My review on Vive pro2 (vs. Valve Index / HP reverb G2)

[lqqfrank]

OK. finally I accept that there is no final on gears upgrade in current years, money investment is still quite necessary. 

Directly jump into my conclusion (now I have all 3 in hand and I think I can write something). 

 

1. resolution 

Vive pro2 is the best. G2 resolution is also good. 

2. FOV

Valve index is the best. Vive pro2 FOV is close to valve index, not bad. G2 is not comparable in this point. 

3. Color

Valve index is the best. 

4. Comfortable and sound. 

To be honest, I still give this score to valve index. The design of headset including the rear part is excellent. Pro2 is not bad, but I don't like its earphone.

The sound quality of valve index is even better that vive pro2 which is pressed to the ear:) 

5. refresh rate 

Valve index with 144hz is the best. vive pro2 with 120hz is not bad. G2 is only 90Hz. Although DCS cannot reach that refresh rate, this index really can be felt by eyes. 

 

Overall, due to the importance of resolution, and mostly vive Pro2 is not bad and close to the best, I stick to pro2 now. 

Wondering how good it will be when valve index gen 2 comes out. 

[Hartsblade]

Nice write up. Gives me something to think about...

[dburne]

Yeah I have Reverb G2, Index, and Vive Pro 2.

Currently using the Vive Pro 2 for all my VR gaming. Index controllers and base stations work beautifully with the Vive Pro 2. Best in class tracking for sure.

[Nahemoth]

3 hours ago, dburne said:

Yeah I have Reverb G2, Index, and Vive Pro 2.

Currently using the Vive Pro 2 for all my VR gaming. Index controllers and base stations work beautifully with the Vive Pro 2. Best in class tracking for sure.

 

Do you feel that the DCS experience is enhanced with VP2 (comparing to G2)?

[dburne]

1 minute ago, Nahemoth said:

 

Do you feel that the DCS experience is enhanced with VP2 (comparing to G2)?

 

No not enough to justify the expense.

[dburne]

150% is what Steam VR defaults to for the Vive Pro 2. At least it did for me.

[Nahemoth]

I see... about the CPU/GPU performance? 

[DucS2r]

5 hours ago, dburne said:

 

No not enough to justify the expense.

I had the Vive Pro II on order twice, but ran into delays. I settled on the Reverb G2 with a high end 3090 system, and after lots of adjusting and advice I could not be happier with DCS. For $499 it was the right choice for me. I look forward to the Index 2, but for now, I am happily simming in DCS and not spending all my time adjusting. Though that is fun, to a point, lol. Big thanks to the pros here like speed of heat and dburne! 

[lqqfrank]

11 hours ago, Nahemoth said:

I see... about the CPU/GPU performance? 

GPU from 2080ti to 3090, CPU from i9 to i11, actually the improvement is not a big jump in DCS. 

But in recent years, the improvement of frame rate / resolution with whatever latest gear is just limited, isn't it? 

While, I have to say that every single step of clarity of the cockpit or scenes with the new gear makes it worth, if you play tens of hours per week...

[imacken]

16 hours ago, Nahemoth said:

 

Do you feel that the DCS experience is enhanced with VP2 (comparing to G2)?

Depends, if you are tight on cash, then no, but if you don't mind spending a few hundred and sell your G2, then yes, I would recommend it.  Better in almost all ways than my G2.

[Auger]

I'm still using a Rift S on an i9 9900k, RTX 2080 computer. Getting kind of tired of the screen door effect and not seeing the cockpit gauges clearly. I'm trying to learn the A10C and the AV-8B and the MFD maps are all but useless.

 

I'm in the market for a new VR headset, but dont want to spend all my time constantly tweaking settings to get the best graphics. My computer is in the corner of a small room, so not sure about having to set out base stations.

 

It sounds like the Reverb G2 may be the best option for me, but I've read of glitches in the system, like sound issues, etc. I'd like to avoid the Oculus 2 if at all possible, now that Facebook has taken over Oculus.

 

Any recommendations?

[dburne]

21 minutes ago, Auger said:

I'm still using a Rift S on an i9 9900k, RTX 2080 computer. Getting kind of tired of the screen door effect and not seeing the cockpit gauges clearly. I'm trying to learn the A10C and the AV-8B and the MFD maps are all but useless.

 

I'm in the market for a new VR headset, but dont want to spend all my time constantly tweaking settings to get the best graphics. My computer is in the corner of a small room, so not sure about having to set out base stations.

 

It sounds like the Reverb G2 may be the best option for me, but I've read of glitches in the system, like sound issues, etc. I'd like to avoid the Oculus 2 if at all possible, now that Facebook has taken over Oculus.

 

Any recommendations?

 

I think HP has solved the sound issues with the Reverb G2 with the new cable they have for it now.

Question is will a new unit come with it at this point.

[imacken]

I had the first batch of G2, and I never experienced any sound issues at all.

[Nahemoth]

59 minutes ago, imacken said:

Depends, if you are tight on cash, then no, but if you don't mind spending a few hundred and sell your G2, then yes, I would recommend it.  Better in almost all ways than my G2.

 

I was looking for such answer... I have read that I only need a base station (sitting position), but do I need the controllers? For instance setup process and so on.

[lqqfrank]

18 minutes ago, Nahemoth said:

 

I was looking for such answer... I have read that I only need a base station (sitting position), but do I need the controllers? For instance setup process and so on.

You don’t need controllers for pro2 setup. There is an option to “skip” controllers pairing. And then it’s all set, you can run without controllers. All setup menus can be reached by software screen with mouse or a button on the headset itself.

