Overall, I'm super hyped about this, especially after waiting years with various Deckard leaks. I do have some reservations on the lack of lighthouse tracking, but I'm strongly considering getting one once my Index finally dies.

On the onboard hardware side, I'm not particularly interested in the standalone capabilities, but I think it's really cool that it's a SteamDeck for your face when not used with a host computer. However, I could much more easily justify this over a SteamDeck with how little travel I do.

I just hope that they have a first party add-on to enable it, similar to how the Vive Cosmos has a replaceable faceplate that enabled external tracking capabilities. If not, I'm sure people can just slap a Vive or Tundra tracker on top of the headset and use SpaceCalibrator or something similar.

I'm sure people will be able to use it in lighthouse environments (as they do with Quest PCVR), but lighthouse tracking is just significantly more accurate compared to inside-out camera systems and it's rough seeing a departure from it.

For all the excitement I have about this, I'm pretty disappointed that this doesn't natively support the lighthouse tracking ecosystem. I'm fairly invested in it as a social VR (VRChat) user, with multiple trackers being used for full-body tracking, so this is a bit frustrating to see.

I do like the game controller style layout that the Frame controllers have. I think it makes sense given the hardware family Valve is assembling to standardize the inputs across everything, even if it means asymmetrical inputs across each hand.

On the other (both) hand(s), the controllers look a bit lackluster compared to what I've come to expect with the Index Knuckles controllers. The finger tracking and hand strap is really nice and I'm a bit iffy on how these new ones will stand up to my expectations.

I do wonder if the foveated streaming is what will allow the displays to be driven to 144Hz (with how the BSB has a reduced refresh rate for full resolution) or if their fancy streaming dongle bypasses those hardware limitations.

The optics look really promising, with pancake lenses *and* a FOV that should come close to the Index. I really like the Index FOV, and a lot of other headsets have fallen short of it even with better optics. BSB2 is the closest I've seen as my own upgrade path but this adds a new contender for me.

I like that it has an SD card slot for expandable storage and the IPD lock is great, especially with how the Index's IPD can sometimes move on its own during intense movement. Also, native eye tracking + foveated rendering/streaming is awesome. I really hope they expose it to users and devs.

Ok, initial freakout aside, this looks *really* cool.

I'm curious to see if there will be any first party add-ons that use the expansion port under the nose. My guess is that it's intended for lower face tracking (like the Babble mouth tracker), but we never got anything official for the Index.