Rift/replacement Rift

[bubsnews]

I am going to share the differences between the two Rifts I have had in my home.

A little background;
I received the original Rift (5/31), security seal on outside of package was broken and resealed with scotch tape.  Inside, while everything looked new, the safety seal for the left eyepiece was attached to the right eyepiece and the right eyepiece safety seal (this could have also been an additional left eyepiece safety seal and no right seal, can't be sure now) was stuck to one of the pieces of safety tape/seal on the headset cables (so, nothing protecting the left eyepiece).  I contacted Oculus support (5/31) right away, asking only if my Rift was indeed new.  I never asked for a replacement.

I received a response from Oculus support (6/5), stating that I should not have received a Rift in the condition I described.  Support asked me for my shipping address.  I responded immediately with my shipping address.  I didn't hear from Oculus until (6/14), stating they would be emailing me a return shipping label.  On (6/15) I received the email with the return shipping label.  Sorry, but I can't remember the exact date, but shortly after that last email, UPS shows up to pick up the original Rift per instructions from Oculus to them (I was out of the loop, had no idea UPS had been dispatched to pick up my Rift).

Yesterday (6/28), the replacement Rift shows up.  Again, the outer security seal was broken and resealed with scotch tape.  Inside, again although everything looks new, the protective cover for the left eyepiece was actually placed on the right eyepiece.  Another left eyepiece protector was stuck to the one opened security tape for the headset cables.  There was no right eyepiece protective cover, two left ones.

It was almost like Oculus shipped me the exact same headset again as the appearance was exactly the same as the first.  Remember, I never asked for a replacement, only asked if my Rift was indeed new.  Oculus had initiated a return/replacement without any input from me (for the original Rift).

Now, to the differences between the two headsets...
* The replacement Rift (Rift 2), has considerably less 'god rays', and I mean considerably less.  The difference is profound.
* However, Rift 2 has more red dots (the screen is not red), like you are looking through a dirty screen door in all dark scenes.  Rift 1 also had red tint but I only saw it in games at dark scenes, and fairly faint.  Rift 2 has red tint in all darker images, can even be seen outside of games.  More noticeable for sure.
* Rift 2 also has the dreaded 'left tilt', which Rift 1 did not have.
* Rift 2, or at least Home, now has two warnings, one for the headset and another for the camera, both USB warnings.  Never had either with Rift 1 (although Home has been updated now to 1.5, this might be the reason and not the headset)
* The overall image of the Rift 2 is far superior to Rift 1.  I could never get the green cross hairs on Rift 1 to be clear.  On Rift 2, the green cross hairs are sharp as a tack.  Also, the size of the area where the image is clear on the Rift 2 is greater than the area clear on the Rift 1, noticeably.

So, in my experience with two Rifts with the exact same setup (although there is a caveat here, during the time between Rift 1 and Rift 2, Oculus updated Home to 1.5), there is quite a variance in the image.  For those complaining about god rays and others responding that god rays aren't a big deal to them, perhaps it is a difference in the severity of the god rays on different Rifts and not ones personal susceptibility.  Also, I can attest that there is a difference between the overall quality of the image between headsets (at least between the two I've used).  Rift 1 had severe god rays and an overall poorly focused image, while Rift 2 was dramatically different, less god rays and much clearer image.  Also, there was some variance in red dots in darker images, not as dramatic as the god rays and clearer image though.

Bottom line, even though I never asked for a replacement and waiting almost an entire extra month for the replacement, I am glad I got one.  I would never have known the severity of the god rays and poor image quality of Rift 1 had I not received Rift 2.

Luck all...

[LZoltowski]

Hmm where do you live? You don't suppose Customs might have had a peek?

[bubsnews]

I'm in US, NW Arkansas.  About 600 miles from Oculus shipping location.

[LZoltowski]

ah, then that's a negative.

[RorschachPhoeni]

Interesting. Thank you for sharing that experience.

[Skizz]

Thank you for sharing your experience! 🙂

I've received a broken rift on the 21th or 22th of june. The upper half of the right eye is completely red due to the tint, which would be still ok for me.
However, I do think that my left screen is broken, because there is a "line" right through the middle of the screen which divides the screen into two seperate areas with different colouring.Colours on the upper half of the left screen are way brighter than on the bottom half.
I've contacted support on the 23th and received a short awnser "that they would look into my problem" on the 24th. I now haven't heard a word for 6 days and I am curious about with what they will come up as a solution.

[Rifts]

That huge difference is pretty scary.

My rift got good clarity, so I could see the cross perfectly, and almost 0 red tint. I'm quite annoyed by the god-rays though, and I can't compare to anything since none of my friends have the rift 😞 I have no idea if mine's worse or better than average