I have currently got a Valve Index and whilst it’s a nice headset with a good refresh rate, it’s not the highest resolution out there and the cockpit instruments can be a bit hard to read. Wondering what headsets people have good experiences with that make the instruments clearly legible without having to move your head or hold the right mouse button whilst trying to read stuff from the instruments.
In terms of GPU I am running on 2080 Super.
Most folks will probably recommend the HP Reverb G2 but you will have to move your head a bunch as the it has quite narrow fov. I have it and it’s fine and yes you can read the instruments without too much leaning forward. G2’s price to performance can’t be beat.
Although my G2 just died. One day, it just stopped working. The light doesn’t come on and it died. 10 months old, rip. Lol. Quality control sucks with the headset, first it was the cable and then the headset.
I am thinking of throwing it in the trash and buying a Varjo. Or one of the pimax headsets. Or buy an Odyssey Neo G9 49" super ultra wide monitor.
It’s quite expensive, but worth every penny! The Varjo aero is the best you can find if you’re looking for clarity.
Sounds brilliant, have to consider whether I want to spend €2000 on a headset though.
it’s an expensive hobby that’s for sure 
To be honest, the price/quality balance is still horrible with VR headsets.
(just like the very first overpriced flat screen tv’s)
We are still at this stage where we pay a lot of money to get a glimpse of the awesome things we are gonna experience in the future.
Things that still suck.
Field of view.
Resolution.
PC power (graphic cards/ cpu)
In the mean time, I just can’t fly without my Quest 2, waiting for better days ahead.
Yeah once you’ve gone for VR it’s hard to go back!
Valve Index user here too! So far, there’s nothing out now that interests me enough to upgrade yet. I’m really hoping something comes out soon because I’d certainly like some more resolution - but I’m not willing to give up the FOV or the large sweet spot the Index has. I have my SteamVR super sampling set to 150% and also run the OXR Toolkit with FSR sharpening set to 80, while also using DLSS, and the image quality is pretty darn good IMO. Displays are mostly readable, though not tack sharp like they are when I use TAA - but the extra overhead lets me run my FPS at 40 or even 45. I do have a 3080 however.
I would like whatever headset I replace the Index with to have:
Similar or slightly higher FOV
Higher resolution
Eye tracking / foveated rendering
Quest 2 user here and I couldn’t be happier. It is a great balance of price (it is affordable), quality (with the right settings, it is crystal clear in GA and airliner use) and performance (I can crank it up to native resolution and still run it with a 3080Ti)
Is it the best? no
Is it the worst? no
Is it able to provide an absolutely immersive and epic VR experience? 
heck yes!!!
I also hesitated, but it depends on how often you use it and how important it is to you. I can’t fly using the monitor anymore.
In VR I like getting up out of the captains seat and standing in back of it in the Fenix A320 during flight. It’s like standing in a real flight deck. Absolutely stunning.
The image produced by the Varjo aero ist very, very good, but the FOV isn’t the largest out there.
Of course we’re on a journey and everyone has to decide for himself, how much he wants to invest in this great hobby.
Yeah sounds like resolution per eye is about double that of Index. I can see how that would make a huge difference.
I used the G2 before the aero. A huge difference in my opinion. The G2 is good, but n the aero you don’t have to turn your head to look at the instruments through the sweet spot. The image of the aero is very clear and readable even at the edges of the FOV.
Well you never know - this may be it - although I’m reluctant to stay with Meta…
$2700, you also need to buy Valve’s base stations for tracking and their Index controllers as for two grand Varjo literally give you just the headset.
There’s certainly a market for it amongst elite enthusiasts, but its absolutely not a recommended first headset unless you have money to burn.
Right now the Reverb G2 is the major recommendation for a reason. Aside from the Aero, its clarity is the best in class, it has great colours, is very comfortable and has superb audio (just remembered you need to sort your audio solution with the Aero too, it has no speakers).
The downsides to the G2 are its small sweet spot, as has been mentioned above, you’ll have to train yourself to move your head rather than your eyes. There’s also some glare and minor godrays.
I’ve had the G2 for nearly two years and am extremely happy with it for MSFS, BUT I now want something better.
I don’t want to pay the £2700 for the Aero, but I’m looking at all the new headset releases.
The Pico 4 would have been a solid recommendation but for the fact its wireless only so the image on PCVR will be compressed and low resolution because of bandwidth issues.
