HTC VIVE Cosmos

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 don't 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 camera's instead of lifting hte visor. you have to ensure it's correctly placed in front of your eye's 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 wasn't looking for them. and there was some screen door.. but not when i was playing a game. wasn't 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 it's centered. It's 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. I'm glad i bough this.

I see a lot of reviews here for the VIVE PRO, which is not the same product as this listing. Anyway I actually do have the VIVE COSMOS, what is listed here. I play a lot of VRChat and this headset is pretty great. Don't believe all of the negative hype about this unit. The screen looks absolutely incredible. Also they are coming out with a lot of "mods" for this model which will make it surpass all of the older models in every way (VIVE / VIVE PRO / VIVE PRO EYE). In early 2020 there will be an eye tracking sensor mod, as well as a faceplate option that will make use of existing "lighthouse" style external tracking... Meaning you will be able to use this with any HTC or Valve controllers, as well as body trackers.. All of the older HTC VIVE models will be phased out. The COSMOS is HTC's new flagship headset. The flip up visor is great, the headband is super comfy and the weight of the unit is fine- it seems very light to me. The construction seems plenty sturdy and it takes minimal time / effort to set up in any room. The tracking is not perfect, but they are actively releasing firmware updates and the tracking has improved since I purchased it just 2-3 weeks ago. Remember that similar units (that use onboard cameras for tracking) like Oculus also started out with finicky tracking and then after some time it became quite good by means of firmware/software updates. The same is already happening with this unit, but not many people are talking about it. It appears that the internet likes to complain unnecessarily when a manufacturer doesn't do something to their liking. I honestly don't mind that much, the price of this unit used right now is very low. The COSMOS is a solid unit, and is a much more futureproof buying decision versus any of the other VIVE headsets. Mostly that is on paper still, because the mods that will make it better than all the rest have yet to be released. But I do trust that HTC will release these things very soon and this unit will likely go up in price when that happens. I got mine for $480 used here on Amazon which seriously feels like a steal for how much fun it is to use, how beautiful the screen is, and the full featured quality when it comes to using SteamVR. Four stars because they are still working out a few of the kinks with the tracking. But this will change! I wish I could give it 4.5 stars to be honest. Many people will say that the VIVE or VIVE PRO is the best unit to buy right now, and they are not wrong. However they will be wrong in a few months.

I had nothing but issues using the Cosmos. Consistent with many other reviews the inside out tracking ended up being super inconsistent and would loose my hand position in the middle of songs playing beat saber (the game I bought this to play) which was incredibly frustrating and game breaking when you play on insta fail mode. I had read before purchasing that they had pushed updates to fix these issues which is what lead to my purchase initially but it seems that didn't work out. I looked into purchasing the elite faceplate and the lighthouses for external tracking, however upon researching the lighthouse I saw that while it supports the faceplate, it doesn't support base cosmos controllers, so I would have to sink in MUCH more money than I initially thought to get the plate mod new controllers and two base stations . Not doing that. As of 05/30/2020 on Amazon it cost $200 per station... $200 for the Faceplate... and $130 per controller $860 WTF???? The Cosmos Elite comes with all of that and only cost $900 ._. Maybe I have an abnormal head or something but the fit of the headset itself was also rather uncomfortable mainly around the back tightness dial and front forehead pad I could never find a good position to wear it to get the right IPD setting which resulted in some blur. I could also see outside the headset slightly by my nose leading to light bleeding through. The headphone snap design wouldn't allow for the headphones to close on my ears, they would always click back out to the open position away from my ears whenever I would try to click them into place, i tried moving the headphones forwards and backward on the adjustment rail but there was no set position they would actually work in. (lol I guess at least the audio quality was good) I personally didn't like Viveport home and found the in VR settings to be lacking. but I got around SOME of that by using steam Vr home. I would have liked to be able to rescan my room setup from inside VR instead of having to do it from my desktop. I also noticed that when I layed down to watch youtube in the virtual desktop app on steam (because why not) the screen would go black until i jolted my head around, I guess it thought I took off the headset cause I was being still?? what? The display was the only thing keeping me from returning the Cosmos, it WAS sharp enough to read despite my vision impairments and the frame rates were smooth.... Then today I turn my headset on and everything is kinda pixelated and brightly washed out almost like I cranked a gamma dial to max. Could be a hardware issue with this specific unit, could be a driver issue on my end, I couldn't find anything matching this problem on google so I spent some time trying to fix this on my own to no avail. In the end I decided the constant issues were in no way worth the $700 I paid. I'm returning the headset and am going to hold off on future purchases from HTC which sucks because this was my first experience with one of their products and had been wanting to get a Vive for a long time now.

