Gold price
When the Oculus Rift S offers a pretty darn great VR experience for ₤399/ $399, exists actually any reason to invest upwards of a grand on a headset like the ₤919/ $999 Valve Index? Probably not if, like the rest people, you do not have a spare bed mattress full of money squirrelled away in your back bedroom. However, if you do fall into the category of loaded people who want the absolute finest VR headset you can purchase today, then the Valve Index is certainly the headset to go for over the likewise priced HTC Vive Cosmos Elite
For starters, the headset itself is simply a lot more enjoyable to utilize and use for longer amount of times. That’s partly down to the thick material cushioning around the face and headband, however the Index likewise uses the best quantity of change out of all the huge PC-based VR headsets you can purchase the minute.
There’s an interpupillary distance slider beneath the main display (which you do not get on the Rift S), a big, simple to reach dial on the side of the headset that lets you move the display closer or even more far from your face (which is on the Rift S but not on the Vive Cosmos), and a tight and tactile rear dial that changes the area of the headband. There’s likewise a rather lovely, premium-feeling velcro strap on top of the headset (a sentence I never ever thought I ‘d write), providing you lots of alternatives to get a comfy fit.
The rear dial adjusts the area of the headset’s primary headband.
That said, it’s still a relatively top-heavy headset for someone with a smaller than typical head like myself. Many of the pressure tended to fall on my forehead, for instance, and there were occasions when I could feel it slowly slipping down the front of my face, resulting in a somewhat blurry-looking screen even when the rear dial was at its tightest setting.
It didn’t take much to repair– shuffling it back up my head generally sufficed for another half hour or two– but I ‘d imagine that those of you with even smaller sized heads than mine might discover it more bothersome. Fortunately, a minimum of, is that it didn’t provide me almost as much of a headache later on as the Vive Universe Elite, and I was typically able to utilize it for about an hour approximately before I had to take a break.
Technically, the Vive Cosmos Elite has a greater resolution display than the Valve Index, coming in at 1440 ×1700 per-eye (making for a combined resolution of 2880 ×1700) compared to the Index’s 1440 ×1600 per-eye resolution (or 2880 ×1600). In practice, though, those additional 100 pixels truly don’t make much of a distinction when it pertains to the overall clearness of the screen, and both headsets looked just as sharp as each other.
You can likewise change the interpupillary range of the Index’s lenses using the slider beneath the headset. The other button lets you rapidly access the Index’s home menu.
Instead, the Index sets itself apart with its larger field of vision of 130 degrees, and the choice to press its refresh rate all the way up to 120 Hz or 144 Hz for the smoothest possible experience. The Vive Cosmos Elite, on the other hand, is restricted to just 90 Hz, with a field of vision of 110 degrees.
The wider FOV makes an immediate effect the moment you put the headset on. There’s still a little a black porthole result at the very side of the screen, however I wasn’t able to see anything restricting my view at the top or bottom. I wouldn’t go so far as to state it was a transformative experience, undoubtedly, however having the ability to see more of the world around me was absolutely a reward when I was nosing around the detail-packed environments of games such as Half-Life: Alyx.
The greater refresh rate choices, meanwhile, will only make themselves obvious if you have actually got an effective sufficient graphics card to drive those sort of frame rates. Of course, if you have actually got a grand to invest in a VR headset, chances are you’ve probably got a pretty powerful PC to choose it. However, would I say that the RTX 2070 Super I’ve utilized to evaluate all 3 of the big PC headsets over the last month made the Index feel significantly smoother general? Probably not, but then I’m likewise not someone who can really see the distinction in between 90 Hz and 120 Hz on a high refresh rate video gaming screen, not to mention a VR headset. Once again, though, it’s great to have the choice all the exact same, and it provides it more room to grow and enhance with time when you next concerned update your PC.
The huge dial on the ideal side of the headset lets you move the display screen better or even more away from your face.
The Index is also a smidge simpler to get going on the setup front too. It still needs 2 external base stations to be plugged in at opposite corners of your play space in order to track your movements, however the SteamVR 2.0 trackers that come in package with the Index aren’t simply newer than the ones that come with the Universe Elite, however they also come with their own stands and swivel brackets so you can angle them in the best direction a lot more quickly.
