Guidemaster: Is Valve Index the best virtual reality system to buy in 2019?

[Karlston]

Guidemaster: Is Valve Index the best virtual reality system to buy in 2019?

Our massive VR buying guide includes thoughts on Oculus, Samsung, HTC, Sony, and more.

Enlarge / Front row: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest, Valve Index, Oculus Rift S. Back row: HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive Pro. (Only headsets from the front row made our recommended-in-2019 list.)

Sam Machkovech

Virtual reality as a consumer-grade tech isn't going anywhere if the PC gaming titans at Valve Corporation have anything to say about it.

 

Today marks the company's launch of its own VR system, the Valve Index, and it's easily the company's biggest hardware launch ever. Valve has previously sold $50 controllers and set-top boxes, and they've partnered with other hardware makers to launch things like computers. But the Valve Index is another level entirely—it's priced at $999 for a full kit, built top to bottom at Valve's Seattle-area headquarters.

 

What's more, its launch day allocation sold out even before I'd written my lengthy hands-on impressions article last month. Not bad for a gadget category that's still often relegated to "niche" status.

 

Clearly, companies are still plugging away at VR and taking it seriously enough to launch new headsets and interesting games in 2019. We're a full three years out from the first wave of VR headsets, and those initial offers (like the Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR) have yet to be left in the compatibility dust. Right now it all adds up to a lot of VR headsets to choose from, whether you're a brand-new buyer or someone keen to upgrade your existing rig.

 

So instead of focusing exclusively on the Valve Index for its launch day (especially since, again, it's sold out as of press time), I'm using this as an opportunity to resolve the state of the VR union. Ars has tested pretty much every major VR headset that's available to customers in 2019, and using that experience and knowledge I'll try to answer the two questions I get the most in my line of work: "Which VR headset is the best?" and "Should I buy into VR yet?"

 

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Table of Contents

• Remind me why I should care about VR
• Valve Index: The VR system of the future, at least in terms of screens
• More on Valve Index: Knuckles and the missing "tentpoles"
• Valve Index bottom line
• Samsung Odyssey+: The best VR system for design firms
• Compared to Vive Pro
• PlayStation VR: The best VR system for people who already own a PS4
• Oculus Rift S: The best entry-level PC VR system... whenever Oculus drops the price
• Oculus Quest: The best VR system of 2019
• Is 2019 the right year to buy into VR?

Remind me why I should care about VR

Modern virtual reality, for the uninitiated, is sometimes as simple as strapping a monitor to your face with a motion-sensing system attached. Move your head while you're seated in a chair, and the screen's imagery will transform in a way that replicates being somewhere else. ("You're on a beach. Look left, and you'll see the ocean. Look right, and you'll see the resort.")

 

Take that one step further, and you can expect a fuller "six degrees of freedom" (6DOF) system. That means you can put on a headset and then get up from your chair and walk around (so long as you map out a "safe space" beforehand, which most VR systems support). These systems also typically include handheld controllers, and their combinations of buttons and triggers can turn your hand into a gun, a paintbrush, or something else. Hold the controller in front of your eyes, and you'll see it convincingly float in your VR view.

 

Why go to all this trouble when a TV or phone screen can do the trick? The best VR software answers that by translating your head, hand, and body movement in ways that might otherwise be abstracted by a controller or a mouse. Think of the first time you waved a Wii remote to throw a ball or play tennis—way more immersive than tapping a single button—then imagine that sensation cranked to 11 by truly natural motion. Some of my favorite VR software of the past few years has let me: wave a lightsaber to the beat of uptempo music; control a Mario-styled hero while literally using my head to solve puzzles; mold 3D pieces of art without spending a penny on supplies; play incredible games of laser tag in my modest living room; get sucked into a transcendental Tetris experience; and much, much, much more.

 

All of those games and apps, by the way, require a 6DOF setup as opposed to the "3DOF" limits you'll find on systems like Google Cardboard and Samsung GearVR, which turn your smartphone's display into a simple VR system. This guide focuses exclusively on 6DOF VR options. If you're interested in a simpler, cheaper VR experience, I recommend the $200 Oculus Go (or at least reading my lengthy May 2018 review of that platform). There's a whole world of "virtual reality cinema" that works on 3DOF headsets, as well, which we've covered at length in the past.

