CES 25: Shiftall Mega Palms-on: MeganeX Superlight 8K headset, GripVR, and FlipVR controllers!

At CES I used to be capable of go hands-on with some of the hyped PC VR headsets of the second, the Shiftall MeganeX Superlight 8K, and two of its related controllers, the Shiftall GripVR and Shiftall FlipVR. On this article I’ll inform all my detailed first impressions about these gadgets, highlighting the explanations to be enthusiastic about and the much less attractive ones. There’s a shiftload of issues to say, so let’s get straight to my assessment!

(Typical disclaimer earlier than we begin: I attempted these items of {hardware} at an occasion for some minutes, which is inadequate to write down an exhaustive assessment. An goal assessment of a headset requires days of assessments, so take no matter I write right here with a grain of salt)

Palms-on Shiftall MeganeX Superlight 8K

MeganeX Superlight 8K
Promotional picture of the MeganeX Superlight 8K (Picture by Shiftall)

At CES, it was the second time I attempted the MeganeX Superlight 8K, with the primary being at AWE Europe 2024. I had already written a hands-on article throughout that occasion, however this time I had time to check the headset extra totally, so I’m writing a brand new article to explain this headset in additional element.

Specs

  • Show: 1.35 inch Micro OLED / 10 bit
    • Decision: 3552 x 3840 per eye
    • Refresh Charge: 90Hz
    • HDR: Supported
  • Lenses: Pancake
  • Interpupillary Distance (IPD): 58-72 mm (electrically adjustable)
  • Focus Adjustment: 0D to -7D
  • Audio:
    • Built-in audio system: No
    • Microphone: Constructed-in twin microphones with beam-forming
  • Connectivity
    • PC: DisplayPort + USB 2.0
    • Headset facet: USB Kind-C
  • Weight: Lower than 185g

Design

The Shiftall MeganeX Superlight 8K is a really small headset. It’s made with a sublime black, however the headset doesn’t have a sublime design. I might say it privileges utility over aesthetics, and in reality, it crudely reveals with out issues all of the rails of its many becoming methods. The headset per se is made with very straight shapes on the entrance. The rear of the headset is simply an elastic band.

It’s not a reasonably headset, however contemplating that it’s geared toward fans, in all probability it shouldn’t even be.
Listed here are plenty of photos I shot of the product, so you possibly can see it from numerous factors of view:

shiftall meganex 8k superlight
shiftall meganex 8k superlight
shiftall meganex 8k superlight
shiftall meganex 8k superlight

Consolation

The Shiftall MeganeX Superlight 8K is named “superlight” for a motive: it is extremely small and it weighs lower than 180g (for comparability, the unique Vive weighed round 470g). This makes it very comfy to put on, additionally for lengthy intervals. Trying on the elastic strap, chances are you’ll be tempted to suppose that not having any steadiness on the again of the top could make the headset too front-heavy, however it’s not: it’s so light-weight that it creates no discomfort on the face, in any respect.

This little cushion goes on the brow. The elastic headband is connected to it

The headset has been over-engineered for consolation. To start with, it’s made in order that it doesn’t apply strain on the face. The hinge of the headset is made in order that it touches your face however doesn’t apply any power to it. The elastic headband that you just match round your head is just not linked to the headset “field” as chances are you’ll count on, however it’s linked to the piece that goes in your brow, after which the half with the visible system is linked with a hinge to the brow harness. Which means that even if you happen to tighten the headscarf an excessive amount of, you apply strain in your brow, and never in your face, which is rather more delicate. The headset solely touches your face and I assume is even higher to let extra air flow into if you find yourself in a protracted XR session. This makes the headset really feel rather more comfy. The drawback is that the truth that the headset solely barely touched my face gave me the impression that the headset was not precisely locked to my face, as if it was not precisely fastened in place. The Shiftall individuals informed me that it might be as a result of the model showcased was thought for Asian heads, so I needed to tweak its parameters extra to suit my Western head.

