Aero made significant price drop

[Kercheiz]

51 minutes ago, =LD=Icer said:

I think you would need to say what your system specs are.....

Here they are : 12900K, RTX3090, 64Gb DDR5

Though, my question is not "Do you think this spec is enough", I know people use an aero on similar setups.

But rather "Do people usually notice a decrease in FPS between a G2 and an Aero" on the same system, I'd be interested knowing if anyone here moved from a G2 to an Aero and what was the result.

[GPatricks]

12 minutes ago, Kercheiz said:

Here they are : 12900K, RTX3090, 64Gb DDR5

Though, my question is not "Do you think this spec is enough", I know people use an aero on similar setups.

But rather "Do people usually notice a decrease in FPS between a G2 and an Aero" on the same system, I'd be interested knowing if anyone here moved from a G2 to an Aero and what was the result.

I have a G2, and an Aero on order, so will be able to assess soon but from everything I have read the Aero is much better optimized so I actually expect better performance. Having said that, with my specs the G2 runs at max FPS all the time anyway..

Edited September 23, 2023 by =LD=Icer

[Kercheiz]

13 minutes ago, =LD=Icer said:

I have a G2, and an Aero on order, so will be able to assess soon but from everything I have read the Aero is much better optimized so I actually expect better performance. Having said that, with my specs the G2 runs at max FPS all the time anyway..

 

Really? Like 90 FPS ? Do you have special mods / fixes for this or is it plain vanilla DCS with OpenXR?

 

[GPatricks]

6 minutes ago, Kercheiz said:

Really? Like 90 FPS ? Do you have special mods / fixes for this or is it plain vanilla DCS with OpenXR?

 

LOL, forgot I was in A DCS forum, have not flown DCS in quite some time but yes, I use OpenXR. I fly IL2 Box 95% of the time now... rest is BMS Falcon.

[dburne]

2 hours ago, Kercheiz said:

Hi everyone! How would you value an Aero upgrade from a Reverb G2 for exclusive DCS use? Does it require more ressource or may I keep a similar FPS?

The 990€ sales are really tempting.

Thanks a lot!

 

 

It would be a very nice upgrade. Great clarity across app 95% of the display.  And the cincher IMHO - now eye tracked DFR is working in DCS fantastic with the Aero and the difference it makes in performance is outstanding. 

[Jimmy8x]

Got my new Aero set up today, the clarity is unbelievable but the vertical FOV is dreadful, to the point of making me consider a return/refund.

Some of you will think I'm trolling or being paid by ByteDance but in many ways I prefer my Pico4. Huge lenses, way better binocular overlap, wireless (blessing and a curse, compression means the image will always be messy), instant access to passthrough camera to take care of random things in the real world... it is not the slam dunk clear cut upgrade I was hoping for, despite the massive increase in resolution and clarity. I will probably keep the Aero but at this point I'm undecided. Either way I'll be upgrading again in 2024

[zildac]

Got my new Aero set up today, the clarity is unbelievable but the vertical FOV is dreadful, to the point of making me consider a return/refund.
Some of you will think I'm trolling or being paid by ByteDance but in many ways I prefer my Pico4. Huge lenses, way better binocular overlap, wireless (blessing and a curse, compression means the image will always be messy), instant access to passthrough camera to take care of random things in the real world... it is not the slam dunk clear cut upgrade I was hoping for, despite the massive increase in resolution and clarity. I will probably keep the Aero but at this point I'm undecided. Either way I'll be upgrading again in 2024

No, I understand. I had exactly the same concerns with the vertical FOV coming from a G2. All I can say is I was prepared to sacrifice it for the increase in clarity and the ability to use my eyes again rather than having to move my head. And ultimately I don't even notice it now.

[dburne]

15 minutes ago, Jimmy8x said:

Got my new Aero set up today, the clarity is unbelievable but the vertical FOV is dreadful, to the point of making me consider a return/refund.

Some of you will think I'm trolling or being paid by ByteDance but in many ways I prefer my Pico4. Huge lenses, way better binocular overlap, wireless (blessing and a curse, compression means the image will always be messy), instant access to passthrough camera to take care of random things in the real world... it is not the slam dunk clear cut upgrade I was hoping for, despite the massive increase in resolution and clarity. I will probably keep the Aero but at this point I'm undecided. Either way I'll be upgrading again in 2024

 

If you think you might keep it continue using for a few days. For me I got used to the FOV and it stopped being a thing for me.

