HTC VIVE Cosmos

I returned this headset due to lack of support from several games. I was looking to use RecRoom and ChatVR and neither worked. Beat Saber, Google Earth, and Job Simulator worked fine. The tracking seemed fine. The view seemed blurry outside of a small area directly forward. This is the first headset Ive owned so I dont know if that is normal. I just lost confidence that I would be able to play the games that I wanted. Ill wait for a Valve Index instead.

was waiting for the 2nd generation of headsets. This headset released oct 3 of 2019. has 100 more pixels than the vive pro.. and a lot fewer wires. need 1x display port (have 3 on my vid card, gtx1060 6GBvram) and one USB 3.0 port. The cable to the head set seems adequate (i dont have much space so i play standing / seated not full room) There is no substantial light leak with the headset. The eye distance is easy to adjust on the fly.. a button to allow you to see a fuzzy reality thru the headsets cameras instead of lifting hte visor. you have to ensure its correctly placed in front of your eyes or you get bluring. there is a strap and a knob to turn.. to clamp the headset to your head. This headset uses internal tracking not external towers for location. So you have to set it up for each room you use it for. this entails turning it on in setup mode.. and looking left right up down etc so it can map out the room.. this means the lights have to be on when you use this headset.. turn off the lights and it loses tracking. Still a small price to pay to not have to deal with external tracking and more wires. The only real depressing thing is there is just not that much content yet. I am not sorry i bought this.. i still have games to get.. There was some god rays (circles/halo of the Fresnel lens being visible) but not that i noticed if i wasnt looking for them. and there was some screen door.. but not when i was playing a game. wasnt noticeable unless you looked for it or read text or watch a movie.. It was less sharp than my 4k monitor.. but movies were watchable.. and large text is readable.. even smaller text if you look close and its centered. Its like being used to watching tv on a 4k tv then going back to a 480 tv to watch a movie. Passable for me. to have missiles and bullets shot at you in VR.. 3d! Or stand in the middle of a coral reef with fish swiming around you.. or virtually tour a museum... Vr has a lot going for it even tho it has a way to go for mainstream support. Im glad i bough this.

I purchased this knowing about the various tracking issues thinking it would be fixed as it has been out for sometime. Well it has not been and does not look to be improving anytime soon. At this point just get the Rift S of your IPD fist within the parameters on theirs. If you want wireless look for a Vive Pro or wait until the Valve Index comes out with one and is more available. Pros - - The resolution and clarity are excellent. The ability to read text is very good. - the ability to go wireless if you pay the large price tag for a wireless adapter. Cons - - Tracking is awful and has tons of issues. Even opting into the beta did not help and just added more issues. I was unable to use any 2 handed weapons in games. Even with all of the beta updates there has been almost no improvement to the tracking. - I was not able to find the sweet spot because the headset cant be moved back and forth from your eyes. Also I was not able to get the headset to a very comfortable position because of the way the headband sets on the head. The way it tilts is very annoying. - I played in a well lit room and still had issues with the headset saying there was not enough light. - The IPD adjustment on the side of the headset would not always pop up when I was trying to adjust it. Super irritating trying to get it to adjust the correct spot for myself.

