Dicehunter
Resident Newb
Didn't post this in the member reviews section as it's just a mini review and mainly to do with gaming.
So I got my HTC Vive Cosmos on launch day and spent quite a bit of time setting it up, Whereas my Rift S took maybe 5 minutes, The Cosmos took easily 5 times as long, Having to scan your environment and make sure it's extremely bright is just annoying, On top of that you have to have enough features in your play space for the cameras to scan to create data points so anyone with a plain playspace be prepared to start putting things on the walls, Something I didn't encounter with the Rift S' tracking system, If for some reason it loses focus for a split second then the progress bar returns to 0%, Very tedious.
Update 09/10/2019
A recent firmware update has really improved the sensors and low light functionality, Setup now takes maybe at most 2 minutes total, Click through a few steps, Look around your environment to scan even if it's fairly plain, Even with just an energy saving bulb lighting the place up, And bam, It's done.
Once I had it setup I had to find the lens sweetspot which is fairly small but luckily they include hardware level IPD adjustment so it takes maybe 30 seconds, The top head strap also helps a lot, After that it is nigh on crystal clear, Best picture I have seen to date on any HMD, God rays and screen door are basically eliminated, FoV is the same as the Rift S and Vive Pro, But refresh rate is 90Hz compared to the Rift S' 80Hz and to my eyes it did make quite the difference, Visually it's a nice upgrade from the Rift S and not just because of the extra 1 million pixels you're getting, This has 2 x individual displays whereas the Rift S has a single display.
The controllers feel very well made and solid, When in use they light up bright white which is a bit of a drain on the batteries but it is used for tracking, 2 x AA's per controller, I'd say I got roughly 5 hours of continuous play over a 12 hour period, I'd recommend buying rechargeable Panasonic Eneloop Pro AA's 2500mAh which are about £12 on the rainforest for 4.
Comfort is great as the headset itself is cushioned with what I suspect is faux leather, A very soft type of foam covered in what feels like satin around the face gasket and foam/faux leather at the back of the halo style headband, Adjusting it is as simple as undoing the top Velcro strap and turning a dial at the back, Putting it on and then adjusting it to fit your head, Very sturdy once on and the build quality of the Cosmos is outstanding.
Having access to 1 years worth of HTC's Infinity service which comes with all pre-orders of the Cosmos gives you access to hundreds of titles which usually on its own costs around the £80 mark for the year, Although not all titles are playable just yet, Something which HTC have said they will update in a future Vive Port update.
A quality of life difference with this headset compared to the others is the ability to flip the HMD up, Useful if you are doing other things or are talking to someone or even to vent your face, Although the mini built in fan greatly helps with ventilation and fogging up of the lenses.
Cosmos was designed to be modular and although I cannot test this right now, The faceplate comes off and has space for other modules to be inserted and even new face plates like the upcoming Steam VR compatible faceplate which adds the lighthouse/base station tracking ability to the Cosmos if you have access to base stations/lighthouses and want to go that route instead of inside out tracking.
Pros
Cons
Again this was just a mini review, I was told by HTC that they are working quite hard on fixing tracking issues, Adding features etc... if you are happy waiting a few weeks or even a few months then it's worth it but for now I'd say the Rift S is the better buy due to it's months and months of firmware updates if you want a simple plug'n'play experience until firmware updates arrive for the Cosmos.
So I got my HTC Vive Cosmos on launch day and spent quite a bit of time setting it up, Whereas my Rift S took maybe 5 minutes, The Cosmos took easily 5 times as long, Having to scan your environment and make sure it's extremely bright is just annoying, On top of that you have to have enough features in your play space for the cameras to scan to create data points so anyone with a plain playspace be prepared to start putting things on the walls, Something I didn't encounter with the Rift S' tracking system, If for some reason it loses focus for a split second then the progress bar returns to 0%, Very tedious.
Update 09/10/2019
A recent firmware update has really improved the sensors and low light functionality, Setup now takes maybe at most 2 minutes total, Click through a few steps, Look around your environment to scan even if it's fairly plain, Even with just an energy saving bulb lighting the place up, And bam, It's done.
Once I had it setup I had to find the lens sweetspot which is fairly small but luckily they include hardware level IPD adjustment so it takes maybe 30 seconds, The top head strap also helps a lot, After that it is nigh on crystal clear, Best picture I have seen to date on any HMD, God rays and screen door are basically eliminated, FoV is the same as the Rift S and Vive Pro, But refresh rate is 90Hz compared to the Rift S' 80Hz and to my eyes it did make quite the difference, Visually it's a nice upgrade from the Rift S and not just because of the extra 1 million pixels you're getting, This has 2 x individual displays whereas the Rift S has a single display.
The controllers feel very well made and solid, When in use they light up bright white which is a bit of a drain on the batteries but it is used for tracking, 2 x AA's per controller, I'd say I got roughly 5 hours of continuous play over a 12 hour period, I'd recommend buying rechargeable Panasonic Eneloop Pro AA's 2500mAh which are about £12 on the rainforest for 4.
Comfort is great as the headset itself is cushioned with what I suspect is faux leather, A very soft type of foam covered in what feels like satin around the face gasket and foam/faux leather at the back of the halo style headband, Adjusting it is as simple as undoing the top Velcro strap and turning a dial at the back, Putting it on and then adjusting it to fit your head, Very sturdy once on and the build quality of the Cosmos is outstanding.
Having access to 1 years worth of HTC's Infinity service which comes with all pre-orders of the Cosmos gives you access to hundreds of titles which usually on its own costs around the £80 mark for the year, Although not all titles are playable just yet, Something which HTC have said they will update in a future Vive Port update.
A quality of life difference with this headset compared to the others is the ability to flip the HMD up, Useful if you are doing other things or are talking to someone or even to vent your face, Although the mini built in fan greatly helps with ventilation and fogging up of the lenses.
Cosmos was designed to be modular and although I cannot test this right now, The faceplate comes off and has space for other modules to be inserted and even new face plates like the upcoming Steam VR compatible faceplate which adds the lighthouse/base station tracking ability to the Cosmos if you have access to base stations/lighthouses and want to go that route instead of inside out tracking.
Pros
- Really high resolution picture of 1440x1700 per eye with 2 x individual displays makes it pretty much crystal clear.
- The built in headphones are brilliant, Clear and can get quite loud without any distortion.
- Setup thanks to new firmware is very quick.
- Comfort is second to none in my experience due to the very good quality padding and overall light weight construction and in general top notch build quality.
- Little to no GR or SDE.
- 90Hz refresh rate over the Rift S' 80Hz, Actually makes a difference to my eyes.
- Due to an internal mini fan, Fogging up of lenses is vastly reduced compared to prior Vive models.
- The faceplate is modular so once addons are brought out it's as simple as taking the face plate off, Click something into place and put the face plate or even a new face plate back on.
Cons
- The Lens sweetspot takes a bit of getting use to.
- Tracking as of right now has gotten better due to firmware updates but it still needs improving.
- Certain games simply don't work with the Cosmos, Something HTC said they are working on.
- The controllers don't last that long so rechargeable batteries are a must buy.
Again this was just a mini review, I was told by HTC that they are working quite hard on fixing tracking issues, Adding features etc... if you are happy waiting a few weeks or even a few months then it's worth it but for now I'd say the Rift S is the better buy due to it's months and months of firmware updates if you want a simple plug'n'play experience until firmware updates arrive for the Cosmos.
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ill kick yer a** one day haha
