HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift with Touch: quick review

[landrvr1]

So I really haven't seen much info on this but thought I'd share some testing results on this two platforms. Vive wins hands down for one very important reason; which is the last item on the list, heh.

 

 

Optics

In my estimation the Rift has better optics. The Vive has some issues and this is very apparent in one's periphery vision. Keeping your head still, glancing to the left and right reveals slight blurring/warping. The Rift's periphery vision is near perfect. We had many people of all ages and vision types test it out, and every single one noticed the problem. This isn't to say that it's horrible, just there...

 

 

Hand Controls

The Rift Touch hand controls are better in my view. More lightweight, the form and function allow you to actually do hand and finger gestures - impossible with the Vive. Very nicely done.

 

 

Tracking, Sensors, and Users

The Vive is significantly better and more accurate. The major problem with the Rift is that the sensors and entire setup process isn't great. This translates into a real deal-breaker for us: you will never get an accurate height reading - which means that any sort of presentation that involves furniture or an emphasis on accurate human interaction/scale is horrible with the Rift. No matter what I tried, I was always floating at least 2" above the floor. It's easy to test, just place the hand controllers on the real floor and see them floating above the virtual floor.

 

In the Rift setup process, there's two red flags that spell trouble: 1. You are asked for your height. 2. You never have to place the hand controllers on the floor like you do with the Vive setup. Asking for the user's height means that the entire setup is really geared for an INDIVIDUAL user and NOT a group experience. By never placing the hand controllers on the floor, the entire system never has an accurate reading on exactly where the floor is within Z space, lol. Horrible. That means that if you have a 6ft tall user, the setup has to be for that person. If someone 5'-6" high then tries out the headset, it's way off. This is only compounded by the floor height issue.

 

The Vive was flawless every time, and totally designed for different user at any time.

 

The sensors are better for the Vive, and thus tracking is better.

Edited April 19, 2017 by landrvr1