Best PC Virtual Reality Headsets
Use the SteamVR Performance Test to check whether your system can handle the requirements of VR, and if not, whether its capabilities are bound by graphics card, CPU or both. FREE CONTENT WITH PURCHASE - On Viveport, HTC's global VR app store, get a free trial for Viveport Subscription plus Google's Tilt Brush, Everest VR, and Richie's Plank with your purchase.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you were like me, you might be a little hesitant about tech like this, because you tried a GEAR VR, or think 3d desktop gaming and 3d movies are kinda of cool, but certainly not worth this kind of investment. Kind of like that first time you picked up that wii controller and "bowled" and thought "hey, this is pretty cool." Once you complete the setup you'll enter the tutorial and blow up a balloon.. You'll (without instruction) think.. What happens if I try to hit this floating balloon.. Probably nothing.. but you'll immediately realize how intuitive and accurate this "new world" is when the balloon flies in the direction and velocity you would expect it to based on your hand movement. You separate when you realize you can (literally) walk underneath the balloon, look up at it, jump and swat it down to the floor. I can't imagine how silly it looks in real life with your hand just jerking up and down, left to right, ducking, spinning.. etc. But in the game it really feels like you're in a serious situation and your hand needs to dodge these incoming blobs at all costs. When I realized that I could walk closer to my boundary wall that the desktop was on at that time, and the text got closer/clearer, it was an additional level of "that's friggin cool." Once you've got a Steam account set up, be careful, it's easy to blow through 80 dollars (of real money) in a 4 minute virtual shopping spree. Plug in ear buds and "mirror" the sound so you can rock out hard to audioshield without waking the neighbors. So you can control the session for them (get them into a game, get them started, etc) without having to walk them through everything - but again, it is pretty intuitive and should be easy to pick up for 90 percent of people. There are several "full" games available, and I haven't even gotten to them, because The Lab, Zombie Trainer, The Brookhaven Experiment, and (especially) AudioShield have me completely satisfied for the time being. We're all still waiting on the "major" releases of Doom, Fallout 4, Serious Sam, Arizona Sunshine etc. The action of "teleporting" in large scale games seems to be the goto method for moving around in the world. I'm interested to see how games like "Don't stop talking and nobody explodes" work and bring a "crowd" together with one headset. When you feel like a freaking rockstar defending yourself from incoming musical notes, you won't be thinking about the slight pixilation, or how the graphics in the background aren't super detailed. Keep in mind.. That while the software is pretty polished and works well, this type of thing probably isn't for someone who isn't at least a moderate "power user." I've had some minor issues like weird Steam crashes, VR world disappearing if the CPU is under a lot of stress, computer not completing POST when the link box was plugged in. The mass population isn't exactly tech savvy so that excludes a major percentage of potential buyers. Honestly, I've got a lot of cool stuff but this is ABSOLUTELY and UNEQUIVOCALLY the coolest tech I've seen or played with in my entire life."
"Sitting in front of a desktop PC doesn't do my body any good at all. I feared that I would use the Vive as a form of escape and ignore my real world responsibilities and kill my social life. There are sensors to set up, a good amount of space needed, a LOT of cable management. It works best if you have an entire room dedicated to VR, but not all of us are fortunate enough to have that kind of space. The last thing you want to see when you return is a sink full of dishes, dirty laundry, clutter or anything that would cause you disappointment. I have a welcoming, clean open space complete with yoga mats. :) She used to be an avid scuba diver but can no longer dive due to health issues. My friend's wife was trying to plan a small surprise birthday for him but they're new in town and don't know many people. I'm planning on having people over most weekends to have fun and explore the possibilities the Vive offers. You will need a top of the line computer with a powerful graphics card in order to run the Vive properly. Being a big gamer, I already had the computer ($1100 about six months ago) but I still had to upgrade to a GeForce 1070, which currently runs just over $400."
