The Best VR Headset Dock: RGB Vertical Charging Stand Review (Kiwi Design)
Once upon a time, I got tricked by clever marketing on Facebook. Would Kiwi Design reign supreme for VR accessories?
They say fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I didn’t want to be tricked, again.
Before we get into all that.. If you want a $35 Meta store credit, use my link to buy a Meta Quest 2 or Meta Quest 3 headset!
The first time, I got scammed by NordQuest VR and the horrible product I received was nothing like I had expected, and the support was even worse. I wanted to throw it off my balcony into the trash bin. Ironically, I sold it on the Facebook marketplace instead, wrote a nasty article here on Medium, and moved on with my life.
Fast-forward to months later. My incredible wife had gifted me the new Meta Quest 3 for Christmas (via Amazon), and I had not even had a chance to unbox it yet.
That’s when I received an interesting email from the maker of some cool-looking VR headset accessories. Kiwi Designs had read my unbiased review of NordQuest VR, where I wasn’t just honest — I completely eviscerated NordQuest’s products. Kiwi then challenged me to review their products.
I didn’t want to do it. My family makes an effort to be minimalist. We do our best to avoid bringing junk into the house, and after the last time, I didn’t even want another headset dock in the house.
But clearly, Kiwi recognized the risks in sending me their products. They knew I would tell everyone if I hated it. So here we are. When the shipment arrived, I was optimistic but put it off. It sat on my counter for at least a week before it was time to unbox.
Before I tell you what happened.. before buying anything from Kiwi after reading my review, please use my promo code
RICHCANADIAN
so they know you read my review! You can also click this link to visit their website.
With all that backstory behind us, let me tell you; From the moment I opened the box, I was impressed. The packaging was nicely designed and branded, so I started unboxing it.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Kiwi Design RGB Vertical Charging Stand is the foundation. The base has a noticeable weight; it certainly does not feel cheap (like some other products).
It takes less than a minute to assemble the whole charging station, requiring no tools. It just snaps together.
The last piece you attach (and probably my favorite) is the rubber charging cable that connects the stand to your VR headset. When I first attached it, I had no idea why it was split in the middle (and I thought to myself, “This is dumb and unnecessary”), but then when I attached my old Oculus Quest 2 to it, the cable split in two to accommodate the lower charging position for the older headset. That’s why it splits in the middle.
This little rubber charging cable is not just a unique design feature; it is the critical piece that makes the stand backwards compatible, so it works seamlessly with the Oculus Quest 2 and the Meta Quest 3.
Whoever thought to design it this way is nothing short of a genius.
The other really cool thing about it is when you set your Meta Quest 3 on the stand, the magnetic rubber connector instantly pops into place and starts charging your VR headset.
Every time I pick up my headset to play my favorite Fitness Game Supernatural, the stand looks like a little guy holding my VR controllers. But, it is worth noting that Kiwi named it the “RGB” Vertical Charging Stand because of the light-up LED trim. There are buttons hidden on the underside in the front to turn on/off and also to change the colors and patterns. The colors cycle smoothly with no glitching, and it has 16 different options. Don’t want it to mess with your chic living room? You can turn it off, too. This high-quality equipment has made my VR headset a delightful focal point of my living room and a conversation starter!
As I was writing my review, everything about it was glowing and positive, and that’s not very much fun, is it? I tore apart that other charging station manufacturer, right?
A strange thing happened with Kiwi product support.
So, I threw a curveball and decided to blind-test the support for Kiwi. I reached out under an email address they didn’t have on file (to hide who I was so they wouldn’t know I was reviewing their product).
Twenty-four hours after I submitted the request on their website support form, I still had not heard from Kiwi. And there goes that perfect review! Something didn’t feel right, so I emailed them using the support email address prominently on their website. At 9:00pm, the email went out, and 32 minutes later, at 9:32pm, they replied. They asked several questions to quickly resolve the fake issue I was pretending to have.
Given that I’m now still waiting for a response from multiple messages several days after sending the web form email (but immediately heard back via email), I have to assume they’ve got a technical problem with their website contact form and they’ll fix it when they eventually spot this review. [As a matter of full disclosure, Kiwi finally did get back to me from the web form query 7 days later. They apologized, and then started trying to resolve my (fake) issue.]
But really, that’s the only negative about this product that I could find.
Why is Kiwi Design higher priced than Nord Quest VR? If shoddy equipment has burned you before, Kiwi Design is miles ahead of other companies. Similar VR charging docs from companies like NordQuest VR are trash compared to Kiwi equipment, probably because they put design and quality first. Make no mistake, some companies rely entirely on flashy marketing to cover up a crap product.
Case and point: Kiwi’s unit sells for $69.99 USD retail, and the price on NordQuest VR is $99. The trick here is that the lower-quality product is priced higher, to fool people into thinking it is higher quality. And then (what luck) its on sale! The fact is, it is permanently “on-sale” for $39! The higher-quality Kiwi is always more expensive, because its simply a better accessory and it cant be heavily discounted to spark sales.
I am so delighted that I had a terrible experience with the cheap one first, so I could appreciate how much better the expensive one is that I have now.
But what if it breaks? The Kiwi Design warranty goes above and beyond. Typically, you find 1-year warranties for products like this. But Kiwi (again being confident that their VR accessories and equipment doesn’t suck) guarantees their products for double that — a two year global warranty! Bravo.
Although (to be fair), I’m not sure how often something that sits on a table and doesn’t move will break. But I digress.
Do I need a VR headset charging station? If you’re unsure about buying a charging station for your headset, you’re not alone. I put it off for a long time but found that now that I have it, I love it and wouldn’t want to be without it. The truth is, it’s totally awesome, and my living room loves it, too.
The other thing you’ll notice when you first open the box is the Kiwi Design slogan “Make things better,” .. and trust me, they do. I’ll review challengers, but I don’t know how they’d possibly be better.
Please use my promotional code RICHCANADIAN when you purchase anything from Kiwi (or click here) so they know I sent you. I get a little bonus when you do, and it would help me thank them for making my life just a little better :)
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