HP released a new version of the HP Reverb G2 headset in October this year. It improves controller tracking and FOV! It really helps make this headset standout as the best PCVR headset currently. All newly shipped HP Reverb G2's should include the improvements. tidd.ly/2PBv6BG
While I think that is a silly reason not to get one, its your life. Ever single tech product or piece software collects your data to some degree. Quest 2 is a great product and you can’t bet the price/performance.
@@MeowKitKatKitty Well yes if you plan on engaging in activity that might get you banned then it is a risk. Even Valve could ban you if you violated their terms of service.
@@emtmcg Will say this is completely wrong, facebook has and will ban accounts randomly as its done by a bot and it happens a ton. I used my facebook account for only using messenger to talk to a friend every now and again and got banned as due to covid they couldnt review my account. Looked into it and it happens often.
Brilliant review and just what I was looking for. The positives and negatives presented in a clearly understood manner. So much better than some of the other VR sites that gloss over the things that matter. Many thanks.
This looks absolutely amazing for me. I'm a sim racer looking to get into VR and I really just need the clarity to see far and not necessarily super accurate head tracking or FOV...thank you very much!
You'll love the g2!! One of the biggest things for me is im a gamer. My quest 2 my eyes felt strained after 30 mins, the g2 i raced 5 hours straight and came out feeling completely normal.... thats worth money in itself. I have an 8kx on the way but the g2 is truly a game changer
Did you end up getting it, and if so, how do you like it? I just sold my 49" super ultra, now I'm back to 27" single and racing in third person view. I was going to get a triple setup, but realize that I don't have space for it.
@@derekbancarz4530 how is it with the FOV tho? Especially in sim racing you need to move your eyes around to see the next apex, with a Quest 2 I find the FOV to be a bit of a limiting factor, the G2 has even lower FOV.
I'm using mine with a 1080ti too and I was expecting to have to lower some graphic settings. Maybe I don't realize when dynamic resolution is automatically lowered in steam vr since the screen is so pixel dense anyway? My performance has been great while keeping my settings the same as before on a CV1
What graphic card do you use, and what settings and fps in MSFS you have? I have without VR most of all like ultra and high with something about 30-37 fps (with a little less in high demanding urban areas). Do you have any suggestions how to best change settings in MSFS for VR for HP Reverb G2. Tomorrow will be my first time with VR at all, so I am noob in this area :-( I use 1080 Ti (little overclocked), 48 GB RAM and i7-4820 3,7 GHz, 1440p resolution
@@lucasbi 3070 with 5600x. well i think your 1080 will have a hard time 😅 but it is possible of course. on low/medium settings, and the resolution scale (the 2 adjustable bars) on like 60 to 80 %
I own a G2 Reverb, with a 3700x and 3070, my personal review would be amazing headset (yes with tracking issues when two controllers are in front of themselves) only BIG gripe with the headset, is the Software i've had TONS of problems with Windows mixed reality and Steam VR, with games crashing if you open Windows mixed reality, if that somehow gets fixed I would be using my VR headset a lot more, but it gets annoying of games crashing left and right due to Windows Mixed Reality.
@16:11 you can see GPU load drop below 99%, meaning the 2080TI isn't the bottleneck. It's the CPU. The fact it's only 17-20% doesn't mean it's not tapped out on a single core.
How has it been doing? Looking for something to use for Sims mostly and looking at this or the index, but don't like that I have to use basestations with the index
@@Batlafication it’s going very well I previously had the htc vive pro until it quit so I have experience with the base station setups also. I find that with the hp reverb I need to be slightly more aware of the lighting conditions of the room I’m playing in. If one part is too much brighter or darker than the rest, I can get slight hiccups with the tracking in the headset when I move. However, it’s pretty easy to close a window blind or turn on a light and this is fixed. The tracking on the controllers seems fine, but tbh I have basically not used them as I only play race and flight sims, so if you also wanted to play games that require you to move around a bit more, I can’t really comment on that. If you’re playing games similar to the ones I am playing, my overall position is probably to buy whichever headset has the highest resolution that you can afford and that your PC can run. See what index owners have to say though, I think it has a wider FOV which would be pretty nice.
