywall at a later date with a "Membership Fee".
Keep in mind Pimax is using the words "membership fees" Not "Payments" or 'Payment plan" it is a "Membership Fee".
This comes with 2 consequences. First is the fact You have to maintain a membership with pimax wither or not you are paying for it. Secondly they can turn off your headset anytime they want to. The other issue is going to be with buying a used Pimax. Not much is going to stop a current owner from selling their pimax with part of the membership still outstanding meaning people are probably going to be purchasing used Pimax headsets on ebay that are bricked by Pimax due to the original owner not paying off the Membership fee.
Ya I'm sorry, Pimax can take their membership and Shove it!
If I can't buy it outright ... I'm not buying it.
I was actually looking forward to the Super 😞
https://www.roadtovr.com/pimax-prime-payment-affordable-less-refundable/https://pimax.com/pages/pimax-prime