Oculus - Rift S PC-Powered VR Gaming Headset - Black

=== Summary === The Oculus Rift S virtual reality system BLEW me away with its immersion, fun games, excellent controllers, superb motion tracking, and its ability to transport me away into wonderful & engrossing virtual worlds. The headset is very comfortable and weighted in a balanced way. I can game for hours and not feel head or neck fatigue. The audio is just so-so but a pair of good headphones or speakers can take care of that. There aren't a lot of triple-A games but there are some really fun ones out there and the library is continually growing. All in all, the Rift S is a FANTASTIC piece of VR kit that is highly entertaining & fun to use. Even better, setup is fast and simple thanks to no external sensors, the Passthrough camera, and great Inside-Out tracking. Highly recommended. _____ *Pros: -Simple, quick, & easy installation and setup. -Only one cable connection needed to PC (the end of the cable neatly splits up into a USB Type A & Display Port). -Display Port to mini-Display Port adapter included. -3.5mm audio jack included for connecting your own headphones. -The Halo-style headset is very comfortable & weight is well-balanced. Doesn't put pressure on the nose. -Easy to adjust for different head sizes with top velcro strap & back adjustment knob. -The Touch controllers are light and very intuitive & easy to use. -Inside-Out Tracking worked precisely to detect my head, arm, and hand movements. Also makes setup easier & quicker compared to using external room sensors. -"Passthrough mode" is cool & enables one to see his or her surroundings even with the headset on. -The "Guardian" feature is very helpful by setting up a "safe zone" in the room to play and move around in. -Worked flawlessly with my gaming desktop (RTX 2080) & gaming laptop (Alienware m17, RTX 2070 Max Q). -Depends on the game or video but the graphics are very nice & immersive. -The pricing is right. -Thanks to the cord, no batteries to recharge or heavy powerpacks to carry around. -If you have a laptop that meets the requirements, the Rift S can become a portable VR gaming system. Good for family & friend gatherings. -The Oculus Store app is easy to navigate, make purchases from, and adjust Rift S settings. -Worked well with the "SteamVR" and "HTC Viveport Infinity" game store apps. -The future of VR seems bright & there is a consistent influx of games including triple-A, Oculus exclusives. _____ *Neutral: -No physical mechanism to adjust for IPD (only software). -Not a lot of triple-A titles at the moment. -Audio quality could be better. I wish Oculus would make some snap-on headphones for the Rift S. -Performing bow and arrow movements are awkward. The tracking "loses" my hand position when I pull the arrow back too far behind my head. -Although MUCH better than Samsung Gear VR level of VR headsets, I wish the resolution was higher & denser. I can see pixels and jaggies often times. Still, it's good enough for most. _____ *Cons: -The cord becomes tangled up severely pretty easily. It's very annoying & time consuming to untangle. -No demo modes to try out games before purchase inside Oculus Store. Use the free trial of the HTC Viveport Infinity game service to try out games before buying. === My VR Background === The Rift S is my first "real" VR headset and I LOVE this thing. It has made me into a "believer" in VR and I like how my gaming spectrum has been expanded as a result. Having used a Samsung Gear VR before when I used to own a Galaxy S7 Edge, I feel like I am being taken to the next, higher level with the Rift S. With superior optics, "inside-out" motion tracking from its five sensors, and precise Touch controllers, there is simply no comparison. Whereas the Gear VR got used less than a handful of times from me, the Rift S has been used daily ever since I got my hands on one. My wife and 4-year-old daughter also LOVE it~! :D === Design: Ergonomics & Handling === Almost all of the hardware aspects of the Rift S are excellent. It looks cool, it's well-weighted & comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, headset adjustments are quick & simple to perform, the controllers are light & intuitive in operation, the single cord makes setup fast & easy, and the lens provide crisp & immersive visuals (my IPD is ~65mm). I like the Touch controllers a lot for their light weight, great button layout, and precise movements in the VR environment. The "Inside-Out Tracking" from the five sensors located on the headset