Razer Hydra Review 1080p 

Thanks for a really good overview! You covered all the hardware and setup details we wanted. :)

Dude, thank you so much! I've been really slow lately with RU-vid (been busy!!), but hopefully I can get something up soon. So glad you subbed, enjoyed my videos, and purchased a hydra! Let me know what you think of it, of course!

That is *fantastic* to hear! I love those kind of comments, and that support. I haven't uploaded much new content lately due to the fact I've been on vacation for a week and have only just returned. I'll try to get a new Hydra video up this coming week. :)

Great review! Very cool peripheral. PS love the Aperture cup.

Great review. Nice job describing how to line up the base.

Even though 10 years and 5 months have passed since this video, I can say that the Razer Hydra remains one of the best motion controls ever created for the gamer who doesn't have skills or doesn't like to play with keyboard and mouse.

My pleasure! The only sort of pause for the Hydra is one of the buttons on the right joystick that temporary pauses all *motion* input to the PC. This is designed so you can recenter your wrist without your view flying every which way. However, setting down the two joysticks on the base kind of puts it in "pause" mode, since there's no movement whatsoever. It's not ideal to switch back and forth between the Hydra and something else, but it's do-able!

Wow, fantastic! Thanks for watching and commenting, Matt!

great job man . you answered most questions before I had them

@kidchizzie Thank you so much! Good to hear my review did it's job. More to come..! And I do treasure that mug. ;)

Yes, the Hydra beta software has very powerful macro / key binding abilities. You can basically set anything movement / button to do anything you want.

Thanks for the comment! I wouldn't know. I don't have BF3 and therefore have never gotten to try it with the Hydra. So far I haven't encountered any particular scenario with which the Hydra just doesn't work, as long as it works with the game. Feel free to check out my other Hydra videos for examples of games I've played with it.

Thanks! I'll see if I can take a look at it sometime.

Thank you so much! Every subscriber is greatly appreciated. I try to keep up on my comments as I feel interaction with your viewers is an essential part of the experience that most people miss out on due to massive audiences...although I'm not saying I wouldn't mind a larger audience. :) I have to figure out how to get content out throughout college and work, because my channel has been growing and I'd certainly like that to continue.

No problem! :) Ratcheting is key to the Hydra. You'll get used to it. Check out some of my other videos if you run into problems / questions.

Also with the Hydra beta driver, MCE Editor. It has a UI, so it's pretty simple to figure out.

im sold after watching the vids from sixense's youtube channel... saw that there's endless possibilities if you know how to customize your own profiles

You bet! The Hydra beta software allows fully customizable key binding, so you can designate any game's .exe (if you want, so it auto-recognizes your custom profile when the game launches) and bind any keyboard / mouse button to any button on either Hydra controller. It's a powerful tool that allows the Hydra to work with any game, provided you take the time to configure a profile for it. You can also download user-made ones from the Sixense forums.

@Bon0 They actually have that...sort of. It's called a 'MIDI Controller' and allows you to play instruments like the piano and drums virtually. Pretty cool.

Thank you so much! It's always great to read comments like this. If you ever have questions, I actually respond to all comments, so ask away. You can also reference the Sixense forums for an answer from the pro's.

Other than doing the custom calibration (which you can do in the Sixense Beta Options section), I simply change the filter to as high as it can go. This gives me the optimal experience with the Hydra across all games. You may not like the Very High filter setting, so fiddle around with those to find which one you like the most. The higher the filter, the less responsive the controls. I find the very smooth motion to be pleasing, though.

Awesome! Glad you decided to go for one. You wont be disappointed. :) Yes, I still use mine rather frequently (typically if I start playing a game with it, I'll commit and do the whole thing...I've done probably a dozen games with it so far in their entirety) and it works like a champ. The overall quality isn't the best, but it'll hold up so long as you don't smash it against your desk in frustration. Also, thanks so much for the sub!

They're working on it! Sixense is developing a successor to the Hydra called the STEM System, with very different styled controllers but using the same concept, and also...wireless!

