Bought used, quality new, really can't even tell, running on my Galaxy S8. Image quality is very good, the lenses create a unified and clear picture that third party headsets don't give, I was using a cheap set of Cynoculars that don't come close to the experience the GearVR provides. Headset itself is comfortable once the straps are adjusted and isn't heavy, but can be uncomfortable if you let it rest on your nose.

The Oculus app is fun to navigate through, watching videos in theatre mode is a neat experience and browsing the internet with it isnt as clumsy as you might think. I havent tried any games yet but I bet they're an exciting distraction too.

The controller is deceptively intuitive yet simple. Though it doesn't appear so, it's very comfortable and natural feeling when in hand.

Of course if you're wondering how it performs when viewing NSFW content and videos made for VR, all I can say is there's no better way to experience it on a phone than with GearVR. The quality of the experience more comes down to the quality of the video in that case however.

My only complaints so far would be how quickly the battery drains when the image quality is scaled up to be clear in VR mode, and that you can't charge your phone while using your phone in the headset, despite a built in charging port under the unit. The drain I understand, but at least let me be able to charge my phone as I use it, there's no issue when doing so outside of when its plugged into the headset.

Overall, GearVR wears the crown in terms of phone based VR, a title it will likely keep as phone based VR is unofficially dead, with mobile VR turning to integrated screens like the Oculus Go. If you're not ready to jump on that bandwagon and want an entry into the top line of VR products, this is your best bet. It's not perfect, but as long as you remember to keep your phone charged before use, or get a mobile power bank to attach to it yourself, you'll be alright.

What a find!

I'm low vision (20/100-1 in the best eye, hand motion in the worst from ROP), and three weeks ago after looking at two HD camera based units that can run as much as $6500... I tried a Samsung S7 and Gear VR based brand that was awesome.... although they are the easiest the use and have the biggest field by far, and cost $2500, our insurance won't touch such items. (but would reimburse us) Still we didn't have the funds to get reimbursed with.

Then as I was leaving the store where I tried this technology out at... a friend who drove me there suggested, "Why not build your own?" Well, we're both gear heads and don't let friends drive stock... I figured "Why not?" Then I heard this 'still small voice' later that night tell me I did not need to buy them.... and for two nights I wrestled with that thought.... like Jacob wrestling with God to get his blessing.... For after a lifetime of struggles and frustrations here is finally something that will be the biggest answer to any prayer I've ever prayed....

So I began looking up what Samsung is doing with low vision and discovered Relumino. They just released it last August.... and I had to find out more. What I discovered is absolutely mind blowing.... Using their Oculus app for the Gear VR to download Relumino through, all I needed was the headset and my S8+. Last week I ordered the Gear VR and it arrived at our post office on Good Friday. I couldn't wait to get to there in the morning to pick them up... it was like all my birthdays and Christmases all rolled into one... but since I'm ministry 30 miles away, I had to wait until later in the day to set it up...

Then came the warfare.... an authorization code from Oculus failed to activate Relumino.... it took all of Saturday and part of Easter Sunday to sort out. After several calls, emails, and chats with Samsung and Oculus to end up with other bad authorization codes; my wife and I were just about to bag it. It was getting so unbelievable it even baffled the last (and very nice) Samsung US based customer service tech my wife talked to. So we decided to bag it, we were exhausted. But I just had to give it one more try... for this was Easter Sunday evening, right?

I contacted Oculus one more time, and they sent me a new authorization code... all in caps... and it worked! Upon loading Relumino, which took only minutes; my vision went through a resurrection. What I could not read or see before I could with ease now! Hallelujah!!!!!

