Author Topic: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?  (Read 1446 times)

Offline hazmatt

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Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« on: March 17, 2021, 08:25:10 PM »
I'm seeing prices for G2 for 599 and Rift S for 299. Is one G2 worth 2 Rift S?

Maybe there's better prices on the G2 that I'm not seeing?

Offline Vulcan

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2021, 09:01:00 PM »
At the moment it's in the eye of the beholder. I picked a Lenovo Explorer VR headset up for one of my kids for us$60, and have been quite impressed at the display quality.

Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2021, 11:03:27 PM »
Nice! Where might one find a deal like that?

Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2021, 12:56:21 AM »
Just saw Quest 2 for $299 too....

Offline Vulcan

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2021, 03:46:35 PM »
Nice! Where might one find a deal like that?

Other side of the world sorry, and they didn't last long (sold out very quick).

Offline streakeagle

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2021, 08:33:10 PM »
If you don't mind having a facebook account and living by their "community rules", the Oculus Quest 2 is the best value right now. It is not quite as good as the Reverb G2, but you can't beat it for the price and it is outstanding in its stand alone mode.

But if you are like me and primarily want a PC VR headset for the best possible flight simulation experience, it is hard to beat the G2. Every headset has their pros and cons, but the G2 has the best image quality (at least at the center of the field of view) than most if not all VR headsets (I have no personal experience with Pimax).

But the Quest 2 is just a notch below the G2 in image quality and the Oculus software seems more stable with lower overhead than the Windows Mixed Reality/SteamVR combination that you have to run to use the G2 in flight sims. But even that is a tricky statement because WMR has some great features that Oculus doesn't match.

The Quest 2 has some hidden costs:
1) The cheap headstrap it comes with is uncomfortable. You will want a replacement.
2) You either need to buy a link cable or have a state of the art wireless router and buy the virtual desktop app to use the Quest 2 in a PC environment. For better or worse, the ability to connect wirelessly is a unique and potentially beneficial feature of the Quest 2.
3) The battery dies even when connected to a PC via the link cable, so you may need some sort of battery pack to extend its life. I don't have a battery, but I am sure it connects through the USB port, so it may not work well with a link cable, which would make the wireless router/virtual desktop connection the way to go for PC. Of course the wireless connection may have latency and dropout issues. I haven't tried the wireless option as my router is too old to have the bandwidth to make it work well, but I have a few friends that swear by it.

I am using my G2 as my primary headset, but when my first one failed after just 2 months of use, I used my Rift S and my son's Quest 2 as backups until the G2 was replaced under warranty. The image quality difference between a Rift S (which I had, used, and loved since they were first released) and a Quest 2 is tremendous. It hurts my eyes to go back to the lower resolution of the Rift S. I can't even imagine going back to my Rift CV1. But the jump in quality from the Quest 2 to the G2 is almost as big an improvement.

If you have the money, I would get a G2 for PC flight simulation and a Quest 2 for stand alone: the Quest 2 is that much fun! With all the extras you need to use a Quest 2 for PC flight simming, it is only marginally cheaper than the G2, so I would just get the G2 if you can afford it.
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Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2021, 08:28:18 PM »
3) The battery dies even when connected to a PC via the link cable, so you may need some sort of battery pack to extend its life. I don't have a battery, but I am sure it connects through the USB port, so it may not work well with a link cable, which would make the wireless router/virtual desktop connection the way to go for PC. Of course the wireless connection may have latency and dropout issues. I haven't tried the wireless option as my router is too old to have the bandwidth to make it work well, but I have a few friends that swear by it.

The battery dies even when connected with the USB cable? I thought that was how you charged it. Is there some external power plug? Seems I'm missing something here.

Offline oboe

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2021, 10:57:32 PM »
The battery dies even when connected with the USB cable? I thought that was how you charged it. Is there some external power plug? Seems I'm missing something here.

The USB-C port on the headset is how you charge it.   You can plug in the external charger's cable here, but this is where the PC-Link cable also plugs in.  The charging rate while using the Link cable is less than the energy consumption rate while the unit is in use, so eventually the battery will drain.  Hasn't been a problem for me yet, but my sessions are generally less than 2 hrs anyway.

« Last Edit: March 22, 2021, 10:59:07 PM by oboe »

Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2021, 11:17:54 PM »
So you have to use an external power adapter of some sort to charge it or will it charge if you leave it plugged in to your PC?

Offline Wiley

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2021, 01:53:41 AM »
It will charge on the PC if it's just plugged in, but if you're using it, it drains slowly.

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Offline oboe

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2021, 08:20:18 AM »
So you have to use an external power adapter of some sort to charge it or will it charge if you leave it plugged in to your PC?

It comes with an external power adapter you can use to charge it.   In order to play PC VR games (such as AH) you must purchase the Link cable ($79).  It will also charge while plugged into your PC using this cable, but as Wiley says, if you're using the unit it will slowly discharge, since the energy consumption rate during use is higher than the recharge rate.





Offline Wiley

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2021, 09:59:50 AM »
Further- if I remember right, it discharges somewhat quickly on the link cable.  I haven't thought about it in a while because it's been a while since I had a marathon VR session, but I think I was on pace to be getting ~5-6 hours with the link cable.  However, if I was playing on virtual desktop and connected to the charger cable, I believe it appeared to only be losing about 10% per hour or so.

I haven't really checked battery life since I moved to the new motherboard, so I expect it might be different from the ancient one I was using before.

Wiley.
If you think you are having a 1v1 in the Main Arena, your SA has failed you.

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Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2021, 07:56:41 PM »
Thanks for all the info. What about this scenario?

I take off and climb out using the monitor so usually I have 5 to 10 min before I use the VR. I usually manage to get myself killed or rtb within 20 minutes and then. I'm back to the take off/climb out thing again.

I have a really old motherboard so I'm sure it's going to be one of the slow charging ones, however I was curious as to how long you think I could go in this scenario if I started with a full charge.

Offline Wiley

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2021, 08:37:58 PM »
Don't know about that.  What I can tell you is this thread got me curious, I just played for an hour and a half and my battery is at 80% from full.  So theoretically probably 7-8 hours ish to kill the battery.
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Offline hazmatt

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Re: Is one Reverb G2 worth 2 Rift S?
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2021, 08:54:48 PM »
Nice! Thanks for that info. I think at that rate the battery would outlast me!