Brief review after 2 hours of use.
First the Negatives.
When I opened up the box, everything looked amazing, but, it was only when I took the items out that I noticed the build quality isn't quite the same as the original Rift. The headset doesn't feel too bad but the new touch controllers are terrible. They don't sit into your hands like the old ones, nowhere to rest your thumb and they feel cheap. I find myself pressing the trigger by accident a lot.
The headset itself feels comfortable enough but I can't get it to sit properly on my head. The tilt mechanism from the old Rift would really help here. When I wear where it in the most comfortable position, the display is a little blurry and I have to sort of look up to see the lenses. When I wear it in the perfect position for the sweet spot of the lenses, the headset doesn't feel secure on my head at all. The nose gap is worse the original Rift.
Another negative is the 80Hz screen, I thought I wouldn't notice, but I do. In games where I have never even felt the tiniest bit motion sick on the old Rift, like Lone Echo, I am now feeling it. Maybe it will be something I get used to.
Lastly, sometimes when I move my head quickly I notice imperfections or places where the picture doesn't look quite right. I can't describe it any better at the moment. It doesn't affect the game play at all and it doesn't bother me, but I do notice it.
Haven't noticed any of the white static that's been reported or any black screens either, but, it's only been a couple of hours.
Now the Positives.
The screen is a massive upgrade. It doesn't sound much on paper when you read the specs, but, when you put on the Rift S, the clarity is way better than the Rift. It honestly caught my by surprise by how good everything looked. Lone Echo looked amazing. If you are worried about the black levels of the LCD screens, don't be.
Tracking: Maybe this will change when I have tried more games, but, tracking has been very good for me so far. The first game that I played was Eleven Table Tennis and it played perfectly. No glitches at all. Fast shots, slow shots, spins, it followed my movements with ease. I then tried Robo Recall and, again, had no trouble at all. Pulled out the guns from my over my shoulders without delays. After that I played some Space Pirate Trainer, Virtual Sport Challenge and watched some of The Blu. The only issues I had were pressing the trigger by accident. Now, I didn't actually try to break the tracking, I just played the games the way I normally play them.
Sound: This was another big surprise for me. I was expecting the sound to be rubbish, but, actually it's not bad at all. Maybe it's because my expectations were so low that I am finding the sound to be ok and after a few hours settling in I will start finding flaws in the quality.
Setup: So simple and straight forward. Only took a couple of minutes before I was up and running.
Final Words:
Overall my biggest disappointment is with the new Touch Controllers. They just lack the same sturdy quality of the originals.
Despite all the negatives I won't be going back to the Rift.
I have the USB cable of the Rift S connected to a port on a StarTech four port USB 3 add on card. I also have a 1080Ti and a Ryzen 1700 CPU. The StarTech card is the expensive one recommended by Oculus for the Original Rift. Which might be the reason I am having no tracking glitches or black screens(for the moment anyway!!)
EDIT: Have found another problem with the headset. It doesn't work correctly with Steam. Any game I use from Oculus works great. Good tracking, good sound etc. But any game I use from Steam isn't as good. The tracking isn't as quick, when I play Eleven Table Tennis using steam I get glitches and doesn't seem to track as smoothly. Playing The Archery game in the Lab was poor too. And the sound quality takes a nose dive when using any steam games.
Will see if the next few Steam and Oculus updates improve things, I have a 30 day return window before I decide. If I do return it, I will be selling my Rift too and waiting for the Index.
I was quite surprised because I have a normal looking face. Has anybody else measured their IPD?
CV1 controllers are much more precise and less glitchy. Eleven and shooting games where you hold a rifle with both hands in front of the face are the worst offenders. For now I'm keeping my CV1 for those type of games and Reverb for seated experience - its controllers have the same problems as the S.
