Advice on which VR headset should i get

[Drakan137]

So hello everyone,

I'm currently planing on buying a VR headset mainly for DCS but I'm not really sure what to look at in terms of specifications, what would be the most important things for DCS and which of headset do you recommend? I'm looking at a budget of around up to 1000$.

Thank you in advance for your response

[Supmua]

For flightsim VR the most important specs are screen resolution, panel type (OLED, LCD, etc) and the type of lenses use (kind of like digital camera, image fidelity depends on megapixels, sensor, and quality of lenses).  For flightsim you will want screen res >2K per eye, but in general the higher the better to minimize shimmering artifacts and to have enough resolving power to display little texts in the cockpit or distant detail.  The very best panel type currently, imo, would be OLED since that gives the best blacks, followed by miniLED.  In the future we may see microLED panel if they can make that cheap enough (basically OLED replacement without risk of screen burning--the cheapest microLED TV last year costs >$80K).  For lens type, either aspheric or pancake (newest tech) will give the best image quality, fresnel lenses that are used in older gen headsets have numerous rings on the lenses and tend to cause suboptimal visuals including glare and godrays.

Your headset is also as good as your PC.  A high res headset would be no good unless you have a setup that's powerful enough to drive it. 

VR HMD preference is highly individualized, because there are other factors such as form factor, comfort, FOV, ease of use, etc.  I'm going to avoid recommending a specific headset but if you are new to VR it might be better to spend little on your first headset just to test the water then go from there, and in that case either a Quest 2 or Reverb G2 will not break the bank.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Supmua

[Beirut]

Is a 3700X/2060 Super/32 GB RAM good enough for VR? I wouldn't mind having the option if workable.

 

And if good enough, what VR set is a good choice?

 

Thank you.

[Slammin]

I don't think anyone would be wrong in choosing a Reverb G2 v2, especially as a first experience.  But, only if it's on sale and also if you are looking for PCVR vs. standalone.  I have one and the clarity, colors etc. are outstanding, but I also run with a 4090 and can more than max resolution and maintain 90 FPS is most situations.  That will not be the case with anything below a 4090, but even at lower resolutions, due to the PPD, it will still look great.

Personally, I prefer a wide view HMD so I am mostly on my 8KX but again, it takes a beastly GPU to get the most out of it and running the 8KX at less that 100% is a lot more noticeable than running the G2 at less than 100%.

[dburne]

Fully agree on the Reverb G2 , even today it is still an excellent choice especially for first VR headset. Best bang for the buck really.

[Willie Nelson]

I am a massive Reverb fan, you can’t really go wrong. 

[sirrah]

Fwiw, I'll just drop this here

I gave this "advise/option" several times now for various similar hardware related questions on this forum (and might be getting known for it by now )

 

Especially if you maybe don't have a super high end pc, you might also want to consider buying a second hand HMD. 

I'm using a Reverb G1 in combination with an "old" GTX1080ti. And although I won't advise getting a 1080ti now, it does still work for me in DCS (as in, I still enjoy it). I bought my Reverb G1 about 2 (or 3?) years ago second hand and never regretted it. It saved me a good couple of bucks and my pc is the limiting factor anyways. Is the Reverb G2 better? Probably, although in terms of specs they don't differ that much. (not sure if by now a second hand G1 would be much cheaper than a second hand G2 though).

Just my 2 cents.

 

As said before, most important part is that your pc hardware can match your HMD specs. (for me for instance, with my GPU it would be pointless to buy a Pimax 8K)

Edited January 10, 2023 by sirrah

[Burt]

I bought my first gaming rig for DCS for 2d monitor play at 1080p and trackerIR and it was great ! Wanted to see what VR was like so got a HP G2 but my rig had a 2080 super and it was terrible, I demand high graphics so I had to buy another rig to run the G2 as crisp as possible “3090” because of the 24gb of vram. So definitely make sure you have an adequate gpu first. I highly recommend the HP G2 still going strong and OpenXR is getting better and better.