@@dangerousdave123451 Yeah, but basestations! Also, index is like twice the price. I read that the reverb G2 got a v2 but it's not out in Europe yet, which sucks
@@Batlafication the base stations were a bit annoying to setup when i had the vive, I found you had to be careful not to have any shiny surfaces in their line of sight otherwise it didn't work at all. Once setup though, if you don't mind having things on the wall that most guests think is you filming them, then it did track that little bit better. Have you used VR or owned VR before? Ultimately, each model has pros and cons and there doesn't seem to be a consensus 'best' one, but if its the first time you're putting a headset on to get inside a game world you're familiar with on a 2D screen, no matter what you end up buying, you'll have a good time.
Thanks for all your hard work, especially your spreadsheet. Using that information and doing my own research, I ended up buying an MSI GE76 Raider 10UG-232. What a beautiful machine. 17.3" 300 Hz IPS - Intel Core i7-10870H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU 8 GB GDDR6 - 32 GB Memory - 1 TB NVMe SSD. $2,299 from Newegg.
@@benstenson2459 Inside out mean the controllers are tracked via cameras on the headset, which means that the tracking is limited by the fov of the cameras
Great review! BTW, the "s" in Fresnel is silent and the accent is on the 2nd syllable, as in "fra'NEL". Sorry, its the theatre major in me. Lots of Fresnel lights used in lighting production.
I have the Reverb G2, Valve index, Oculus Quest 2 among others and as great as the visuals of the G2 are, for general VR I'll take the Index for the majority of games. Having tracking issues while in games make for a frustrating experience. For Sims or other games where the tracking doesn't get in the way the G2 is great. BTW just getting Index Controllers and Stream lighthouses isn't enough to get it working with with the Reverb G2. You need a dongle to be able pare the controller too ( I don't remember the details).
Yeah, there are a few steps you need to do to get it working. But a lot of people have done it now, and it makes sense to me why it is an attractive option. For only a bit more than the cost of the Index (I think $200 more?), you get a much sharper headset + two sets of controllers, one you can use without base stations and take with you, and the other you can get more consistent tracking with the base stations.
@@GizmoSlipTech Honestly looking at the prices right now, unless the dongle costs a lot, there is virtually no price difference between an Index and a HP Reverb G2 + Index base station and controllers
@@maddizzle1744 yeah when you use the g2 fully kitted out with base stations and knuckles its a different experience but i still think index is more for your money witch is weird to say about the index
Bought one, returned 2 days later. Sweet spot the size of a half dollar, all text outside that are very blurry. Rift S more consistent in clarity across the screen. Vibration on controllers is loud and feels cheap not good at all. Bit of pressure point on my temple's not to bad but Rift S much more comfort. The cable is thick and very grippy so will pull on you. When you first start up a lot of ghosting effects until it heats up, and screen door until it warms up. 10 mins or so then gone. If you want to surf the web you can not scroll with the controllers. You will have to use a mouse as well. Wanna type in search bar, your gonna need to lift up headset and use physical keyboard. Tried playing Pavlov you can not use 2 hands on weapons. Right hand will grip but left hand does not grip the weapon. So I'm guessing custom mapping is needed. Have heard this is the case on many other games. Cant hit anything with only 1 hand on a machinegun. God rays are very noticeable on the G2 V2, my Rift S never really noticed them. I purchased on sale for 499 but still not worth that. maybe $350. In games the sweet spot is not as bad, you really don't see it much but, on anything else you can only read 2 words and then left and right of those 2 words are blurry and the next ones very blurry. I wanted to love this but I'm going back to Rift S. Controllers hit when reloading weapons. I really believe the Rift S or Quest 2 are much better at software, easy of use, you can just play and even the screens have much bigger sweet spot. I think if you are sim racing its a great choice the sweet spot not as bad. Sim flying your gonna have to turn your head a lot to see the gauges clearly. I'd wait. The only thing it has going for it is sound and the very small sweet spot. Just my experience. Imma keep my rift s until something better comes along.
