Is the HP Reverb g2 worth buying?

I’m indeed waiting on the same gasket in order to see whether I can make things better before starting a RMA (too late for refund). In the meantime I’m not using it much at all for the same reasons: always repositioning it, never finding the “sweet spot” and all the other points I’ve listed above in this discussion.

Curiously I had the G1 in June and I returned it because of the G2 and knowing my Index was only a few weeks away in the meantime (well 9 weeks later it turned out). But I’m starting regretting it because the only thing I didn’t really like about the G1 was the chromatic aberration and they seem to have solved most of it now thanks to the WMR Anti-CA pre-distortion filter. The disk of clarity was not much higher and tracking was no lesser or better than G2 in any case for seated simulators, but it was not hurting my eyes and was in focus like the Index to me.

Nevertheless, if I were to choose one it would be the Index for sure. The G2 is not up the pre-order hype, and is not up the tech. The price difference between a G2 and an Index is worth it too (considering the number of hours we’re using it, it makes the difference much less important per hour):

  • It really requires one using both to immediately see and feel how superior outside-in tracking of the Index is vastly superior to WMR inside-out. Trying to put this in words is hard, but it is just perfect tracking for the headset, but also the hands. For example I can never precisely throw anything in HLA with the G1/G2, I’m always spot on with the Index.

  • The next time (Index 2, Pimax, Decagear, XTal, Varjo, Other…) you won’t have to purchase base stations and knuckles, just the HMD.

I also don’t find any significant SDE in the Index, at least, nothing distracting me. I’ll be honest saying the G2 panel pixel density is really neat (at the center of course) and this makes me wanting an Index 1.5 refresh with the just the G2 panels resolution. The only visible artifact in the Index is the vertical banding (a side effect of rolling pixel refresh among other things) but this is controllable and not an hindrance to me in practice (maybe I got used to it too): Index headset Vertical Banding: Through the lenses pictures and thoughts

I’ve also been wondering about the accommodation-vergence issue and whether using the Index for a few months didn’t affect me in a way making me having a difficulty with the G2 optics now, but I don’t think this is the case at all.

However there are different people reporting about how OXR 100 is giving them larger disk of clarity and this is also making me wondering whether the WMR VRS is not kicking in where it shouldn’t. When configuring WMR in “Performance” mode, it is also doing VRS (variable rate shading) so that center is 1:1 pixel shader computations but peripheral is maybe 2:1 or more. If there is a bug in the WMR/OXR chain it is possible it is doing VRS and this would be reducing the disk of clarity even if you’re not in performance mode. Otherwise it might well be their shader code pre-distorting the image for rendering is not filtering the pixels with a sharp enough algorithm (to illustrate only: using bilinear instead of Lanczos).

@CptLucky8
Do you have any experience with bringing other apps (I consider SkyDemon and OneNote for making notes on my Wacom tablet simulating the RW kneeboard) to the virtual cockpit with Index and OVR Toolkit?
Any performance impact?

With G2 I observe huge (50%) performance drop when trying to use Steam OpenXR + OVR Toolkit (VRAM exhaustion on RTX3070?).
I also have ca. 20% FPS drop when attempting to bring WMR desktop (using WMR OpenXR) from the WMR Cliff House to the MFS2020 virtual cockpit. WMR desktop is also much less convenient compared to OVR Toolkit.

Lack of the navigation app I use for the RW flying and lack of the options to look at the real VFR map + making notes (e.g. frequencies or ATC clearances - I fly with Pilot2ATC - 100% voice communication) is blocking me from abandoning my 5-display setup (not properly supported by MFS2020) in favour of VR.

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@stekusteku unfortunately not much experience yet. The only overlay I’ve brought in is fpsVR :joy:

It wouldn’t surprise me it is taking as much resources but this might depend on your monitor resolution to some extent (if you’re in 4K, try setting your monitor as 1K instead for example and see if this makes any diff).

Otherwise another possible reason is the NVidia CPL settings. I’m suggesting VR pre-rendered frames to 1 but I don’t know whether this could be having an impact on displaying overlays.

Having said this, if the same kind of overlays is not taxing your system with another game, it might just be FS2020 doing something on its own affecting the performances in this case. I don’t know if you have any other OXR app you could try to compare though.

Returning to your base suggestion for G2 (from TAA 70% to 60%, OXR 100% on RTX3070) helped with acceptable FPS (~30) with WMR OpenXR desktop taken into the sim.
I will try reducing display resolution, it will help with bigger symbology in SkyDemon.

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I’ve had Oculus 2 since December, been tweaking and tweaking, read everything from Cpt! and others on this forum. Thank you all for your contribution to the VR knowledge base.

