Make sure that you don't ever see through the one of the two bigguns, otherwise you'll still switch instanty
I think I'd be up for that challenge, and I'm not even remotely concerned.
I don't think what the Beyond is has clicked for you, and I'm not sure it ever will. That's perfectly fine. I doubt that experiencing the Beyond would change your mind about it because of your priorities.
The same goes for me. I was offered a Crystal to evaluate and in my eyes evaluating a Crystal would have been work rather than something I enjoyed doing. It simply has too many deal breakers for me because I have a very different set of priorities from you.
None of this is right or wrong. We simply have different viewpoints.
All that said, I do think the VR1 is a pretty decent step forward from the Aero and Crystal.
Aero (good sharpness, limited vertical FOV, panning blur, lack of local dimming )
Crystal( good vertical FOV, working local dimming, heavy, bulky, requires battery )
VR1 ( very good vertical and horizontal FOV, working local dimming, more nits, better color, sharper optics, optional hand tracking and pass through cameras )
They are clearly Aero -> Crystal -> VR1 for image quality
And the Beyond is something different, better in some ways and worse in others.