Omni-One — Image courtesy Virtuix

Virtuix ‘Omni One’ VR Treadmill Now Shipping to Early Investors

Wider Consumer Launch Coming in 2023

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Mar 21, 2023

Virtuix, the company behind the Omni VR treadmill, launched a crowd-based investment campaign in 2020 to fund Virtuix Omni One, an at-home VR locomotion device targeted at consumers. Now the studio has revealed the final version, pricing, and the news that it’s now shipping out to early investors.

Omni One units are now headed out to early investors (re: not backers) prior to the device’s planned consumer launch, which is said to arrive at some point later this year.

The company says its currently has a waitlist for Omni One of “more than 35,000 subscribers.”

Here’s a look at what Virtuix says is the final version of the hardware:

Image courtesy Virtuix

Virtuix says 900 of its equity crowdfunding investors have applied to buy Omni One beta units, which will be extended to late 2023, however unit quantities will “start small and gradually increase as the program proceeds.”

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Similar to other parabolic VR ‘treadmills’, Omni One requires you to wear special low-friction shoes and strap into a harness system which keeps you in the center of the base’s parabola.

And although marketed as a consumer-targeted device, Omni One’s introductory price will be $2,595 plus shipping, which also includes the Pico Neo 3 Pro standalone headset. The company is however also offering a financing plan that could bring it to as low as $65 per month.

Over its lifetime, Virtuix has raised $35 million. The company says it’s now shipped over $16 million worth of products, which includes over 4,000 Omni Pro systems across 45 countries, and than 70 Omni Arena systems to US venues such as Dave & Buster’s.

BioEngorged

I have to admit, the solution with the mechanical arm seems pretty cool! Nice to see innovation in the VR treadmill industry!
mellott124

It’s a cool device but calling $2500 consumer is quite the stretch. And Pico is an odd choice.
- BenVirtuix
  
  While Omni One’s price point is not for everyone, we’re seeing incredible demand for the system. The Pico Neo 3 Pro is an excellent headset with comparable specs to the Meta Quest 2 (with a larger FOV). Also, many developers are now making content for it alongside the Quest.
  - ViRGiN
    
    Or maybe you were forced by chinese partners to use Pico for promotional purposes? This doesn’t make ANY sense.
  - Andrew Jakobs
    
    But does it also support the Meta Quest 2, SteamVR headsets or even the Pico 4? As locking it to the Pico Neo 3 pro is not a smart move (although it’s an excellent headset).
    Is it powered? as in the video or screenshots there doesn’t seem to be any powercord going to the device. Otherwise it would also be great if it would have an USB-C port so you can just plug in the headset to run of the cable for power instead of the limited time of the battery.
JanO

I’m sure these feel different or even cool, but I’m not sure it could ever feel right, given the design. Platform seems way too small to strech your legs and actually run comfortably or to quickly strafe left or right… Furthermore, you never get to stand on a flat surface and when you stop moving, the bowl shape of the platform brings your two feet together…

Has anyone here tried these (or KAT VR)? I’m curious about your experience…
- BenVirtuix
  
  In addition to an improved shape, Omni One’s base is larger than on our previous model, Omni Pro. It feels better underfoot, as a result. There is plenty of space to run, and only very tall users will have to curtail their stride a little. It is possible to stand still with feet apart (as they brace each other when both are in contact with the base), and while this was also possible with Omni Pro, it is perhaps easier now with the new base. Strafing indeed cannot be performed as quickly as on a keyboard, but this may have a positive impact on the multiplayer experience, as anyone who is familiar with ADADing may appreciate.
  - ViRGiN
    
    Cool, and you got how many developers actually supporting your stuff… zero and a half? You kickstarted this 10 years ago and still haven’t delivered anything to customers?
    - BenVirtuix
      
      This is not the same product we Kickstarted ten years ago. In the interim, we have sold over 4,000 Omni Pro units to entertainment venues, as we had to switch to a commercial focus for the last few years. We aren’t ready to announce our launch line up yet, but we are currently meeting with developers – we are targeting 30 titles for the official launch. We have delivered the first few beta units, and we are excited to continue bringing to people’s homes the VR treadmill we always dreamed of making!
- Aeos
  
  I have a KATWalk C (not the newer one that has improved tracking). My biggest problem is that since most platforms are emulating joystick movement, the accuracy of the movement is pretty awful. If you’re just walking continuously in a direction it works great for immersion, but once you want to start getting more precise movement in higher intensity situations it’s a huge competitive disadvantage. I haven’t used it a ton FWIW, I’m sure people could be good at it though.
  
  You learn to walk on the surface so it’s not too crazy to adapt, but it definitely is not natural. For balance you typically stand with your feet further apart when not moving, and with the angle you apply pressure your feet don’t slide together. To start moving you basically have to switch stances to not have that slide happen so again, not really natural.
  
  Apart from the movement accuracy, picking/interacting with items on the floor in the game around you is the biggest challenge on the katwalk the back harness doesn’t offer you a lot of reach to bend down (especially since I’m over 6FT tall, but that is defintely something the Omni One looks to improve upon. Most games have a way to work around this limitation but not something I thought about being a problem before owning.
LazyFox

I’d like to try out one one of these at a VR arcade. A bit outside of what I could ever justify at home, but I’m definitely curious about it.