Vive or rift

[Kyennamo]

I demoed both yesterday. I like both. The oculus was definitely more comfortable but moving around in the vive demo was so fun in was sold. Or so i thought.

Some users have mentioned to me that ED looks like crap through the Vive. Mostly because of the Jaggies.

I Tried reading up on the issue but the threads are way too long to read through so I figured I would just ask you guys about your personal experience with both headsets.

Im VERY close to pulling the trigger on this but i want the best possible experience. Have the vive issues been fixed? Should I just get the rift? I'm tempted to get both but I just don't want to spend that much money when a headset but I'm probably going to replace and six months or a year when something better comes out

 

[Garagiste]

Not tried the Vive so can't comment on the ED issues, but the roomscale thing seems to be its big advantage.
Personally, the only games other than Elite that have really grabbed me are driving games, so I'm going to be seated for anything I'm likely to use it for, hence I went with the Rift.

 

[vanfanel]

So this is my experience. I owned a vive back in July for a few weeks. At that time the rift was clearly much better with Elite performance-wise and visual-wise. Now times have changed and I believe performance has caught up so they are probably very similar. However, I don't know how much you can improve on the visuals considering their lenses are different with different properties. I think the clarity, bigger sweetspot and comfortability of the rift is still better than the vive especially for a game like Elite which you'll usually play in long sessions and reading ED text is much easier in the rift. With that said my recommendation is that if you prefer to play more sim games (racing,flight...etc) go with the rift. If you prefer more room-scale games go with the vive. I mean both headsets perform fine in either circumstances but they have their slight advantages in each areas. Despite which HMD you get you'll probably forget all about these differences once you start playing Elite in VR

 

[VR_Yata_PL]

" think the clarity, bigger sweetspot and comfortability of the rift is still better than the vive especially for a game like Elite which you'll usually play in long sessions and reading ED text is much easier in the rift"

Well , wrong Try to test Vive again with correct settings and please noticed that Vive got removable cover to be replaced with accessories https://vrcover.com/product/htc-vive-foam-replacement-6mm/
6 mm leather foam is very comfortable. Vive HMD offer munch better colours and wider FOV

@Kyennamo
Try to visit some friends with HDM's and make your own choise.

 

[vanfanel]

Well , wrong Try to test Vive again with correct settings and please noticed that Vive got removable cover to be replaced with accessories https://vrcover.com/product/htc-vive-foam-replacement-6mm/
6 mm leather foam is very comfortable. Vive HMD offer munch better colours and wider FOV

I don't see how settings can compensate for differences in optics. Let me fix a few things. The VIVE has a taller FOV and brighter colors due to the display+lenses. The rift has a sharper image, less SDE and bigger sweetspot because of it's display and lenses. The VIVE can't magically get a bigger sweetspot without changing lenses. I'll add the rift sacrifices some FOV for clarity and the VIVE sacrifices some clarity for FOV.

The removable cover may add comfort but this is an individual preference and the user didn't specify which area made the rift more comfortable (facial interface, straps, weight, built-in headphones...etc)

 

[Kyennamo]

What i meant was Straps weight and ballance were all better on the rift. I could definitely see just forgetting its there. In contrast...the vive was definitely more noticable on my face. Particularly the weight distribution.

But omg the vive demo was so cool. Shooting a bow and arrow felt so real until i bumped the hmd while drawing an arrow. And seeing the touch controllers represented in real time was so cool. Then....... they turned into guns ......and i was like "HELL YEAH". So aside from comfort i was more impressed with the vive. But....ED is primary here. And most of you seem to favor the oculus. But the "black smear and godrays" concern me. I didnt experience this with either hmd during the demos but its not like i was actually playing ED so........im not sure what to do.....maybe just get both.....but thats a lot of extra munny i wasnt planning on spending.

One thing i didnt ask about during the demo.....what about a mic? Is one built into either HMD?

 

[vanfanel]

Mics are built in both. As for godrays they both have their own "version" of them. If you didn't notice them during the demo sessions you might not notice them much during ED or at least you'll get used to them and forget about them. As for black smear I wouldn't know since I've never seen it in but maybe I'm just remembering how bad they were with the DK2

There's quite a few people that own both headsets and are happy with both of course that's if you got money to burn.