I've never been able to read the address lines in doing emails... no matter what accessibility feature Microsoft had... Now I can! NO more tension headaches craning my neck!!!! I can read prescription bottles, the buttons on our microwave oven, and the date/date on my watch.... and that's at only x2 zoom. Another close up thing I've never been able to do I can do now: Read a pocket size Gideon Bible! (I cannot even do that with a 41 year old pair of telescopic glasses I had made for machine shop use!) And this is just the beginning.... from 5 feet away I can read several fridge magnets, read captions on TV as well as the words under station logos. Last night I was watching my wife on her Samsung and I could read the Samsung on her phone from 3 feet away. But the real fun was on Monday when I took the Gear VR and Relumino outside... now walking in them NOT recommended, but it is doable as long as the zoom is turned down and you are extremely careful. So for fun I cranked up the zoom to x8.... overkill... so I spun it down to x5 and could see a doorknob on a neighboring house from 200 feet away! Freaky! This was from our back deck... so then I turned around and with the zoom to x2 I could easily read the license plate on our truck from about 25 feet away... I could never do that before!!!!

Right now I'm even using them in writing this review... what an awesome set up! And to tell the whole world that for $129 and the price of a case one can revolutionize their eyesight? That is noting short of miraculous! This Gear VR system just knocks low vision accessibility right out of the ballpark! But what's around the corner from Samsung will even blow this set up away... stay tuned!

I confess at first I wasn't sure about my purchase, but after a about 10 hours of use, I'm happy with it! I bought the Gear VR to use with my new Note 9 and though it wasn't listed as compatible, it does fit with some help from a small plastic wedge I made. The Note 9 fits but the retaining clip (top of phone side) would not stay closed. I used a small plastic piece to use as a shim behind the clip to hold the phone firmly in place. (If you try this, I'd caution you to be sure it fits snug enough not to pop out in use.) Once in place, the Note 9 works just fine. I'd also caution you to place the Note 9 in the Gear VR tray while seated or over a table as the Note 9 is a slippery little devil without the case!

Prior to this purchase, my only VR experience was a few years back when the technology was new and it's made a huge leap. While a lot of videos I was watching on YouTube VR (included in the app) were not that great and looked a bit fuzzy, the ones that are well produced are incredible to watch! I haven't played a lot of games on it yet, as I'm getting used to, it but the available apps and videos look incredible. So far I've swam with sharks through National Geographic, rode some epic rollercoasters, para-sailed over the largest waterfalls in the world and stood on the decimated streets of Idib, Syria with CNN. (The ability to look in 360° and actually see the devastation certainly puts the disaster in perspective to someone sitting in their living room 6,500 miles away!) There's also several political rallies you can watch that put you right in the audience with the ability to look at all the people around you! Through the Oculus app, you can visit virtual communities, hear lectures, interact with other users and talk with them through your avatar. All said, it's a great piece of tech. I expected the screen to be sharper, but then you're looking at a smartphone display through magnifying goggles so with that in mind, it's still pretty darn great! It all depends on the quality of the video or VR environment your viewing.

PROS:

- VR Gear is well made and comfortable to wear for a while, but not a couple of hours at a time

- Touch pad and function buttons on the right side of the goggles are a great second way to control apps

- Set-up and app install with the Samsung Note 9 was as simple as can be. (Be sure to unlock your phone before placing it in the tray)

- Head straps are easy to adjust and well-made and don't snag your hair

- Controller puck is nice, and not cheap feeling. The battery cover can slip off at times. (Be sure to use the wrist strap!)

- There's a LOT of VR content available now, from the free YouTube VR and Facebook VR to the Oculus offerings

- Be sure to look all the way up and down in some videos, there's things to been seen there as well!

- These would be great for someone that can't get out of the house or is bedridden, to explore the world around us, including space!

CONS:

- Wearing the Gear VR for any length of time will cause your eye area to sweat! (I'm looking for a way to mount a tiny fan on it)

- While it's comfortable to wear, it gets tiring after a while. Neck fatigue is common for me as the Note 9 is a larger phone

- You need to place the VR Gear correctly on your face or the display will not be sharp at the edges

- Constantly resetting the orientation after using some apps that change the layout. Easy enough but annoying.