worked very well in all the games I played except for when using the bow & arrow in some games. My arrow hand would get "lost" sometimes when I pulled the arrow back too far behind my head. Otherwise, everything just worked very well when grabbing objects, picking up & throwing things, slashing objects & foes, and shooting guns, etc. The Inside-Out Tracking feature also brings in other benefits such as the super convenient & helpful "Passthrough Mode" and "Guardian system." Passthrough Mode allows one to see and view their real-life surroundings even with the headset over their face so you can avoid bumping & tripping into things inside the room. The Guardian system allows you to "draw" a Safe Zone inside your room and helps you stay inside of it so that, again, you are protected from bumping into things. They are both very slick and well executed. The audio was the only aspect that was underwhelming. With no ear muffs physically covering over your ears, there is a lot of sound leakage in and out. The volume doesn't get very loud either. On the other hand, however, this is good because you can easily hear and respond to people talking to you. In order to improve my audio experience, I played games & viewed content using my in-ear earphones, over-the-head headphones, or my 5.1-channel soundbar system connected to my PC. It made a HUGE difference & increased sense of immersion and engagement. Besides the audio, I only have one other complaint - the cord. I don't mind that there is a cord connection to the PC. I do mind, however, the tendency of the cord to easily become tangled upon itself. Although it's not hard, it is very time-consuming to untangle each time. I wish Oculus would've used some sort of braided design to prevent the cord from tangling up in the first place, kind of like how HP includes a nicely braided power cord for their Spectre x360 laptops. With that said, I'm nevertheless tremendously satisfied and happy with the overall Rift S package. It is such marvelous engineering that makes access to virtual worlds so easy and fun. === Game Library & VR Experience === Compared to other gaming systems (consoles, PC), the amount of games out there are relatively small which makes finding quality games kind of hard. Each respective VR game store that I used - the Oculus store, SteamVR, and HTC Viveport Infinity - hosted many games from different genres that was easy to sort through and read reviews on. None of the stores, however, allowed me to download a Demo version of the game to try out before making a purchase. I heavily relied on YouTube reviews before making a purchase decision. Each game store, however, did a pretty good job making recommendations. During my search, I discovered some really fun games such as Beat Saber, Racket NX, Lucky's Tale, Superhot VR, Robo Recall, Lone Echo, and Sairento. My current FAVORITE VR game is Beat Saber and it is tremendous fun. Although the game comes with a decent selection of music to dance/play to, my Beat Saber experience shot up exponentially after I installed some mods and enabled custom music tracks. To install custom tracks, I used two apps - Mod Assistant and BeatDrop 2. Both apps are free and I used them to import and play tens of custom soundtracks. If you want a good workout, I recommend Psy's "Daddy" and "Gangnam Style." Black Pink also has many catchy and fast-paced songs. Mod Assistant for Beat Saber can be downloaded here: https://github.com/Assistant/ModAssistant/releases/ Link to BeatDrop 2: https://bsaber.com/beatdrop/ Another game I had lots of fun with was Sairento. Using super ninja skills with guns and swords, I shot & sliced through enemies feeling like an action hero. After experiencing VR gaming through the Rift S, I can say that I'm now a fan of VR gaming and I'm super stoked for its future. The immersiveness and experience are so cool and fun, I currently put on hold playing "traditional" games such as Resident Evil 2 Remake, Rage 2, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. With no motion sickness and vertigo, I'm having a blast with the Rift S. I highly recommend that everyone try it out. === Verdict === Being my first true VR system, the Rift S has opened my eyes and heart to the wonderful world of VR gaming. With a well-designed and comfortable headset, superb motion tracking, great clarity, excellent controllers, and fun selection of games and other media, the Rift S has brought me joy, wonder, and much fun. Thank you, Oculus, for such an awesome experience~!