Valve Index: The VR system of the future, at least in terms of screens

 

Since today is the Valve Index's launch day, this portion of the guide is the longest. I'll start with a TL;DR: Everything that I love about the Valve Index ($999 for full system, $499 for headset only) feels like the future of VR. Everything disappointing about the Valve Index feels like a holdover from the industry's past.

 

Valve spoke directly to this duality when introducing the Index system in late April. The company's spokespeople made very clear that it wants the VR hardware universe to deliver three major "tentpoles" of quality, then the company highlighted Valve Index's emphasis on only one of those tentpoles: "high performance." The result is a system that feels like VR made by engineers for engineers. The Index offers huge boosts in screen, audio, and controller quality, but it's marred by some usability compromises.

 

This all begins with the system's pair of LCD panels, which deliver a combined pixel resolution of 2880×1600. We've seen that exact number on the HTC Vive Pro and Samsung Odyssey+ (more on those later), but Valve Index didn't stop at resolution. Its engineering team effectively transformed that pixel count into something that feels much fuller than the competition with a few tricks. First was a shift from OLED panels to a new "fast-switching" LCD panel process, which includes a much more dense "subpixel resolution"—meaning, Index's screens don't have noticeable, tiny gaps between pixels (better known to VR veterans as the "screen door effect"). Whether reading a virtual sign or a virtual piece of paper, users can expect more legible details than they'd see in similarly specced OLED panels. Playing a "VR MMO" like Orbus means contending with a lot of text, and Valve Index makes that stuff easier to parse than other headsets in its weight class.

 

What's more, the field of view (FOV) within Index is roughly 20 degrees wider than any other headset on this list... without demanding additional horizontal pixels. This is a neat engineering trick on Valve's part. Index's custom-designed panels and lenses don't appear to use particularly unique parts compared to other headsets; tightly zoomed photos of the headset's insides look like other headsets, quite frankly. Yet not only does Index offer a wider horizontal expanse to let users perceive more peripheral content, it also does a remarkable job of delivering a wider "sweet spot" of clear pixels. On other headsets, you may find yourself aiming your gaze directly at finer details because the edges of the lenses are blurry. That's a natural issue with curved "Fresnel" lenses, and Index has some blurring on its lenses' edges, but quite frankly, it's half what you'll find in the competition.

 

Again, that's happening without making your gaming PC draw more pixels to fill in that wider perspective. The effect is admittedly subtle if you haven't used competitors' headsets in a while, but switching back and forth between the Index and any other headset on this list makes the difference very evident (in Index's favor).

 

 

Shapes and sizes

Valve Index wins in a crucial niche category: the best fit for different head sizes, eye arrangements, and sizes of glasses. Its "FOV slider" is a big reason, as this not only opens up the headset's interior cavity but also guarantees an ideal large-window VR display no matter what face you smash against the Index's mask. If other "one size fits most" VR systems have left you in the dust, Valve Index likely has your back. (It even supports tiny heads with a squishy pad that comes with all Index shipments as a default bonus.)

 

Next there's the matter of Index's LCD panels running at a higher clock speed than other headsets. Valve Index's default refresh rate is 120Hz, as opposed to the 90Hz rate popularized by the 2016 slate of headsets. Now, 90Hz is pretty darned smooth, so what exactly does 120Hz bring to the table?

 

This was the primary thing I explored in my May hands-on Index article, which I mostly wrote while wearing the Index and using its screens as a virtual monitor. I could look in virtual space and see what was essentially a 45-inch computer monitor floating in front of me, filled with every productivity app I use for my job (while seated with a physical keyboard and mouse). I needed that much time within VR, as opposed to 30- or 60-minute gaming sessions, to really appreciate how that faster default rate contributed to a sense of VR comfort. So long as it's up to a 120Hz refresh, I can wear and play with Valve Index for longer than any other headset on this list without having my vision feel swimmy or scrambled after pulling it off of my eyes.

 

Even when it runs at a slower 90Hz refresh, Index's boosted subpixel resolution still contributes to longer-term comfort, but after getting used to 120Hz for long-term use, it's hard to go back. That may not be comforting to hear if you have designs on plugging a Valve Index into a slower PC. When connected to a more modest gaming laptop, equipped with a notebook-grade GTX 1070 graphics card, SteamVR (the Valve Index's software suite) immediately downgraded my apparent pixel resolution to something on par with the 2016 HTC Vive in order to maintain a steady 120Hz refresh. At this point, I had an option: deal with the blur or go into SteamVR's settings and toggle a 90Hz mode instead.