[witwas]

Got mine last weekend, what an upgrade compared to the G2 and Index.

Once you get the eye tracking working you get a hughe fps bonus, can't imagine having a headset without this.

[Jimmy8x]

On 9/24/2023 at 1:42 AM, zildac said:

On 9/24/2023 at 1:26 AM, Jimmy8x said:

Got my new Aero set up today, the clarity is unbelievable but the vertical FOV is dreadful, to the point of making me consider a return/refund.
Some of you will think I'm trolling or being paid by ByteDance but in many ways I prefer my Pico4. Huge lenses, way better binocular overlap, wireless (blessing and a curse, compression means the image will always be messy), instant access to passthrough camera to take care of random things in the real world... it is not the slam dunk clear cut upgrade I was hoping for, despite the massive increase in resolution and clarity. I will probably keep the Aero but at this point I'm undecided. Either way I'll be upgrading again in 2024

No, I understand. I had exactly the same concerns with the vertical FOV coming from a G2. All I can say is I was prepared to sacrifice it for the increase in clarity and the ability to use my eyes again rather than having to move my head. And ultimately I don't even notice it now.

Thing is, I had a G2 and went Pico for better fov and better lenses. The lenses in the Pico are incredible, they are enormous and clear from edge to edge.

 

However I was definitely being overly critical on the Aero at first. I recall the first few times I used the Pico I was horrified by the compression but then I came to appreciate its strengths. Same thing happened, I was focusing on the Aero's weaknesses instead of enjoying its strengths. The clarity is truly insane and at 90 FPS to boot. I was flying along in the F-16 today and realized as I was gazing out to my rear that I could read the serial number printed on the side of my AIM-120. I burst out laughing and said to myself "ok. this is definitely better." Still crave more FOV in 2024, but the Aero is nice.

 

[Greekbull]

The Achilles of the Aero is the Vertical FOV.  It does take a bit to get used to.  The Clarity and performance is amazing.  If you are struggling with the Aero I would highly suggest you consider the Crystal.  It gives you all the clarity of the Aero, a bit better colors, better blacks with the local dimming and much better Vertical FOV atm.  There are wide FOV lenses coming in Oct that should give us an additional 15% of Horizontal FOV which will make the Crystal the clear choice with a Horizontal FOV of 118 deg or so.  

I've owned most of the top high end headsets and I would give the Crystal the edge as the current best simming headset with the Aero in 2nd place due to the performance and clarity. But I will say the huge advantage the Crystal has in Vertical FOV is something I don't ever think I could give up now.  

[Jimmy8x]

1 hour ago, Greekbull said:

The Achilles of the Aero is the Vertical FOV.  It does take a bit to get used to.  The Clarity and performance is amazing.  If you are struggling with the Aero I would highly suggest you consider the Crystal.  It gives you all the clarity of the Aero, a bit better colors, better blacks with the local dimming and much better Vertical FOV atm.  There are wide FOV lenses coming in Oct that should give us an additional 15% of Horizontal FOV which will make the Crystal the clear choice with a Horizontal FOV of 118 deg or so.  

I've owned most of the top high end headsets and I would give the Crystal the edge as the current best simming headset with the Aero in 2nd place due to the performance and clarity. But I will say the huge advantage the Crystal has in Vertical FOV is something I don't ever think I could give up now.  

 

The weight of the Crystal and honestly Pimax's reputation as a company are keeping me away from it. Comfort is the other area where I am already struggling with full size ~800g headsets. I'm sure it's incredible though, I'd love to try one.

[obious]

On 9/24/2023 at 7:26 AM, Jimmy8x said:

Got my new Aero set up today, the clarity is unbelievable but the vertical FOV is dreadful, to the point of making me consider a return/refund.

Some of you will think I'm trolling or being paid by ByteDance but in many ways I prefer my Pico4. Huge lenses, way better binocular overlap, wireless (blessing and a curse, compression means the image will always be messy), instant access to passthrough camera to take care of random things in the real world... it is not the slam dunk clear cut upgrade I was hoping for, despite the massive increase in resolution and clarity. I will probably keep the Aero but at this point I'm undecided. Either way I'll be upgrading again in 2024

This is exactly the same reaction I had. The clarity truly is mind blowing but the FoV was quite honestly shocking. I returned mine, Varjo were great about it.

