I was wondering how you interpret the following question:
Do add-ons on a piece of gear (like the vision enhancements on contact lenses) count against the availability of the whole thing? I haven't found an explicit answer yet.
Here and there add-ons are listed as "+X" to availability; others just have availability "X". Is this the same thing?
So far I found some clues that add-ons don't always raise the availability of the whole; the cyberware suites in Augmentation should otherwise have higher availability ratings.
I currently apply the following: if it's a modular add-on that can be added later, then it doesn't count against the whole; only each separate part needs to be below 12 at character creation. Cybereyes with stuff in them for example, or weapons with added-on smartlinks. However, if it's an inseparable part of the whole, such as enhancements to contact lenses, then they do count against the whole, and the sum of the availability ratings of the components is used to determine if you may buy it at character creation.
How do you handle this?