23.5.2019

Update 3Finally working. No more black screens and after the recent patch, controller tracking is 100% better.I can now recommend the upgrade from rift to S. Annoying that it took two months for oculus to fix the issues and it should have been right from date of release but they got there in the end!Update 2Headset is basically now a brick.I am getting constant USB 3.0 problems with the headset plugged in. My memory sticks/external SSDs disconnect every 5 minutes. I have changed the power settings for USB so that they do not power save and this is still happening.In Oculus set-up the headset has black screen and only audio. When I can get picture in a game it black screens on me within around 5 minutes of playing.Along with the tracking issues I was having originally this is really getting to be a joke. I am running the headset off a 2080ti and an asus taichi z390 mobo with a 9900k so its not like my rig is struggling. I have updated Windows fully, I have the latest nvidea drivers and I have tried everything Oculus has suggested to resolve this but nothing works. I am going to install the Oculus beta update which says fixes some of these issues but I don't have high hopes. I will also try a powered USB hub to connect my drives etc. as it may be the oculus drawing too much power from the mobo.Update;I am having some problems with tracking especially when launching games through steam vr.I get a black screen for a few seconds and tracking seems to disconnect randomly for a second or two before righting iteself. I am hoping this is a problem that can be fixed with a software update and I dont think the headset is faulty as a lot of other early adopters seem to be having similar issues. The current fix oculus has suggested is to unplug from your USB 3.0 port and try different ports but I am having this issue on all ports on two different PCs.Hoping for a fix soon otherwise its going back and I am going back to the original.The convenience of not having sensors to mess around with is great. The new set up is a lot simpler, just a case of showing oculus where the floor is and pointing your controller to the floor 360 around you to set up the guardian.The new headset offers full 360 tracking with no external sensors required which is main reason for upgrading as I could not have a third sensor set up due to wires etc. The S has built in sensors/cameras right on the headset itself which is major plus point for upgrading.The headphones are no longer over ear and are now the same as the oculus go where directional speakers replace actual headphones so everyone else in the room can hear everything you hear. The sound quality isn't terrible but the old rift headphones were far better than this.The headset feels lighter and the Velcro pulleys are replaced with a halo design similar the PSVR. Size is adjusted using a wheel tightener which I do prefer over the rift as instead of 3 straps to adjust, you now only have one.The S is more comfortable to wear than the old Rift and this is a big plus for anyone who spends long periods of time in VR.The lenses have had a slight upgrade in resolution although I think anyone would be hard pressed to tell a distinct difference between the two. Refresh rate has been lowered from 90hz to 80hz and again I don't think anyone would be able to tell jumping from the old rift to the new.I do not like the new touch controllers but this is just personal opinion. I find it difficult to tell which is the left and the right until I am in a game and my VR hands are backwards. The old controllers felt a lot more natural in hand and you could instantly tell right from left. This may be a deal breaker for some to make the jump from the old Rift to the new.Plus points,Set up is simplified and very quick compared to the older modelfull 360 tracking for those of us who only had 2 sensors beforeLighter and easier to wear for long periodsSlightly upgraded resolution.Negatives,Touch controllers are not greatNo great increase in visuals.Lower refresh rateOverall If you are looking to upgrade from the original rift I would have a think about why. if you are (like me) wanting the full 360 experience and currently only have two front sensors I would sell the original and pay the difference to upgrade. Just bear in mind that you are really only paying to have the 360 tracking as the differences between the two are negligible and in some cases inferior to the original.If this is your first headset I say go for it.

