In my view, buying a Rift or Vive just for CAD models is a bit of a mad game.

I use my smartphone with 360 panoramas and https://theViewer.co. Note, I work with 3DS MAX usually, not CAD, so with my Gallaxy S7 and GearVR it looks really awesome, I have tried it with Google Cardboard and its alright, but I really recommend one of the proper plastic headsets with good lenses

imho:

•for staying involved in the latest technology                                                                               • client presentations, especially those who are visually challenged                                            go for it

for the idea of playing with "office projects" hmmmmmm probably stick with google cardboard or Qrvr                    

Well I think getting VR Headset to view 3D is a great idea.

It would be very awesome. I suggest you must get the good brand on that one.

LOL sounds like your trying to justify spening 1k to play video games. also business stuff.

There huge advantages to using a VR headset with positional tracking: your perception of the scale and volume of a space will be much more more accurate, and can lead you to design decisions fairly quickly. For "client ready" VR experiences, expect to spend as much time cleaning up your model as you would for a final rendering. You can get a VIVE and a VR-ready laptop for under $2000, which is not too crazy compared to the cost of a typical workstation. I would suggest getting a $10 google cardboard and rendering some stereo 360 panoramas first, then decide if the ability to walk through those scenes is worth the extra cash.

Cardboard is an excellent way to introduce usefulness of VR within an office that perceives it generally as a novel technology or if those making the buying decision don't see its utility as both client communication device and iterative design tool. 

It's def worth it if you don't foot the bill.

If you don't foot the bill and have the budget in the project to create the quality of rendering model worth walking through. 

I did not know about IrisVR, but it looks really interesting! I will have to have a look at that.

As regards to the question, yes, I think it is worth buying a VR headset. But you do not need to spend a lot of money. If you are already using Revit or any other program that does 360-degrees renderings, then you can buy a Google Cardboard which costs less than $10 and you are good to go. That in itself will definitely be a massive asset when presenting your designs to the client.

I have the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Glasses by Samtung on my website (Architectgadgets.com) that has very good reviews on Amazon. However, there are other options available such as the Samsung Gear VR that they recommended above which are also pretty good.

As they recommended above, it might be worth trying this inexpensive way first before moving to the more complex positional tracking.

Cheers,

Miquel

I second Google cardboard if you're looking to get into VR cheaply, but that and the gearVR depend on the power of your phone to run well.  These options also won't have the accuracy that you might need to aid you in design, but would be fine for client presentations. 

At this point I don't think it's worth getting the higher grade VR headsets (Oculus and Vive) plus the computer hardware upgrade they require.  After all we're only on the first iteration of VR, and it's likely to come down in cost once the technology is improved and manufacturing is streamlined.  This first generation of headsets is suited for developers of VR software and tech fanatics.