[Pro Version] KIWI design VR Cable Management, 6 Packs Retractable Ceiling Pulley System for HTC Vive/Vive Pro/Oculus Rift/Rift S/Link Cable for…

**disclosure**
I was offered a full refund on this product in return for writing an honest review for amazon and providing the manufacturers feedback on their product.

Unboxing:

The product came well packaged, 6 pulleys and attachments ready assembled, plus both sticky pads and rawl plugs and screw hooks allowing choice of installation.

Setting up:
We chose to use the sticky pads on our lounge ceiling, which were easy to use. Simply peeling off the backing layer and pushing onto the ceiling. They are very sticky. So, we carefully measured and made little pencil marks where we wanted them before putting them up as I dont think it would be easy or perhaps even possible to re-site them once applied.
I assume, if we want to remove them that warming them up with a hairdryer before peeling off will be the best idea.

We chose the screw hooks for my “man cave” as the ceiling is textured and I didn’t feel the sticky pads would work well there.

It is simple to attach the pulleys cables to the Vive/HMD cable, simply hooking the rubber loop around the cable and back over the clip.

We did find the instructions had measurements suggesting positioning/ lengths but found it best to experiment and/or adapt to ones own space. Note in the pics we used 3 downstairs in the lounge in our biggest area, but only two in the man cave.

The length of each cable can be adjusted using an included allan key to move a collar up the cable thus preventing a certain amount from reeling in. Again, you need to adjust accoring to your ceilings/space/height etc.

Use:
They work well. It really is liberating not having to avoid tripping over or treading on the cable !
We did have to play about with the wire lengths to find our optimum set up, that being where the HMD cable hangs nicely above your head, but pulls nicely down if you band or crouch etc. Again, trial and error.
The parts are well made and good quality.

Possible improvements:
The wire drop loops that attach around the HMD cable can slide along it quite easily, this is both good and bad.
We do pack up and move between rooms, so it’s good they reposition easily, however, if you were to stay in one room, they can drift a bit and need pushing back into best place sometimes. This could be rectified with a bit of tape probably.

We wondered if perhaps one pulley could have a lighter spring or an adjustable spring setting. No big issue but in a game with lots of crouching or up down movement, the pull back can be just a little much and break immersion. It’s not a big pull by any means but a lighter pull might be better on the last pulley.

The instructions are a little lacking/unclear. We were not sure whether the measurements were for horizontal positioning or vertical drops. I think it might be better if the manual just had some photos of possible set ups and advised what to consider in working out ones own best set up.

Summary:
Good product, very happy to try and use it. I was considering splurging on a wireless solution but may well not do so now. This product keeps the cable from your feet and for most games above your head without you feeling it being there at all. We have energetic kids and not having the trip hazard or cable trampling is great.

** Disclosure:
I was offered the chance to purchase this item and receive a refund in return for my honest review and feedback.
Thankyou very much to Kiwi Design for this opportunity, we will be enjoying using the product from now on.
**

I hope this has been of use to others. Ian.

I thought I’d use this for a while before reviewing. 8 months later, I’ve replaced the HMD cable, but these have been flawless. They’re exactly what I wanted.

Running my Index cable along my ceiling through these badboys. The adjustable drop lets you change any of the heights, so you can get your VR cable in the perfect alignment for your space in minutes. The ability to use the included ring to have multiple pulleys support the same point… fantastic. I used the included hardware to screw this into my ceiling, so I don’t know anything about the adhesive pads. The retraction strength is just about perfect on these, and the amount it fights you is not bad at all. It’s there, but really, totally manageable. The silent motion and silencers seem fine, but honestly I don’t know how much noise these things are even capable at producing. It’s not like you’re pulling the cable all the way out and then letting it snap back when playing. The rubber straps for securing the cable have held up well. No stretching or damage, and I have to set up and teardown my entire rig for every session, so I’m doing up, then undoing these little straps all the time.

If your HMD has a wire, consider these units a must have.

Oh boy, I’ve got some making good to do on the ceiling after faffing with this kit for half of the morning.

I chose not to use the sticky pads as I wanted to minimize the appearance on the ceiling, and didn’t want it ripping paint or plaster off when the time came to remove them.