24.5.2019

Comparison vs. original Rift.VISUALS are much better. The improvements in optics and resolution and much more than a modern console generation leap. Bigger sweet spot, clearer text, all but no screen door effect. It is a much bigger improvement than I expected.COMFORT greatly improved. This is a personal thing and in fact I wasn't sure the first time I put it on, but one you spend some time in understanding the adjustments, it completely takes the weight of your face and the weight distribution is the best of any headset I've tried. Wearing large glasses is a none issue, works comfortably and much easier to get on and off than original Rift.TRACKING is a long subject, but I love the new inside out tracking.No external sensors required and everything is tracked, including the controllers, by the 5 built in cameras on the headset. :UPDATE: with a new update, Oculus have performed some sorcercy that makes tracking nie on perfect. You are now able to bring controller right up and touch the headset without issue and deadsorts are now completeoy a non-issue in game.:PRIOR TO UPDATE There are dead spots behind you back if you try to find them, but I never found this a problem in games. If touching the controllers to the headset, tracking can get "moments", so I found I hold my guns an inch further away than I previously did in FPS, which was an easy adjustment. On original Rift I had occasional wobbles with the controllers where with the S I no longer get that at all. Which makes sense as the tracking cameras are <1m from the controllers as opposed to up to 3m previously.AUDIO is not as high quality sounding as original Rift. This is because there is no on-ear headphones and instead audio is pumped down the band to over having anything over your ears. I think most people would prefer the original solution but I am actually a fan of it. It getting in and out of the headset for glasses wear much easier and it's more comfortable. Also is nice to have the choice on whether to be isolated or not. I found if I want high quality audio and isolation from sounds in the outside world my standard pair of over-ear headphones worth fine using a 10-20cm 3.5mm cable (can be longer but dangles). But I find positional audio very good from the in-built speaker and rarely use the headphones.SETUP AND PASSTHROUGH+ is excellent. Setup takes less than 5 minutes. On the PC you run install, has a couple of optional videos but then all of setup is inside the headset. This is doable as a feature you get with Rift S is passthrough+ which allows you to see a black and white AR view of your surroundings. This is low res but is an excellent feature as allows you to see the real world whenever you want a the double tap of a button. During setup this is the first thing you see as it allows you to use you controllers as laser pointers and draw your guardian. The view is stereo corrected, so everything appears where it should be. Additionally, when playing a game, if you walk up to the edge of your Guardian boundary, (a mesh appears as an overlay when head of controllers are near it) and you put your head through it, it fades to the real world, which is very cool and handy.CONS - as mentioned, if wanting excellent audio with convenience, this is a step down for some. The headset doesn't tilt like the OG Rift, I've got used to this but missed it at first. IPD is only software adjustable, so if you have a outer percentile IPD (distance between your pupils) they try before you buy. Cable feels a little heavier than on OG Rift, though might be because I have a Quest too now, which has no cable. None of these things come anywhere near enough to not make me not thoroughly recommend the Rift S with 5 star rating.NB - Rift S cable is a meter longer than OG Rift, now at 5m. Additional i found the following two cables work well if you want to extend another ~2m):https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01KRLQG2M/ - Rankie DP Extension Cable, 1.8m DisplayPort Male to Femalehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00P0ES0YE - Ugreen USB3 Extension