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 didn't 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 wasn't 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 let's 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 HTC's VR quest.

Good resolution is a big plus. it looks cool... when it works My understanding is that other headsets use tracking devices located on the walls. They can see your moves no matter where your hands are. This headset uses cameras located on the headset. It means that as soon as the cameras dont see your hands, they are lost. I dont know why they describe it as an advantage. To me, losing tracking all the time makes it useless, really. When I play a racquetball like game, the racquet gets lost unless I make an effort to keep my hands in front of me all the time. I kind of hoped that maybe, I could buy additional devices to improve tracking, but no. Their own tracking devices for other versions of Vive are no use with this one. Is not it unfortunate? Overall, I am getting the impression that those who make these headsets use other headsets at home. cons: - many of the games simply dont run or run in some kind of unusable mode, and I cant find any explanations why - as soon as the controllers move outside of the view, they are lost. I hoped to use the headset for fitness. No, forget about it. I made a mistake with this one, it's not suitable for fitness, it's annoying. - The headphones keep popping out and away from my ears. it's again annoying and distracting. - all I am getting when asking questions about how to cope with the above is "you shouldn't have bought this headset, we don't know who they are making it for, it's pricey and subpar" On the positive side, VR is a great experience. It's cool to watch 3D scenes. If quality tracking is not important, and the software that you plan to use runs ok, it's really amazing. I wish I had a chance to return this one for something with better tracking because my goal is VR fitness. UPDATE: If you push the joystick down, it is also a clicker. I wish somebody told me before. It was not evident at the beginning. So, I am adding a star back.

I decided to wait a little while before writing my review of this headset because a lot of the games that I play regularly in VR weren't compatible with this headset at launch. After support was added for games like SuperHot, I can say that this is a much better experience compared to the samsung HMD that I was using before. LCD screens don't have the contrast of OLED screens, but that's really the only benefit. The image is clearer, the response seems faster, and there is less screen door effect on the LCD screens. This is either because HTC has had more time to figure out VR screens, or an inherent advantage of LCD, but regardless, the experience is a lot better. Motion tracking coming from a 2 camera setup is worlds better. After recent updates, I don't have any issues at all. While playing The Lab, I had to turn my head to load an arrow on the Samsung headset because it would lose tracking. With the Vive, it's not an issue because of the 6 camera setup. The tracking is consistent, and unless you move a controller completely behind your back, it won't lose track of it. The fit of the headset is also a massive improvement. The top strap and headband combo work great compared to just having the headband. Also, being able to flip up the screen is great for getting out of VR without taking off the headset. I've always been a fan of including the headphones with the headset, and the headphones included with the Vive are comparable to the ones on the Samsung HMD, if not slightly better when it comes to positional audio. The Vive also gives you the option to swap them out for your own headphones, which is a nice feature. The controllers seem small when you initially grab them, but they fit well in the hand after figuring out your grip. They are more ergonomic than the Windows Mixed Reality controllers. The thumb sticks have touch sensors which lets them function like the old vive controllers, but with the more natural feel of a joystick. Each controller also has two buttons for game controls, a grip button, trigger, bumper, and a start/options button for vive functions. For people who use controllers frequently, this feels like a very natural control scheme. Overall: the Vive Cosmos is a great improvement over older all-in-one virtual reality headsets for the PC. I don't have any other headsets to compare it to. I know that the valve index has improvements in refresh rate and controller functionality, but it also requires lighthouses and deeper pockets. This is just the best experience I have had with a VR headset when it comes to setup and use.

