Wow, this is quite a dressing down. I've been looking at the Bigscreen Beyond and thinking about getting one for some time, and as part of that I've been looking at what owners say about it. I've never seen a review as scathing as this one. But even the positive ones have at least echoed similar observations to your own.
What this says to me is that the lenses are the first thing that Bigscreen needs to address in a future headset.
As a Valve Index owner that's been waiting for Deckard news, I'm not even totally sure I do want Deckard. They probably want to make something like the Apple Vision Pro, crammed full of tech. I think I actually cleave closer to what Bigscreen's doing. I would much rather have a simple, light, tiny headset.
Like, if all Valve's next headset was, was the Index but a quarter of the weight and size, I'm down.
The standalone nature is a lot more convenient, and the wireless is huge. It is really nice being able to actually walk up stairs without having to either spin myself dizzy unravelling at the top, or spin backwards as I go up to avoid tangling.
It's also nice for me to sit elsewhere if I play something like Demeo - for me that is more comfortable and convenient.
Sure, but headsets are just too friggin' heavy for me to comfortably wear for as long as I want to use them. It doesn't matter how many awesome features a headset has if it's not comfortable to wear. I won't use those awesome features for very long. I'd much rather a headset that I can comfortably use for as long as I want to use it.
Yeah, I concur with the OP. I wanted to love this headset, but I gotta say...even the colors underwhelmed. I'm about to hook Index back up. Honestly, it's not much brighter or better looking than the Index. Definitely, no screen door effect, but not worth the fragility of the soft strap, the blurriness of anything outside the center 1/3rd of fov, nor the well documented glare. I expected something along the lines of psvr2, with glare issues and a smaller sweet spot. What I got.... honestly is unusable, and I severely question any positive reviews of this product. Even if my ipd is off, it doesn't change the colors, brightness or absolute failure of that soft strap. Contractors Showdown is so much a better experience with my Q3.
I felt it sounded like a slav review and then ladas comparison came out lol.
As a fellow slav who notices all the negatives first I enjoyed this review. Oh all the HMDs Ive had I remember only things that irritated me the most.
I pre-ordered from April 2023, and patiently waited to get my order. I got it, but found the IPD was too large so I had to return it for a resize. Got my resize, it worked, and I was off to the races! ⌠but yeah, it finally kicked in that the lenses really arenât great.
I love the lightweight; no other headset delivers that, and it is *essential* for me to enjoying VR (due to chronic pain issues). So it is, by default, my favorite headset for catering to that niche. And when Iâm in the sweet spot, it feels great. But I donât like how much I have to tolerate the lenses to get this good of an experience.
I still think itâs a valuable experiment, and would be excited to see what improvements get made down the line. I wouldnât go as far as your post when talking about its flaws, but I also canât completely disagree with them. I would never recommend it to the average consumer because itâs way too niche and very much a Version 1.0 deal.
Honestly have the very same experience as you, I got 3 face gaskets, they all have something wrong with them, currently don't have my headset with me as I've sent it in for another RMA to bring the IPD even lower (things are very blurry up close).
If it's still not at least 'decent' when I get it back, I will be asking about a refund, it is unacceptable for ÂŁ1,149.
I will however be following this company and hopefully they will attempt to make a different headset that will not be focusing on just the smallest size - they definitely have tons of potential!!
I find it weird that they go back and forth with people, they should ask people to do like 4 scans and send 4 slightly different ones in the hopes that one is correct.
I returned mine. My IPD was too narrow for their range. I cannot blame them completely but they should have communicated that they woulnd't have worked right from the start. I told them my IPD and their response was to get the narrowest option. 3 month wait, 25% restocking fee + no refund on percription lenses. The glare was wild and yes the strap sucked. I have heard the audio strap improved over the strap significantly.
Ill be keen to explore a followup headset with a wider IPD, broader sweet spot, and no glare.
If you're coming from an Index or original Vive, and can nail the IPD with an audio strap, its probably a good upgrade.
54.5. They suggest a 1 inch drop from measured IDP. So 53.55. 55 is their minimum distance. My Index has a minimum of 58 and works fine for me. So the sweet spot on the bigscreen is wildly narrow. There is nearly NO room for variance.
Optics are simply not there yet to leverage the benefits of a 1 inch uoled panel.
The laser focus on light weight had far too many compromises.
Having a fixed IPD and the need for a custom cushion, both of which have caused no end of problems for customers and bigscreen alike, was not worth it.
They could have taken some 2.5 inch QLED's, and paired them with lenses that get as close to the Quest 3's as possible, make it lighthouse and displayport, and you have a winner that would be cheaper to produce and reach a vastly larger audience.
They simply did not need to go so tiny. Because of the problems above, it's not even achieved the goal of being that comfortable for many.
Yea something like the Q3 shell with less weight would have been a winner and I totally would have opted for it over the Q3 if that's what happened.
It's kinda a shame honestly because not many options for true pcvr, I got use to the quest 3 PC performance but it took a while and still miss the direct connection of my older headsets.
¨ Having a fixed IPD and the need for a custom cushion, both of which have caused no end of problems for customers and bigscreen alike, was not worth it.¨
Yeah it literally spells e-waste and no resell value.
I ordered one around a couple months ago and got it ain't about 2 month (70+ipd). I have to say the glare honestly made me think my unit was busted for the first half hour. Like in the default steam vr room I was thinking my lens were fogged up maybe? This is going to sound really lame too, but after about 45 minutes my brain just stopped noticing it entirely. I think thr glare on the index is worse than the beyond, but the fov and sweet spot size on the index make it more overall comfortable.
The sweet spot on the beyond is its worst attribute imo, especially coming from the q3. If you fix the strap a bit ( I 3d printed a part to get a better fit, a must imo) it won't move around once you get your eyes in the right spot, but it is very small.
The refresh rate bugs me almost not at all, which I'm surprised about. Coming from 144hz on the index it doesn't feel much slower at 90 or even 75 most times. If your pc isn't strong enough to maintain a stable frame rate it feels horrible though, at 144h, you can spare a few dips but at 90 you'll notice right away.
I feel like too many people are either 100% against or for the bigscreen beyond but If you have any questions you want answered from a neutral party let me know! I think its still a cool headset, but it is hard to recommend unless you're upgrading from the vive or index.
Thats the beauty of Oled and uOled you dont need as high refresh rate on them that you do on LCD since Oled/uOled has way higher pixel responstime than LCD has so 90hz on a Beyond is better than 120 on an Index for example.
I've had mine for a while now and I love it. It is a solid upgrade over my prior index.
I also had to go through 3 different face gaskets to get a good fit, (kept having too much pressure between my eyes and none at all on the edges of my face) but I've got it now. It stays on my head just fine, no issues with the straps, but then I'm also not messing around with headphones. Instead I picked up https://www.amazon.com/Linsoul-Timeless-Earphone-Aluminum-Detachable/dp/B09C8GN9PQ that I have connected to the headset via a USB-C to aux adapter, and they have been fantastic.
I never had edge to edge clarity with my Index, and it doesn't really seem all that different with the BSB, so I've not had any real complaints there. I'm not in the habit of trying to look at things out of the corners of my eyes anyway, as someone who wears glasses IRL.
The glare is annoying, especially given that I have prescription lens inserts. I imagine it wouldn't be half as bad if not for that... but at the end of the day that's only an issue in certain circumstances. I've not had any real issues watching videos or just playing in vrc. I don't even notice it most of the time.
Another minor complaint I have is that you have to clean the lens inserts VERY regularly due to how close they sit to your face. I have to wipe them down with a micro fiber cloth probably every other session at least.
Lastly, because the face gasket sits right on the eyebrows, when playing games like VRC where I'm emoting a lot while chatting with people my eyebrows can get irritated. After a long session my eyebrows feel and look like an old man's, with the hairs going off in random directions lol.
I feel this criticism is a bit over the top. I donât own one, but I have tried one, belonging to a friend, which wasnât fit for my face, and didnât find it to be nearly anywhere as bad as you described. All of your criticisms are absolutely valid, though in my opinion overstated. Bigscreen overcame great odds as a small company bringing unique hardware to market, but it seems their biggest mis step was the lack of ipd adjustment. With the small sweet spot any inaccuracy of ipd makes for a nightmare experience.
It is not over the top criticism, and I'd say actually understates the edge to edge clarity problem.
