Cosmos, Rift S, Neither?

[The Old Myron Siren]

I recently tried out a friends Rift S over the weekend and I'm quickly learning that that was a mistake on my part seeing as I know am selling off my stockpiled hardware to get the funds for a VR setup. I didn't have any complaints with the Rift S while I played (roughly 2 hours or so in one go). No motion sickness, eye strain, or tracking issues. I was pleasantly surprised considering a lot of what I've read about the potential horrors that VR can be sometimes. I at first wanted to get the Rift S until I remembered that there was a headset that peaked my interest a while back that was still unreleased: the Cosmos. As far as I know it has a higher resolution and refresh rate (90Hz I think?). I have read that the Cosmos is a bit of a sh*tshow in terms of its software and I've seen some people say that the tracking is awful and their headset frequently complains about the room being too dark. These issues coupled with the 699 price tag makes me hesitant to pull the trigger. Additionally, I'm not sure if either of these two are really the best options.

 

The inside out tracking sounds fantastic for me since I'm not exactly keen on mounting sensors around my room, although I do know that it would offer better tracking. All in all, I dont mind spending ~700 bucks on the Cosmos, so long as its the best option for that price. I've heard the Index is far and away the kind at the moment, but they're not exactly easy to find as well as the additional 300 dollars. On the other hand, I could get the Rift S for 399 and use that extra 300 dollars for games and other upgrades. I am a confused man in need of some serious help! As always, thanks in advance guys

[Cartr77]

Me personally i think you should go for the quest its portable and can still connect to your PC to run games of steam

[trufret]

If you are only ever going to play PCVR then the Rift S should be fine.

If you want the option to play totally wireless stand alone games as well as PCVR or need manual IPD adjustment then the Quest with a Quest link cable would be a better choice. 

 

Index has the best tracking and image quality but as your said is much more expensive and will require mounting lighthouses to your walls or some form of stands.

 

Motion sickness tends to depend on what kind of game you're playing unless you are one of the lucky ones who is just immune to it.

If your eyes tell your brain you are moving but your inner ear and body don't agree you may feel sick.  If you are physically moving around your play space in game you shouldn't get sick unless you have high video lag or tracking issues.

 

If you do start to feel sick in a game, stop and come back to it later.  Pushing through will make things worse.

[The Old Myron Siren]

8 hours ago, trufret said:

If you are only ever going to play PCVR then the Rift S should be fine.

If you want the option to play totally wireless stand alone games as well as PCVR or need manual IPD adjustment then the Quest with a Quest link cable would be a better choice. 

 

Index has the best tracking and image quality but as your said is much more expensive and will require mounting lighthouses to your walls or some form of stands.

 

Motion sickness tends to depend on what kind of game you're playing unless you are one of the lucky ones who is just immune to it.

If your eyes tell your brain you are moving but your inner ear and body don't agree you may feel sick.  If you are physically moving around your play space in game you shouldn't get sick unless you have high video lag or tracking issues.

 

If you do start to feel sick in a game, stop and come back to it later.  Pushing through will make things worse.

I've been reading a lot more and it seems the Cosmos is just not worth the 700 bucks for it. As much as I would love the Index, I just can't justify spending 1000 bucks before any games for it. At the same time though, I'd rather wait and spend 1000 for the Index than pay 400 for the Rift S and then eventually another 1000 for the Index later on. I'm not even sure my 1080 would be enough for the Index though.

Whats the big difference between the Quest and the Rift S? It seems they're the same price so I'd rather just go with the Rift S at first glance, unless there's differences that make the Quest better in terms of usage. I'd rather move my rig and my headset if the visuals are better.

[The Old Myron Siren]

9 hours ago, Cartr77 said:

Me personally i think you should go for the quest its portable and can still connect to your PC to run games of steam

How come the Quest over the Rift S? They seem to be the same price and the Rift S appears to have better specs across the board.

[trufret]

1 hour ago, The Old Myron Siren said:

I've been reading a lot more and it seems the Cosmos is just not worth the 700 bucks for it. As much as I would love the Index, I just can't justify spending 1000 bucks before any games for it. At the same time though, I'd rather wait and spend 1000 for the Index than pay 400 for the Rift S and then eventually another 1000 for the Index later on. I'm not even sure my 1080 would be enough for the Index though.

Whats the big difference between the Quest and the Rift S? It seems they're the same price so I'd rather just go with the Rift S at first glance, unless there's differences that make the Quest better in terms of usage. I'd rather move my rig and my headset if the visuals are better.

A 1080 will run the index but maybe not at the 120-144hz refresh that one of the big selling points in the more graphically intense games. Unless you REALLY want the better tracking and higher refresh rate or your IPD just doesn't work with the rift S (which doesn't seem to be the case if you already had a good experience with it) it's probably not worth the price difference to most people.

 

The difference between the Rift S and the Quest is as follows.

 

The Quest has a Mobile SOC and battery built in so you can play native arm/android games on it totally wireless. While they have ported many PCVR games to it nativley, they are not as pretty graphically as they are running on mobile phone hardware.

