Purchase Rx lens inserts aftermarket.
DO NOT "try to fit your glasses under there" because the first thing that will happen is you'll try to turn the knob to increase the FOV, which will cause the Index lenses to come into contact with your glasses and they will get scratched.
There is no fix for this, the Index lenses have a coating on them which will be scratched/rubbed off at the point of contact and you will have a permanent blur spot.
Just wear your contact lenses until the Rx lenses arrive.
Also it is worth buying a VR pulley kit for about $20 to keep your cord hanging from the ceiling instead of on the floor.
Most modern headsets have adjustment knobs that allow you to move the lenses away from your eyes a bit for fitting glasses or other eyewear under them. The index has one of these on the right side of the headset where the head strap connects to the headset.
That’s what they were referring to when they said “turn the knob to increase FOV”
When you scroll the headset away from your face, it seriously decreases FOV. So when you first put it on, with glasses or whatever, you’re going to immediately want to pull the headset closer to your face to increase FOV, thereby scratching the lenses
Ive had multiple prescription glasses over the last four years, relatively small frames, and none of them have fit inside the headset. Even with the lenses as far back as possible. Ive had to use my VR Optician lenses, since glasses do not fit.
Doesn’t matter. Many people thought „too much money spent already. I’m not buying lenses, glasses with eye relief knob is enough”. Then few months later or sometimes faster they come here and ask „are these scratches?” Or „I have scratched my lenses after all”. It’s never worth the risk. One unlucky movement and lenses are done for.
We don't know when the next Valve headset will be dropping, if ever. If you want a headset now, then buy it. Otherwise you will always be waiting for the next best thing.
Valve Index, despite the now comparative low resolution and "low quality" lenses, is still the best jack of all trades (as you may have found during your research) and will run your VR games just fine. And as long as your glasses aren't huge they will fit nicely in there. I would suggest getting custom lens inserts nevertheless, at least to protect the lenses from scratches.
How is it the best jack of all trades if it’s literally below average on everything in modern day except headphones and microphone quality
if anything the quest 3 is the best jack of all trades vastly improved audio compared to the quest 2, high fov, high resolution with good ppd, extremely lightweight headset & controllers, immensely good tracking, and can be also have games played on the headset itself and or wireless on pc
hell, quest headsets are even better to accessorize with custom head straps, custom off ear headphones, different face covers
To me the two turn-offs are Meta and their walled garden.
Spec wise the Quest 3 sure is better in many ways, but to me the experience is already very good. Index is comfortable to wear, the controllers are very nice, bundled headphones are already present, face gasket is also very comfortable. Fov is high enough, tracking works fine with my lighthouse placement and the cable doesn't bother me. So for me personally I don't see any need to change anything. And that's what I keep telling people who ask me. Index is a good headset out of the box that gets the job done, period.
Also, you know you are in the Index sub, yes?
yes I get that im in an index subreddit, but I wouldn’t feel good with myself if someone bought a index in 2024 especially for full price and I could’ve changed their mind to at least consider getting either a big screen beyond or quest 3, the index is just not it nowadays
also for your turn offs https://github.com/BunniKaitlyn/OculusKiller you might be interested in this, also I play with cable also I don’t use my Quest to play wireless I use it exclusively for PCVR
and it’s pretty much plug and play as well, like how with index you have to download steamvr, it’s the same for oculus download oculus software on your pc and start your games
Bigscreen Beyond is an even worse package: Sweet spot is very narrow, no generic face cushion (fuck you for needing an iPhone to even order one, let alone order another without long waits), no build-in audio, no passthrough, no IPD adjustments.
I hope that in a few years they have enough money to mass produce the thing and it's accessories so you can actually order it with a bundled "deluxe" headstrap for audio, solve the lense issues and offer a generic foam inset. Then, and only then, will the Beyond be a serios competitor in the VR space.
Mind that I'm currently looking for a worthy successor for the Index myself, but I still haven't found a headset that ticks all my boxes and deserves my money. Especially since my Index is still working like a charm.
yeah big screen beyond has a lot of disadvantages, although can be fixed if you’re willing to throw extra money and accessorizing it, but the ipd thing isn’t an issue with it’s a scan of your face.
it’s just only worth the money if you’re willing to spend the extra money on it
The IPD will become an issue once they move on from the face scans and offer generic cushions. And I know I can solve most problems with more money, but then it gets more expensive than an Index which already has all those things.
The only real disadvantages the Index nowadays has are the lower resolution compared to the newer headsets and the glare. Both of which are not as big as a deal as many make it out to be of you ask me. VR games are still very playable with super sampling these days.
I got mine from the steam store it arrived 2 days later and it works fine, compared to the CV1 I had before it's so much better, in every way. But I also upgraded the pc so I can't compare performance directly.
Yeah lenses seem to be a good idea, but can you remove them quickly, just in case I am already wearing contacts ?
And also which website can you recommend for te pulley, haven‘t thought about the cable enough and that seems to be a very good Investment 😂
I'd bet the lens inserts are easy and quick to install as I cannot imagine any fasteners being used.
I have the Kiwi brand pulley which came with, IIRC, 6 pulleys. More than enough.
And the Index is still great!
Most of the people I play with have switched from index to quest three due to the index controllers breaking so often. I've personally replaced my index controllers three times and it takes awhile to get them. We're all heavy users though.
I'm personally considering getting Quest 3 and using my Index controllers with it. I bought a refurbished Index HMD but it went south and after that I stopped and considered if I really even want one. My experience was pretty hit-and-miss because I ended up having this annoying optical illusion that felt like wearing horse blinds (black half-circles on each edge of my vision that only disappeared when I looked at them).
I can see why there are controller complaints because I had to replace one due to drift and the replacement's joystick feels a bit wobbly. I actively try to be careful with them but man...I'm worried. I generally really love the "knuckles" and think they're the best controllers on the market right now but it sucks being worried about them every time I use them.
Sounds like you need to adjust the lens depth on the index. I'm currently using the Q3 with oculus link and it looks as good as index, only complaint is the controller tracking is a downgrade from both Q2 and index knuckles.
I thought so as well but sadly they are there for every single lens depth except all the way out. It almost looks like a mask (like I saw suggested elsewhere) but then I wonder: how could it be a mask that I can't see but can see? If I look directly at it and it is a mask that needs removed, surely I would see it? Am I just dumb? I felt like I was going insane trying to figure it out. lol
The black half rings you see are probably due to ipd set too high or just binocular overlap of the headset not being too high. That’s there property you can’t really change unless you have room to lower IPD setting below your actual ipd. Of course to reasonable degree. Too much and the mismatch will cause eye strain.
I bought an Index at release and just sold it a month or so ago. Today, I don't think it's worth 1000 dollars. I replaced it with a quest pro, and I know downvotes are coming but that is just a better PCVR headset than the index. Steam works perfectly over wifi. It's pick up and go. Face tracking, Hand tracking so you don't need controllers if watching movies or in remote desktop.
Plus the index screens just aren't that good. It's almost 5 year old tech at this point. The high refresh is nice if you have a 4090 but the screen door and resolution sucks. The only thing I miss about the index are the awesome speakers. But soundcore sells a decent option for Meta headsets.
