If you’re someone who consumes online media, and it’s probably fair to say that you are since you’re reading this, you’ve probably read a thing or a few about the Apple Vision Pro headset. [Ed Note: Apple prefers the device simply be called “Apple Vision Pro,” no “the,” but we don’t care.] Apple is marketing this thing as bringing humanity a touch closer to science fiction. We’re not quite at the level of Ready Player One yet, but some are hailing the $3,499 device as the best consumer-grade headset on the market. Now, thanks to the Apple Vision Pro, you can turn mundane tasks like doing the laundry into something filled with apps and such floating in your vision. Still, that’s a lot of money. Would you spend $3,500 on the Vision Pro or on a car or motorcycle? How would you spend that cash, if that’s your choice?
I’m equal parts fascinated and a bit hesitant. Imagine being able to fix your motorcycle while having the instructions or the service manual right there in your “vision,” like so. That’s great! Then, I think about all of the recent viral videos and articles about people driving cars and flying planes while wearing these things. At first, that sounds exciting. I mean, what if a pilot had ForeFlight right there without having to mess around with an iPhone or iPad screen? That’s neat! Then I remember that these are still VR goggles and the world you’re seeing through them is just a video feed.
If something glitches out while you’re fixing your car, that’s not a super big deal. But, if the device conks out while you’re driving or worse, trying to land a plane? Oh that can go south pretty fast. So, I don’t recommend operating a vehicle while wearing these unless it’s low stakes like a Honda Motocompacto or something.
At the same time, $3,499 is a lot of money. Where I live, that can buy you a fantastic Buell motorcycle, a daily driver condition Audi TT, or an entire running and riding Suzuki RE-5. Or sure, a very nice Dodge Omni, if that’s your thing.
I couldn’t tell you the exact car I’d buy with this money, because there’s only one of them for sale right now for about this price. But I will suggest other cars. You could buy and then import a rough, but running kei truck from Japan for about $3,500. You can buy an old crapbox Volkswagen Golf GTI, a first-generation Honda Insight, or a massive Honda VTX1800 cruiser.
Speaking of bikes, just open up Facebook or Craigslist in your local area, set vehicle type to “motorcycle,” and start cruising. There are lots of interesting bikes to be had in that range from Royal Enfields and Honda Groms to the occasional Harley. Here’s a 2006 Harley-Davidson V-Rod (above), one of the coolest motorcycles Harley has ever built, for $4,000. It’s been for sale for 13 weeks. I bet the seller would take $3,500 or something pretty close to it.
If you look hard enough, there are some $3,500 deals out there. So, lay it down for me. If you had $3,500 to spend right now, would you buy an Apple Vision Pro, spend it on a car or bike, or something else?