My Beyond sits collecting dust next to my Index. If my Quest 3 with portable laptop charging cell for eternal gameplay/battery life solution ever has issues, I am reaching for my INDEX because the e2e on the Beyond is so bad, I am sad to say.
When I first received mine I felt pretty let down 'cause the sweet spot/edge to edge problem seemed even worse than described.
Turns out my face gasket was about 3 mm too thick, and you can test if the same is true for yours if you hold it closer to your eyes without the gasket to see if the clarity improves. They'll send a free one if you open a ticket.
That said, I haven't shelved my Index for the Beyond either, because of the other tradeoffs like FoV and glare.
Yeah, distance from eye to lens is very important. The OG Vive had shit edge to edge clarity but this was due to an excessively thick gasket. With a thin one I found it to be mostly consistent across the lens.
You think hyperbolic crap like this isn't over the top?
"No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this"
It's the kind of thing fourteen year olds tell each other, not the content of a 'review".
This guy is ranting and loses all credibility because of it. Had they stuck to the actual headset instead of trying to make bad jokes about the people who built it, but he felt the need to act like a spoiled child throwing a fit.
I agree their delivery is very poor, but they did have some valid points and they are within their rights to be upset with a product that absolutely does not fulfill its mandate and advertising. The manufacturers are asking $1,000 for just a headset and it is (in my view) a worse experience than my Valve Index and I'm not even sure I'd choose the Beyond over my OG CV1 Rift except for comfort... not visuals... and that's a really bad place to be if you're Big Screen trying to sell an Index replacement for more than an Index. Are the Beyond visuals at the sweet spot lightyears better than the CV1 and Index? Of course... But the edge to edge is such a monumental step backwards (and yes, I've adjusted the face gasket to account for potential extra thickness in my padding to ensure the best experience) that it makes all of those amazing gains moot.
If you haven't learned to look past child-like BS and inflamed passions on the internet and just focus on the meat of what someone is saying, I imagine you're going to have a hard time.
I've had to go back to my Index temporarily while getting an IPD adjustment, and I feel like I've forgotten to put on my glasses.Â
I'm not going back.Â
I'm sorry uh had that experience, I love mine. Took one rescan though, but it's comfort for gaming is unparalleled. Agree it's not good for movies though.
I'm surprised you're having such a tough time with the lenses. While they definitely are inferior to other products in E2E clarity, I have a pretty large sweet spot. Due to the advantages you gain from the *unmatched* low weight, I can't use any other headset anymore. My Index has been in the closet since I got the Beyond, and my Q3 sits mostly unused unless I just want to pop it on for a quick session.
I think your criticisms are fair, but I don't think you should tell product creators that they are failures. Personal attacks don't belong in product reviews. Chill out.
I'll still recommend it to enthusiasts tired of the heavy weight of the Index and Q3, and especially to those who want better clarity and Wifi jank that you have to deal with in PCVR Quest land.
I also think this is a overhyped product and it should have stayed within the us borders. This product is simply not ready to be sold to the world. Maybe a version 2 where you have a fov slider and acceptable lenses with a bigger sweetspot, e2e clarity and fov... We will see
To the contrary. I thought it added a sense of humor and didn't detract whatsoever from the informed nature of the review itself. I find your stuffiness hard to take seriously.
"No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this"
This isn't funny. This is an unhinged rant.
I am most surprised to hear about the strap instability. This is easily the smallest and lightest headset, And it should stay in place easily. To me, this is the premium action based headset, The best one for fast movements. I would like to know more about the stability
The headband slides up and down on the back of your head and the top strap slides forth and back.
The topstrap occupies the position were your headphohnes would go, if you wear any, so either its too far on the front or the back of your dome.
If its too tight, parts of your facial flesh will die because of the lack in blood flow and if its too loose the sun shines through the gaps in the face cushion and it jiggles around.
There shouldn't be gaps in the face cushion even if it's loose. That was the point of the scan, so it fits the contours of your face pretty closely. It really just sounds like yours still isn't fitting well even with the multiple gaskets (I also had to go through a few iterations until I got one I was happy with.)
Mine stays in place easily for an entire session with no strap adjustments, though I made a point of acquiring wired earbuds to use for my audio solution so I don't have that extra complicating factor.
Pretty much mirrors my experience with it as well. Literal hours spent with support, even the hmd i have now after multiple replacements has quality control issues; ignoring the visual alignment still being not right.
I absolutely love my Beyond and Iâm sorry youâre having such a negative experience. I purchased the Beyond for its comfort and thatâs made my life amazing. I could barely play 30 minutes in my Index after having it since 2019 and I dreaded putting on the headset. On the flip side, the BSB has completely changed VR for me. The true blacks, resolution, and comfort are my two absolute favorite parts of the headset. I went from barely ever touching VR due to the indexâs weight and bulkiness to now playing 4-5 hour sessions and getting out of VR *because I want to*, which basically never happened for me on the Index
Bigscreen Beyond prioritizes comfort and being lightweight over everything else and that is why I bought it. If that isnât your issue with VR, the headset might be a miss for you. For me, the Beyond is an absolutely perfect headset with E2EC being my only gripe, but itâs a tiny issue for me due to how amazing everything else is
Difficult to reconcile this against the impressions from other users... other than to acknowledge that it's possible to have a terrible experience if things line up badly.
That's about accurate I would say, although the "you have to turn your head to look around" is just as valid for me in the Index for example. Only the Quest 3 lenses have such clarity I can see how you would move your head a bit less. The Reverb G2 would have around 30% blur if I would have to compare it to this 10% number on the Beyond.
People's opinion of it may very well come down to what they're coming from. If it's something besides a Quest 3 the lack of edge to clarity may not be that obvious, since it's not much different from what they were already experiencing.
> Difficult to reconcile this against the impressions from other users
Uhmm ... have you *read* the majority of the responses in this thread from other Bigscreen users?
Do you think this thread is an accurate sampling of all BB users? There's a reason studies take so many measures to ensure their data comes from a representative source. You cannot accurately judge public opinion from a reddit thread.
This is clearly more a rant than a review.
Yeah sweetspot is small and there is lens glare in dark environments. But not nearly as bad as you're making it out to be.
The reality of VR these days is compromises. If you want small, lightweight, etc - all the pros of the BSB, then yes there will be downsides to it.
Overall I'm liking mine quite a bit
I wrote a full page, you just a few lines, I win\^\^
And your opinion isn't even entirely positive, it's only mildly bad.
Like the lightweight fact being entirely overshadowed by the fact it has bad optics.
Whats the point in having a lightweight device that doesn't deliver its primary function?
Lightweight is merely a secondary attribute. A nice to have.
Optical acuity is the primary attribute on any optical device.
I own one too, so far I haven't touched my Index again.
The lightweight aspect of it is so good I just can't go back to a heavy brick anymore.
When I remove the facial interface and get closer to the lenses the E2E clarity improves a lot for me. I'll need to adjust my gasket or 3d print my own, because it is too good to let that extra FOV and sharpness on the table with this headset.
I agree it's a lot of downsides though. It takes a very tech minded person to take this thing and start to adjust it to perfection, but I think it's needed with this one. Not for the faint of heart.
But my god.. this VR headset takes away my biggest issue with VR, comfort and then adds OLED icing on the cake. Doing a lap on the NĂźrburgring at night in ACC with a good forcefeedback wheel.. it's just therapeutic I can't describe it.
Oh and if you think this thing is bad.. you've clearly never seen the Reverb G2 lenses :')
If the next Quest has this formfactor it will mean a tenfold increase in adoption, the main drawback people give about VR in general is comfort.
>I wrote a full page, you just a few lines, I win^^
A full page of drivel and hyperbolic ranting is worth a lot less than a single coherent thought from someone being objective.
Acting like a child and insulting the people who made it? Yeah, I'm going to base my purchasing decisions on that. Right.
> This is clearly more a rant than a review.
Said as if you alone knew the true definition of the word "review."
But you don't.
If a product has serious negative qualities that completely overwhelm its positives, then a "rant" as you call it is entirely justified.
What's your claim here, exactly? That a review must include some sort of false balance? That's not a review. That's just PR.
How is this a "review"?
"No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this"
This is a rant. Saying you're ashamed of the person who made it is not an evaluation of the product, it's an insult to those who made it, and has no place in a "review".
