Oculus Rift S PC-Powered VR Gaming Headset

Even upon my initial order and getting it the first time, the controllers didn't work. when I got the second headset replacement, it only took 3 months for an issue to arise. Everytime at least once it would disconnect itself then reconnect. Now a year later it can't even stay connected for 5 minutes. Apparently it's the cord. But I shouldn't have to pay $150 (half the price of the full headset) just to have a functional cord that WILL break down again. (There are 0 cuts or kinks in the cord. On the surface it looks perfect.) Contacting support is a useless action, they just say update the UI. The literal worst piece of tech I have ever owned. This thing has made me the angriest I've ever been. DO NOT BUY

Best bangforbuck hmd but BEWARE! NOT FOR EVERYONE

The rift s is hands down the best pcvr headset you can get with 350bucks. However, Oculus had made a terrible decision to get rid of the mechanical ipd adjustment and use a single lcd screen(obviously to cut down the price). If your ipd is around 62-65mm, you're in luck! You'll have no significant problems with this headset, so don't hesitate and buy it! This headset has better tracking compared with quest, so it will give you the advantage when playing competitive games such as beat saber. However, to those who have high ipd like me (around 68-69mm), this may not be the headset for you. I tried my best to keep this headset because it's an amazing hmd, but it was giving me severe eyestrain after every 3-4hour vr session, so after 3 weeks of use, I had no choice to ... MoreThe rift s is hands down the best pcvr headset you can get with 350bucks. However, Oculus had made a terrible decision to get rid of the mechanical ipd adjustment and use a single lcd screen(obviously to cut down the price). If your ipd is around 62-65mm, you're in luck! You'll have no significant problems with this headset, so don't hesitate and buy it! This headset has better tracking compared with quest, so it will give you the advantage when playing competitive games such as beat saber. However, to those who have high ipd like me (around 68-69mm), this may not be the headset for you. I tried my best to keep this headset because it's an amazing hmd, but it was giving me severe eyestrain after every 3-4hour vr session, so after 3 weeks of use, I had no choice to return it. BEWARE, the software ipd adjustment does fix the viewing imagery, however, you'll notice something's wrong when you move your eyes around, see something close to you, or try to fully immerse into vr. The sweetspot of focus is limited for users like me, which cause considerable amount of strain on the eyes when you use it for prolonged period of time. Even the founder of oculus(Palmer Luckey) had said that he cannot use rift s because he has an ipd of 69-70. I didn't believe this at first and bought the rift s, but after using it for weeks, i have to admit that he is somewhat correct.There're still some minor glitches using the headset such as insight cameras suddenly not working, but I'd honestly say that it's endurable. I tried getting a replacement after 3weeks of use, but the glitches were still there, so it should be a software issue.For too high or low ipd users, i cannot recommend this headset to you because i myself, love the oculus rift s and tried my best to keep it, but ended up returning it due to eyestrain. For users with adequate ipd, only go for quest if you don't have a gaming pc and strive for mobile vr. Although oculus link lets you play rift games and surprisingly brings a close experience to rhe rift, it's only an alternative solution that uses compression and foviated rendering. If you're only into pcvr, there is no need to make that sacrifice for the mobile and pc hybrid because I can assure you the rift s is far superior for pcvr. And the mobile vr is not there yet. With an outdated snapdragon 835 processor, the graphics look choppy, and you have to buy all the games from oculus store, which seriously becomes a downside if you're to use a different hmd later in the future such as valve index(Quest games don't support crossbuy)

