I was pretty sold on the Rift when I first got it. The HMD is very comfortable, especially compared to the Vive. The touch controllers are quite elegant and it is awesome how they can detect where your fingers are resting. Oculus has some pretty awesome games too like Robo Recall. Having previously owned the Vive, which did room scale perfectly right out of the box no problem, the Rift was a completely different experience in that regard, full of all types of gotchyas.

HDMI Extension Cable Issue

Found out that extension cables are a waste and you should use a HDMI repeater with a nice quality HDMI cable instead.

USB Extension Cable Issues

I started trying room scale with passive usb extension cables. I found out through research that you should ideally have ACTIVE usb extension cables. I've switched to these.

USB Host Controllers Issues

You need 3 USB 3.0 ports (for the HMD and two sensors) and one USB 2.0 port (for the 3rd sensor). That seems like a simple problem to solve until you start understanding why they recommend this. It all comes down to bandwidth. The sensors use a lot of it and there is only so much, the bottleneck being the host controller. This is why a USB 3.0 HUB is not a solution because it's bandwidth is still limited by the host controller. Most motherboards have a single host controller for USB 3 and a different one for USB 2. This is why they recommend the 3rd sensor be USB 2.0 because a single host controller can't support the bandwidth needs of the HMD along with the 3 sensors. Before I understood this, I bought their recommended Inatek PCI-E 4 port USB card. I was able to get this working about 80% quality (some tracking hick ups here and there) by splitting the usb 3.0 stuff between this controller and the one on my motherboard. Then I started reading in the comments of Rift's blog posts that the latest drivers for the Inatek cards were causing problems. So I bought another recommended card which was the Startech PCI-E x4 (needs a video card slot) that had a host controller for each usb port. I thought for sure this would take care of all my issues since I wouldn't have any bandwidth problems and ideally could plug everything in using USB 3.0. Low and behold, I get everything set up and am still having USB port issues, and worse now the audio is cutting out on the headset. I do research and find that people have fixed this issue by updating their PCI Express drivers. That wasn't the case for me and I'm still trying stuff. I haven't given up yet but I'm reading that all sorts of different host controllers, some which are quite common, are not compatible with the Rift. If you are even considering the Rift, do yourself a favor and run their compatibility software first.

Setup Issues

So yeah, it has become quite a challenge right now for me to troubleshoot this. Is it a driver issue? A host controller thats not supported? A bad usb cable? This has just been a huge pain. And the set up process is such a pain for the sensors. The process goes like this:

1) Raise touch controller to eye level where every sensor can see it (assuming no USB issues)
2) Hold trigger
3) Point at computer screen and press trigger to determine room orientation (my computer was not near the sensors so this was confusing).
4) Adjust sensors as necessary.

Any time a sensor needs to be adjusted, you have to redo this process. Sometimes I had to go through it 5 or more times because each time the sensor/s had to be adjusted a little more. Huge pain.

Conclusion

I really want to like the Rift. It has so much going for it. But my experiences with trying to get room scale working well have made me question it.

I purchased the third sensor and Touch Controllers on Amazon, and the headset used on eBay at the end of May 2017 (which is why I probably don't show as a verified purchase).

I easily set up a 10'x10' roomscale play area in about 10-15min, and my free Rift games were automatically in Oculus Home. At the time of this review, there is also a $100 credit for games and an ongoing summer sale which you can use to immediately build out your library with great games.

I've used VR before, and thought it "wasn't there yet." But the Touch changes that. Hand presence is an amazing addition to VR, and the second sensor that comes with the Touch adds a lot, though I also recommend a 3rd since they are so cheap.

Like consoles, HMD systems will continue to improve, but I decided that now is the time to buy a Rift, based on value per dollar and the recent Oculus room scale update. I am encouraging others that have been on the fence like I was about VR or Rift VS Vive to get the Rift with the current $100 Oculus Home promo during the summer sale because of the great overall value.

Note that with the 3 sensor setup you need a total of (2) USB 3.0 ports for sensors and (2) USB 2.0 ports for one sensor and the HMD. Oculus recommends the HMD be on a 3.0 rather than a 2.0, but I don't have any more of those so I went with the 2.0 and have had no issues (others on Reddit have also done the same). You cannot use a hub to add additional ports, you must use an internal card if you don't have them available. You also need an available HDMI port.

Personally, I have the cameras on basic lighting tripods 6'4" above the ground pointed down. I have the floor marked with some "spike tape." When I'm done I lower the tripods and put them away (leaving the cameras on, which have 1/4" screw mounts for standard consumer tripods).

I've had good experiences with Oculus Home, Steam VR, and 3rd party games. I honestly don't have a single complaint other than that it's hard to play non-VR games any more (and I have a 32" 4k monitor, an i7-3770 and Nvidia 980ti so it's not like I was lacking there).

The resolution is as good as it gets right now, but even Vive has announced that a version 2 for them is over a year away, and their resolution is ever so slightly worse and requires a more powerful gpu to get to the same level. Resolution is quite enough on Rift with good, immersive experiences, but it isn't perfect. There is also a lighting artifact called "god rays" that the Vive also has, but I don't see these as large enough factors to outweigh the fun of VR on the Rift (or Vive for that matter).

Also, Vive is already more expensive, and then you can throw more money at them to get a Rift style audio strap. No one should regret getting a Vive (unless, like me, you just love these Touch Controllers and wouldn't have it any other way), and yes, Vive had motion controllers and roomscale first, but if you're getting into it today, I recommend the Rift hands down. Apparently there used to be some tracking issues while room scale was in beta, but I haven't had a single issue (I purchased after the beta).

Very pleased with my Rift/Touch/3rd sensor!

Perfect Roomscale Tracking is all I ever wanted, and here it is. Works perfectly for me and my room size is 11x12 feet.

I bought the sensors individually from Oculus instead of from this bundle on Amazon, but I can attest that this ROCKS!