This review is of the Vive Cosmos. Ive seen Vive Pro reviews get mixed in here. My primary basis for comparison is the original Rift with Touch controllers. To start with the good points: • Resolution is excellent. Text is clear, where I always had legibility issues with Rift. The higher pixel + subpixel density make a huge difference with clarity. • Much reduced SDE (screen door effect). Related to resolution. They opted to use RGB LCD displays instead of RGBG OLED displays. Not only is the subpixel density of LCD 50% higher than OLED, but the actual light emission surface area of OLED is much lower than LCD, giving more black space between subpixels, exaggerating SDE. • Halo design very comfortable. Overall fit feels more balanced than the Rift and less fatigue on long sessions (1 hour +) • Flip up goggle design amazing for eyeglass wearers. This feature is a godsend for putting on and taking off the unit for anyone that wears eyeglasses. It was always a battle with the Rift, having to stretch it out as far as it could go and still having the goggles catch my glasses. I can also wear glasses with larger frames than I could with the Rift. • Good ventilation. There is improved ventilation around your eyes with the gaps at brow and nose, ventilated design of the electronics components, and induced draft from the cooling fan for said electronics. I generally no longer sweat around the fit of the goggles like I did with the Rift. • Controller ergonomics improved over older Vive controllers. I thought the wand type Vive controllers felt awkward in VR the one time I used them. These feel natural, albeit not at the same level as the Touch controllers. If only someone would figure out a way to use the Cosmos headset with Touch controllers/sensors • Wireless adapter option. I can hardly wait to pick up one of these to cut the cord for good. Never was an option with the original Rift. • Very easy setup. Thanks to the inside-out tracking, there are no lighthouses to set up and configure. Now for the downsides: • Vive optics are exquisitely awful. Godrays, a tiny sweet spot, seeing reflections off of the Fresnel ridges, distortion. Rift also uses Fresnel lenses, but the ring density is higher. Still has some of the same problems, but it is obvious more effort went into optics design on the Rift. FORTUNATELY there is a solution to the optics problem. Third parties sell an adapter and lens kit that takes the lenses from a specific GearVR unit and incorporates them into a 3D printed adapter to fit in the Cosmos. It will set you back another $70, but worth every penny. Takes about 5 minutes to install and the clarity afterward is unbelievably good (photo of the replacement lenses installed in review). Personally, I think ALL VR sets should use similar lenses stock. (DISCLAIMER: THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY and prevent returns, but imo this improvement is still worth the risk) • Tracking not what it should be for a 2nd gen headset, yet. It is difficult to compare this to the Rift, which uses outside-in tracking that is extremely responsive and solid. Sudden headset motions will give a detectable lag. Rooms that are not reasonably well-lit are a problem (used to be a big problem). Controller tracking sometimes choppy, although it is possible my older rig is playing some role. Sometimes the controller tracking locks up entirely and Ive had to restart my PC to resolve it. I have only had this happen if I pause a session for a while then come back to it. Sometimes I cant get the headset to start tracking at all and have to restart the PC. However, all these issues are software related and it would be a good assumption to claim they will gradually go away as the product and software matures. Overall, this is a good product that will become a great product once the software and firmware kinks are resolved. Hopefully htc will wake up and release a version with improved lenses. Fresnel lenses should have no part in fine optics. Before doing the lens mod, I was disappointed in both the product and my purchase. Since, the visuals are stunning and I am seeing improvements being made to the software. The Viveport Infinity membership included is a nice touch. Lots of content available which is typically expensive for VR platforms. UPDATE 9/17/20: After nearly a year, HTC still cant get their act together. Head tracking never was quite right and the scene will always bob with moderate to sharp change in movement. Controller tracking very glitchy - often times my virtual hands would freeze up allowing rotation, but no movement. Viveport software buggy and getting any title to run is always a far longer process than it needs to be. Audio only works half the time. It seems that every time I want to use the device, there are some problems that need to be fixed first. Exact opposite experience as with Oculus. In addition to the lens mod, I added the wireless module. While it does un-tether you from the PC, its not truly wireless and requires you have a cable from the headset to a chunky power supply on a belt clip. The Cosmos is such a power hog you cant use just any power supply, but a 21W model I havent seen anywhere except through HTC. Their video compression is not that great and there was noticeable pixellation in some games wireless. Now the Oculus Quest 2 has been announced at less than half the cost of the Cosmos and specs are better in almost every way except maybe audio and stock headband comfort.

Bottom Line Up Front: I CANNOT recommend the HTC vive Cosmos; a lot of problems and it is way overpriced. NOTE FOR HTC: I hope that the HTC engineers and department heads read this and take note as I really am very, very disappointed with this headset and I honestly believe that HTC dropped the ball on the development of this unit; and rushed it to market without the appropriate testing. I returned my unit to Amazon for a refund. Summary: I have been an owner of the original Vive for more than a year. My entire family enjoys using the original Vive. And we have not had any problems with the original Vive. I have been following the Vive Cosmos since it was announced and was looking forward to a system that supposedly has better improvements than the original Vive. Boy, was I wrong. Ordered it on 23 Sep and received it on day of release, 3 Oct 2019. Opening the box and removing the headset, I immediatley noticed how light the HMD is but I found it to be very cheaply constructed and flimsy and the face plate rattles. It just did not feel like a solid headset as the original Vive does. I followed the instructions and installed the required software with no problems..my sytem, I7-8700K CPU, Nvidia GTX 108Ti, and 32 GB RAM; while the resolution is definitley much sharper than original Vive, everything else is a negative...at least to me and my family. While everyone has different likes and dislikes, let me explain the negatives from my use of the Vive Cosmos (used for two days). Fit: yes the halo strap is comfortable but with the design of the flip up, I just could not get a good sweet spot (clear focus across what my eyes were viewing in Origin or Steam VR or game) without really cranking down the knob on the back of the headset which was painful. The problem is with this ability to flip up the HMD it does not allow for the HMD to sit flat and close to your face, resulting in severe light bleed from the nose area. I tried different adjustments for hours...all to no avail. Even with the knob cranked down as tight as I could get, there was still light bleed from the nose area and a lot of pain on my head from the severely tightened head strap. And no I do not have a big or small head, I am average; my entire family had the same problems I was having above. Resolution (The ONLY POSITIVE aspect of the VIVE COSMOS albeit blurriness was an issue at the edges of the eye lenses): yes, much sharper than the original vive but with a very small sweet spot thus leaving a lot of blur on the edges of the lens. I again tried different adjustments to include adjusting the IPD (distance between pupils of the eyes). My IPD is 68. The COSMOS allows and IPD adjustment of 61-73. Controllers: I did not think the controllers were too heavy nor do i think they were awkard to use. However, the issue with the controllers is they require two (2) AA batteries per controller. I did get about 6-7 hours of use before I had to replace the batteries. Also very few games work with these controllers as they are not mapped for many games. I tried over 10 games and only two worked without flaws...some would not work at all. Tracking: Not good....first the lighting issue--display kept popping up saying that the environment was too dark. My room has five (5) LED lights in the ceiling and a huge picture window of solid glass. There was enough light in my room to light up an entire drop zone! Tracking was jittery/clunky when using the controllers and many times I lost tracking and it would take 2-3 seconds to regain. I am of the opinion that inside out tracking is just not as accurate as outside in (i.e., using base stations...with our original Vive we have never had an issue with tracking day or night or with any app or game.) I understand that HTC did release a firmware update to address the problem with the lighting...but my question to HTC is why didnt this issue surface during testing...was the COSMOS properly tested,,by who and under what conditions??? Also, HTC is planning on releasing a HMD modular plate sometime in early 2020 (read that to mean maybe by June of 2020) that will allow tracking from outside in and thus allow the user to utilize Valve index or original Vive controllers....well, my next question to HTC is why wasnt this released at the same time as the VIVE Cosmos on 3 Oct....I suspect because it all comes down to HTC attitude of wait and see how many COSMOSs we sell and then if sales are good lets release the external tracking mod. In summary, the Vive COSMOS definitely improves on resolution display over previous headsets but that is it...everything else is negative compared to the original Vive; and it just DOES NOT go far enough to justify a $700.00 price tag. HTC is all about money and it is a shame because they have the capability to come out with the best VR sytem over any other company...including Valve. But there greed of money will hurt them and I predict that the COSMOS will bomb unless HTC Vive COSMOS undergoes some major renovations as pointed out by the many negative reviews of the COSMOS, and undergoes a major price cut. Last, to reinforce my point about their greed.. why is HTC discontinuing the original VIVE??? The original VIVE sold between 35-45% of all VR HMDs...so why abandon it vice reinforcing it and continue to support it! This is really very sad to me as I would like to see HTC be very, very successful in the VR market...but the decision makers in that company are OUT of TOUCH with reality and this could be the beginning of the end for HTCs VR quest.

