My VR romance started with the purchase of a Pimax 5K+ around December 2017. I bought all needed peripherals ahead of time and it was just the HMD that arrived a little late, around feb 2019. I admit I had a blast and I really enjoyed it, it provided much more than I thought VR is all about and with the vive wands, yes I like them, I did not need anything else at that time.
fast forward and G2 was announce as the 8KX and I was torn between investing in the Pimax 8KX or go for the all around value HMD. My options were:
- Go with Pimax + Valve DNA (I already invested in this) or
- Go with the Mixed reality DNA (MS + HP).
At the end I decided that I will go with the HP Reverb G2 since it really ticked all the check-boxes I deemed important at that time:
- Price
- Overall performance
- Game Support (well for me X-Plane was at the top wish list at that time).
But, not all is perfect, I had to get use to:
- Mixed reality ecosystem (I still do not fully trust MS [edit]so far so good).
- New controllers with chargeable batteries.
- Unsupported controllers (well not yet) in many games especially X-Plane.
- Smaller FoV (~95 vs ~135).
Always take baby steps
When you get a new HMD and you already had one, it is easy to compare and point out the drawbacks, but it takes time to get use to it, and in order to do that you need to commit yourself to the new device.
At first, the picture quality was the first thing that amazed me, yes it is that good, much clearer than my Pimax 5K+ but very quickly I started finding faults in the new device, especially the ecosystem.
I did not get used to the Windows mixed reality application. I was frustrated I could not use the G2 with X-Plane. The FoV was somewhat a bummer and I started having mixed feelings if I did the right thing in purchasing the G2 HMD.
This is when I decided to do some changes in how I consume VR.
First, I took few days off from VR. I enjoyed few 2D games and did not touch the HMD.
Second, I decided that I will only use the new HMD and won't touch the Pimax 5K+, in away I needed to "unlearn what you have learned" (Yoda).
This "new" approach made me deal with the HP G2 as if it was my first HMD, and as long as I used it it grew on me and I can honestly say that I find it good enough to be my primary HMD with all the drawbacks I listed above.
Is this a dissonance
I honestly do not think so.
I used the G2 with MSFS2020 + mouse, since it does not support controllers, and found it OK in term of experience. The visuals are great but I'm still tweaking my machine to fly it as smooth as possible.
After finding that using a mouse is not such a bad thing, don't get me wrong I'm still prefer controllers, I decided to fly a helicopter in X-Plane. I tested a "MEDEVAC" mission using the Mission-X plugin and I really enjoyed the visuals and smoothness of the sim. VR never looked better.
So, what with the FoV.
Well, it is missing but I completely forgot about it once I started "flying". Yes, I hope that future headsets will have a larger FoV, the standard should be 120 degrees, but I guess it is easier said than done.
I currently really enjoying this headset and continue testing it with:
- Asgard Wrath
- Moss - looks amazing in this headset.
- Half Life - Alyx
- No mans sky
- and more
It took me almost a month, but I finally disconnected my Pimax 5K+ and put it back into its box. It served me well but I'll continue on hopping that in the future we will have a better all around headsets, with better prices and features.
Am I suggesting buying a G2 ?
I don't really want to answer this question, I leave it up to you to decide if you want to take the plunge. For my needs it is more than enough.
Issues that I had/have with my G2
On day one, I found out that the sound on the right speaker does not come through. Fortunately I read a simple solution related to "squeaky sound" issues in G2 that claims "cleaning the contacts of the speaker can solve sound issues". I did just that and all is working now as it should.
The other issue that I have is - screens get blank during games. I believe it is a cable issue, and I hope that the new cable, that was shipped to me, will solve this issue. If not then it means the "display port" connector on the headset is the root cause.
I hope to continue enjoying this nice headset.
Until next time...