So a buddy of mine came buy. Tried the Rift. Even tried to buy it from me lol. I wanted to keep it. Anyway he wanted to know if there were any cheaper alternatives to Oculus Rift? I looked around and I saw a bunch of different headsets Durovis Dive 5 being one of them but they all use phones. He was curious if there were any out there that you could hook to your PC that were maybe a lil more affordable that would offer the same thing as far as motion tracking and looking around in a VR setting like the rift offers? Obviously they wouldn be as good as rift but hey at least he might get the idea right???
Sorry I didn't mean to sound so absolute in my original post.
It's possible to create your own VR HMD system by buying a used DK1 and adding positional markers on it, and a webcam. You'll be missing features like low persistence, and you'll be limited to whatever content you can create in Unity or Unreal Engine. The parts will cost less than the cost of a DK2. However, it's very difficult for most people to do this, and if you choose to go this route, it will most likely take a very long time. Longer than it's worth if you're simply trying to find a low cost HMD.
A more realistic option would be to get an Android phone that's in the $150 to $250 range and then get Google Cardboard. There's no positional tracking. But there's orientation tracking, and you'll have access to the VR apps on the Play Store, and 360 videos on YouTube.
For $25 Google Cardboard is a down and dirty (and cheap) alternative, but it lacks most features that VR requires for quality immersion. Still, it's fun to pass around at parties.
Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.