Maybe this is already posted and I’m completely blind on my phone, but I saw this over at NA.com and noticed while hyperkin.com doesn’t sell it directly, resellers do. The visors are about $14.99 on amazon right now.

http://www.hyperkin.com/nintendo/virtual-boy.html

We have a short conversation going on in the auction thread. But this is probably a better place to keep discussing these items.

Has anyone seen the stands available for sale? I can find the visor pretty easily on eBay, but haven’t seen any stands yet.

blowback wrote:
Has anyone seen the stands available for sale?…

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-Replacement-Stand-Repairbox-/122018815142?nav=SEARCH

Awesome.

I think I was the one who brought them to the OP’s attention at NintendoAge. 🙂 Does anyone know if “RepairBox” is a Hyperkin brand? I think some of my replacement N64 thumbsticks were Repair Box” brand too.

Anyway, I ordered the whole trifecta (Replacement Stand assembly, Eyeshade, and Eyeshade Holder) and received them yesterday, so I should share my experience here as well. Here is my unboxing and comparison video:

It’s clear that these are not 3D-printed parts like some other replacement parts. They seem to be so close to the originals that they share injection molding artifacts and fit parts from each other and everything.

Because of the packaging condition I was looking to document anything damaged in the video so it sounds like I’m less satisfied than I was. This does what I want, so I’m happy. I used parts from it to refurbish my completely broken original stand (not shown) and freed up my second original stand for preservation.

I was disappointed that the stand doesn’t sit flat without settling (unlike the original) but that improved when I swapped the legs with an original stand. The bigger issue is that the medallion looks identical, minus the logo. this means that the medallion is probably not much stronger than the original, though the material may be better suited. I won’t know that until I see if it cracks under normal use like the original ones. 🙂

More on the refurbishment: I was able to swap key parts with the remnants of my original broken VB stand assembly to get a working mostly-original stand. Specifically, I swapped medallion with screws and the articulating half of the clamp assembly and kept everything else original. Swapping the clamp part is difficult and can’t easily be demonstrated. It involves removing a strangely-shaped spring that most will not be able to get out without special tools.

If anyone wants to try:
I used a flat metal spudger and some precision picks to get the spring out (typical cellphone repair tools). It’s folded so both sides are under tension and stuck under lips in the plastic. You can lift both sides over the lips and pull it out, which almost requires three arms and your tools will be in the way! Once the spring is out you can slide the freely-swinging clamp piece out. I didn’t even have to take off the adjustment knob. I wish they sold just the medallion and other plastic parts but too many people would probably break their stands doing this.

The eyeshade and eyeshade holder appear perfectly serviceable but even my original eyeshade split into layers and peeled apart. Though they don’t look improved, hopefully this medallion and eyeshade are better than the originals. Time will tell.

Thanks for the video. At least we know what to expect. They look good.

I received my replacement stand and Eye Shade from Hyperkin today. I am pretty happy with the stand. The Eye shade however is driving me nuts. The holes don’t line up at the same places as the original VUE-010 Eye Shade. I didn’t order a replacement holder from Hyperkin thinking I wouldn’t need it, but perhaps their EyeShade Holder lines up different than the OEM Nintendo one.

Ive attached pics of the stand and repro eye foam as well as the misaligned hole on the unit on the repro eye foam. Anyone order both the eyeshade and holder from Hyperkin? Does their reporo eye shade fit that one okay?

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   standbox.jpg
   

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   sidebysidestand.jpg
   

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   reproeyeshade.jpg
   

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   eyeshadeholecompare.jpg
   

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   eyeshadeonunitholewrongspot.jpg
   

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   closeup1.jpg
   

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   closeup2.jpg
   

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   closeup3.jpg
   

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   closeup4.jpg
   

I just received the eye shade the other day. It was a very welcomed addition as I was using a homemade eye shade. I didn’t have an original to compare it to, but it seemed to fit pretty snug on my 3D printed eye shade holder. The top of the eye shade seems to have a small gap above the eye shade holder, just like in the photo you showed. But it does the job it is supposed to do, and it looks a hell of a lot better than what I was using. I am sure it is no replacement for the original, but for some one in my situation it is perfect.

CZroe wrote:

I used a flat metal spudger and some precision picks to get the spring out (typical cellphone repair tools).

Haha, I giggle whenever I see the word ‘spudger’. I got smacked by my ex when I said that one time. That confirms my suspicion about it sounding like a dirty word :p

Anyway I’ll have to order some of these replacement parts. If nothing else, I like that the box has the VB-themed label on it. Some day that might be an interesting conversation piece in my collection. Plus, there are a couple of lonely systems I have which mostly get used for parts or testing displays I’m repairing. Might be nice to buff them up with some brand new accessories.

These stands are a good choice for making alternative mounts too, instead of creating orphaned legs by taking apart OEM ones for their clamps.

I have more problems than you describe.

My reproduction Eye Shade holders are completely covering up the nose hole area, see pic.

It’s hard to breath and fogs up the VB, the original ones don’t cover that area.

The last holes one the outside edges of the foam are in the wrong spot on the reproduction.

TOP PIC ORIGINAL WITH PROPER GAP
BOTTOM PIC REPRO FOAM

Attachments:

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   1-12.jpg
   

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   eyeshadeonunitholewrongspot-1.jpg
   

guruguy wrote:
I have more problems than you describe.

My reproduction Eye Shade holders are completely covering up the nose hole area, see pic.

It’s hard to breath and fogs up the VB, the original ones don’t cover that area.

The last holes one the outside edges of the foam are in the wrong spot on the reproduction.

TOP PIC ORIGINAL WITH PROPER GAP
BOTTOM PIC REPRO FOAM

Interesting…I suppose you could run some black thread through it to fold the extra material over, but you shouldn’t really have to on a brand new item. Does it feel like the original otherwise?

Interesting…I suppose you could run some black thread through it to fold the extra material over, but you shouldn’t really have to on a brand new item. Does it feel like the original otherwise?

Well, the thing is the material the repros use is pretty similar, it should feel almost identical. In fact, the size and shape of the repro eye shade is perfect, it lays flat on top of the original and is shaped the same with no overlap or anything.

Because the holes are not in the right spot on the repro, the shade gets pulled inward. If you look at the pic of it installed on my virtual boy in the above post you will see how it pulls away from the top of the shroud, it does this all the way around, the edges are angling in more than the original. The fabric is tighter and sharper on the cheeks and forehead, it feels nowhere near as good are the original.

I used a soldering iron to burn a new holes through the fabric using the original as a template and it is much better now, but you shouldn’t have to deal with that on a new product.

I informed Hyperkin of the problem and they are looking into it, suggesting that there may be different versions of the shade for different virtual boys (there isn’t afaik) and that theirs was a 1:1 replicate of the one they have…

The stand is great though, especially for the price.