You don't have to use gestures, you can map the jump action to any button, as with any other key. Gestures are just a fun way to further implement motion controls into everyday PC games.

You bet! There's a link in the description to the website where you can buy yours right now. :)

It depends on whether or not you have audio drivers that have some sort of anti-echo technology or what have you, but normally you will hear key presses...clicks, not as much. The microphone is one-directional (meaning the mic is specific to a particular spot), but it's quite sensitive so it'll pick up a lot. However, because of this, you can speak at a normal volume without the mic shoved in your face and it'll pick it up crystal clear. No pops, either.

That keyboard has served me very well the last several years. :) I tend to upgrade things quickly, so my friends always wonder why I haven't updated it...I always tell them I have no reason to. It looks great, it functions just as good as it did the day I unboxed it, and I've grown extremely accustomed to the feel of it. Hang on to it!

The Hydra is about very minute movements / gestures as you can see from the several Hydra demos throughout RU-vid (including one or two of my own). This makes for a more competitive edge with agility rivaling that of a mouse, which motion controls have never done before due to heavy "tweening", or less accurate, motion.

I was missing something - never figured out that re-situating button. Thanks!!!

@ZyphsMw2 No problem! Glad to hear you're enjoying it. :) If you ever have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message!

Yes, I've put a link to all 'officially' supported games in the description section. But the Beta supports *A TON* (3 times? maybe 4) more than what is listed there. There is no listing for those, however, except in the Beta itself. You could download it and scroll through the list, if you wanted. I've also added a link to the latest Beta driver in the description section where you can download it. More games are added very frequently. To see a full list, downloading that would be best.

You bet! Thanks for watching & commenting!

The game being played is Brink (usually I have that info in the description section, but this was my first video having to do with the Hydra so I guess I wasn't quite there yet XD). It's an online FPS that includes elements of parkour. It got horrible, horrible reviews, but I rather enjoy it. Granted, I haven't played in a while, but I tend to have an overflow of games at any given time to play. :)

Great! If you ever have questions, you know who you can contact!

Thanks for the advice, If I buy one I'll try that first before messing with the control scheme. One other question I have.. I've been on Sixsense forums and there doesnt seem to be a lot of recent posts and updates from the dev teams and also not many profiles for newer games released in the last few months. Do you think it's still worth buying one or should I wait to see if Razor or Siz sense will be releasing a new version with them being so quiet on the forums. maybe releasing a wireless one?

@Motylinzky Thanks! :D Loving these comments. I will probably be doing an in-depth review of the Motorola Xoom WiFi soon.

Yup! I haven't uploaded any videos lately, unfortunately, because of college and work (recently got a new job). But yes, when I have some time, I certainly plug in the ol' Hydra for a bit. It's great fun.

You'd think so, but actually, not particularly. You'll find that most of the movements are very subtle (as you can see in this video) so as to not destroy your wrists during long gaming sessions. For my gameplay videos, people have suggested adding an overlay of me physically playing, but due to how subtle it is, I don't feel as though it's worth it. Still, I will keep it in mind for the future!

Correct, while the trigger itself does measure sensitivity, since it's interpreted by the game to be a mouse click it's either ON or OFF. There is, however, deadzone that is applied through the driver, so it doesn't necessarily feel like that. So far I haven't seen a hindrance from that 'functionality', since all the games I play are with a mouse anyway, so different amounts of 'trigger' are irrelevant. If, however, you have it in gamepad mode it WILL register in increments, rather than OFF/ON.

If you add proximity sensors to the stand, along with software changes, you could assign different key presses to each input type depending on the distance of the controller. By doing this you could potentially double or triple your number of available output options. EDIT****** There is a sensor already. Does the software allow for a different outputs based on distance?

The Hydra's software is very good and supports *tons* of games (over 300 and constantly growing) through the indirect integration that I talk about in the video. Unfortunately, as of now only Valve has directly supported the hardware. Will this change? Possibly. It's still very young, but Sixense is extremely active and this is their number 1 priority - it's all Sixense does. Hopefully, given time, others will adopt the native support for the controller. In the mean time, it's still fun! :)

With the latest beta driver you can create custom profiles to work with any game, so yes. :)

@mfhraptor Jitter is definitely an issue that Sixense is working to minimize as much as possible. I get a small amount of jitter, but not quite what others receive. There are ways to bump up the amount of "averaging out" the driver does to make it smoother; I had to do that as well.