25.7.2019

To me this is a massive upgrade over the original rift with a few caveats.First the good.-The visuals are a huge upgrade, everything is a lot sharper and the horrible god rays are all but gone, finallt rhe screen door effect is really minimal now.-The comfort is also a massive upgrade, I couldn't wear the original for more than an hour or so without pain, and when I took it off I had the horrible "vr face" ring from where it's pressed onto your face, the Rift s uses the Halo design similar to the PS4 which was always the most comfortable out of the big three headsets.-The inside out trracking has been amazing for me,I have a weird shaped room so the fact I can walk away from my computer and play in the empty space a few feet away is a godsend as my sensors had nowhere to sit there.Also the CV1 sensors were just shocking imo. I had endless sensor USB issues despite having 4 seperate USB controllers on my computer (each plugged into a different one) Also had several times where my son would knock my desk etc and the sensor would move meaning it felt like an earthquake inside the headset.-Passthrough is such an amazing feature, nmo longer do I have to take the headset off to see where i am or if someone has walked into the room, just double tap a button.-the controllers are the best VR controlers as far as I am concerned, yes the index has newer ones with better features, but they also have major issues and are a faff to put on, they also have the shitty touchpad that just doesn;t work well due to it's shape.These are super comfortable to hold and light.Now the bad.-The speakers are just terrible, Oculus would have been better off leaving them out entirely, they are just not suitable for the task compared to the originals which were amazing. However it has a headphone jack so you can plug any headphones into it, so not too much of an issue.-Build quality is terrible, lenovo obviously built this on a budget and it shows. it feels cheap in places and the controllers feel so much weaker than the originals, which is a shame as they felt indestructable at times. These new ones have a weak spot right on top, so if you end up punching a wall etc then expect the ring to snap easily.Also the wrist straps that come with the touch are just terrible. they must have cost pennys, I tied a knot in my gopro wrist straps and they fit nicely and feel so much more sturdy. (see in pics.)-the infamous white flash (and grip issues)over 90% of users reported in a poll that they experiences the flashes every few minutes, no fix has been made available yet, but has allegedly been ready to implement into a patch for a while.Also many users (including my two different sets of touch controllers) have an issue where the grip button lags, so when you go to let it go when throwing something for example it sticks to your hand, then drops to your feet.the only fix so far was to remove the battery cover as it's the magnets messing the sensors for the buttons up.Do Oculus not test hardware??Apparently this has been fixed in a patch, but I haven't tested that yet.- No free gamed like the original had, seems a bit weird how thre older headset came with 6 games, this comes with none. doesn't affect me but new buyers may be annoyed that one of the best VR games on the Rift (robo recall) is only free to people buying older hardware.Overall it's just a fantastic headset and to me it's the best heasdset on the market at the moment for the price. Index is more expensive by double (well more than that) and has hardware issues with it's controller that a patch cannot fix.I highly recommend it.

8.10.2019

First of all THIS IS LONG BUT IN DEPTH. Also i have not received this free i used my own hard earned/borrowed from a credit card cash to buy this and it is just the opinion of someone who plays vr a bit to much.So there has been some good and bad reviews for this over the last few months and i thought i would throw my 2 pence worth in. So as a rift cv1 user for over 2 years and that is by and large using it at least once a day i absolutely love this headset. There are 2 niggles with it one of which is slightly resolved by windows believe it or not. So ill break this down into sections.Unit it self – the upgrade unit feels lighter then the cv1 and is very comfortable to use.The padding is very good on all areas of it. It is remarkable easy to put on me and 3 of my friends have used this over the last 3 days and they all agreed that so much less adjusting was needed to get it to where it comfy. The controllers are also nice to use. Pass-through mode is very useful for repositioning yourself during a active game or grabbing a drink or hand full of sweets while the game is loadingScreen/visual – as I say 3 of my friends have used this as well and the first thing they said when entering VR was “oh wow” we all agreed that the increase in overall look is very good and definitely enough to class this as an upgrade and not just 'a minor change' that screen kicking out the improved visuals is an LCD panel and this is where niggle number one comes in, because its an LCD blacks are not that deep and seem to have sort of a haze to them however this is only massively apparent in areas where there are LOTS of black for the most part it is definitely liveable. With the rift s there is a reduction in refresh rate to 80hz from 90hz. THIS IS NOT APPRENT we played some intense games including but not limited to project cars 2 and elite dangerous on maxed out graphics both of which ran buttery smooth.Sound – Ok so the sound here is a bit of a touch subject. This has no headphones like with the rift CV1 and instead used small speakers just above your ears. This has 2 problems firstly others in the room can here what’s going on a lot more then they could with the CV1 and secondly....they are just not that good. Sometimes with the cv 1 i found myself tilting the headphones away because it was a little too immersive ...normally late and night but the audio was still good with these however it is a little poor. I have partially made this liveable as i mentioned earlier by enabling loudness equalisation in the sound settings on windows however I feel I will now be looking for a sound alternative.Tracking – i have read some things online and in forums about tracking issues and also about an apparent patch fix. In any case the tracking is as near as perfect no real setup in terms od tracking and it just works is all that can be said really. A word on setup here, this has been greatly improved namely the guardian setup. The clunky walking round the room with the headset has gone and been replaced with a system that is A LOT More accurate. This can only be described as using a giant purple sharpie marker to draw around the perimeter of your area. It takes seconds to complete a definite improvement.Overall i would hand on heart recommend this 1000 percent. I’m more than certain that both cv1 owners and new rift owners will be very impressed with this as long as they go in aware of the niggles outlined here.

