cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

My Odyssey+ review

maxpare79
Trustee
Alright long time Rift owner (since DK2) used to be a mod around here (yeah I am not dead), I decided to give the Odyssey+ a try since Microsoft Store will let you return it for free during the first 30 days so why not.

Long story short, don't believe the hype...
Screen:
Being a sims guy I was intrigued mainly by the screen, and was really excited to try it on. The display on the Rift never bothered me, once you wear it for a while you tend to forget the imperfection. I wasn't blown away by the Odyssey+ screen like I thought I would. You can still see the pixels and the difference is definitely not night and day with the Rift, but the difference might be more noticeable to a Vive owner (I also play with one regularly and find the screen on the rift sharper). FOV might be a bit larger if you can succeed at getting the damn thing close to your eyes (more about that later). Colors are great, I can sometimes see the fresnel ring during bright scenes, god ray don't bother me but again I was never bothered by those as well on my Rift. 

Sweetspot:
Alright in the Rift you can move your eyes to look around without any problems, in the Vive you actually have to move your head to look around, in this, it's between the 2, you can move your eyes a bit, but it get blurrier if you go to the full extent of your eyes movement

Tracking:
Tracking was spot on, and responsive, I would only loose tracking behind my head and with the controller directly in front of the headset (example if you would try to take something and eat it in job simulator, you might loose tracking near your mouth) Other then that I really didn't find any problems with it in my 2x3m space. I dimmed the light in the room to a minimum and it would still work so I was impress by inside out tracking, was expecting it to be a load of crap but I can see it being the future now, one more camera on the headset at the back and I believe this might be the future.

Controllers:
Again was expecting a subpar experience, but the controllers are actually fine, plastic feels cheap and they do require 2 batteries each, but the egonomics is just a bit below the Touch but better than the Vive wands, what is weird is that these IR lights on it are actually real leds, the controllers light up like a christmas tree. On a side note my hands are small so experience might differ for somebody with big hands.

Audio:
I am not an audio guy, headphones are good, on par with the Rift

Setup:
Literally 5 mins and your good to go, kudos there

And now here comes the bad news:

Headset construction:
What can I say, this thing is friggin huge, I find it gigantic compare to my Rift, it's bulky and massive, if I could compare the construction of this thing it reminds me of the first gearVR but bigger (same type of plastic)

Fit and comfort:
Alright from different reviews I could tell that you had to have a specific head shape for this, it seems I am one of the lucky winner, I have a big head, as a reference, if I put a baseball cap on, I have to enlarge it by 2 pins (the plastic thingy at the back of the head). I have seen mods online to remove light leaks from this thing, luckily I had no more light leak then on my Rift (through the nose), I didn't experience leak on the side of the headset.
My main problem with it is that this weight all sits on your forehead, and to get the sweetspot right you have to install the strap at the lowest spot possible at the back of your skull, which actually makes the HMD tilt up from your cheek, you have a weird feeling that this thing is dangling in front of your face rather then wearing it as a hat like the rift. I now understand why people made mods for the original odyssey to push the headset on the cheeks with straps going around the head and so on...If you push it hard enough on your cheek you notice a wider FOV, but getting it to stay there is another matter.
Maybe it get some use to but the pressure on the forehead is really annoying...

Software:
Jesus, I love my Rift now more then ever because of this thing...Alright where to start...I might not know all the tips and tricks around the WindowsMR user experience, but I should not have to do research as well...
First you start WindowMR, then you can start SteamVR for WindowMR, thing I experience is that I would loose audio in the headset as soon as SteamVR started, I said to myself alright not the first time I have to mess around SteamVR audio settings, I will just choose the right audio source, then 2 things happened, 1st when you have a WindowsMR headset on, Windows 10 actually locks itself up, you have to press window+y key to gain control back of your desktop...annoying, second, when looking at my audio source I can't find anything related to the Samsung headset, only my regular audio source are present, don't ask me why...
Listen I already find that the SteamVR experience is clunky compared to Oculus Home/Dash, now you have to clunky experience on top of one another. Everytime I want to start a game I have to mess around to get it to work, which does not happened on the RIft and not as much on the Vive for that matter. One example is for some games you will have to remap the controllers in steam because the dev didn't have the WindowsMR headset in mind when they designed it.

Conclusion
2 days with it, it's in the box back to Microsoft, if the screen would have been a much better improvement I would maybe have stick with it and the clunkyness of the interface and the comfort, but it's not worth it, don't believe the hype. I wouldn't even call this Rift 1.5. But if a refresh of the Rift comes out with a screen that compares to this I might consider it if it's in the 250-300 ballpark (old joke, smaller park). But I really don't get how Samsung could issue a product so uncomfortable with all these headset already out there that they could just copy...The ease of use of the Rift really shines when you come face to face with something like this. I wish Oculus Home would open the door to other headset natively so everyone could enjoy it.
I am a spacesim/flightsim/racesim enthusiast first 🙂 I9 9900k@5.0, 32gb RAM/ 2080ti Former DK2, Gear VR,CV1 and Rift S owner
40 REPLIES 40

Welcome back @maxpare79  nice to have a fellow ex-mod in the room. Things have quietened down somewhat since you were last here.

