SAMSUNG HMD ODYSSEY+ XE800ZBA-HC1US BLACK

I'm in Germany, bought the Odyssey via Amazon.com as Samsung refuses to offer the headset in Krautland. Odyssey arrived in the middle of last week, I was all curious. What a BAD unboxing experience, totally lifeless. But that's not the point. The Odyssey works quite well, immersion is really, really good. In fact, I was surprise about the precise tracking given normal circumstances. Head movements were tracked perfectly, it's just like "being there". I know, sounds like an advertizing sloagan – but that really had been my first thought. I was able to play all games I was interested in, including Vive and Oculus games using the little helpers "Revive" and "Remixed". All fine, playing "Elite: Dangerous" turned out to be a completely new, and so much better experience. Just one exception: "Clazer", a clay shooting simulator made by a real suspicious company refused to work. But that's the one and only compatibility issue I experienced. Sweet spot is tiny, strong chromatic aberration at the picture's edges, plain normal for a VR headset. Resolution is fine so far, you even soon forget about the slightly "nebular" experience caused by the SDE filter. I found the Odyssey very comfortable to wear, there was NO light bleed. Guess my head's got just the right shape. Sound is good, headphones are nice, 3D audio is like always: Sometimes working, sometimes not, will never replace a real surround system. That's the good. Now for the bad. The cable is way too short. You just cannot move anywhere. The controllers are plasticky, the LED ring is too large, controllers are prone to collide with each other. Battery compartment door is an affront, wiggles itself loose as soon as some more intense action happens. PLONK! I LOVE exchangeable batteries because fixed batteries always die soon, forcing you to buy a new device. But it would have been real nice if Samsung had found a way to keep the battery compartment door shut in use – even if that involves the immense effort of spending half a cent more in production. Windows Mixed Reality Portal is a MUST, SteamVR does not run without. I fear this takes quite some processing power. Also found no way of deactivating HMD screen mirroring to the PC display, also wasting processing power. The cameras at the front are not really suited to show your environment while wearing the HMD. Looks like Doom in black and white. That's the bad. Now for the ugly. In general, controller tracking is real good. But if you try shooting games involving a rifle to use with both hands (like clay shooting), the Odyssey shows it's evil soul. Even in full sight, controller positions get stuck if you line up the controllers in a row. There's just rotation detected, but no movement anymore. This messes up all games like clay shooting or H3VR. Unplayable. Period. I made a short video about that phenomenon, will provide the link in the comments. It's German, but pictures don't know any borders. That's the first extreme turnoff. Not a problem if you don't play any games requiring you to line up the controllers, the Odyssey behaves just fine. But as soon as you need a realistic approach to shooting – game over. The second turnoff which also turns off my Odyssey liaison and causes the Odyssey's odyssey back to Amazon is the following: The smell, if not stench. I am NO smell-sensitive person, not at all. I am hunter. If you ever did hunting, you know the fine smells you encounter after bringing down your prey. So I am no sensitive person, at least not if it comes to smells. I even make fun about those Amazon buyers complaining about the smell of new electronics (I love that smell) or latex smell of latex products. But the Odyssey is quite a different thing. Maybe it's just me, maybe my Odyssey is the only one misbehaving – I just don't know, I can only speak for myself and (against) the Odyssey I got. It smells like burned electronics. Not intense at the beginning, but the longer you wear it, the more intense that burned electronics aroma becomes. It's like smoking electronics plus the stench of ozone directly infused into your nostrils. I had to interrupt longer playing sessions because I just couldn't stand the smell anymore. It fills the whole room. I even smell it in my bedroom, which is one floor above my workroom with the PC on the ground floor, no joke, no exaggeration. The smell makes my cough and slightly dizzy, causes severe headache. Never ever experienced such an issue before. I don't wish to wear the headset anymore, just because of that burned ozone smell. Repeat: I am NO smell-sensitive person. The HMD does not get hot, it just gets lukewarm. The way it should be. And still it smells of burned electronics and ozone. Even after a full week of keeping it connected via USB, causing the Odyssey to stay lukewarm, for what reason ever. I hope it would exhale it's smell over time, but it's smell ressources appear to be endless. Hey, Mr Einstein! Just discovered the third endless thing alongside space and stupidity of mankind! Of course I contacted Samsung. Samsung Germany told me to contact Samsung USA, which I tried. There's no support page for the Odyssey, the HMD is just missing in the list of supported devices. I still wrote an in-page eMail to the support using the support form, stating it's all about the Odyssey Plus, explaining the problem in detail. Two days later, they send me a phone number in the USA to call. I wrote back and asked for an eMail address as I didn't wish to spend a fortune for spending the rest of my life (and money, because it's an international call) in endless (Ha! Fourth endless thing discovered!) waiting lines. No reaction at all, no answer, peace everywhere. But no chance of contactig support via eMail. So that's it for me. I would love to keep it, but I need to send it back. And I really need to. Because it's tracking is totally f***ed up if lining up the controllers, because the smell really makes me physically sick. Still three stars, because I never read about smell issues of the HMD anywhere else on the net, and because the Odyssey does a real fine tracking job if you don't line up the controllers – and steadily keep them in sight; otherwise they go havoc behind your back. Even throwings things in VR is an almost impossible task. But I need to throw things, I need to line up that controllers, I even need to breathe, impertinent me. ;) Please drop me some comments – does your Odyssey emit that smell, too?