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Advice needed on good VR headset please


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Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice, I’m sure this question has in app likelyhood been asked a million times before but here goes.

im looking to buy my first VR headset with the intention of using it for DCS & MSFS. I was told to stay clear of the Vive Cosmos Elite, can anyone confirm this or give me advice as to which headset would be good choice, I don’t have thousands to spend but would consider up to $1700 Australian dollars. 
 

any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

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For the budget a Reverb G2 as long as you have a reasonable GPU, run it with openxr (see the VR subforum) and are willing to spend a lot of time tweaking and configuring your system* 🙂

What machine specs do you have?  It can make or brake your VR experience.

*this applies to DCS VR no matter the headset.

Ryzen7 7800X3D / RTX3080ti / 64GB DDR5 4800 / Varjo Aero / Leap Motion / Kinect Headtracking
TM 28" Warthog Deltasim Hotas / DIY Pendular Rudders / DIY Cyclic Maglock Trimmer / DIY Abris / TM TX 599 evo wheel / TM T3PA pro / DIY 7+1+Sequential Shifter / DIY Handbrake / Cobra Clubman Seat
Shoehorned into a 43" x 43" cupboard.

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Stay clear of the Vive Cosmos Elite😀

HP reverb g2 is very common among virtual pilots and Pimax 8K is a bit more expensive than you are willing to spend

i7-11700K 5GHz, 64GB DDR4@3200, ZOTAC RTX4090, iiyama 34 Red Eagle  || Quest 3, HP Reverb G2, TrackIR 5  || Orion2 F-16EX Viper Throttle Combo, TM Warthog throttle(button box),  Virpil WarBRD+Viper stick, VPC interceptor pedals || TM MFD Cougar pack || F-16C, F-15E, AH-64D | Simshaker Jetpad || F-16 Panels: Landing Gear, CMDS, ICP, Avionics, Sensors, Lighting, Air Cond, HUD, Anti Ice

 

 

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I was going to recommend Varjo Aero, but seeing it's double your budget in AUS that's definitely a non starter.  For DCS it's the top VR headset in the realm of picture clarity due to its unique lens design, there are no glares, no godrays, and the picture is clear across the whole lens, i.e. the sweet spot is the 100% of the lens.

Next 3 down would be:

- HP G2:

the good:   inside-out tracking, no need for base station. Has VERY good motion smoothing feature, almost without artifacts. Excellent for the VR beginners.

the bad:  Pretty narrow horizontal FOV (90degrees). it's using WMR from Microsoft. Deep integration with Windows OS (10/11), which has its pro's/con's. Generally, it's a stable environment, however sometimes it goes haywire due to MS updates.

picture quality (subjective opinion only😞 a bit less resolution than HTC vivepro2 (below), the screen to me looks artificially smooth, i.e. they're using some sort of a film to reduce the screen-door effect, and it feels a bit 'greasy'. Sweet spot is pretty small.

 

- HTC VivePro2

the good:  not part of the Windows OS, has its own ecosystem, easy to troubleshoot. Has a much wider horizontal FOV, 104-110 degrees, depending on the application.

the bad:  requires Base Stations, which is an extra expense (however the stations are more or less future proof and are treated as "standard" and supported by other VR HMD manufacturers). Has a pretty atrocious motion smoothing full of artifacts, however it has some other inherent reprojection mode in it that smoothes the motion, albeit with lots of ghosting.

picture quality (subjective opinion only😞  a bit higher resolution than G2.  Sweet spot is pretty small. No "film" on the screen, so you can see the individual pixels (if you focus hard enough).

 

- Quest2: 

the good:  cheap, inside-out tracking

the bad:  it's from Facebook. Did I mention it's from Facebook? So you need an active FB account to use this headset. The headset is stand-alone by itself (can play mobile games on it), so in order to run it on PC you gotta use a special "Link" cable, and bunch of other software.

the picture:  has less resolution than G2. I don't know anything else about it as i've never actually tried it 🙂 It being from FB was enough of a deterrent, however it's the cheapest HMD to get yourself in to VR with at a decent 'quality', but the experience varies.

 

 

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2 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

I was going to recommend Varjo Aero, but seeing it's double your budget in AUS that's definitely a non starter.  For DCS it's the top VR headset in the realm of picture clarity due to its unique lens design, there are no glares, no godrays, and the picture is clear across the whole lens, i.e. the sweet spot is the 100% of the lens.

