[roksprok]

I've had multiple rift owners tell me to get a vive because 'it does room scale'. Their website still doesn't mention anything about the touch enabling better tracking and room scale experiences! How could they screw up marketing this bad?

To be honest I'm still not even sure if I'm wrong about it supporting room scale, I've seen articles mention it but their website gives me doubts.

[nilkn]

I have both a Vive and a Rift+Touch and to be honest the Vive handles tracking much better than Touch. I think Oculus is correct to classify room-scale as experimental with Touch.

I think that Oculus is avoiding marketing room-scale because Touch legitimately does not do it very well compared to the Vive:

* It almost certainly requires a third camera, which adds another $79 to the cost.

* Even with the third camera, the controllers lose tracking fairly easily if they're oriented away from the cameras (e.g., orient them towards your torso, but with nothing blocking the line of sight to the cameras).

* Even with the third camera, you end up with a smaller tracking volume than with the Vive.

* Lots of Touch owners are reporting serious tracking issues by just setting up two sensors in opposing corners. Others say it works fairly well. Your results will most likely be random.

* The Rift cable is barely long enough to work well if you're actually walking around your space rather than just standing still.

* In the same vein, Oculus does not sell or endorse any extension cables for the Rift HMD. I've seen folks try out a lot of them with mixed success.

* The sensors have to be plugged straight into your PC, which with three cameras uses up a lot of USB ports.

* Even with the third camera, you'll only get one extension cable from Oculus, so the two existing sensors will still be pretty tethered to your PC.

* Even with the extension cable, it's not easy setting up the cameras in optimal locations throughout the room.

* Oculus does not supply any mounting brackets or sell any brackets on their website for mounting against the wall.

* The Rift and Touch do not come with any linking box, nor does Oculus sell one separately.

---

With all that said, Touch is a fantastic product and deserves the glowing reviews it's getting. It's just not designed for room-scale. It's workable, but not ideal.

[christoph]

Totally agree. I had a Rift set up in the office (seated) with Touch (very impressed) and brought it home at the weekend to try roomscale (with a third camera) and was utterly frustrated by the glitchy tracking. With the Vive (in the same room) I've never experienced a single glitch in nearly 60hrs of play. I hated running all the cables back to the PC as well. It's worth mentioning as well that the sensor USB ports all have to be USB3 as well. That means it takes up 4xUSB3 ports for roomscale!

[somedangedname]

Also many motherboard USB controllers are incompatible with both Rift and the Vive: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/3zrtgs/psa_your_usb...

AFAIK neither company mentions this in their supported PC specs, though the Rift compatability tool will warn you if you have incompatable USB ports.

I would really have liked to have known this going into my Vive purchase - I've owned it for 2 weeks and have been able to use the device twice in that time.

[brazzledazzle]

Would a PCIe USB card work? I'd be pretty upset if I had to buy a new motherboard.

[somedangedname]

Yep, that's the plan. The recommended family of cards isn't sold in Australia so I'll have to import one.

The other issue is my older motherboard/CPU combo which may or may not be able to support the extra PCIE use.

Overall, fun times.

[sgift]

I have a Fresco PCIe USB card (afair that was what they've recommended) and it works just fine.

[marricks]

That's funny as I've seen people say Rift room scale is okay if you set up the cameras to be opposing (as instructions say). That said, if you buy an extra camera and get three it's mean to be VERY good room scale. Of course that's another 80 bucks, and officially above the Vive's price!

I think Oculus doesn't want to dillute it's marketing and reach the largest core group, so front facing standing. Many people don't have 5 by 7 feet free. We're currently at the stage of enthusiasts though, which have more money and space than typical users, and will move shit to make space (I sure did), which could definitely be a mistake...

[Impossible]

The answer is complex which is why the marketing is so muddled. These guides cover "experimental" 2 and 3 sensor 360 degree tracking (https://support.oculus.com/help/oculus/199906947113632/?help...). You can buy a 3rd sensor, in additional to the sensors that came with Rift and Touch on the Oculus store for $80. The feature is considered experimental because the tracking setup UI isn't fully finished IIRC.

[eropple]

As I understand it, Oculus Touch is intended for two front-facing trackers (it comes with a second tracker to go with the Rift tracker). And the tracking seems pretty good while you're facing them. However, the three-tracker and diagonal-tracker setup is experimental, and the diagonal-tracker setup (Vive does the diagonal-tracker setup with its "lighthouses" to enable room-scale) is necessary if you're going to have games that encourage you to turn around or otherwise occlude the headset and the Touch devices with your body.