Place to discuss Windows Mixed Reality platform Hello there! I’ve been using the hp headset for a good month or two so I decided I should bring up a text review of the thing I’ve been on and off about for this time. First let’s discuss the pros about mixed reality as a whole. The first thing to know is that it’s super easy to set everything up. Just plug the cables in to your computer and then into the headset. Everything works out of the box. Second thing is that it’s cheaper then the two main rivals by a considerable amount. I got my headset off of ebay without controllers for around 152 dollars and snagged the controllers for 120 on the dell website. So around 272 dollars with shipping considered. Far cheaper then the $500 the oculus goes for and the around $600-800 the vive goes for in my country of Canada. Third thing is the modding community and the community around the headset brand of wmr. I find everyone I talk to helpful and welcoming here. Heck even if a WMR headset does not meet your needs, they’ll point you to the correct headset. It makes for a very exciting community to be a part of. On top of the community, the way redditors and users of wmr headsets get it working within nearly every major game is wonderful and super useful. Now, these are the major pros in general for the wmr headsets however lets not forget which headset I’m talking about today. The hp headset is a mixed bag at full price and a well rounded option when it goes on sale or when you buy it used. I think the biggest ‘feature’ it has is a detachable cable. Making it easy to store and put away neatly. This unfortunately isn’t as great of a feature as I would have liked. As the placement of the port on the side of the headset rather than the back makes it very easy to get the cable between your arm and chest. This is a problem because you could snag the cable with your arm when immersed and the cable will get detached by the pulling action. Another point for hp is the price. Here in Canada it goes for cheaper then the competing wmr headsets. At least from what I’ve found. But thats for good reason because this headset can create a few headaches due to design decisions Do you like 110 or 105 fov for your headset? Well too bad because hp decided to mislabel it as 105 and it’s actually 95 so you have a narrower fov. Now this can depend on the person, but I for one wasn’t bothered by it. Mostly because I had no experience before and it feels alright to me so far. It feels cheap, like a toy in your hands. At least to me. The glass lenses in the headset are very easy to fog up. The foam around the faceplate traps air making it like a sauna, this only exasperated the issue. If you are even a bit sweaty, it will fog. The cable itself is very easily broken if stepped on, I had this issue and while I commend hp on their quick support I don’t think that they have technical support equiped for that type of problem. The fact that they also don’t have replacement parts in stock is mind blowing and in another realm of greed or stupidity. I know I’m listing a lot of bad things but other then the cable placement and repair options; they’ve only been very minor annoyances. So keep that in mind. I’m nitpicking for now and I think that’s all I have to say about the headset. Let’s just move onto the controllers. The controllers are basically the same for all headsets excluding the Samsung ones being a tad bit different. However they all have the same pros and cons They’re a sturdy product from what mine has been through. Hitting walls and my desk with some force applied wasn’t difficult for it to take. Due to the halo of lights being very flexible it distributes the shock of hitting something easily. However, it feels again like a toy. Very cheap plastic feel on all of it. I’d be scared of gripping it too hard of I could keep a grip at all. You’re human, right? You sweat obviously, as do I. When I sweat these controllers they become very slippery due to having no silcone or rubber grips. It feels awkward to hold when you start working up a sweat. This all comes down to how cheap it feels. The tracking is great, sometimes it messes up but usually in a second or two it fixes the problem. It is a bit shaky, though it may be because I have unsteady hands. Batteries is also an issue, I hate that these controllers aren’t rechargeable. Why is it such a problem that they can’t have integrated chargeable batteries is beyond me. I personally found it an annoyance. While I have a few other gripes I just wanted to end it here. TL;DR it’s a good budget headset and the controllers are a bit wonky. If you can get it on a sale or used it’s worth the price to experiment with and experience vr due to WMR being easy to set up and use. However this headset is an easy no for full price. Too cheap and too many flaws for it to be worth it.