[Greekbull]

40 minutes ago, Jimmy8x said:

 

The weight of the Crystal and honestly Pimax's reputation as a company are keeping me away from it. Comfort is the other area where I am already struggling with full size ~800g headsets. I'm sure it's incredible though, I'd love to try one.

Understand that sentiment completely.  I owned and quickly got rid of the 8K-X.  I was not impressed that a couple of years ago and was very hesitant to get the Crystal.  But, in the end decided to take the gamble because we need more than one company(Varjo) working on high end VR so that the competition helps us all.  This time around Pimax has figured it out.  I'm participating in the Beta and they have been incredibly responsive to suggestions and feedback.  The build quality is very much improved and with the addition of two things(VR Pulleys, and the Studioform VR Ware Apache comfort Strap) it is honestly more comfortable than my previous headsets.  Very happy with my decision to give it a try and I decided to sell my Aero that I loved for months after we got ET and DFR which really took the Crystal to the next level.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Greekbull

[freehand]

2 hours ago, Greekbull said:

The Achilles of the Aero is the Vertical FOV.  It does take a bit to get used to.  The Clarity and performance is amazing.  If you are struggling with the Aero I would highly suggest you consider the Crystal.  It gives you all the clarity of the Aero, a bit better colors, better blacks with the local dimming and much better Vertical FOV atm.  There are wide FOV lenses coming in Oct that should give us an additional 15% of Horizontal FOV which will make the Crystal the clear choice with a Horizontal FOV of 118 deg or so.  

I've owned most of the top high end headsets and I would give the Crystal the edge as the current best simming headset with the Aero in 2nd place due to the performance and clarity. But I will say the huge advantage the Crystal has in Vertical FOV is something I don't ever think I could give up now.  

How bad is bad Vertical FOV ?

[dburne]

52 minutes ago, Greekbull said:

Understand that sentiment completely.  I owned and quickly got rid of the 8K-X.  I was not impressed that a couple of years ago and was very hesitant to get the Crystal.  But, in the end decided to take the gamble because we need more than one company(Varjo) working on high end VR so that the competition helps us all.  This time around Pimax has figured it out.  I'm participating in the Beta and they have been incredibly responsive to suggestions and feedback.  The build quality is very much improved and with the addition of two things(VR Pulleys, and the Studioform VR Ware Apache comfort Strap) it is honestly more comfortable than my previous headsets.  Very happy with my decision to give it a try and I decided to sell my Aero that I loved for months after we got ET and DFR which really took the Crystal to the next level.

 

 

I think the biggest mistake they made with the Crystal was designing it with battery power needed even for just native PC-VR. Not sure who might have thought that was a good idea at the time. When I sim in VR I want to do it for several hours. Having to stop and change a battery out for that - just no.

I do find it intriguing though. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by dburne

[Greekbull]

5 minutes ago, freehand said:

How bad is bad Vertical FOV ?

On the Aero, it is probably 15 deg less than the G2.  The Crystal is probably an improvement of and additional 20 deg over the G2.  

4 minutes ago, dburne said:

 

I think the biggest mistake they made with the Crystal was designing it with battery power needed even for just native PC-VR. Not sure who might have thought that was a good idea at the time.

I do find it intriguing though. 

Yeah I agree not my favorite idea.  But with the addition of a second cable and QC3.0 charging block you get infinite battery life.  One side benefit is the battery works really well as a counter weight.  

[Jimmy8x]

1 hour ago, obious said:

This is exactly the same reaction I had. The clarity truly is mind blowing but the FoV was quite honestly shocking. I returned mine, Varjo were great about it.

 

You're the second person I've seen say same thing about Quest Pro v. Aero. I almost bought a used Quest Pro right before the Aero went on sale, you can get those things for $600 used. Big lenses really do amazing things even without pristine resolution. 

 

 

I've also seen someone say they've used both and the Q Pro is garbage. Lol. VR is such a highly subjective thing, different people value different things from their experience I guess. 

[Kercheiz]

On 9/24/2023 at 8:42 AM, zildac said:

No, I understand. I had exactly the same concerns with the vertical FOV coming from a G2. All I can say is I was prepared to sacrifice it for the increase in clarity and the ability to use my eyes again rather than having to move my head. And ultimately I don't even notice it now.