 

My vote, honestly, depended on the game in question. When a VR game demands a lot of "virtual joystick" motion (so you stand still, but your perspective moves around whenever you press a joystick forward), I kept the 120Hz mode on and accepted the fuzz. I want as many frames per second as possible in those moments to smooth out any potential stomach sickness. But for games where players mostly stand still, the pixels regained from a 90Hz downgrade are worth it. I'm glad Valve gives players with weaker PCs this option, but sadly, they currently make this toggle a hassle. You'll have to take your VR headset off, walk to your gaming PC, mouse through settings, and change the refresh rate in a tucked-away settings menu every time you want to swap. (You can also toggle an ultra-fast 144Hz or an ultra-slow 80Hz, if you really want, but the former costs too many pixels, and the latter is a matter of taste.)

More on Valve Index: Knuckles and the missing "tentpoles"

Beyond Valve Index's screen, there's also the matter of its new controllers, which are officially called the Valve Index Controllers. We just call them the "Knuckles" around here, since that was their code name, and it's more descriptive: they cinch around your hands' knuckles so that you can clasp and release them at will. They're the best VR controllers on the market, but mostly because they copy the best ideas of the Oculus Touch controllers, then add a few nifty touches.

 

 

Fingers and grip

The fanciest Knuckles gimmick is its ability to track individual finger movement. Lift any number of fingers off the Knuckles, and you should see the same in virtual space. I'd hoped to see software really expose this trick before the review embargo was up, but that didn't come to pass, so I can't speak to this feature beyond saying "it's not 100% accurate." I can't yet answer whether the system is "good enough" to silently communicate to online-shooter squadmates ("three, two, one..."), or whether individual finger motion will really boost the fun factor of, say, a virtual pet simulator. The potential is there, at least.

 

Knuckles also include a force-sensitive grip sensor, but this gimmick seems less intrinsically valuable compared to the simpler on-off "grip" button on the Oculus Touch. When will my analog measure of a tight grip really factor into a game or app? Even Valve's internal "Moondust" controller test app doesn't have an answer for that, beyond letting me play with a virtual squeezy toy. I'd love to see a cool use of this feature, but that hasn't landed in my SteamVR library yet.

 

I went into Knuckles' features and quirks in my May article, and I can report that they're still comfortable and functional and that there's still very little software to take advantage of their coolest tricks. Previously, I complained about how older software didn't play so nicely with Knuckles, but I can report that Valve has since uploaded a ton of control toggles for older SteamVR software to run smoothly with Knuckles. But it's not perfect. If your favorite game doesn't get a native Knuckles patch from its developer, then you can expect to run into issues, particularly when playing a game supported by the older HTC Vive's giant trackpad instead of a joystick. (I whined last month about the lack of a "dead zone" modifier in SteamVR's control-transition menus, and that's still not in there. Translating a giant touchpad to a joystick isn't a simple 1:1 swap.)

 

In great news, should you wish to play "exclusive" Oculus Rift games on PC, Knuckles appear to map perfectly to Oculus software so long as you run the unofficial, fan-made "Revive" compatibility layer. In many of those games, your hands will appear as if you're using Oculus Touch controllers, which essentially have the same buttons, joysticks, layout, and finger-sensing options as the Knuckles. It's a fantastic bonus, considering how much of a pain it has been to play Oculus software with no-button, no-joystick HTC Vive wands. (Warning: I have not comprehensively tested every Oculus game and app, and Oculus could update its software at any time to block this compatibility.)

 

If cost and logistics are no issue, then the Knuckles are a no-brainer recommendation for VR. Even in spite of some older SteamVR hiccups, they mostly work great with existing software, and they feel futuristic and comfortable. But Knuckles also drive up the total Index package cost, either as a standalone $280 purchase or as part of the whopping $999 "complete system" bundle. And like the Index headset, these controllers currently require at least two SteamVR "lighthouse" tracking boxes, which also drive up the total package cost and complicate the installation process. Similar to the HTC Vive, you'll need to set up the Index's sensor boxes in opposite corners of your ideal VR play space and make sure they're plugged into wall sockets.