---- Summary ---- Pros: - Simple setup - Comfortable headband design - Accurate motion tracking - Intuitive controllers Cons: - Tethered to a PC ---- Review ---- Setup: In the box, you will find the Oculus Rift S headset, two Oculus Touch controllers (one for the left hand and one for the right), two AA batteries (one for each controller), a Mini DisplayPort adapter and the owner’s manual. After plugging into a DisplayPort (or Mini DisplayPort with the included adapter) and a USB 3.0 port, the headset is quickly set up and ready to go. There is just a software install and a guided setup process to get the headset up and running. With the help of the passthrough feature that allows you to see the space around you, the virtual boundary can be configured with ease by using the controllers to draw your boundaries. Since I play in the same area each time, I have not had to perform the boundary configuration again. As excited as I was to start using this VR headset, I was thankful for a quick and painless setup process. Design: The Oculus Rift S is ergonomically designed, and I am impressed with its comfort. There is soft padding around the headband and face pad, and the size of the headband can be adjusted by a sizing wheel on the back of the headband, as well as an adjustable strap across the top for additional stabilization. It is not a light headset, but the combination of soft padding, weight distribution and headband sizing wheel allow for comfortable gaming sessions. I have also found the Oculus Touch controllers to be comfortable to hold, and after playing several games/experiences, I became familiar with the button, trigger, and thumbstick layout. I appreciate that the controllers are intuitive to use. Features: The display is colorful, bright and impressively clear. It is easy to get lost in the virtual environment while playing one of the many great games and experiences compatible with the Oculus Rift S headset. I occasionally notice a slight glare or screen-door effect, but it is not significant enough to distract from a great VR experience. The sound is integrated into the headset, which I personally like for convenience and comfort. The sound quality is not on par with the quality that headphones can provide, but I was surprised by how loud and spatially accurate the sound produced by the headset was. You can plug in headphones if you choose to. As I briefly mentioned, there are numerous games and experiences to download and play. I am only just beginning my VR journey, but I have already discovered some phenomenal games and apps on the Oculus store. I would recommend searching for game reviews online to help you decide which ones to try. All the games and even your desktop can be accessed in VR. Performance: My PC meets the minimum suggested specifications, and I have not experienced any lag. Sometimes loading apps or different levels within a game can take a while, but the in-game experience is smooth. The Oculus touch controllers are tracked extremely well, and I have not experienced any lag with the controllers either. The only performance related hiccup that I have encountered was an issue where the virtual hands were stuck at eye level no matter where I moved the Oculus touch controllers. The solution was using the “Restart Oculus” button in the Oculus software on my PC, which rebooted all the Oculus software. Since then, I have not experienced any issues. I had some worries about my PC just meeting the minimum specifications, but those worries quickly went away once I started playing games. If you have a PC that is above the minimum specifications, my guess is that the performance and experience will be even better. Verdict: If you are new to VR and want the power of a PC to enhance gameplay and open the doors to top VR games that can only be run on PCs, then the Oculus Rift S is for you. The simple setup and user-friendly design make it easy to pick up this headset and start playing without much to learn. The Oculus Touch controllers are intuitive, sound integration in the headset enhances comfort and provides surprising clarity and spatial accuracy, display quality is colorful and clear, and everything performs well, even on a PC that meets the minimum specifications. I am impressed and beyond happy with the Oculus Rift S.

First, where I'm coming from: - I own the Rift CV1 (3 sensor setup) - My IPD (InterPupillary Distance) is 68mm - It should say "Verified Purchase" next to my review. IMO, only consider reviews that have the verified purchase (as to filter out trolls) Second: - If you're having setup issues. 1) Verify you have Webcams/Cameras enabled in the Win10 Privacy Settings 2) Verify you have USB power management disabled in the Win10 power settings Review: The Rift S is awesome! Coming from a Rift Cv1 3 sensor setup I can verify the God Rays are greatly reduce (80% less), Screen Door Effect greatly reduced with the LCD RGB layout (3 subpixels) over the older OLED Pentile layout (2 pubpixels). The image is just so clear, and the "haze" from distant objects is now gone, you can actually focus on objects. The headset cable is 1 meter longer, and a lot more heavy duty. Tracking is responsive and has a pretty large tracking volume: I played Echo Combat, Dead&Buried 2, SKyrimVR, Onward just fine. This is a real upgrade over my 3 sensor CV1 Rift and I have no desire to go back (in fact I'm going to sell my old Rift now that I have the S). Setup: - Wow, it's just so easy! Plug it in, you watch a few videos, you paint your playspace through the Passthrough+ and you're ready to go. I was up and ready to go within 5 minutes. So easy and slick. No more running cables for sensors, no more USB bandwidth issues. Tracking: - Very responsive with a large tracking volume, but probably a notch below the 3 sensor setup (since you can lose controller tracking if it's way behind your head or back). However, it's a definite upgrade over 2 sensors. I noticed a few hiccups in Onward (w/o stock), but the devs ensured they're releasing an update to address