Hardware & Technical TrackIR vs Tobii eye tracking.

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Deleted member 110222

D
Can anyone with experience give me the big pros & cons between the two?

My purchase of a 1060 has put me out of the VR game, but it also means I can now comfortably buy one of the non-VR alternatives without worry. :)
 

TorTorden_VR

T
I would try an ED-tracker instead instead.
https://edtrackerpro.mybigcommerce.com
I think that's the current site.

The track ir is just overpriced for what it is now, and I have had a tobii tracker but it's honestly a very weird one.
And a finicky device.
Even just reading text, will result in the camera moving, cause it tracks your eyes and not your head.
You can get used to it but took a few weeks of tweaking and figuring out how to make use of it.
 

NascentChemist

N
I've got the Tobii eye tracker, and like it. You can set up head and eye tracking using it. The former is good for keeping targets in view during dogfights. The latter adds a lot of immersion.

As said above, it can be very sensitive. I use a keybind to shut it off for casual play. No point in staring down at a headless torso when I look at my phone during a SC jump.

There are a ton of sensitivity curves in the software to fiddle with. Obsidian Ant has a good review that includes a recommended set up.
 

Deleted member 110222

D
NascentChemist said:
I've got the Tobii eye tracker, and like it. You can set up head and eye tracking using it. The former is good for keeping targets in view during dogfights. The latter adds a lot of immersion.

As said above, it can be very sensitive. I use a keybind to shut it off for casual play. No point in staring down at a headless torso when I look at my phone during a SC jump.

There are a ton of sensitivity curves in the software to fiddle with. Obsidian Ant has a good review that includes a recommended set up.
Click to expand...

How does light conditions affect it?
 

Bill Clement

Bill Clement
Un1k0rn said:
Can anyone with experience give me the big pros & cons between the two?

My purchase of a 1060 has put me out of the VR game, but it also means I can now comfortably buy one of the non-VR alternatives without worry. :)
Click to expand...

TrackIR is 'kin expensive! I bought mine many years ago when I was earning decent cash, today I'd be very wary of forking out for one. It's just shy of £200 for the pro clip (active) variant. :eek: Having said that, mine is almost a decade old and still going strong, so it's fair to say it's a high quality product...
The pro clip is a huge, heavy, wired contraption that hangs off your headset. The other option is to wear a ball cap with a small metal frame supporting three passive reflectors.
Neither's much good in bright light.
The pro is uncomfortable and the wire is a pita, even before you take into account wearing a gaming headset on a hot day. (Sweaty as anything- we don't do aircon in Scotland!)
The lightweight clip just doesn't work in strong light, meaning heavy drapes if you want to play in daylight hours. And a ball cap. Which is also as sweaty as anything...
The thing works with a small IR camera, which is a bit finicky to set up.

Don't get me wrong, when it's working it's fantastic. There aren't many hot, bright sunny days where I stay and I'm usually outdoors when there are. But it's not perfect and tbh it's very expensive for what it is. The base model is just a camera and three reflectors, which isn't really much to show for £140, while the active clip is such a faff to use I haven't had it on in years- I'm not entirely sure where mine is right now!

I hear good things about ED-tracker. If my TrackIR ever goes on the blink it's top of the list to replace it. £42 gets you a wired version, while the top of the range wireless job is £70. Much more reasonable. :D
 
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who?

who?
I've tried TrackIR 5 with the Pro clip, and the Tobii EyeX and 4C controllers.

Neither of them are perfectly intuitive straight away, they take some getting used to, but they are a huge step forward. I did eventually get pretty accurate with the Tobii controllers, but when I went back to the TrackIR it was like a revelation again, it's sooo much quicker and more precise.

The issue with eye-tracking is that there's a lot of involuntary 'eye twitch' which the controller has to smooth out, but this introduces a latency into it - it 'lags' behind where you're aiming. It can also make reading text more difficult, since as you move your eyes, the camera moves too, so you have to move your eyes again -> major eye strain. And there's the major issue that while TrackIR allows you to set up game-specific profiles / acceleration curves to create 'deadzones' around ED's side-panels, there isn't (when last I checked) any such feature in the Tobii tools.

Tobii benefits:
- No cables/clips!
- Eye tracking is freaky, feels like magic.
- Very nicely put together, boxing etc.
- Tobii support very good.

TrackIR benefits:
- More accurate, less latency.
- Far more stable when reading text.
- Game-specific profiles let you set dead-zones to match the in-game cockpit.