The facemask is made in silicon and it is stuffed with ridges. It has been optimized for consolation, too, however really, I don’t prefer it a lot. I feel that sponge facemasks are rather more comfy for private and personal utilization than silicon ones.

MeganeX Superlight has additionally many changes for consolation, many greater than another headset I’m conscious of: it’s prefer it has been designed along with my favourite VR ergonomics professional Rob Cole. There’s a little wheel in each decrease nook of the gadget to regulate the diopter parameter for each eye, with the intention to regulate imaginative and prescient to your eye impairment.

meganex superlight diopter adjustment
This little wheel is to regulate the diopter properties of the lens to match its corresponding eye

There’s a button to regulate the attention aid, that’s to maneuver the headset forwards and backwards to accommodate glasses, or to make the headset as shut as attainable to your eyes to have a wider FOV.

eye relief meganex superlight 8k
This little rail makes the headset travel to regulate eye aid

There may be even just a little dial you possibly can rotate to vary the rotation of the headset to accommodate the skewing angle of your brow!!! Should you don’t consider it, you possibly can see it in motion on this little GIF right here under.

(click on the Imgur submit if the GIF doesn’t play robotically and also you see a gray field)

There may be additionally just a little button you can press to flip up the headset with the intention to take a brief break from VR with out having to take away the gadget. I discovered that there’s a button to press the arduous manner: I used to be attempting to flip up the headset with out urgent something and because it was not flipping, I began making use of extra power, risking breaking all the things, till the CEO of Shiftall stopped me…

meganex 8k superlight
Don’t be foolish like me: if it’s a must to flip up the headset, press this button first!

The headset has been made to accommodate each attainable person with each attainable head form and I actually reward Shiftall for that. Consolation is an important characteristic if we would like individuals to make use of VR for lengthy intervals of time and Shiftall invested plenty of consideration on that. From my little time with the gadget, I can say I felt it very comfy on my head, so kudos to the engineers.

Visuals

MeganeX Superlight 8K employs two 4K micro OLED shows. The corporate can be proud to have designed lenses which are optimized to offer a really excessive definition to the VR scene. The consequence is excellent: the decision may be very excessive, and the definition is solely unimaginable. There isn’t any display door impact in any respect. With its 3552 x 3840 pixels per eye, this headset actually shines. Since using OLED screens, the colours are additionally vivid, and the blacks are actually again. Tyriel Wooden, who was with me, made me discover that the colours have been a bit darker than in different OLED-based headsets, and that is true. However I additionally suppose {that a} recreation like Half-Life: Alyx regarded very effectively on this show.

meganex through the lenses
By way of-the-lenses shot of the headset I took at AWE some months in the past: I’m not nice at making these pictures, however even from this dangerous one, you possibly can see the decision is spectacular

The CEO of Shiftall informed me that the lenses are so good that it’s arduous to note if you’re rendering the sport at half or full decision. So I attempted Alyx at 50% rendering decision after which at 100% and I can let you know that I don’t know what black magic was there, however I observed virtually no distinction for actual.

The visuals of this headset have their imperfections, although. The FOV is smaller than the everyday VR headset: the corporate claims the vertical FOV is similar as Quest 3, however the horizontal one is much less. That is to be anticipated from a MicroOLED-based gadget. Plus wanting on the lenses, I’ve observed that whereas on the heart of the lens, the visuals are excellent, in the direction of the periphery there are chromatic and spherical aberrations. Even worse, there’s a very mild warping within the visuals you can see if you happen to rotate your head. The CEO of the corporate informed me that in all probability if I adjusted my match extra, this slight warping would disappear, however it doesn’t matter what I did, it was all the time there for me. Distortions appear any solution to be higher than I reported from AWE six months in the past: there I observed a relentless Barrel distortion profile, whereas right here, I observed a slight warping solely when shifting my head. There are additionally some glares generally noticeable in some scenes.

shiftall meganex superlight 8k lenses
The lenses of the headset

Audio

The headset doesn’t supply built-in audio, so there may be nothing to assessment on this facet.

