My experience with Quest 2 vs Reverb G2 v2

[av8orDave]

I frequent the VR forums and regularly see posts from people requesting opinions on what VR headset to get started with for DCS. I figured I'd take a couple minutes and throw in my two cents...

For starters, my system specs: Ryzen 9 5950x, RTX 3080, 64GB DDR4 RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD, Win 11

I started using VR last year after being a lifelong flight-simmer (I can remember playing F-15 Strike Eagle 2, Falcon 3.0, Fleet Defender Gold, Janes Longbow 2, and Janes F-15 as a kid). I dove in with a Quest 2, really because it was affordable, available, and everyone says they are basically "plug & play." 

Quest 2 "pros":

- Easy to configure

- Relatively affordable for starters

- Doesn't require firing up SteamVR

- Somewhat "customizable" experience; Oculus Tray Tool, Oculus Desktop Tool, etc give some options as to how to configure the experience

- Can be used either "wired" through Oculus link cable or in a wireless configuration

Quest 2 "cons":

- The battery life is just ok and it seems to charge (or not charge) randomly 

- Requires a facebook account (I really don't care but some do)

- Requires way more "tinkering" than advertised to try to get decent performance & visuals; I am able to get 72 fps consistently on "simple" single-player missions, but have the visuals dialed back close to minimums

- The visual compromises to get decent performance are maybe the biggest drawback

- The "clarity" / resolution is not great, so getting things to look decent is a challenge; there is almost always a significant "shimmer", and on some aircraft (F-18, A-10) reading the MFDs can be nearly impossible

 

Last week I got an HP Reverb G2 v2. My experience so far:

Reverb G2 "pros":

- Basically just as "plug & play" as a Quest 2, especially if you already had a VR headset and are familiar with the "VR dance"

- The setup to use OpenXR & OpenComposite (which I'd recommend) is super easy and well documented on the forums

- The visuals and performance are a step-change compared to Quest 2

- The resolution is significantly higher and there is very little shimmering; In situations where I have to have MSAA set to 2 for the Quest 2, it doesn't require it at all on the Reverb G2

- The FPS with visuals and very high settings are GREAT; I'm sitting around 65 - 75 FPS, even in really heavy DCS Liberation missions

Reverb G2 "cons":

- More expensive than a Quest 2

- uhhh... that seems to really be it.

 

Long story short, there is no comparison, at least on my system between the Quest 2 and Reverb G2. You get better performance, visuals, etc out of the G2 and it is totally worth the extra money. I wish I'd have made the jump earlier... it would have saved me a ton of time trying to dial in the Quest 2 to give visuals and performance that it just wouldn't do.

[dburne]

12 minutes ago, davidrbarnette said:

I frequent the VR forums and regularly see posts from people requesting opinions on what VR headset to get started with for DCS. I figured I'd take a couple minutes and throw in my two cents...

For starters, my system specs: Ryzen 9 5950x, RTX 3080, 64GB DDR4 RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD, Win 11

I started using VR last year after being a lifelong flight-simmer (I can remember playing F-15 Strike Eagle 2, Falcon 3.0, Fleet Defender Gold, Janes Longbow 2, and Janes F-15 as a kid). I dove in with a Quest 2, really because it was affordable, available, and everyone says they are basically "plug & play." 

Quest 2 "pros":

- Easy to configure

- Relatively affordable for starters

- Doesn't require firing up SteamVR

- Somewhat "customizable" experience; Oculus Tray Tool, Oculus Desktop Tool, etc give some options as to how to configure the experience

- Can be used either "wired" through Oculus link cable or in a wireless configuration

Quest 2 "cons":

- The battery life is just ok and it seems to charge (or not charge) randomly 

- Requires a facebook account (I really don't care but some do)

- Requires way more "tinkering" than advertised to try to get decent performance & visuals; I am able to get 72 fps consistently on "simple" single-player missions, but have the visuals dialed back close to minimums

- The visual compromises to get decent performance are maybe the biggest drawback

- The "clarity" / resolution is not great, so getting things to look decent is a challenge; there is almost always a significant "shimmer", and on some aircraft (F-18, A-10) reading the MFDs can be nearly impossible

 

Last week I got an HP Reverb G2 v2. My experience so far:

Reverb G2 "pros":

- Basically just as "plug & play" as a Quest 2, especially if you already had a VR headset and are familiar with the "VR dance"

- The setup to use OpenXR & OpenComposite (which I'd recommend) is super easy and well documented on the forums

- The visuals and performance are a step-change compared to Quest 2

- The resolution is significantly higher and there is very little shimmering; In situations where I have to have MSAA set to 2 for the Quest 2, it doesn't require it at all on the Reverb G2

- The FPS with visuals and very high settings are GREAT; I'm sitting around 65 - 75 FPS, even in really heavy DCS Liberation missions

Reverb G2 "cons":

- More expensive than a Quest 2

- uhhh... that seems to really be it.

 

Long story short, there is no comparison, at least on my system between the Quest 2 and Reverb G2. You get better performance, visuals, etc out of the G2 and it is totally worth the extra money. I wish I'd have made the jump earlier... it would have saved me a ton of time trying to dial in the Quest 2 to give visuals and performance that it just wouldn't do.

 

Yep and I myself will always pick native PC-VR plugged into Display Port of GPU over USB or wireless. I only do seated games and cable is not an issue for me.

[av8orDave]

Great point. For flight simming, the wireless thing offered by the Quest 2 is really not necessary... I actually have only used it specifically to try it out. 