Reviewing the Vive Cosmos: I have this in a room with no direct sunlight and it tracks flawlessly. Not sure if its improved software or better room lighting than others but Ive had no issues. I also havent noticed any issues with the controllers playing Beat Saber which has run and responded totally smoothly. Its pretty comfortable, the sound is good, screen and FOV is great, no issues tracking. The issue finding the sweet spot for clear vision is real though. Ive been able to fine tune the fit to make it work but a DIY velcro strap or something will likely be better. The controls are a little heavy and not grippy so Im looking into something to aid the grip with them. The batteries in the controls last about as long as Id expect and I just use a rotation of Eneloop batteries so its not an inconvenience at all. Six batteries with two swapped out and charging/charged gets the job done. The fact that the controllers are non-standard and dont work with a bunch of programs is by far the biggest issue. Why? It doesnt make any sense. Overall really happy. Not having to set up a room is great. I threw this into a box with my PC and headed to a friends house for an evening of VR and it was super easy.

There are so many flaws with the cosmos that its surprising it made it past testing. The amount of light you need in your room of choice has to be about the brightness of the sun for the headset to even work. The controllers dont track well at all and jump all over the place. Didnt come with the required cables for a vr ready laptop (stupid mini display port). Many games i was looking forward to playing dont even work with the cosmos (windlands 2). At least it looks nice both inside (assuming you can get it to work) and outside. Get any other headset.

THE SHORT VERSION: The controller tracking is terrible. Shooting games are unplayable with the Cosmos. Get a headset with base stations. FULL: I bought the Vive Cosmos as my first VR headset. The price point compared to other headsets was appealing, and I was pleased to learn that base stations were not a part of the room setup, which would save me some effort and planning. This was, however, a mistake. See, the tracking, instead of using base stations, uses multiple cameras that are located on the headset itself. What ends up happening is that, when a controller is blocked from the cameras’ view — such as when one controller is held in front of the other, in the context of holding a rifle in a game — the headset just fails to track that controller. This results in drift/skipping of that controllers location as the headset essentially guesses where that controller might be. Apparently, there have been updates since the Cosmos’s release that purport to help or fix this issue. If this is true, it certainly hasn’t been inadequate. So, if you plan on playing any game requiring fine motor controls, such as shooting games where you need to be aiming any further than point blank (which make up a pretty big part of the market), having the Cosmos is going to severely kneecap your experience. Even aiming using one-handed firearms is a struggle. Since the tracking is image-based, the headset is also going to struggle to track finer adjustments in your aiming. If you’re using VR for games like Fruit Ninja, which do NOT require fine motor controls, or just for watching videos, the Cosmos is fine for those purposes. Otherwise, avoid at all costs. If Oculus has a headset without base stations, avoid that too. Having base stations is absolutely necessary for a lot of games. Spend the extra money for a headset that uses them and avoid the buyer’s remorse I have over this.

I love my this thing so cool and fun but my head is a little to big so vision is a little blurry but I’m pretty blind and I can see better in vr then in real life without my glasses so also this is only one I found that even goes as big as it does (vision is based off I separation distance or something and most don’t go nearly wide enough for my head)

Fantastic overall! But the tracking is mediocre because you need really good lighting to use it. Recommend you get rechargeable batteries with this too!