[Nahemoth]

1 hour ago, lqqfrank said:

You don’t need controllers for pro2 setup. There is an option to “skip” controllers pairing. And then it’s all set, you can run without controllers. All setup menus can be reached by software screen with mouse or a button on the headset itself.

 

Good to know, the investment reduces considerably. Taking into account that I would prefer to use one base station, is there any preference with its location? That is, in front, one side...

[lqqfrank]

30 minutes ago, Nahemoth said:

 

Good to know, the investment reduces considerably. Taking into account that I would prefer to use one base station, is there any preference with its location? That is, in front, one side...

Didn't try one station before. Not sure if it works well. If it does work, suggest to put in in front of you at high (watching down to your head moves), so that it can catch all your moves. Notice: the station does get dumb by obstacles. 

P.S. I tried only one station a moment ago (plug out the other one). It does work well same as 2 stations. Make sure the station watching all your moves... 

Edited August 16, 2021 by lqqfrank

[Nahemoth]

45 minutes ago, lqqfrank said:

Didn't try one station before. Not sure if it works well. If it does work, suggest to put in in front of you at high (watching down to your head moves), so that it can catch all your moves. Notice: the station does get dumb by obstacles. 

P.S. I tried only one station a moment ago (plug out the other one). It does work well same as 2 stations. Make sure the station watching all your moves... 

 

I will check if I can do such installation, otherwise I will get two base stations. And meanwhile I want to review the settings to see how changes with respect the G2.

[eaglecash867]

4 hours ago, Auger said:

It sounds like the Reverb G2 may be the best option for me, but I've read of glitches in the system, like sound issues, etc. I'd like to avoid the Oculus 2 if at all possible, now that Facebook has taken over Oculus.

 

Any recommendations?

With my G2, I did have occasional cutting out of the sound in the left ear.  That is, I THINK the left ear was cutting out intermittently, but it was hard to tell because the ambient noise levels in my apartment made the off-ear audio concept an exercise in absurdity in engineering.  What I did to overcome all of the audio issues was to get an Avantree DG80 USB to Bluetooth audio streaming dongle that works with the Bose QC35 II headset I already had.  Its been uninterrupted audio bliss ever since.

[PicklePicklePickle]

I recently got the Vive Pro2 as well. Pretty disappointing and it is now part of my VR cemetery(they are really piling up)....still using the Index. The sweet spot is tiny. Everything even slightly out of center is blurry. The FOV vertically is awful and the horizontal is still not better than what I get with the Index. The only good thing about it is that in the tiny region in the center where you can see the display clearly, it is indeed a very good display. Another issue I had was that I couldn't adjust the IPD such that both the cockpit and the landscape did not give me 'cross eyes'. It was one or the other.

 

I seem to be getting better FOV results with the Index than others, maybe my eyes are just different. My IPD is 64.1 and I move the Index lenses all the way until they hit my face. The FOV is fantastic in every direction and the 'sweet spot' is practically not a spot at all because I feel like I can see clearly almost edge to edge.

 

Yes, the resolution and screen door on the index is not great, but I find that the optical clarity, FOV and FPS just make it leaps and bounds over all the other headsets for DCS combat. I feel DCS is all about turning your head and being able to scan a large area with your eyes for that bandit or ground target.

 

My wishlist for Valve Index2:

• Reduce the god rays without affecting the current quality/FOV of the optics
• Slightly increase resolution/reduce screen door effect. No need to go crazy here, nobody can run it anyway. If you do go crazy with resolution, make sure we can still run it at a lower resolution with no performance downside.
• It would be nice to reduce the black level for night missions and maybe run the panel at 2 more bits to improve sky/ocean banding

This would be an awesome DCS headset imo

Edited August 19, 2021 by PicklePicklePickle

[imacken]

Each to his own, obviously, but for me the sweet spot on the VP2 is way larger than my Index was. 
Btw, the cross eye thing is easily solved with the ED cross eye utility. 

[Munkwolf]

Thanks for the write up. I've been tempted to switch from the G2 to VP2 (clarity) or 8KX (fov)... but my gut is telling me to wait until next year. Maybe an Index 2 will be announced and/or seeing how the Apple VR headset rumors play out..

[Nahemoth]

I'm reading really bad reviews of the VP2 headset, and mine is just coming on Tuesday... I hope everything is fine when I test it!

[Gryzor]

Motion Smoothing, whick is essential in DCS with VR, is completely awful in VP2. In fact, I returned VP due this.

[Baldrick33]

On 8/19/2021 at 4:22 PM, Munkwolf said:

Thanks for the write up. I've been tempted to switch from the G2 to VP2 (clarity) or 8KX (fov)... but my gut is telling me to wait until next year. Maybe an Index 2 will be announced and/or seeing how the Apple VR headset rumors play out..

My experience with the VP2 compared with a G1 was that it was a downgrade in terms of clarity. Significantly so. I could whack the resolution right up to twice the G1 to get close but then the performance was totally unacceptable. This is with a 8500K @5 Ghz and a 2080Ti. I guess a 3090 and 10900K @ 5.2 might allow a bit more scope for higher settings.

 

I also found the VP2 uncomfortable and hot, I tried a bunch of face plates but never really got it feeling right so could be a head shape thing. I also suffered with EMF if I touched the headset though think that is a base station thing as I had the same issue with Pimax & Index.

 

I would definitely take a G2 over a VP2 from my experience but YMMV!