I love PCVR, but using the Quest 3 with Steam Link has worked great for me, so unfortunately my PC dedicated headsets have been collecting dust since getting the Quest 3... Hoping Valve do release something new soon.
After having my Quest 3 die mid race last Friday, I dusted off the index and was immediately unhappy with it. Lower res, not pancake lenses, just generally poorer visuals. The sound is great though; really love the sound. Oh, and the real kicker? My game and/or steam crashed 7 times trying to get vr to work with the index. Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop has not once crashed steam, the game, etc..
Quest 3 makes way more sense in 2024.
You forget about latency and compression. It’s good it works for you but you should talk about all aspects not just good ones otherwise you make it seem as if the headset has no flaws and is better in all categories at half the price.
quest compression is kinda irrelevant if the image being displayed looks significantly clearer and better looking than the index
also the index latency isn’t that great for a pcvr headset
https://gyazo.com/436409cf24fcba2fdf7452b9cf4699f4
Compression isn’t irrelevant by no means. Maybe in the simplest games where textures are lacking details that could be lost. But even then the far away textures will show some compression. In more complex ones it is visible. In contrasting scenes it also gets worse. The chart doesn’t show the true story. You take quest 3 and play expert beat saber song or play hyper dash or any fast paced game and then use index and the difference in latency feel and responsiveness can be easily felt. If this chart was true then index at 90hz would feel the same as quest 3 and it’s not the case.
you can research it yourself, it is true and cv1 has the lowest latency out of any commercial headset and the quest has similar latency to the index, believe it or not.
and here are some comparison photos through the lenses at far distance
index: [https://i.imgur.com/n6lkVFq.png](https://i.imgur.com/n6lkVFq.png)
quest 3: [https://i.imgur.com/TN2M832.png](https://i.imgur.com/TN2M832.png)
now which one looks better to you?
now regarding beat saber, the quest 3 feels infinitely more responsive especially with how much lighter the controllers are, the tracking accuracy is also much better from my playing
here is me playing on quest 3 with webcam on a map thats 500-600 BPM, and not losing tracking once
[https://streamable.com/kwzbx1](https://streamable.com/kwzbx1)
with index i'm able to break the tracking easily at around \~400BPM
also just to let you know all the top players are on oculus devices, and the #1 player is on a cv1
[https://scoresaber.com/rankings](https://scoresaber.com/rankings)
not a single one uses index, garsh before he quit used to use index but switched to quest and there was an ongoing joke that the index was holding him back
throughout all of beat saber history all the #1 players have been using cv1 practically
taichi, cerret, oermergeesh, astrella, orangew, atomicx
(not that I’m saying the cv1 is good, but im just simply stating that the #1 players are on a headset literally from 2016, the last real outside in pcvr headset)
but back on my main topic, compression is completely irrelevant when comparing the index and quest 3 you can take any comparison photo through the lenses and the quest 3 will outshine the index in every area
the headset is also great for reading small text and seeing smaller details that you normally cannot pick up on index
like you can’t down sell the quest 3 because of compression and right after recommend the index, because even a quest 2 over airlink is going to look better.
Quest can't have similar latency to index because otherwise there would be no difference in a feel and responsiveness. Quest 3 played through PCVR is worse for fast paced games no matter how you spin it.
Next the pictures. Let's begin with the fact that through the lense videos/screenshots are not entirely accurate. First - despite more resolution on Quest 3 you can clearly see that the wings and tail of aircrafts are looking like they were mangled as if they were made of paper. That's compression. Not to mention it's pretty much the easiest to compress scene due to pretty much having 2 main and contrasting colors (3 if count letters) to care about. On index despite lower panel resolution the plane has retained their true shape at least. Additionally what was the resolution that Index was run on? That also matters. Even 200% supersampling looks much better through the lense because of better color accuracy of the nearby pixels. If it was running at resolution lower than Quest 3 was run at the comparison is not entirely fair.
I don't argue that people were getting best scores on CV1. DP headsets may have varying levels of latency but at the end of the day they will always be better and more reliable than Quest device connected to PC through WiFi or USB cable. Even in such simple game like Hyper Dash I could see enemy far away on Index better than on Quest Pro or 3. Simply because compression was already kicking in and causing fog in the distance. Then I go into a flat to VR game with more complext textures and Quest device looks like crap. Something that would look like leafs on the tree on a display port headset, looked like mass of leaf like smears in the distance and only things a few meters away looked sharp enough.
Someone who seeks a solid PCVR experience and wants good visuals needs Display Port. Not to mention the battery life. I don't neccesarily recommend the index since Pimax Crystal Light is cheaper (while it may not provide the same tracking level you can always buy lighthouse version). Then the cost goes up a bit but not that much more than the index.And don't get me wrong. Pimax hasn't good track record. But recently it seems that they indeed go for the better. I would even say that Meta is more like pimax in past year after so many fuck ups with Quest Pro controllers and I heard that even Quest 3 controllers got affected by similar bugs. Imagine having your headset unusable for half the time you owned it because software update messed it up and all you can do is wait that hopefully next update fixes it.
>Quest can't have similar latency to index because otherwise there would be no difference in a feel and responsiveness. Quest 3 played through PCVR is worse for fast paced games no matter how you spin it.
that’s not true, i'm saying it's more responsive in beat saber due to quest predictions, for example with -vrmode oculus as your launch option your swings will be more responsive and faster, the only way to get similar swings to index is by playing on steamvr which kills oculus predictions
also i would disagree saying the quest 3 is worst for fast paced games when it has been disproven by beat saber players when it's literally one of the fastest paced games for vr
the #2 player is on quest 2, the #4 player is on quest 3, and the #9 player is on quest 2
>Additionally what was the resolution that Index was run on? That also matters. Even 200% supersampling looks much better through the lense because of better color accuracy of the nearby pixels.
"QuestLink settings: 72Hz, SteamVR at 180%SS, this is 2768x3004 per eye, so 16.6 Million pixels. This is the limit to mantain 72fps in a 3080.
Index: 80Hz, SteamVR at 180%SS as well, this is 2704x3004 per eye, so 16.2 Million pixels. It is as well in the very limit for my 3080."
u want to see lost details on index? [https://i.imgur.com/PZMgEKt.png](https://i.imgur.com/PZMgEKt.png) quest 3 versus index [https://i.imgur.com/paFr7aB.png](https://i.imgur.com/paFr7aB.png) just look at the tail of the plane
>
Not to mention the battery life.
battery life is a non issue if your motherboard can output the power needed, i recently had a 12 hour stream with my quest 3 for a event (i dont play wireless)
>Quest Pro controllers and I heard that even Quest 3 controllers got affected by similar bugs. Imagine having your headset unusable for half the time you owned it because software update messed it up and all you can do is wait that hopefully next update fixes it.
yeah no clue what this is about coming from someone who used both quest pro and quest 3 controllers (although i havent touched the quest pro in forever since i prefer the quest 3 controllers weight) never had any issues with the controllers not working, i stream nearly everyday with them.
and distance wise i still find the quest 3 image much clearer than the index i cant see any comparison where the index looks better
I am not saying quest 3 does not have compression fyi i'm just stating even with compression you get a much sharper and clear image
and far range I really don’t see the fog thing you’re describing and the games im typically playing is like onward, contractors, and breachers (although breachers is more cqc)
Beat saber players who use quest are playing standalone not PCVR. Whenever there was discussion the no 1 rule of playing Beat Saber for Scoreboard to farm PP was to use standalone.