this. Beat Saber is on point, I'm able to perform as well as a 3 sensor setup. Plus, tracking with the Oculus Insight tracking should improve over time. I'm personally not worried about the tracking. The Out of the Box room-scale is awesome. The max playspace of the Rift-S is about 20-25 ft; whereas the old CV1 is only about 10 ft. The more than 2x playspace support makes the S worth it. Sound: - definite step back here, but not as bad as people give the impression of. You can hear the game music and chat in games. It's adequate but a headphones addon would be greatly appreciated. Build Quality - On par with the Rift CV1. Both headsets are mainly plastic. The S comes with a much heavier duty cable (which I like); this will help prevent the cable from getting damage when playing. It feels like a premium product. Optics: - WOW!! WOW!! It's just so clear ! Yes, it's only 1440p display, but the greater pixel density with the LCD RGB panel makes everything so clear. (RGB = 3 subpixels per pixel; Pentile = 2 subpixel per pixel) - Rift S = LCD RGB, Rift CV1 = OLED Pentile. The clarity really helps when playing games like Onward, allowing your to see more distant objects. That "haze" on far away objects is now gone. Eye Glasses: - YES! You can wear eye glasses with the S. It features a larger Eye Box and Eye Relief mechanism. The older CV1 was not friendly to eye glass wearers. Comfort: - So is the big clunky halo worth it? Yup! Yes, very comfy and no more face pressure. The combo of the Halo + Top strap make the comfort a real winner. The halo also has THICK comfy padding. The comfort improvement is another reason I'm not going back to the CV1. Controllers: - I like the older Touch models better (more weight, had a sturdier feel), but the new Touch controllers are just as functional. Overall: - I'm very happy with the S and there's no way I'm going back to the old Rift Cv1. If in doubt go try a demo of the Rift S. PS - those saying to pick the old Rift CV1 or old Vive are imo being disingenuous or not accepting to change. The S has SOOO many improvements over the older headsets. There's no way I'm going back to the old Rift CV1.

I purchased an Oculus Go last year as my first foray into the VR world, and I thought it was an incredibly cool (if limited experience). Battery life stunk, and the single controller made it difficult to do much other than watch VR things rather than play them. Still, I was hooked and I was very excited when Oculus announced the Rift S and the Quest headsets. I thought about just doing the direct upgrade to the Quest headset since they had upped the specs on virtually everything and it now had the dual controllers, but I was still worried about the battery life. Also, I'm a huge fan of Elite: Dangerous and I have been wanting to try my hand at both it and some other flight simulators in VR and for that I would need the Rift S. First things first. Setting up the Rift S was super easy. I plugged the cables into the my video card (an RTX 2080) and a spare USB port. BTW, you need a Display Port connection for this to work, not HDMI, and from what I have read online, you can't use an adapter either. Shortly after downloading the Oculus software to my computer and logging in to my Oculus account (which I already had from the Go), I was up and running. A little robot that looked like a shorter, hovering version of the robot from Short Circuit (or maybe Wall-E) was showing me how to do everything in a rather trashed up trailer stuffed with tech gear. The tutorial was almost enough fun to keep me busy for hours. Tossing around paper airplanes and launching rockets was a lot more fun than I would have thought. It was just so cool to be able to 'grab' things with the controllers and toss things and have it seem relatively 'real'. Once I was done with that tutorial, I headed off to my virtual mountain retreat to set up my space and to customize my avatar. With that complete, I went into the system and tried out a bunch of the options. I was surprised to see that NONE of the apps/games/videos that I had downloaded for free or purchased were available to me on the Rift. I know it is a different system but I would have thought that the Rift would be able to handle anything from the Go. I was also dismayed to find that Vader: Immortal is exclusive to the Quest for at least a little while. I understand that they are hoping that this will drive the adoption of their most easy to use system, but I was really looking forward to standing in Vader's presence in that game. I decided to fire up DCS World which is an awesome combat flight simulator and which I configured for VR already. Upon trying to run it in Steam, I found out that I had to activate support for outside apps through the options in the Oculus software. It was a simple toggle of a button and as soon as I did so, the cockpit of my aircraft popped into place. MIND BLOWN! I had my flight stick set up but what I found was that my 'hands' were floating in front of me and I was able to grab the stick and throttle and control them directly. Very cool! Once I was airborne, it was incredible to be able to look around and see everything around me. That being said, it was a bit disorienting. It didn't make me sick or anything but my eyes and inner ear were screaming different things to my brain. It was far more disorienting than things like the roller-coaster game on the Go. Eventually though, I got used to it and I had a blast screaming past the control tower on a low level pass. Just needed a guy to spill coffee on himself up there and everything would have been complete! All the flight sim stuff was done sitting and so I wanted to try out setting up my virtual play space and do some real work in VR. Everyone has been saying that Beat Saber was the game to play and they are right. Not only is it incredibly fun but it is also a heck of a workout. My wife said I looked like a dork flailing about but I don't care, it was fun, and I can't see myself and neither will anyone else. I have only one complaint as