Damn, smaller FOV than the G2?

Loosing the stellar microphone, acceptable audio, and the already not so good FOV of the G2 might be a no go then... I'll wait a bit more too see what's coming next. I guess that with a half price offer Varjo has something under the hood.

[Taterbootz]

On 9/23/2023 at 6:31 AM, Kercheiz said:

Really? Like 90 FPS ? Do you have special mods / fixes for this or is it plain vanilla DCS with OpenXR?

 

I have similar specs (13900k@5.8ghz, 64gb 6400CL30, MSI 4090 Suprim) and I get between 60 and 90 (depending on location, mission, etc) in DCS VR with an HP Reverb G2, 1.0 PD, 100% in OpenXR Companion, Turbo Mode in OpenXR Toolkit, Shaking Reduction @ 10% in OpenXR Toolkit, and some post processing in the toolkit.  No FFR, no FSR/NIS/CAS, high settings on all, no SSAO, 2x MSAA, Ultra clouds, ultra visible range.  No motion smoothing/repro, Windows 11.  No real mods this go around (some missions, but no perf/texture mods)

 

[GPatricks]

On 9/27/2023 at 9:38 AM, Kercheiz said:

Damn, smaller FOV than the G2?

Loosing the stellar microphone, acceptable audio, and the already not so good FOV of the G2 might be a no go then... I'll wait a bit more too see what's coming next. I guess that with a half price offer Varjo has something under the hood.

I use a Sennheiser headset (and did with G2 as my wife's workstation is ~2m away, G2 speakers bothered her when working) so better quality sound/mic than G2, and the FOV is something to simply become accustomed to. If FOV was my main parameter I would have bought the Pimax Crystal, but quality of build/ quality support/ comfort are much more important to me. With 2 lighthouses it actually cost me a few euro more than the Crystal..

[Motomouse]

Aero arrived today. Ordered after Varjo cut the price in half. Very, very happy with the new headset after my Reverb. 

+ Picture quality outstanding.

+ Perfomance much better than the Reverb (both on my 3080)

+ Build quality and feel

+ Software user experience

+ Perfect fit with my prescription glasses

+ Adjustability 

- slightly more weight than the Reverb

- Chromatic aberration (Fixed in DCS and MSFS via OpenXR Toolkit, Varjo should add that fix to their base software probably)

(Chromatic aberration: Fix is available (for manual install for now) by Varjo.)

Edited October 1, 2023 by Motomouse

[GPatricks]

13 hours ago, Motomouse said:

Aero arrived today. Ordered after Varjo cut the price in half. Very, very happy with the new headset after my Reverb. 

+ Picture quality outstanding.

+ Perfomance much better than the Reverb (both on my 3080)

+ Build quality and feel

+ Software user experience

+ Perfect fit with my prescription glasses

+ Adjustability 

- slightly more weight than the Reverb

- Chromatic aberration (Fixed in DCS and MSFS via OpenXR Toolkit, Varjo should at that fix to their base software)

 

Mine arrived yesterday also, had some issues with setup due to my having all 3 of my monitors plugged in, then realized I didn't push the power cords for the lighthouses in all the way (DUH). Once up and running, Workspace (Desktop) set up properly I was amazed at the clarity. Other than my bad (without looking) typing skills I could easily work in the headset full time. Hopped in a DCS Mustang, crystal clear and perfectly smooth using the MT exe, in IL-2 I noticed the glass on the gauges of my WWI plane for the 1st time, could see a reflection in it! Now just to get it optimized/tuned. Tracking with my two Lighthouses mounted at 10:00/14:00 high was perfect, and XRNeckSafer worked flawlessly also.. 

[gwizdek]

18 hours ago, Motomouse said:

+ Perfomance much better than the Reverb (both on my 3080)

Can you compare performance between G2 and Aero with the same megapixels per eye res., like 15MP per eye?

With the same DCS/OXRTK settings of course.

[Motomouse]

The better perfomance is related to quadview rendering and OpenXR-Varjo-Foveated rendering.

I can use the (highest) 39 ppd (1200x1200 and 2192x1180) Aero setting and achieve 83 to 90 FPS.

I like to use the varjo motion projection vertical sync at 45 FPS and crank up the settings (MSAA, SSAO, high shadows, global cockpit illumination, ...)  

Edited October 1, 2023 by Motomouse