Which Headset?

Ok, so I've been flying in ED sims for quite some time now (Since FC1), and been using track IR for a little over 4-5 years now. I believe that the next step up should be a VR headset now that its moved on from a developmental stage.

SO that being said, for those who own them what are some of the benefits of the different headsets when it comes to DCS? Im considering the Rift S and The HTC Vive because those seem to be the most popular when it comes to DCS. But what are you all's opinions on these headsets and the various others that are on the market? Would it be a downgrade from using a 3440 X 1440 monitor with trackIR?

Ok, so I've been flying in ED sims for quite some time now (Since FC1), and been using track IR for a little over 4-5 years now. I believe that the next step up should be a VR headset now that its moved on from a developmental stage.

 

SO that being said, for those who own them what are some of the benefits of the different headsets when it comes to DCS? Im considering the Rift S and The HTC Vive because those seem to be the most popular when it comes to DCS. But what are you all's opinions on these headsets and the various others that are on the market? Would it be a downgrade from using a 3440 X 1440 monitor with trackIR?

No, VR is a massive upgrade from flat screens. TrackiR is 20yr old technology, good in its day but laughable now compared to VR.

I'd recommend the Rift S. Best current VR $/performance. Plug and play. Easy setup. No tracking towers needed. No need to open up config files to recode the hardware. Give it at least 1 week of use, not just 1 or 2 days. Cheers.

I'd recommend the Rift S. Best current VR $/performance. Plug and play. Easy setup. No tracking towers needed. No need to open up config files to recode the hardware. Give it at least 1 week of use, not just 1 or 2 days. Cheers.

:thumbup:

Fully agree! Been using mine almost daily since getting in May, has been rock solid and a great experience. Loving my Rift S.

Not arguing around ´mine is the best´, I would think of the Rift S as a solid and good headset with respect to the comments getting here around. There are no such complaints about having issues, like with other headsets. To get into VR or just having an easy time - it is a good device of choice.

Also the image quality step from switching from OLED panels of the old CV1 to a bit higher resolution LCD panels with Rift S must be significantly.

The advantage of the lower resolution panels with regard to some standard of 1600 x 1440 with regular VR headsets, surely results in less demanding performance to run the Rift S on various systems with various graphical setting.

But it can´t denied, that higher resolutions result in better image quality, what is the main value for the quality of TVs, PC flatscreens, smartphone displays and cameras of any kind.

Anyway, Oculus seems to have reached a proper and rocksolid VR headset, maybe not so much for VR enthusiast :D, but for the time being.

Beside Samsung´s Odyssey+, I would highly recommend the Rift S to enter VR or enjoy VR without any issues, but from there, next step in price and quality surely is Valve´s Index and so on.

I'm currently also looking for my first VR headset, although I'm not experienced with DCS, I'm just starting out. In fact, I am building my first PC mainly for DCS.

What would you say about the Oculus Quest? How does it compare resolution wise to the Rift S?

Currently, I'm really torn between the Quest, the Rift S, and the Reverb, especially considering the latter is on sale now in the UK. For now I mainly intend to use the headset for DCS and other flight simulators, but I'm not excluding trying room-scale VR gaming in the future.

P.S. I did manage to briefly try out a Rift CV1 and a Rift S. Something that I noticed was that I had a smaller FoV with the S compared to the CV1. However, the apparent resolution was much better. Could the narrower FoV be down an "incompatible" IPD that I have? Is the FoV of the Reverb bigger than the Rift S?

I'm currently also looking for my first VR headset, although I'm not experienced with DCS, I'm just starting out. In fact, I am building my first PC mainly for DCS.

 

What would you say about the Oculus Quest? How does it compare resolution wise to the Rift S?

Currently, I'm really torn between the Quest, the Rift S, and the Reverb, especially considering the latter is on sale now in the UK. For now I mainly intend to use the headset for DCS and other flight simulators, but I'm not excluding trying room-scale VR gaming in the future.

 

P.S. I did manage to briefly try out a Rift CV1 and a Rift S. Something that I noticed was that I had a smaller FoV with the S compared to the CV1. However, the apparent resolution was much better. Could the narrower FoV be down an "incompatible" IPD that I have? Is the FoV of the Reverb bigger than the Rift S?

Rift S will be better for DCS than Quest. Better performance and better image clarity imho. ( I own both ).

Rift S is great as first device as it is very easy to setup and works natively in DCS with just the Oculus software.

Reverb better image, but also can be more faffing about tweaking. Plus it has to use both WMR VR and Steam VR.

Folks that I have seen post that have them, seem really like them - both Rift S and Reverb. However seems Reverb has more issues from time to time.

no Windows Mixed Reality hassle.