I did have some major issues using TrackIR in bright conditions (it flat out doesn't work), I've never tried the Tobii controllers in the same situation, so can't comment on those.
 

wrmiller

W
I have owned the TrackIR for a few years now. Started with the non-Pro version but soon got tired of wearing a cap with the little reflectors on it, so I bought the pro. The pro is less susceptible to light coming in the window, but bright sunlight will still give it fits.

As I don't like to wear headphones when I play, I had the wife get me one of those plastic hair bands the girls wear on their head. Modified it to fit my noggin, clamped on the IR Pro and it works well.

I have talked to a few folks about the Tobi. Some like it, some don't. I considered getting it, but it doesn't support my 34" widescreen.
 

sgurr

S
Ignore my post above.

ED Tracker is still alive at :
https://edtrackerpro.mybigcommerce.com/

Un1k0rn, I'd recommend considering it. I've used a v1 tracker since they launched and it's really very good for a fraction of the Tobii or Trackir setup costs.
My only issue is that the tracking veers a little when looking fully up or down but that's not something I often do and it's accurate everywhere else.

Actually, given that I've now moved to vr you'd be very welcome to have it, free to a good home and all that.
 

TorTorden_VR

T
Steed said:
Ignore my post above.

ED Tracker is still alive at :
https://edtrackerpro.mybigcommerce.com/

Un1k0rn, I'd recommend considering it. I've used a v1 tracker since they launched and it's really very good for a fraction of the Tobii or Trackir setup costs.
My only issue is that the tracking veers a little when looking fully up or down but that's not something I often do and it's accurate everywhere else.

Actually, given that I've now moved to vr you'd be very welcome to have it, free to a good home and all that.
Click to expand...

Compared with the tobi that absolutely goes crazy every time you even glance off screen.
My most important button with that was the recenter view button.
Just glancing at the keyboard.
your view is fixed on the floor, glance off on another monitor and your view is spinning off around at the ceiling.

And before you say you could tune that, not really if did you have to reduce sensitivity to the point where it literally wasn't useful.

There is a reason why tobii isn't huge anywhere and that's because eye tracking is a gimmick so far.

a trackir is what over a decade old already, they charge $300 for a new unit, you can find used ones on Amazon for half that but, they dont barely ship them anywhere, it really isn't that much better than the edtracker which is £60 for the wireless version.
 

Deleted member 110222

D
Steed said:
Ignore my post above.

ED Tracker is still alive at :
https://edtrackerpro.mybigcommerce.com/

Un1k0rn, I'd recommend considering it. I've used a v1 tracker since they launched and it's really very good for a fraction of the Tobii or Trackir setup costs.
My only issue is that the tracking veers a little when looking fully up or down but that's not something I often do and it's accurate everywhere else.

Actually, given that I've now moved to vr you'd be very welcome to have it, free to a good home and all that.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will look at it.

Lower cost is always welcome.
 

sgurr

S
TorTorden said:
Compared with the tobi that absolutely goes crazy every time you even glance off screen.
My most important button with that was the recenter view button.
Just glancing at the keyboard.
your view is fixed on the floor, glance off on another monitor and your view is spinning off around at the ceiling.

And before you say you could tune that, not really if did you have to reduce sensitivity to the point where it literally wasn't useful.

There is a reason why tobii isn't huge anywhere and that's because eye tracking is a gimmick so far.

a trackir is what over a decade old already, they charge $300 for a new unit, you can find used ones on Amazon for half that but, they dont barely ship them anywhere, it really isn't that much better than the edtracker which is £60 for the wireless version.
Click to expand...

I never considered TrackIR because edtracker was already there when I was thinking about headlook and I picked one up at an elite meet (they're good people BTW) and it did everything I wanted and with fewer components and restrictions (I like gaming in a properly dark room)

I thought for a long time about the Tobii, and watched /read a lot of reviews, and decided that on balance it wouldn't improve much on what I already had with the tracker (And needed a light room)
Interesting to hear your experience, some folk really, really like it.
 

sgurr

S
Un1k0rn said:
Thanks, I will look at it.

Lower cost is always welcome.
Click to expand...

The offer to have mine is serious, would only cost a couple of pounds to post (I think you're in the UK right?)
You could always post it back if you don't like it. Pm me if you're interested.
 

Dahill

Dahill
I use the Tobii 4c with much better results than my previous Track IR. The only thing I miss that I don't even think worked for ED, was the zoom axis. I really wish there was a hack to provide this in ED with my Tobii. IT would resolve that last bit of immersion for me. Especially with the floating HUD......
 
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