I also had fewer problems getting it to work with SteamVR too. It still threw the odd tantrum every now and then, undoubtedly, saying it had encountered a crucial mistake and needed to either stop or restart, however on the whole I had the ability to get it working much faster than the Vive Cosmos Elite– most likely since I wasn’t having to compete with HTC’s Vive Console software application at the same time.
The Valve Index controllers are fantastic. They’re light, tactile and have the very best finger tracking.
The real gem in the Index’s virtual crown, however, is its excellent Index controllers. These are hands down the finest VR controllers around. Not just are they light and super comfortable to use thanks to their tactile buttons and additional band of cushioned fabric that twists around your knuckles, however they likewise provide the most accurate finger tracking. In Half-Life: Alyx, for instance, it understood precisely where each private finger was on the controller no matter whether I was pushing or touching its rear trigger button– a task that’s just not possible on either the Oculus Touch controllers, the Vive Universe controllers or the old Vive wand controllers that come with the Universe Elite.
That additional material band also implies they don’t immediately fall to the ground if you ever unintentionally unwind your hand for a 2nd. Whereas I was always mindful I had two big maraca-like things in my hand with other VR headsets, the Index controllers simply seemed like a natural extension of my hand, which is exactly what you desire if you seek total and total immersion.
The Index features two SteamVR 2.0 external trackers, and their bundled stands make them a lot easier to angle than the ones you get with the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite.
The Index has the very best integrated headphones of any VR headset as well. Much like the headphones on the Vive Universe and Universe Elite, they’re off-ear jobs that don’t need to touch your face in order for you to hear what’s going on, but the quality of the noise is significantly richer and more comprehensive than its Vive counterparts. There’s a warmth and fullness to its music and dialogue that seems like you’ve got 2 proper PC speakers suspended off your ear lobe, boosting that sense of immersion even further. The Vive earphones still do a quite good job, however they have actually got nothing on the Index ones.
In General, then, the Valve Index is absolutely the gold standard of VR headsets today. It’s not completely best, as I feel there’s still more it might do to accommodate people with small noggins like myself, however its precise tracking, superb controllers and headphones and general ease of usage make this the VR headset to buy if you have actually got the money to spare.
Undoubtedly, it’s quite much a no-brainer for those purchasing in the UK at the moment, as it just costs another ₤20 over the Vive Cosmos Elite headset and features definitely much better kit to boot. Those in the United States, on the other hand, are dealing with a boost of another $100 over the Cosmos Elite, but as I pointed out in my Cosmos Elite evaluation, I believe this is cash well spent, if only since you get those beautiful Index controllers with it, which are an enormous step-up from the old Vive wand controllers that come with the Elite. In fact, I ‘d even reach stating they’re a must-have if you’re looking to play fast-paced action games such as Half-Life: Alyx nowadays, as the Vive wand track pads simply aren’t fit for purpose any longer.
The Index has excellent integrated earphones so you do not require to connect a separate headset.
That’s not to say that everyone requires to invest nearly a grand to get an excellent VR experience, however. It is, after all, a heck of a great deal of money, and you just don’t need to invest that much when the ₤399/ $399 Oculus Rift S does such a bang up task at the other end of the price spectrum. Sure, it’s not as innovative or as capable as the Valve Index, but it sure does impressive, tracker-free VR for a lot less.
Plus, you get a bigger library of VR games with the Oculus Rift S, as the Valve Index just lets you play video games that work with SteamVR. Yes, most of the finest VR games are multiplatform, however there are a few Oculus exclusives such as Robo Recall, The Climb Up and Lone Echo that are well worth playing and can’t be found anywhere else. As an outcome, I ‘d still suggest the majority of people go for the Oculus Rift S if they’re wanting to get their very first VR headset, however if you’re a VR veteran trying to find the outright best of the best, or undoubtedly the finest VR headset for Half-Life: Alyx, then it simply doesn’t get any better than the Valve Index.