Best headset value for the state of VR right now

The Rift S is by far the best value out there compared to its competitors such as the Valve Index, HTC Vive and the Pimax headsets. Its price point is also very fair considering that VR still has plenty of room for improvement. This is perfect for those wanting a very immersive experience without breaking the bank for a headset that may be only a slight upgrade considering the specs. The Rift S also requires lower end hardware to run properly in comparison to something like the Index. While the Index is more expensive and has better features, you need a very powerful computer to truly take advantage of its features, which is a much more selective group of people.The only gripes I have with this headset are these two things: The headsets audio and the fact that ... MoreThe Rift S is by far the best value out there compared to its competitors such as the Valve Index, HTC Vive and the Pimax headsets. Its price point is also very fair considering that VR still has plenty of room for improvement. This is perfect for those wanting a very immersive experience without breaking the bank for a headset that may be only a slight upgrade considering the specs. The Rift S also requires lower end hardware to run properly in comparison to something like the Index. While the Index is more expensive and has better features, you need a very powerful computer to truly take advantage of its features, which is a much more selective group of people.The only gripes I have with this headset are these two things: The headsets audio and the fact that Oculus has seemingly "forgotten" about this headset and focus more heavily on innovating the Quest rather than the Rift S, but that's understandable considering the population of people that can easily use a Quest vs. using the Rift S. That being said, the Rift S will give you a better PC gaming experience while the Quest will give you a great wireless 'pick up and go' type of experience. I'd recommend the Rift S rather than the Quest with Link if you strictly want PC gaming.As for the audio, it's very empty. Best way to describe it. The bass is very low and just seems very cheap. That's the sacrifice they probably made to keep the Rift S at the $400 price. This is easily remedied with the use of another headset to plug into the side of the headset. Grabbing a short cable jack for the headset will also prevent there being another cord in the way. Doing this helped immersion 10-fold and made the experience the best I've had in gaming in a long time. Feels like you're in a movie sometimes with how immersed you can get.The LCD screen also drastically reduces the screen door effect and I've not noticed any problems with 'true blacks' that many will criticize LCD screens for not having. I prefer this LCD screen over the OLED the Rift CV1 had. Images are very clear and colors are great. I spend much more time in games admiring the environments more so than before with the old Rift since I can appreciate finer details in a lot of objects.The headband is much more comfortable and I can play much longer sessions because of this. It also has an adjustable distance between your face with a button underneath the headset to help it fit better, although many find that pushing it out all the way is the best way to fit it to your head. I can attest to that, having it too close will cause it to slide around easily. All the way out prevents the headset from moving around much at all.Be cautious and aware about your IPD. This uses software to adjust the IPD and it has been said to not work well with those that have IPD ranges outside of 61.5-65.5mm according to Facebook themselves. I have a range of 65 and have no problems, so I can't speak for the other ranges. Just something to be aware of. If your IPD is outside of the range, things may look more blurry for you, but I wouldn't let it deter you if you have a range such as 60, 66, etc. Research it if you are in the high 60's or 50's.Lastly, the tracking is much better than I expected. Software updates have improved this as well over the time this headset has been out from what many have said. I previously used 2 cameras for the CV1 and it was a nightmare sometimes with lost tracking. This inside out tracking system, however, has been basically seamless. The only times I really lose tracking is if I put my hands behind my back for longer than a few seconds, but even still it guesses fairly well on where your hands exist. I don't find many cases where I need my hands behind my back in games though.All in all this is a fantastic headset with the ability to stay relevant in VR for years to come, even after newer headsets are released. The $400 price tag is also very fair with all it has to offer in comparison to the competitor headsets, The audio can be fixed easily with headphones and comfort is much better than expected. A word of advice, look into a pulley system for your cable to increase its lifespan. KIWI pulleys are a great semi-wireless solution for VR and makes the experience much more enjoyable by removing the need for babysitting your cord throughout your gameplay.

