My DCS Oculus Pro Review

[Justin1Ntime]

So, I did it. knowing I have a 30 day return window, I went ahead and purchased the Oculus Pro. Here is my review. One thing to keep in mind is that I have not had any other devices other than the Quest, Quest 2, and now the Pro and I don't play wirelessly as I am trying to get the best visuals. This review is my opinion only for DCS as I don't play anything else in VR or do any kind of VR productivity.  Also, I have not used WMR or any other software to get my headset connected to my PC other than Oculus.

First let me get the bad things out of the way.

• Comfort is Meh... Totally subjective so take it with a grain of salt. I knew it was on my head the entire time just like all the other Oculus products. It is half empty half full type of decision. I don't see any advantage over any of the other Oculus products.
• Surprising I see a bit more of the screen door as I think it might be the added clarity with the new lenses. Not much at all and I have to look for it and only on a white background, but I did seem to notice it more on the Pro than the Quest 2. Not a deal breaker for me coming from the original Quest. I would not let this fact be the sole decision on buying this headset. (See Pros section)
• Price - yeah even at the discounted price it's still a hard pill to swallow. If this was $300 cheaper It would be a no brainer. Should I just spend another 1500 on top of what I spent already and get the Aero? Its really hard to justify for somebody that is only in the cockpit 3 times a week for a few hours per session and does not own the base stations or valve controllers. 
• Putting on the head set sucks. No swivel or tilt. The side blockers with glasses suck when putting it on. I have to untangle them as they get caught up in my glasses frame when I put on the headset but worth it if you read the PROs section. Just a major annoyance.
• You will have to use the Oculus Tray tool to get the most out of this headset. You can't just put it on and go. You need to adjust the settings (assuming you have a high-end GPU). When I first started using it, I was like WTF this isn't that great but after some tweaking, it made all the difference in the world. 
• No Display Port - Not much to be said here we all know that this means.

Now let's look at the PROs section.

• OMG the lenses are amazing. Coming from the Oculus family and putting these on I just love the fact I can move my eyes instead of my head now. I am not going to lie. Every headset should have pancake lenses going forward and if they don't it's a firm pass in my book. I love the fact that I can look at my gauges and not have to move my head (within reason that is). 
• The image was really clear (again why I think I could see more screen door as mentioned above), and the colors really seemed to pop. I looked over at the F16 next to me and I was like wow this is cool as hell. Resolution is lacking but the image really looked better than my Quest 2. 
• The internal Speakers are way better than the Quest 2. So much so for DCS I quit using my headset. Are they the best... No. but for sure an improvement. 
• Here is what I think makes this headset. This just wowed me like no tomorrow. I'm still blown away when I am flying. I was on the fence about it letting in so much light. That the headset sits off your face. So, at first, I didn't use the include blockers and it broke the immersion. I could see all the walls around me when making a turn or looking around. it just felt really weird.  Here is where things changed for me. So, I have the Winwing F16 stick and throttle and when I put on the blockers, I can't see the walls anymore, but I can see my body and Winwing setup when looking down with my eyes. Being the Winwing works like the real F16 setup, it actually looks like I am in the plane as I see my body and stick where it should be in VR. At first, I laughed because I was in my PJs flying a F16 in my socks but if you take the time and really line it up blending physical and VR, when I move my eyes down, I feel Im in the plane. I see my body on the seat. I had to test this, so I went back to the Quest 2 and sure enough I now feel like I am looking through binoculars with the Quest 2. Prior to the pro I never felt that way. Plus, I can't see my sick, throttle, and body anymore in the Quest2. It just wasn't as much fun.

 

Final Thoughts

Personally, I was waiting for the Quest3 and got bored as the Aero was not going to happen any time soon. Now I am in bit of a pickle as If I keep the Pro, because I found that I like it, I am on the hook for 1100 and if I return the Pro, I am having a hard time going back to the Quest 2. Another couple hundred could land me a 4090 instead of a Pro wich is a dilemma in my book. I mean I put the Quest2 on today and did an air-to-air campaign and took them off as I was annoyed by the lack of immersion and the small sweet spot, but I am sure I could get used to Quest 2 again given some time, I guess. And what happens when the Quest3 comes out after making a 1100 dollar purchase? It's all a role of the dice, I guess. TBH, I did not like the Pro at first but after a few tweaks with my physical and virtual setup now I am really struggling on if I should return it or just enjoy the 1100 ride for as long as it lasts. I have one more week to decide and its NOT going to be an easy decision. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Justin1Ntime

[Steel Jaw]

OMG its OVERPRICED.

[Justin1Ntime]

Agreed on the Overpriced comment for sure but to be fair I am not using half of the capabilities of this headset. This was not designed with SIMs in mind. That was very clear when I bought it. 

[Bazz_Mulder]

What are you pc spec?

What kind of performance do you have, on what settings?