 

[bitstorm]

I don't see how settings can compensate for differences in optics. Let me fix a few things. The VIVE has a taller FOV and brighter colors due to the display+lenses. The rift has a sharper image, less SDE and bigger sweetspot because of it's display and lenses. The VIVE can't magically get a bigger sweetspot without changing lenses. I'll add the rift sacrifices some FOV for clarity and the VIVE sacrifices some clarity for FOV.

I haven't tried a RIft I have Vive.

But on this though, the 6mm face pad brings the lens much closer increasing FOV from 70 degrees to 80 degrees and also increases the sweet spot size.

I do not have measurements on the sweet spot increase as I no of no way to measure it. FOV is easily measured tho.

 

[Frank]

I don't have a VIVE. I have a Rift. And I'll say this. Everyone who had both says there's not a lot of difference between the two. People's heads are different shapes. If you've tried both and you've found the Rift more comfortable then I'd recommend you go for that one.

If you ever start feeling that you are missing out on roomscale then you can always buy the touch controllers at a later date.

 

[Alec Turner]

But omg the vive demo was so cool. Shooting a bow and arrow felt so real until i bumped the hmd while drawing an arrow. And seeing the touch controllers represented in real time was so cool. Then....... they turned into guns ......and i was like "HELL YEAH".

Dude - the bow and arrow thing sounds like part of Valve's "The Lab" - which also works on the Rift (with the Touch controllers - which are things of absolute beauty).

And seeing the controllers represented in real time - yup, that works in the Rift too.

And guns? Yup you've got that in the Rift too (e.g. "Dead and Buried" or "Super Hot").

I've got a Rift, I use it almost exclusively for ED, for which it's absolutely brilliant. I've also got the Touch controllers and they're amazing too (and work with lots of the Steam games that also serve the Vive). I'm sure the Vive is brilliant too. As someone else has said, whichever headset you get I think you're going to have an absolutely amazing experience.

 

[Fieldx]

You will get hand presence on both systems, and the experience you had with The Lab (which is the demo you tried, and is available for Rift & Vive) would be exactly the same on the Rift.

If you have a large play space and want to dance around your room, go with the Vive, if you're mostly going to sit down/not move around a lot go with Rift.

Both HMD's have microphones, here's a recording of the Rift mic: https://m.soundcloud.com/kirkhamilton/rift-mic-test I'm sure the Vive mic sounds similar.

My opinion might be biased since I don't have the Vive, but the general feedback I've found is that Rift has a better HMD overall (clearer screen, deeper blacks, lighter, more comfortable, integrated headphones), better hand controllers (again lighter, smaller, has joysticks, two trigger buttons) but the Vive has a better tracking solution, which can track you in 360 degrees and in a larger space.

 

[vanfanel]

I haven't tried a RIft I have Vive.

But on this though, the 6mm face pad brings the lens much closer increasing FOV from 70 degrees to 80 degrees and also increases the sweet spot size.

I do not have measurements on the sweet spot increase as I no of no way to measure it. FOV is easily measured tho.

The same thing can be done with the rift using the thin foam padding from vrcover. We can talk about accessorizing both but then you're no longer comparing the two standalone products. Much in the same way that you can do full roomscale with the rift but need another sensor. This is why if you want to do sims get a rift. If you want to do roomscale get a vive. You can make one do the other but to reach for the same fidelity you'll need to work at it a bit more. Of course you're more than welcome to go that route as well.

 

[Heavenly-Hammer]

Having both, I find the Vive to be the superior experience IF you have an Nvidia GPU. Rift if you have a less potent GPU.

Rift is smoother on less powerful GPUs. Picture is slightly crisper (appreciably so). It also offers a larger area that is in focus which is really nice as you can look at instruments without turning your head like you tend to need to do in the Vive (peripheral things tend to be blurry in the Vive). Unfortunately, the Rift's picture is MUCH darker (probably to try to compensate for the awful godrays), banding and color depth is still a huge issue, and warping when looking around is still present.

Vive isn't quite as crisp visually, but is considerably brighter (I can only guesstimate, but it's at least 50% brighter to my eyes), doesn't suffer from godrays nearly as much, has no banding or color depth issues, has no warping that I've ever noticed, and the superior tracking solution is noticeable when doing fine head movements.

I also find the Vive far easier to find the "sweet spot" in when strapping it on. I find the Rift is considerably more sensitive to being placed just right or things are blurry. Vive is notably heavier though, so if that's a concern it should be kept in mind.

I enjoy both of my VR headsets, but for ED...I reach for my Vive 8 times out of 10.