Next 3 down would be:

- HP G2:

the good:   inside-out tracking, no need for base station. Has VERY good motion smoothing feature, almost without artifacts. Excellent for the VR beginners.

the bad:  Pretty narrow horizontal FOV (90degrees). it's using WMR from Microsoft. Deep integration with Windows OS (10/11), which has its pro's/con's. Generally, it's a stable environment, however sometimes it goes haywire due to MS updates.

picture quality (subjective opinion only😞 a bit less resolution than HTC vivepro2 (below), the screen to me looks artificially smooth, i.e. they're using some sort of a film to reduce the screen-door effect, and it feels a bit 'greasy'. Sweet spot is pretty small.

 

- HTC VivePro2

the good:  not part of the Windows OS, has its own ecosystem, easy to troubleshoot. Has a much wider horizontal FOV, 104-110 degrees, depending on the application.

the bad:  requires Base Stations, which is an extra expense (however the stations are more or less future proof and are treated as "standard" and supported by other VR HMD manufacturers). Has a pretty atrocious motion smoothing full of artifacts, however it has some other inherent reprojection mode in it that smoothes the motion, albeit with lots of ghosting.

picture quality (subjective opinion only😞  a bit higher resolution than G2.  Sweet spot is pretty small. No "film" on the screen, so you can see the individual pixels (if you focus hard enough).

 

- Quest2: 

the good:  cheap, inside-out tracking

the bad:  it's from Facebook. Did I mention it's from Facebook? So you need an active FB account to use this headset. The headset is stand-alone by itself (can play mobile games on it), so in order to run it on PC you gotta use a special "Link" cable, and bunch of other software.

the picture:  has less resolution than G2. I don't know anything else about it as i've never actually tried it 🙂 It being from FB was enough of a deterrent, however it's the cheapest HMD to get yourself in to VR with at a decent 'quality', but the experience varies.

 

 

Thanks for this, I can’t stand Facebook bunch of rat bastards 

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1 hour ago, draconus said:

What's your PC spec, Steve? It's important. The best headset is useless if your PC can't provide enough fps.

Hey thanks for your message I hope my specs are okay, it’s been many years since I’ve updated it:

i7 7700K CPU @ 4.20GHz

16GB Ram

GTX 1080 graphics card

 

 

11 hours ago, IR Sky said:

Stay clear of the Vive Cosmos Elite😀

HP reverb g2 is very common among virtual pilots and Pimax 8K is a bit more expensive than you are willing to spend

Why is the cosmos elite so bad? 

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11 hours ago, edmuss said:

For the budget a Reverb G2 as long as you have a reasonable GPU, run it with openxr (see the VR subforum) and are willing to spend a lot of time tweaking and configuring your system* 🙂

What machine specs do you have?  It can make or brake your VR experience.

*this applies to DCS VR no matter the headset.

Thanks for your input it’s so tough deciding 

So I’m looking at the Reverb G2 by HP I hope it would run okay 

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26 minutes ago, Steve83aus said:

I hope my specs are okay

It might be just "okay" for the Rift S but not for higher res headsets suggested above.

🖥️ Win10 i7-10700KF 32GB RTX3060   🥽 Rift S   🕹️ T16000M HOTAS   ✈️ FC3, F-14A/B, F-15E   ⚙️ CA   🚢 SC   🌐 NTTR, PG, Syria

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47 минут назад, Steve83aus сказал:

Why is the cosmos elite so bad? 

Nothing bad. I was only quoting you😀. Per eye resolution is less than the HP Reverb G2 for instance. I recently bought the HP Reverb g2 "NO CONTROLLERS" version, because I need it only for DCS and MSFS. 400 eur. I'm afraid, that GTX 1080 not good enough for VR unfortunately..

 


Edited by IR Sky

i7-11700K 5GHz, 64GB DDR4@3200, ZOTAC RTX4090, iiyama 34 Red Eagle  || Quest 3, HP Reverb G2, TrackIR 5  || Orion2 F-16EX Viper Throttle Combo, TM Warthog throttle(button box),  Virpil WarBRD+Viper stick, VPC interceptor pedals || TM MFD Cougar pack || F-16C, F-15E, AH-64D | Simshaker Jetpad || F-16 Panels: Landing Gear, CMDS, ICP, Avionics, Sensors, Lighting, Air Cond, HUD, Anti Ice

 

 

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2 hours ago, IR Sky said:

Nothing bad. I was only quoting you😀. Per eye resolution is less than the HP Reverb G2 for instance. I recently bought the HP Reverb g2 "NO CONTROLLERS" version, because I need it only for DCS and MSFS. 400 eur. I'm afraid, that GTX 1080 not good enough for VR unfortunately..

 

 

Bugger 😞

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50 minutes ago, Steve83aus said:

Bugger 😞

Yeah a 1080 isn't going to be enough to run a reverb really. However a Lenovo explorer (wmr) or rift s (oculus) should work quite nicely and be a lot cheaper as an initial foray into VR.

