My Varjo Aero Review

[dburne]

 

[Burt]

Yeah I’m definitely a clarity person too with VR and the G2 is okay but I’m really interested In The Varjo because of the reasons you have explained. I’m glad they have a US service base that’s really cool. It’s just a lot of money to invest if the durability of the product/software is not as high standard as the headset it self. But I’m hoping to get one soon, I’m still rocking the G2/V1 and V2 cable and just switched to OXR so I’m okay for the time being now and I’ll be still saving for the Varjo.

Thanks as always.

[dburne]

2 hours ago, Burt said:

Yeah I’m definitely a clarity person too with VR and the G2 is okay but I’m really interested In The Varjo because of the reasons you have explained. I’m glad they have a US service base that’s really cool. It’s just a lot of money to invest if the durability of the product/software is not as high standard as the headset it self. But I’m hoping to get one soon, I’m still rocking the G2/V1 and V2 cable and just switched to OXR so I’m okay for the time being now and I’ll be still saving for the Varjo.

Thanks as always.

You are most welcome. Reverb G2 is a very nice headset and especially for the price it is hard to beat.  Aero is though on a whole new level, as it should be with the price it commands.

Just got an update from Fed Ex, they have the package now and it will be delivered before noon tomorrow. Hopefully happy times ahead.

Edited July 6, 2022 by dburne

[dburne]

Just a few minutes ago received the Repair Kit from Varjo. As he suspected it was the USB in the Link Box that had failed. He sent me a new Link Box and also a new Cable, tried the Link Box first and sure enough that was it. Back in business baby!!

Big Kudos to Arch at Varjo for jumping on this one and resolving it so quickly!!

Edited July 7, 2022 by dburne

[Supmua]

18 minutes ago, dburne said:

Just a few minutes ago received the Repair Kit from Varjo. As he suspected it was the USB in the Link Box that had failed. He sent me a new Link Box and also a new Cable, tried the Link Box first and sure enough that was it. Back in business baby!!

Big Kudos to Arch at Varjo for jumping on this one and resolving it so quickly!!

 

Glad to hear that.  I had to RMA my HMD way back then but nobody was really doing this so my replacement HMD came within a few days via overnight shipment from their US office.  Now people are waiting weeks for their replacement headset.  

[dburne]

11 minutes ago, Supmua said:

Glad to hear that.  I had to RMA my HMD way back then but nobody was really doing this so my replacement HMD came within a few days via overnight shipment from their US office.  Now people are waiting weeks for their replacement headset.  

 

Hopefully my Link Box failure was a one off and not indicative of a larger issue and others start seeing it over time. Varjo currently does not sell the Link Box nor the Cable. I suggested to Arch they really need to start offering those for sale. He said they would be bringing that up after the holidays, whenever that is.

[Supmua]

Yeah I’d be interested in getting a second link box as a backup. 

[dburne]

6 hours ago, Supmua said:

Yeah I’d be interested in getting a second link box as a backup. 

Not a bad idea especially when these things go out of warranty. I plan on getting a second one as well. I will say since getting mine in late Jan, I used this thing very heavily on most days, so have quite a number of hours on it. Most days I easily use it 3-5 hours a day. Again though really hoping mine was a one off type of deal, hope there is not a sudden failure in link boxes out there at some point down the road.

[EazyE]

Thinking about getting one but it seems everyone has a 3090. I'm running i7 8700 and a RTX 3070 with 32GB. Will that even be enough? I'm still running with a Rift s and have headphones but no mic. Also I have no base station or controllers but I 99% of the time do flight or sim racing. Don't care much about wireless which seems to be the focus of the upcoming round of headsets. I'm a graphics whore so visuals matter to me.

[dburne]

10 minutes ago, EazyE said:

Thinking about getting one but it seems everyone has a 3090. I'm running i7 8700 and a RTX 3070 with 32GB. Will that even be enough? I'm still running with a Rift s and have headphones but no mic. Also I have no base station or controllers but I 99% of the time do flight or sim racing. Don't care much about wireless which seems to be the focus of the upcoming round of headsets. I'm a graphics whore so visuals matter to me.

 

You would need the base stations, at least one min if only play seated sims, two preferable. Do not need the controllers for just flight or race sims.  Are you overclocking that CPU?  On GPU yeah a 3080 or 3090 would be better. You will be able to run it but would certainly have to reduce resolution a fair amount to get reasonable performance. 

Have you considered Reverb G2? It would be a nice upgrade over Rift S at a much cheaper price as well. And the G2 has everything you need in one package.

[EazyE]

The cpu is non k. I got the G2 when it released but hated WMR, the controllers, and the tracking wasn't great. Returned it and went back to the rift s. If 1 base station will work I have no problem picking one up. If I have to turn down resolution it seems it would make the headset a waste unless it's still miles ahead of everything else.

[dburne]

28 minutes ago, EazyE said:

The cpu is non k. I got the G2 when it released but hated WMR, the controllers, and the tracking wasn't great. Returned it and went back to the rift s. If 1 base station will work I have no problem picking one up. If I have to turn down resolution it seems it would make the headset a waste unless it's still miles ahead of everything else.

