M$ have a crappy track record support 3rd party hardware.
The problem with the WVR headsets is and always has been quality, mainly with the controllers and tracking.
I wouldn't have a problem with the prices of the Index and Cosmos if they were a decent step up from the Rift S but they're not. If I'm going to be spending a grand on a headset I'm going to be expecting Pimax specs, not Rift Sspecs.
You can buy 2.3 Rift S headsets for the price of an Index, or a Rift S and a Quest and still have plenty of money left over for a few games.
But we’ve gone over this a million times now. RiftS doesn’t have manual IPD, built in headphones etc.....Why would HTC include these features and then sell at RiftS prices?
If you don’t want to pay extra for Cosmos features buy a RiftS. For the people who want extra features and prepared to pay for them then buy Cosmos or Index or Reverb.
I’m not sure if you’ve looked at the price of the Pimax. For £700 you get the headset only. Then you have to pay £280 for base stations, £260 for Knuckles and who knows how much for the Headstrap with built in headphones (£100?) Total £1340.
So non of these headsets are comparable by spec or price.
That is what choice is for. IF you want a basically good headset (and your IPD fits) the rift S is a good choice but if you want to spend a little more there are options. Remember oculus can afford to sell these for little profit other companies not so much, it may be that riftS is actually a £499 hmd, with that in mind the extra resolution, with 2 screens, manual ipd and better sound of the cosmos is suddenly not so pricey
Edit I started my reply then got side tracked and in the mean time Atmos basically beat me to it
Norm at Tested seems pretty happy with the Cosmos.
He has to be happy, it’s how adverts work data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
wow - very mediocre reviews for this online .
one of the glaring issues appears to be that you need a very bright play space for it to work
Road to VR are holding back their review as they aren't sure if they have a defective unit. But judging on the comments it doesn't look to be the case.
/proxy.php?image=https://roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/vive-cosmos-1.jpg&hash=1376edfa6a01023dc92bc976bdca6379&return_error=1 Our Vive Cosmos Review is Postponed Until HTC Shines Light on a Potentially Glaring Issue HTC’s latest headset, Vive Cosmos, officially launches today. While we were looking forward to bringing you one of our signature deep-dive reviews, we discovered a potentially significant issue late in our testing, and don’t feel comfortable offering a verdict until we can determine if the... /proxy.php?image=https://roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/road-to-vr-favicon-test.png&hash=e9d7f325a28d78c35e6e28d745e72a29&return_error=1 www.roadtovr.com
Upload VR review is a little more favourable.
/proxy.php?image=https://i1.wp.com/s3-cdn.uploadvr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screenshot_20190927-120337-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1&hash=e65978bf4c9804f96e03ed16069aa08a&return_error=1 HTC Vive Cosmos Review: A Strong Debut, But Still Not Enough The HTC Vive Cosmos releases on October 3rd for $699. Now after spending about a week with a review unit we've got our full and finalized review. /proxy.php?image=https://i0.wp.com/s3-cdn.uploadvr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/fav1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1&hash=5bcb762833e7e6d1cbce1aa59173377d&return_error=1 uploadvr.com
They sum it up well -
"To be perfectly clear: I don’t dislike the Cosmos overall and I’ll probably use it occasionally for SteamVR games since I don’t personally own an Index, but it’s just not enough at this stage to carve out a place in a crowded market that’s still struggling to attract new consumers. At the $699 price point, without any of its marketed add-on features included, I don’t think I can recommend buying a Cosmos when you could instead get a Rift S or Quest at nearly half the price or just save up a bit more for a Valve Index instead."
Well that’s a shame if it can’t be fixed by software and I’m sure HTC will lose sales because of it. I know from my own dimly lit room Cosmos would not be compatible and why I’m happy to stick with outside in tracking for another 3 years if not longer.
Inside out tracking is only beneficial to lowering costs and ease of use. Both of which are not a priority for me.
I hope HTC can fix the exposure so everyone has good tracking which ever headset they decide to purchase.
I don't understand why HTC didn't just go with ir like the touch controllers. They would of had better tracking under any lighting conditions and not had the limited controller battery issue.
It just seems a bit daft.