Yes, this kind of configuration is possible via making your own MCE (or configuration / profile) for the game you'd like. That being said I believe it would be a rather awkward setup, but I'll put it on my to-do list. :) I'm trying to make a tutorial on how to make your own profiles, but it's proving difficult to do it in a timely fashion.

Haha, thank you! :D I am getting the ultimate in Portal fan collectors' items; the Portal gun replica. Should be here in just a couple days - can't wait! Been waiting nearly two months for it.

Your support is appreciated! :)

Every time I stopped recording myself (whether it was a different angle, shot, or just a screw up), instead of deleting the previous audacity file, or working within one window, I made each segment in it's own window. Why? It worked for my personal preference. I could have done it in one window, of course, but I preferred doing it in multiple. To each is own.

Mouselook, which is what I always use. I've experimented with the others, but I always come back to mouselook because that's what I'm used to and what I feel gives me the most control, speed and accuracy.

Merry Christmas to you, too! Wow you got quite the Razer collection, very nice! I don't really have anything on my wishlist because I just got an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked GPU...the thing ROCKS!

Using a tool created by Sixense (the company behind the technology of the Razer Hydra) people can make their own MCE's (basically control schemes for the Hydra) for any game. They are also working on a new tool to make it super easy for the less technically endowed to do the same. All you have to do is ensure you have the latest Beta Driver installed - all the updated supported games will come with that. It's quite simple. :)

Games that are NOT directly supported STILL work with motion. The features you lose are things like distance recognition and other propitiatory functions that are only accessible when the game engine can recognize the Hydra. However, I sometimes even favor when the game doesn't, because I feel as though more control is given. I have many videos showcasing games that don't support the Hydra, feel free to check them out and get an idea. :)

Can you use just one Nunchuck to have analog movement instead of asdw, and still use the mouse to aim? while using both nunchuks, how costumizable it is compared with the well made FPS for Wii like goldeneye or conduit? I like pc almost as the wiimote, but I Kind of hate the asdw not being analog, and this seems like a great solution to that, while keeping the high quality PC graphics. (I have a PS3, but i'm not buying move, this seems more like it'll do it for me)

At the time the only supported game was Portal 2 but I had hesitations about demonstrating that game, hence why I chose something different. You can, however, check out my Team Fortress 2 Direct Integration video. But one of the main features of the Hydra is that you can play games NOT designed for motion WITH motion controls, that's what makes it so cool. Plus, there are only 2 titles to date that have direct support for it.

Without direct integration (which most titles don't support), there's not really anyway to have only ONE controller input analog movement instead of emulating WASD. It will still combine them (i.e. W and A at the same time) for diagonal movement, though. It's extremely customizable - every button is mapped to any mouse / keyboard movement / button you could possibly want - the possibilities are endless! Thanks for watching and commenting!

wonder if thees can be you-st for fight Sim instead of a joystick.

It's definitely an awesome product, and the combination of the 3 products (Rift, Kinect, Omni) is a super professional, ultra immersive, amazingly cool setup. I believe it's the first of many, though, depending on how well the Rift takes off when it's finally a "consumer ready" product.

Sure, I can understand that. I have a bunch of videos on my channel of me playing different games with the Hydra, and I kind of review it and see how good the experience is, so feel free to check some of those out if you want.

You know, I really love comments like these. It's so great to hear people, even if only a few (though this video has more views than I ever had hoped for!) benefiting from my videos; that's the goal, after all! Thank you very much for the kind words, and if, in the future, I get my hands on an Oculus Rift I'll be sure to post a video...more likely several videos. Thanks for watching & commenting!

@DeesingMan Sure! :D Always nice to have comments like this.