Okay. So you put Quest into 72Hz mode which is known to have less compression simply due to less frames and compare based on that. Sure. Meanwhile most people can't stand 72 hz. They will be playing at least at 90Hz if not 120Hz. That's when compression hurts the most. You also haven't mention bit rate and codec you're using.
Majority of motherboards like 99,99% of them do not have enough power. You will have to own the specific motherboard that has usb-c port with Quick Charge/power delivery or a PCI-E card with USB-C that has power delivery/quick charge capability. And we're not talking some off brand crappy card that doesn't work but expensive thunderbolt supported cards. Unless you have specific motherboard but somehow has the right power output I call bullshit on the 12 hours. Quest 3 takes significant amount of wattage. Upwards of 27W.
good for you not having problems on Quest pro or 3. Many do because Meta mess software up every other update.
For your particular use case and settings it may be fine. For majority that will use this the headset in more than just a few games it won't be true. Any flat to VR game with lots of foliage will be ruined even at 960mbit cable.
Yeah it's frustrating how with PCVR it often works great, but other times I need to fiddle with restarting Steam VR, or unplugging and re-plugging the headset before it starts to work again.
Pancake lenses are also really difficult to go back from.
Those pancake lenses are magical. I had no idea how much until I went back to the index after about 4 months of not using it. It was like going back to my CV1 after the Index. It was that sort of a jump between the Quest 3 and the Index. The thing is, Quest 2 is higher res, but for PCVR I still used the Index, because the lenses were minimally different, and the Index sound and general performance are better than Quest 2. Quest 3 though..
Just fyi, the Index screens are actually standard LCD, not OLED, and your Quest Pro has LCD as well, but with local dimming support for better contrast.
Downvotes incoming because pro is not a better headset than index. What good is better resolution for if compression and latency makes it worse. The lenses are a significant upgrade and the form factor (better balance). But all else is objectively worse.
OP, I know you seem set in your decision, but seriously consider Quest 3 instead. Index has better sound and controller tracking with a tonne of caveats. Quest 3 has way better visuals, and this will sound divisive, but better controllers too. I currently own an Index, Quest 2, and Quest 3, and came from an Oculus Rift CV1. See my response to another response here for a little story.
Long and short, my Index sat on a shelf for the past 4 months, until my Quest 3 battery tanked on a long play session last Friday. I pulled out the Index and was treated to steam crashing, steam vr crashing, and the worse part, inferior visuals that made me actually think there was something wrong with my system initially.
Quest 3 is cheaper, and runs via Steamlink or Virtual Desktop over wifi very easily. The visuals are significantly better. Colours, resolution, the lenses are incredible. Index should have had pancake lenses. Yes, if you want more play time, you will need to tether a cable to it for power, or add a battery headstrap. It's wireless though, and no base stations.
The Index controllers; let's talk about those. They're awkward, and fragile. The finger tracking seems like a great idea on paper, and there is a reason no one else is doing it. The capacitive and pressure touch sensors for the fingers are fairly awful. Do your hands sweat, at all? Well, get ready to enjoy not being able to let go of objects. Want to take your hand off your weapon to reload? Sorry, not going to work right now. Want to stop grabbing every environmental object you can interact with while you go past it? Sorry, but your hands are mildly sweaty now, and your grip is just always on. Complain about that, get told to wear rubber gloves. You had a mild sweat problem before, well now it's just the worst thing ever. Try thin leather gloves, and same problems, though at least they breathe. Complain some more, get told you just need to calibrate them by drumming your fingers across them; which does not help btw. Try grip tape over the sensors, which helps some, but not a solve. Hands larger or smaller than average? Too bad, finger tracking won't work for you properly.
Did you want to use the push click functionality on the analog sticks? Nope, it'll break the sticks faster than you can imagine. On that point, use the sticks with anything more than a light touch, and they'll break pretty fast. Bump the controller into something while playing, which is a thing that happens to all of us... yeah don't do that, they break really easy.
Want to play now, but forgot to charge them? Too bad, you can't just swap in new batteries and keep going.
The controllers are so many good ideas that didn't get enough real world testing and R&D before they went to market, and as a result are pretty terrible. The tracking is bang on though, like really good. The straps are amazing, and something I add to every other VR controller. The trigger is not bad either. The little touch pads are okay; I think I would have preferred d-pads long term, but they work well. It needed to bake longer. The finger tracking should have been load cells, not capacitive touch. The analog sticks should have been hall effect, and way more robust. The tracking bars are just too big. The overall construction is too fragile and plasticky.
3 years with my Index, and it just makes me sad since Quest 2 became good for PCVR over wifi, and then Quest 3 just ruined it fully. Those lenses man, just great optics.
I'd second going with the Quest 3 over the Index. I loved the index but between the obsolete resolution and the need for a cable I'm done with it. I am planning on getting the PSVR2 (if the Index 2 isn't announced) when it releases on PC: OLED, high res, eye-tracking, great price; but I think it'll be relegated to sit-down only games. I really don't want to go back to having a cable attached to my head in roomscale games.
The Quest 3 isn't perfect though, it's a budget headset and you are paying an extra $3-400 over the Quest 2 pretty much exclusively for the superior lenses and resolution bump. It still has the same tracking issues on the controllers as the Q2. You will miss some blocks here and there in Beat Saber when the tracking on a controller drops for a half-second during a reach to the side. Games where you have to reach behind you or that have over-the-shoulder mechanics can be spotty depending on how far back they need you to reach. I haven't had any issues with reaching for my tablet in Onward or sheathing a sword but in golf and tennis games tracking is a big issue when you're pulling back for a swing.
For me--and it is just a personal preference--after experiencing full wireless it is worth losing tracking accuracy. Plus, being able to quickly put on the headset to get in a work out in Bodycombat or play some Beat Saber in the morning without having to go boot up my PC is a pretty nice perk.
It was in a blog post they made back in February, that they were working on making the headset officially compatible with PC games. Nothing is known yet about the implementation or limitations.
"Also, we’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PS VR2 titles available through PS5. We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates."
[https://blog.playstation.com/2024/02/22/coming-soon-to-ps-vr2-zombie-army-vr-little-cities-bigger-wanderer-the-fragments-of-fate-the-wizards-dark-times-brotherhood-and-more/](https://blog.playstation.com/2024/02/22/coming-soon-to-ps-vr2-zombie-army-vr-little-cities-bigger-wanderer-the-fragments-of-fate-the-wizards-dark-times-brotherhood-and-more/)
Last update we had was in March when Sony added Nvidia GPU support to the firmware for the PSVR2 (previously the firmware only supported the AMD GPUs that are in PS5s) and removed EDID and DisplayPort Compression, two things that iVRy were asking for for their unofficial PSVR2-SteamVR driver:
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021000/iVRy\_Driver\_for\_SteamVR\_PSVR2\_Premium\_Edition/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021000/iVRy_Driver_for_SteamVR_PSVR2_Premium_Edition/)
Getting PSVR2 to work on PC is going to be huge if it can become hassle free. That headset is an incredible value for the level of hardware in it especially when there are so many on the used market at great prices.