I have the Samsung Odyssey WMR and original Vive, although I haven't had chance to use them for ages. You certainly cannot beat having dedicated base stations for tracking, much better than the inside out tracking. The issue I had with my WMR headset was one of the ear pierces snapped off so I had to hold it in with a paper clip, LOL. Nice to see you review it, makes me want to get that Virtuix Omni now.
Nice! And lol about the paper clip. Have you played half life Alyx yet? It’s a pretty wild experience. The Reverb G2 and Pimax 8KX are such a big upgrade for clarity. You’ve got try them sometime if you haven’t. Edit: the Omni is interesting, but it seems like it reduce how much I could actually play Vr since it would tire you out so quickly lol. I got my VR legs now so I can run around without teleport comfortably now
Interesting note, the Index and vive etc are also inside out tracking. The difference is they are inside out markered tracking (the controllers and headsets look for the base stations) while WMR etc are inside out markerless tracking. Afaik, the only true outside in tracking headset is the Rift CV1.
I'm giving you a like just for the pulley system... I'm going to do that immediately! Currently I routed the cable around an obtuse shaped desk angle with suction cups, lol. Still hangs off the back of my chair (for SW Squadrons or driving sims) & shoulder/feet tangles. Seriously great set-up! The comparisons are good as well. I'm curious if you thing the increased FOV with the Pimax 8k is really worth more than double the HP Reverb G2? I've had the G2 for a bit now and can't stand the FOV limitation where it get's blurry and you physically have to move your head to align it for that perfect clarity. Other than that, everything else is just stellar & I love it! ~Cheers!
Good review! I bought the G2 a couple of days ago only for sim-racing and I think I made the right decision regarding clarity etc. I have a 3090, so that should hopefully be enough. =)
That was a very! professional review. I watch a LOT of VR reviews and yours was the best so far in terms of video, lighting and audio quality, the actual content and comparisons, testing method and talking speed. Please stop calling yourself a non-pro.
I have been looking for your conclusion bit for days. All I've wanted to know was the best set up to invest my money in. Pimax is out of budget but G2 with index controllers. That's all I wanted to know and I only heard "Just get the Q2, it's easier" I don't care about easier or (in a way) budget, I just wanted to know what the best set up with best longevity I could get right now. THANK YOU!! You looked at this logically and even categorised it at the end! I'm going to blitz the rest of your videos and like as many as possible and also subscribe!
The only game I play is IL2 so controller tracking is a non-issue. I have an RTX 2080 ti. With this headset I get great clarity and 45-65 FPS. I always max out the GPU and sometimes hit 95-100 percent on 8 cores on an I7-9700K. I do wish the sweet spot were larger. You do have to tweak settings but it's the best IL2 that I have experienced and I started IL2 with CLOD and have every battle series since CLOD.
Are you getting better frames now? I gave a Rx 5700 and would like to have similar frames I get with quest 2. I get 90 frames high and in bigger environments in VR chat 60 to 80. Does the headset feel smooth
@@Deathbatman Since the first post I've done more tweaking which slowed me to 40-50 fps but the image quality is incredibly good. In fact it's much better than what I had hoped for. When spotting ground targets I can now identify the different tank types. Also very smooth. I replaced the I7-9700k with an I9-9900k but I don't think that made much of a difference. I'm using the latest preview version of Win 11 and so far so good.
For my VR cable management I bought a cheap castor wheel took the wheel out and put in an extendable dog leash then screwed it into my ceiling...Good thing about using a castor is you cant over torque the cable because it rotates with you when the cable pressure rises
8:02 I'm pretty sure that the flex in the HP controllers was intentional for increased durability. If you bump the controller into something, some of the kinetic energy will be transferred into the flexing motion, hereby reducing the force exerted on the controller and the surface it comes into contact with. This is the same reason bumpers on cars crumple upon impact (to decelerate the encounter and following the equation F=ma, as acceleration decreases, the force exerted on both parties will in turn decrease).