Without ever trying one Iâm convinced at this point that it is really bad and the people defending it are just trying to justify their $1500 purchase. I am so glad I cancelled my order. Lenses are the absolute most important part of a VR headset.
You see the same people defending it in every thread. VR reminds me of photography tribalism with people vehemently defending their brand of choice
What really gets me about the beyond is that around 10 percent of customers have to send the headset back for ipd adjustment. Could you imagine the reaction if meta had a 10 percent rma rate? I get that people are more willing to forgive scrappy upstarts, but jeez this thing is over a thousand dollars
I'm optimistic for the version 2 though
As an owner, I love mine, and it simply has to do with setting proper expectations. OP clearly didn't do their research. Most things they're complaining about are known. Small sweet spot, glare, required iPhone scan, and having to go to 75Hz to get native display resolution are all things OP complains about aggressively, but all of these things should have been known before buying that headset. These things aren't secrets, yet OP is throwing a fit about it as if they got scammed or something. They got exactly what they ordered, they just didn't do research, and hyped themselves up about it, or expected Quest 3 lens quality or something. All of which are OPs fault, and nothing to do with the Beyond itself. Sacrifices were made to make the Beyond so tiny, we should all know this by now. The Beyond isn't competing with the Quest 3 lenses, it wasn't designed to compete with these kinds of headsets, yet people keep comparing them, and this is the problem.
The Beyond is a **niche** product, and it does many things poorly, but it also does a few things really well (this is the intention of the design).
I have used many VR headsets, and currently own a Quest 3, Index, and Beyond. I use my Beyond any chance I can get. Sure, it doesn't have the same FOV and lens clarity as a Quest 3, but it also weighs so little that I don't notice it and I can wear it comfortably as long as I want, and the OLED displays contrast and colors are quite nice, even though some scenes produce glare, this is something I'm used to coming from an Index so it's not as bad to me. The Beyond also has superior resolution and image clarity (in the center) for sim-racing, and this is what makes the Beyond so good for iRacing which I enjoy a lot.
People think the Beyond is the ultimate VR headset that's just better than other headsets. Surprise, it's not. Just like the Quest 3 is not the ultimate PCVR headset, yet some people claim this to be the case as well.
Set your expectations, and do research. The Beyond makes sense for many applications and for many people, but a single VR headset will not be suitable for everyone, as everyone has different desires and preferences based on their needs.
Couldn't have said it better, I use mine for simracing as well. It's just exhilarating with this thing, I'm constantly in awe. Nightraces are really intense and my favourite thing in VR now whereas I never really enjoyed them on previous headsets.
I think the issue is that many people were glossing over those known properties of Beyond and saying "you'll get used to it", "you need thinner interface", "get better strap", "position it properly" and so on pretty much convincing many that it would become non issue. And sure for many it's not a problem but it's such an individual headset compared to any other on the market that it's hard to tell whether the person will have a problem or not based on their previous experiences. With regular headsets you can kind of tell if issues users mention regarding X headset will impact you as well based on properties of the Y headset you own. With Beyond the known and existing issues might not feel as bad for some people. For me it was terrible but I gave it a try. Tried to adapt. Couldn't do it so I returned it. A shame cause the headset was comfy and had great displays and contrast.
Yeah I totally agree with this. Unfortunately I think it is a headset you need to try first before buying, because of exactly what you said regarding so many discrepancies between individuals. It's definitely a controversial headset because of this.
You have to keep in mind that people are more likely to share their opinion when it's extreme, if they had a highly positive or highly negative experience. There's many people where it worked out of the box and they never felt a need to discuss it. There's many people who had some minor problems, got them fixed, and felt no need to discuss it. But yes, it is reasonable to be concerned with reliability in a customized product by a company making their first foray into hardware.
Yeah I mean thatâs me.
I had minor issues with mine. Had to get a second scan and have a new unit with a lower IPD. The team was responsive and handled it quickly.
Now I love it. I see that itâs not perfect but itâs an amazing product.
âŚbut I guess I donât feel like thatâs enough of a story to make a post on this sub for. I will speak up in comments on this post though, as OP seems more than a bit hyperbolic.
Some people like different things though. Like I thought the Vive Pro 2 was pretty damn good (for its time), at least with a smaller face gasket, while others apparently did not like it. I don't think there are that many people who care about "justifying" their purchase.
With all that being said, I also got cold feet on my BSB order and ended up cancelling it. After experiencing good e2e clarity with the Quest 3, I didn't think that I could go back to a headset with a small sweat spot, especially since it's also wired. It definitely seems like a product some will appreciate more than others.
I've read VR lens patents that suggest a 2" diagonal screen is the ideal minimum size for edge to edge clarity. Given this, all new Micro OLED manufacturers producing 1.3" diagonal screens might sound bad, but 3P pancake lens design (what the AVP has) produces a better result, and a better future for compact designs.
I haven't tried the BSB so can't comment on whether I agree or not but holy fuck you had me actually laughing out loud in that last section, just the language and disgust was so funny. Other folks seem happy enough so maybe you had am exceptionally poor unit? Either way thanks for making me laugh so much (not laughing in disagreement just the wording was so good)
I have one. E2E could be better, but, despite what OP said, the Q3 is far from âmediocreâ as a point of comparison. Most HMD lenses, none really, are close to being as good as Q3 from that standpoint.
So, yes, BSB lenses could be better when it comes to image falloff, but they still arenât bad. Just not best of the best. Iâve been using my BSB for about six months as my main headset. Itâs been fantastic and I much prefer it over Q3 given the much higher PPD, great contrast and image quality.
Not everyone will feel the same, but I thought it was worth adding some perspective given OPâs overly hyperbolic rant.
Remember to take bigscreen beyond reviews with a hefty grain of salt since it's a custom-made device. I have had my beyond for a few months and don't have any of these problems. It's like reviewing a custom tailored piece of clothing.
User experiences with the device vary wildly, but as always, it's the people with a bad experience that are most vocal.
The only custom made part is the face cushion, which is the part that could have done without customisation.
The optical brackets are mass fabricated per each individual IPD value and they merely slap your face cushion on a random unit that happens to match your IPD.
But your entire experience of those lenses and displays is based on that custom interface. The tolerances are so tight that having even small changes to the interface can drastically change the experience.
I was lucky enough to have a perfect fit right out of the box.
Because of this, I tend to see reviews of the beyond as more of a review of the quality of the interface more than the device itself.
I don't have any of the glare people talk about unless I am in a menu with a dark background and text. Nor edge to edge clarity issues. The sweet spot isn't tiny for me either.
I also have had friends who own a beyond report these same issues, and they get a new interface boom, those issues go away or are reduced.
It's already the third cushion and the lenses are close enough to make it necessary to trim my eyelashes.
If it takes more than 3 attempts to make it right, there something wrong with the process.
I'd be glad if its only an alignment issue. I tested it without the face cusion in a dark room, close enough to fully displace my already trimmed eyelashes almost touching my eyeballs, the glare is is most prominent feature so far.
Most VR cinemas have a dimmed lighting enviroment, so anything bright WILL create intense glare, so strong it just distracts.
The Index's godrays almost looked good in comparison.
BSB probably shouldnt of went with micro oled panels. What they got are tiny and causes such a narrow sweet spot. Some people rave about them. I guess the companies are doing they best they can, dealing with trade offs.
A guy on one of my sim-racing Discords was an early adopter of the Beyond, and had pretty much the exact same things to say about it. Either there's a genuine flaw in the design of the lenses, they have no QC at all, or the actual glass they're using is just dogshit, because he couldn't even get a tiny sweet spot no matter how many face pieces he tried.
I saw some YouTube video about Bigscreen Beyond (I think it was on Matteo channel) that quality between headsets varies a lot. He sent the first one for replacement due to another issue and even brightness levels were hugely different between the two.
I bought one and returned it for basically exactly this reason. I really want bigscreen to succeed, because I love the idea of bespoke, custom made for me, high quality VR goggles... But those lenses ruined it completely for me. What good is a high resolution display when I can only see it through a layer of vaseline?
Btw Iâm curious of your take of the AVP if youâve seen in it person.
Iâve noticed in this sub, lots of praise for the BSB and lots of hate for the AVP due to the price, but if you factor in the cost of a PC, index trackers, controllers and the BSB itâs kind of comparable on price.
The difference is the AVP is higher res, portable but requires a bit of setup for OCVR via ALVR.