[Hartsblade]

Budget wise I agree that the Reverb G2 v2 is your best bet.

[unlikely_spider]

It's kind of crappy that we haven't gotten a better HMD in the two years since the G2 was released. Hopefully this year will bring us something.

[j9murphy]

G2 is probably the best price/performance choice still, but it suffers in three areas that really annoy me still...

- lcd instead of oled display makes night flying not so great.  I've gone back to using my Odyssey+ for night flying on all my sims

- FOV is a little too narrow, you get used to it - but it's really too small

- Edge Clarity, probably the biggest drawback - the center is crystal clear but that's really only half the FOV, the rest is really borderline unacceptable.

There are other headsets that mitigate some of these - Areo, pimax etc.... but at significant additional cost -  I would be really happy if someone could address the issues above, doesn't even need to be an increased resolution over the G2, and do it for around $500 in WMR format like the G2 so I don't need to buy receiver stations.  I'd get that in a heart beat.

I think the tech is all there, its just that no vendor has packaged it like that yet.  They all seem to be chasing other things unfortunately.

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by j9murphy

[ChariotOfFLAME]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:59 PM, Beirut said:

Is a 3700X/2060 Super/32 GB RAM good enough for VR? I wouldn't mind having the option if workable.

 

And if good enough, what VR set is a good choice?

 

Thank you.

Your system will struggle with VR, but with a decent amount of compromises, you will be able to happily fly.

but do note that at least a 3-year old i9 and a 2080 is recommended to get decent performance in VR without making too many compromises.

[gwizdek]

On 1/11/2023 at 4:37 PM, j9murphy said:

I think the tech is all there, its just that no vendor has packaged it like that yet.  They all seem to be chasing other things unfortunately.

The Pico 4 guys almost did it. They just forgot to include DP cable...

For G2, I would check if my IPD is not to wide. 68mm max by the specs (I have 72mm and I'm on the edge)  

Edited January 16, 2023 by gwizdek

[skywalker22]

VR is mostly dependant on your hardware.

I have a G2. 10700K cpu + best 3080Ti gpu. Making Reverb G2 V2 to run "smooth" and still having a clear picture without pushing hardware to their limits, takes quite some optimization and sacrifices. And I finally, after 6 months of trying and trying, optimize it, so I can get the most out of it for the best perfermance.

So G2 is still an awesome headset, I would surely recommend it.

Not sure about new Pico 4, surely is a bit better, more like all around better, with more clearer/crisper picture in the FOV, but with less clearer in the center (G2's sweet spot is still better). But it surely also requires better hardware, keep that in mind.

[freehand]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:53 AM, sirrah said:

Fwiw, I'll just drop this here

I gave this "advise/option" several times now for various similar hardware related questions on this forum (and might be getting known for it by now )

 

Especially if you maybe don't have a super high end pc, you might also want to consider buying a second hand HMD. 

I'm using a Reverb G1 in combination with an "old" GTX1080ti. And although I won't advise getting a 1080ti now, it does still work for me in DCS (as in, I still enjoy it). I bought my Reverb G1 about 2 (or 3?) years ago second hand and never regretted it. It saved me a good couple of bucks and my pc is the limiting factor anyways. Is the Reverb G2 better? Probably, although in terms of specs they don't differ that much. (not sure if by now a second hand G1 would be much cheaper than a second hand G2 though).

Just my 2 cents.

 

As said before, most important part is that your pc hardware can match your HMD specs. (for me for instance, with my GPU it would be pointless to buy a Pimax 8K)

 

I agree the G1 is best bang for your money I have owned 2 and just moved to the G2 I have my G1 for sale £175 squid cheap as chips and is still more comfortable than the G2.

The only real reason I bought the G2 is the cable of the G1 drives me nuts when sharing the head set with other people in the same room the G2 is a little better at every thing else but not that much. 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by freehand