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Is the OG Cosmos worth the asking price 6 months after release?


Dickytwo

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Having pre-ordered it and sent it back after giving HTC a couple of months to sort out the problems (to which they failed), I always said I would look again later on and see if it was worth re-buying.

What are people's opinions? From what I can see on here, there are still issues with occlusion and tracking. Plus having the correct lighting. Has anything really changed?

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Hi @Dickytwo

As always it depends on your requirements and what you are prepared to work with.

The tracking has improved vastly since it's release and they have done a lot of good work on the device but there are still tracking issues. It is still very sensitive to lighting conditions and what you have on your walls to track optimally. If your walls are plain or too white it won't track , if you have too much or too little light it won't track so you would have to setup a room appropriately for it's use. I have setup my study so that it works every time without any problems (my wife complains sometimes) but if you are prepared to use it within a narrow set of environmental conditions then it will work just fine.

As for the tracking as I said it has improved a lot but if you hold the controllers too close to your HMD or in front of each other to occlude a controller or even low down or very high above you (but in front) it still loses it's shit so to speak. I understand that they are continuing to work on these issues going forward and may be able to resolve some or most of it with further firmware updates but you have to be very patient and i don't expect them to be able to resolve all of them due to the hardware limitations imposed by the choice of technologies for this model HMD but i might be wrong maybe a employee would like to comment on that. In retrospect and knowing what I know now I would have preferred to have waited bought the Elite since I have had to setup a room especially for its use anyway to avoid the chronic tracking issues that we are still experiencing 6 months or so down the track. Also beware that they have not provided a viable upgrade path for OG Cosmos owners as it is almost the cost of a new HMD when you include everything that you need the cost is prohibitive unless you don't care about how you spend your money. Look at the cost of a face-plate, at least two steam tracking devices and compatible controllers you may as well have just bought the elite. If you own a original Vive it's a bit more palatable financially you just need the face-plate as you already have the other devices.

So that's the gist of it as I see it so far. I hope it gives you some information to help towards making your decision. I have adapted to the above mentioned limitations and I am enjoying using the device daily and it works well with the software that I use it with (I also bought the wireless kit and that works really well I have to say) it is basically a good product (with caveats) and I hope that they will continue to fix the remaining issues with inside out tracking and if I can get a good price on a upgrade to light house tracking somehow I will probably do that too or if not then there's always the next gen HMD' which are still a ways off I think but I'm in no hurry.

Fink.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Traacking has improved considerably.. If its for racing games, and most games... I prefer the OG cosmos' convenience.. I however upgraded to teh elite, and its a lot more precise for sniping.... That being said, again, tracking improved massively, plus there were some tricks to help accuracy, like having your arms in front, or even enabling "virtual gunstock" in first person shooters.   At the end of the day though, I ended returning the cosmos OG and kept the Elite...

Some things to keep in mind.. 
- The controllers of the OG cosmos are ergonomically very nice. Much more comfortable.  The vive wands are awkward, but the tracking is indeed better with the elite.  
- The OG cosmos has the cameras enabled to be able to see your room as you approach walls or barriers, or even so you can just see through the gogles... This should work in the ELITE but doesnt, and its a known issue.  

With the latest updates id get the OG cosmos over the rift S.

htccosmos (1).jpeg

Edited by nyandres
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As an OG Cosmos user, that's a hard no. While the software team has improved tracking, it is too flaky depending on individual lighting situations to be worth the money. You're better off getting a working externally tracked solution (Quest or Rift) OR save your money and get the Cosmos Elite or the Valve Index. The Cosmos and Cosmos Elite still have a lot of benefits. The Cosmos only suffers because the tracking cons outweigh the other benefits. If I had the option to upgrade to the Cosmos Elite at a reasonable price, I would definitely do it.

My two cents.

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I never tried outside base station tracking so I have nothing to compare to.

My first experience with VR is actually Cosmos it self. I bought it as a present to my self And I did have lots of fun with it at the beginning. 

Yes, hands sometimes jumped around...

Yes, there was some shaking (I believe its called jitter) ...

Yes, standby aim of my controllers was slowly swimming to the side sometimes...

I've played some shooter ( something "new dawn" ) and No Man's Sky ,but I didnt see any two handed weapons so I did not had any bad experience in aiming ( the thing most of people complain here )

That did not ruin my overall experience... but I've still put my Cosmos in a closet for now. 

Its hard for me to speak about tracking because like I said, I have nothing to compare it to. Its sounds fantastical to me that tracking can actually be consistent  and without jittering, but obviously I would like this product to preform as it is described "Emitted light ensures accurate tracking on controllers. Get an edge with precision joysticks." , while its undoubtful does not have an edge on ANY other VR set tracking, judging by reviews. 

But I'm optimistic. Look at how everybody cried at No Man's Sky at the beginning, that is was a ripoff, that it was a lie, that developers just wanted easy money grabbing... And what have it become. Greatest comeback in history of Unfinished games 🤭

Maybe Cosmos will be the next one, judging by the improvements that came since January ( when I bought my Cosmos, and it cost me more 1000USD ) , taking in account the Corona crisis, and comparing it to Beta releases, I'd say, give guys a chance, you can see they are trying. Maybe it is not worth the money right now because it does not fit it's description, but dont scrap it yet. I believe that team that works to fix those issues just needs some time.

Anyways, If the engineering team will not succeed with  technical improvements, I believe marketing team should give us some kind of solution

 

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