- The puck pointer randomly goes off at a strange angle, most likely from an app. Quickly fixed by pressing calibrate button on puck

- I get a headache after about an hour, so I take Tylenol first and I'm good to go! (Caused by neck fatigue and me constantly looking all around the VR environment)

- Wife says I look goofy wearing big goggles and twisting all around, up and down, while saying, "COOL!" over and over

This is my new favorite way to watch movies. With my upgrade to the S9+, the resolution is now to the point where there is no screen door effect while in VR. My entertainment center is my Plex system, which has all of my movies, so spinning up the Oculus browser lets me watch movies in 1080p (you need a profile without a pin however, because the browser doesn't recognize the profile selection screen as requiring one and won't bring up the virtual keyboard) in maximized view with a great super-large virtual screen. Plus, the new Plex VR client program is adding the virtual theater, so I will be able to watch movies with friends even when we can't get together in RL.

The only drawback is battery life. Watching a movie will eat about 40%-50% of your battery charge, so you have to try and match your movie watching to times when you have a full charge. But still, out on the road, in planes (with cached movies) or hotels, it's a really nice way to get some entertainment, although you may also want to invest in a mobile charging unit to make sure you don't accidentally drain your phone. I know this is a little strange since most people love the mobile aspect of GearVR in particular, but I kind of wish there was a way to plug power into the headset when you're doing something with limited movement like movie watching to extend battery life.

I think this makes an excellent add-on for your phone provided you have the basic resolution to deliver VR without a screen door effect. Games are fun, I have quite a few, but especially for us older folk it might be the conventional entertainment enhancements that provide the most practical use.

I was a bit enamored with the Oculus Go when I first encountered it, and so since I had a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge phone, I was expecting a similar experience, but at 1/2 the price. Unfortunately, this was not the case, because the field of view is a bit smaller than the Oculus Go. I did not like the fact I was always peering through a pair of binoculars which took away from the full immersion. Although it has the Focus adjustment (which Oculus does not have), the center was able to focus for me without glasses, but still not far from the center, the focus rapidly deteriorates. These two factors were my major reason I returned it. I also find that the S7 Edge does not quite have the horsepower to keep up with rapid head movements, and get jerky action on moving images. In a static room environment, though its good as I move my head. The good parts: 1) Has a relatively large number of apps to select from 2) The pixels on phone were small enough to not become annoying as I've seen in earlier VR, 3) There are a large number of VR clips, but choose only those in 4K, 5K or more to be able to get a non-blurry playback, 4) the remote controller is actually easy to work with, although it will sometimes loose direction and have to re-center the cursor. Keep in mind, wearing this device for more than 1/2 hour becomes heavy and although the face pads are soft, it seems to get tighter and tighter the longer you wear it. Also annoying is when a call comes in there is no way to answer it without taking the phone out of the headset holder. There should be a way to click on the notification, and use the Bluetooth headset to begin a conversation (like you can with the Oculus rooms) I think perhaps when these headsets can be lighter, provide a better field of view so you don't have the binocular effect, it will greatly improve the VR experience.

This was great buy. The quality and durability is good. The lens quality was good. It wasn’t too heavy and the battery life is great.

Please keep in mind that I am VR illiterate when you consider my review. My nephew has an Oculus headset that he games with, and I tried the demo and was wowed! France is on my bucket list, and I desperately want to visit the Louvre. The descriptions state the following: Place your Galaxy phone into the Gear VR headset to instantly go anywhere. Gear VR is compatible with a range of Galaxy devices. Imagine Bigger

Explore Virtual Worlds! Hundreds of games and experiences from Oculus. Sensor Type : Accelerometer, Gyro Sensor, Proximity Sensor (I thought the proximity sensor was the thing my nephew has that sets up the perimeter) So this is what I experienced when I put them on. Google earth takes you to 5 places where it is high resolution. The rest of the world is pixelated. There is another app that you can visit anywhere in the world, but you literally stand there and turn around in a circle. The paint app is like paint for kids when you turn on the computer (I paid for that one). the controller has to be restarted every time. There is another app you can visit around the world, and the free part of the trips are strippers. Literally on the pole strippers. I take that back. I think one was a hooker in Vegas. I deleted the useless apps off my phone, but if anyone wants the names of them, I will look them up for you. The space walk is awesome, as are the roller coasters. The insert to plug on the charger does not fit unless you have a round one (they give you one adapter, it needs 2, so if you run thru your battery quickly, you have to stop using it.