 

No other 2019 headset on this list requires such an added complication. Valve keeps insisting that its SteamVR tracking boxes are imperative for tip-top VR accuracy, but again and again in my review period, I found my Knuckles would get lost by SteamVR's tracking systems. I repeatedly reproduced this bug while playing the fastest modes in Beat Saber, and a Valve engineer even drove to my Seattle home to investigate what was going on. That was a month ago. As I type this, I'm still waiting for Valve to resolve the issue (which could admittedly happen any day now). My point isn't that they can't fix it yet. I assume the fix will come. It's more that I've used other headsets' simpler tracking options in the past few months, and I believe they've hovered around "98%" tracking accuracy. I don't think SteamVR's tracking boxes are worth a possible 2% jump.

 

Remember that bit earlier about Valve's dreams of "three tentpoles" for VR quality? The other two are "reduced friction" and "lower price." These tracking boxes are one huge reason that Valve Index fails both of these categories. There's also the matter of requiring a "gaming caliber" PC running the clunky SteamVR interface and hoping that Steam doesn't randomly crash when trying to load or juggle your favorite software. Some of the other options on this list have made huge strides toward VR elegance, but Valve has a ways to go in that department.

 

The rest of Valve Index is, honestly, a bunch of been-there, VR'ed-that stuff. For starters, it fits on your face via a relatively bulky ski-goggle strap. In fairness, it's one of the better weight-balancing designs I've seen in the VR world, and it comes with an impressive pair of 3D-positional audio speakers that hover over your ears. But the whole thing is relatively heavy. The microfiber face-lining doesn't take long to trap heat and sweat if you run hot. The headset in general doesn't feel particularly "breathable" (even though it has some sort of silent venting system to keep the headset's electronic heat away from your face). And while the speakers' frequency range and virtual-surround quality is unmatched by any other headsets' embedded sound system, their volume ranges from impressively loud to obnoxiously quiet, depending on what software you're running. Beat Saber can sound deafening, while productivity apps in Windows max out at a frustratingly low volume. I hoped Valve would fix this by launch, but that hasn't happened.

Valve Index bottom line

Once you've booted into your favorite VR software on a powerful PC, Valve Index just works, and it delivers approximately its sticker cost in value. If you're willing to put up with Index's headaches—required tracking boxes, SteamVR's clunky interface, occasional Knuckles hiccups—you're in for the best all-around wired VR headset that a finite amount of money can buy. And if Valve gets around to releasing its long-promised VR games, then Index's killer screens, trippy controllers, and high-fidelity speakers might truly be paid forward.

Samsung Odyssey+: The best VR system for design firms

 

One major feature missing in the Valve Index, and will likely be missing in many future VR headsets, is an OLED panel. OLED used to be considered the VR gold standard, owing to its reduced blur and "ghosting" issues compared to LCD. But newer VR headsets have all but solved those issues with better engineered LCD options. These LCD panels can have a much richer subpixel resolution than comparable, commercial-grade OLED panels.

 

Trouble is, VR color accuracy isn't perfect with LCD panels, and they also suffer from light bleed (since their backlit pixels always emit a tiny glow, even when set to "black") and black crush. This can make certain VR use cases a little more difficult to swallow on an LCD headset, from deep-space sci-fi games to floating VR cinema screens. I would argue that in many use cases, the tradeoff is ultimately in favor of a refined LCD panel like that on Valve Index.

 

That tradeoff won't cut it if you work in 3D, industrial, or interior design, however. And that's what this category is for: the best VR headset to slap on your face when managing a high-end design project, which I would argue is a pretty big use case. What if you're creating a video game and want to use VR to see how your giant 3D world looks at scale? What if you want to plot out exactly how a kitchen or luxury suite will look to walk through? You'll need color accuracy and pixel depth.

 

We've seen boutique headset manufacturers charge thousands of dollars for higher-end headsets, but these don't earn their ludicrous price tags—at least, not in 2019. I strongly urge anybody with this use case in mind to focus their attention on the Samsung Odyssey+, which fits comfortably, includes handsome, high-res OLED panels, and costs only $500 MSRP (and often way, way less at retail).