of this moment with the Rift S. The benefit of the Go and the Quest is that there are no cables (though from what I understand, the Quest is a bit heavier than the Rift S). The Rift S is tethered to your computer and while the cable is quite long, it still seems to pull your head down and to the left a bit. I personally would rather have the cord and the support for more advanced programs but they really need to come out with some kind of cable harness that you could clip to your belt or something that can give you enough slack to look around but have most of the pull of the cable supported by your waist and not your head. I have also heard that previous Rift owners were griping that the screen inside isn't as nice as the one that was put into the Quest and not having used a Quest, I can't compare the two, but I can say that the Rift S blows the Go out of the water in quality. I don't notice any 'screen-door' effect like I did with the Go and the image is incredibly smooth. I was a bit worried about going from a high end gaming monitor down to the Oculus resolution but I was grinning so much from the immersion of it all that I don't really miss the pixels. Another complaint I have read about was about the sound that comes from the built in speakers. Now I didn't get this until after Oculus had already produced a patch for this and the software updated itself prior to me even putting on the headset for the first time, so I can't speak to how bad it was or how much of an improvement the patch made, but I can say that I'm pretty happy with the sound as it is. That being said, I am going to be plugging in some earbuds just so my wife doesn't have to hear everything in my games but if you want to just stick with the included speakers, I don't think you will be too disappointing in the quality. I can't wait to try out Elite: Dangerous and download a few more games from the Oculus store and Steam. I see myself wasting a lot of time playing on this thing in the very near future. If you have a current Rift, I don't know if the upgrade is worth it since I can't compare the two, but if you don't currently have a system or have been using a smartphone based system or the Go, you owe it to yourself to give this a shot. If you want ease of portability/use and want to have it available to show off to friends, go with the Quest. If you have a nice enough gaming rig to run it and want to play some higher end games, go for the Rift S. I am having an absolute blast and can't wait to see what developers come up with as the install base for VR gets even bigger.

I've had some experience with VRs over the years from mid range smart phone versions to high end console style VRs and I was excited to see the latest updated version of the Oculus Rift S Virtual Reality headset. Out of the box it felt very well made and I was impressed that they figured out a way to get rid of the external sensors/cameras for tracking and built it into the headset. The wired headset was simple to adjust using the turn style nob on the back and velcro top strap. It was also comfortable and light once it was on. My main issue thus far is they created the wired Rift S VR with a display port cable and USB. This causes a compatibility problem for those of us with a gaming laptop that meets the minimum specs but does not have a display port and only a HDMI out or USB-C. At this point, they are not offering a resolve or adapter for this however I have heard that some USB-C to display port adapters will work however I have gone through two I purchased separately that did not work. Hopefully, in time, they will have a certified Oculus display port adapter. The only other issue I could see would be if you had larger/smaller spacing between your eyes as there is no adjustment to compensate for that. The wireless controllers were ergonomically sound and felt the buttons were in all the right places. I was impressed by the sound out of the headset without having to use earbuds/headphones which allows you to hear others around you but also provided enough sound to not be distracted from your VR experience. All that being said, I will say that I had more problems dealing with the software application than anything. On one of my newer high end computers that exceeded all the minimum required specs I was unable to get the application to start or load and had to email customer support back and forth for about a week before getting it resolved. I will say their support was responsive via email however I had to wait for a response once per day in order to troubleshoot the problem versus speaking to a live person over the phone or live via chat which apparently isn't an option. After doing most of the troubleshooting and online research myself because of my impatience, I believe the problem had to do with a security certificate and an application update that needed to be installed. Once I finally got the application up and running on the one machine I still continued to have programs crash within the application itself. When I went onto their website, it appears I wasn't the only one experiencing issues as there was a notification posted regarding problems they were aware of with the Rift S specifically. I would have liked to see the machine sold with at least one free AAA VR game however that was not the case; they only offer a few basic ones and demos in the application. As expected, you must create or link your account via Facebook. Prior to acquiring the headset and weighing out options, I thought I was going to prefer the wired Rift S option over the alternate wireless VR due to the better library of games and using a better graphics card and PC specs. However, after experiencing the problems I have had so far with the Oculus Rift S PC application, it has me second guessing my choice and would probably recommend spending the same money for the wireless version even without trying that one. Hopefully they'll fix all the bugs and offer live tech support to address the concerns but until then I haven't been impressed.