Monitoring

MeganeX Superlight 8K works with SteamVR monitoring, which may be very exact and dependable. The issue with such a small gadget is that being small, it gives few reference factors to the monitoring, so so long as one thing is occluding the headset, the monitoring begins having points. I had points on this facet once I tried this headset at AWE, the place my hand near the gadget was occluding a few of its sensors, stopping it from monitoring correctly. However at CES, I didn’t have these issues, in all probability additionally as a result of there was a greater setup of Lighthouse stations.

For this version, there aren’t any plans to launch a model with inside-out digicam monitoring. Possibly this may very well be added to future variations. I feel it’s nice they’re specializing in just one monitoring sort as an alternative of creating a large number with many alternative variations of the headset.

Mount

meganex theater mount
The “Theater mount” of the gadget (Picture by Shiftall)

The headset may be worn on the top utilizing the headscarf, or it will also be put in on a “theater deal with” for informal fast utilization. This is excellent for public installations the place individuals simply need to attempt a fast viewing passive expertise like a 360 video. You don’t need all individuals to put on the headset, with girls additionally ruining their make-up. So you can also make individuals simply seize the deal with and gently put the headset near their face, for added hygiene and luxury. This can be a good answer I’ve been capable of attempt at AWE, however not at CES.

PC necessities

The minimal PC necessities listed on the MeganeX 8K web site point out an NVIDIA RTX3070 graphics card, whereas the advisable ones recommend an NVIDIA RTX4070: they’ve been confirmed to me by the corporate through the demo. The demo at CES was taking place with a laptop computer boasting an RTX4090 graphics card. However using this monster graphics card, I nonetheless had occasional stutterings whereas taking part in Half-Life: Alyx at full decision. Given the very excessive decision of the show panels and the impossibility of utilizing foveated rendering due to the dearth of eye monitoring, this headset requires plenty of computational energy to work correctly.

PC software program

There’s a companion PC software program that gives many customizations on the way you need to use this headset when it’s connected to the pc.

Worth and availability

skarredghost meganex 8k
Me attempting the gadget. Look how small it’s

MeganeX Superlight 8K may be ordered on the Shiftall website for the whopping value of $1,899. Delivery is anticipated in February-March 2025. After all, the value doesn’t embrace different equipment, like SteamVR base stations, controllers, or audio headphones.

Palms-on Shiftall GripVR controllers

gripvr controllers shiftall
Shiftall GripVR controllers (Picture by Shiftall)

The GripVR controllers are a form of massive Valve Knuckles that Shiftall is proposing to its customers.

Design

The controllers are actually like a mixture of massive cumbersome Valve Knuckles and Oculus Contact controllers. They really feel very sturdy, the construct high quality is fairly good. The all-black design makes them really feel very elegant. Right here you might be some pictures I shot at them

shiftall gripvr controllers

Enter

The enter scheme provided by these controllers is similar of many others on the market: a thumbstick, AB/XY buttons, a system button, a set off button, and a grip button. All of the buttons are capacitive, except for the grip, as occurs on the Oculus controllers.

Consolation

I’ve to say I’m not a giant fan of the consolation of those controllers. They really feel massive and heavy: Shiftall says they weigh as Valve Index Controllers, however to me, they appear a bit heavier. The large drawback is that the burden appears skewed in the direction of the rings, so that they really feel unbalanced. When holding them, my palms are inclined to naturally rotate following the burden of the ring, which isn’t good.

Additionally, the buttons are positioned in such a manner that my hand couldn’t discover a place the place it felt absolutely comfy in urgent each the higher buttons, the grip, and the set off buttons.

