Which VR Headset - Your Thoughts

Golfnut

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Which VR Headset- your thoughts.

Here are some facts.

I am a Senior Citizen.

I have never experienced VR/3D (except the DisneyLand experiences).

I would like to purchase a headset – maximum price £600.

So thinking Quest, Rift S or HP Reverb G2.

Usage would mostly be for flightsim, car racing sim, plus Cricket, Tennis or just general experience like Everest/Apollo 11, Google Earth.

Definitely no shooters or sabre slashing!!

My PC room is very cluttered and only suitable for seated usage – maybe some of the longer PC attachments (5 metres) might release me into a more spacious area (can these cables be extended?). So the Quest has obvious attraction here but as the main usage will be seated maybe I would be better with one of the others.

What would your thoughts be?
 
Couple of questions - what Spec is your PC, especially the graphics card as its worth ensuring it can drive any PC VR titles you fancy, assuming its up to it then next question do you wear glasses ?
This can be a factor on which VR device fits you best and also what is you PD or IPD ( interpupillary distance) - its the space between your pupils, not something that is important in most other things but VR headsets are set to work within certains sizes so its important. I am at a rather low size of 54mm so I use a quest as it has the ability to physically move the lens closure together and it works for me, the Rift S doesnt and I was advised not to get one. You can download a app onto a your phone that will use the camera to measure you IPD this may help you choose - 58-64 is normal I think for most VR headsets.

And yes you can extend the cables on some headsets - my quest has as 5m cable connected to a 3m one so I have 8m distance from my PC, also the quest can some some games locally so require no wire or PC at all so it can be used anywere, even outside. Out of the headsets you mention this is the only one to have this ability.

Pesonally I dont use it hugely so a £399 quest was a cheaper headset and my son and wife both use it wired and wirelessly so that was a feature worth having in my opinon.
 
Thank you very much for that excellent, informative reply. My PC is an i5, running a GTX1080.
Yes I wear glasses.
I also like the idea that my wife could get some use out of the wireless Quest.
I will be very interested to see the full specs of the new Quest. Guess I am probably going to have to wait awhile.
Meanwhile I will measure my IPD.
Thanks again.
 
Which VR Headset- your thoughts.

Here are some facts.

I am a Senior Citizen.

I have never experienced VR/3D (except the DisneyLand experiences).

I would like to purchase a headset – maximum price £600.

So thinking Quest, Rift S or HP Reverb G2.

Usage would mostly be for flightsim, car racing sim, plus Cricket, Tennis or just general experience like Everest/Apollo 11, Google Earth.

Definitely no shooters or sabre slashing!!

My PC room is very cluttered and only suitable for seated usage – maybe some of the longer PC attachments (5 metres) might release me into a more spacious area (can these cables be extended?). So the Quest has obvious attraction here but as the main usage will be seated maybe I would be better with one of the others.

What would your thoughts be?



Any of them will be really good but I think for your use-case, the HP Reverb is probably the no-brainer as you are going to be doing a lot of sim-based stuff which doesn't take advantage of Oculus's excellent tracking.

Reverb might be even better than the Index given your use-case.
 
Out of those 3, and considering you're going to be restricted for space, I'd go for the G2... if you can find it.

Your PC might be a touch underpowered though. I'm running a Vive Pro with an i7+1080, and while it's fine for most things, I do wish I had a few more horses under the bonnet when it comes to sims. I think you'll be fine in the short term, but like me you'll be wanting to upgrade before long.
 
Thanks guys. I will have a look at the many YouTube reviews of the new G2.
 
My gut is screaming G2 as well to be honest BUT it may be worth waiting to see what the new quest costs and how good it is. For SIM racing or flying on PC the reverb G2 is going to be hard to beat...

But for experiences and stuff like table tennis and what not I wonder if the quest wouldn't edge it. What you lose in clarity may be offset by being totally wireless and not having to be near your pc. If your garden is flat (and when the lighting is just right) I imagine full garden VR could be a thing of beauty. I say think because I have not been fortunate enough to try it myself.
 
Yes Mike that is my absolute dilemma. I understand the G2 will have better resolution but I cannot get past the thoughts of the beauty of being wireless as I can imagine myself sitting comfortably in my lounge enjoying other VR experiences like Apollo 11 , Google Earth etc.
The problem of course is understanding what my actual usage would turn out to be and of course having to wait!!!
 
The new Quest won't compare to the clarity of the G2. If the majority of your use case is sim based stuff, then the Quest is pretty much useless for it. Sim based applications are very demanding and require a PC/tether eitherway.

So you're going to be using a portable VR headset wired which is a compromised experience, especially for dark content as it shows up a lot of macroblocking with video compression which is what the Quest uses.

The Quest is magical but it grows boring quickly due to its library of games being limited to shorter, more limited adventures.
 
Google Earth is only available via PC VR so you'll need to experience it tethered to a PC.

And regarding Mike's idea of using the Quest in your garden you MUST be careful not to allow the sun to shine on the lenses, otherwise you'll burn the LCD! It only takes a split second for this to happen!
 
There’s only one soloution - a conclusion many of us reach - you’ll just have to get both!! 😎😂😂
 
LOL - now swaying towards age G2 !!!:):):)
It is a decision a lot of people struggle to make
You need to know if you want the best pc vr experience you can or if you are prepared to saccrifice eye candy to have a fully unteathered experience where ever you want and still have an acceptable pc experience as well.
For me the choice was simple. PC high end VR before everything else..... But I think it is only a matter of time before I get a quest of some description as well
 
The Quest is a brilliant machine to start with and a great introduction to VR. The wireless freedom is awesome, and the ability to go tethered to a PC is a fantastic upgrade path. The thing was for me, once I’d tasted PC style graphics there was no going back.

It was just a case of having an area to use it in by the PC. I think if you can stand with your arms outstretched and not hit anything, about 1.8m x 1.8m, you’ll be fine. Now I find the wireless feature is unnecessary, and going through the Quest home, to the rift home, to steam etc. is all a bit of a faff.

Hence an upgrade to the G2 is coming 😀😀
 
I would say that you have asked the beginners questions in a room full of VR enthusiasts, personally I havent used any other device other than the PSVR so I know nothing of this higher quality that they speak of. I was torn between the improved quailty of a Rift and the quests usability. Watching the other in the family use it untethered made that choice a good one, personally I tend to be tethered all the time but I cannot see the differences these Guys are on about (correct as they are) as I dont have access to another head set. Hence my questions at the start about comfort, IPD etc the best headset is the one you can get the most use from in my opinon, better lenses dont help if you arent using it. Its a tricky one.
 
Another vote for the G2 here. I've tried the quest and have a Reverb G1 and it blows the quest away on visuals. Very important for your sims. The G2 will also support fs2020 when it adds VR. The only downside is your pc specs. You'll have to turn the graphic detail down a bit to get a playable frame rate for vr, though rear projection helps massively here as long as you can hit 45 fps. Still, then you have an excuse for a new PC 😉
 

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