[5ephir0th]

Just some points:

Quote

- Requires a facebook account (I really don't care but some do)

No, it doesn´t since last august

Quote

The battery life is just ok and it seems to charge (or not charge) randomly 

Better to use a 20W USB-C connection from your motherboard, it can charge while playing

Quote

- Requires way more "tinkering" than advertised to try to get decent performance & visuals; I am able to get 72 fps consistently on "simple" single-player missions, but have the visuals dialed back close to minimums

This should apply to all VR headset, its not a Quest or Reverb problem but for DCS and if not there should be some problem

Quote

- The setup to use OpenXR & OpenComposite (which I'd recommend) is super easy and well documented on the forums

The setup for Quest to use OpenXR its just download and unzip OpenComposite from github and start DCS on SteamVR mode, thats all

[Tomcat388th]

I have both headsets also my G2 is version 1.   With the quest 2 and my computer setup I run it at 80hz 1.0 then used the oculas tray tool to lock the fps to 30. Dcs middle of the road settings and on the vr page 1.6 pixel.  Cockpit (F18) clear and sharp runs really smooth even in MP.  

My G2 I have tinkered a lot with it using the open xr tools and openxr toolkit but my latest experiment and settings as goofy as this sounds Open XR tools custom render scale 200 motion repro disabled. I have the openxrtool kit disabled. Dcs settings the same but VR pixel set to .5  As of right now I am really pleased with these setting.

I prefer the g2 just for its quick launch. And I dont get to hung up on fps if it running smooth and I can see I'm good

J

[Hoirtel]

Personally I went the other way. VR is fairly subjective and relates to your circumstances. I had a G2 waaay back when they first came out and was so disappointed at the small sweet spot and then the massive dropoff outside of that was an added downside. I sold it and bought a Q2. Could I be happier? Yes. The usb connection is not as good, it's comfort is not as good, and the sound is basically not included as it needs headphones really. 

Also it's not as sharp but the big thing for me was the sweet spot is much bigger and the distortion curve is low (and configurable). So overall a much more consistent experience. It is also very easy to set up which I didn't find the G2 was at all, but that long before openxr came out.

I also find it runs much better than you describe. I run very high settings with max Res at 80hz and it's pretty good. Yes I want more, but it's served me well for approx 2years. Odd you seem to have very poor performance. I'm running a i9 9900k and 3090. Maybe the extra VRAM and bandwidth make all the difference? 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Hoirtel

[Tomcat388th]

I ran 80hz with max res with my quest2 . Ran across taticalpascal.s you tube vid on his quest 2 setttings. Which is what I copied to try out.  For me I found it to be much smoother than having the fps unlocked. with it unlocked I got around 45-50 fps and if you pulled up dcs fps counter it was just a mass of large high and low spikes on the fps and frametime. With the fps locked to 30 the fps is a flat straight line and the frametime is just a small squiggle. My bottle neck for me is my computer being thats its so old and ram speed. 

take care

J

[av8orDave]

2 hours ago, Hoirtel said:

Personally I went the other way. VR is fairly subjective and relates to your circumstances. I had a G2 waaay back when they first came out and was so disappointed at the small sweet spot and then the massive dropoff outside of that was an added downside. I sold it and bought a Q2. Could I be happier? Yes. The usb connection is not as good, it's comfort is not as good, and the sound is basically not included as it needs headphones really. 

Also it's not as sharp but the big thing for me was the sweet spot is much bigger and the distortion curve is low (and configurable). So overall a much more consistent experience. It is also very easy to set up which I didn't find the G2 was at all, but that long before openxr came out.

I also find it runs much better than you describe. I run very high settings with max Res at 80hz and it's pretty good. Yes I want more, but it's served me well for approx 2years. Odd you seem to have very poor performance. I'm running a i9 9900k and 3090. Maybe the extra VRAM and bandwidth make all the difference? 

 

That is indeed the funny thing about VR. It seems like it is VERY sensitive to the specific system specs, and also sensitive to individual preferences!

[Slammin]

It's surprising how big the sweetspot gets when you have enough GPU/CPU to really push things.

[Dallas88B]

8 hours ago, davidrbarnette said:

I wish I'd have made the jump earlier... it would have saved me a ton of time trying to dial in the Quest 2 to give visuals and performance that it just wouldn't do.

Feel for you there.

That is such a common experience. No point going crazy and spending silly money on stuff... but it sure is worth remembering quality remains long after the price is forgotten.

[Hoirtel]

15 hours ago, davidrbarnette said:

That is indeed the funny thing about VR. It seems like it is VERY sensitive to the specific system specs, and also sensitive to individual preferences!

Yeah it becomes quite a personal thing as each person has different expectations and desires. I am fairly sure that the shape of my head made for an especially small sweetspot in the G2, as it definitely sounds different to others.

One of the other things about VR is that most of us never get to try other systems or headsets that we haven't purchased, so its an impossible task to compare things properly and really know what the differences are. Even my own reaction with the G2 surprised me as I went from a rift S at the time and then went back for a while before the Q2. I sacrificed comfort, colours, sound and display port for the Q2, not something I though I would do and what lead me to choose the pre-order of the G2 over the Q2 at that time.

I am looking for the next one now though.... 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Hoirtel

[DutchCoolHand]

I did the same and agree and I run a 5600X with 64 Gb and a 6800 GPU. 
one thing that drives me nuts and hope I can change it when I put the headset on the keyboard focus changes to the headset. It is a problem for MSFS2020. I have to use Win key plus Y all the time. 
I use OpenXR but have not spent a lot of time optimizing the settings. I love the clarity