Yes, absolutely! There are settings in the Beta driver that allow you to swap how the left / right controllers perform. If I might make a suggestion though, I'd try to stick with their default setup. Since it's not something you're already acclimated to, you might find it very easy to get used to. I'm left-handed as well, but always use the right controller as my camera control. I've tried swapping them but can't stand it. :)

Thanks again! I fell in love with this and the Nostromo key pad. Still looking for the best option to play on the couch next room though. A couple of USB repeater cables is my best solution I guess. No luck with a wireless USB hub yet.

Glad you're enjoying it! :D MCE files wont work when the Hydra is in 'controller' or 'gamepad' mode - it simply makes it so the computer recognizes the hydra as a standard Xbox controller, rather than the Hydra. MCE's are ONLY used when the Hydra is in the motion mode. If you're just asking how to get the Hydra into Gamepad mode, make sure you have the latest beta installed and there is a simple button to toggle between 'Motion Controller' and 'Gamepad'. Hope that answers your question!

I've just encommended mine, I am very excited!!

Where the cables come out of the base IS definitely odd...why they didn't make them go out the front is beyond me. That being said, it's never prevented me from finding a comfortable position, and the joysticks themselves are very comfortable to hold given their ergonomic design and lightweight nature. But I suppose, to each their own. You're certainly welcome to your opinion. :) Thanks for commenting!

Yes, you have to be facing the base. The base auto-calibrates the positioning of the two controllers so all the motion detection is in relation to the base. This is why you want the base to be as straight as possible, for the best experience.

Just noticed your "Apperature Labratories" mug sitting there right before you play. That reminds me I have to update the Gnex, lol.

@K0lsyr4 Yeah both controllers have wires that connect to the base with the green ball and the base has a wire that connects to your PC via USB. It does seem like a lot and is pretty surprising that they didn't implement wireless for them, but they did it for several reasons, the most notable being to ensure players stay within X feet of the base, to get optimal performance. The wires really aren't that bad.

Do you have to be facing the base for the tracking to work? Im mostly wondering if you could possibly combine the hydra with the Virtuix Omni. Imagine the possibilities if you were to combine the Oculus, Omni, and Hydra.

The Novint Falcon is a very different type of device, though. All movement is registered through different means and the element you're holding onto and moving is physically attached to the base of the peripheral. It's more like a really modified joystick than a true motion controller. If given the option, I would go back and change that phrasing as several people have called me out on that, haha.

@darkquail2003 Well you sir are a man of good taste. :) I actually used it to record the audio for this video, instead of the integrated mic in the camera, to get that awesome pure digital quality.

Thank you! It's definitely unfortunate that more games don't support direct integration, but it's a lot of fun with indirect integration as well, which is supported across a *ton* of games. You can also make custom profiles yourself to make it work across any game you like.

@MisterJIFF Thanks! :D Always nice to have comments like these. I will soon be posting a review for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus so keep an eye out if you're interested.

Yeah, it's similar. They're quite comfortable to hold for a long gaming session.

@darcwave Thanks a bunch! I put it up about a day ago, so hopefully it will pick up speed and gain some views. I think for an RTS it would work really well. I do believe it might get difficult with certain commands, seeing as there's a total of 5 dedicated buttons per controller (plus 2 if you count the joystick's button press). As of right now only one game has direct integration; Portal 2. However the product is about a month old at this point and Portal 2 was it's way to get some fame.

The more I use them, the more I'm inclined to agree with you. I've completed 3 games in their entirety with the Hydra, and will soon be completing my fourth. I am really loving them. I'll probably be posting a new video soon of 'Hard Reset' with the Hydra, so keep an eye out for that! :)

I need to ask a question, does the hydra detect Rotational movements? Eg, your right hand turns the controller to the right so that the controller is now sideways (so it can be used for aircraft games for rolling?)

Thanks for the review, brah. On a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being equally good, how would you rate your capacity to become as skilled with this device compared to the traditional keyboard and mouse? Let's say you decide to play SNES ROMS with an emulator, but the Hydra is the only joystick you have. Can it operate in a regular joystick mode, so that the button presses are registered as joystick buttons and not mouse clicks or keyboard key presses?