Decent hardware upgrade but has software issues

I've had some experience with VRs over the years from mid range smart phone versions to high end console style VRs and I was excited to see the latest updated version of the Oculus Rift S Virtual Reality headset. Out of the box it felt very well made and I was impressed that they figured out a way to get rid of the external sensors/cameras for tracking and built it into the headset. The wired headset was simple to adjust using the turn style nob on the back and velcro top strap. It was also comfortable and light once it was on. My main issue thus far is they created the wired Rift S VR with a display port cable and USB. This causes a compatibility problem for those of us with a gaming laptop that meets the minimum specs but does not have a display port and only a ... MoreI've had some experience with VRs over the years from mid range smart phone versions to high end console style VRs and I was excited to see the latest updated version of the Oculus Rift S Virtual Reality headset. Out of the box it felt very well made and I was impressed that they figured out a way to get rid of the external sensors/cameras for tracking and built it into the headset. The wired headset was simple to adjust using the turn style nob on the back and velcro top strap. It was also comfortable and light once it was on. My main issue thus far is they created the wired Rift S VR with a display port cable and USB. This causes a compatibility problem for those of us with a gaming laptop that meets the minimum specs but does not have a display port and only a HDMI out or USB-C. At this point, they are not offering a resolve or adapter for this however I have heard that some USB-C to display port adapters will work however I have gone through two I purchased separately that did not work. Hopefully, in time, they will have a certified Oculus display port adapter. The only other issue I could see would be if you had larger/smaller spacing between your eyes as there is no adjustment to compensate for that. The wireless controllers were ergonomically sound and felt the buttons were in all the right places. I was impressed by the sound out of the headset without having to use earbuds/headphones which allows you to hear others around you but also provided enough sound to not be distracted from your VR experience. All that being said, I will say that I had more problems dealing with the software application than anything. On one of my newer high end computers that exceeded all the minimum required specs I was unable to get the application to start or load and had to email customer support back and forth for about a week before getting it resolved. I will say their support was responsive via email however I had to wait for a response once per day in order to troubleshoot the problem versus speaking to a live person over the phone or live via chat which apparently isn't an option. After doing most of the troubleshooting and online research myself because of my impatience, I believe the problem had to do with a security certificate and an application update that needed to be installed. Once I finally got the application up and running on the one machine I still continued to have programs crash within the application itself. When I went onto their website, it appears I wasn't the only one experiencing issues as there was a notification posted regarding problems they were aware of with the Rift S specifically. I would have liked to see the machine sold with at least one free AAA VR game however that was not the case; they only offer a few basic ones and demos in the application. As expected, you must create or link your account via Facebook. Prior to acquiring the headset and weighing out options, I thought I was going to prefer the wired Rift S option over the alternate wireless VR due to the better library of games and using a better graphics card and PC specs. However, after experiencing the problems I have had so far with the Oculus Rift S PC application, it has me second guessing my choice and would probably recommend spending the same money for the wireless version even without trying that one. Hopefully they'll fix all the bugs and offer live tech support to address the concerns but until then I haven't been impressed.

From HTC Vive to Rift S, How does it fair?

I come from the dawn of VR headsets, with the Original HTC Vive, with the v1.0 Lighthouse boxes, and those clunky big controllers. I come from a line that tracks the headset with accuracy, precision, and fluidly might I add. Where you can position your hands behind your back and it will still register movement, where you can move how you want, and it will pick up every millimeter of movement.How does the "Oculus Rift S" compare to these headsets that come with extra hardware to ensure the best immersion possible? Quite well to be honest. There are a few gripes i have with it though. One being, after playing Pavlov VR between VIVe and RIFT, VIVE wins. The fact that the Rift s controllers drift and disconnect because if the insane amount of haptic feedback coming ... MoreI come from the dawn of VR headsets, with the Original HTC Vive, with the v1.0 Lighthouse boxes, and those clunky big controllers. I come from a line that tracks the headset with accuracy, precision, and fluidly might I add. Where you can position your hands behind your back and it will still register movement, where you can move how you want, and it will pick up every millimeter of movement.How does the "Oculus Rift S" compare to these headsets that come with extra hardware to ensure the best immersion possible? Quite well to be honest. There are a few gripes i have with it though. One being, after playing Pavlov VR between VIVe and RIFT, VIVE wins. The fact that the Rift s controllers drift and disconnect because if the insane amount of haptic feedback coming from a game, kinda irked me. Followed up with that the LCD panels, you read right, not OLED panels like VIVE, but LCD panels?! with a 80Hz Refresh rate?! the nerve!!!! The headset feels subpar in material but it benefits by being light weight, so it isnt a strain on your head like the Vive is. Taking the design from PSVR with the Halo head design makes it all the more comfortable. The single last most gripe i have with this headset, that entirely rubbed me the wrong way, and actually went as far as me considering to return it was, it has a USB 3.0 + Display Port 1.2, which receives the amount of bandwidth as HDMI 2.0 ( keep in mind 2.0 was released 5 years ago). Having a display port is entirely pointless, especially for the fact i wanted to use this on my MSI GS66 Stealth gaming laptop to game on the go when ever I wanted to.With all the complaining aside, here is the part that made me finally decide to keep it. The fact you dont need extra hardware like external cameras or lighthouse boxes makes it great. If i wanted to pack this up, take it to a friends house, and connect it up. I can do just that with its extreme ease of use and setup.The final take away is, This headset feels like it's geared towards generic users, for generic experiences and sightseeing like being in Skyrim VR etc etc. If you want premium experiences, tense moments, flawless immersion with todays tech, look else where like the HTC Vive Cosmos elite ( which bares hard resemblance to the HTC Vive Original ) and the Expensive but godly Valve Index.