I got a Reverb a couple of weeks ago, within a few days I managed to jam one of the controllers into a fast-rotating ceiling fan. The controller was torn out of my hand and slammed into the wall then onto the hardwood floor. And apart from the fact the battery compartment now seems a little loose, it still works fine. So it does seem pretty damn durable :P And yes, I feel like an absolute moron.
Thank you for this. Considering I already have a good pc with a 3080 in it and at first my main goal is to use this in games without hand tracking like flight and race sims, this might be my go to choise. considering there are also correction lenses available cause i have very bad eyesight, this is also good. If I ever feel the need for better tracking i can add index controllers and base stations correct? cause that sold me
Great review. I like the Time Spy GPU specs you feel are required to get an enjoyable experience with a particular headset. That's why we come to you for those unique perspectives you provide. Just purchased a new HP Reverb G2 v2 for my first VR experience. $299 for flight and racing sims is the best bang for buck I can find. Using i7 12700k and 3080ti to drive it. Also: thanks to your review, I purchased the ASUS 712LWS laptop for $1300 on a 2020' BF sale. It worked great to get me through the GPU drought to score a new EVGA FTW3 3080ti for $850.
Great review thanks! Bought the cable pulley system through your link 😀 Thanks for the heads up on that! Its fantastic ..you wouldn't know you had a cable attached to the headset ..great " freedom of movement " 👍
8:07 I don't get why that would be a negative. You don't hold that part of the controller and if you should bash it into something by accident it's not going to break that easy if it's flexible.
Yeah, it's literally designed that way to be more durable. And it works, I've smacked the shit out of my ceiling with them and there's been no issues so far.
Great review . I will wait for VR until next generation or beyond. My HP Omen 3070 with 5800H that will be shipped in 4 weeks won’t be able to handle DCS World or Elite Dangerous at 2160 per eye @90Hz. Not even close. I would rather use that HDMI 2.1 port and play then on my LG CX
I have a Reverb G2 and can not seem to figure out something and hope someone reading might be able to help. I’m usually on DCS but I’ve found this to be true on any game. As soon as I remove the headset, the program automatically closes and returns to the mixed portal. Is there a setting I’m missing? I’ve removed the headset to hand it off to a friend when it shuts down the program…..very frustrating
05:29 For my Rift S, and the Quest 2 link cable, I just use J hooks. one directly above my desk for room scale play, and a second hook positioned behind me if I'm sitting for a cockpit game, like Squadrons.
I don't think the Valve Index uses the same speakers, they look the same, but I remember the Index sound being amazing, really punchy bass you can feel, without it being distorted. While the Reverb G2 is good sounding, it's not quite as impressive as the Index (the screen I think is much better on the G2 though), Audio on the G2 is at least much better than Rift S which may have alright built in speakers but at least on me, it's far away, not pointing at your ears so basically sounds really bad as a result of that.