Consolation may be very subjective and I can say that these controllers didn’t go well with my hand effectively. I’ve a reasonably common hand, so this isn’t a terrific signal.

shiftall gripvr controller comfort
Holding a GripVR controller. It didn’t really feel very comfy to me

Monitoring

I’ve not been capable of attempt these controllers, so I cannot decide their monitoring high quality. Since they work with SteamVR monitoring, I assume their monitoring is exact and dependable, although.

Worth and availability

Shiftall’s GripVR is concentrating on launch someday this summer season on the estimated value of $299-$399.

FlipVR controllers

FlipVR controllers
FlipVR controllers (Picture by Shiftall)

The FlipVR controllers are an revolutionary product by Shiftall: they’re controllers that may be flipped away with the intention to have your palms free to carry out different actions if you find yourself not taking part in with VR.

Design

The Shiftall FlipVR controllers have a reasonably uncommon form. They’re strapped to the palm utilizing a plastic bar and a few Velcro strips. On the finish of the plastic bar, there’s a hinge to which is connected the precise controller. You may make this hinge flip by making use of a quick movement of the hand, placing the precise controller inside your hand, or exterior of it, therefore the FlipVR title. Design-wise, they give the impression of being fairly ugly, however they are often fairly helpful. Let me share with you some pictures I took of them:

shiftall flipvr
shiftall flipvr
shiftall flipvr
shiftall flipvr
shiftall flipvr

Enter

The enter scheme provided by these controllers is similar as many others on the market: a thumbstick, AB/XY buttons, a system button, a set off button, and a grip button. All of the buttons are capacitive, besides the grip, prefer it occurs on the Oculus controllers. To start with, I assumed that due to the bizarre form of the controller, the buttons would have been arduous to search out and use, however really, they felt solely barely smaller and fewer ergonomic than those of a regular controller.

shiftall flipvr
The precise controller with the enter buttons

Haptics

The controllers featured some form of haptic suggestions. It was not very robust, but it surely was there.

Consolation

The controllers are tight to the hand thanks to 2 elastic bands that includes velcro strips. There’s a cursor that’s used to tighten or loosen the bands, after which the velcro is used to totally shut the band, so there aren’t any floating extremities. The primary time I couldn’t perceive how you can make them match my palms, and other people from Shiftall had to assist me.

(click on the Imgur submit if the GIF doesn’t play robotically and also you see a gray field)

Plus all the time to start with, when flipping the controllers in, the varied enter buttons weren’t the place I anticipated them to be. I spent a while adjusting the controllers to actually match my palms, and after I did, the consolation was excellent. I didn’t really feel them as heavy, or unbalanced… they match effectively with my hand.

Monitoring

These controllers are tracked with SteamVR and the monitoring is so exact and dependable. I attempted to occlude one controller with the opposite one, however monitoring nonetheless persevered, and this can be a good signal of robustness.

The corporate already had the mannequin of the controllers contained in the SteamVR software program, displaying nice consideration to element. Many corporations simply depart there the usual Vive or Oculus controller fashions, however Shiftall places one of many actual controllers and that’s nice.

Flipping the controllers

The power to flip the controllers is wonderful. To start with, I assumed it was a gimmick, however then I spotted it was really fairly helpful. Each time it is advisable use the naked palms for no matter motive, you possibly can flip the controllers out, do what it’s a must to do, after which flip the controllers in to play once more. One clear use case is for us builders: we are able to check our VR recreation, then flip out the controllers, repair some bugs within the code typing on the keyboard, after which flip the controllers in and check out the brand new model of the applying. That is rather more comfy than taking the controllers and placing them down each time. Different use instances are when it’s a must to use your hand to drink, sort a message, or one thing like that. I needed to blow my nostril whereas I used to be demoing the gadget, so I simply flipped out a controller, took a serviette, did what I needed to do, flipped within the controller, and continued the demo. I did it very naturally, with out even considering. You’ll be able to see this in my video with the hands-on the Superlight 8K headset and the FlipVR controllers:

