November 28, 2019
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! People often make comments about the Valve Index like: “But is it really worth the $600 more than the Rift s just for a slightly larger field of view?” But thats not really seeing it for all that it is. I first tried 6dof VR a few years ago when I bought my kids the PSVR for christmas. The resolution was low and the images fuzzy but even then I could see the potential of what it would be like in the future. Now first off lets fill in some background of my experience with VR in the years since as a basis for comparison.I needed a newer pc anyways so I asked my wife what she thought about getting one that was VR ready... She said to go for it! After buying the pc I proceeded to check out the pc VR headset options. My local BestBuy had an Oculus Rift demo station setup on the weekends so I went in with my wife to check it out. We both tried the demo for Robo recall which was great however, the screen door effect seemed worse than the PSVR (and in hindsight the rep didn’t even have us adjust the ipd slider so it had to have been waaay off for at least one of us as my ipd is almost 10mm wider than my wife’s since I’m a big guy at 6’4” tall). The Rift didn’t seem like it was the upgrade I was looking for.Then I heard about the Vive Pro and eagerly awaited it’s release... Only to find out that it was $800 JUST FOR THE HEASET with nothing else included. So when the Samsung Odyssey went on sale for $399 I pounced. The comfort and clarity on that headset was good as well as the FOV which I measured at 103H X 103V using ROV tool in Steam VR. After that the Samsung Odyssey + came out and went on sale for $299 for Black Friday so I got it. The fit and comfort wasn’t as good and the lenses seemed to have a smaller sweet spot but it pretty much did away with the SDE.The subpar tracking and hit and miss compatibility and performance with games (most Oculus games would run really jittery and stuttery even though my pc was more than powerful enough) eventually led me to sell the WMR headsets and get an Oculus Rift S. The comfort, performance, controller tracking, lenses, screen detail and clarity were the best I had seen but the black levels were lacking, the build quality of the hmd and controllers isn’t great, my ipd is just a touch high for me to ever feel quite right, the built in audio sucks and the FOV was the worst I had ever seen (The measurement I got in ROV was 90H X 90V) with the view leaving me feeling pretty boxed in. Overall the Rift S is a pretty good value and the headset I would recommend if you are on a budget. Finally we can talk about the Valve Index. If you take all of the improvements that the Index has over the Rift S and divide them by the $600 more that it costs, you get $67... So would I pay $600 just for the larger FOV (I measured at 113H X 103V) alone? No... But I would happily pay $67 for it. So what are the 9 improvements that you get for $67 each? 1. Way better build quality=$672. Far more advanced (finger tracking) and better built controllers=$673. Large FOV=$674. Clarity across the entire FOV rather than blurring towards the sides=$675. The absolute BEST microphone and speaker audio available on ANY headset period=$676. The best tracking you can get using the Valve 2.0 Lighthouses=$677. The possibility for future upgrades by utilizing the frunk=$678. Higher resolution with better black levels, color pop and contrast=$679. The final upgrade you get?.. wait for it.. The ability to run at 80, 90, 120, or even 144hz=$6710. Just for fun lets add 1 more: a free copy of the most anticipated VR game, Half-Life Alyx.So in summary, is it worth the extra money to get the Valve Index if you are really into vr and you can afford it? Heck yeah! If you can’t justify the expense, the Rift S offers a good experience and is a good value for money and don’t forget about Oculus Quest Link which allows you to play pc vr games on your quest via a usb 3 cable (which I am happy to report works surprisingly well).