31.5.2019

I did alot of research before I took the plunge on this, being that I already have a CV1. Would it be worth the upgrade?My main doubts before upgrading were,1. Will my IPD be OK?Mine sits at 61mm and after setting the software to match I have had no issues here, everything is crystal clear and no eye strain. Ideally you want to be at 63.5mm but 2-3mm either side of this and I don't think you will have a problem. However this is subjective to the individual.2. The black levels, being this is an LCD panel and not OLED.Omg the black levels are amazing! I was very surprised just how good ALL the colours are, definitely on Par with the CV1, maybe slightly better!3. Tracking,coming from outside in to inside out.This is better than what my 2 sensor set up was. Again if you put your hands behind your back you'll loose tracking but this was always the case for me. Unfortunately when you draw say a bow, you will loose tracking if you put the controller too close to your face but you can adapt to this. I feel overall the tracking is better than 2 sensors but not if you have 3.4. God rays and screen door effect? Without a doubt a thing of the past!5. Resolution is only a small bump up on paper but WOW the LCD panels pixel density is far better which is also why the screen door has all but vanished. Text is VASTLY sharper!6. Sound quality.The sound quality is actually surprisingly good but it's not quite got the base of the CV1 headphones, but still good overall. You can still plug in a 3rd party solution via the headphone jack.7.Comfort.The CV1 was very comfortable I found but again so is this, it's just different and takes a bit of getting use to the halo design. It's also actually nice NOT having ear phones pressed against your ears.8.Value for money.This is where I feel this really shines. When you compare it to the price of the Valve index, touching close to £1000 for the full setup or the HP Reverb at the £500-£600 region. I feel this Headset hits the sweet spot for being both good value for money and a good all rounder in the specs department.9.Lastly Software.I've always loved the Oculus software, very polished and easy to use especially when you compare to Windows MR. The new pass through cameras are great for having a peek into the real world. When you step out of your Guardian boundaries this kicks in.UPDATE... I'm getting alot of tracking issues where the tracking stops working completely! Also I'm getting an intermittent black screen usually on first boot of the PC. You can fix this by replugging in the USB but it's not ideal. Also I've noticed an intermittent flash of static, if you blink you can almost miss it but this occurs at least every 5-10 mins.I hope this all gets fixed with future updates. Unfortunately the way I see it this should have all been working properly from day one as I never had problems with the DK2 or CV1.I have returned it for a refund. I'm sure one day they will sort these issues via a firmware patch. When they do this will be a good buy which is why I've given it 3 stars and not 1. Originally with my first impressions after an hour of use I gave this 5 stars with my review. But now after 12 hours of play I have started to notice more issues.UPDATE!! As of now September 2019 with recent updates the Rift S is now fixed of all its issues that I mentioned.

