Valve index VR headset

Hates thems, nasty things with their awful grip buttons and crappie track pads. I ended up buying a second pair as HTC customer service was about as much fun as rubbing my ball sack on a cheese grater (or a new Mac)

One of my controllers is on its last legs. I need a screwdriver to turn it on but apart from that, not had a problem. Serviced the trackpads one in 3 years.

Waiting for that knock on the door.
 
Both Parcel Force and GLS (which I think are actually the same company?) have no updates since yesterday.

Plenty of people in my situation on Reddit. Some gone as far as emailing GLS and been told GLS haven't actually received the package and it definitely won't be coming until Monday at the earliest (Parcel Force do not do Saturday deliveries unless specifically paid for).

I'm hoping its being processed but website are not being updated and it still surprises me tomorrow.
 
Both Parcel Force and GLS (which I think are actually the same company?) have no updates since yesterday.

Plenty of people in my situation on Reddit. Some gone as far as emailing GLS and been told GLS haven't actually received the package and it definitely won't be coming until Monday at the earliest (Parcel Force do not do Saturday deliveries unless specifically paid for).

I'm hoping its being processed but website are not being updated and it still surprises me tomorrow.
 
My one hour window just ended and nothing.
 
Its annoying! The people who are 2 to 3 days away from the delivery centres, so far eastern Europe and far West of the US, mostly seem to have got theirs early. Those 24 to 48 hours away from the delivery centres are still waiting.

Still, all may yet come good tomorrow.

@Atmos that is annoying! Can you see the van's location via the app?
 
I was expecting loads of glowing testimonies about now. Shame. Fingers crossed for you all :)
 
Good news guys, It’s here!
 
So far, beautiful box. :)
 
Quick overview.

Knuckles are smaller and lighter than I thought they would be and they need to be placed in the hand at a certain angle for the fingers to hit their tracking points. Triggers feel a bit high compared to the Vive Wands. I’ve just got them on charge while doing a firmware update.

Index doesn’t feel that light but oozes quality. The eye relief was already wound in and I can see the narrower FOV compared to the 5k+ 140FOV. Not had chance to adjust the resolution yet I’ve got 3 kids here to look after till their mum gets home from work. :(

When the FPS app box showed for the first time I thought it looked smaller some how. Maybe it’s due to a higher PPI.

Steam Home looks worse than the 5k+ Off the bat, but probably due to having the resolution set low. I have the Pimax running at 4k per eye and took weeks of fine tuning. I really like the 5k+ displays.

The lenses on the Index are almost perfect. Edge to edge clarity is about 95%. Slight blurr on the inner and outer edge. Less than the 5k+.

SDE looks similar to the 5k+ not a problem.

Not set the BS’s up yet still on the old units.

I only had the HMD on my head for less than 5 minutes so that’s my initial overview.
 
So I’ve measured the FOV on the Index and for me it only come to 110 degrees which is way smaller than the Pimax at 140 degrees. Kind of disappointing as I was expecting 120FOV minimum.

While the lenses are clearer than the Pimax the Pimax has some incredibly sharp panels which I miss when using the Index. Even after bumping the Index’s SS to 150% which was around the same 4k resolution as the Pimax, Pimax still looks sharper. Strangely.

I now see what Ben says about the glare on the Index lenses. While the fresnel rings are eliminated there is glare that emanates from its own source. While the Pimax glare surrounds bright objects or text.

While I want to like the Index I still have the Pimax in the back of my mind. It’s the dilemma I didn’t want to have. There is no clear cut winner and I’m siding on the Pimax for it’s extra FOV, sharpness and less optical glare.
 
Hmmm, maybe I'll just go for the Index controllers. :confused:

I've finally had another play with the Pimax 8K in PCars2 and it's surprisingly playable on my 1080 which I really didn't expect. The reprojection/brain warp are working overtime and can sometimes render artifacts, but it's a total revelation with the increased fov and pixel density. Colours and brightness still feel a bit muted compared to the Vive's OLED panels.

Still a bit tempted by the Index HMD though - it just looks like a more solid, refined product. Decisions decisions...
 
Based on what Atmos says I think I’m safe going for the index after my short but uneventful period with the Pimax.
 
Sorry to hear that.

Using the App I can see mine on the map now it’s over in Liverpool. It getting delivered between 3pm and 4pm.

If it's in Liverpool, chances are it won't leave Liverpool. It's probably sitting in a dodgy bedsit in a dodgy Council Estate somewhere. :eek::laugh::rotfl::laugh::rotfl::eek:

Edit: Didn't see this page before I posted lol :facepalm:
 
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Had my email from Parcel Force, mine should be delivered today :clap:

And the app says between 0900 and 1000 :clap:

An OG Vive is the best I've tried so I'm hoping to be a little more 'blown away' than the Pimaxxers.

And it's here! :clap:
 
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Had my email from Parcel Force, mine should be delivered today :clap:

And the app says between 0900 and 1000 :clap:

An OG Vive is the best I've tried so I'm hoping to be a little more 'blown away' than the Pimaxxers.

And it's here! :clap:

Congrats. I'm sure you'll love it coming from the OG Vive.

A few other interesting bits about Index. When you wipe the lenses they actually move. Yes its like they're on springs.

The A and B buttons on the Knuckles are also capsense so when you rest your fingers on them your thumb in VR goes down into a fist pose which is different to when you put your finger on the pill trackpad, the thumb is bent.

I stuggled getting the Knuckles finger tracking towork propperly but after resetting my PC it became near on perfect.