Almost got one but the recent reviews on Amazon are very bad with durability. A lot seem to fail quickly. This is the only headset I'd currently consider until Quest 3 drops in price significantly
the controllers are "Bendy" / Flexible to avoid breaking it. so if you hit a wall or a table, it will flex / bend a bit instead of full on take the hit and risk breaking. The nose gab is filled out to keep immersion, the breaking of immersion because of a text message happens because you have your phone on. the review seem honest, but not fair, i would anytime suggest anyone saving up that extra money for this headset over any occulus headset, not only because of privacy, but mostly becuase, here you get an actual VR headset and not phone hardware wired to work as a headset as the occulus headsets work as, they are good compared to what they are build from, but in all, not comparable to the reverb g2 except they share inside out tracking. as to your issues with maxing out the perfomance with anything but a 30-series, i don't get that, cause the first ever reviews made on this headset was made with the 20-series and they were maxing out with no issues, it might be your cpu, your motherboard or something else ?? the 20 series from 70 and up should be enough to max out the perfomance on this headset. i like this review because you can feel that this is personal oppinions, but i can't help but feel that this is a little bias when it comes to occulus comparison. i hope you can deliver the headset used after the review without issues, since a headset with a cable that have been run over by a chair could maybe complicate things a little o.0
still, nothing beats Valves index, it's the only headset that works with linux out of the box. i've met some people that call the reverb g2 the windows headset, understandable but, still all headsets that dosnt work with anything but windows out of the box is in my eyes a windows headset xD
Thanks for the video review - After watching I ordered one for $480 from HP via an employee discount program. From what I understand HP have updated the cable in order to resolve a connectivity issue with AMD boards. If by chance you read this can you confirm that I'll only need to buy a Displayport to USB C dongle in order to connect to my ASUS gaming laptop (similar to yours)?
@@beanos2287 It took some tweaking within the NVidia Control Panel, but i think I finally have it dialed in. In terms of bang for the buck, i have zero regrets as i didn't want to spend more than 500 USD.
Im currently using a Lenovo explorer. Ive had it 5 years just recently my hinge has gone so was looking to upgrade. Ive seen one of these second hand and local.
Great video as usual. How did you connect an external monitor and the headset at the same time to your Asus G15? I was about to buy the m17 R4 just because it has a mini display port and a thunderbolt 3
Hey Christopher, sorry for the confusion. I didn't use an external monitor while using the Reverb G2. A lot of the gameplay I showed was on my desktop, which synced the same background as the Scar 15. But if you wanted to use an external monitor at the same time, it should be possible using an HDMI output, though I'm not sure if that would affect performance or not.
they are on sale right now, 450 what a steal, 50 extra bux to not have to deal with Meta sold mine will be here in a week own two rigs a 11700k 3070 ti desktop and a 10750h 2070 msi laptop the full 125w gpu one, I will let you know how they both work
1080ti founders good enough? From what i have read , its fine but what do you think? Great Vid im stuck between the index & Reverb. Index stock uk issues holding me back from it. HP reverb clarity amazing but fov and controller tracking holding me back, helllppppp
You can make it work by playing with the setting and lowering the render resolution, it's not ideal, but workable. As upgrading to a new GPU is nearly impossible, you don't have much of a choice.
Are those CPU/GPU temps common when using VR? I would be going nuts if i had those temp readings during normal gaming. The auto shutoff on most hardware is 100 celsius and you were only ~10 degrees off.
Not sure which moment you were looking at, but 90C is pretty common on modern gaming laptops, as they will just push the hardware as hard as it can go until it thermal or power limit throttles. The ones with better temps will hit 75-80C at Max performance, like the Asus Strix lineup this year
I have no way to do anything but stationary stimulations. I can't stand up and move around. I had the idea of using this headset as a planetarium stimulation and also a human anatomy platform to use an advanced physiology program. Also, if there is a way to use a rollercoaster stim sitting down then I will use it for this also. Beyond these situations, I can't get up and walk around in my room without visual reference points. I have to be sitting down. My disability doesn't allow for anything else.
So I have been torn between this and the vale. This one is half the cost and I want to know why??? If the double price isn't worth it then I'm def geting the reverb
Best VR Ive used. But there is problems with the cable. If u bought urs before October u will have the old cable which wont work properly with AM4 motherboards. X, B and A boards. Mine wouldnt work with any of the USB ports on the motherboard only the ones on case front. If ur still under warrenty u can get the new cable sent out for free. But getting hold of HP support is a nightmare. New cable has an on off button on it so u dont have to keep pulling out the plug. better performance as well. I noticed i could see the signs next to the road and race racks further away than i could with the old cable. 1 fault i found was the cable clip on the HMD tends to kink the cable and can break it so might be better not to have that on. but it was the same on the Oculus HMDs i had as well cable clip broke the cables. U can get the vive and index base stations and the knuckle controllers and pair them up with it to solve the tracking probs. But im not bothered about that as i dont use the controllers very often anyway as i usually only play sitting down driving games with steering wheel and pedals. But some games wont work with the G2 controllers. got 3 games that the controllers dont work with.