I'm on fence of trying it but there is no much comparable data for dcs on this headset

[Justin1Ntime]

@Bazz_Mulder I have a 13700k with a 3080TI and 6000 DDR5 RAM with a 2TB 980Pro M2 Drive. I was running most everything on medium except Textures, Clouds, Water, on High with MSAA at 4x. I was getting about 35 FPS and using OTT I put that to 30Hz and a RR of 1.4 at 90hz and it was really smooth. 

I decided to return the headset. I didnt even make it the full 30 days before I had to return it. I played more than a few hours in single sitting, and it became very very uncomfortable to the point it hurt my forehead. That red forehead on youtube reviews is legit. Its not even the fact that its red. I get that from the Q2 around my eyes. The Pro started to hurt after a while.  It just wasn't worth it. The color, lenses, and weirdly, the open bottom are all it had going for it as far as DCS is concerned. I never had an issue with the battery life either.  I used the link cable.  I might try to mod my Q2 to open up the bottom so I can see my body. The visuals really did pop but after a few hours it felt like my forehead was on fire on a long flight. I will hold out for the Q3 and if that fails, I will just suck it up bite the bullet and buy the Aero and steam components to make it work or if the prices of GPUs ever come back down, a next gen GPU to take full advantage of the headset I have now. I would say if you can return it, it cant hurt to try it. You might have a better experience than I did. This is my experience and others have a different opinion than I do. If this headset was 500-600 I would totally keep it and this would be a happy no brainer to scrap my Q2. 

I put on my Q2 for the first time in 2 weeks and already miss those pancake lenses and the bright colors. I feel like everything is washed out and now. There is a noticeable difference. They are really the way to go for any modern headset going forward. 

[Bazz_Mulder]

@Justin1Ntime

Thank you for detailed information about your experience. So the most critical factor is comfort and fit. I'm used to have my head sqeezed by motorcycle helmet so maybe this will be not so bad in my case.

[Justin1Ntime]

@Bazz_Mulder Yeah typically stuff like comfort does not bother me as I am sure you can buy something 3rd party but for the price of the headset it was a hard pill to swallow. I mean the Q2 isn't the most comfortable in the world and I am very used to that. I felt I was making too many compromises for the amount I paid. That was the true deal breaker. I get why it's so expensive. there is a lot of tech packed in there that I wasn't using as I didn't use it for work. 

I will say this if the get the eye tracking working in DCS with the Quest Pro and some 3rd party pads, I might have to revisit this. If you do end up getting it, I would love to hear your experience with it. 

Edited February 18, 2023 by Justin1Ntime

[Fuggzy]

Great post/thread @Justin1Ntime, thank you! 

I am currently in the holding pattern with a decent card (4070ti) and Quest2 (my only VR experience), wondering which headset will get me out of my binoculars in the sim.  I assumed one with a huge FOV like a pimax and a monster 4090ti would do it, but the most compelling part of your review to me is your experience with the lenses.  I assumed that it would feel bizarre to move the view with eyes and not head (I'm a TrackIR user for decades, since it was version 1).   Since eye movement is actually moving the view in the headset, I just realized it'd replicate how our normal vision works -- wherever they aim is always the center of the visual field --- and holy crap that eye tracking thing must make it feel like you're no longer looking at the world through 1x binoculars.  I have one question about the resolution of the tracking:  how would you describe the precision and resolution?  Does it feel lock-step connected to your eyeballs, or like a poorly-tuned TrackIR?

(edit):  Oh also, you mentioned how you can see out of the headset downwards at your RL body, did I understand that correctly?  To me that'd be a godsend, I still occasionally need to see the keyboard and have developed the habit of craning my head upwards and peeping through the tiny opening by my nose to find a key.  I think having an actual opening at only the bottom would be lovely.

 

thank you again for taking the time to write up a thorough review on it, very helpful to others

Edited February 24, 2023 by Fuggzy

[Fuggzy]

And this is from Meta website, saying my major privacy concern with eye tracking shouldn't be an issue. 

Meta Quest Pro is the first in our innovation line of VR headsets. It comes with inward-facing sensors which enable the eye tracking feature. Eye tracking is used to make your avatar's eye contact and facial expressions look more natural during your virtual interactions with other users and to improve the image quality within the area where you are looking in VR. Eye tracking may also be used as an input, meaning you can interact with virtual content based on where you're looking. Eye tracking is not used to identify you. Eye tracking estimates the direction of where your eyes are looking, and images of your eyes never leave your headset and are deleted after processing. This means that neither Meta nor third-party apps can access these images.

But my god they're so expensive -- my wife is going to be pissed.

[dburne]

18 minutes ago, Fuggzy said:

 

(edit):  Oh also, you mentioned how you can see out of the headset downwards at your RL body, did I understand that correctly?  To me that'd be a godsend, I still occasionally need to see the keyboard and have developed the habit of craning my head upwards and peeping through the tiny opening by my nose to find a key.  I think having an actual opening at only the bottom would be lovely.