The Lenovo has better resolution and is supremely comfortable as it's very light but the rift has better tracking and controllers.

I spent hundreds of hours in my explorer on elite dangerous and I still have it as a backup in case my reverb dies. I used it with a 1070 without any problems although I didn't fly a great deal of DCS with it, the image compared to the reverb is obviously worse but given my acquired knowledge now I reckon it could be pretty useable in DCS. I might dig it out to test in DCS with openxr and see how it compares 😁

Ryzen7 7800X3D / RTX3080ti / 64GB DDR5 4800 / Varjo Aero / Leap Motion / Kinect Headtracking
TM 28" Warthog Deltasim Hotas / DIY Pendular Rudders / DIY Cyclic Maglock Trimmer / DIY Abris / TM TX 599 evo wheel / TM T3PA pro / DIY 7+1+Sequential Shifter / DIY Handbrake / Cobra Clubman Seat
Shoehorned into a 43" x 43" cupboard.

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2 hours ago, Steve83aus said:

Bugger 😞

You can still get a G2, you just won't be able to run it a full resolution with 1080. There's no need to downgrade the HMD because of the graphics card.

However, you'd need at least a 2080ti to run G2 at a decent resolution on your CPU (which isn't that potent anymore either). Search ebay fo 2080ti pre-owned, maybe you can find a decent deal.

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Just dug out my explorer and plugged it in, running DCS at 100% resolution for the headset (1400x1400 per eye) I'm getting a little over 9ms, with the reverb at 90% (2900x2900ish per eye - my normal resolution) I get around 13ms.

Image wise, the reverb has much less godrays and the screen door effect is invisible in comparison to the explorer, however the image quality is DCS is actually pretty good and I could play it quite happily.  The MFD text and guages are much more indistinct though but this is a limitation of the much lower resolution, adding some sharpening might help a little.

At the explorer resolution (1400x1400) vs the reverb at the equivalent (1960x1960 - 1400x1400 x 1.4:1 ratio applied by the G2) the lenovo is much crisper. My money, having just tested the two side by side is with the lenovo.  The lenovo is running 1 image pixel per display pixel, the reverb is running 0.6 image pixel per display pixel and that results in a fuzzy image.

For a little over 100 of your kangaroo dollars I'd say it's worth a punt.  Grab a VRcover face pad and you should be good to go 🙂

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/403733823423?hash=item5e00693fbf:g:A-EAAOSwV3FitCfA&frcectupt=true

edit: agree with the above aswell, a minimum of 2080ti/3070 really for a G2 and that's needing to make visual compromises, however your CPU is then going to be a massive bottleneck.  I would say you have a pretty balanced system for now, approach VR with a headset of the same era and capability to see if it's for you and then start saving for the big rig upgrade + big headset.

edit again: I did test the reverb at full blown explorer resolution of 1400x1400 (not taking into acount the 1.4:1 pixel ratio that needs to be applied) and it was diabolical, completely unreadable text everywhere - think playing on a monitor at 320x240, it was that bad 😄


Edited by edmuss
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Ryzen7 7800X3D / RTX3080ti / 64GB DDR5 4800 / Varjo Aero / Leap Motion / Kinect Headtracking
TM 28" Warthog Deltasim Hotas / DIY Pendular Rudders / DIY Cyclic Maglock Trimmer / DIY Abris / TM TX 599 evo wheel / TM T3PA pro / DIY 7+1+Sequential Shifter / DIY Handbrake / Cobra Clubman Seat
Shoehorned into a 43" x 43" cupboard.

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I have a low end rig with a quest 2  and so far I have been happy with the setup. Even though my frame rate isn't very high it pretty smooth. On multiplayer I might get a tiny stutter here and there but it not enough to ruin the gameplay.  SP missions i get around 40-45fps,  MP in the hanger startup /taxi upper 20's once in the air mid 30's. I fly a lot on hoggits training server with usually 20 other players give or take.  My system dell workstation t3600 3.2G,32G ram, ssd drives,nvidia 1070 8G and win 10 64bit.

J

Ryzen7 5800X3D. 64 gb ram, 6950XT 16gb,  Winwing Orion F18, MFG Crosswind Rudder, 42 inch lg tv, Quest PRO

USN  VF31 F14A  AE2 1985-1989 CV 59 NAS Oceana

IL ANG 183FW/170FS F16 Block 30 Big Mouth 1989-2006 Full time tech Retired E8

 

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6 hours ago, edmuss said:

Just dug out my explorer and plugged it in, running DCS at 100% resolution for the headset (1400x1400 per eye) I'm getting a little over 9ms, with the reverb at 90% (2900x2900ish per eye - my normal resolution) I get around 13ms.

