My previous headsets were the Vive and the HP Reverb G2. I’ve been using the Beyond for about a week in total. I usually play slow, single-player games in VR, for example, Subnautica and Skyrim. Half-Life 2 is probably the most active one I’ve played.
The focus is quite clear in the sweet spot, solid just outside it, but the sweet spot is extremely small: unlike my other two headsets, there seems to be a linear falloff of clarity, instead of a “good region” and “fuzzy region”. That means the precise centre looks amazing and the bit around it is very good. If I were an owl this would be the perfect headset.
Field of view seems slightly worse than the G2 and Vive, though this mostly because the edges are fuzzy, not actually the edge of the lens. All in all, I think I got the right IPD, or very close, but the gasket could maybe be thinner. My eyelashes are definitely not touching the lenses and seem slightly further than either of my previous headsets (although I swapped the Vive gasket out for a thinner one). Looking at it, though, the thinnest point is around 1 cm, so maybe there’s not much room to go thinner.
Notably, I got two optometrist IPD measurements, one some years ago at 56.5mm (a machine) and one this year at 58mm (a trusted human optometrist), so I got a 57mm headset. A 56mm might be better but I doubt it.
The resolution is noticeably better than the already-good Reverb G2. The Reverb felt like VR had reached the equivalent of 1080p or maybe 1440p 2D displays–this feels like something more. Probably 4K, but my eyes are old enough that it just looks very smooth and sharp. The Beyond defaults to 75hz full resolution and I think that’s the right idea – at least until I try a very active game (I’ve played Superhot, Compound, Republique, Half-Life 2, Half-Life Alyx, none of which are very fast-moving.) The brightness is fine at 100%; it’s noticeably dim when you first put on and take off the headset, but not during usage. If I didn’t block out the fan sound with earbuds I’d be tempted to try even dimmer.
The visuals are good enough that Half-Life Alyx’s previously-astounding environments look visibly artificial. It’s possible that there’s some geometry simplification going on to accomodate the high resolution, but I don’t think so. And Half-Life 2 finally looks quite dated – still pretty, but obviously working with a highly constrained graphics budget. Compound and Superhot don’t go for realism and look better than ever.
I hardly ever play games for more than an hour, so I probably won’t comment on long-term comfort. Putting on the Beyond feels like swim goggles where the Reverb felt like a hat with a helmet attached. After an hour of playing, it still feels quite comfortable, almost always beating the G2. (The Vive felt like a hat with a helmet that was cinched really tight with a band and felt uncomfortable within minutes.) However, my face sweats more easily underneath the gasket. And it leaves me with two wicked marks, darker than I’ve gotten from my other two headsets. This despite it being more comfortable than those two: I think it’s because there’s less pressure overall, it’s just concentrated in two small spots.
A perk of the tiny size is that I can easily flip the headset up with one hand. And the fit is solid enough that it goes right back in the exact correct place. I haven’t had too much trouble with the soft strap, despite my long, thick hair. But it does need to be tightened every time I put the headset on.
Combined with the tiny sweet spot and tiny size of the headset, my normal headphones jostle it out of place. I ordered some bluetooth earbuds and they work OK, except for the usual Bluetooth shenanigans. But I’m going to order the audio strap if/when it’s available, because I like the G2’s Index-inspired strap so much.
It is good to be back on SteamVR-only. Windows MR + SteamVR was a dumpster fire. The only complaint I have is that SteamVR now uses the Steam Deck interface but doesn’t support controller nagivation.
I’ve tried to replace my old-ish 1080p/60hz TV with the Beyond but haven’t had time to really test it out. The default Steam Theatre is a little too big, causing me to move my eyes around. This really doesn’t work with the tiny sweet spot.
I’m on Windows 10 and got a headless ghost, thinking I could run a virtual screen at 1440p/75hz or 4k/75hz. But I think that shrinking a virtual screen enough to avoid eye movement will mean that the additional resolution won’t survive anyway.
Summary of first impressions: this feels like a beta of a 3rd-gen headset, where the G2 felt like the polished tail of the 2nd-gen headsets. There are a lot of minor omissions and mistakes that make this feel unpolished, but it’s clearly better than what I’ve used before.
I’ll turn this into a more complete review in a few months when I have more experience. In the meantime I’m going to experiment with gasket size, since I’ve heard that all the lens issues are better with eyes closer to the screen.