Garbage

Setup requires USB 3.0 and good new video card with hdmi currently running a RTX 2070 GPU on a Ryzen 9 processor with a M.2 SSD. It worked for about 11 months then the system would crash and lock during game play. Sometimes it would lock up on just calibrating the VR setting during setup. I spoke with oculus support for 2 weeks trying to reslove the problem. They had no solutions. They had me unistall and reinstalll the oculus software, update is multiple time. I sent them crash logs multiple times. Their last solution that did not work was reinstall the software for a 5th time. Of course it did not work. I run this Oculus on a gaming PC on windows 10 that I built. All my PC drivers sofrware is up to date. I highly do not recommend buying this device. Oculus does ... MoreSetup requires USB 3.0 and good new video card with hdmi currently running a RTX 2070 GPU on a Ryzen 9 processor with a M.2 SSD. It worked for about 11 months then the system would crash and lock during game play. Sometimes it would lock up on just calibrating the VR setting during setup. I spoke with oculus support for 2 weeks trying to reslove the problem. They had no solutions. They had me unistall and reinstalll the oculus software, update is multiple time. I sent them crash logs multiple times. Their last solution that did not work was reinstall the software for a 5th time. Of course it did not work. I run this Oculus on a gaming PC on windows 10 that I built. All my PC drivers sofrware is up to date. I highly do not recommend buying this device. Oculus does not have a repair shop and there is no local repair shops that can fix this device. It has become a paper weight!

Great value for the money

We've had this for about 3-4 weeks and figured it was time to write a review. We were looking for an entry level VR set and we're very glad we picked this one up. There is the more expensive HTC Cosmos ($599) and the Valve Index which is around $1000 after everything you need to get started, so $300 was a good deal for what it is, in my opinion.The display on this set is pretty nice and overall the headset has pretty good fit adjustments. It can be challenging to find the right fit that gets you the best picture. If you feel the display is blurry, it's most likely that you need to readjust your headset. There's the headset strap that helps keep the HMD at the right height for your eyes, there's a button on the bottom of the HMD to help adjust the distance the ... MoreWe've had this for about 3-4 weeks and figured it was time to write a review. We were looking for an entry level VR set and we're very glad we picked this one up. There is the more expensive HTC Cosmos ($599) and the Valve Index which is around $1000 after everything you need to get started, so $300 was a good deal for what it is, in my opinion.The display on this set is pretty nice and overall the headset has pretty good fit adjustments. It can be challenging to find the right fit that gets you the best picture. If you feel the display is blurry, it's most likely that you need to readjust your headset. There's the headset strap that helps keep the HMD at the right height for your eyes, there's a button on the bottom of the HMD to help adjust the distance the display sits at from your eyes and then there's the dial to tighten the headset down once you've found your ideal fit. There is also an option to adjust the difference in distance between your eyes but that's changed via the Oculus app. Oh, you will most likely have to unplug the USB cable and plug it back in every time you want to play it. For some reason I have to do this every time to get it to recognize the headset so we can use it, but it's not that big of a deal, it takes 2 seconds. We've tried all the fixes suggested online and have just settled on unplugging and plugging back in the USB cable.It's pretty easy to get immersed in whatever game you're playing with this set. Tracking on the headset and touch controller's is great, never really ran in to problems with tracking. You can set up your play area when you set up your headset (and change it whenever you want in the options), if you get too close to your play boundaries you'll see a wall pop up and if you get too too close the wall will turn red. If you take the headset past the red wall the outward facing cameras come on and the display is switched with what those cameras see. It's nice to be able to go from playing to seeing what's going on in the real world around you, in real time. All around, if you're debating on picking this headset up to try VR out, do it. Very nice entry level price tag and the only thing you need is a PC to run it, one that's capable of running it.