EDIT: 05/04/2020 The updates just keep coming and things are great. No complaints with any game and by now we have a library of 30+ games that work flawlessly. EDIT: 01/11/2020 ————————— Been a few weeks since original review and here are a few additional observations: 1.) More firmware updates for both headset and controllers further improving tracking. It’s very good and getting better. Purchased several new games: 1.) Drunken Bar Fight 2.) Boneworks 3.) No Man Sky All games are working/tracking fantastic without the need for and configuration. Finally, we are going through AA batteries like mad. These controllers chew up batteries. I’d estimate 4-6 hours of solid gameplay before they need to be exchanged for a fresh set. Getting closer to giving this 5 Stars... ————————— I, like many of you reading this, read horrible things about this headset. I debated for several weeks after careful research before making this purchase for my 11-year-old son who already plays his older brother PS4 VR system. What ultimately convinced me to make the purchase were several key factors: 1.) HTC's reputation in the market for innovation 2.) HTC's modular design, making it capable of future upgrades, and product roadmap 3.) The Cosmos high-resolution support 4.) Steady tracking and other improvements since October release via multiple firmware updates Setting up the headset, pairing the controllers, making the connections to the computer and creating a room boundary took less than 10 minutes, and it was very easy to do. We just followed the step by step instructions and it was a breeze. We opened presents early this year so my son and I have been playing with this headset for three straight days. We have played the following games: 1.) Superhot (free for 12 months with Viveport Infinity, included with Cosmos purchase) 2.) Gorn (Purchased on Steam) 3.) Blade and Sorcery (Purchased on Steam) 4.) Budget Cuts (Purchased on Steam) 5.) Arizona Sunshine (free for 12 months with Viveport Infinity, included with Cosmos purchase) 6.) Sairento (free for 12 months with Viveport Infinity, included with Cosmos purchase) 7.) Fruit Ninja (free for 12 months with Viveport Infinity, included with Cosmos purchase) 8.) Five Nights of Freddy (free for 12 months with Viveport Infinity, included with Cosmos purchase) Each game worked out-of-the-box without any sort of configuration. I have read about people having to bind or map their controller within steam for some of the games listed above but that was not our experience. It is possible a firmware or game update took care of this, but either way, problem solved. We have had great success and experience with controller tracking. In Arizona Sunshine, there have been few (very few) occasions where my hands lost position and floated off, but I think that might be attributable to me mashing buttons and flailing in a panic when a horde of zombies were attacking me. We have not had any issues with low light warnings as some have reported. I have this set up in a room where I can dim canned lights, and I dimmed them to a low light setting and the headset never once complained and the controllers have also performed well. Despite reading complaints about the audio quality, I actually find the headset to produce quick immersive and well-balanced tones. The audio, to me, sounds pretty darn great. Voices, music, and ambient game noises are all clearly discernible and clear. I did not rate this 5 stars because I'm hoping for continuous improvement and want to see more of the product roadmap realized. I also agree that the lense "sweet spot" is too small and I find myself adjusting the headset here and there. Overall, however, the adjustment frequency is not so constant where it detracts from gameplay, and the headset does include an IPD dial to adjust the lenses so that the sweet spot can be more easily attained per user. This is a fine headset, and glad I made the purchase. For what it's worth, my son has been having a blast over the past few days and I have constantly been asking him leading questions with a negative bent to see if I could extract anything to report in this write-up, but he insists at every turn that the Cosmos is perfect. BTW - I have never seen him adjust the headset and he never complains about losing controller tracking, etc. He would rate 5 stars.