I never understood this. What is WMR hassle? I plugged mine in and haven’t given it much thought in ever 2 years. There have been a couple of driver update issues that got sorted fairly quickly but other than that, nothing.

I never understood this. What is WMR hassle? I plugged mine in and haven’t given it much thought in ever 2 years. There have been a couple of driver update issues that got sorted fairly quickly but other than that, nothing.

There have been a plethora of posts across various forums of folks trying to get their headsets working properly with their games with WMR along with Steam VR.

Granted there are some that seemingly have no issue, but there are also several that seem to do have them - up to the point I have seen some return them from just giving up.

I appreciate all the responses! From what i'm getting, the Rift S is the best headset for beginning VR as it offers the best quality for the price. However, would you all recommend saving for a Pimax or something of that caliber for the better resolution? or just stick with the tried and true Rift S?

I never understood this. What is WMR hassle? I plugged mine in and haven’t given it much thought in ever 2 years. There have been a couple of driver update issues that got sorted fairly quickly but other than that, nothing.

+1 on this. I was expecting horror based on stories but was a minimial problem.

I appreciate all the responses! From what i'm getting, the Rift S is the best headset for beginning VR as it offers the best quality for the price. However, would you all recommend saving for a Pimax or something of that caliber for the better resolution? or just stick with the tried and true Rift S?

Best bang per buck is gonna be the reverb. Dollars per pixel its the best deal. If you can run it that is. Second best bang per buck is probably the riftS.

Just be aware that you will take hit gfx wise coming from 4k flatscreen to vr. But the immersion is more than worth it. Graphically the reverb is going to be like a 1080p monitor. The others somewhat worse.

To add a personal vignette, my reverb crapped out a week ago, and my choices were to fly flat screen with TIR at 1080p giving up nothing graphically or going back to my original CV1 rift with about 1/4 the visual acuity as the reverb till i get it replaced. It about 3 minutes on the monitor to chose the rift, because despite it looking like crap it still meant i was "in the plane" and not looking "at a plane through a flat square box on my desk"

 

HP Reverb - The headset with the highest resolution that actually works well (Pimax 5K and XTAL have issues) and by a small margin, the very best for DCS while flying seated at your desk or pit.

Hope that helps

Aurelius, I'm not sure why you would purposefully post a bit of misguided info here as the XTAL has zero issues straight out of the box with SteamVR, DCS, or any other VR Title in general.

@ SilentGun I actually own an XTAL produced only 3 months ago and use it now instead of my HP Reverb Pro, VIVE Pro, or CV1 because it has BETTER clarity and sharpness of the image seen on the displays than all of them.

@ Aurelius Perhaps the one in your lab is not the actual XTAL with new lenses and rather the the older VRhero 5K Plus?

By the way, it would be great to find out what you've actually been able to do in those 1 or 2 hours of trying what you have always alluded to in that lab you visit.

@ SilentGun The actual truth (i.e, reality) is that XTAL runs with HIGHER graphical settings on LOWER-end hardware better than the HP Reverb Pro does with the same exact settings in DCS and it does so with better quality across the board in full 170 degrees of FOV with vibrant colors and OLED black (i.e, darkest of darks).

See my signature for my hardware setup.

Having said that, the price of the XTAL is very cost prohibitive for many, and for most makes anything I've mentioned a mute point.

@ Aurelius If the issue that you have with the XTAL is price, then just say that. There's no need to say issues exist without stating specifics or what you have encountered.

As I've mentioned previously, I definitely do agree that the XTAL is inferior out of the box ergonomic wise as it's bigger and the facial cushioning needs better implementation, but aside from that, it literally wipes the floor with the Reverb in all things related to the actual VR experience, i.e, Software, FOV and Clarity across the entirety of FOV, and customization for individual per eye IPD adjustments and EYE Tracking which exists now.

For a first HMD the S is the best bet, IF your IPD is in the sweet spot which is +- 63.5. This is true for the Reverb as well. I have a an IPD of 58 and can use neither so I’m an Index user and love it. Adjustable IPD and eye relief, highest quality build of all HMD’s but also the most expensive to get into. I had to have 2 base stations to keep tracking when checking six but did not need controllers. Price $800.

For a first HMD the S is the best bet, IF your IPD is in the sweet spot which is +- 63.5. This is true for the Reverb as well. I have a an IPD of 58 and can use neither so I’m an Index user and love it. Adjustable IPD and eye relief, highest quality build of all HMD’s but also the most expensive to get into. I had to have 2 base stations to keep tracking when checking six but did not need controllers. Price $800.

