I believe that the HP Reverb G2 helmet is a raw product. The technical quality control of the manufacturer is very low. I changed the first helmet under warranty immediately after a couple of days. It warmed up and the image inside helmet was constantly turned off very often. There was just a black screen. Although the sound in the headphones at the same time was. The screen was turned off for short periods of time. At first, for a few seconds, but in the process of further operation, the screen in the helmet was turned off more often and for a longer period.
Received a second new helmet (to replace the faulty helmet). And in it, too, there were malfunctions! The second new helmet (Karl!) and again with a problem. In the second helmet, there is a loss of sound in the headphones. Only by pressing the headphones to the helmet hoop and fixing them motionless-the contact does not disappear and the sound works. But now the headphones are always in the open position.
For the rest, I will also say that the procedure for configuring the software is not entirely clear. For the game Elite Dangerous, you first have to run the Windows Mixed Reality program – so that it includes the USB-driver of the helmet. Then disable it and run Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR. Well, the last stage is the launch of SteamVR. Only after that, the game Elite Dangerous normally starts in VR mode.
I agree with you, but I would level a much harsher criticism on HP. Here are my findings from the first 48 hours. Bottom line is that this is a half-baked product that was not fully tested and was outsourced to too many third parties. HP serves as the integrator/marketer not the design house and it shows. The company that I knew that brought us everyman's desktop printing, Oscilloscopes, the LED and a whole variety of technologies would have been ashamed of releasing this POS.
- The product was clearly outsourced to three different parties. HP hasn't really hidden that fact.
- Head visor source - I believe it is a combination of Valve and/or HTC. Clearly the optics were taken right out of the Valve Index playbook as well as the off the ear speakers.
- Hand controllers. This is a little trickier but I suspect the villain here is whoever Microsoft used. The plastic is inconsistent with products intended for
- Software interface. What interface? As others pointed out, HP passed the buck to Microsoft and didn't as so much even attempt to integrate the setup software for seamless integration. They left it to the user to figure it out.
- Cable connection. Puhleeeze!!!! Could we have picked a more wrong approach? This is a device that was intended for movement yet the cable they adopted is as flexible as a coat hanger. This kind of design neglect borders on malfeasance. What's more, there's no excuse because flexible cable technology is abundantly available at near the same price. There is no secret sauce here, all one needed to do was place within the specification a requirement for interwoven nylon threading which would give the cable jacket room to move and flexibility. The result will be unnecessary strain on the connector which will contribute to premature failure. Any engineer would have told you that.
All in all, I went into this expecting exactly what I got as far as the hardware was concerned. The early reviews all pointed these shortcomings out. The headset is definitely one I would recommend for its visual clarity. It is ideally suited for seated gameplay with other controllers such as a HOTAS. What I didn't expect was the sloppy ham-fisted out-of-box experience.
Having said that, I am satisfied with the headset visual performance and nothing else. For that I'm glad I bought it. I will be contacting HP to see if I could extend the warranty because I know I am going to need it. The stiff cable alone and it's complete lack of strain-relief will ensure that the connector on the head set will fail prematurely.
I would not recommend this to anyone who is less than a hard core gamer with a willingness to put up with a flawed implementation of what should have been a perfect product.
Just by way of background. I'm a 35 year veteran in the computer products hardware space and have worked adjacent to HP as both a HP partner and competitor. I have otherwise a deep and abiding respect for the company that Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded in their Palo Alto garage. Back in my day, these were the guys who invented the can-do Silicone Valley ethos. However, I don't recognize that company anymore. The people who are running this company into the ground are taking short sighted shortcuts and this product is the perfect example.
- Virtual Reality (VR) / Hardware & Performance - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6439857/20130109.0.png)