Stellar Headset

I really love this headset. The tracking is great and I rarely have any issues with it. Sometimes the lighting isn't bright enough so just keep in mind to have decent lighting. Both the headset and controllers are comfortable and light. The display in the headset in good and my eyes don't hurt after extended use. The only issues I have is sometimes it is just too warm and the eye display will get foggy. Other than that it is perfect!

Upgrades and downgrades

I had Oculus Rift CV1 (the first version) for one year, and due to that i instantly recognized some of the upgrades and downgrades that i'm gonna list here.Upgrades:- A far better image compared to his precursor, now i'm actually able to use a sniper rifle and see my opponent crisply through it.- The inside-out cameras work perfectly 80% of the time, aiming with a pistol in Rift S is smoother like butter, no stutters anymore or these little drifts that the controller do due to the small lack of imprecision of the physical cameras.- The controllers are a little bit more light than the CV1 version, which immerses you a little more in the Virtual Reality, because you forget that you're using controllers quicker now.Downgrades:- The controller halo is kinda ... MoreI had Oculus Rift CV1 (the first version) for one year, and due to that i instantly recognized some of the upgrades and downgrades that i'm gonna list here.Upgrades:- A far better image compared to his precursor, now i'm actually able to use a sniper rifle and see my opponent crisply through it.- The inside-out cameras work perfectly 80% of the time, aiming with a pistol in Rift S is smoother like butter, no stutters anymore or these little drifts that the controller do due to the small lack of imprecision of the physical cameras.- The controllers are a little bit more light than the CV1 version, which immerses you a little more in the Virtual Reality, because you forget that you're using controllers quicker now.Downgrades:- The controller halo is kinda annoying sometimes. I cannot aim properly in some games because i end up hitting my vr headset due to the way that i aim, with the hand that i'll shoot right below my chin, so the aim can be parallel with my eyes, and that's where my controller halo hits the vr headset. That's not THAT MUCH annoying, but sometimes it takes my immersion out, and due to the cameras right in the Headset itself i'm afraid that in the future i can hit some camera unconsciously and break it.- The spots where the cameras are are just in the front part, and not in the back, so some archery games where i usually pull the string right behind my ear have been killed for me, because it lost the tracking when i do it and i end up losing an important stealth mission. The tip that i would give to you is to be quick in your archery, so you won't suffer the drift of your controller .- The halo band that stays around your head is, at least for me, worse than the Velcro one that we use to have in CV1, i don't know, it just don't stick on my head properly, but that's a personal opinion and may be different for you, I've seen a lot of people saying that it was an improvement, so don't take this one too serious.- The wrist bands of the controllers are the WORSE WRIST BANDS I EVER USED, it's kind of impossible to keep them tight to your wrist, they're constantly sliding and consecutively opening due to the material that they used on it, it's better than nothing, but it still a crap.- Sometimes the battery compartment of the controller can open up due to the movements you're doing in game.And that's the worse for me...- There's no headphones on it, they have little speakers on each side, which i never used because i hated the idea and i don't want to bother the people that live in my house with the sounds that my game makes, so what i'm doing is getting my headphones and rolling all the cable up on the VR headset and doing it i can play without having cables swinging around or my house listening to what i'm playing, but for it to work is such a work around that shouldn't be necessary, because the CV1 had HEADPHONES and all the competitors have too, just the Rift S doesn't.Final opinion:It's a "good" headset, even though with some defects, just to think that i saved up to two or three usb ports that should've been used on static cameras, i think that's already worthy, in the overall everything works really well. I would recommend it for those people who don't have the courage to spend $1000 on Valve's VR. It's a practical VR, just connect the hdmi and usb and you're done, so due to the practical that would worth getting it.