Compared to Vive Pro

 

This surpasses our previous pick for an OLED headset, the $1,200 HTC Vive Pro, which is admittedly a slightly nicer headset... just not $700 nicer. These are directly comparable, by the way, because both headsets feature OLED screens with a combined pixel resolution of 2880×1600. Their color depth is seemingly identical, in particular, in their handling of the brightest and boldest hues. The biggest difference is Samsung projects its pixels with a slightly smeary trick that fills in the "screen door" spaces that you'll find in the Vive Pro. The catch is that you'll enjoy a slightly wider "sweet spot" of clear pixels while using Vive Pro than you will with the Odyssey. That's not enough of a lead to make the Vive Pro a preferred option, but if money isn't an object, it could be a difference maker.

 

Honestly, Samsung's lead boils down to usability. First, the Odyssey+ includes a pair of Windows Mixed Reality controllers. These are less elegant than Valve or Oculus' handheld controllers, but they run circles around the Vive Pro's dated wands and cost a heckuva lot less to replace than HTC's option. Second, the Odyssey+ includes a "second-gen" implementation of WMR's inside-out tracking. With this, you don't need to hook up any webcams or SteamVR lighthouse tracking boxes to get everything running. Simply plug the Odyssey+ into a computer, aim its gaze around your room, and it's ready to interface with both the Windows Mixed Reality portal and SteamVR's virtual worlds.

 

You'll get more accurate full-room tracking with Vive Pro's use of SteamVR tracking boxes, and Odyssey+'s built-in pair of sensors doesn't necessarily keep up with faster, "expert" modes in games like Beat Saber. But for the vast majority of VR software, Odyssey+ (and, really, much of the Windows Mixed Reality hardware lineup) is good enough to play with any VR software. And Vive Pro isn't necessarily my number-one "gaming" VR pick, anyway, owing to its over-engineered bulk, its heft, its lack of breathability, and its last-gen controllers. Basically, what you gain from its lighthouses, you lose in other factors.

 

My biggest Odyssey+ suggestion is to buy an aftermarket face mask, which won't just increase comfort but will also reduce the amount of outside light bleed you can expect while wearing this headset. Odyssey+'s default front face padding is pretty lousy, honestly, but that's roughly $30 to fix as of press time with VRCover's solid options. The cheapo foam used to pad the back of the Odyssey+ isn't replaceable, but it's arguably not annoying once you have its "halo" construction cinched around your head.

PlayStation VR: The best VR system for people who already own a PS4

 

The above designation is not a slight against PlayStation VR. Millions upon millions of people own a PlayStation 4 console, and for them, it's only $200-ish to enter the VR world. These buyers would get one of the industry's most comfortable headsets, to boot.

 

There's just something about PSVR's mix of a "halo" cinch around the head and a hanging mask that distributes its weight more elegantly than anything else on this list. (The best thing about the Oculus Rift S, which I'll get to below, is that it brazenly copies this design.) Once you strap in, however, prepare for the lowest-resolution display in this list of headsets at the decidedly 2016-era pixel count of 1920×1080.

 

Still, this works well enough in practice, owing to factors like its OLED screen attributes (low blur, high contrast ratio, bold colors) and its effective 120Hz refresh. The latter is achieved with a bit of a cheat, using interpolation and an extra hardware box to double the 60Hz video signal sent to the headset. So in practice, PSVR is more comparable to a 90Hz VR headset. That's a nifty trick on Sony's part, and its resulting 3D VR imagery lands right in the middle of this list: not as fancy as a high-end gaming PC but noticeably better than the weakest fare.

 

This all adds up to "just good enough," especially when you factor in PSVR's slate of exclusive, high-quality VR games. Most of these are first-party titles, including Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Firewall: Zero Hour, WipEout Omega VR, and Farpoint, but a few third parties have delivered PSVR-exclusive stunners of their own, including the incomparable puzzles of Statik, the genre-defining horror of Resident Evil VII, and the system-selling masterpiece that is Tetris Effect. On top of those, it hosts plenty of solid multiplatform games, including Beat Saber, Superhot VR, Moss, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and one of my all-time favorite sleeper puzzle games, SuperHyperCube.

 

But PSVR is more about concessions than about winning any technical category outright. Worst of all, PSVR relies on a single wired camera to track your position. I've complained about the Valve Index and other headsets requiring tracking boxes, but in PSVR's case, I wish it at least had the option of connecting more than one camera. In its current state, PSVR's single-camera system can too easily lose track of your head or hands, particularly if you get up and move around. Thankfully, most of PSVR's best games play quite well while seated, all while letting you move your head and body around naturally in that 6DOF way.