@darkdweller18 The controllers have to be plugged in the hydra all the time; they are not wireless. As of now, there are no kinds of add ons or additional hardware you can get, and Sixense has expressed no intention on providing them eventually. That doesn't mean those sorts of things wont be available in the future, however.

I ordered one last night. Won't be here for 2 months or so though. Will most likely also buy a Hydra to go with it

It's a sixaxis motion control that can detect the pitch, yaw, position, and acceleration of the left and right controllers. It is immensely different from a regular controller. Your view is controller entirely by motion, and the gestures add an entirely new element to the gameplay. Check out some of my videos if you want to see other examples of how it works and affects the game.

This is why I stopped putting the video overlay of my hands in my videos; the movement is extremely subtle. You move the entire right controller via your wrist to aim. I've been attempting to get a top-down view while I play, but I don't have the hardware for such a setup unfortunately. This would make movement (left and right movement, anyway, which is the most important) more obvious than the odd angle I have in this video. So, yes, I was aiming with my right wrist, NOT the analog.

I'd love to try one.

Thx for fast answering ! Also, is there any problem putting the hydra down to take a joystick ? i mean, i'm on foot with the hydra and climb into a plane or any aircraft, and put the hydra down to control the vehicle with the X52. Is there a kind of pause button or similar ? Thx :)

i love the aperture mug

Darn right. It's very unique in and of itself, but you can really get creative with the profiles and get some super interesting game play. Glad to hear you'll be getting one! :)

Yes. I've tried to do a Minecraft video before but have had troubles with video recording. However, the game itself works great with the Hydra.

Haha, glad you went back and took a look.

I'm not seeing beta options. In MotionCreator 2 (most recent beta) I have Preferences and the ability to calibrate the neutral pitch of the left controller. Have you looked at the "Simple3d" tool? Mine always shows the two red "beams" pointing towards the black ball. Is yours like that too?

It delivers a totally unique experience, the only similarity between them being motion, but even the technology used to make it happen is unique. You'll find using a Hydra is drastically different from using a Move or a Wii.

@Jxudo Yes, the cords are definitely an inconvenience. As far as the build quality goes, that shouldn't really be a concern. They designed them with the materials to make them extraordinarily light weight, so as not to bother your wrists and arms. If you break it...I think you're using it wrong...

you mentioned in your video that the right handed controller is used for movement / camera control because right is your dominant hand.. is there a way change change the controls so camera / movement are controlled by the left controller? reason i ask is bacause I'm left handed :)

It does support Skyrim, yup! Great to be getting suggestions - I hope to build up a bit of an audience. Who knows, maybe I'll do this for future controllers and other such gizmos as well.

What settings are you using for your hydra? I have to make pretty big wrist movements to accomplish the same range of motion your character makes. My base is parallel with the controllers and everything.How do I re-calibrate it? Feels like it's not aligned just right.

But when it recognizes the trigger as keyboard commands does it mean that you have no sensitivity control on the joystick or the RT Lt/ R2 L2 triggers..?

I've been playing a lot of World of Tanks and I would like to know if using the Hydra would work with the game or hinder my playing ability. I was thinking about getting the Nostromo but because the Hydra is more free movement wise than fixed peripherals I could have an edge over other players in game. What do you think?

Make sure you're using the beta driver found on the Sixense forums and adjust the sensitivity within that. Mostly it just takes some getting used to, it's very different than any other controllers out there so give it some time and you'll get the hang of it. Took me many hours of use to really get good at it, now I can breeze through a game just as well if not better than with a keyboard and mouse. That took practice, though. Keep at it!

Awesome! If you have any questions about it, let me know. :)

A question, is it possible for the controller to be used in driving games? For example, right stick to be used as a throttle? Lift up to go forward and push down to brake? If you could demonstrate with a video? ;-)

It is a drastically different experience. You use both controllers in conjunction with one another to play any game type, including FPS's. It's a lot of fun! Thanks for watching and commenting!

I love how you still comment on this video. You have a new sub :D