the good: immersion, immersion, immersion - Wow! Put the headset on and you really feel like you’re in another world. Traditional gameplay on a “normal” display feels like you’re watching the action, even as you control a portion of it. VR feels like you’re *in* the action. I really felt the effects of riding a roller coaster, or trying to get a hand-hold on the cliff I was climbing, or that I really had to dodge the bad guy shooting at me! comfortable - I had no discomfort after several hours of gameplay. That being said, the headset is a bit front heavy, so you may feel the muscles in the back of your neck working a bit more than usual. motion controllers intuitive and track quite well - Easy enough that my 6 year old daughter picked them up and started using them right away. The tracking on the new headset trackers (replacing the old room sensors) is outstanding. view of in-game activity on screen for others to see - While the headset is of course a single player experience, they’ve still made it accessible to use with friends. This still needs a bit of work, but essentially whatever the player sees in-game is displayed on your monitor in a normal perspective. Pretty cool way for everyone else to see why you’re stumbling around, laughing, or at times giving a bit of a scream :-) minimized screen door effect - If you look closely you can see pixels, but the immersive quality of the experience really overpowers that pretty quickly. educational as well as entertainment - In my relatively short time with the Oculus, I found that there is some educational content out there as well as of course the games. Something as seemingly mundane as Google Maps, experienced in VR now becomes a way to virtually travel to any worldly destination. Street view literally puts you on the street, from staring at my own driveway to moments later looking up at the Eiffel Tower or ancient artifacts in Rome. the bad: content limitations - For me personally, I feel like the technology is still so new that there’s not a ton of quality content out yet. That’s not to say that there isn’t any at all, but once you spend some time in the store you’ll quickly start researching “what’s next” on the horizon. not “quite done cooking” yet - Again, because this technology is still in its infancy, I couldn’t help feeling like it needs more time to feel fully fleshed out and polished. One of the issues, if you can really call it that, is that any little momentary glitch takes you out of the immersion, which breaks the experience. Internal menus, moving from game to game…these things need some maturity before you will see a fully immersive experience from start to finish. Oculus software can be a bit unstable - At times I did have issues with the Oculus software, but a quick close and re-open, or at worst a system restart fixed the issue. audio issues when using AVR - I also experienced a buzz coming from my speakers when I tried to use the Oculus with my home theater speakers. I’m not sure if this is a limitation of the Oculus itself, or if something else was going on, but if you’ve got friends you’re trying to experience the Rift with, it can be a bit frustrating. miscellaneous: cable tether - Some people will hate this, and some won’t mind at all. on board speakers - The speakers on the headset itself aren’t exactly stellar, but they do a good job for what they are. Most people will probably use external headphones and won’t care too much. somewhat plain design - Basically a big black box over your eyes. I don’t personally care too much what the outside looks like while I’m immersed in what’s happening on the inside. current Rift owners may not find a large enough difference to upgrade - As other reviews have noted, the Rift S may not be enough for some current Rift owners to upgrade. overall: Overall, while this little piece of hardware has some really amazing features, it’s not without its flaws. Since this is my first experience with VR, I may be a bit more impressionable than some other reviewers, but the immersion (even with older games that are obviously lower quality) is simply amazing. You really have to experience it to understand. The Rift S is not without its issues, but that said, I still highly recommend it. If you’ve seen the movie Ready Player One, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. My young daughter calls this headset the “Oasis”, and it certainly feels like the beginnings of it. Your mind will feel like this is real - roller coasters will throw you off balance, floating through the International Space Station will make you feel weightless, and battling bad guys in a shooter will make you feel like you physically need to take cover. Highly recommended, but removing one star for some smaller issues that still need to be worked out.