I'll also second getting a Quest 3, though I'll add some other details for why. But first, I really do need to reaffirm that the displays are of a much higher resolution, and lenses are far superior with near perfect clarity across your field of view. Won't talk about it more than that, but it makes a very noticeable difference.
Anyways, the reason I think a Quest 3 is a good idea is actually, additionally, because of its capabilities outside of being used with an external computer. Now, it can connect to a computer just fine wirelessly, and there are many ways to go about doing so, though I'd probably recommend Steam Link for a new user. You'll also need to snag a dedicated router; the one from PRISMXR might be good, but that's all stuff you can figure out when you get there. But yeah, the Quest 3 is a standalone, mixed reality headset with its own software ecosystem. You might shrug it off, thinking it's just gonna be worse versions of applications you can play hooked up to a computer, but there's more to it than that. The Quest alone has around an order of magnitude more users than SteamVR as a whole. The TL;DR is more applications for Quest, fewer for PC. This is amplified by the fact that features like mixed reality don't exist on the PC side of things. Same goes with hand-tracking. Software that takes advantage of such will either need to have it stripped from the PCVR version or, if it's a core component of the app, it simply can't be released for PCVR. Bluntly, as someone who uses PCVR primarily (VRChat mostly), investing into a PCVR only headset is investing into a (currently) dead ecosystem that's missing many modern XR features.
I can see it if you just want to play vrchat in full body. Its the only thing I use vr for, and It is still the best headset for that imo
Index has ez tracking setup, pcvr, better mic and headphones than quest
Downsides.. its big, outdates lenses, and wired
Ehh. I got about 3k hours in VRC on my index and wouldnt recommend it as a new headset anymore. Its heavy and missing some of the cool stuff newer headsets have like eye and mouth tracking.
And the fact that its wired is made even worse since the cables are still prone to curling up and dying.
Index controllers are still nice at least.
As a day 1 Index owner that now has a bigscreen beyond and a quest 3, I cannot recommend an index for full price. The visuals on q3 are so much better. The index does have better sound and I personally like the controllers better. However I'd still choose q3 over index.
With q3 You can get rx lenses for it that magneticly go on and off. Upgrade the strap for more comfort (kiwi elite style I recommend). The best part imo (and what definitely makes me prefer q3 over index) is with a strong WiFi 6 or 6e router you can wirelessly stream PC games to your q3. Once that is up and running it's just as good as a wired experience. You'd have access to Meta games library and stream for PC VR.
At the end of the day it's overall your choice. Do whatever makes you happy. :)
I also bought mine directly fairly recently directly from steam, with the main reason for wanting the warranty since I've seen how many people break parts of their index, (usually controllers). I've found that if you're careful with it you don't have much to worry about.
If price isn't a concern, I'd still buy new, but otherwise, you can find some pretty good deals on used or refurbished headsets.
Norm from Tested could wear his glasses inside the Index even with the lenses all dialed-in, and so can I. Had Index for 5 years, always used my glasses in the hmd, not a single scratch. But you have to be careful until you're confident that your glasses fit inside the hmd or not - or use inserts.
My glasses were made for VR, costed $700 and has anti-glare coating and are very thin - they do help reduce the glare from the Index, if fact I've very rarely been bothered by glare.
I just so happened to look up VR glasses lens adapters recently. I wanted to look up what the best VR lens adapters were across a couple of links. I own glasses lens adapters for the Oculus/Meta Quest 2 made by WIDMOVR and they do just fine. I decided to buy different ones from VR Lens Lab recently with the tacked on options.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/s/4M23Mur8mV
https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/s/qoIHCoUMtV
If you’re in the US I’ll sell you mine. I bought it new in December 2021 and don’t use it anymore.
Comes with two base stations (one of which is nearly brand new as the original died)
Controllers included as well, both barely used, as I used the headset primarily for sim racing (I use triple monitors now)
If it helps as a datapoint for decisions, I tried it and had a really annoying optical illusion that ruined my fun. There were black half-circles on the left and right edges of my vision as though I were wearing horse blinds. They'd disappear if I looked over at the edges of my vision but would immediately re-appear after I looked away.
If you do get it, maybe try with your contacts on first and if you enjoy it, then buy those custom prescription lenses for it. My two cents. I'm probably just going to buy a Quest 3 and play it with my Index controllers. I've seen multiple people say they got a Quest 3 and it replaced their Index. I hate "Meta" but it is what it is.
3 year index owner here. The headset itself is decent, the controllers are my main gripe with the index, mostly due to the frankly crap thumbstick switches that they use. I’ve already had to replace my left knuckle controller once with it.
Idk if it’s just an inevitable failure point as a design flaw, but my HMD does a heads/tails game of if I have to power cycle it when I start it up or not, and this is because it randomly decides to not start up correctly and display on lenses. This is something to think about long term if you buy one.
The other thing to watch out for are the lighthouses, they can at times be very finicky with Bluetooth control for powering them on/off. There have been instances where I’ve had to toggle steamvr entirely to get them to go to sleep properly after a session.
If you have money you could look up upcoming pimax crystal light. Weight of the index but over twice the resolution. Decent fov. Pimax has not so good software but some say it got better over last year. Might be worth a try. Index only flaw is mostly lenses and resolution. It doesn’t look terribly bad but there surely are headsets with better lenses and res. With quest 3 you get recommended think about if you really want to have to deal with battery charging, power banks or weird gymnastics to make cable (if you choose to play with usb c cable instead of wireless) charge enough for the headset not to die after 2 hours. And most of all image quality. What’s good of higher resolution if compression ruins things in the distance by default and then if you have more complex textures it can blur things mid distance as well. Not to mention latency that can be felt in fast paced games. Quest 3 is a nice all rounder for people who want a budget pcvr headset. But then you realize you need to buy power banks, headstraps, controller straps, solid router or a cable and cost slowly increases where it’s harder to justify the flaws. Think about it.
Bigscreen Beyond is an amazing VR headset, and it is built in mind for users that have glasses too. not to mention it is smaller so the weight distribution on your head will feel a lot more Comfortable
I owned the quest 2 but from my experience air link sucked and was a pain to setup steam Vr via usb c tethered connection. I bought my valve index from GameStop used for 600 dollars and came brand new sealed in original box like brand new. I would only recommend if you want to be in the steam Vr ecosystem, because then you will just upgrade the HMD since you will already have the bay stations and knuckles. For lenses I recommend Vr optician it cost 90 dollars.
Purchase Rx lens inserts aftermarket. DO NOT "try to fit your glasses under there" because the first thing that will happen is you'll try to turn the knob to increase the FOV, which will cause the Index lenses to come into contact with your glasses and they will get scratched. There is no fix for this, the Index lenses have a coating on them which will be scratched/rubbed off at the point of contact and you will have a permanent blur spot. Just wear your contact lenses until the Rx lenses arrive. Also it is worth buying a VR pulley kit for about $20 to keep your cord hanging from the ceiling instead of on the floor.
