Even when you pre-order, you try it on at the store to get fitted for the appropriate mask, and on top of that you have 2 weeks to return it for a full refund (if it's the same as other apple products—no reason to believe it won't be).

Additionally, I've spent the months since the announcement reading reviews and stuff from people who __have__ gotten their hands on the headset and they all seem to address any concerns I personally have.

Certainly not pushing anybody else to be impulsive for FOMO, but as an enthusiast, I'm pretty excited and am very fortunate to be able to afford something like this.

In the view of a “hobby” it’s not that excessive- especially for the class of people likely to appear on HN.

It’s the cost of a high end MacBook Pro, or a vacation to Paris, or about twelve days in an apartment in San Francisco :)

A high-end MBP is costly, but is generally seen as a workhorse that will serve you well for at least 3 years. Spending a similar amount of money for a gadget with a questionable purpose and quick obsolescence is certainly out of reach for the majority of people not living in the SF tech bubble.

It's out of reach for the vast majority of the human race, sure, and perhaps it's a "bad idea" for even a majority of HN, but there are quite a few people who can and will drop the coin on it, for one reason or another.

As mentioned elsewhere, the people who went to the Vision Labs are buying them on release day, so there must be something there.

Vacation to paris lol? Are you spending just a weekend there? No way it's 3500 for any decent period of time, at least not if you're flying from NA.

It’s 1.5 times more than I live on in a month.

>In the view of a “hobby” it’s not that excessive

It is however, a fairly expensive paperweight. And I have a bunch of gadgets I hardly ever use.

Who else is going to make the 10,000 unboxing/reaction videos on YouTube?