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

If you are looking to get into VR, now has become one of the largest changes in VR for years. There are now multiple options for VR and it really all comes down to what you are willing to invest and what you are looking for. I personally have several VR systems and I have had the original Oculus Rift for over 2 years. So, I have been desiring an upgrade. However, the Rift S isn’t a complete upgrade from the original Rift, as some things have been somewhat downgraded in my opinion, but that is not to say this is a bad choice. I personally feel that the increased resolution, the reduced screen door effect, the reduced glare on the lenses and the simplicity of set-up have justified changing to the Rift S. The lack of on-ear headphones, the LCD screen and the inside out tracking have been what I feel are the slight downgrade. The major reason I moved to the Rift S is because of my current room set-up, I can’t stretch USB cameras to ideal positions. Where the original Rift recommended 3 cameras for room-scale and needed 4 USB ports, the Rift S only needs one USB. Though the tracking is not as good with 3 external cameras, it’s not too bad and with their recent updates it is getting better. The room setup of the Rift S is the easiest of any VR system I have used and with a recent update it even became one step less. I also really enjoy taking my VR to parties and gatherings to share the experience and even compared to a Windows Mixed Reality headset I am up and running quicker. As for the LCD screen, in normal colorful well lit experiences, I notice the increase in resolution but not the fact it is an LCD over OLED. However, in very dim lit games, ones where darkness is a key element, I can’t help but to notice the back lit panel washing out the experience. The contrast between black and grey areas is near impossible to distinguish in some experiences. I feel the biggest let down for me has been the audio. One thing I used to rave about the Rift over the Vive was that it came with headphones built in. All you had to do is grab the controllers and put the headset on and you are good to go. The Rift S has audio built in, and I was surprised at the quality, however it is so open that I feel I lose the immersion. One thing I enjoy about VR is that I am in a completely different place, taken away from actual reality. With the open audio concept of the Rift S I can now hear everything else around me, pulling me out of that immersion. The good thing is that it has a 3.5mm jack on the headset, however with the halo head brace, it’s hard to use just any headset and is best suited for in-ear headphones. There are other options that users have come up with and I am using one of them now, but wish there was a better manufacturer option. Also to note is that you must have a Display Port or a mini-DP, as the Rift S comes with the adapter. I have an ASUS G752 laptop that has a mini-DP and it works perfectly. Overall, I really enjoy the Rift S and if it was my first VR system I probably wouldn’t have any of these minor gripes. I still prefer the Rift S for the clarity and simplicity and it will be traveling with me every time I want to share VR.

I have an Index reserved for August 31st. I have sold my Vive and bought a Rift S for playing VR in the meantime, but now I am in love with it, I`ll probably going to pass the Index. I have a narrow IPD (60) but the carity and sweet spot is so much better that the original Vive. The blacks are surprisingly good and even, not to mention the screendoor reduction, and glare control. The lightness and the halo design really beats the Vive with the Deluxe Audio Strap in confort. About the cables, just pass them trough the strap headband, it will feel in the right place behind your head. Try the Mamut Grips on the Touch, to emulate the Knuckles controllers hand holding design. I also recommend buying the Plantronics RIG 500HX headphone, it is very light, great sounding, fits perfectly over the halo strap and it is cheap. Passtrough + makes easy to get and put it over. The tracking is great with the new 1.39 firmware upgrade, I actually had more ocasional jitters and hiccups with my gen 1 Vive Lighhouses. The only real downside comparing to my Vive is the horizontal field of view, it feels narrower and more squared, in the Vive it looks to me a bit larger and rounded.