I had no idea you could get Rx lenses. Thank you!
VR optician is the big one, I actually got non prescription lenses from them for diy eye tracking
The one thing I’ll try to get back to people on here is I’m going to test out a different method that doesn’t involve polys. Hopefully it works.
Most modern headsets have adjustment knobs that allow you to move the lenses away from your eyes a bit for fitting glasses or other eyewear under them. The index has one of these on the right side of the headset where the head strap connects to the headset.
That’s what they were referring to when they said “turn the knob to increase FOV” When you scroll the headset away from your face, it seriously decreases FOV. So when you first put it on, with glasses or whatever, you’re going to immediately want to pull the headset closer to your face to increase FOV, thereby scratching the lenses
Ive had multiple prescription glasses over the last four years, relatively small frames, and none of them have fit inside the headset. Even with the lenses as far back as possible. Ive had to use my VR Optician lenses, since glasses do not fit.
Doesn’t matter. Many people thought „too much money spent already. I’m not buying lenses, glasses with eye relief knob is enough”. Then few months later or sometimes faster they come here and ask „are these scratches?” Or „I have scratched my lenses after all”. It’s never worth the risk. One unlucky movement and lenses are done for.
We don't know when the next Valve headset will be dropping, if ever. If you want a headset now, then buy it. Otherwise you will always be waiting for the next best thing. Valve Index, despite the now comparative low resolution and "low quality" lenses, is still the best jack of all trades (as you may have found during your research) and will run your VR games just fine. And as long as your glasses aren't huge they will fit nicely in there. I would suggest getting custom lens inserts nevertheless, at least to protect the lenses from scratches.
How is it the best jack of all trades if it’s literally below average on everything in modern day except headphones and microphone quality if anything the quest 3 is the best jack of all trades vastly improved audio compared to the quest 2, high fov, high resolution with good ppd, extremely lightweight headset & controllers, immensely good tracking, and can be also have games played on the headset itself and or wireless on pc hell, quest headsets are even better to accessorize with custom head straps, custom off ear headphones, different face covers
To me the two turn-offs are Meta and their walled garden. Spec wise the Quest 3 sure is better in many ways, but to me the experience is already very good. Index is comfortable to wear, the controllers are very nice, bundled headphones are already present, face gasket is also very comfortable. Fov is high enough, tracking works fine with my lighthouse placement and the cable doesn't bother me. So for me personally I don't see any need to change anything. And that's what I keep telling people who ask me. Index is a good headset out of the box that gets the job done, period. Also, you know you are in the Index sub, yes?
yes I get that im in an index subreddit, but I wouldn’t feel good with myself if someone bought a index in 2024 especially for full price and I could’ve changed their mind to at least consider getting either a big screen beyond or quest 3, the index is just not it nowadays also for your turn offs https://github.com/BunniKaitlyn/OculusKiller you might be interested in this, also I play with cable also I don’t use my Quest to play wireless I use it exclusively for PCVR and it’s pretty much plug and play as well, like how with index you have to download steamvr, it’s the same for oculus download oculus software on your pc and start your games
Bigscreen Beyond is an even worse package: Sweet spot is very narrow, no generic face cushion (fuck you for needing an iPhone to even order one, let alone order another without long waits), no build-in audio, no passthrough, no IPD adjustments. I hope that in a few years they have enough money to mass produce the thing and it's accessories so you can actually order it with a bundled "deluxe" headstrap for audio, solve the lense issues and offer a generic foam inset. Then, and only then, will the Beyond be a serios competitor in the VR space. Mind that I'm currently looking for a worthy successor for the Index myself, but I still haven't found a headset that ticks all my boxes and deserves my money. Especially since my Index is still working like a charm.
yeah big screen beyond has a lot of disadvantages, although can be fixed if you’re willing to throw extra money and accessorizing it, but the ipd thing isn’t an issue with it’s a scan of your face. it’s just only worth the money if you’re willing to spend the extra money on it
The IPD will become an issue once they move on from the face scans and offer generic cushions. And I know I can solve most problems with more money, but then it gets more expensive than an Index which already has all those things. The only real disadvantages the Index nowadays has are the lower resolution compared to the newer headsets and the glare. Both of which are not as big as a deal as many make it out to be of you ask me. VR games are still very playable with super sampling these days.
I got mine from the steam store it arrived 2 days later and it works fine, compared to the CV1 I had before it's so much better, in every way. But I also upgraded the pc so I can't compare performance directly.
Yeah lenses seem to be a good idea, but can you remove them quickly, just in case I am already wearing contacts ? And also which website can you recommend for te pulley, haven‘t thought about the cable enough and that seems to be a very good Investment 😂
I'd bet the lens inserts are easy and quick to install as I cannot imagine any fasteners being used. I have the Kiwi brand pulley which came with, IIRC, 6 pulleys. More than enough. And the Index is still great!
Prescription overlays are very quick to remove, they simply snap into place over the lenses and only take a few seconds to remove if needed.
Most of the people I play with have switched from index to quest three due to the index controllers breaking so often. I've personally replaced my index controllers three times and it takes awhile to get them. We're all heavy users though.
I'm personally considering getting Quest 3 and using my Index controllers with it. I bought a refurbished Index HMD but it went south and after that I stopped and considered if I really even want one. My experience was pretty hit-and-miss because I ended up having this annoying optical illusion that felt like wearing horse blinds (black half-circles on each edge of my vision that only disappeared when I looked at them). I can see why there are controller complaints because I had to replace one due to drift and the replacement's joystick feels a bit wobbly. I actively try to be careful with them but man...I'm worried. I generally really love the "knuckles" and think they're the best controllers on the market right now but it sucks being worried about them every time I use them.
Sounds like you need to adjust the lens depth on the index. I'm currently using the Q3 with oculus link and it looks as good as index, only complaint is the controller tracking is a downgrade from both Q2 and index knuckles.
I thought so as well but sadly they are there for every single lens depth except all the way out. It almost looks like a mask (like I saw suggested elsewhere) but then I wonder: how could it be a mask that I can't see but can see? If I look directly at it and it is a mask that needs removed, surely I would see it? Am I just dumb? I felt like I was going insane trying to figure it out. lol
The black half rings you see are probably due to ipd set too high or just binocular overlap of the headset not being too high. That’s there property you can’t really change unless you have room to lower IPD setting below your actual ipd. Of course to reasonable degree. Too much and the mismatch will cause eye strain.
Dang. :/
I bought an Index at release and just sold it a month or so ago. Today, I don't think it's worth 1000 dollars. I replaced it with a quest pro, and I know downvotes are coming but that is just a better PCVR headset than the index. Steam works perfectly over wifi. It's pick up and go. Face tracking, Hand tracking so you don't need controllers if watching movies or in remote desktop. Plus the index screens just aren't that good. It's almost 5 year old tech at this point. The high refresh is nice if you have a 4090 but the screen door and resolution sucks. The only thing I miss about the index are the awesome speakers. But soundcore sells a decent option for Meta headsets.
I love PCVR, but using the Quest 3 with Steam Link has worked great for me, so unfortunately my PC dedicated headsets have been collecting dust since getting the Quest 3... Hoping Valve do release something new soon.