INFO : IF YOU USED 1.2V Battery set for you controllers, Controllers put themselfs to Powersaving mode and they lose tracking performance ! GET 1.5-1.6V Battery !
Hi I have ordered a reverb g2 v2 and i want to know if there is somekind of camera that shows the imagem in front of us without we have to remove the vr to see in front of us. Thanks
would you say a GTX 1660 can run with this headset? Back when I built my PC in 2019 it was mid-range, but since you're calling a 3060 mid-range it has me concerned for how my 1660 would fare, especially since Half-Life Alyx is one of the VR games I wanna play
I haven’t used this particular headset but I used an oculus with inside out tracking never once had an issue with reaching behind me still tracked perfectly. They switch to a different mode when out of view of camera
Very informative review. Thanks. Hoping to get the neo15/mech15 3080 16gb soon. Was a little dissapointed that it probably won't hit 90fps all the time in elite dangerous but not completely surprised. Completely new to VR so any tips for elite dangerous settings on the laptop would be much appreciated.
It’ll hit 90 FPS away from stations if you set it up right with a laptop 3080, but more complex areas will reduce the frame rate, though since it is a simulation it still plays well at 50+ FPS for general use, though you want more FPS for combat
Most sim games just don't hit those high FPS numbers in VR, it's a bummer, but it's kind of an industry problem, they need to figure out their VR performance.
Hey great video just got a sub. Would Alien Isolation work on this headset? Finished this game on the old Rift and was wondering will it still work on new headsets still using SteamVR
incorrect placement for cameras...needed 6. one at every corner/sides then 2 in front. almost enough to see above, below and a bit behind you. my odyssey has joystics and touch sensitive rocker pads...instead of A B buttons and ive never had to fiddle with controller bindings. microsoft should put out their own at a 1000 with no features missing setting a gold standard over oculus controller free and steam external tracker free software. and it should be compatible out of the box with the xboxes and PCs
the resolution on my index is just disappointing, and considering 144hz is hardly reached in a lot of games anyways, is the g2 clearer? I also find that the index pulls on my eyes so it feels like im constantly having my eye socket pulled downwards (like when you open your eye to put in eye drops or stretch ur eye skin to make u look scary) which doesnt feel great and unless I tighten it a lot, it will drag downwards making things almost illegible. I have a 3090 so I feel the resolution will be of little concern for performance at 90hz.
A desktop 1660 Super should play the easy to run games with graphics tweaking, but it’s going to need to have the resolution reduced for demanding games like Star Wars Squadrons
I bought this back in janurary and it just didn't work for me unfortauntley. The right controller kept losing tracking and the software was always bugging out and losing connection. I used it on 2 different gaming computers and still no luck and had to return :(
It's a shame that on a 20 minute video on the HP Reberv G2 that we didn't talk about the main black point of this headset with its sweet spot, which makes the area of sharpness quite small. And as soon as the eyes look beyond this area of focus, the image is more blurry. In a game where we do not move too much, like MSFS, this will not be a problem because we have no speed effect. But with simulations like Assetto Corsa, and all the others, if you want to look at the braking distance signs for example, they are completely blurry. On that side my old Oculus was doing better.
@@flawlesskrush2145 What is your PC GPU / CPU configuration? Because it seems that having a low-end GPU that increases the rendering scale makes it better. Those with medium or small GPUs that need to lower the render scale below 100% (70 60 50%) will be more impacted.
Interesting. I guess I usually just turn my head to keep the perfect clarity sweet spot in the center of my vision, but I can see how in a car racing game you might want to quick glance at mirrors, etc. But I personally found the sweet spot to be pretty easy to get into, but yes around the outer 50% of the display the image does blur a bit, while the center 50% is very clear.