Quest has a resolution of 2880x1600.

Quest has a refresh rate of 72hz.

Quest has a physical IPD adjustment slider.

Quest supports native hand tracking via the cameras.

Quest link cable to connect to PC is an extra purchase. Other USB 3 cables will work but you'd need to research which ones. This makes the price a bit higher than the rift s for playing PCVR games.

 

Rift S

PCVR only via Display Port connector

2560x1440 resolution

80hz refresh

Software IPD adjustment only so very wide/narrow eyes may not have a good experience with it.

No hand tracking yet (might come in the future?)

 

So if you've already confirmed the IPD isn't an issue for you, the question becomes

Would you make use of the ability to play quest games wirelessly on the go? Costs a decent bit more for 128GB storage vs standard 64GB

Would you use the hand tracking?

Are you ok with paying an extra $80 for the cable to connect to the PC?

 

The difference in resolution and refresh between the 2 is pretty minor.

 

[The Old Myron Siren]

3 hours ago, trufret said:

A 1080 will run the index but maybe not at the 120-144hz refresh that one of the big selling points in the more graphically intense games. Unless you REALLY want the better tracking and higher refresh rate or your IPD just doesn't work with the rift S (which doesn't seem to be the case if you already had a good experience with it) it's probably not worth the price difference to most people.

 

The difference between the Rift S and the Quest is as follows.

 

The Quest has a Mobile SOC and battery built in so you can play native arm/android games on it totally wireless. While they have ported many PCVR games to it nativley, they are not as pretty graphically as they are running on mobile phone hardware.

Quest has a resolution of 2880x1600.

Quest has a refresh rate of 72hz.

Quest has a physical IPD adjustment slider.

Quest supports native hand tracking via the cameras.

Quest link cable to connect to PC is an extra purchase. Other USB 3 cables will work but you'd need to research which ones. This makes the price a bit higher than the rift s for playing PCVR games.

 

Rift S

PCVR only via Display Port connector

2560x1440 resolution

80hz refresh

Software IPD adjustment only so very wide/narrow eyes may not have a good experience with it.

No hand tracking yet (might come in the future?)

 

So if you've already confirmed the IPD isn't an issue for you, the question becomes

Would you make use of the ability to play quest games wirelessly on the go? Costs a decent bit more for 128GB storage vs standard 64GB

Would you use the hand tracking?

Are you ok with paying an extra $80 for the cable to connect to the PC?

 

The difference in resolution and refresh between the 2 is pretty minor.

 

Thank you so much for that break down! Lots of information, I love it

It sounds like the Quest is actually the better system compared to the Rift S if you end up getting the Quest Link cable, which I wouldn't mind investing in. I wasn't aware that the resolution of the Quest was actually higher compared to the Rift S. I know its not exactly much compared to the Rift S, but if they have the same panel the higher resolution would help with SDE, correct? I wouldn't exactly be particularly interested in the mobile aspect of the Quest, but having it as a potential alternative/option just in case is quite appealing. From the looks of it, the Quest is a no brainer if I don't mind buying that adapter cable?

[trufret]

9 hours ago, The Old Myron Siren said:

Thank you so much for that break down! Lots of information, I love it

It sounds like the Quest is actually the better system compared to the Rift S if you end up getting the Quest Link cable, which I wouldn't mind investing in. I wasn't aware that the resolution of the Quest was actually higher compared to the Rift S. I know its not exactly much compared to the Rift S, but if they have the same panel the higher resolution would help with SDE, correct? I wouldn't exactly be particularly interested in the mobile aspect of the Quest, but having it as a potential alternative/option just in case is quite appealing. From the looks of it, the Quest is a no brainer if I don't mind buying that adapter cable?

When you weight out all the pros and cons the Quest is going to give you more bang for the buck even with the added cost of the link cable.

There are other headsets that might be better for specific use cases (higher res screens for reading gauges in simulators, more accurate tracking / full body tracking, good wireless PCVR) but if you want one that does everything well the Quest is the way to go currently I think.

 

[The Old Myron Siren]

15 hours ago, trufret said:

When you weight out all the pros and cons the Quest is going to give you more bang for the buck even with the added cost of the link cable.

There are other headsets that might be better for specific use cases (higher res screens for reading gauges in simulators, more accurate tracking / full body tracking, good wireless PCVR) but if you want one that does everything well the Quest is the way to go currently I think.

 

I pulled the trigger on the Quest last night after doing some more research. Apparently, theres a workaround way to even use the Quest over wifi so you end up with completely wireless VR, which I dont exactly expect to be perfect but it's worth at least a try. I have an extra, dual band wifi card that I could chuck into my machine and use a hotspot to handle the connection, so hopefully that serves me better than hooking up a router. I was also looking at something like this to replace the rather lackluster head strap on the Quest, although I'll have to see for myself how I like the original strap. Excited to finally get my feet wet with VR!