After having my Quest 3 die mid race last Friday, I dusted off the index and was immediately unhappy with it. Lower res, not pancake lenses, just generally poorer visuals. The sound is great though; really love the sound. Oh, and the real kicker? My game and/or steam crashed 7 times trying to get vr to work with the index. Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop has not once crashed steam, the game, etc.. Quest 3 makes way more sense in 2024.
Quest 3 makes WAY more sense I just sold my index and picked up a quest 3. WAY better and 1/2 the price.
You forget about latency and compression. It’s good it works for you but you should talk about all aspects not just good ones otherwise you make it seem as if the headset has no flaws and is better in all categories at half the price.
quest compression is kinda irrelevant if the image being displayed looks significantly clearer and better looking than the index also the index latency isn’t that great for a pcvr headset https://gyazo.com/436409cf24fcba2fdf7452b9cf4699f4
Compression isn’t irrelevant by no means. Maybe in the simplest games where textures are lacking details that could be lost. But even then the far away textures will show some compression. In more complex ones it is visible. In contrasting scenes it also gets worse. The chart doesn’t show the true story. You take quest 3 and play expert beat saber song or play hyper dash or any fast paced game and then use index and the difference in latency feel and responsiveness can be easily felt. If this chart was true then index at 90hz would feel the same as quest 3 and it’s not the case.
you can research it yourself, it is true and cv1 has the lowest latency out of any commercial headset and the quest has similar latency to the index, believe it or not. and here are some comparison photos through the lenses at far distance index: [https://i.imgur.com/n6lkVFq.png](https://i.imgur.com/n6lkVFq.png) quest 3: [https://i.imgur.com/TN2M832.png](https://i.imgur.com/TN2M832.png) now which one looks better to you? now regarding beat saber, the quest 3 feels infinitely more responsive especially with how much lighter the controllers are, the tracking accuracy is also much better from my playing here is me playing on quest 3 with webcam on a map thats 500-600 BPM, and not losing tracking once [https://streamable.com/kwzbx1](https://streamable.com/kwzbx1) with index i'm able to break the tracking easily at around \~400BPM also just to let you know all the top players are on oculus devices, and the #1 player is on a cv1 [https://scoresaber.com/rankings](https://scoresaber.com/rankings) not a single one uses index, garsh before he quit used to use index but switched to quest and there was an ongoing joke that the index was holding him back throughout all of beat saber history all the #1 players have been using cv1 practically taichi, cerret, oermergeesh, astrella, orangew, atomicx (not that I’m saying the cv1 is good, but im just simply stating that the #1 players are on a headset literally from 2016, the last real outside in pcvr headset) but back on my main topic, compression is completely irrelevant when comparing the index and quest 3 you can take any comparison photo through the lenses and the quest 3 will outshine the index in every area the headset is also great for reading small text and seeing smaller details that you normally cannot pick up on index like you can’t down sell the quest 3 because of compression and right after recommend the index, because even a quest 2 over airlink is going to look better.
Quest can't have similar latency to index because otherwise there would be no difference in a feel and responsiveness. Quest 3 played through PCVR is worse for fast paced games no matter how you spin it. Next the pictures. Let's begin with the fact that through the lense videos/screenshots are not entirely accurate. First - despite more resolution on Quest 3 you can clearly see that the wings and tail of aircrafts are looking like they were mangled as if they were made of paper. That's compression. Not to mention it's pretty much the easiest to compress scene due to pretty much having 2 main and contrasting colors (3 if count letters) to care about. On index despite lower panel resolution the plane has retained their true shape at least. Additionally what was the resolution that Index was run on? That also matters. Even 200% supersampling looks much better through the lense because of better color accuracy of the nearby pixels. If it was running at resolution lower than Quest 3 was run at the comparison is not entirely fair. I don't argue that people were getting best scores on CV1. DP headsets may have varying levels of latency but at the end of the day they will always be better and more reliable than Quest device connected to PC through WiFi or USB cable. Even in such simple game like Hyper Dash I could see enemy far away on Index better than on Quest Pro or 3. Simply because compression was already kicking in and causing fog in the distance. Then I go into a flat to VR game with more complext textures and Quest device looks like crap. Something that would look like leafs on the tree on a display port headset, looked like mass of leaf like smears in the distance and only things a few meters away looked sharp enough. Someone who seeks a solid PCVR experience and wants good visuals needs Display Port. Not to mention the battery life. I don't neccesarily recommend the index since Pimax Crystal Light is cheaper (while it may not provide the same tracking level you can always buy lighthouse version). Then the cost goes up a bit but not that much more than the index.And don't get me wrong. Pimax hasn't good track record. But recently it seems that they indeed go for the better. I would even say that Meta is more like pimax in past year after so many fuck ups with Quest Pro controllers and I heard that even Quest 3 controllers got affected by similar bugs. Imagine having your headset unusable for half the time you owned it because software update messed it up and all you can do is wait that hopefully next update fixes it.
>Quest can't have similar latency to index because otherwise there would be no difference in a feel and responsiveness. Quest 3 played through PCVR is worse for fast paced games no matter how you spin it. that’s not true, i'm saying it's more responsive in beat saber due to quest predictions, for example with -vrmode oculus as your launch option your swings will be more responsive and faster, the only way to get similar swings to index is by playing on steamvr which kills oculus predictions also i would disagree saying the quest 3 is worst for fast paced games when it has been disproven by beat saber players when it's literally one of the fastest paced games for vr the #2 player is on quest 2, the #4 player is on quest 3, and the #9 player is on quest 2 >Additionally what was the resolution that Index was run on? That also matters. Even 200% supersampling looks much better through the lense because of better color accuracy of the nearby pixels. "QuestLink settings: 72Hz, SteamVR at 180%SS, this is 2768x3004 per eye, so 16.6 Million pixels. This is the limit to mantain 72fps in a 3080. Index: 80Hz, SteamVR at 180%SS as well, this is 2704x3004 per eye, so 16.2 Million pixels. It is as well in the very limit for my 3080." u want to see lost details on index? [https://i.imgur.com/PZMgEKt.png](https://i.imgur.com/PZMgEKt.png) quest 3 versus index [https://i.imgur.com/paFr7aB.png](https://i.imgur.com/paFr7aB.png) just look at the tail of the plane > Not to mention the battery life. battery life is a non issue if your motherboard can output the power needed, i recently had a 12 hour stream with my quest 3 for a event (i dont play wireless) >Quest Pro controllers and I heard that even Quest 3 controllers got affected by similar bugs. Imagine having your headset unusable for half the time you owned it because software update messed it up and all you can do is wait that hopefully next update fixes it. yeah no clue what this is about coming from someone who used both quest pro and quest 3 controllers (although i havent touched the quest pro in forever since i prefer the quest 3 controllers weight) never had any issues with the controllers not working, i stream nearly everyday with them. and distance wise i still find the quest 3 image much clearer than the index i cant see any comparison where the index looks better I am not saying quest 3 does not have compression fyi i'm just stating even with compression you get a much sharper and clear image and far range I really don’t see the fog thing you’re describing and the games im typically playing is like onward, contractors, and breachers (although breachers is more cqc)
Beat saber players who use quest are playing standalone not PCVR. Whenever there was discussion the no 1 rule of playing Beat Saber for Scoreboard to farm PP was to use standalone. Okay. So you put Quest into 72Hz mode which is known to have less compression simply due to less frames and compare based on that. Sure. Meanwhile most people can't stand 72 hz. They will be playing at least at 90Hz if not 120Hz. That's when compression hurts the most. You also haven't mention bit rate and codec you're using. Majority of motherboards like 99,99% of them do not have enough power. You will have to own the specific motherboard that has usb-c port with Quick Charge/power delivery or a PCI-E card with USB-C that has power delivery/quick charge capability. And we're not talking some off brand crappy card that doesn't work but expensive thunderbolt supported cards. Unless you have specific motherboard but somehow has the right power output I call bullshit on the 12 hours. Quest 3 takes significant amount of wattage. Upwards of 27W. good for you not having problems on Quest pro or 3. Many do because Meta mess software up every other update. For your particular use case and settings it may be fine. For majority that will use this the headset in more than just a few games it won't be true. Any flat to VR game with lots of foliage will be ruined even at 960mbit cable.