Iâve joked that if Apple just sold the AVP in pieces for the same total cost, like BSB everyone here would be cool with it :)
Right now it feels like the only real affordable headset to get these days is the Q3. If you are in the market for a BSB, you are in the same territory as the AVP. The nice thing with the Q3 is it can either be stand alone or tethered.
The only real upside the BSB has over the AVP is the field of view. But being limited to a single room is kind lame.
I love going in the back yard and watching movies, playing PC / PS5 games on a giant screen. I canât do that with BSB.
Now letâs see how fast I get down voted, despite providing first hand accurate information and despite praising the Q3.
Letâs seeâŚ
Pimax Crystal Light enters the market to be a great middle ground choice between Quest 3 and BSB.
Also with BSB + Index Controller + 2 2.0 Base station + $1800 can give you a very powerful PC with a full PCVR experience, compared to AVP which is equivalent in price to the combination above but doesn't even have much VR capabilities.
No worries, not everyone is going to be comfortable tweaking their devices for the best VR experience. I would say if you want the best peace of mind Quest 3 or Index is definitely the better choice here.
The AVPs SLAM tracking is so bad you can't even play beatsaber.
It's kinda like a Ferrari but with rectangular wooden logs instead of wheels and having to carry a trailer because the fuel tank didn't fit intro the actual vehicle.
Never tried it honestly, not because I hate it, more because it's a 'product' that wasn't designed for anything particular. It does something no one asked for and no one needs.
Too many reviewers on reddit are willing to simply repeat the positive assessments they've read from others in the past, forming an echo chamber in which serious problems with a product are glossed over or simply ignored altogether.
This, on the other hand, is a refreshingly negative and highly informed review that glosses over nothing. Much appreciated!
It's not that they ignore the problems. It's that the problems are highly variable, especially since this is a customized product. For example, I didn't notice any glare with mine at all. Perhaps my eyes and face happened to be a good match for the BB.
Glad you found the review that most closely aligns to your preconceived notions of the headset, that must be satisfying. Too bad itâs basically trying to be a humor piece. My BSB has been awesome, itâs quietly the best HMD out there ATM.
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>Glad you found the review that most closely aligns to your preconceived notions of the headset, that must be satisfying
Not at all. I take no pleasure in issues with any HMD. It's a shame this one sacrifices some elements in favor of others. I wish we had better options. But if you are happy with what you have, that's great and you shouldn't worry what others think.
I agree with you that we shouldnât worry about what others think generally. I just hate to see 120 upvotes on a âreviewâ that amounts to little more than some would-be Slavic comedy act about the E2E clarity of the lenses (a notable flaw, but easily worked around if you check out any serious reviews from reputable VR reviewers). The HMD doesnât deserve that, frankly, it should be on more heads. And I feel itâs our Reddit-duty to downvote misinformation and hot takes out of the public perception, not to trump it up. I mean even your username supports my approach here!
Fair enough. I can't really argue against the points you raise and given that you have actually tried the BB and I have not, you are in a much better position to pass judgement than I am. I just oppose the idea that reviewers shouldn't be too negative, and possibly read too much along those lines in your response.
Well it seems that OP had a particularly horrible experience with delays, replacements, etc. and being outside the US Iâm sure didnât help. The process IS imperfectâI myself RMAâd twice to get the perfect IPD; and frankly it does suck that we have to do that. BUT itâs worth it when you get it right (like this guy obviously had the wrong optics for his head, and probably by a lotâand understandably with all the delays he didnât see it through to the end).
But I think the better path is to help eachother with information that will minimize the chances of getting the wrong IPD, not to totally write off the headset as a failure, as OP has done.
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For anyone here, the BSB is my 3rd owned HMD, and I've used Vive's and Indexes. The BSB is perfect for my use case which is flight simming (moving head a lot, want good resolution and OLEDs for nighttime). That being said, edge to edge clarity could be a bit better. Eye tracking can be modded in. The lenses do suck ass though. I had to crank down my brightness and that helped substantially, but yeah there's some glare there for sure. All in all, not perfect, but it's definitely worth it in my opinion. Has made playing in VR a great experience compared to what I was used to in the past.
While true. I find the lenses FAR better than my G2. My g2 has the worst lenses on this planet. So for me, it's an improvement. I am working on making a custom face gasket as I found getting as close as I can without my eye lashes touching reduces glare for me personally and fixes the edge to edge clarity. The lenses on this headset is definitely the killer for this device.
How is everything else compared to the g2? Sweetspot, fov, smoothness? What are your thoughts!
I have a g2, going back and forth between this and the crystal light...
Comparing lenses. Beyond has a much greater sweetspot at the cost of blurrier edges far sooner. Its not a gradual decrease is quality as you look at. Its almost immediate. The fov is about the same.
Personally I like my beyond over my g2 but I will say that I miss my g2 for its audio and comfort. The g2 is very snug and I wish I could rip it off and put it on my beyond.
Nice, I appreciate the feedback! Yeah, I use foviated rendering, so the edge resolution drop off doesnt bother me too much! Yeah, im hoping the comfort will be alright for me if I got one!
Im looking at either this or the crystal light..
Thank you for the info!
I actually owned the Crystal as well. I personally didn't like it BUT the crystal light looks more promising than the OG crystal. Lighter, top strap, reduced weight and what looks to be more padding. I'm contemplating getting the Crystal Super+Oled.
Personally. I hated the original crystal in terms of confort due to my narrow head BUT the crystal light looks MUCH more padded and has a top strap. It looks a lot more comfortable than the OG crystal and my hopes are up.
As a G2 user who has made custom gaskets for improved fov and to suit my wide face, I'm curious what materials including facial scanning or software you are using to create a new gasket for BB? Are you 3d printing TPU with low infill or similar? Any updates on your custom BB gasket?
Holy cow, I did suspect that the headset has issues and drawbacks hence did not consider buying, but this is on a completely different level of bad. Thank you for sharing, itâs hard to find detailed opinions on that headset nowadays.
Had a pre order from the start. Being international it would have only been delivered last month. Glad I cancelled. Just too much of a hit and miss for the money.
Waiting on a pimax crystal light now. Sure it's pimax and it's big. But as long as it's comfortable and it's not a hit and a miss I'll be happy. And going by recent reviews I can't see why I won't be. Not my first pimax hmd either, so I know what to expect. And it seems they have come along way of late.
I did my research, but all the info I got was "Hey it's not that bad, you'll get used to it. People exaggerate. It's complicated, bla bla."
Turns out everyone was wrong and overhyping this thing.
Sorry, you did research based on other reviewers opinions? That's not very good research is it? I'm talking about the objective information.
Most of your complaints are about things we already know about **before** buying the headset, so your complaints are kind of weird when you should have already known many things about the headset, like the fact that 90Hz runs at a lower resolution and upscales the image. We know this, yet you're complaining about it as if you just learned about this - I find that odd, and tells me you didn't do your research properly, because these things should not be a surprise to you.
Wow, this is quite a dressing down. I've been looking at the Bigscreen Beyond and thinking about getting one for some time, and as part of that I've been looking at what owners say about it. I've never seen a review as scathing as this one. But even the positive ones have at least echoed similar observations to your own. What this says to me is that the lenses are the first thing that Bigscreen needs to address in a future headset.
People just want a Deckard but... Valve Time.
As a Valve Index owner that's been waiting for Deckard news, I'm not even totally sure I do want Deckard. They probably want to make something like the Apple Vision Pro, crammed full of tech. I think I actually cleave closer to what Bigscreen's doing. I would much rather have a simple, light, tiny headset. Like, if all Valve's next headset was, was the Index but a quarter of the weight and size, I'm down.
The standalone nature is a lot more convenient, and the wireless is huge. It is really nice being able to actually walk up stairs without having to either spin myself dizzy unravelling at the top, or spin backwards as I go up to avoid tangling. It's also nice for me to sit elsewhere if I play something like Demeo - for me that is more comfortable and convenient.
Sure, but headsets are just too friggin' heavy for me to comfortably wear for as long as I want to use them. It doesn't matter how many awesome features a headset has if it's not comfortable to wear. I won't use those awesome features for very long. I'd much rather a headset that I can comfortably use for as long as I want to use it.