Best Black Friday gift to myself I could ask for. The only thing i disliked is the foam facepad, and thats an easy 15$ fix. The tracking is great and the lighting needs arent nearly as bad as people are saying. Maybe someone should have explained that the tracking cameras arent meant for a blacked out room. Have some common sense people and turn on a dimmable lamp. Its not that hard and way cheaper than buying base stations. This device is borderline mobile if you have a gaming laptop that is powerful enough for VR. I have it hooked up to my Alienware Laptop and can take it with me to my University courses. Its great being able to do walkthroughs in Architectural models! This device isnt that old, so grab those firmware updates as they come. many of those launch isdues have been fixed. And for everyone whining and telling you to just buy an Oculus cause its way cheaper please consider the following: Oculus is now owned by facebook. Every oculus game is now attatched to your facebook account. So feel free to let Daddy Z tell everyone about your big tiddy VR anime waifus and second life account. He already telling them everything else.

Honestly, it’s okay or maybe below average. The quality is fine, but it lags a lot. The hand tracking is bad, and the external cameras look like something from an old phone. Also quite heavy.

fary to much amazing i spill some suace on it still verking

Leider hat selbst die neueste Software des Herstellers jede Menge Bugs und das Gerät stürzt häufiger ab, als dass es funktioniert. Die Auflösung ist eher bescheiden, Schrift kann man im Allgemeinen nicht lesen. Das Gerät erfordert hohe Rechenleistung. Mit einem Notebook sollte man es gar nicht versuchen und sollte eine gute Grafikkarte haben. Wer hierin schon investiert hat sollte überlegen, auch eine teurere und bessere VR-Lösung zu nehmen.

So first off: I’m coming from a Samsung odyssey. My main issue with that headset was I couldn’t see words as every word was so blurry no matter what I did (I do have astigmatism and was unable to wear glasses under the headset). This headset is so much better I can see so much better, but not 100%. I’d say…80% All the negative reviews talk about the horrible tracking, right? Well this is a lighthouse/bay station - less VR. So it won’t be perfect, and that has to be understood. However that being said, this works as expected! I’m able to play Half Life Alyx with no issues. Of course when you reach behind your back the tracking will be off, but you can still trigger and pull items. When the controller is back in view, everything should snap back fine as it does for me. I am playing in my living room with lots of light (sometimes it says too much light, but still works) and objects around and out of the way so that the cameras have things to track. Second: set up was super easy, and the vibe hub is actually useful. Not to mention the fact that this headset remembers your room layout and has a setting where once you are out of your bounding box, the cameras work to show you your environment. Amazing! I truly don’t understand the hate. Yes I’ve used a regular vive with lighthouses, but this is a solid comfortable device. I am extremely happy!

Headset weight is too heavy. Cord is stiff and heavy like the thickest vacuum cleaner cord but sticky rubber. Optics? were terrible. I could never find a spot that focused except for the dead centre of the lens after I adjusted the headset again. The uncoated Fresnel lenses cause chromatic colour aberrations so bad small text could not be read in the steamVR library on the menus due to colour diffraction. Screen door effects were no better than the older Vive headsets or even the Oculus Go at $200 Compatibility? Some games are OK but others ask for buttons that don't exist and help menus have arrows that point to the air. Not really ready for market yet. Controllers? Too short and hard to handle. Some games require you to jump by clicking down on the top of the joysticks. This is almost impossible without pulling the trigger buttons simultaneously without the controllers sliding out of your hand with their too short, wedge shape, and no grip type materials. Heat? After an hour your eyes will be dried out and cooked. There is no ventilation and with the nose blinds it is sealed to the display heat. SteamVR is being driven out with VivePort they are attempting to force on us. SteamVR will not function without the adaption drivers installed via VivePort. No installation without VivePort. Tracking? Never had a problem and it seemed to work well. Controller batteries are short lived. Expect to get some rechargeables or go through 4 x AA cells every few days. ** Not recommended.** Get a previous version of Vive or any Oculus. I returned mine for credit. Amazon.ca is good about it.