Bad Rift S experience- looking for an alternative headset

[CMD_DELETE]

--rant start-- Bought a Rift S a couple of days back and after spending many hours trying to get it to connect and set up I've given up and I'm sending it back. Seems to be the ongoing firmware issue that's essentially bricked many headsets bought over December/January. Also not pleased with the whole Facebook thing- feels intrusive and the support forum is mostly corporate spam replies, also way too much cookie and skewed google search stuff going on- seems that's where Facebook/Oculus' priorities lie. All in all, possibly the worst consumer experience I've had; surpasses Windows XP PC era woes by a mile. --end rant--

Anyway I'm looking for a Rift S alternative for ED use, must work with Steam VR as I bought ED through Steam. I don't mind paying extra for it as long as it works though not sure I can muster a grand for the Valve index when it finally goes back on sale. My PC spec is i5 6600K/16GB/GTX 980Ti so can't drive the HP.

If anyone's switched from a Oculus to something else then I'd like to hear your experience. It's a shame as the Rift S headset felt really good, also liked the simplicity. How do alternative headsets compare?

 

[Crank Larson]

I had a Rift S on pre-order until I realised that it had dropped the OLED screens. I cancelled the pre-order and got a Samsung Odyssey+ instead (it was on offer at the time, and I could order it from Amazon Global to be imported from the US for around £300). Having used the Odyssey+ for over six months now, I have no hesitation in recommending it for E: D. The only downside I've found is that the hand controllers aren't as good as the Rift, and the mappings are weird in games like NMS (which I played a fair bit of in VR recently). The image quality is superb, and I'm running it on a 980Ti with i7 6700. Due to the higher resolution, it does run with slightly lower FPS than the Rift did, which can be noticeable in some places - but I've never suffered VR sickness, and this doesn't happen often enough to bother me.

I'm planning on upgrading my machine this year, but will most likely wait until the new crop of GPUs expected in June. Until then, the 980Ti is holding up surprisingly well. I have just bought another one (they are cheap at the moment), but SLI doesn't seem to work with E: D. I have one card driving the VR headset, and the other a 4K projector. I was about to see if this improved E: D compared to running the projector and VR off the same card (I expect a minor improvement, though not significant), but it seems there are log-in issues right now (which is why I ended up here ).

 

[Old Duck]

I've had nothing but great success with my Rift S, and I don't even have a Facebook account! I'm not saying this to argue with the OP (I'm sure he's had a terrible experience and is rightly upset), but I do feel it's good to present a different viewpoint for those who will read this thread as a review / critique of the Rift S.

 

[VR andysonofbob]

I am enjoying my Rift S experience too. Also no Facebook account.
I have heard of the firmware issue for some users and it sounds like a right ballache.
Good luck OP. This game is great in VR.

 

[Glock_N_Load]

There are a few ED streamers on Twitch that use the Rift S and swear by them (except audio). Malic_VR is the most experienced he has been using Oculus for years including the Oculus S. I know one thing he doesn't recommend using any of the Oculus thru Steam. Drop in on twitch and ask him about your problems. He enjoys answering questions.

 

[Crank Larson]

I know one thing he doesn't recommend using any of the Oculus thru Steam.

The fewer layers you have to the VR stack the better.

Unfortunately, with the Odyssey+, I can only play E: D using SteamVR as E: D was never written to use WMR. SteamVR has a disappointing limitation that if you have two graphics cards, you must connect your HMD to the same card as the primary monitor. WMR has no such limitation. As E: D doesn't support SLI, I was hoping to at least offload the desktop graphics (which in my case also run in 4k) to a second card, but that isn't to be.

Unless anyone has found a way to use E: D and WMR without going through SteamVR? I don't think it's possible, but would love to be proved wrong.