After some time, I used to be in love with the flipping mechanics. It’s really very useful (pun meant) and I’m wondering how I lived so a few years in VR with out it. Shiftall individuals find it irresistible too and one of many ladies of the corporate got here to the XR afterparty with the controllers on the palms flipped out, so she might nonetheless drink beer and occasion with us, however with out leaving her controllers at residence. The controller has a velcro on the again, so you possibly can depart it completely flipped out if you happen to don’t need to use it for a protracted time period.

shiftall flipvr strap comfort
Me carrying the Shiftall FlipVR controllers. On the again, you possibly can see some velcro strips used to depart the controllers completely flipped out

After all, I’ve massive considerations about what occurs if you happen to hold flipping out and in the controllers many occasions. Mechanical hinges have a tendency to interrupt over time. However I’ve to say that the controllers we have been utilizing have been overused for the demo the entire day and the hinge was nonetheless working very effectively. This implies they’ve not less than some sturdiness.

Battery Life

The web site says the controllers have an estimated battery lifetime of 8 hours.

Worth and availability

meganex superlight flipvr
Me utilizing the Superlight headset with the FlipVR controllers

FlipVR controllers shall be obtainable in Japan in February 2025 and shall be obtainable in the remainder of the world later. Their value is $399 for a pair.

The very best XR demo at CES

shiftall products
The three merchandise Shiftall was selling at CES

The demo with Shiftall was the most effective I had at CES. I’m not speaking by way of the most effective product on the present ground (even when the headset and the FlipVR controllers are certainly good merchandise) however by way of the standard of the expertise. Takuma “TK” Iwasa, the CEO of the corporate, was with us on this lodge room offering the demo personally and he guided us in each second. He was obtainable to reply each query, he was very open in admitting each drawback with the headset, he listened to each suggestions, he helped us in taking the images, and he made us attempt all the things we needed to attempt. And he was talking with us in good English, one thing that isn’t all the time simple for Asian individuals.

I actually appreciated his ardour, his dedication, and his availability. He did his finest to make sure we had a terrific expertise. I feel he’s a terrific particular person and I want him a terrific success.

Closing Concerns

ces shiftall meganex
I used to be very comfortable to attempt Shiftall merchandise… a bit much less comfortable that I used to be feeling sick

Shiftall for positive is an organization capable of create attention-grabbing merchandise: I’ve tried its headset and controllers, however really, additionally different merchandise just like the HaritoraX monitoring system, are fairly cool.

Even when everyone seems to be praising its MeganeX SuperLight 8K headset, my favourite product of the demo was the FlipXR controllers. These controllers work very effectively and have the flipping performance which may be very helpful for individuals who must have lengthy VR periods the place within the center they are often interrupted. I used to be skeptical about this design till I attempted it: it’s efficient and it proved to be helpful through the demo itself. I’m simply involved in regards to the sturdiness of the hinge, however my first impressions of it are in any other case very optimistic. Certainly they aren’t low-cost, costing greater than $100 greater than the Index Controllers.

The Shiftall MeganeX Superlight 8K headset was additionally a strong product. However its principal drawback is that it feels overpriced to me: $1900 to have simply the headset is a bit an excessive amount of. I do know that micro OLEDs are arduous to supply and that this headset gives some distinctive options, however for $1900, it’s attainable to purchase virtually two BigScreen Past and three Pimax Crystal Mild. In any case, for individuals for which graphical definition and/or consolation are crucial options, this headset could also be what they’re on the lookout for. The crispness of this gadget is unimaginable, and the consolation settings, are fairly distinctive.

The GripVR controllers didn’t impress me, although. I feel they want some rework, particularly on the consolation facet.

Typically, I want the most effective of luck to this firm and its CEO TK Iwasa, hoping he’ll capable of finding a distinct segment of VR fans which are going to purchase his attention-grabbing, but costly, merchandise.


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(Thanks Tyriel Wood for having shot the movies of this text and for having been a cool CES-mate!)


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