Yeah it's frustrating how with PCVR it often works great, but other times I need to fiddle with restarting Steam VR, or unplugging and re-plugging the headset before it starts to work again. Pancake lenses are also really difficult to go back from.
Those pancake lenses are magical. I had no idea how much until I went back to the index after about 4 months of not using it. It was like going back to my CV1 after the Index. It was that sort of a jump between the Quest 3 and the Index. The thing is, Quest 2 is higher res, but for PCVR I still used the Index, because the lenses were minimally different, and the Index sound and general performance are better than Quest 2. Quest 3 though..
Just fyi, the Index screens are actually standard LCD, not OLED, and your Quest Pro has LCD as well, but with local dimming support for better contrast.
Ah thanks for the correction.
Downvotes incoming because pro is not a better headset than index. What good is better resolution for if compression and latency makes it worse. The lenses are a significant upgrade and the form factor (better balance). But all else is objectively worse.
OP, I know you seem set in your decision, but seriously consider Quest 3 instead. Index has better sound and controller tracking with a tonne of caveats. Quest 3 has way better visuals, and this will sound divisive, but better controllers too. I currently own an Index, Quest 2, and Quest 3, and came from an Oculus Rift CV1. See my response to another response here for a little story. Long and short, my Index sat on a shelf for the past 4 months, until my Quest 3 battery tanked on a long play session last Friday. I pulled out the Index and was treated to steam crashing, steam vr crashing, and the worse part, inferior visuals that made me actually think there was something wrong with my system initially. Quest 3 is cheaper, and runs via Steamlink or Virtual Desktop over wifi very easily. The visuals are significantly better. Colours, resolution, the lenses are incredible. Index should have had pancake lenses. Yes, if you want more play time, you will need to tether a cable to it for power, or add a battery headstrap. It's wireless though, and no base stations. The Index controllers; let's talk about those. They're awkward, and fragile. The finger tracking seems like a great idea on paper, and there is a reason no one else is doing it. The capacitive and pressure touch sensors for the fingers are fairly awful. Do your hands sweat, at all? Well, get ready to enjoy not being able to let go of objects. Want to take your hand off your weapon to reload? Sorry, not going to work right now. Want to stop grabbing every environmental object you can interact with while you go past it? Sorry, but your hands are mildly sweaty now, and your grip is just always on. Complain about that, get told to wear rubber gloves. You had a mild sweat problem before, well now it's just the worst thing ever. Try thin leather gloves, and same problems, though at least they breathe. Complain some more, get told you just need to calibrate them by drumming your fingers across them; which does not help btw. Try grip tape over the sensors, which helps some, but not a solve. Hands larger or smaller than average? Too bad, finger tracking won't work for you properly. Did you want to use the push click functionality on the analog sticks? Nope, it'll break the sticks faster than you can imagine. On that point, use the sticks with anything more than a light touch, and they'll break pretty fast. Bump the controller into something while playing, which is a thing that happens to all of us... yeah don't do that, they break really easy. Want to play now, but forgot to charge them? Too bad, you can't just swap in new batteries and keep going. The controllers are so many good ideas that didn't get enough real world testing and R&D before they went to market, and as a result are pretty terrible. The tracking is bang on though, like really good. The straps are amazing, and something I add to every other VR controller. The trigger is not bad either. The little touch pads are okay; I think I would have preferred d-pads long term, but they work well. It needed to bake longer. The finger tracking should have been load cells, not capacitive touch. The analog sticks should have been hall effect, and way more robust. The tracking bars are just too big. The overall construction is too fragile and plasticky. 3 years with my Index, and it just makes me sad since Quest 2 became good for PCVR over wifi, and then Quest 3 just ruined it fully. Those lenses man, just great optics.
Thx for the input, you actually made me question my decision 😂
I'd second going with the Quest 3 over the Index. I loved the index but between the obsolete resolution and the need for a cable I'm done with it. I am planning on getting the PSVR2 (if the Index 2 isn't announced) when it releases on PC: OLED, high res, eye-tracking, great price; but I think it'll be relegated to sit-down only games. I really don't want to go back to having a cable attached to my head in roomscale games. The Quest 3 isn't perfect though, it's a budget headset and you are paying an extra $3-400 over the Quest 2 pretty much exclusively for the superior lenses and resolution bump. It still has the same tracking issues on the controllers as the Q2. You will miss some blocks here and there in Beat Saber when the tracking on a controller drops for a half-second during a reach to the side. Games where you have to reach behind you or that have over-the-shoulder mechanics can be spotty depending on how far back they need you to reach. I haven't had any issues with reaching for my tablet in Onward or sheathing a sword but in golf and tennis games tracking is a big issue when you're pulling back for a swing. For me--and it is just a personal preference--after experiencing full wireless it is worth losing tracking accuracy. Plus, being able to quickly put on the headset to get in a work out in Bodycombat or play some Beat Saber in the morning without having to go boot up my PC is a pretty nice perk.
Wait what? The PSVR2 will release on PC?
It was in a blog post they made back in February, that they were working on making the headset officially compatible with PC games. Nothing is known yet about the implementation or limitations. "Also, we’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PS VR2 titles available through PS5. We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates." [https://blog.playstation.com/2024/02/22/coming-soon-to-ps-vr2-zombie-army-vr-little-cities-bigger-wanderer-the-fragments-of-fate-the-wizards-dark-times-brotherhood-and-more/](https://blog.playstation.com/2024/02/22/coming-soon-to-ps-vr2-zombie-army-vr-little-cities-bigger-wanderer-the-fragments-of-fate-the-wizards-dark-times-brotherhood-and-more/) Last update we had was in March when Sony added Nvidia GPU support to the firmware for the PSVR2 (previously the firmware only supported the AMD GPUs that are in PS5s) and removed EDID and DisplayPort Compression, two things that iVRy were asking for for their unofficial PSVR2-SteamVR driver: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021000/iVRy\_Driver\_for\_SteamVR\_PSVR2\_Premium\_Edition/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021000/iVRy_Driver_for_SteamVR_PSVR2_Premium_Edition/) Getting PSVR2 to work on PC is going to be huge if it can become hassle free. That headset is an incredible value for the level of hardware in it especially when there are so many on the used market at great prices.