Yeah, this is an important point to note. Knowing your own IPD is going to make choices alot harder or easier. I will also add that you can get custom lenses for the Reverb that can "alter" the IPD if you are too far out of the range. Presumably for the RiftS as well, but it will add cost.

I have had very few tracking problems with my Reverb, but recently had to go back to the CV1 due to headset cable failure and it does seem slightly "smoother" in comparison but that could also be better frame-rates.

Honestly outside of the Xtal (6K?) or better yet the Varjo bionic (7k?) which at least on paper looks way better your best bet resolution/image wise is the Reverb (5-650), followed by the Index/Cosmos(6-800), and finally the RiftS (350-400).

I’m running a $200 Oculus Go, using ALVR and I am more than happy with the quality. Very lightweight and wireless... Really the only setback is that it is only 2DOF.

Waiting to spend more when the next gen stuff comes aling.

Aurelius, I'm not sure why you would purposefully post a bit of misguided info here as the XTAL has zero issues straight out of the box with SteamVR, DCS, or any other VR Title in general.

It might be superb but at 6000$ a piece, 99,999% of the people in here WILL NOT BUY ONE. It's useless to promote it at such a price tag, even if it's that good.

To answer the OP's question - once you go VR, you will never go back.

To the further discussion on which headset..... I'm currently running a Vive Pro and it seems to be doing well, although the image quality is slightly lacking, although I don't really have anything to compare to.

I just upgraded to a "supercomputer" set up specifically for DCS: i9-9900K, 11GB 2080-Ti, 32gb ram, etc, etc and I'm now looking to upgrade the HMD as well. Of course I would love to get the XTAL, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend $7K on it yet.

The Reverb sounds interesting but how does it compare to the Pimax 5k or 8K? There doesn't seem to be a lot of Love for the Pimax here so far. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I'd be hard pressed to spend $7k on an HMD now, no matter how great that is, it will be superseded in less than five years yet.

Pimax, my only recommendation is avoid them like the plague, they have been a year long headache, and that's after the unit arrived, of which five months was spent trying to RMA and get a working unit, and I ended boxing up my 5k+ in favour of the CV1!, and I ordered the S the very hour the pre-order started, sure it's got decent FOV but everything else is a worse off, you need to run the equivalent of 2x PD compared to the S on the 5k, since the lenses distort heavily and focus and enlarge the center, you actually get a lower practical resolution than the S, the big numbers in resolution come from the wide horisontal that only works as a blurred extra FOV, if looking for sharp focused area again. :insert_eyeroll:

The current state of the head strap is awful, and it's literally impossible to wear glasses inside the 5k, it has less room inside than the CV1 and even if you wear contacts or don't need it, flops around and honestly is a touch on the painful side to wear for more than 20 minutes.

The rift's and vive and I could wear for hours.

And they still can't actually provide base stations or controllers, unless something major has changed, I doubt it, but you have a vive kit as well.

The real deal breaker for me with the pimax, besides the incessant bugs, that get compounded by the bugs in SteamVR, is the inherent motion lag, you move your head, and it takes the pimax a noticeable split second to respond to that motion, it feels really weird and you can never get away from it, regardless of refresh rates, Pimax has of course been completely ignoring the matter.

It's a bit like the displays has a 10-15ms input latency.

Most backers I know have been trying to sell their units, but nobody is buying.

So I'd say the reverb compares quite favourably with Pimax, and I'd say working with HP support lines is probably easier as well, Pimax will blatantly promise something, then you don't hear a thing for two weeks, when you get another email from a completely different person, and yes those emails start coming outside of their ticket system so it's not tracked on their end..

Even if the device was perfect, I'd recommend people avoid Pimax from the customer support alone.

I'd get a Reverb or an Index, personally I'm happy with the S for now, but Valve still refuses to sell index's to the EEA.

I'd be hard pressed to spend $7k on an HMD now, no matter how great that is, it will be superseded in less than five years yet.

 

Pimax, my only recommendation is avoid them like the plague, they have been a year long headache, and that's after the unit arrived, of which five months was spent trying to RMA and get a working unit, and I ended boxing up my 5k+ in favour of the CV1!, and I ordered the S the very hour the pre-order started, sure it's got decent FOV but everything else is a worse off, you need to run the equivalent of 2x PD compared to the S on the 5k, since the lenses distort heavily and focus and enlarge the center, you actually get a lower practical resolution than the S, the big numbers in resolution come from the wide horisontal that only works as a blurred extra FOV, if looking for sharp focused area again. :insert_eyeroll:

 

The current state of the head strap is awful, and it's literally impossible to wear glasses inside the 5k, it has less room inside than the CV1 and even if you wear contacts or don't need it, flops around and honestly is a touch on the painful side to wear for more than 20 minutes.

