Today’s review is for a product I received from the good folks over at KIWI Design. You can find their website by clicking the following link. A friend of mine recommended me this product, and he also happens to use this same kit for his VR setup and recommended it quite highly. A quick email over to KIWI Design and they were happy to send me a sample for testing (I will add this disclaimer to the review and say that they did send this to me for free).
KIWI Design
For a while now, I’ve been struggling with my cables. To keep my cables out of the way is tricky even at the best of times, and they tend to get in the way a lot when playing more intense games, such as Singularity 5 and gun games of that nature. For me, having a tidy cable solution needs to have the following:
1. Keep my cables out of the way
2. Secured to my surroundings without me feeling constricted by them
3. Give me enough freedom of movement to be able to play comfortably without worry
4. To stay in position with enough force so it’s not constantly on my mind when I play more intense titles
In these key areas, I have to say that this product does deliver. I can have the free range of movement without the worry that I’ll be ripping them off the walls, and I can place them to wherever my setup is and have the setup customised to my liking. Also, depending on what space you play in, it can easily be set up with minimal fuss, giving you more time to get back into the action.
The Specs of the Pulley System
The specs on this bit of kit are quite impressive. The retractable wires that hang from the ceiling can stretch up to a generous 150 cm. This alone gives you a lot of movement and flexibility to play in your VR space. The wires themselves can be adjusted too depending on how much slack on the wires you want to have. Fixing them to the ceiling in your chosen space has also been considered with two different types of mounting supports. There’s the wall plug and screw, which is attached to a hook to hang your pulley wire from, or for those not wanting to damage the ceiling, there’s a sticky pad solution on which to attach the pulley.
This holds up to 15kg, though I don’t have anything that heavy that I would be willing to test it out to its limits safely. It comes in only two colours, black and white, so the options for more would be a nice addition.
Pros and Cons
After giving this product a thorough test on a wide variety of my VR games, I can safely say that it definitely improved my gameplay and performance on many titles. The feeling of not having the wire constantly trailing down my side and against my feet makes for a refreshing change. Before installing this kit, I was constantly aware of the cable and how it was in my way, but now I don’t have to worry about that. It also made my VR headset feel that much lighter too. Playing Blade & Sorcery was less taxing due to the freedom of movement to be had. No noise is emitted from the pulley system either (or if there is, it’s so quiet you’ll hardly notice it).
But, there are a few downsides that my other half has pointed out. The actual pulleys themselves do look like something you’d find on eBay for your key-chains. Also, the chains from the bottom where they affix to the rubber hoop mount seem a bit too excessive. A good two inches of space could have been saved there. Another issue I have found is that if you were to go down the sticky pad route, once applied it’s not very easy to remove.
A workaround for this would be a suction cup with a handle to squeeze the air out; like a vacuum, stronger bonds with no damage. Or perhaps those picture frame strips that don’t leave any residue and can easily be removed (they currently hold my cameras for my VR with no issues). Pop a strip or two on the underside of the feet, and away you go. No muss, no fuss.
But, these are minor issues in the grand scheme of this product.Overall, it does what it claims to do and gets the cable out of the way for a more immersive VR experience.
Developer: Kiwi Design
Platform: PC, PS4
RRP: £21.99