RIP reverb

[Harlikwin]

Well, the inevitable happened. My Reverb crapped out.

 

Its been a slow slide, first getting periodic snow in the view ports, jiggling the cable to get it to go away. I had thought a new PC-HMD cable would fixt it. Alas, no, the cable that took nearly a month to arrive actually works worse than the old one. However now instead of snow, after replacing the cable, I have 1 eye and both eye blackouts regularly. I also don't have a lot of nice things to say about HP's warranty folks, absolutely crappy india based tech support. But hopefully after a week of fighting with them I might get a replacement headset after sometime after Thanksgiving, though they are backorderd so who the hell knows when. Pretty unhappy with HP and their "pro" warranty at this point.

 

The issue, for anyone listening seems to be the HMD-Connector cable (the short one), it seems like the connection to the connector is what is janky, I can "pinch" it and sort of hear/feel crunching, also putting some strain on it (up/down/L/R) does restore the image for a bit, but its not really stable even if I try to tape it in place...

 

So anyhow, pro-tip, at the first sign of trouble get on the phone with them, don't use their web-chat or whatever. And don't wait because once it starts it gets worse quickly.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Harlikwin

[jozeff]

Ok, bad news!

 

 

Just wanted to order one.....

 

 

How many hours did you use it for?

Is it the first batch one or is is the one with new clip?

 

 

Thanks for sharing this,!

 

 

Heard pretty good things about hp service but this doesn't sound like that.

 

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

 

Jozeff

[Harlikwin]

Ah yes, I should have added the details.

 

So, I was one of the very first people to get one in the US. It did come with the clip so I assumed it was one of the "fixed" ones. IIRC I got in august, and it started to have problems about a month ago (early nov). With a ~10 hours of use per week (seated, 99% DCS use). I would estimate 120-150 hours use total on it since early August.

 

The design failure isn't with the the way to 2 connectors mate (partly solved by the clip), both the HMD-Connector and the Connector-Computer cables seem to have failed not at the connector-connector interface (the likely issue there was just unplugging randomly at a guess). But they both seem to have failed at the point where the cable actually enters the connector.

 

For a while I could apply a slight "strain" by taping the Computer-HMD cable back on itself in a large loop and that temporarily worked for a few weeks. I thought the new cable would fix the issue and it took nearly a month to come into stock. However, the moment I swapped the cables though the headset became unusable and I suspect there is an additional problem with the HMD-connector cable now too, not sure how that happened though. I can twist/loop the cables in my hand and get it working for a few minutes at time but it invariably drops out when I move my head much.

 

From a build quality, Q/A, and engineering standpoint, its terrible, they should be firing the team that built and designed them. The cables have almost no strain on them aside from their own weight and absolutely should not be failing this under light use. The choice to use that connector is IMO a terrible one as it introduces like 3-4 more points of failure in the cable system. 1 each at where the cable goes into the connector, plus the actual connector itself. Which from an engineering POV also introduces a bunch more resistance into the cable system leading to power supply issues and other connectivity problems, not to mention potential "wiggle problems".

 

On the CS side, it seems to be routed through india, and my experience with that has been terrible, limited updates, they will wait days to tell you they need more info etc. I did finally get a US based CS person on the phone and they were great, but only when I called back like 3 times asking where the 1-2 business day shipping was did I find out thats just what they put in the email, not reality due to the long backorder times. It might be different for European customers, you guys seem to have better customer service laws.

 

So now my choices are to reinstall my old Rift, or fly flatscreen/trackIR while I wait at least another week if not more. Neither of which are particularly appealing.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Harlikwin

[Habu_69]

I have Reverb V2 with about same usage factor as Harlikwin. I am VERY gentle with the cable and no issues so far. Thanks for the heads-up about being aggressive when issues first begin.

[rjetster1]

All of these issues reported have caused me to delay purchasing the Reverb until after the New Year. I am now leaning towards the Pimax 8K X after some of the recent videos.

[DthFrmAbv]

ah c'mon, how many units were sold and how many died?

I had an Odyssey+ which was broken after two days (big "fun" shipping that thing from Europe to the US for repair). I had a Rift which had to replaced under warranty and my first Rift S didn't work at all.

 

That's the way it is, luck or no luck. NO POINT in "not buying now", things won't get better anytime soon.

[Harlikwin]

I have Reverb V2 with about same usage factor as Harlikwin. I am VERY gentle with the cable and no issues so far. Thanks for the heads-up about being aggressive when issues first begin.

 

Well, id hardly call my usage hard. It was all seated with minimal head movement and no strain on the cables aside from thier own weight.

 

Id still reccomend the headset, especially after going back to my CV1. Just be aware their warranty service is slow.