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A big leap for VR.
The HP Reverb G2 is quite possibly the most exciting virtual reality headset on the market right now. That may come as a surprise to people expecting the likes of HTC, Oculus or Valve to be the ones to push VR forward, but the HP Reverb G2 achieves that by bringing one important revolutionary change: highresolution lenses.
We’re really not joking when we say the HP Reverb G2’s 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye is a gamechanger. It takes immersion to a whole new level by eliminating the ‘screen door’ effect pretty much completely. The screen door effect occurs in lower-resolution headsets, where you can make out the gaps between pixels.
Once you notice it it’s hard to ignore; it creates the appearance of looking through a fine mesh – or screen door – and can hamper immersion. By overcoming that issue, while at the same time undercutting most of its rivals on price and being compatible with Steam VR, which gives you access to a huge range of VR games and experiences, the HP Reverb G2 really is the headset to beat.
The design of the HP Reverb G2 is pretty standard for a virtual reality headset. Headphones are built in, and the headset can be adjusted while you wear it via Velcro straps. The face mask that rests against your face when you’re wearing the headset is light and comfortable, and does a good job of blocking out light from the outside world.
While the HP Reverb G2 doesn’t offer anything revolutionary in terms of the headset design, it’s a solid and comfortable experience. After using the flip-up goggles of the Vive Cosmos, however, we did miss that design feature on the Reverb G2.
As a Windows Mixed Reality headset, the HP Reverb G2 doesn’t come with additional sensors that you need to set up; instead, it uses cameras built into the headset pointing outwards to track movement. While it doesn’t provide the pin-point accuracy of the likes of the Valve Index, which requires you to set up additional sensors around the room, it does a decent job, and it means this headset is much easier to set up.
We used the HP Reverb G2 with a range of VR games and experiences, including Half Life: Alyx and Star Wars: Squadrons, and we came away incredibly impressed. We really can’t stress enough how much of an impact the high-resolution lenses in the HP Reverb G2 make – with the screen door effect eliminated, it takes immersion to a whole new level. Many of the games we played with the headset were titles we’ve played many times before, but they felt almost completely new with the G2.
The HP Reverb G2 is easily one of the best VR headsets out there thanks to its incredibly highresolution lenses, which all but eliminates the screen door effect and really helps with immersion. It doesn’t quite have the accuracy of the Valve Index or HTC Vive Pro, but it’s cheaper and easier to set up than both.
Matt Hanson