 

Why not just use the passthrough feature on your Quest 2 when needing to look downwards? I thought that feature worked pretty well now.

[Fuggzy]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

 

Why not just use the passthrough feature on your Quest 2 when needing to look downwards? I thought that feature worked pretty well now.

Not feasible for my purpose. One has to double-tap the side of the HMD, and then is presented with a grainy, B&W, low res image of the surroundings.  It's good enough to momentarily see the physical space, but these cameras are purpose-built for tracking, not imaging.  It is certainly not mixed-reality like others.   Ok but then the real problem.  Often I peep and put my finger on a key, and I leave it there until the second I want to click it without looking. To double-tap the headset and get back in game view, I'd have to then use the other hand.

In summary, passthrough feature is a pos and barely usable.  

[Justin1Ntime]

@FuggzyPass through in the quest pro is a bit better but still unusable for this game, or at all really. You can't use it for anything other than moving a few feet. When I said I could look down and see my body, you can actually see your body and your HOTAS but you have to take the time to line everything up with VR. When you move your eyes down you see your HOTAS then when you move them back up in VR you see your virtual HOTAS and they line up, so it feels like your hands are in the right spot. Obviously when looking forward you won't see anything but the VR HOTAS and HUD but peer down and you see your body. The bonus is you see VR in your peripheral vision when looking down and that really is pretty cool as Its a bit more immersive if you line everything up. In the quest 2 I struggled to hit the Dogfight mode button trying to find it in the small space between my nose and the vr headset. With the Pro that's not a problem. it's a big wide-open space (which is good). I move my eyes down find the button but still feel I am in the jet, then move my eyes up and I'm back in the game with my body and HOTAS in my peripheral vision. That is what blew me away. At least for me anyways. Again, its subjective. Eye tracking, as far as I know, does not work in DCS with the Quest Pro. 

I have never used TrackIR. I went all in on VR as I can't go back to flat screen gaming in DCS ever. I need to feel like I'm in the F16 40k feet in the air not sitting at a desk playing a videogame. I also don't play competitively so there is that as well. I know TrackIR shines in that arena. I can't help you with that comparison. The Pro is a visually better, yet flawed, Quest 2 as far as this game is concerned. It's not meant to be used for DCS and that shows by the price and feature set.  The lenses and colors are nothing short of awesome. I will not buy a VR headset without pancake lenses going forward. It was hard to go back to the Q2 but at the end of the day I can buy a 4090 and get rid of my studders for a few hundred more and then wait for the Q3 to come out. All though you have a 4070ti so you should be good on the GPU side of the house. Me not so much. The 3080TI is ok but not the best for sure. Amazon has a 30-day return policy. I used it and got my money back. It takes a week or so, but I got it back. Give it a try and if you don't like it return it. If you like it then that is where the real problem is as now you are on the hook for the 1100 and there are still other headsets to be released this year where you might regret holding on to that. I was really on the fence one day I was keeping it and another I was returning it. I just couldn't get over the many compromises I had to make for the price of the headset, and I know other headsets are coming out. Set an alarm on your phone to return it after 3 weeks after you buy it and just give it a try. Best case you return it, worst case you spent a chunk of change that will piss your wife off but you can always fly away in DCS and leave it all behind

Edited February 25, 2023 by Justin1Ntime

[Fuggzy]

@Justin1Ntime Man thank you so much for the details. 

Now I'm even more intrigued about the wide opening. I'd love it for what you described aligning with HOTAS, do you think it might be feasible to arrange a couple of hardware MFDs so they also align with VR in the Apache/Viper/Hornet?  I mean ... if that could work seamlessly then I am really going to go broke. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Fuggzy

[Bazz_Mulder]

Here you go @Fuggzy:

https://wwsimstore.com/h5/MIP/pc-en/

[Fuggzy]

 

29 minutes ago, Bazz_Mulder said:

Here you go @Fuggzy:

https://wwsimstore.com/h5/MIP/pc-en/

Oh fer crying out loud, now we're entering the realm where I can't get away with this without buying her a fancy handbag from the nice mall. I do what I have to.

[Justin1Ntime]

@Fuggzy I dont think that would work because when you look forward all you see if the VR world. You would have to look way up to see the physical MFDs in VR.  I think the physical MFDs are really designed with TrackIR and flatscreen flying in mind. I think what you are really looking to do is this

 F-16 simulator fighter jet cockpit - turnkey Viper (viperwing.com) after a few google searches can run upwards of 16k. This is truly MR where you can be in VR and Real world at the same time. I like to watch the Mixed Reality video from time to time and dream one day I could afford one of these 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Justin1Ntime

[Fuggzy]

L@Justin1Ntime Yes, that!  Star Trek Holodeck minus the gravity generator, that I can fly planes in.