Vast Improvement Over Previous Version

I have owned a lot of VR headsets over the last 3 years. I had the HTC Vive on launch, the PSVR on launch, the Gear VR, and the original Oculus Rift. The Vive I had for about 4 months, and the PSVR for 3 weeks before returning each of them due to very annoying and challenging set up processes that they entailed every time I wanted to use them. The original Rift was by far much easier, reliable and comfortable compared to the other two headsets, but it still wasn’t the best VR experience for me. I recently purchased the Oculus Go and even though it only offers 3 degrees of freedom it was a pure joy for me to use and I have spent on average of 3 hours a day on it over the last 2 months. Last week I bought the new Rift S because it had huge improvements. The sharper ... MoreI have owned a lot of VR headsets over the last 3 years. I had the HTC Vive on launch, the PSVR on launch, the Gear VR, and the original Oculus Rift. The Vive I had for about 4 months, and the PSVR for 3 weeks before returning each of them due to very annoying and challenging set up processes that they entailed every time I wanted to use them. The original Rift was by far much easier, reliable and comfortable compared to the other two headsets, but it still wasn’t the best VR experience for me. I recently purchased the Oculus Go and even though it only offers 3 degrees of freedom it was a pure joy for me to use and I have spent on average of 3 hours a day on it over the last 2 months. Last week I bought the new Rift S because it had huge improvements. The sharper images coupled with some of the best lenses in VR today offer incredible visual clarity, especially in its price range. Everyone hates on Oculus for using an LCD panel instead of OLED for the Rift S. That’s just stupid, since the same people aren’t complaining that all the other high end VR headsets coming out are smart enough to do the same thing. The HP Reverb, LCD, the Valve Index, LCD, yet nobody says anything negative about them. There is a reason why all the top VR headsets are switching to LCD, it’s because they can greatly reduce both God rays or halo effect and the SDE or screen door effect. Even though OLED offers a better contrast solution, it isn’t worth the trade off, and to tell you the truth, I don’t notice any difference between the original Rift and the Rift S as far as contrast goes, so I am very happy with Oculus choice to go with an LCD panel. People also complain about the Rift S lack of a physical IPD slider. Again this is mostly moot, since the new lenses that are used in the Rift S have a much larger sweet spot for viewing so for the vast majority of people out there it can accommodate their individual IPD without needing adjustment. If you feel the need to enter your exact IPD measurements you can in the settings screen and the software can make the appropriate adjustments. I find it funny that people made a big deal about the Oculus Quest having a physical IPD slider, yet that slider gives no indication numerically of what your IPD is. You can’t set it to your IPD prescription. Its like having a speedometer on a car without any numbers, or a watch without hands, but everyone seems to be happy with it anyway. The Rift S is by far an amazing VR headset that I really enjoy and have spent quite a bit of time using over the last week. It is extremely comfortable fir me to wear and is very balanced on my head with plenty of room for my glasses. For previous Rift owners, you will notice that the cable that connects the Rift S to your computer is longer which is a welcome change but it’s also much stiffer due to the cable being thicker which I don’t like since the cable is now more noticeable to me than it was on the original Rift. The other downside for me is the cheapness of the feel of the headset and touch controller build. The Rift S feels as plasticy and flimsy as the PSVR headset. I am constantly afraid I will break the headsets halo ring when taking off the headset as the adjusting dial in the back feels like it can strip when tightening or loosing. The lack of needing external sensors to have to set up and take up USB slots is very freeing and makes using the Rift S much more enjoyable and fun and it can be used much quicker. Pass through plus is also a welcome addition allowing me to see what is going on in my room with just a double click of the menu button. The bottom line is I am a very happy customer and expect to have amazing VR experiences in the Rift S for the next few years until the Rift 2 comes out.