 

Beyond tracking, there's also the matter of PlayStation Move wands being required for some PSVR games. Most of my favorites on the system actually work just fine with a standard PS4 gamepad (which can be tracked by PSVR's camera), but Beat Saber is an obvious hand-waving exception. (You can also pony up for a $80-ish PlayStation Aim controller, which is shaped like a gun, but it only works in a few games. I've found that its compatible games actually play smoothly with the PS4 gamepad instead, which you can move in physical space like a gun to aim in VR. It's a bit dorky in practice, but, hey, it still feels immersive enough and saves you $80.) My suggestion: if you don't get Move wands for cheap in a PSVR bundle, start without them and see if you find yourself itching to upgrade later.

 

Basically, PSVR has come down in price to hover right in that impulse-buy territory for anybody whose PS4 has gotten a bit long in the tooth (and you can expect bundled software at most retailers, with the technically-retired-but-still-available Astro Bot and Moss bundle being my bang-for-the-buck vote). Even better, Sony says it intends to wait to introduce a possible new PlayStation VR system until its eventual next console ("PlayStation 5") launches in 2020. And PS5 will support existing PSVR hardware! That's a pretty good assurance that Sony won't immediately make you feel silly about your 2019 PSVR purchase. (If I thought PSVR 2.0 was looming in the next nine months, I'd have smothered this entry in asterisks.)

Oculus Rift S: The best entry-level PC VR system... whenever Oculus drops the price

 

PlayStation VR at $200-ish is a good value. Samsung Odyssey+ at $350-ish is a good value. And Oculus Rift S at a $400 MSRP is... wait, seriously? $400 for this thing?

 

When Oculus first announced this new 2019 PC-VR headset, I honestly thought the VR hardware manufacturer had arrived with an absolute beast of a product, designed around acceptable compromises, a comfortable fit, and wired-VR convenience. Every corner it cuts to bring the price down is reasonable, I thought.

 

Then I saw the price. The Rift S screens have been downgraded from OLED to LCD with some (but not all) of the subpixel boosts seen in the Valve Index. Its resolution has been boosted from the original Oculus Rift's 2160×1200 pixel count to a welcome 2560×1440. While not bad, that's also clearly below the 2880×1600 that is becoming more standard (let alone the cleverly engineered stretch of that pixel count on the Valve Index). Its images run at a slower 80Hz refresh, which is fine for general gaming but can fatigue eyes after a full hour of play. And unlike most headsets on this list, Rift S skimps on what's known as an interpupillary distance (IPD) slider, which means certain head sizes and shapes simply can't wear this thing without feeling dizzy. These are all literal downgrades from the comparably priced Samsung Odyssey+.

 

Meanwhile, instead of packing a pair of sensing webcams in the box (like with the original Rift), Oculus has embedded an array of five sensors into the Rift S' headset itself. I question whether this actually costs Oculus more money than those original webcams, considering that the company is paying for more sensors but also for fewer webcam bodies and stands and smaller shipping boxes. That's a build-of-materials question I can't legitimately answer. But it sure seems like a way for Oculus to introduce a snazzy new feature without jacking up the price. And as I discovered in my own testing, Rift S' embedded "inside-out" tracking system isn't just more convenient than what you'll find in the HTC Vive Pro or Valve Index; it's also more accurate than any other headset's inside-out system.

 

Between that fact and the headset's clean, simple design, which clinches comfortably and balances its weight in elegant fashion, I would say this is the best-designed headset for the kind of high-speed VR motion you might expect from arcade games. It's a good gaming headset, coupled with an elegant Oculus Home interface once you're strapped in. And whenever the hardware's actual cost comes down, which I believe will happen by the end of 2019, I will then recommend it as an interesting option—especially for weaker gaming PCs and laptops, since its maximum frame rate and resolution are lower than the other PC headsets on this list. Rift S scales well for older gaming PCs, and that might bring your total PC VR budget (meaning, the Rift S plus a budget graphics card) down to $500-ish by year's end. Not bad at all.