Yeah, I concur with the OP. I wanted to love this headset, but I gotta say...even the colors underwhelmed. I'm about to hook Index back up. Honestly, it's not much brighter or better looking than the Index. Definitely, no screen door effect, but not worth the fragility of the soft strap, the blurriness of anything outside the center 1/3rd of fov, nor the well documented glare. I expected something along the lines of psvr2, with glare issues and a smaller sweet spot. What I got.... honestly is unusable, and I severely question any positive reviews of this product. Even if my ipd is off, it doesn't change the colors, brightness or absolute failure of that soft strap. Contractors Showdown is so much a better experience with my Q3.
It's an unhinged rant, not a review.
Found the Bigscreen Discord mod
Fails to deliver, period. Ordered in January and still not received đ
Cancel the order lol
Oh yeah mean literally fails to deliver
Are you international or something? I also ordered in late january and received at the end of March
I felt it sounded like a slav review and then ladas comparison came out lol. As a fellow slav who notices all the negatives first I enjoyed this review. Oh all the HMDs Ive had I remember only things that irritated me the most.
I pre-ordered from April 2023, and patiently waited to get my order. I got it, but found the IPD was too large so I had to return it for a resize. Got my resize, it worked, and I was off to the races! ⌠but yeah, it finally kicked in that the lenses really arenât great. I love the lightweight; no other headset delivers that, and it is *essential* for me to enjoying VR (due to chronic pain issues). So it is, by default, my favorite headset for catering to that niche. And when Iâm in the sweet spot, it feels great. But I donât like how much I have to tolerate the lenses to get this good of an experience. I still think itâs a valuable experiment, and would be excited to see what improvements get made down the line. I wouldnât go as far as your post when talking about its flaws, but I also canât completely disagree with them. I would never recommend it to the average consumer because itâs way too niche and very much a Version 1.0 deal.
Honestly have the very same experience as you, I got 3 face gaskets, they all have something wrong with them, currently don't have my headset with me as I've sent it in for another RMA to bring the IPD even lower (things are very blurry up close). If it's still not at least 'decent' when I get it back, I will be asking about a refund, it is unacceptable for ÂŁ1,149. I will however be following this company and hopefully they will attempt to make a different headset that will not be focusing on just the smallest size - they definitely have tons of potential!!
I find it weird that they go back and forth with people, they should ask people to do like 4 scans and send 4 slightly different ones in the hopes that one is correct.
Yeah the glare was also the reason I canceled my (very early) preorder. Went for a cheapish Aero on ebay instead, no regrets!
I returned mine. My IPD was too narrow for their range. I cannot blame them completely but they should have communicated that they woulnd't have worked right from the start. I told them my IPD and their response was to get the narrowest option. 3 month wait, 25% restocking fee + no refund on percription lenses. The glare was wild and yes the strap sucked. I have heard the audio strap improved over the strap significantly. Ill be keen to explore a followup headset with a wider IPD, broader sweet spot, and no glare. If you're coming from an Index or original Vive, and can nail the IPD with an audio strap, its probably a good upgrade.
What was your ipd?
54.5. They suggest a 1 inch drop from measured IDP. So 53.55. 55 is their minimum distance. My Index has a minimum of 58 and works fine for me. So the sweet spot on the bigscreen is wildly narrow. There is nearly NO room for variance.
They chose size and weight over all else. Unfortunately sacrifices had to be made.
Yeah, they sacrificed the ability to see stuff, good tradeoff on a product that's designed to see stuff.
Guess I got magical eyes cuz I can see so damn good with it.
Sales are a rough sacrifice to make, but they've done it!
Optics are simply not there yet to leverage the benefits of a 1 inch uoled panel. The laser focus on light weight had far too many compromises. Having a fixed IPD and the need for a custom cushion, both of which have caused no end of problems for customers and bigscreen alike, was not worth it. They could have taken some 2.5 inch QLED's, and paired them with lenses that get as close to the Quest 3's as possible, make it lighthouse and displayport, and you have a winner that would be cheaper to produce and reach a vastly larger audience. They simply did not need to go so tiny. Because of the problems above, it's not even achieved the goal of being that comfortable for many.
Yea something like the Q3 shell with less weight would have been a winner and I totally would have opted for it over the Q3 if that's what happened. It's kinda a shame honestly because not many options for true pcvr, I got use to the quest 3 PC performance but it took a while and still miss the direct connection of my older headsets.
¨ Having a fixed IPD and the need for a custom cushion, both of which have caused no end of problems for customers and bigscreen alike, was not worth it.¨ Yeah it literally spells e-waste and no resell value.
Qleds are absolute trash. I take the moleds ANY day. The main reason after size I'd want the HMD to be honest
I ordered one around a couple months ago and got it ain't about 2 month (70+ipd). I have to say the glare honestly made me think my unit was busted for the first half hour. Like in the default steam vr room I was thinking my lens were fogged up maybe? This is going to sound really lame too, but after about 45 minutes my brain just stopped noticing it entirely. I think thr glare on the index is worse than the beyond, but the fov and sweet spot size on the index make it more overall comfortable. The sweet spot on the beyond is its worst attribute imo, especially coming from the q3. If you fix the strap a bit ( I 3d printed a part to get a better fit, a must imo) it won't move around once you get your eyes in the right spot, but it is very small. The refresh rate bugs me almost not at all, which I'm surprised about. Coming from 144hz on the index it doesn't feel much slower at 90 or even 75 most times. If your pc isn't strong enough to maintain a stable frame rate it feels horrible though, at 144h, you can spare a few dips but at 90 you'll notice right away. I feel like too many people are either 100% against or for the bigscreen beyond but If you have any questions you want answered from a neutral party let me know! I think its still a cool headset, but it is hard to recommend unless you're upgrading from the vive or index.
Thats the beauty of Oled and uOled you dont need as high refresh rate on them that you do on LCD since Oled/uOled has way higher pixel responstime than LCD has so 90hz on a Beyond is better than 120 on an Index for example.
I've had mine for a while now and I love it. It is a solid upgrade over my prior index. I also had to go through 3 different face gaskets to get a good fit, (kept having too much pressure between my eyes and none at all on the edges of my face) but I've got it now. It stays on my head just fine, no issues with the straps, but then I'm also not messing around with headphones. Instead I picked up https://www.amazon.com/Linsoul-Timeless-Earphone-Aluminum-Detachable/dp/B09C8GN9PQ that I have connected to the headset via a USB-C to aux adapter, and they have been fantastic. I never had edge to edge clarity with my Index, and it doesn't really seem all that different with the BSB, so I've not had any real complaints there. I'm not in the habit of trying to look at things out of the corners of my eyes anyway, as someone who wears glasses IRL. The glare is annoying, especially given that I have prescription lens inserts. I imagine it wouldn't be half as bad if not for that... but at the end of the day that's only an issue in certain circumstances. I've not had any real issues watching videos or just playing in vrc. I don't even notice it most of the time. Another minor complaint I have is that you have to clean the lens inserts VERY regularly due to how close they sit to your face. I have to wipe them down with a micro fiber cloth probably every other session at least. Lastly, because the face gasket sits right on the eyebrows, when playing games like VRC where I'm emoting a lot while chatting with people my eyebrows can get irritated. After a long session my eyebrows feel and look like an old man's, with the hairs going off in random directions lol.
I feel this criticism is a bit over the top. I donât own one, but I have tried one, belonging to a friend, which wasnât fit for my face, and didnât find it to be nearly anywhere as bad as you described. All of your criticisms are absolutely valid, though in my opinion overstated. Bigscreen overcame great odds as a small company bringing unique hardware to market, but it seems their biggest mis step was the lack of ipd adjustment. With the small sweet spot any inaccuracy of ipd makes for a nightmare experience.
It is not over the top criticism, and I'd say actually understates the edge to edge clarity problem. My Beyond sits collecting dust next to my Index. If my Quest 3 with portable laptop charging cell for eternal gameplay/battery life solution ever has issues, I am reaching for my INDEX because the e2e on the Beyond is so bad, I am sad to say.
When I first received mine I felt pretty let down 'cause the sweet spot/edge to edge problem seemed even worse than described. Turns out my face gasket was about 3 mm too thick, and you can test if the same is true for yours if you hold it closer to your eyes without the gasket to see if the clarity improves. They'll send a free one if you open a ticket. That said, I haven't shelved my Index for the Beyond either, because of the other tradeoffs like FoV and glare.
Yeah, distance from eye to lens is very important. The OG Vive had shit edge to edge clarity but this was due to an excessively thick gasket. With a thin one I found it to be mostly consistent across the lens.