Sounds like there's a little way to go with the +, it's about time we had a new headset in our hands that we can really cheer about. Well, spring should have at one coming our way at least.

maxpare79
Trustee
Hey Daft! Nice to know kids are behaving now!
Yeah really was expecting better, it's when you try something else that you realize how convenient the Rift is...I know the Pimax 5k+ is suppose to be the end of it all, but after trying WinMR, just hearing the word PiTool has me deeply worried lol. If Microsoft can't come up with something decent, I don't have high hopes for a Chinese startup lol


I am a spacesim/flightsim/racesim enthusiast first 🙂 I9 9900k@5.0, 32gb RAM/ 2080ti Former DK2, Gear VR,CV1 and Rift S owner

Anonymous
Not applicable
Yea I figure we wouldn't see a true differences until 4k+ resolutions ranges. Tho - I figure they still be better than the Rifts over all just because they are higher resolution. Granted - I assume the less sharpness comes to play for their lower SDE. Anyway you can get image shots of both so we can compare?

maxpare79
Trustee

Mradr said:

Yea I figure we wouldn't see a true differences until 4k+ resolutions ranges. Tho - I figure they still be better than the Rifts over all just because they are higher resolution. Granted - I assume the less sharpness comes to play for their lower SDE. Anyway you can get image shots of both so we can compare?


Sorry can't anymore it's already in the box with the Microsoft UPS label on it. There's a lot of comparison running around reddit if you want to check it out. But you would be surprise, it's not that much of an improvement except for the SDE and the black levels...Not enough to keep it. It might have been if it totally replaced the Rift but I can't see myself putting up with WinMR interface + SteamVR + Remixed (WinMR version of revive)...

My main reason for trying it was Project Cars 2 and Elite, I noticed a difference in Elite but mainly because of the black levels and just a bit because of the text. In PC2 it was more difficult to see the difference, I expected a better view of object in the distance but no...
Keep in mind that I have a 2080ti so I can pretty much run my Rift with all the bells and whistle and the SS at 2.0
I am a spacesim/flightsim/racesim enthusiast first 🙂 I9 9900k@5.0, 32gb RAM/ 2080ti Former DK2, Gear VR,CV1 and Rift S owner

pyroth309
Visionary

maxpare79 said:


Mradr said:

Yea I figure we wouldn't see a true differences until 4k+ resolutions ranges. Tho - I figure they still be better than the Rifts over all just because they are higher resolution. Granted - I assume the less sharpness comes to play for their lower SDE. Anyway you can get image shots of both so we can compare?


Sorry can't anymore it's already in the box with the Microsoft UPS label on it. There's a lot of comparison running around reddit if you want to check it out. But you would be surprise, it's not that much of an improvement except for the SDE and the black levels...Not enough to keep it. It might have been if it totally replaced the Rift but I can't see myself putting up with WinMR interface + SteamVR + Remixed (WinMR version of revive)...

My main reason for trying it was Project Cars 2 and Elite, I noticed a difference in Elite but mainly because of the black levels and just a bit because of the text. In PC2 it was more difficult to see the difference, I expected a better view of object in the distance but no...
Keep in mind that I have a 2080ti so I can pretty much run my Rift with all the bells and whistle and the SS at 2.0


That's what i was most afraid of with this headset was the blurring not making it easier to see/read in the distance. I wanted one for sims but now I'll just wait for a Rift S or a Pimax. Thanks for your review.

BeastyBaiter
Superstar
I had a pretty similar experience with the original Odyssey. Grabbed it after about 6 months with the Rift hoping for a massive resolution bump. The screens were clearly better and it had less god rays, but actually reading cockpit text in DCS and IL2 was not improved surprisingly. The audio and comfort were absolute garbage though. I couldn't wear it for more than 15 minutes before my forehead was irritated by the lack of breath-ability of that fake leather and all the weight being on that one spot. The headphones would be fine if they had half the padding and actually rested on my ears. As it was, they were so far away that all bass was gone and it was nothing but the highs remaining. I returned it within 24 hours.

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP
I think that the main problem underpinning the Odyssey+ success is Windows Mixed Reality (WMR).  I originally started out with WMR late last year with a Dell headset (at least it came free with my PC at the time).  After ~5 months of suffering I switched to a Rift and I have been very happy with this ever since.  Not to say there have not been some issues, but at least these were all resolved, sometimes with very little pain and suffering!

I recently I took my Dell WMR headset out of its box from under my pool table to give it another go.  This is where I hide all the stuff I don't want my wife to know about btw.  I wanted to see if the new Win10 1809 and SteamVR for Windows updates had improved things since I was considering an Odyssey+.

Short answer = My Dell WMR headset is back in its box under my pool table, and I'm not sure it will ever see the light of day again, lol!

I do kinda hope the Microsoft manages to continue to improve and develop WMR because it does provide competition which should help the whole VR industry.

I think that the biggest mistake that Microsoft made was to try to share their risk and get other companies on board by farming out their headset/controller production to a number (+8?) of companies.  Although specs were given, it is likely that there were some minor differences.  Certainly the Samsung Odyssey is an example of this.  They have probably produced the best WMR product but unfortunately its distribution was limited, it was more expensive, and reports of other inferior headsets did not help sell the whole WMR thing imho.  

I think Microsoft should have either produced these themselves or limited them to one manufacturer (maybe Samsung?).  Then they would have been in the position to provide faster fixes and improvements.  This is why I currently like Oculus's strategy to control its headset/controller production.  

As it is, WMR's kind of a mess right now imho and I'm not sure where it's going.  But, hopefully it will continue to develop and improve.  Maybe one day I'll be able to take my Dell WMR headset out of its box from under my pool table, lol!
i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 32Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Thanks for the elaborate review, which did put the nail in the Odyssey+ coffin for me - I'm using ss 2.0 in most of my Rift games too, wouldn't want to risk reducing sharpness.

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

LZoltowski
Champion
Great review, thanks @maxpare79 and Hi! 

Sounds like we are just seeing super minor upgrades from the mainstream companies at the moment, the Odyssey+ seems more like the SDE tech showcase/field test rather than anything else.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black
ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) 

Be kind to one another 🙂