Right off the bat, you need to BIN THE RAWL PLUGS. They’re junk, don’t even try. If you must use them ignore the instructions of 5mm drill bit, and go 4 to 4.5mm bit size as they have next to zero friction or splaying ability to properly grip to the ceiling.

The instructions say to use six hangers and space them 16 inches apart for the middle ones an 5 inches apart for the two ends ones. This makes for a very difficult to extend system and on occasion tried to rip my headset off my head. I’ve noticed that a few reviews comment about this and completely agree. I only have six feet from one corner to the middle of my play space so tried 3 hangers. Worked like a charm and as you can see in the picture just the weight of my Rift headset extends it nicely with little to no friction. I can’t feel it tugging anymore. This does mean that I now have three holes to fill and paint.

For the asking price (£21.99 with prime) I’m disappointed. The screw hooks are as cheap as they come and the white plastic came off one of them from just screwing it in, so had to spray-paint it white. The rawl plugs are completely unfit for purpose and I’m pretty sure the black rubber bands that hold the cord will go brittle and break within a few months. I’m sure the spring loaded wire winding things can be had for a good price if I could figure out what they’re called, and I could get rawl plugs and hooks from Screwfix or Wickes for a couple of quid would be better quality.

After all those shortfalls it does actually work though. I now no longer have to worry about tripping over the wire, and it doesn’t try to rip my headset off in my chosen 3 hook set up. Was it worth the £21.99 and the polyfiller and paint I’ll now have to use to patch the 3 unneeded holes? Absolutely not.

The main reason I bought this was because when playing certain games, (ie. Pavlov, Gorn, Boneworks, etc NOT games like beatsaber) I tended to turn one direction a lot and the cable would get super tangled and twisted. I thought that this would prevent that, since I wouldn’t be stepping over the cable, but I was wrong. That’s not really the products fault though. I just don’t know why else you would buy this. Like literally a FEW turns and boom you need to take off the headset and untwist it. Much worse than the normal setup. Although it is a super super nice feeling to not have the cable on your back. Also the sticky hook pads stick super well. I have a textured ceiling and they stick just fine. Also how tf do you put your VR headset down after this? Well, you don’t. You need to unhook the cables from all the pulleys which is just a hassle but it’s what needs to be done unless you have a hook in your ceiling which I can’t do. This doesn’t deserve a rating lower than 3 or 4 stars, but it’s just not really what I was looking for.

In short, the system solves all the problems with having a cable on the floor… but creates new ones.

The biggest new problem is that the pulley is very strong, and it feels like your HMD is being pulled off of your head if you move too much away from the center. To counteract that, you need to make the cable longer. Doing that makes the cable hang next to your face, which can lead to tangling around your neck and to getting the controllers stuck in the cable when performing motions toward the ceiling.

Finally, it also makes it harder to store the HMD. You need to put a chair below it, or painstakingly pull the cable through the pulleys to lengthen it enough to place the HMD in a safe place after you’re done using it.

I will be reverting to having the cable on the ground.

If, like me, you have a tethered VR headset and you are bothered by the wire, then this is the next best thing to having no wires. The pulleys require a flat ceiling with enough room to hold up your cable from your PC to your play area. I went with the triangle method whereby you have 2 hooks near your PC, then a triangle of hooks directly above the center of your play area. The final pulley is connected to all 3 hooks in the triangle, creating a center pulley. This way means that the pulley should always remain in the center, with enough cable and pulley length to move around your play area without tripping over the cable.
There is a slight tug when you move fast, or crouch down, this is to be expected, but it doesn’t distract too much.
The only thing I didn’t like was the rubber O-rings, this method is a bit fiddly – especially when/if you need to take the headset down. This has been fixed in newer versions of this pulley system, there is now a sort of plastic tie-wrap to deal with the cable.
Overall, a far better way of playing games in VR, and no more worrying about tripping over a cable you can’t see.

Thanks to the sticking handles, it’s very easy to install. It took me about 15 mins to install the hooks as I wanted to, and about 10 mins to set up the length that I needed.
Very well thought product, it definitely upgraded my VR experience by avoiding me having cables on the floor or blocking me in my movements. I recommend it.

I haven’t tried to uninstall it to put it elsewhere, so I don’t know if the stickers will support a second installation.