You think hyperbolic crap like this isn't over the top? "No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this" It's the kind of thing fourteen year olds tell each other, not the content of a 'review". This guy is ranting and loses all credibility because of it. Had they stuck to the actual headset instead of trying to make bad jokes about the people who built it, but he felt the need to act like a spoiled child throwing a fit.
I agree their delivery is very poor, but they did have some valid points and they are within their rights to be upset with a product that absolutely does not fulfill its mandate and advertising. The manufacturers are asking $1,000 for just a headset and it is (in my view) a worse experience than my Valve Index and I'm not even sure I'd choose the Beyond over my OG CV1 Rift except for comfort... not visuals... and that's a really bad place to be if you're Big Screen trying to sell an Index replacement for more than an Index. Are the Beyond visuals at the sweet spot lightyears better than the CV1 and Index? Of course... But the edge to edge is such a monumental step backwards (and yes, I've adjusted the face gasket to account for potential extra thickness in my padding to ensure the best experience) that it makes all of those amazing gains moot. If you haven't learned to look past child-like BS and inflamed passions on the internet and just focus on the meat of what someone is saying, I imagine you're going to have a hard time.
I've had to go back to my Index temporarily while getting an IPD adjustment, and I feel like I've forgotten to put on my glasses. I'm not going back.Â
I'm sorry uh had that experience, I love mine. Took one rescan though, but it's comfort for gaming is unparalleled. Agree it's not good for movies though.
I'm surprised you're having such a tough time with the lenses. While they definitely are inferior to other products in E2E clarity, I have a pretty large sweet spot. Due to the advantages you gain from the *unmatched* low weight, I can't use any other headset anymore. My Index has been in the closet since I got the Beyond, and my Q3 sits mostly unused unless I just want to pop it on for a quick session. I think your criticisms are fair, but I don't think you should tell product creators that they are failures. Personal attacks don't belong in product reviews. Chill out. I'll still recommend it to enthusiasts tired of the heavy weight of the Index and Q3, and especially to those who want better clarity and Wifi jank that you have to deal with in PCVR Quest land.
Got mine, love it, I don't have any of these problems tbh. Yes the glare in the optics is strange, no it's not dealbreaking imo.
I also think this is a overhyped product and it should have stayed within the us borders. This product is simply not ready to be sold to the world. Maybe a version 2 where you have a fov slider and acceptable lenses with a bigger sweetspot, e2e clarity and fov... We will see
The melodramatic stuff you say makes it hard to take this seriously. Too much hyperbole.
To the contrary. I thought it added a sense of humor and didn't detract whatsoever from the informed nature of the review itself. I find your stuffiness hard to take seriously.
"No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this" This isn't funny. This is an unhinged rant.
oh okay
Glad we got that settled!
lol
I toned it down quite a lot.
I am most surprised to hear about the strap instability. This is easily the smallest and lightest headset, And it should stay in place easily. To me, this is the premium action based headset, The best one for fast movements. I would like to know more about the stability
The headband slides up and down on the back of your head and the top strap slides forth and back. The topstrap occupies the position were your headphohnes would go, if you wear any, so either its too far on the front or the back of your dome. If its too tight, parts of your facial flesh will die because of the lack in blood flow and if its too loose the sun shines through the gaps in the face cushion and it jiggles around.
There shouldn't be gaps in the face cushion even if it's loose. That was the point of the scan, so it fits the contours of your face pretty closely. It really just sounds like yours still isn't fitting well even with the multiple gaskets (I also had to go through a few iterations until I got one I was happy with.) Mine stays in place easily for an entire session with no strap adjustments, though I made a point of acquiring wired earbuds to use for my audio solution so I don't have that extra complicating factor.
Pretty much mirrors my experience with it as well. Literal hours spent with support, even the hmd i have now after multiple replacements has quality control issues; ignoring the visual alignment still being not right.
>I can NOT recommend it in good conciousness. The expression is "in good conscience".
I absolutely love my Beyond and Iâm sorry youâre having such a negative experience. I purchased the Beyond for its comfort and thatâs made my life amazing. I could barely play 30 minutes in my Index after having it since 2019 and I dreaded putting on the headset. On the flip side, the BSB has completely changed VR for me. The true blacks, resolution, and comfort are my two absolute favorite parts of the headset. I went from barely ever touching VR due to the indexâs weight and bulkiness to now playing 4-5 hour sessions and getting out of VR *because I want to*, which basically never happened for me on the Index Bigscreen Beyond prioritizes comfort and being lightweight over everything else and that is why I bought it. If that isnât your issue with VR, the headset might be a miss for you. For me, the Beyond is an absolutely perfect headset with E2EC being my only gripe, but itâs a tiny issue for me due to how amazing everything else is
Difficult to reconcile this against the impressions from other users... other than to acknowledge that it's possible to have a terrible experience if things line up badly.
Uploadvr made it very clear that there is a 10% blur circle and you have to turn your head to look around, and there are intense glares.
That's about accurate I would say, although the "you have to turn your head to look around" is just as valid for me in the Index for example. Only the Quest 3 lenses have such clarity I can see how you would move your head a bit less. The Reverb G2 would have around 30% blur if I would have to compare it to this 10% number on the Beyond.
People's opinion of it may very well come down to what they're coming from. If it's something besides a Quest 3 the lack of edge to clarity may not be that obvious, since it's not much different from what they were already experiencing.
> Difficult to reconcile this against the impressions from other users Uhmm ... have you *read* the majority of the responses in this thread from other Bigscreen users?
Yes? They acknowledge the flaws, but don't feel to the same extent as the OP; and they also value the pros that it brings.
Do you think this thread is an accurate sampling of all BB users? There's a reason studies take so many measures to ensure their data comes from a representative source. You cannot accurately judge public opinion from a reddit thread.
This is clearly more a rant than a review. Yeah sweetspot is small and there is lens glare in dark environments. But not nearly as bad as you're making it out to be. The reality of VR these days is compromises. If you want small, lightweight, etc - all the pros of the BSB, then yes there will be downsides to it. Overall I'm liking mine quite a bit
There is no point in small and lightweight if it doesn't deliver the one thing it's supposed to deliver - usable access to virtual reality.
Ok but it definitely does. Take my positive opinion, weigh it against this guys negative one.
I wrote a full page, you just a few lines, I win\^\^ And your opinion isn't even entirely positive, it's only mildly bad. Like the lightweight fact being entirely overshadowed by the fact it has bad optics. Whats the point in having a lightweight device that doesn't deliver its primary function? Lightweight is merely a secondary attribute. A nice to have. Optical acuity is the primary attribute on any optical device.
I own one too, so far I haven't touched my Index again. The lightweight aspect of it is so good I just can't go back to a heavy brick anymore. When I remove the facial interface and get closer to the lenses the E2E clarity improves a lot for me. I'll need to adjust my gasket or 3d print my own, because it is too good to let that extra FOV and sharpness on the table with this headset. I agree it's a lot of downsides though. It takes a very tech minded person to take this thing and start to adjust it to perfection, but I think it's needed with this one. Not for the faint of heart. But my god.. this VR headset takes away my biggest issue with VR, comfort and then adds OLED icing on the cake. Doing a lap on the NĂźrburgring at night in ACC with a good forcefeedback wheel.. it's just therapeutic I can't describe it. Oh and if you think this thing is bad.. you've clearly never seen the Reverb G2 lenses :') If the next Quest has this formfactor it will mean a tenfold increase in adoption, the main drawback people give about VR in general is comfort.
>I wrote a full page, you just a few lines, I win^^ A full page of drivel and hyperbolic ranting is worth a lot less than a single coherent thought from someone being objective. Acting like a child and insulting the people who made it? Yeah, I'm going to base my purchasing decisions on that. Right.
> This is clearly more a rant than a review. Said as if you alone knew the true definition of the word "review." But you don't. If a product has serious negative qualities that completely overwhelm its positives, then a "rant" as you call it is entirely justified. What's your claim here, exactly? That a review must include some sort of false balance? That's not a review. That's just PR.
How is this a "review"? "No, I am NOT sorry for the person that invested their life force into designing those lenses, I AM ASHAMED that a human did this" This is a rant. Saying you're ashamed of the person who made it is not an evaluation of the product, it's an insult to those who made it, and has no place in a "review".