13.5.2021

This took quite a few hours of headscratching getting it to connect and function. I was almost ready to return it but after going through the steps below, it was worth it in the end.For starters make sure your computer system can support VR. Goes without saying really. Steam client has a tool you can download and run to check if your system is VR ready. What it can't do is make sure your PC has USB3.0 sockets and your graphic card has the correct socket for the display port plug.Secondly, if you're running Win 10, uninstall any USB3.0 drivers that may have come with your motherboard software and let windows choose the drivers. Then go through device manager,checking each USB3.0 hub and uncheck the option that allows windows to shut down power to any unused USB sockets under the 'power management' tab.Going though those steps finally got the Rift S working for me, and I have to say it's been a blast so far. While the image quality itself isn't the greatest (there is a slight 'screen door' effect), the wrap-around 3D effect more than makes up for that, and you noticing after a while. You will not have a more immersive visual experience without actually being there yourself. It's pretty incredible.Some people do complain about motions sickness. I've only experienced that with certain 'room-size' VR games with a lot of fast action. I did feel kind of car-sick after about 20 minutes of sword fighting action in 'Blades and Sorcery', and it did last a while after taking the headset off. I haven't had that experience with seated VR games however. Even so, you may feel the need to take more frequent breaks than if you were sat in front of a monitor, and you'd be well advised to do so.Although the VR headset does come with built-in speakers and mic, if I'm in a seated game (such as a flight sim) i prefer to wear a seperate headset mic which only just fits over the headset. You can just configure which speakers/mic you wish to use in your PC's sound settings.If you wear glasses, the headset will fit over most moderately sized pairs of glasses, so long as their width doesnt exceed (somewhere around) 14cm. Think mine are slightly over that but they just managed to fit. Even so, I prefer to wear contacts while in VR since it's more comfortable, even though it is a pain having to change. There is also the option of buying VR lens inserts made to your prescription, by a company called VR Optician (vroptician.com). I'm going to look into that some time soon, as it seems the best option.In all, VR hasn't completely replaced my gaming experience, but it has hugely expanded it. Flight-type sims like Il-2, Elite Dangerous and Star Wars Squadrons will never be the same again. I also know any room VR game will give me a good workout, which I never got sat in a chair.

13.3.2021

I've been using this headset for under two months and after the initial hurdles it gave me, I can finally say I love this product.Before I talk about my experiences I would like to highlight some important things you must keep in mind and some issues I initially faced. First off, after my first VR session I faced the issue of having to restart the oculus software before every session in order to temporarily fix a bug which was caused by my mobo USB ports not generating enough power. This was permanently fixed after I changed motherboard and reinstalled windows during my PC upgrade.Another issue you will likely face will be with the microphone of the Rift S, which in itself doesn't offer very good audio quality,but will likely either present you with phases of working normally to then sound like very cheap mic for a minute before it goes back to normal. I didn't experience this specific microphone problem, but mine just died on me after about 3 weeks. This promoted me to invest in a wireless ModMic which I attach to my bluetooth headset, and I'm very glad I decided to go with it.This was my first VR headset ever. I had never experienced VR before and the Rift S would be my ticket to the exciting world of VR. I didn't set my expectations too high but I was hyped. When I first hopped into VR, the Rift S worked out of the box after plugging it in and installing the desktop software. I was absolutely mesmerised and kinda just stood there looking around and throwing stuff in the tutorial area.After the tutorial and a few impressed family members, I decided to set up SteamVR and purchase Beat Saber. Beat Saber provided me with around 30 minutes of fun but really I was just trying to test it out. I then was invited to jump on VRChat with an irl friend who had been teasing me about it since like 2018. He showed me the ropes and I was hooked. Getting the Rift S was one of the best choices I have made, I must however admit that I only really use it for VRChat as it's helped me better my social skills and make new friends.The Rift S also works with the Vive trackers and base stations through SteamVR and space calibrator to offer full body tracking and I've had no issues with it so far. I can therefore recommend the Rift S for full body, although this is an expensive route.Overall, I can confidently say that I have no plans to upgrade from this headset to any more premium option like the index because I don't see the need to spend extra money when the Rift S is already a solid VR headset. You may ask, why do I give the Rift S a 5 star review after the issues it has? Because after I have resolved all the problems, I have now a very solid headset which provides me with everything I need to have a great VR experience.

23.1.2020

After a short experience with the HTC Vive sold me on VR, I started looking at getting a second hand Vive. Eventually, though, I decided to get a Rift S when it was on sale for £350, and I'm glad I did.Setup is pretty quick and easy, aside from the Oculus software forcing you to sit through health and safety videos, the firmware update I had to do not pushing to the controllers so it was asking me to pair the controllers again when what I actually had to do was leave the configuration and update the controllers separately, and it not working with anything outside the Oculus store until you enable the "Unknown Sources" option.Visuals are good, just make sure to warm the headset up before putting it on so it doesn't steam up.