The external cameras work like they did for the OG Vive you have a Tron mode and a window pass through attached to the controller. The video quality looks good.

I had to re-install Revive to try a few Oculus games like the Climb which still uses trigger for grip, Echo VR which works really well will the grip buttons and Dream Deck. The T-Rex in Dream looked so solid and so real it was uncanny.

For Onward the Knuckles no longer fit into my DIY tube stock and the control sticks didn't seem to let me move at full speed. That game needs a few Knuckles tweeks I think.

When it comes to YouTube the Index lenses give you a full focused view and it slightly easier on the eye than the Pimax but there is still a Razor shaprness about the Pimax I like. The glare issue on the Index does affect video too sadly.

The Pimax has the ability to adjust contrast and brightness while the Index does not (yet) which means the Index looks a bit more washed out. This could be fixed.

If you have the Pimax with the DAS already the Index is not a upgrade imo. If you are picky about distortions you might be AS pickly about the Index glare or the Index FOV. Coming from the OG Vive - Index is a good upgrade all round and you will be happy.

I've not tried the Reverb but the small FOV is not for me.
I've not tried the Rift S the inside out tracking is not for me.
I've not tried the Samsung O+ the controllers are not for me.

So Pimax and Index are FOR ME the two best headsets to own in 2019 - so far.
 
Supposed to be working but couldn't help myself giving it a brief try just in Steam Home.

Everyone goes on about the box. Its rather nice, it seems to have minimised the plastic, it has some odd bits of foam in there, it will soon be gathering dust in my cellar.

Lighthouses use the same power connectors as the Vive's. So, because I was using third party power supplies I didn't have to undo all my tidy cable routing. Which is nice! The Lighthouse power connector's leads seem much longer than the Vive's too which would be handy to many.

The lighthouses come with a much more substantial stand than the Vive's and can be placed and angled on a horizontal surface held only by their own weight. The setup guide depicts one lighthouse on its stand, low down on the coffee table of a living room. These things are much more portable than the Vive's. I think this improvement hasn't been given enough attention and will climb that barrier of entry for a lot of people.

Knuckles only come with USB cables, not AC chargers. Suppose everyone has spare USB / mains adapters.

The Knucklehead is stunning, feels lovely in your hands and the material begs to be touched. There's some soft plastic around the lenses that folds as you adjust the IPD. Doesn't look right but I'm sure it will be fine.

Not had a good play with the fit. Its not uncomfortable but at the moment I'm not convinced its more comfortable than my welder's gear mod for my Vive. It doesn't feel as stable on my head. But some more play may change my views.

So in Steam VR home the edge to edge clarity of the lens is something to behold! You really have to strain your eyes over to the side before it starts blurring. Keeping eyes around the cockpit of Elite will be wonderful! Horizontal FOV feels improved but this may be more thanks to the edge to edge clarity than less black to the left and right. Vertical FOV feels much improved, the FOV stretches far higher upwards. This really adds to the experience when taking in the mountain views of Steam Home. I hadn't expected vertical FOV to have such an impact. To my eye, SDE is pretty much gone now.

Couldn't figure out how to Teleport around Steam Home using the Knuckles o_O
 
Couldn't figure out how to Teleport around Steam Home using the Knuckles o_O

Its strange SteanVR and The Lab use different techniques. For Steam HOme you press up on the thumb sticks while is The Lab you press the trackpad.
 
So I'm sat here pretending to work while exploring my powered off Knucklehead. One thing I have noticed is that when dialled all the way in the lens assembly actually pushes against my brow, and that's not very comfortable! Just a little backwards on the eye relief and it seems much more comfortable.

Bonkers how close you can get the lens to your eyes. Hopefully dialling it back a touch doesn't impact the edge to edge clarity and the FOV.
 
I've just completed Vadar Immortals.

Knuckles worked like a charm and the game even took advantage of it's grip function so climbing ladders was a pleasure.

It's not cheap for the length of play time but its quality from start to finish. A bit dark for LCD HMDS and the black on white showed the glare effect on the Index pretty bad.

I did have to turn the graphics setting down to low as high gave a strobbing effect. It still looked great on low though, I couldn't tell the difference.

I then completed EverestVR. This never worked on the Pimax as it gave a Unreal Engine failure.
 
Oh and theres one part in Vadar Immortal where you need to scan your hand. I just opened my fingers flat and rest my palm on the plate. There other times where you grab and twist bits too. Its as if this game was made for Knuckles. Shows where Valves VR games are heading.
 
Still just dipping in and out but sat through TheBlue experiences a few moments ago.

Fortunately dropping back the eye relief a touch had no impact on FOV and with a little strain I can just see the edges of the display. Its a lot more comfortable and stable now.

I'm not so blown away by the resolution improvement as I expected to be. I was super-sampling the snot out of my original Vive, so that may be why. It also may be that, of what I have experienced so far, there isn't much more texture detail to make out. The FOV improvement is fantastic though, in the coral reef being able to see the surface at almost all times makes it so much more immersive. While the measured horizontal FOV improvement may be negligible the improved clarity across the whole FOV makes it feel like you're seeing so much more.

I do intend to measure the FOV using an environment that offers the tools and I'll report back.

My Porta Pros mod for my original Vive wasn't a million miles from the Index's off ear audio, so I'm not so blown away as others but the audio is very good and a very welcome experience to have no contact on your ears and to be able to talk to those in the real world.

The tron lines of the chaperone are fully 3d now, looks well neat. I'm liking how easily I can find my drink and pick it up without dropping the Knuckle.
 

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