My setup:
i7 6700K OC to 4.6
RTX 3070 FE
32 GB
Have tried Quest link and Virtual Desktop (walking around the plane with no wires is kinda awesome btw). I get it to an acceptable FPS, playable smoothness, but then the next day its back to not great experience. I can turn everything down to blurry heaven but then its not an enjoyable experience. Whats frustrating is setting on day 1 doesn’t work on day 2.

I am considering getting the Reverb G2 again (had it on preorder since September and then the whole pre-order saga ensured, got tired of waiting and waiting on HP then on VR launch Dec 22 I cancelled my "pre-order, walked into a Best Buy and walked out with the Quest!

After the very first experience of being in the cockpit in VR, there is no going back to 2D. I have to get VR to work. I cant bring to play in 2D anymore, the immersion is not there anymore.

I was fine (accepted the current state of VR) with my setup until a few days ago when I saw the Video from VR Flight Sim Guy comparing this uber machine (3090 and etc) on both G2 and Quest 2. His conclusion of G2 is superior in everyway got me thinking about the G2 again.

So the question for you folks while we all hold our breath till the next world update and beyond to summer for the elusive DX12 for better VR performance & the new Nvidia driver updates which doesn’t seem to help us in MSFS

I enjoy flying C172, steam gauge planes, Low for VFR flights. No commercial, no Jet, no glass cockpits. I would like the scenery to look sharp, gauges being a bit blurry doesn’t bother me as we use them to glance at.

Is HP Reverb G2 worth buying if I already have a Quest 2?

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Everyone is different, many get on fine with the G2 but some don’t. There are issues with it, specifically surrounding comfort, the sweet spot and FOV, but I solved all those issues (see my earlier post in this thread) and I absolutely love the G2 now.

Once you get the G2 working for you, you have the best and clearest visuals currently available in VR today, and that means you have MSFS2020 looking better than it will look in any other headset on the market.

If you are lucky and you get a working G2 - yes it is. But the G2 has some strange Problems with the USB Connection, and the HP Support is simply bad. So, my G2 went back after 3 wonderful Days, followed by 3 frustrating weeks with connection errors (and I tried everything…hours and hours without success)…now I have the quest 2, and yes it simply works. But, the image quality is not compareable with the G2. If HP would guarantee me, that they solved the USB Problems, I would by it again (but, unfortunately they say nothing to the problems, a shame).

The problem with asking for buying advice online is that the ones with problems will voice their opinions loudly and forcefully, while those without problems are too busy enjoying their toys. The G2 is my first VR headset, and so far it has been fine. No issues hooking it up to either my main game machine or now my dedicated VR rig. It took a while getting it adjusted on my head, but I find it quite comfortable. I’m happy with the visual quality, but of course I don’t have anything to compare it with.

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the G2 over anything else.

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I love my G2! I had some major issues in setting it up (it didn’t play well with my computer’s USB hook-ups for some reason) but all issues are resolved now and I wouldn’t go back to flat screen. I actually tried and I was frustrated at having to move the mouse around or find a keystroke just to look out the plane window when in VR I can just turn my head.
I have used the Quest 2 as well but I find the G2 much clearer and way more comfortable to wear.

The only disadvantage to VR right now for a VFR pilot like me is that you cannot take maps and charts in the cockpit with you. I understand there are 3rd-party solutions, though.

I’ve been using G2 for more than two months now with mixed feelings.
All I can say is that if you really want to spend money on it, be prepared to spend twice that much on a 3080/3090 sooner or later:)
The quality is there but it really shows up at it’s native, or very close to native resolution.
There’s no way you can push it that high with anything below 3080. Even 3090 will struggle at high settings in dense areas.
OXR100/MSFS 100% means 3184 x 3096 - this is A LOT of pixel to display.

Some will say that they are perfectly fine with OXR50/MSFS 70% or less but I’m not. It’s a half measure to make it playable .
Anyway, if you have a decent system (1080TI and higher) there’s one way that you can at least check what kind of clarity and crispness you can get out of this headset. Just set the refresh rate to 60Hz, turn the Motion Reprojection ON and set the resolution to something like OXR80/MSFS90-100% (2800x2700 roughly).
You’ll end up with 20fps but that’s what you want for the motion rep. to kick in. At 90Hz you need minimum 30fps which is a big difference.
You’ll be amazed with cockpit crispness, sweet spot and external views clarity.
I’ve been flying like that for a couple of days now. Yes, there’s flickering (which does not bother me anymore) and reprojection artifacts but it’s FLUID and BEAUTIFULL:)
What you see down below is almost what I see in my headset.