Step into Rift. Oculus Rift’s advanced display technology combined with its precise, low-latency constellation tracking system enables the sensation of presence.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I've finally received the Rift I pre-ordered 6 minutes into launch, and my first experience with it blew me away. I was worried about the negativity towards the FOV (field of view), the resolution, and the "godrays" (crepuscular rays). I've now also had the experience of thoroughly testing out the HTC Vive, which I also pre-ordered and received the same day as the Rift, so I can offer some comparisons as well. There's a demo that places you atop a skyscraper in a busy steam punky city filled with a zeppelin, a hot air balloon and bustling below. I felt an equal amount of presence in the Vive, if not more thanks to its out of the box roomscale experience. It's the center of many debates, and there is a lot of misinformation about this, and many inaccurate image representations and measurements. If you'd like to get an idea of what it's like wearing one of these headsets, take a toilet paper roll, cut it in half, and look through them with both eyes. I could also see the ghosting from the edges a bit more so on the Rift, due to imperfect stereo overlap. Some text that was easily readable with the Rift was difficult to make out on the Vive. Positioning the headset slightly higher than what felt natural gave me the best results, but they were still very present. They were most present in high contrast scenes, extreme during menus, and very distracting in experiences taking place in space, or in the dark. I'd quickly end up with a headache due to the halos, which is similar to having a flashlight shine through a pair of binoculars. I felt absolutely no delay between my movements and the motion inside the Rift. That is, my eyes can wander off center a bit before it becomes blurry, whereas with the Vive when my eyes wander the image becomes blurrier sooner, though, removing the Vive's face pad and modding it with your own thinner pad will improve this drastically, while also increasing the FOV. Though the Rift and Vive have the same displays, they use different lenses, and as such have various trade offs as detailed above. If you can wait, the Rift will be releasing its touch controllers later this year with an additional sensor, which will allow for roomscale as well."
"Occulus has a nifty application store and a bunch of apps that work for the headset. IE calibrate the screen for sideways viewing especially for beds since my room was a BED-room."
"This new one is a huge improvement over the first one I bought. The God rays are much improved, and there is no discoloration."
"VR is great."
"But I am using this now for development over the Vive because it has a smaller footprint and the integrated headphones make things easier."
"The only "major" difference between the rift and vive is that the vive has a better selection of games, as not all games support both vr systems. Keep in mind, the VR is still a new thing so expect to complete vr games in a few hours or less."
"I find it a fascinating adventure and I would highly recommend purchasing it especially now that it and the touch are being bundled together at such a low price."
"I mainly play Elite:dangerous with this thing and it is insane how fun it is."
Bundle includes HTC VIVE Virtual Reality System and Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"amazing I was able to play vr games with my favorite youtubers."
Best PC Virtual Reality Cameras
FREE CONTENT WITH PURCHASE - On Viveport, HTC's global VR app store, get a free trial for Viveport Subscription plus Google's Tilt Brush, Everest VR, and Richie's Plank with your purchase.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you were like me, you might be a little hesitant about tech like this, because you tried a GEAR VR, or think 3d desktop gaming and 3d movies are kinda of cool, but certainly not worth this kind of investment. Kind of like that first time you picked up that wii controller and "bowled" and thought "hey, this is pretty cool." Once you complete the setup you'll enter the tutorial and blow up a balloon.. You'll (without instruction) think.. What happens if I try to hit this floating balloon.. Probably nothing.. but you'll immediately realize how intuitive and accurate this "new world" is when the balloon flies in the direction and velocity you would expect it to based on your hand movement. You separate when you realize you can (literally) walk underneath the balloon, look up at it, jump and swat it down to the floor. I can't imagine how silly it looks in real life with your hand just jerking up and down, left to right, ducking, spinning.. etc. But in the game it really feels like you're in a serious situation and your hand needs to dodge these incoming blobs at all costs. When I realized that I could walk closer to my boundary wall that the desktop was on at that time, and the text got closer/clearer, it was an additional level of "that's friggin cool." Once you've got a Steam account set up, be careful, it's easy to blow through 80 dollars (of real money) in a 4 minute virtual shopping spree. Plug in ear buds and "mirror" the sound so you can rock out hard to audioshield without waking the neighbors. So you can control the session for them (get them into a game, get them started, etc) without having to walk them through everything - but again, it is pretty intuitive and should be easy to pick up for 90 percent of people. There are several "full" games available, and I haven't even gotten to them, because The Lab, Zombie Trainer, The Brookhaven Experiment, and (especially) AudioShield have me completely satisfied for the time being. We're all still waiting on the "major" releases of Doom, Fallout 4, Serious Sam, Arizona Sunshine etc. The action of "teleporting" in large scale games seems to be the goto method for moving around in the world. I'm interested to see how games like "Don't stop talking and nobody explodes" work and bring a "crowd" together with one headset. When you feel like a freaking rockstar defending yourself from incoming musical notes, you won't be thinking about the slight pixilation, or how the graphics in the background aren't super detailed. Keep in mind.. That while the software is pretty polished and works well, this type of thing probably isn't for someone who isn't at least a moderate "power user." I've had some minor issues like weird Steam crashes, VR world disappearing if the CPU is under a lot of stress, computer not completing POST when the link box was plugged in. The mass population isn't exactly tech savvy so that excludes a major percentage of potential buyers. Honestly, I've got a lot of cool stuff but this is ABSOLUTELY and UNEQUIVOCALLY the coolest tech I've seen or played with in my entire life."
"Sitting in front of a desktop PC doesn't do my body any good at all. I feared that I would use the Vive as a form of escape and ignore my real world responsibilities and kill my social life. There are sensors to set up, a good amount of space needed, a LOT of cable management. It works best if you have an entire room dedicated to VR, but not all of us are fortunate enough to have that kind of space. The last thing you want to see when you return is a sink full of dishes, dirty laundry, clutter or anything that would cause you disappointment. I have a welcoming, clean open space complete with yoga mats. :) She used to be an avid scuba diver but can no longer dive due to health issues. My friend's wife was trying to plan a small surprise birthday for him but they're new in town and don't know many people. I'm planning on having people over most weekends to have fun and explore the possibilities the Vive offers. You will need a top of the line computer with a powerful graphics card in order to run the Vive properly. Being a big gamer, I already had the computer ($1100 about six months ago) but I still had to upgrade to a GeForce 1070, which currently runs just over $400."
Best PC Virtual Reality Accessories
In-ear audio designed for your Rift headset. Enjoy fewer sound distractions with these passive noise isolating earphones.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Like these much better than the factory earphones."
"very comfortable good sound."
"Got it for my husband as a Christmas present, he absolutely LOVES IT!"
"I like the headphones better but these are ok. Something different."
"Sound is OK but not that "Great"."
Best PC Virtual Reality Controllers
Other features include 40+ hours of gameplay with two AA batteries (included), LED notification, clickable joysticks, and complete customization of your joystick sensitivity and trigger actuation. Compatible with Windows 7 and up, as well as Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus, and for use with thousands of controller-enabled games.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Have had no issues with pairing to my S7 and works perfectly with my Gear VR."
"The second time I turned on the controller, it was recognized right away."
"Everything else in the controller is wonderful I love the design it's a little bit of a PS4(joystick location) meets Xbox One(ge wrap design) controller."
"The trigger problem is somewhat manageable and I’m not sure if this is a bug in all SteelSeries Stratus XL controllers, but if you’re looking for a RELIABLE controller for hardcore gaming, it’s probably not this one. Update: I actually did not return the controller yet but instead I fixed my stuck right trigger problem."
"All of the various buttons, sticks, and triggers are easy to find and where you would expect them, which is nice when you're playing with no sight of the controller at all."
"Works flawlessly so far."
"Thiis is a terrible controller and am going to go with the better reviewed controller that can be used on Windows 10, the Xbox One Controller."
"I bought the SteelSeries Stratus XL controller in hopes that it would be better than my Steam Controller while being used in my hands."