The Index thread (please keep to subject)

I'm probably going to re-buy one and hope the replacement has less glare. I've seen on reddit that Valve sent them replacements and it had less for them. I'll probably wait a few weeks and let the old stock clear out. Sucks though with Valve selling them instantly though...there goes my profits for selling the next one!

The glare was the second thing I noticed after the v.grey colour of Steam VR the dark room with the white circular lines, but I also noticed getting the fit right makes quite a difference. Once in-game though (FO4VR/Defector) the glare isn't such an issue depending on light on dark backgrounds. So this will be game dependant.   It's about 33 degrees C in my room right now, so not comfortable playing VR at the moment. Will have more thoughts when it's cooler tomorrow. So far though, really nice visual quality. Good colours and sharp image. FOV is certainly more oval than other headsets. Controllers will take some time getting used to. Audio is very good as well. Working well with a solitary V1 basestation so far. And before anyone comments the leopard print is my missus responsibility.  :p

Shadowmask72 said:

The glare was the second thing I noticed after the v.grey colour of Steam VR the dark room with the white circular lines, but I also noticed getting the fit right makes quite a difference. Once in-game though (FO4VR/Defector) the glare isn't such an issue depending on light on dark backgrounds. So this will be game dependant.   It's about 33 degrees C in my room right now, so not comfortable playing VR at the moment. Will have more thoughts when it's cooler tomorrow. So far though, really nice visual quality. Good colours and sharp image. FOV is certainly more oval than other headsets. Controllers will take some time getting used to. Audio is very good as well. Working well with a solitary V1 basestation so far. And before anyone comments the leopard print is my missus responsibility.  :p

Ah sweet, I haven't seen the individual packaging. Not as grandiose as the total kit but still pretty cool. 

In Virtual Desktop now. It was very hard to get the right spot on my head. Lots of blur, but once you get the right spot is very nice. Black looks better here than Steam VR and I'm typing this with ease. Text readability at screen size 130% distance 1.19 is very good. Whilst the headset is quite heavy, it feels much more comfortable than the Oculus Quest that's for sure.  Just watched a Youtube video using VD looks good and 4K playback looks very good as well.  Just played a round of Fantasy Strike using VD 2D screen in the headset. Looks colourful and the smooth operation is nice. It's a colourful fighting game with simple 2.5D graphics will have to try another more visually intensive game when it's cooler. So far not bad at all for desktop working. Is it as good as the Reverb, maybe not, but still very good. Will have to compare with the Quest.

Comparison to the Reverb @Shadowmask72 ? I have one on order (index) and may take the plunge. Need some sim testing from ya though :)

@Techy111 - If you are getting a VR headset just for Sims then I would wait on the HP reverb if I was you. All the other headsets are mainly used to play lots of different games, so it's a waste of money if your not going to use it for other games IMO. It's also not a big jump in resolution from Rift S, so I imagine it to be just slightly better then Rift S.

Very difficult to accurately judge without them side-by-side. But from memory the Reverb had better visible resolution but a narrower FOV and I have to say the extra Hz does make things feel smoother on the Index. I just played some Elite D and text readability is v.good, not too much glare either and distant objects can be seen relatively clearly. However, movement feels very smooth. I think the reverb will be a one trick pony resolution above all else where at least the Index covers more than one base. In your case Techy I would get an index play with it, and see if you like the visual upgrade and smoothness then decide if that's worth more than a bump in resolution. 

@Shadowmask72 - Are you still getting a HP Reverb if they sort out the problems? I want the HP Reverb for some sims and another headset for other games.

Just played some skyrim and it's very hard to say how much clearer the Reverb is to be honest which can only mean they are closer than one imagines. Up-close detail is superb on the  index to the point where it's much better than the Pimax 8K and CV1 and of course better than Quest streaming by quite a large margin. The FOV is quite nice as well. I can see now why some people the Index grew on them over time. I'll try PCARS 2 and if the distance details look good then I would start to believe the index is a good alternative to Reverb.  Again, in Skyrim the smooth locomotion is pretty awesome. You notice right away. Obviously I am a 2080Ti i9 9900K user here which helps a lot. It genuinely feels like Xmas morning here right now around 35 years ago (quite a bit warmer though). Oh and yes I notice the headset getting warm/hot.

@RedRizla tough call as the more I play with the Index the less-likely.

RuneSR2 said:

I did see the "SDE-like vertical lines", but they didn't bother me, maybe they even worked making the image quality less pixelated. Next up 120 Hz and Revive... 

(Sorry for any spelling errors - this was a long post, it's 1:30 AM, I should be asleep by now ;-)

You cofirm that you see those vertical lines when the image moves?

A lot of people have this issues. Some in one eye and some in both eyes. I have it slightly more in one eye than the other. If you exchange the Index your replacement will have the same issue. 

I think I'm going to refund. The Index has great sound, better FOV but the SDE is greater in the Index because of this issue. But it's a trade off. The Index has slightly better clarity and much better FOV than the Rift but it has more SDE.

Also, I prefer the Rift-S tracking. The inside out tracking makes it so I can even go under my desk to pick something up. With cameras or sensors there is always some way where my chair or furniture blocks the sensors. 

It doesn't make sense for me to spend $1k for more SDE. 

I'll give it a bit more time before I make up my mind. I'm really disappointed though.