I’m affraid there are no shortcomings - you’ll need an extremely powerfull GPU with lot’s of VRAM for this headset. Maybe the upcoming DX12 will change something but I wouldn’t expect miracles.

R5600x/RTX3070

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I have a love and hate relationship with the G2. Sold my G1 pro before Fs2020 like an idiot… But I found one for $200, the guy never used it. I received it today and I prefer the G1. I prefer to deal with a downgrade in the sound and the Mura than feeling that I have vision problems all the time.

The g1 pro in Fs2020 is a lot more confortable as it doesn’t blur as fast as the g2. I was really questionning the advantage of having such a sharp resolution only for a very small amount of screen real estate. It doesn’t made sense to me for a flight sim.

I’m glad I got the G1 back

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@AIRBORNE4795 I got the same feeling being let down with the G2 vs the G1 in the optics department indeed. I could wear back in June the G1 for hours without any eye strain, like the Index, but the G2 is a pain after 1/2h for me. Unfortunately I returned my G1 when they announced the G2 and well…

However I remember the G1 having lots of chromatic aberration and now that you got a G1 back, is the newly added WMR Anti-CA filter effective in the G1 when compared to the G2?

PS: I didn’t have any Mura in my G1 either, it was the revised version.

This is me. I have had the G2 for about 2 months now. It’s my first VR headset (besides Google Cardboard), and it’s been great!

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Hi Captain,

Definitely, I can barely notice any chromatic abberation. The Mura is very faint, but here, like in the G2 actually. I noticed it flying over snow on a cloudy sky. Other than that it’s pretty much a non issue in the G1.

When I wear the G1, I feel like I can breathe, the eye movement is natural, peeping over my shoulder isn’t a blurry mess anymore. With the G2, it just feel like there is something wrong./

Thank you for rubbing the salt on the wound even more… :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: :joy:

Is the controller tracking that bad? I have both sims also. Im looking to buy a new VR headset in a couple months.

In case of tracking, there could be issues under specific lighting conditions (too strong direct or to weak light) and specific hand position when the visible light emited by the controller is no longer seen by the headset. Rarely a case in flight simming but might be an issue in shooters. In Half Life Alyx, I lost tracking maybe a few times when throwing grenades or when my hand was down behind my leg.

But for me the most annoying issue is the battery lifetime. Can’t tell in hours but with frequent use you’ll have to replace the batteries each 4 days or so…I’m even suspicious that when the controller is turned off, there’s still some drainage (will have to test it a bit more though). Rechargeables are not an option as you need 1.5V for proper working.

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I have one arriving this morning. Will frankenfov - it…and get back to you. Had one in December and used it for about one week, quite bad, disconnections, chromatic abberation etc.

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Sorry Captain!

Have a look on ebay, I think it’s worth it. What are you going to do with your G2. Some people think it’s amazing. Maybe we got unlucky and ours are wrongly calibrated.

I’m thinking of having mine RMA, and see if they send me a replacement.

I’m waiting for the facemask mod to compare and re-evaluate the optics from a different perspective :joy:

If this is not satisfactory, I’ll RMA it and maybe ask for a refund, I don’t know yet. There is an intrinsic defect in the headset acknowledged by no less than one of the lead HP Engineer responsible for its design

This one had us really concerned that we had lens quality differences. We relooked at our tests of the lenses on the factory floor and did not find anything, and MRTV of course did a video and found no variations. We did discover a couple things during our investigation that could shed some light:

  • Quite a few customers had not adjusted their top strap. We ship this strap very taught from the factory to force users to adjust it. User’s absolutely need to adjust the top strap in order to make sure their eyes are centered with the optics. We are looking at improving out of the box setup guides to assist first time users.

  • We have found that a minority of user’s eyes are farther from the optics after making the correct adjustments than optimal. Reducing FOV and optical performance. You are right that there is a careful balance we must hit between accommodating users with glasses, but also ensuring user’s eyes are close enough to the lenses to remain in the sweet spot. I cannot comment on future plans but this is something that is definitely top of mind as we want everyone to have the same experience.

It is self-evident to me, but I’m not a VR Headset Engineer so I might be wrong: if you’re building a headset without an eye relief adjustment, you rather find a way to build optics with a larger sweet spot to accommodate for this, otherwise, you ship your headset with a face mask you can adjust the thickness of, which means at a minimum a collection of at least 2 or 3 face masks with different thickness in the box. Sure it costs $3 dollar more to manufacture in China, but it costs less than the bad reputation and the loss of customers for the Reverb G3 in my opinion.