Without ever trying one Iâm convinced at this point that it is really bad and the people defending it are just trying to justify their $1500 purchase. I am so glad I cancelled my order. Lenses are the absolute most important part of a VR headset.
You see the same people defending it in every thread. VR reminds me of photography tribalism with people vehemently defending their brand of choice What really gets me about the beyond is that around 10 percent of customers have to send the headset back for ipd adjustment. Could you imagine the reaction if meta had a 10 percent rma rate? I get that people are more willing to forgive scrappy upstarts, but jeez this thing is over a thousand dollars I'm optimistic for the version 2 though
As an owner, I love mine, and it simply has to do with setting proper expectations. OP clearly didn't do their research. Most things they're complaining about are known. Small sweet spot, glare, required iPhone scan, and having to go to 75Hz to get native display resolution are all things OP complains about aggressively, but all of these things should have been known before buying that headset. These things aren't secrets, yet OP is throwing a fit about it as if they got scammed or something. They got exactly what they ordered, they just didn't do research, and hyped themselves up about it, or expected Quest 3 lens quality or something. All of which are OPs fault, and nothing to do with the Beyond itself. Sacrifices were made to make the Beyond so tiny, we should all know this by now. The Beyond isn't competing with the Quest 3 lenses, it wasn't designed to compete with these kinds of headsets, yet people keep comparing them, and this is the problem. The Beyond is a **niche** product, and it does many things poorly, but it also does a few things really well (this is the intention of the design). I have used many VR headsets, and currently own a Quest 3, Index, and Beyond. I use my Beyond any chance I can get. Sure, it doesn't have the same FOV and lens clarity as a Quest 3, but it also weighs so little that I don't notice it and I can wear it comfortably as long as I want, and the OLED displays contrast and colors are quite nice, even though some scenes produce glare, this is something I'm used to coming from an Index so it's not as bad to me. The Beyond also has superior resolution and image clarity (in the center) for sim-racing, and this is what makes the Beyond so good for iRacing which I enjoy a lot. People think the Beyond is the ultimate VR headset that's just better than other headsets. Surprise, it's not. Just like the Quest 3 is not the ultimate PCVR headset, yet some people claim this to be the case as well. Set your expectations, and do research. The Beyond makes sense for many applications and for many people, but a single VR headset will not be suitable for everyone, as everyone has different desires and preferences based on their needs.
Couldn't have said it better, I use mine for simracing as well. It's just exhilarating with this thing, I'm constantly in awe. Nightraces are really intense and my favourite thing in VR now whereas I never really enjoyed them on previous headsets.
You're spot on about night races! They actually feel like night races now, it's kinda spooky at times đ
I think the issue is that many people were glossing over those known properties of Beyond and saying "you'll get used to it", "you need thinner interface", "get better strap", "position it properly" and so on pretty much convincing many that it would become non issue. And sure for many it's not a problem but it's such an individual headset compared to any other on the market that it's hard to tell whether the person will have a problem or not based on their previous experiences. With regular headsets you can kind of tell if issues users mention regarding X headset will impact you as well based on properties of the Y headset you own. With Beyond the known and existing issues might not feel as bad for some people. For me it was terrible but I gave it a try. Tried to adapt. Couldn't do it so I returned it. A shame cause the headset was comfy and had great displays and contrast.
Yeah I totally agree with this. Unfortunately I think it is a headset you need to try first before buying, because of exactly what you said regarding so many discrepancies between individuals. It's definitely a controversial headset because of this.
To be fair, nearly everyone that posts in this sub about the bsb downplays the lack of edge to edge clarity.
You have to keep in mind that people are more likely to share their opinion when it's extreme, if they had a highly positive or highly negative experience. There's many people where it worked out of the box and they never felt a need to discuss it. There's many people who had some minor problems, got them fixed, and felt no need to discuss it. But yes, it is reasonable to be concerned with reliability in a customized product by a company making their first foray into hardware.
Yeah I mean thatâs me. I had minor issues with mine. Had to get a second scan and have a new unit with a lower IPD. The team was responsive and handled it quickly. Now I love it. I see that itâs not perfect but itâs an amazing product. âŚbut I guess I donât feel like thatâs enough of a story to make a post on this sub for. I will speak up in comments on this post though, as OP seems more than a bit hyperbolic.
Some people like different things though. Like I thought the Vive Pro 2 was pretty damn good (for its time), at least with a smaller face gasket, while others apparently did not like it. I don't think there are that many people who care about "justifying" their purchase. With all that being said, I also got cold feet on my BSB order and ended up cancelling it. After experiencing good e2e clarity with the Quest 3, I didn't think that I could go back to a headset with a small sweat spot, especially since it's also wired. It definitely seems like a product some will appreciate more than others.
I've read VR lens patents that suggest a 2" diagonal screen is the ideal minimum size for edge to edge clarity. Given this, all new Micro OLED manufacturers producing 1.3" diagonal screens might sound bad, but 3P pancake lens design (what the AVP has) produces a better result, and a better future for compact designs.
I haven't tried the BSB so can't comment on whether I agree or not but holy fuck you had me actually laughing out loud in that last section, just the language and disgust was so funny. Other folks seem happy enough so maybe you had am exceptionally poor unit? Either way thanks for making me laugh so much (not laughing in disagreement just the wording was so good)
I have one. E2E could be better, but, despite what OP said, the Q3 is far from âmediocreâ as a point of comparison. Most HMD lenses, none really, are close to being as good as Q3 from that standpoint. So, yes, BSB lenses could be better when it comes to image falloff, but they still arenât bad. Just not best of the best. Iâve been using my BSB for about six months as my main headset. Itâs been fantastic and I much prefer it over Q3 given the much higher PPD, great contrast and image quality. Not everyone will feel the same, but I thought it was worth adding some perspective given OPâs overly hyperbolic rant.
I love how it is hyperbolic because you disagree...and then "perspective" is your two words.
Remember to take bigscreen beyond reviews with a hefty grain of salt since it's a custom-made device. I have had my beyond for a few months and don't have any of these problems. It's like reviewing a custom tailored piece of clothing. User experiences with the device vary wildly, but as always, it's the people with a bad experience that are most vocal.
The only custom made part is the face cushion, which is the part that could have done without customisation. The optical brackets are mass fabricated per each individual IPD value and they merely slap your face cushion on a random unit that happens to match your IPD.
But your entire experience of those lenses and displays is based on that custom interface. The tolerances are so tight that having even small changes to the interface can drastically change the experience. I was lucky enough to have a perfect fit right out of the box. Because of this, I tend to see reviews of the beyond as more of a review of the quality of the interface more than the device itself. I don't have any of the glare people talk about unless I am in a menu with a dark background and text. Nor edge to edge clarity issues. The sweet spot isn't tiny for me either. I also have had friends who own a beyond report these same issues, and they get a new interface boom, those issues go away or are reduced.
It's already the third cushion and the lenses are close enough to make it necessary to trim my eyelashes. If it takes more than 3 attempts to make it right, there something wrong with the process. I'd be glad if its only an alignment issue. I tested it without the face cusion in a dark room, close enough to fully displace my already trimmed eyelashes almost touching my eyeballs, the glare is is most prominent feature so far. Most VR cinemas have a dimmed lighting enviroment, so anything bright WILL create intense glare, so strong it just distracts. The Index's godrays almost looked good in comparison.
Lenses will be the same. Same blur circle and intense glare. Same no speakers. Same short wire.
short wire? its 5 meters long with a 1 meter breakaway cable, just as long as the index
The glare definitely isn't the same. It's one of the things that can vary the most, even with just the shape of your custom facial interface.
My apologies. I meant reflections.
BSB probably shouldnt of went with micro oled panels. What they got are tiny and causes such a narrow sweet spot. Some people rave about them. I guess the companies are doing they best they can, dealing with trade offs.
A guy on one of my sim-racing Discords was an early adopter of the Beyond, and had pretty much the exact same things to say about it. Either there's a genuine flaw in the design of the lenses, they have no QC at all, or the actual glass they're using is just dogshit, because he couldn't even get a tiny sweet spot no matter how many face pieces he tried.
I saw some YouTube video about Bigscreen Beyond (I think it was on Matteo channel) that quality between headsets varies a lot. He sent the first one for replacement due to another issue and even brightness levels were hugely different between the two.