 

Well it will certainly be better, but at that cost only you would know if it was worth it after you got it. You would need to compromise some in the graphics and the resolution. One nice thing with the Aero is you can grow into it over time. 

[EazyE]

Then I guess the real question is at its lowest, is it equal or that much clearer than the G2? It would be great to turn off MSAA in DCS if I don't need it anymore.

[dburne]

4 minutes ago, EazyE said:

Then I guess the real question is at its lowest, is it equal or that much clearer than the G2? It would be great to turn off MSAA in DCS if I don't need it anymore.

You likely will still want MSAA. I still prefer having it myself and you will likely need to run at lower resolution than I do. It is going to be more clear most importantly over practically the entire lens as compared to Reverb G2 which has a smaller sweet spot.

But again is it worth that big a difference in price to you is the question I am afraid no one will be able to answer that for you. Also another point worth mentioning - Varjo does not yet have motion reprojection/smoothing implemented for the Aero yet and no timeline on when to expect it. It is on their roadmap, just not a timeline for it currently.

Not trying to sway you, but bang for buck Reverb G2 is hard to beat. I loved my G2, and love my Aero. 

[EazyE]

To be honest, I make good money so it's not really an issue as long as the wife never knows the price tag . Like I said, I'm coming from a Rift S so feels like I'm still stuck in 2018. The most important things is how well the software works (WMR was one of the biggest reasons I sent the G2 back at the time), and the clarity. I'm not one who always has to run out and by the newest versions of things, I keep cell phones for 5yrs as long as they still work. So if this thing is future proof I wouldn't mind keeping it through the Meta quest 5 or reverb g6 if it still holds up. Thanks for the input.

Edited July 12, 2022 by EazyE

[dburne]

32 minutes ago, EazyE said:

To be honest, I make good money so it's not really an issue as long as the wife never knows the price tag . Like I said, I'm coming from a Rift S so feels like I'm still stuck in 2018. The most important things is how well the software works (WMR was one of the biggest reasons I sent the G2 back at the time), and the clarity. I'm not one who always has to run out and by the newest versions of things, I keep cell phones for 5yrs as long as they still work. So if this thing is future proof I wouldn't mind keeping it through the Meta quest 5 or reverb g6 if it still holds up. Thanks for the input.

 

I personally never really had a problem with the WMR software but as with anything your mileage may vary. One thing I do like about the Aero is plenty of room to keep growing into it. 

 

[EazyE]

Well I decided to order it. Just one more question as I thought I knew but became more confused after reading different things. Foveated rendering, does that work out the box as part of the aero software with the eye tracking or is it something that has to be enabled and only works for specific games that will support it?

Edited July 16, 2022 by EazyE

[hannibal]

depends on application.

i think FFR works in MSFS2020 in aero.. not DCS yet...

Edited July 16, 2022 by hannibal

[Germane]

I would be interested to know. With which Steam vr resolution of a G2 is the native image of the Varjo comparable?

[AlexCaboose]

12 hours ago, Germane said:

I would be interested to know. With which Steam vr resolution of a G2 is the native image of the Varjo comparable?

I always used my Reverb G2 at 150% SteamVR SS. To me, the Aero exceeds that.

[Germane]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb AlexCaboose:

I always used my Reverb G2 at 150% SteamVR SS. To me, the Aero exceeds that.

Interssting, thank you. The clarity of the varjo seems to be really impressiv

[dburne]

1 hour ago, Germane said:

Interssting, thank you. The clarity of the varjo seems to be really impressiv

Yeah the practically edge to edge clarity of the Aero is where it really shines.

[TKNARMZ]

I know this is an old post but I found this by doing a search on ,  Varjo Aero is very uncomfortable to find out if others feel the same.  This one caught my eye because I honestly couldnt believe what I read.  The valve index to me is far far more comfortable.  I can game with that headset for hours!  I just got the Varjo Aero and tried the Bigscreen Beyond, and both are so uncomfortable to me.  The Varjo feels like its cutting into my cheeks no matter how I adjust it.  The Beyond felt like wearing small eye goggles which just doesn't feel good to me.  Im shocked these used to cost 2k.  I had issues getting it to run correctly too.  I think I finally got it dialed in.  The visuals are great but not 2k great.  Im glad I bought it during their Black Friday sale.  I might just go back to my Index.  The index had a much better FOV and far more comfortable.

 

 

[Burt]

The Varjo takes weeks to adjust and adapt too both visual and fit. As everything else with VR, DCS ect. It’s  not  plug and play. As dburnes said the Varjo is the best of the best and I totally agree. I’m gonna miss his advice. 

[Rodeo]

1 hour ago, Burt said:

The Varjo takes weeks to adjust and adapt too both visual and fit. As everything else with VR, DCS ect. It’s  not  plug and play. As dburnes said the Varjo is the best of the best and I totally agree. I’m gonna miss his advice. 

Agree 100%.. RIP Don