Next up we have the Quest Pro, which is being revealed at Meta Connect on October 11, just over a week.
Hoepfully it’s good and this will be the headset recommendation moving forward, but we won’t know until the reveal.
It will have a wired connection, at least USB-C like the Quest 2, but I’m really hoping they give us display port connectivty as then we have a G2 replacement on our hands.
If not we’ll have to wait for reviews and headset comparison.
Like you, my Reverb G2 will be 2 years old this Christmas and I’m looking for the next improvement. My first headset was a Rift S and the jump to the G2 was great. Now I want to keep the clarity but improve on the sweetspot and get a little wider FOV. Maybe even foveated rendering.
I’m keeping an eye on the Pimax Crystal. It should be out by this Christmas and it seems to have the features I want. It’s wireles but has a disply port for connection to a PC. It has the same type of lenses as the varjo aero so the entire screen should be clear. And it has inside-out tracking so no base stations needed.
The only downside to all this… every time I get an improved headset it seems I’m doubling the price. But I use VR every day so the money certainly isn’t wasted.
Yes, the price increases are crazy. I remember going for the Rift CV1 back in 2017 because they knocked a £100 off in their summer of Rift sale so I got it for £399 with loads of excellent games bundled. Then the Rift S maintained the £399 price, as did the Quest 1, then the Quest 2 was only £299. Since then headsets seem to be going up exponentially, the £650 I paid for the Reverb G2 now firmly in the budget category.
Hi,
I am also in the market to replace my Index.
Currently I am waiting for the upcoming Pimax Crystal, which should have the same FOV as the Index.
Once I have seen the first tests and reviews, I will make up my mind about the Crystal.
Yup - although I wouldn’t have a problem with keeping on using my Index and Quest 2 for another couple of years if needs must, I would like to see something with at least Index sized FoV and an improvement in resolution. The rest is of little interest to me, apart from comfort, which has been the biggest problem for me and my seemingly weird-shaped head (if my discomfort with current headsets is anything to go by). If those things are not part of a new headset, I won’t be splashing the cash.
I already don’t like the way Meta has gone and is heading with their policies and this filtering into their UI (used to get my library come up every time I put my headset on, now they put the social app stuff up, which I haven’t used in 4 years and won’t be in future). I think they are trying to force us down a particular path, rather than letting us decide if we want it or not - facebook all over. Just let us buy the headset and software we want and do what we want to do with it. Ain’t gonna happen, of course. I’m also not confident enough in WMR as it currently stands.
So I’m hoping something will turn up from Valve, Varjo, or even PiMax or Pico, that will give me some improvements - not asking for the world, just improvements - that I can afford and will be comfy enough, or that I can make comfy enough, thank you.
I once put a flat mop head in the back of the Quest Elite Strap and it was the most comfy VR I ever experienced!
i’ve owned most of the common vr headsets apart from the index and vive pro 2. imo the best is still the quest 2. whack up the device resolution and msfs TAA and the display sharpness isn’t far off that of a varjo and is certainly comparable with a G2.
it has a sweetspot bigger than that of a G2. it’s cheaper. it’s more versatile (i don’t just msfs vr, i play standalone games and other pcvr games - having no wires is liberating). it has better tracking and controllers. there are vast amounts of apps available catering to most peoples tastes. i can sit back in bed and watch netflix so easily then go and play a serious fps shooter (Onward) standalone without involving my pc or wires, with no hassles.
i know from experience it’s quite easy to look at other headsets and wonder if they are better?..“the grass is greener” etc…but ime and in imo, even if they were all the same price i’d still vote the quest 2 as my favourite headset. or put it this way, if i had to choose 1 headset only to keep for the next year, i’d choose the quest 2. note i’ve owned a varjo aero, pimax 8kx, reverb G2, amongst others.
I do kind of get that. I bought a Vive Pro 2 to upgrade from my Quest 2 and the Quest 2 was just just a straight up better headset, for £1000 less. The lenses in the Vive Pro 2 were atrociously bad. I have a Reverb G2 which I much prefer to the Quest 2 for seated PCVR, especially MSFS, but prefer the Quest 2 for everything standing.
I’m really hoping the Quest Pro/Cambria which gets officially unveiled next Tuesday is going to be a worthy upgrade over both of them.