I have not been on vacation in years, and have a pretty stressful, busy life. I SO wanted to relax on a beach in Aruba and walk around the Louvre. It may sound pretty stupid to some of you, but until my kid graduates, this was my relaxing escape. I actually teared up when I found out I could not walk around with this, That is why I said I hated it. So, if you want to sit still and just spin around, or pay a lot of money for the good apps, this would be great for you

I’ve dreamed of owning a VR since I was a small child and although the Samsung Galaxy VR isn’t at the level of what you’d read about in Ready Player One, it’s amazing. The picture quality is astounding and many of the apps are free. There are a lot of paid apps and they tend to have better graphics than the free ones, but it’s still nice. The first Samsung Galaxy VR I got wouldn’t sync with my phone after a while. At first, I thought it was because the charging port of my phone got wet and I used the VR only 12 hours afterward. It should have dried in that time, so I thought it was maybe my phone. I returned the first one and got a replacement and it turned out the VR I’d gotten was defective, not my phone. So if it doesn’t sync, consider replacing the VR before doing anything to your phone.

Pros:

The main pros are that the price of the Samsung Galaxy VR is a lot less than Oculus (which is what it runs on). It comes with a controller, which is mandatory for some apps and games. It’s higher quality than you may expect. You can watch Netflix movies on it, or be placed into a virtual theater and watch movies as if you were the only one in the theater. You can visit outer space or the deep sea, fly a fighter jet, go to a Cirque du Solei performance, and lots more.

Cons:

You are limited by the battery life of your Samsung Device. My recommendation is to charge your phone to 100% if you want to enjoy your VR for a while. Otherwise, it can eat up your battery pretty fast depending on what app you’re using. Still, most of the time I can get 2-3 hours out of it easily if it’s charged at 100% when I start.

You could be prone to nausea and headaches. They are listed side effects of the VR. It’s something you won’t know you have until you try it out. I’ve had friends try the VR just to discover that it gave them severe nausea. So I suggest going to a store that has one on display and trying it out before you buy it.

Fast shipping, came in great condition.

works well on my note 8, great fit. the controller is a very nice addition, almost all apps can take adventage of it, i think it help with the immersioin.

my only dissapointement so far is that natively the gear vr dosn't work with google daydream.... you need a guenine google controller or an third party one with are hard to find. There is a way to dissable oculus package, by activation dev kit and downloading some emulator apk to remap the gear controller to a google one.... but its a pain in the ass, just make the gear vr works with daydream at first no??

all and all, great buy and its nice to share with people around what vr look like.

Me gustó mucho este visor, es practicamente como el 2016 pero un poco mas grande, con lo cual mi Galaxy S8+ entra sin problemas (en el anterior si funcionaba pero se alcanzaba a ver un poco de luz ya que no entraba del todo bien).

Lo unico que no me latió mucho es que ya que viene con el control, quitaron los controles de volumen laterales en el visor, esto te obliga a que si vas a estar manipulando el volumen, o conectes el control o unos audifonos que tengan la capacidad de bajar o subir el volumen.

Por cierto, el empaque en el que venía se ve genial

Viene con los dos conectores, tipo C y micro USB

Best in class

Llego en buen estado y rapido, funcionan a la perfección y su armado es fácil, igual son de buena calidad.

Awsome product.

Delivered in time and well packed, thanks.

As described, over my expectations. Works very well with the controller.

Lots of app. very well constructed, high quality.

I highly recommend it, it is a must for Samsung mobile owners,

I have a S7 edge. very satisfied with this vr combination.