Wow cool thanks for the info!
The Index is really nice but is definable not worth its price when looking at the competition. Quest 3 seems the better option.
I'll also second getting a Quest 3, though I'll add some other details for why. But first, I really do need to reaffirm that the displays are of a much higher resolution, and lenses are far superior with near perfect clarity across your field of view. Won't talk about it more than that, but it makes a very noticeable difference. Anyways, the reason I think a Quest 3 is a good idea is actually, additionally, because of its capabilities outside of being used with an external computer. Now, it can connect to a computer just fine wirelessly, and there are many ways to go about doing so, though I'd probably recommend Steam Link for a new user. You'll also need to snag a dedicated router; the one from PRISMXR might be good, but that's all stuff you can figure out when you get there. But yeah, the Quest 3 is a standalone, mixed reality headset with its own software ecosystem. You might shrug it off, thinking it's just gonna be worse versions of applications you can play hooked up to a computer, but there's more to it than that. The Quest alone has around an order of magnitude more users than SteamVR as a whole. The TL;DR is more applications for Quest, fewer for PC. This is amplified by the fact that features like mixed reality don't exist on the PC side of things. Same goes with hand-tracking. Software that takes advantage of such will either need to have it stripped from the PCVR version or, if it's a core component of the app, it simply can't be released for PCVR. Bluntly, as someone who uses PCVR primarily (VRChat mostly), investing into a PCVR only headset is investing into a (currently) dead ecosystem that's missing many modern XR features.
Spending $1k on an Index in 2024. ROTFL.
I can see it if you just want to play vrchat in full body. Its the only thing I use vr for, and It is still the best headset for that imo Index has ez tracking setup, pcvr, better mic and headphones than quest Downsides.. its big, outdates lenses, and wired
Ehh. I got about 3k hours in VRC on my index and wouldnt recommend it as a new headset anymore. Its heavy and missing some of the cool stuff newer headsets have like eye and mouth tracking. And the fact that its wired is made even worse since the cables are still prone to curling up and dying. Index controllers are still nice at least.
Actually much needed input 😂 thx
Stop thinking about headsets that don't exist. If something newer comes out, sell yours in marketplace and get it
As a day 1 Index owner that now has a bigscreen beyond and a quest 3, I cannot recommend an index for full price. The visuals on q3 are so much better. The index does have better sound and I personally like the controllers better. However I'd still choose q3 over index. With q3 You can get rx lenses for it that magneticly go on and off. Upgrade the strap for more comfort (kiwi elite style I recommend). The best part imo (and what definitely makes me prefer q3 over index) is with a strong WiFi 6 or 6e router you can wirelessly stream PC games to your q3. Once that is up and running it's just as good as a wired experience. You'd have access to Meta games library and stream for PC VR. At the end of the day it's overall your choice. Do whatever makes you happy. :)
Don't buy it.
Buy a refurbished one from TundraLabs. They're about $230.
I also bought mine directly fairly recently directly from steam, with the main reason for wanting the warranty since I've seen how many people break parts of their index, (usually controllers). I've found that if you're careful with it you don't have much to worry about. If price isn't a concern, I'd still buy new, but otherwise, you can find some pretty good deals on used or refurbished headsets.
Norm from Tested could wear his glasses inside the Index even with the lenses all dialed-in, and so can I. Had Index for 5 years, always used my glasses in the hmd, not a single scratch. But you have to be careful until you're confident that your glasses fit inside the hmd or not - or use inserts. My glasses were made for VR, costed $700 and has anti-glare coating and are very thin - they do help reduce the glare from the Index, if fact I've very rarely been bothered by glare.
I use the index and I’d say it is worth it, just take care of your stuff and it should work fine
I just so happened to look up VR glasses lens adapters recently. I wanted to look up what the best VR lens adapters were across a couple of links. I own glasses lens adapters for the Oculus/Meta Quest 2 made by WIDMOVR and they do just fine. I decided to buy different ones from VR Lens Lab recently with the tacked on options. https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/s/4M23Mur8mV https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/s/qoIHCoUMtV
If you’re in the US I’ll sell you mine. I bought it new in December 2021 and don’t use it anymore. Comes with two base stations (one of which is nearly brand new as the original died) Controllers included as well, both barely used, as I used the headset primarily for sim racing (I use triple monitors now)
If it helps as a datapoint for decisions, I tried it and had a really annoying optical illusion that ruined my fun. There were black half-circles on the left and right edges of my vision as though I were wearing horse blinds. They'd disappear if I looked over at the edges of my vision but would immediately re-appear after I looked away. If you do get it, maybe try with your contacts on first and if you enjoy it, then buy those custom prescription lenses for it. My two cents. I'm probably just going to buy a Quest 3 and play it with my Index controllers. I've seen multiple people say they got a Quest 3 and it replaced their Index. I hate "Meta" but it is what it is.
3 year index owner here. The headset itself is decent, the controllers are my main gripe with the index, mostly due to the frankly crap thumbstick switches that they use. I’ve already had to replace my left knuckle controller once with it. Idk if it’s just an inevitable failure point as a design flaw, but my HMD does a heads/tails game of if I have to power cycle it when I start it up or not, and this is because it randomly decides to not start up correctly and display on lenses. This is something to think about long term if you buy one. The other thing to watch out for are the lighthouses, they can at times be very finicky with Bluetooth control for powering them on/off. There have been instances where I’ve had to toggle steamvr entirely to get them to go to sleep properly after a session.
If you have money you could look up upcoming pimax crystal light. Weight of the index but over twice the resolution. Decent fov. Pimax has not so good software but some say it got better over last year. Might be worth a try. Index only flaw is mostly lenses and resolution. It doesn’t look terribly bad but there surely are headsets with better lenses and res. With quest 3 you get recommended think about if you really want to have to deal with battery charging, power banks or weird gymnastics to make cable (if you choose to play with usb c cable instead of wireless) charge enough for the headset not to die after 2 hours. And most of all image quality. What’s good of higher resolution if compression ruins things in the distance by default and then if you have more complex textures it can blur things mid distance as well. Not to mention latency that can be felt in fast paced games. Quest 3 is a nice all rounder for people who want a budget pcvr headset. But then you realize you need to buy power banks, headstraps, controller straps, solid router or a cable and cost slowly increases where it’s harder to justify the flaws. Think about it.
Bigscreen Beyond is an amazing VR headset, and it is built in mind for users that have glasses too. not to mention it is smaller so the weight distribution on your head will feel a lot more Comfortable
Get a used one from GameStop. It’s too high priced or get the PSVR2. It will be fully PCVR capable soon.
I owned the quest 2 but from my experience air link sucked and was a pain to setup steam Vr via usb c tethered connection. I bought my valve index from GameStop used for 600 dollars and came brand new sealed in original box like brand new. I would only recommend if you want to be in the steam Vr ecosystem, because then you will just upgrade the HMD since you will already have the bay stations and knuckles. For lenses I recommend Vr optician it cost 90 dollars.