Virzoom's horse-riding VR fitness bike gets cheaper, works with Galaxy S8
This $99 bike kit turns your Samsung Gear VR into a fitness arcade, with tanks and a flying horse.
- Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
This will soon be you, if you choose to do this while wearing a Gear VR (Virzoom bike, with PlayStation VR).
Fitness and VR may seem like an odd mix, but VR games can definitely motivate a fitness routine if you can avoid getting nauseous.
Virzoom made a fitness bike for hard-wired VR systems like the PlayStation VR and HTC Vive last year, but it was expensive, and required placement in front of your VR PC/console. That $399 bike now works with Samsung Gear VR, too, via an app that just launched. But it requires the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+, according to Virzoom.
The $99 VZ Sensor clips onto a regular bike. BYO bike.
The more exciting news is that Virzoom is also making a small, cheap, clip-on adapter for ordinary stationary bikes that works with Samsung's Gear VR, too, that arrives in October. It sounds like a far better proposition than buying an entire VR exercise bike, provided you already have an exercise bike.
The $99 VZ Sensor looks like a little fitness tracker. Strap it on a bike pedal, and it'll track cycling motion. Virzoom's Gear VR app which launches Tuesday has two arcade-like games, and with others arriving in the fall when the sensor launches. Stay tuned for some office mobile VR bike-testing soon, since we already have a Virzoom in our VR room.