The rift's and vive and I could wear for hours.

 

And they still can't actually provide base stations or controllers, unless something major has changed, I doubt it, but you have a vive kit as well.

 

The real deal breaker for me with the pimax, besides the incessant bugs, that get compounded by the bugs in SteamVR, is the inherent motion lag, you move your head, and it takes the pimax a noticeable split second to respond to that motion, it feels really weird and you can never get away from it, regardless of refresh rates, Pimax has of course been completely ignoring the matter.

It's a bit like the displays has a 10-15ms input latency.

 

Most backers I know have been trying to sell their units, but nobody is buying.

 

So I'd say the reverb compares quite favourably with Pimax, and I'd say working with HP support lines is probably easier as well, Pimax will blatantly promise something, then you don't hear a thing for two weeks, when you get another email from a completely different person, and yes those emails start coming outside of their ticket system so it's not tracked on their end..

Even if the device was perfect, I'd recommend people avoid Pimax from the customer support alone.

 

I'd get a Reverb or an Index, personally I'm happy with the S for now, but Valve still refuses to sell index's to the EEA.

Great info, thanks! You likely just saved me a $900 headache.

I'm gunna add in another HARD NO to Pimax 5k+ as well. I just returned two of them. one had a screen DOA, other had right eye screen tearing and shimmering on lower half. Just ordered Reverb. Thank god for Amazon returns as well. IF anyone decides to Pimax -- get it through amazon, that way if any issue arise, you can just send it back.

If someone hasn't recommended the reverb already, I will.

Despite the reliability issues I've recently had its still the best HMD for DCS IMO, IF you can run it. Going off other posts, if you have a low spec system probably the RiftS is your next best bet (according to Aurelius).

If someone hasn't recommended the reverb already, I will.

 

Despite the reliability issues I've recently had its still the best HMD for DCS IMO, IF you can run it. Going off other posts, if you have a low spec system probably the RiftS is your next best bet (according to Aurelius).

Thanks - I'm likely going to upgrade to the Reverb when I get back to the US in a couple of months. In the meantime, I'll be saving my pennies up for the XTAL. Ho Lee Kao that looks cool! :lol:

New VR user

As a real life military and police pilot, I'm used to flying in state of the art real motion simulators costing millions. I've always used microsoft flight simulator at home for procedural practice on a 2D screen and simple hotas type controls. Earlier this year I happened upon DCS and have really enjoyed the A10 (read the paper manual 3 times now, yes all 600 odd pages!). Now relearning the Gazelle which I first flew in 1984!

My system is fairly low spec....i7 4790....16gb ram.....rx570. .....hd drive.

I can run DCS very well on a 32 inch curved 1080p with a separate 24 inch to display the mfcd.

When the Oculus Rift S was released I started following the VR threads on these forums with a view to upgrading if it seemed good enough in the near future. Last week I took the plunge, thinking if it didn't work on my system I wouldn't lose much by reselling before Christmas.

All I can say is WOW, the feeling of actually sitting there surrounded by the aircraft is something no amount of monitors and head tracking can match. Yes, the resolution of the world outside the cockpit is poor in comparison, but the depth of field and situational awareness more than make up for it. I'm struggling with the fact that those switches all around me are not actually real!

I'll be keeping the monitors and head tracking for fsx procedural work, looking at charts, flight plans etc, but for actual fun flying I'm sold on VR, and at £400 the Rift S is great value.

A thing with S it might work well with lower spec hardware but for us with a bit more, means we can crank some settings.

The more time I spend with it, the greater the value I think get from the price, granted it is with the massive caveat of IPD fit.

I happen to be as perfectly fit for it as I think possible.

And when using steamvr reliant devices, granted I have not tested a WMR device yet I really miss the oculus dash interface, primarily with the adjustable, scaling desktop view that allows for doing any out of game tasks like looking up howtos, dealing with discord etc etc without having to remove the hmd at all, since I use regular headphones over the unit and needing glasses getting in and out is a bit of a do.

The desktop view in steamvr really cannot compare.

From what I garner here from the reverb and settings is that it's not so different from the S apart from the pixel density setting.

With PD of 1.3 on the S I run a total resolution slightly higher than that of the reverb does natively and most say any supersampling isn't really necessary on the reverb.

I must say I'm getting tempted to test a reverb, seeing it on sale at a local store chain for $650 and they have a 60 day open return policy...

But it seems a bit extravagant to get yet another one considering I have four HMD's currently..

The XTAL looks great and all.

But VR is still in the space that for the next 6 yesrs, I'm guessing, each new generation will have major advances making the former series seem very lacking.