 

[Lupin]

My 10p worth Facebook or HTC/Steam for Software development?
Rift has HAD a head start in software, but do they still have it?
Also do you really want access to room scale VR?

 

[Kyennamo]

Having both, I find the Vive to be the superior experience IF you have an Nvidia GPU. Rift if you have a less potent GPU.

Rift is smoother on less powerful GPUs. Picture is slightly crisper (appreciably so). It also offers a larger area that is in focus which is really nice as you can look at instruments without turning your head like you tend to need to do in the Vive (peripheral things tend to be blurry in the Vive). Unfortunately, the Rift's picture is MUCH darker (probably to try to compensate for the awful godrays), banding and color depth is still a huge issue, and warping when looking around is still present.

Vive isn't quite as crisp visually, but is considerably brighter (I can only guesstimate, but it's at least 50% brighter to my eyes), doesn't suffer from godrays nearly as much, has no banding or color depth issues, has no warping that I've ever noticed, and the superior tracking solution is noticeable when doing fine head movements.

I also find the Vive far easier to find the "sweet spot" in when strapping it on. I find the Rift is considerably more sensitive to being placed just right or things are blurry. Vive is notably heavier though, so if that's a concern it should be kept in mind.

I enjoy both of my VR headsets, but for ED...I reach for my Vive 8 times out of 10.

God damn you.

I settled on the vive......then users seemed to suggest the rift may be better for ED because of larger in focus area..
..so i change my mind and decide to get a rift.....then you come along and make an informed post providing real info and im back to square one lol

Seriously though....i just ordered a pc with a gtx 1080, an i7 7700k and 32 gb of ddr4. So im back to wanting the vive.....though i feel like i would prefer the rift controlers for everything non ED. During the demo I didnt notice an analog stick on the vive wands. Is there one?

Truth is though.....god rays and black smear worry me. While i didnt notice them while playing minecraft, minecragt is not ED. And now that you mentioned it...i did notice the minecraft demo to be prettt dimly lit in the rift.

How noticable and annoying are the "non sweet spots" and how much does it bother you compared to god rays and smear on the rift

 

[BaronVonDoon]

I have a Rift so can only comment on that, as I have not tried a Vive. But I will say I am completely happy with mine, and have splashed out for the touch controllers which are awesome. One thing not mentioned here, is there's been a slight price drop in the Rift, meaning you can now get the Rift and touch controllers for 60 quid less than the Vive. Just something else to take into consideration if price is an issue.

 

[bitstorm]

We can talk about accessorizing both but then you're no longer comparing the two standalone productsl.

Well you were saying the sweetspot cannot be increased without changing the optics. I am just saying that's not right, swapping out the face pad for a 6mm one gives you a bigger sweet spot..

 

[vanfanel]

Well you were saying the sweetspot cannot be increased without changing the optics. I am just saying that's not right, swapping out the face pad for a 6mm one gives you a bigger sweet spot..

Fair enough. As for op I think it really doesn't matter. Pick one and go. It's VR! You'll be pretty happy with whichever one you pick.

 

[Kyennamo]

Fair enough. As for op I think it really doesn't matter. Pick one and go. It's VR! You'll be pretty happy with whichever one you pick.

If i dont keep flip flopping i think i will get the vive.

ED is the main goal here but i really enjoyed moving around a lot during the vive demo. And i just measured, i have an 18x15 obstruction free area in my basement to use as a playspace so it seems ashame to let that go to waste.

As more things come out for VR it would definitely be nice to have as large as possible of a play space. I even thought of an ingenious cable suspension system for the vive using retractable dog leashes......then i saw tons of people on youtube already beat me to it. Oh well....may not be as original as i thought but it will still be just as effective.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

I own the Rift and I am perfectly happy with it. Light, good micro, good and built-in headphones.
Room scale is all good and well - but I have a hard time to do it in my computer room (with my new touch controlers). And while I have a suitable place for the Rift's sensors, I wouldn't be able to mount Vive's lighthouse at the walls in an adequate position. These things mustn't be forgotten while talking about all the way more interesting features like picture quality and sound.

Furthermore I feel stupid to mention something trivial like the following in a discussion about all that important technical stuff.
But honestly - and despite the fact that some call it a downside - I am ridiculously happy about the "nose gap", that makes it possible to peek on my keyboard while typing or have a quick look on what's going on on my monitor.