25.3.2021

This thing is mint. I have a 4790k @4.6 with a gtx970 at stock speed. That’s the minimum amount of graphics card that you could get away with. Games like half life alyx are beautiful, and look fantastic on the pretty decent screen. But I could barely run it at the lowest settings. Most things will run though, with a bit of tweaking. Doesn’t generally work very well with steam vr running, again could be more my issue. VTOL vr being the only exception I can think of. Massive software library to choose from, both steam and oculus, with loads of choice, so it’s not all shoot shoot. I use mine for iracing predominately, but I’ll give almost anything a go.Good fit, not too heavy and comfortable for extended sessions.

26.1.2020

I had the original oculus rift and I liked it but got bored eventually. My reasons? the god rays, low resolution, field of view, the cameras in my room. I saw this and immediately dismissed it as I saw the Quest had the higher resolution. I can tell you right now, NEVER go by specs on paper. The difference here is the LCD screen. I put this on and fell in love with VR all over again. The screen door is minimised. The reason it's less noticeable is the way LCD displays pixels. VR isn't perfect yet of course and the resolution here can still be improved. You want to notice the backgrounds being pixellated etc when you put this headset on but all you need to do to be blown away is boot up ROBO RECALL and look at the first elevator sequence.

31.12.2019

I find the people who complain about the Quest online are VR snobs and/or spent thousands on full body to be the 1% of VR users and are now being joined by people who spent far less (none body) thanks to Oculus. What they don't understand is that with a big user base come better games and a healthy market that benefits them.At first i was happy with Quest LINK but the battery slowly loses charge even when connected to the PC. I also know that batteries get worse over time (it needs a replaceable battery). So i decided to get the Rift S to solve this problem. The LCD on Rift S has less of a screen door effect to the Quest (only slightly) the trade off being the black levels not being deep black.

25.6.2019

This review is from someone who upgraded from the CV1 to the oculus rift s.If you haven't previous had a vr headset then get this. It's a great bit of kit and the setup is so simple.Now to all you people who are thinking about upgrading from the cv1 to the oculus rift s ....I dont have a designated VR area so if I want to play on the oculus I've previously had to set up the sensors everytime. This is where the S has brought back my love for vr. The external sensors on the headset have made the setup so simple that I literally just plug it into my PC, put the headset on and off I go! The screen resolution and clarity is obviously better than the cv1 and I can finally read text in the game with no issues and everything looks a lot cleaner.

4.10.2019

Here's a summary of the most important pro's, con's and myths (in opinion).Pros:1. No external sensors to set up.2. Lightweight.3. Comfortable.4. Feels well built.5. Hand controls are sturdy and intuitive to use.6. Headset Connects with just one cable (with two connections to your PC).7. Wireless Handsets use just 1 x AA battery each (included).8. Setting up your safe play area means that you won't trip over the coffee table or hit the wall when playing...just be careful of the cat!Cons:1. Installation software is a bit clunky (took a couple of attempts even though we know our way round a PC and fault finding isn't always straightforward).2.

17.12.2019

I was a non believer in VR. I thought it was a gimmick. Never really experienced VR until I watched a video of my favourite Youtuber (Callmekevin) Play Superhot and I was sold at that moment.I waited for Black Friday. Bought the Oculus Rift S (first time round got dog food but a week later I got the replacement) and Oh boy. I cant play 2d games the same anymore. I have ascended in gaming and honestly its amazing.The Oculus Rift should be everyones choice for their VR on a budget. (If you want to spend the money go for Index)People like to shut this headset down because its by Facebook. But this piece of tech is amazing and once its on your head,

21.10.2020

This is one of the best purchases I've ever made. Visually excellent and comfortable to wear. Can get a little sweaty on the headband if your using in a warm room. I use a fan in the corner of the room to just give a cool breeze as you play. Practically good to go upon powering up and you don't have to actively switch on and off when using as it detects the user when they put it on.The hand controllers are battery powered and don't use as much power as you would expect. I bought rechargeable batteries to save on disposing of used batteries. One battery each hand controller, so a pack of four will see you covered. The list of games and applications available is wide, with Occulus Home having a great number available,

Oculus Rift S - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail