My first impressions of the Oculus Quest 2 I got for Hivefest

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As you may have read yesterday, I ordered an Oculus Quest 2 64 GB for Hivefest.

I ended up canceling my Oculus Quest 2 64 GB order and picking up the 256 GB model locally. I had some time to play around with it last night with my son.

64 GB vs 256 GB

From what I have heard, the 64 GB is more than enough for most people and I was planning on getting the 64 GB for that reason. I went with the 256 GB because I don't want to worry about installing/uninstalling games all the time to keep under 64 GB. I have a lot of children between friends and family I want to share this with and having a lot of options on it is easier.

It's $100 more for 4x the storage, and games are getting larger, one game is 12 GB. I expect newer games will push the envelop as they start targeting the better graphics of the Quest 2. If you plan on using your VR for more than Hivefest, I think the 256 GB is the smart choice.


Build Quality

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I really love the controllers, they feel great and are well made. They feel very natural and comfortable. They are very easy to get used to and intuitive.

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The headset on the other hand isn't as comfortable and well made. The main component of the headset is pretty nice and I don't have a lot of complaints about that, but the strap is probably the poorest component in the entire setup. I find myself messing with the fit often, this is probably made more difficult as my son was using it as well with me and I had to adjust back and forth.


User experience

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My first reaction to using the device is "damn this is freaking cool" but the more I used it the more frustrated I got. I can't really figure out which of the three settings available for the eye pieces works best. I feel it is always blurry, no matter what I do. I feel moving the device slightly higher on my forehead is more important than the eye piece settings.

The eye piece is probably my biggest complaint, there are now only 3 adjustment settings rather than wide range of adjustment in the previous model. I am still messing with this to see how I can get the clearest picture. Text seems to have the biggest problem and is frequently blurry and flickering if you don't quite get it right.

That being said, there is a new update v23 that allows 90Hz and is suppose to make things work a little better. So far this update has not shown up for me yet, but I do see it in experimental settings so I am not 100% sure if it is enabled for me yet. Once my USB cable shows up today I can hook it up to a PC and use Side Quest to force it and turn up the graphic quality.

I will play with it more today and see if I can get a better adjustment for clarity while my son is at school and I don't to have to keep changing the adjustment.

The menu system is amazing, it's literally like having a virtual desktop sitting in front of you where your computer usually would be. It is really fun to adjust things and use the Virtual Environments. A virtual environment changes your surroundings to be a Cyberpunk world, Japanese Retreat, Winter Ski Resort, and others. I really love these environments and wish there was an option to select favorites that will be randomly chosen. It is really amazing to just turn your head and look around feeling like you are sitting out in the stars.

One thing that I like is you can turn on hand sensing and you can use the user interface without a controller. This works by sensing your hand positions via the front facing camera.


Gaming

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I am surprised there really isn't that much software available for the device. The store initially feels full of games, but there really are not many when you finally look through them all.

I did try the rollercoaster game, Super Hot, Beat Saber, and a few other free games before I make a commitment to buy anything.

I really want to try this on a PC, and I cannot do that until my cable comes in. I have no idea what to expect and I honestly expect to be disappointed (the main reason I avoided VR until now).

I really loved the Superhot demo but I was frustrated I couldn't use a gun most of the time. I plan on checking out Pistol Whip which should be really good for that type of game play but there was no demo.


The Catch

This is what really turned me off on the experience and will likely greatly reduce how much I buy and get into the Oculus Quest 2.

You have to have a Facebook account and you must use your real information or run the risk of being banned and bricking your Oculus Quest 2 device. This is not a rare occurrence either, there are a lot of people who have had this happen and when you are banned you get a message that your account has been terminated and the decision has been reviewed and it is final.

All purchases in the Oculus store are tied to your Facebook account and are forfeited once this happens. Your device also becomes a paperweight as it cannot be moved to another account at this point as far as I have seen. I have even seen cases of users with factual ID information on their Facebook account get banned and even sending in a government issued ID for confirmation did nothing to unlock their account.

This is a huge concern of mine, I left Facebook a while ago and I never want to go back. I don't want them having my information so they can sell it off and use it for advertising. By creating a sock puppet Facebook account I am at risk of losing my investment in the Oculus ecosystem and even my Oculus device itself. This in my opinion is criminal and I really hope there is a lawsuit started about this, if there isn't I will consider contacting a few friends of mine who do class actions to see if they are interested in getting one started. It would be one thing if the account creation was a harmless online account, but Facebook is a true risk to ones personal security and privacy. It has been proven time and time again Facebook cannot be trusted with user data and I should not be forced to hand that over to use this device.

I was thinking about getting one for my son for Christmas, and there is no fucking way I am putting his information into Facebook. But then I can't trust buying any of the paid games as at any point I can lose access to my entire library.

This to me is a deal breaker and I am currently looking at other options but the prices escalate quickly. One of the things I really like about the Quest 2 is it can be used as a stand alone device without a PC. This is great for traveling and holidays where I can hang out with the kids and let them play around with it. A lot of the other options don't do this as well as the Quest 2. I am more interested in the PC experience to be honest, but I do value having a completely mobile device as well.

I'm really torn as the Facebook aspect is a lot worse than you would initially expect. That being said, Facebook is talking about having a VR only account available in the future, but I still don't trust them with my cat's information.

Be fully aware if you end up with a Quest 2, you will need a Facebook account and if you don't doxx yourself to them, you put everything you own at risk, including the $300-400+ you spent on the Oculus.

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42 comments
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Damn, that's really a tight space. Even having to connect with Facebook doesn't mean someone won't get banned my the Oculus Quest.

Is there any other VR alternative to this Oculus Quest 2 that you know of?

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About twelve years ago I was playing a game on pogo.com, and trolling people in the chat. I said, "Fuck your American beer."

The next day I tried to login and play some Madden online with the PC. They said my account was banned. Same thing with NHL. So I was confused, checked my email, and apparently pogo.com was owned by EA; what I said in a pogo chat room got be banned everywhere else. Someone didn't like the fact I either didn't like American beer, or the part about using the f-word. Now the games I spent money on were near useless and my incredible record 207 wins 9 losses on NHL was destroyed.

So here we are, twelve years later, and if I'm not careful with how I think or what I say on Facebook, my devices will be disabled.

That's insane. Imagine one day in the future, your self driving car suddenly pulls over and stops on the side of the road because of something you said or shared online. The way society is headed, I don't think I require a tinfoil hat now in order to point out how connecting these things to a Facebook account is probably a terrible idea.

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The problem is there isn’t a competitor that is close to the quality/price/experience and many don’t know and/or care of the Facebook risk. We are the minority here. That’s why I think a class action is needed.

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Facebook & Google are like the Ring of Sauron. Too powerful and dangerous to be allowed to exist.

We are not alone in this.

Governments and regulators all around the world are after them now and are finally realising what I worked out 2.5 years ago - anti-trust is the weapon to destroy them or at least break them up.

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I think your experience depends a lot on the shape of your head which you can't try out before buying. I also have a Rift S and going to Quest 2 I was pleasantly surprised. It kinda sits on my forehead not touching my small cheeks at all. And since most of the weight is on my forehead, it's comfortable enough that I don't really notice the headset while using.

I pretty much put it on and I'm good to go. Everything's clear, much more so than with Rift S and the strap is good enough for my short hair. I've noticed it tends to slip up and come off of your head when I've put it on people with long hair. One tip I could give you is to adjust the angle of the headset for better clarity if you need to. Just kinda rotate it so the screen isn't aligned 90 degrees or smth relative to your face.

Oh, and you should measure your IPD to get a definitive answer on what would be the best setting for you of the three. Mine's 68.9, so the third one is pretty much perfect for me. Here's a nice tutorial how to do it yourself: https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Your-Interpupillary-Distance

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Oh nice, I'll try measuring.

As for strap, they have an elite strap that I hear is really good (and one with a battery as well) but they have been breaking easily so they stopped selling them while they working on improving them. I hear they are a lot better and I plan on getting one but it isn't cheap $130 with the battery and case (both of which I want, but they charge a premium). There might be aftermarket options soon though.

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I kinda lucked out on the included strap, but it's pretty terrible for most people. So I pre-ordered the elite strap with the battery and case myself just so everyone could have the best experience trying Quest 2 out. Who knows when it will arrive though now that they went back to the drawing board with it.

But the headset is designed to be modular, so good 3rd party straps are bound to come out. Here's a promising one that launches in a couple of days: https://www.goquestvr.com/index.php/product/halo-strap/

From my experience those halo straps have been the most comfortable. It takes care of the problem of having all of your headset weight sitting on your face and pulling it down.

About the IPD, if you fall somewhere in the middle and none of the 3 settings suit you then I hear you can actually get the lenses to stay put at in-between positions. So there is a way to get it right.

One last bit of warning I should probably give you is to be careful with glasses wearers. Glasses could scratch the lenses. Since I don't wear them myself and the headset isn't used by glasses wearers that often, I use these bumpers: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deluxe-Lens-Protectors-for-Oculus-Quest-1-2-GO-Rift-S-VR-scratches-glasses/264615971962

They get the job done and suit everyone, plus they don't get in my way when I'm using the headset. But if you wear glasses and are the main user then prescription lenses are probably the best solution. You can find those on Oculus' store. That's all I could think of right now. :)

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I am going to test to see what my actual eye distance is using some of the testing methods so I can get an exact position where I should be.

That strap looks interesting, I do want one with a battery, having headset is kind of nice, I was planning on buying ear pods for it if I use it a lot.

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(Edited)

Yeah, the extra battery is why I'm sticking with the official strap as well for now. In the meantime you could always use a power bank to get some extra juice. Not as comfortable though.

Personally I can't do without VR anymore, especially during this pandemic. It's not like I'm using it every day though, more like a couple of times per week, but it always blows me away, even after a year and a half. And it's nice to have the ability to go to the cinema, a museum or a film festival every now and then despite everything being locked down in the physical world.

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Oh and do check out Viveport Infinity for PCVR content. It's a monthly subscription service for PCVR games and apps. There's a pretty decent selection to make it worth the asking price. If you're going to play at least one game per month then it pays for itself, 'cause even one game is usually more expensive on its own than the service fee.

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STOP DV !!!

다운보팅 고마해라~!!!

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Thanks for this review. Its really confirmed for me that I will NOT be buying one of these Facebook devices.

The Class Action against the Crypto Ad Ban that I am bringing will impact the entire ability of Big Tech to censor and ban. It may even help regarding this issue.

It has been a bit slow so far but I've got a big hearing tomorrow that will hopefully move things forward.

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  • all the adjusting didn't work for me until I put in the spacer... which supposedly for glasses but it helped me see better for sure.
  • there is a really cool steam vr discount on humblebundle.com I'll do a larger post about but the discount is for 5 more days. It will get you a bunch of pcvr games
  • as for comfort of strap i didn't mind but after a couple hours I didn't like it so I bought what most people consider the most comfortable head strap the HTC vive DAS and will do the frankenquest.
  • facebook I owe to basically helping to pay my bills for a decade or so. Its how I advertise my photography and communicate with clients ... in theory I am against what they do but in practice I would not be in the great position of life I am without them so obviously for me having a fb account is a not a big issue. Also can't you just have an account with no posts no likes and essentially just a shell of an account with little for them to traffic? My sister is playing and she isn't really on FB she deactivated it years ago... but technically it still exists.
  • I get you don't like fb in theory but you are smart enough to work around your issues with them is what I'm saying. But the venting is understandable I suppose.
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all the adjusting didn't work for me until I put in the spacer... which supposedly for glasses but it helped me see better for sure.

I was thinking about trying this. But I feel close works better as it seems to get clearer if I push it to my face. It seems as it falls down on my face it gets blurrier, but higher it gets clearer.

there is a really cool steam vr discount on humblebundle.com

I'll check that out, I'm in the market now for VR stuff :)

Also can't you just have an account with no posts no likes and essentially just a shell of an account with little for them to traffic?

I get you don't like fb in theory but you are smart enough to work around your issues with them is what I'm saying. But the venting is understandable I suppose.

But the only way to do this is put my real information, that they can track my IP, location, what I do via the Oculus iPhone app and Oculus Quest 2. There has already been experiments that just talking about something with Facebook on your phone will result in ads for that topic, it isn't unexpected this carries over to their other apps. Facebook has always proven they will sell anything they can ethical or not. The oculus has cameras, who knows if it is watching me when I am and when I am not using it.

Facebook is evil af, and I want no part of that. I will use a sock puppet, but I won't give them real identifying information, so that puts everything I own in the ecosystem at risk of being stolen like my Steem was.

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Rule by force is the disease, who and how are symptoms.

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Yeah the bundle deal seems crazy good you get a bunch for $17 and one of those titles alone is walking dead for 39$ normally. Buying directly on quest though would mean playing without wires which maybe is worth it to some.

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The Quest 2 can be used wireless from a PC, so if you are in your house you can still do it without wires.

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but the games in that bundle are from Steam so i figured wires are needed.

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Not from what I understand, you can setup virtual desktop and use that wireless to play games at 90 fps over wifi 5/6.

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Not sure what wifi my computer has to be honest... it's many years old now.
Not sure how to check. I guess i could get a different USB wifi adapter.

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(Edited)

... that they can track my IP, location...

Using some VPN and/or TOR connections could be a good workaround to protect your privacy?

🍻 Cheers & a huge hug! 🤗

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There's been talk about them not even needing your video feed data, that's too heavy to constantly send to their servers. They can just get your movement data, which is pretty unique to each user. So basically without logging in and just putting on the headset they know exactly who's using it.

They have zero competition though and that's a problem. Their headsets are like a gift from the devil. Too good to pass up, but you know it's wrong.

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Great review! Have been thinking about getting one myself, but I also dislike the facebook merge. Maybee the future of virtual reality plains will demand true id. Me not like! Was thinking about the movie Ready player one or the serie Kiss me first at Netflix when I was reading your post, thanks for sharing :)

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Lack of games and a forced Facebook account (which I am sure will track everything you do with the device) are two huge barriers for me.

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There are a few games that make it worth it, but the Facebook part is a huge problem for me. The fact they are going after people who don't use their real name is a big problem. Really think this should be a class action due to their previous neglect protecting users privacy.

Really wish there was a better product at a similar price so Oculus could just get crushed.

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Are there any other stand alone devices besides the Quest 2 that are not tied to Facebook do you know?

That all just sounds awful!

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Not that I know of with similar features. I was looking at Valve index but that is $2000 and I think it only works tethered to PC.

I got this on multiple recommendations and did some looking around but spent most of my time testing it out. Now I know the extent of the Facebook lock I’m pretty frustrated. There doesn’t seem to be a competitor that can match it. I certainly won’t spend a dime on their store since I can lose it at any second.

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That really is most unfortunate, just disgusting.

It needs a lawsuit you're completely right, you shouldn't be able to spend that much money on something and then a company be able to lock you out of it with no warning.

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(Edited)

I have just checked out the Oculus T and Cs, it' is pretty draconian - one device per person, no unlinking once a device is linked, and that lock-out.

Of course they could unlink it if they wanted to - I don't imagine they've got a pile of 2000 Oculus Quests that they've used once per account while testing lying around.

One device per person too!

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That Facebook mandate makes no sense. Why not tie it into Steam? Why does it need to be registered to any third-party network? It just feels off, and I completely understand your objections, especially when getting equipment for kids.

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It is because Facebook bought Oculus as a strategic play for future projects. VR will get bigger and into more things.

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I missed that acquisition news. Screw FaceSpook.

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Zuckerberg imagines a whole VR FB. Like the Second Life of old, but then in VR.

The Oculus acquisition was very early in the VR game and relatively cheap at $2bn.

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I think it was a wide decision and it's nice to see an all in one set-up instead of the neat for a powerful computer

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