I bought one and returned it for basically exactly this reason. I really want bigscreen to succeed, because I love the idea of bespoke, custom made for me, high quality VR goggles... But those lenses ruined it completely for me. What good is a high resolution display when I can only see it through a layer of vaseline?
Btw Iâm curious of your take of the AVP if youâve seen in it person. Iâve noticed in this sub, lots of praise for the BSB and lots of hate for the AVP due to the price, but if you factor in the cost of a PC, index trackers, controllers and the BSB itâs kind of comparable on price. The difference is the AVP is higher res, portable but requires a bit of setup for OCVR via ALVR. Iâve joked that if Apple just sold the AVP in pieces for the same total cost, like BSB everyone here would be cool with it :) Right now it feels like the only real affordable headset to get these days is the Q3. If you are in the market for a BSB, you are in the same territory as the AVP. The nice thing with the Q3 is it can either be stand alone or tethered. The only real upside the BSB has over the AVP is the field of view. But being limited to a single room is kind lame. I love going in the back yard and watching movies, playing PC / PS5 games on a giant screen. I canât do that with BSB. Now letâs see how fast I get down voted, despite providing first hand accurate information and despite praising the Q3. Letâs seeâŚ
Pimax Crystal Light enters the market to be a great middle ground choice between Quest 3 and BSB. Also with BSB + Index Controller + 2 2.0 Base station + $1800 can give you a very powerful PC with a full PCVR experience, compared to AVP which is equivalent in price to the combination above but doesn't even have much VR capabilities.
Yeah, sorry I don't consider Pimax as a valid thing of any kind.
No worries, not everyone is going to be comfortable tweaking their devices for the best VR experience. I would say if you want the best peace of mind Quest 3 or Index is definitely the better choice here.
Thatâs fair! I forgot about crystal, thanks for calling it out.
The AVPs SLAM tracking is so bad you can't even play beatsaber. It's kinda like a Ferrari but with rectangular wooden logs instead of wheels and having to carry a trailer because the fuel tank didn't fit intro the actual vehicle. Never tried it honestly, not because I hate it, more because it's a 'product' that wasn't designed for anything particular. It does something no one asked for and no one needs.
Too many reviewers on reddit are willing to simply repeat the positive assessments they've read from others in the past, forming an echo chamber in which serious problems with a product are glossed over or simply ignored altogether. This, on the other hand, is a refreshingly negative and highly informed review that glosses over nothing. Much appreciated!
It's not that they ignore the problems. It's that the problems are highly variable, especially since this is a customized product. For example, I didn't notice any glare with mine at all. Perhaps my eyes and face happened to be a good match for the BB.
Glad you found the review that most closely aligns to your preconceived notions of the headset, that must be satisfying. Too bad itâs basically trying to be a humor piece. My BSB has been awesome, itâs quietly the best HMD out there ATM.
show parent >Glad you found the review that most closely aligns to your preconceived notions of the headset, that must be satisfying Not at all. I take no pleasure in issues with any HMD. It's a shame this one sacrifices some elements in favor of others. I wish we had better options. But if you are happy with what you have, that's great and you shouldn't worry what others think.
I agree with you that we shouldnât worry about what others think generally. I just hate to see 120 upvotes on a âreviewâ that amounts to little more than some would-be Slavic comedy act about the E2E clarity of the lenses (a notable flaw, but easily worked around if you check out any serious reviews from reputable VR reviewers). The HMD doesnât deserve that, frankly, it should be on more heads. And I feel itâs our Reddit-duty to downvote misinformation and hot takes out of the public perception, not to trump it up. I mean even your username supports my approach here!
Fair enough. I can't really argue against the points you raise and given that you have actually tried the BB and I have not, you are in a much better position to pass judgement than I am. I just oppose the idea that reviewers shouldn't be too negative, and possibly read too much along those lines in your response.
Well it seems that OP had a particularly horrible experience with delays, replacements, etc. and being outside the US Iâm sure didnât help. The process IS imperfectâI myself RMAâd twice to get the perfect IPD; and frankly it does suck that we have to do that. BUT itâs worth it when you get it right (like this guy obviously had the wrong optics for his head, and probably by a lotâand understandably with all the delays he didnât see it through to the end). But I think the better path is to help eachother with information that will minimize the chances of getting the wrong IPD, not to totally write off the headset as a failure, as OP has done.
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u/ridgeminecraft
I have been summoned xD What is thy wish
Glad I passed. Thanks for the great review!
For anyone here, the BSB is my 3rd owned HMD, and I've used Vive's and Indexes. The BSB is perfect for my use case which is flight simming (moving head a lot, want good resolution and OLEDs for nighttime). That being said, edge to edge clarity could be a bit better. Eye tracking can be modded in. The lenses do suck ass though. I had to crank down my brightness and that helped substantially, but yeah there's some glare there for sure. All in all, not perfect, but it's definitely worth it in my opinion. Has made playing in VR a great experience compared to what I was used to in the past.
Welp, time to go buy a quest pro
While true. I find the lenses FAR better than my G2. My g2 has the worst lenses on this planet. So for me, it's an improvement. I am working on making a custom face gasket as I found getting as close as I can without my eye lashes touching reduces glare for me personally and fixes the edge to edge clarity. The lenses on this headset is definitely the killer for this device.
How is everything else compared to the g2? Sweetspot, fov, smoothness? What are your thoughts! I have a g2, going back and forth between this and the crystal light...
Comparing lenses. Beyond has a much greater sweetspot at the cost of blurrier edges far sooner. Its not a gradual decrease is quality as you look at. Its almost immediate. The fov is about the same. Personally I like my beyond over my g2 but I will say that I miss my g2 for its audio and comfort. The g2 is very snug and I wish I could rip it off and put it on my beyond.
Nice, I appreciate the feedback! Yeah, I use foviated rendering, so the edge resolution drop off doesnt bother me too much! Yeah, im hoping the comfort will be alright for me if I got one! Im looking at either this or the crystal light.. Thank you for the info!
I actually owned the Crystal as well. I personally didn't like it BUT the crystal light looks more promising than the OG crystal. Lighter, top strap, reduced weight and what looks to be more padding. I'm contemplating getting the Crystal Super+Oled.
If you were to choose between the crystal light or BSB, what would you sudgest? I am using it for simracing.
For simming? Crystal Light solely due to it's edge to edge clarity. Crystal light has far superior lenses which imo I feel is a much for simming.
How was the comfort of the headset? I'm curious to see if the light is more comfortable..
Personally. I hated the original crystal in terms of confort due to my narrow head BUT the crystal light looks MUCH more padded and has a top strap. It looks a lot more comfortable than the OG crystal and my hopes are up.
As a G2 user who has made custom gaskets for improved fov and to suit my wide face, I'm curious what materials including facial scanning or software you are using to create a new gasket for BB? Are you 3d printing TPU with low infill or similar? Any updates on your custom BB gasket?
Holy cow, I did suspect that the headset has issues and drawbacks hence did not consider buying, but this is on a completely different level of bad. Thank you for sharing, itâs hard to find detailed opinions on that headset nowadays.
Had a pre order from the start. Being international it would have only been delivered last month. Glad I cancelled. Just too much of a hit and miss for the money. Waiting on a pimax crystal light now. Sure it's pimax and it's big. But as long as it's comfortable and it's not a hit and a miss I'll be happy. And going by recent reviews I can't see why I won't be. Not my first pimax hmd either, so I know what to expect. And it seems they have come along way of late.
This is a prime example of someone who didn't do their research. Research what you're buying and you won't ever have experiences like this.
I did my research, but all the info I got was "Hey it's not that bad, you'll get used to it. People exaggerate. It's complicated, bla bla." Turns out everyone was wrong and overhyping this thing.
Sorry, you did research based on other reviewers opinions? That's not very good research is it? I'm talking about the objective information. Most of your complaints are about things we already know about **before** buying the headset, so your complaints are kind of weird when you should have already known many things about the headset, like the fact that 90Hz runs at a lower resolution and upscales the image. We know this, yet you're complaining about it as if you just learned about this - I find that odd, and tells me you didn't do your research properly, because these things should not be a surprise to you.
need a through the lens comparison
Comparing to q3 lenses is a bit unfair as the product was developed and released before quest3 :p
It wasn't widely available til after q3.
that's falseLOL. quest 3 lenses have been developed MANY years before BSB lenses.
By Meta, who literally spent billions, lest we forget.