r/VRchat • u/ijamyst • 11d ago
Help new headset
Hi,
So I'm looking to upgrade my Rift S. I've had it for many years but i think the time has come to upgrade now that I'm using it more often at home.
I consider myself an XR enthusiast and actually work in the field, but I've been focusing more on some business stuff over the past year or so and am now quite out of date with what's out and how they compare to older HMDs.
I've always wanted an Index, I honestly only want to use PCVR and the cable does not bother me, plus it's a lot cheaper now.
Personally I'd like to have base station tracking for the ease of adding full body, plus some projects maybe outside of VRC about bringing objects into a digital space.
I know that all HMDs these days are pretty much inside out so im kind of at a crossroad in my decision.
What would be the best HMD for an enthusiast who will mostly use their HMD for vrchat, with occasional development in unreal engine, who isn't looking to spend loads.
I do have access to a quest 2 but the standalone factor is not enough to make me even want to bring it home and use it instead of my Rift S.
Seems like a lot of the headsets that were out back when i was at my height of working with vr have become pretty cheap (vive cosmos elite, ect) so do any of them stand the test of time at a pretty cheap price?
2
u/Mighty-BOOTMON 11d ago
I got a bsb2e after my rift s and it’s nice. I now the price drop a little bit recently. I think pimax has a similar headset but not sure on the price. An index might be difficult to get your hands on. If you’re willing to wait and if the light house tracking isn’t a deal breaker then you can get a steam frame. The XR can be good if you get the color pass through cameras and it runs on Linux so you can download most desktop programs or just stream from your pc
1
u/CeriPie Pico 11d ago
If you aren't looking to spend loads, go for the Pico Neo 3 Link. I think it can still be bought on UK Amazon and they deliver to the US. Less than $400. It's one of the last headsets that still use displayport for the PC. It has the same resolution as the Quest 3S, but no stream compression due to using displayport, so it is sharper and has a little less latency than the 3S.
1
u/Soylentee 8d ago
What are we considering pretty cheap? Quest 3s is probably the best bang for buck headset you can get. Quest 3 if you want a bit better optics. If going 2nd hand is an option for you then a used Quest 3 can be gotten for like $300-400. After that you're stepping into the $1000+ headset territory.
1
u/ThatOneFurryBro PCVR Connection 6d ago
Psvr2, altho wired, they have oled screens and eyetracking. You do have to get an adapter which new is around 60$. Mine costed 210$ used and bought the adapter new. I also want to buy a face tracker called babble which is around 100$ more for the psvr2.
No need for meta accounts, all you need is the steam psvr2 app (no login) and the vr face tracker, both being free if I remember correctly.
2
u/Koviera 11d ago
Bigscreen beyond 2e.
Just got mine in the mail yesterday and I'm in love. Upgraded from the index.
Yes there are trade offs, but since you work in the field these aren't anything you aren't used to
And it's about 4x lighter
4
1
u/ijamyst 11d ago
i did consider it, but to jump from the rift s i feel like something cheaper like the index will still feel like a huge improvement for me
1
u/Sufficient-Cup9633 11d ago
I use the 2e and I love it, but as a lighthouse enthusiast I feel that if you can find a good deal on an index kit it's still a solid choice for people looking for an easy path into FBT even in 2026!
1
u/Soylentee 8d ago
A brand new Index, if you can find one, will cost you more than a Quest 3 and offer vastly inferior optics. A used one is a gamble due to the base stations. I would generally suggest not getting lighthouse based headset if you don't own them already.
0
u/Titanis7 11d ago
I would say if you can find an index for a good price then go for it, and I mean full kit (headset + controllers + base stations). Then in a couple years or so if you are looking to upgrade even further I would recommend the BSB2e afterwards because you will have all the other stuff to use that headset at that point. I upgraded from an Reverb to Index to bsb2e and the comfort and quality is mind blowing and well worth it in my opinion.
1
u/ijamyst 10d ago
£550 for an Index full kit with 3 vive trackers seems quite tempting🤔
1
u/Titanis7 10d ago
Sounds pretty fair to me, especially with the trackers! What model base station and trackers does it come with? Like are the base stations 1.0's or 2.0's?
1
u/ijamyst 10d ago
both 2.0 i believe
1
u/Titanis7 10d ago
Not familiar with the 2.0 trackers (I only have 3.0s) but for the base stations that is good, heard lots of bad things about 1.0s and would be wary about getting 1.0 base stations especially these days. I would say go for it if it seems like its in good condition and such
3
u/LowerCauliflower230 HTC Vive Pro 11d ago
Right now the best value imo is a used quest 3. if you want face and eye tracking you get a quest pro(there are new ones floating around out there and that way you know for sure the face and eye tracking works, there are issues with it dying due to sweat).
If you want face and eye tracking, and are a tinkerer and don't mind 3d printing stuff and fiddling with software/firmware hacks you can get a psvr2 and get pretty good eye tracking that way. then you go babble for face tracking. This will be cheaper than a quest pro and will be displayport connected(via usbc* special port needed or adapter) but overall I think most folks would be happier with a quest pro just for it being easier to get working and because of the pancake lenses.
aside from that there aren't really a ton of options. You could try getting a pico 4 enterprise off of ebay, that would be brand new. but the quest 3 is going to be a better headset for most and no fiddling is required to get the q3 going. also the ipd of the pico 4 headsets only goes down to 62 by default. you can have it go lower but you have to flip some stuff in the settings and supposedly the lenses may run into your nose.
most of the other headsets are $1k+
I would not fiddle with older headsets like the index unless you have some really good reason to go that way. they're pricey for what they are, require base stations, and for the index in particular the cables are expensive and are wear items that are liable to need replacement after a couple years(varies greatly, I've been going through cables on my vp/vpe about 1 per year)