I'm a long-time Rift-user (pre-ordered the original on day one) and I bought the Rift-S thinking it would be a modest upgrade to visuals, a more convenient tracking system, and a couple nice new features. And unlike the other new VR systems coming out this year, I wouldn't have to spend thousands on a new PC just to run it.. Well, as soon as I put the Rift-S on, I was blown away. The resolution increase may have sounded modest on paper, but combined with better lenses and subpixel count of the LCD screens, the difference is HUGE! Textures and video? High definition. SDE? I can't see any whatsoever! Godrays? Significantly reduced. Colors and clarity? Brighter and sharper! And those black levels, that everyone assumed would be worse "because it's an LCD screen"? They honestly look just as good as they did on the original Rift. The new Passthrough camera feature is incredibly useful, as well. With a double-tap of a button, I can bring up a monochrome real-world view, making it easy to reach for a drink, move a chair, or see what kind of mischief the cat is getting up to. And while the original Rift was already one of the most comfortable headsets on the market, Rift-S is on a whole other level. I think it technically weighs more than the original Rift, but it's distributed so well, and every part that contacts your face is well padded. You can tighten it on as snugly as it can get, and still remain comfortable for hours. The tracking has some limited occlusion areas, but so did my previous four-sensor setup.. and now I don't have to worry about it going crazy every time the cat bumps into one, or my overloaded usb hubs run short on bandwidth. Guardian setup itself is both far easier and faster, all being done within the headset, in seconds. Really, the only downside to this new system is the audio. The onboard speakers give acceptable volume and positional audio, but there's just no bass.. fortunately, that can be solved by plugging in earbuds or headphones. Still, I'm hoping Oculus or some third party comes out with a good, special-made audio accessory for the Rift-S. Overall, it's INCREDIBLE what you get for $400, and could probably run on a $600 computer. More importantly, Oculus still continues to pump more money into VR content development than any other company, giving us AAA content that really puts the Rift-S visuals to use. Sure, you could spend $1000 on some other headset, and have to buy a $2000 PC just to run it, but if almost all the content available is low-budget shovelware, what good will it do you? If you ask me, a real VR enthusiast would go for the Rift-S, and invest all the money they save on a good pair of headphones and some PC hardware upgrades, so they can run all those gorgeous Oculus Studios titles at maximum graphics settings.

Pros: * Much more comfortable on my head and face. * More compatible with those who wear glasses. * Clearer optics; although not night-and-day. * Much easier to set up. * More convenient audio. Cons: * New controllers aren’t as comfortable to hold and use. * Audio is not as robust. * A modest but not major upgrade over the original. I’ve been enjoying the original Oculus Rift for about a year and decided to upgrade when this new model was available. The original was great but had some fairly significant flaws; most namely that it required at least 4 connections to your PC; 2 from the headset and one from each of 2 cameras that sense the position of the headset in space. If you wanted room-scale sensing, you’d need a 3rd camera which brings the total to 5 connections to your PC. Unless you have a dedicated PC and play space, this is a lot of cable management; not to mention needing to leave least 3 cameras set up in the right spots in your play space. While this Oculus Rift S is not a major upgrade over the original, it does improve upon the original in a few crucial areas. The cameras for the room-scale sensing are now built into the headset, so that not only eliminates 3 cables that needed to be plugged in to your PC, but also means that you don’t need to leave 3 cameras positioned in your room. It also enables the cool pass-through video when you get near your play space boundary (that’s easy to set up). The harness that balances the typically front-heavy VR headset is also much improved and is now much easier to adjust for comfort and stability. It also is much more forgiving for those who wear glasses. The A/V portion of VR; the audio and video, has been improved a bit as well, although with compromises. Image clarity is definitely better, but it was pretty good already. For audio, the original Rift had attached on-ear headphones that articulated and needed to be positioned over your ears each time you put the headset on. This new Rift S has the audio built into the headband which is much more convenient but the sound isn’t quite as rich. You can attach wired headphones instead, but the built-in audio is just not as good, although it is more convenient. The last thing worth mentioning is the new controllers. They are definitely good but not quite as comfortable for me to hold on to as the original. I prefer the comfort of the old controllers to the new, but they work well enough and I’m sure I’ll get used to them. Overall, if you don’t already own a Rift, the Rift S is definitely the one worth getting. And if you already own the Rift, the Rift S is still a worthwhile upgrade if you find yourself sharing your play space with others or if you don’t have enough ports on your PC so you need to constantly swap plugs when you want to get into VR. Having only 2 plugs and not needing separate cameras is a HUGE improvement, IMHO, that makes it much easier to jump into VR whenever you want.