Image wise, the reverb has much less godrays and the screen door effect is invisible in comparison to the explorer, however the image quality is DCS is actually pretty good and I could play it quite happily.  The MFD text and guages are much more indistinct though but this is a limitation of the much lower resolution, adding some sharpening might help a little.

At the explorer resolution (1400x1400) vs the reverb at the equivalent (1960x1960 - 1400x1400 x 1.4:1 ratio applied by the G2) the lenovo is much crisper. My money, having just tested the two side by side is with the lenovo.  The lenovo is running 1 image pixel per display pixel, the reverb is running 0.6 image pixel per display pixel and that results in a fuzzy image.

For a little over 100 of your kangaroo dollars I'd say it's worth a punt.  Grab a VRcover face pad and you should be good to go 🙂

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/403733823423?hash=item5e00693fbf:g:A-EAAOSwV3FitCfA&frcectupt=true

edit: agree with the above aswell, a minimum of 2080ti/3070 really for a G2 and that's needing to make visual compromises, however your CPU is then going to be a massive bottleneck.  I would say you have a pretty balanced system for now, approach VR with a headset of the same era and capability to see if it's for you and then start saving for the big rig upgrade + big headset.

edit again: I did test the reverb at full blown explorer resolution of 1400x1400 (not taking into acount the 1.4:1 pixel ratio that needs to be applied) and it was diabolical, completely unreadable text everywhere - think playing on a monitor at 320x240, it was that bad 😄

 

Thanks for your advice it’s appreciated 

4 hours ago, Tomcat388th said:

I have a low end rig with a quest 2  and so far I have been happy with the setup. Even though my frame rate isn't very high it pretty smooth. On multiplayer I might get a tiny stutter here and there but it not enough to ruin the gameplay.  SP missions i get around 40-45fps,  MP in the hanger startup /taxi upper 20's once in the air mid 30's. I fly a lot on hoggits training server with usually 20 other players give or take.  My system dell workstation t3600 3.2G,32G ram, ssd drives,nvidia 1070 8G and win 10 64bit.

J

Thanks Tomcat, I would get a quest but you have to have a Facebook account and I loath fb 

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7 hours ago, peachmonkey said:

You can still get a G2, you just won't be able to run it a full resolution with 1080. There's no need to downgrade the HMD because of the graphics card.

However, you'd need at least a 2080ti to run G2 at a decent resolution on your CPU (which isn't that potent anymore either). Search ebay fo 2080ti pre-owned, maybe you can find a decent deal.

That’s a great idea thank you 

8 hours ago, edmuss said:

Yeah a 1080 isn't going to be enough to run a reverb really. However a Lenovo explorer (wmr) or rift s (oculus) should work quite nicely and be a lot cheaper as an initial foray into VR.

The Lenovo has better resolution and is supremely comfortable as it's very light but the rift has better tracking and controllers.

I spent hundreds of hours in my explorer on elite dangerous and I still have it as a backup in case my reverb dies. I used it with a 1070 without any problems although I didn't fly a great deal of DCS with it, the image compared to the reverb is obviously worse but given my acquired knowledge now I reckon it could be pretty useable in DCS. I might dig it out to test in DCS with openxr and see how it compares 😁

Cool thank you I’ll take a look 🙂

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Hi all, 

just a bit of an update, I decided to go with the Reverb G2, I’m very impressed with it however I my screen go black from time to time and loading screens shake a lot. Has anyone experienced this before? 
 

thank you for all your help guys. 

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10 hours ago, Steve83aus said:

...my screen go black from time to time and loading screens shake a lot.

Black screen can be current beta problem with mirrors - turn them off and check again.

DCS loading screen do that in VR - either close your eyes with headset on or wait for "Mission Load Done" message on the monitor before putting the headset on.

🖥️ Win10 i7-10700KF 32GB RTX3060   🥽 Rift S   🕹️ T16000M HOTAS   ✈️ FC3, F-14A/B, F-15E   ⚙️ CA   🚢 SC   🌐 NTTR, PG, Syria

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15 hours ago, Steve83aus said:

Hi all, 

just a bit of an update, I decided to go with the Reverb G2, I’m very impressed with it however I my screen go black from time to time and loading screens shake a lot. Has anyone experienced this before? 
 

thank you for all your help guys. 

to pile on @draconus's commentary:

- you can get rid of shaking if you switch from OpenVR to OpenXR (without Steam), plus it'll make the game a lot more smoother/playable. Check the OpenXR topic on how to get it running. The wall of text in the attached post will seem daunting, however don't fret, lots of players have done it, it's not hard at all.

 

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