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Comment by Wowfunhappy | Hacker News Reader

All the other complaints in this thread are valid, but I've never understood why people hate the lighthouses so much.

All you have to do is put up some boxes at the corners of your room one time, and then plug them in. They don't even need to be connected to the computer in any way. They are small, and silent, and nonintrusive.

I get that it's not the best user experience, but for a thing you just spent $1,000 on? I'll take a couple of boxes and better tracking over no boxes and worse tracking any day. I never saw complaints like this over the Wii sensor bar.

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The suboptimal user experience of setting up lighthouses was cited as an argument against the high price of $1000. Treating it as something to be considered only after buying would be the same as assuming that the item has a high value because of the high price.

Well, I don't understand that either.

If you're spending $1,000, what is 20 minutes setting up lighthouses? As far as I'm concerned, it barely even factors into the equation.

There are still multiple issues with lighthouses (and Rift CV1 sensors): repeating the setup if moving the PC and VR headset to another room, occlusion issues (e.g. with ceiling fans), sensors get moved inadvertently (e.g. while dusting), intermittent USB port issues, LEDs going bad, etc.

I think you're conflating the Vive's lighthouse system with the Rift's cameras. The lighthouses don't use USB at all. They don't even need to communicate with the PC (though you have the optional ability to do so via Bluetooth).

If you move your desktop PC around often, I can see why the Index or Rift S would be a non-optimal choice. I don't think this describes most people.

I listed issues with both together, probably should have listed them separately.

Edit: just noticed you said Rift S, maybe you meant the Rift? The Rift S doesn't use sensors, so moving it to another room just requires re-calibration in the new room, I believe.

Sorry, yes, meant the OG Rift.

Oculus Quest covers the vast majority of consumers. Only a minority have a gaming PC and will dedicate a room to it. The convenience of 5 seconds from off to being fully in VR is the main selling point.

Regarding occlusion issues - Vive lighthouses can be connected together with a cable, so they don't need to see each other (and as for seeing the headset and controllers - I don't think ceiling fans would be an issue here, as user would be significantly lower).

Repeating setup if moving, and the sensors getting moved - from my experience it depends how much space you have available and how fully you have to utilize this space for VR. If available space is large enough, then I notice that it doesn't matter much if the boundaries get moved slightly, if I keep enough buffer between virtual boundaries and physical objects.

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