Oculus Quest: The best VR system of 2019

 

In many technical categories, the Oculus Quest lags behind the competition. Its panels only refresh at a 72Hz rate. Its built-in hardware is basically a Google Pixel 2, as opposed to a dedicated gaming console or high-end PC. And it's not compatible with any other hardware, so you're locked into Oculus' storefront.

 

But, goodness. Oculus Quest is currently the simplest, breeziest, most refined VR system to strap into and play with. Walk into a room that you've never used VR in before, then pull the Oculus Quest headset over your head and tap a controller button—that's it. The amount of time it takes between that moment and actually playing a popular game is roughly 70 seconds.

 

Part of that is due to a built-in sensor array, dubbed "Oculus Insight," immediately recognizing your environs and letting you neatly map a VR "safe space" with your hands. Part of that is due to its intuitive "Oculus Home" hub zone, which organizes games, apps, a storefront, and social features in a tidy interface. And part of that is due to Oculus simply nailing the hardware's Android-based pipeline, in terms of flushing out background processes and making sure its games load fast and run efficiently.

 

This all happens, by the way, in a wholly wireless VR system. Every crucial piece of hardware is built into the headset, so you don't need a gaming PC or connected sensors, and yet the system still does an impressive job venting its processing heat, balancing its weight, and running visually impressive games at a smooth clip.

 

Put Oculus Quest side by side with a $1,200+ gaming PC and the $999 Valve Index, and you'll absolutely notice a difference in fidelity, tracking accuracy, sound quality, and general power. But the gulf in usability isn't nearly as vast as a $1,500+ difference might imply. What's more, I have most of these VR systems in my home office, and I honestly favor the Oculus Quest on a regular basis because it just works. There's no second guessing whether a Windows or Steam interface is going to mess up.

 

What's more, the Quest does have one killer technical trick up its sleeve: a pixel-dense OLED panel, clearly superior to Oculus' PC-only products. The Quest's processor can't quite pump out a full 2880×1600 resolution of pixels, of course, but it gets pretty close and does so with wonderful color reproduction. Honestly, I expect Oculus to eventually put out a Quest "Plus," with maybe a higher frame rate, a lighter body, or a beefier processor, but there's enough power and quality in this year's model to make it worth investing in right now. And thanks to Quest's Android foundation and its compatibility with sideloaded apps, fans are already coming up with ways to maximize the existing Quest's potential. Tweaks we've seen range from custom Beat Saber songs to promising PC-streaming options so you can essentially turn your Quest into a wireless PC VR kit.

Is 2019 the right year to buy into VR?

My simple, biased answer is "yes," and that's largely because the Oculus Quest has finally nailed the top-to-bottom "welcome to VR" experience. From first-time setup to basic-use tutorials to app purchases to general gameplay, this system has enough that I can hand a new bundle to a tech-fluent person and not feel like I need to hang out and coach them through the rough bits. And the game library there is freaking solid.

 

The same can be said to a lesser extent for the other entries on the list. PSVR counts as a "VR impulse buy" thanks both to its reasonable price and lack of friction, so long as you know its limits. Whenever Oculus Rift S gets cheaper, it will arguably be the best VR "gateway drug" for anybody whose PC is already specced for the video game class of 2016. And Samsung Odyssey+ and Valve Index each earn their higher price tags for those who have already been charmed by VR and believe it's worth sitting or standing in for hours at a time, but neither has a high enough ease-of-use quotient to land as a clear choice for brand-new VR users.

 

All of these systems have truly compelling software, by the way, ranging from quick-burst arcade hits to beefier quests and intriguing online communities. And if you're on any PC VR platform, Valve's upcoming VR-exclusive game (coming "in 2019") will work, whether you've bought an official Valve piece of hardware or not. (Gosh, I hope it's good.)

 

But our dreams of wholly wireless, super-cheap, high-quality VR kits for PCs are clearly stalling out for another year or two. Both the original HTC Vive and HTC Vive Pro can be upgraded to wireless VR, but that's a pricey and demanding path. And Oculus Quest's wireless glory is a huge selling point (and a welcome bonus for an otherwise low-powered kit). If you're not interested in 2019's biggest tradeoff—more wires for more quality—then 2019 may not be your VR year, and we'll see you in 2020.

 

 

 

Source: Guidemaster: Is Valve Index the best virtual reality system to buy in 2019? (Ars Technica)

 

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