TLDR; Get the Rift S if you already have a gaming PC. You won't be disappointed! I tried the Quest but after trying the S, I promptly returned the Quest. My son has the first gen Rift, so I was also able to compare the quality between the two. The S is a marked improvement! No external cameras, better display, and almost zero screen door effect makes for a truly immersive experience. Between the S and the Quest, I'd rather put up with the cable (I ordered a 6 foot extension for only $15) and enjoy PC powered graphics than go cordless with the Quest's PS3 (some say PS2) graphics quality. If the Quest were $100 less, I'd have a harder time making the decision. Being the same price, I'd say portability lost out to a better VR experience. Since the "R" in "VR" stands for "Reality" and you want the absolute best experience, go with the Rift S. Not having to worry about Battey life and the 2 hours it takes to recharge, is another strike against the Quest in my opinion.

The first time I tried it on I was amazed by the 3d and VR, 10 days into it and I started having connect issues. Every time I want to play it I have to unplug the usb cable 2 times and restart oculus before it will start working properly. I struggled to get it working the first time it started having connect issues, I reinstalled everything 2 times, deleted the headset off of oculus and rebinded it. I think I finally have it down where I can get it to start working again, as much as I love it I'm really disappointed in how much I have to mess with it to get it to work. It's not just me that is having problems from what I can tell it's alot of people. I'm starting to think there is a design flaw in how the data link cable plugs into the oculus and after a while of moving around the plug gets loose and you end up with connect issues. I still love it don't get me wrong, if someone else buys it make sure you zip tie the cable to the headset so your plug doesn't get worn out. If you do that I think you should be fine and won't have any problems. I did that after the fact, pretty sure I stopped anymore future connect issues that would leave me with a $400 brick. But I still have to play with the cords to get mine to work.

The inside out tracking is perfect for beginners to VR because it eliminates the need to install sensors in your room. The controllers are lightweight and the tracking is great. Only issues I've had so far with the tracking is it gets spotty if you reach behind you where the cameras can't see the controllers or you put the controllers too close to the headset. Something to note though is sometimes I'll start the Oculus app and it won't detect the headset, prompting me to run a file via win key+R which can be a foreign concept to some. Another issue is when you close the oculus app to use your PC normally, the headset goes into standby mode, but my controllers still drained their batteries, which can be a pain unless you invest in rechargable double AA's like I did. In the end, for $400, this is a perfect startup for VR enthusiasts and I will stand by this headset firmly

I’m going to start off by saying I’ve only had this for a day so far but wow is it awesome. So I’ve played around with the htc vive and oculus before at the college I go to and I really enjoyed the experience but the problem is that I just don’t have the room for the light houses. The best aspects of this headset are that there’s no light houses and that there’s only one cable running off of it and at the end of the cable it just splits into usb and display port. As far as I can tell the tracking is very good I haven’t really noticed any short comings yet. The first game I got was super hot VR I’ve heard really good things about it and I think it really show cases the strength of VR in my opinion my wife and I took turns playing it and had a blast and she’s not really a gamer the only thing she plays is the sims on a old hp laptop. I figured she would like it but I think she likes more than I even thought she would. I would say overall if your thinking about VR and you have the required specs to run it this is the way to go atleast until a great wireless option is available. You don’t need to spend 1000 dollars for a great experience cough “index” I’m sure it’s a great headset but I’d say this is the starting point when I have the space I’ll probably get the index but for now and for the foreseeable future this does the job and then some. The only negatives I would say is that it doesn’t come with any games it would be nice if it came with atleast maybe one cheap game and it would

I purchased the Oculus Rift S to go with the Alienware laptop I also picked up. I have to say I am impressed with the ease of use and quality and image quality and performance. Pros: easy to setup (no satellites required), good quality and performance for the price, controls and good, headset is comfortable and easy to adjust to fit. Cons: cable is a necessary evil and occasionally gets in the way. The audio could be better as the built in headset audio is basic at best. Plan to use your own audio headphones that plug into the unit.

My 15 year old says, “I have a lot of fun,” and he’s the happiest he’s been in the last 10 months. He uses it daily for the last week and is enjoying trying new things. He would like to purchase more games to get more out of it. This is an upgrade from his Oculus Go. He sets the limits so he doesn’t walk into things. It’s actually pretty cool. I wish I had known we needed a separate piece to connect it to his laptop because he couldn’t use it right away due to that.