6 ms·

Imo Peloton has more to worry about with Oculus Quest 2 and the upcoming generation of VR

by chaostheory 6y ago

madeofpalk 6y ago
As an owner of both, I can't agree.
- FpUser 6y ago
  Not Peloton but I have smart bike trainer and familiar with related software (zwift, RGT, tacx etc). My experience: using VR set the way they make them now is extremely uncomfortable on a bike trainer. And yes it will drown headset in sweat and kill it in no time.
  - chaostheory 6y ago
    > And yes it will drown headset in sweat and kill it in no time. Is this from personal experience or just conjecture? Because this is not common problem. Also this is what towels are for. You can also have interchangeable padding to either be more absorbent of sweat or less depending your preferences.
    - kingosticks 6y ago
      Are you saying that sweating prefusably on an indoor cycling trainer is not a common problem? I must be misunderstanding. I'd need to have a couple of these absorbant interchangable sweat pads for an hours workout if I wanted this thing to have any chance of staying in place. And cleaning it afterwards would be a must, even so it sounds absolutely grim after a few uses. Plus they are pretty uncomfortable (my experience). I suppose it might be tolerable if I was just lightly spinning through a magical VR world enjoying the views. But I'd rather be using regular Zwift and getting fit.
      - chaostheory 6y ago
        >Are you saying that sweating prefusably on an indoor cycling trainer is not a common problem? I must be misunderstanding. No, I'm saying that lots of sweat will not break a VR system. Personally, I just use a towel on my neck and it's more than good enough VR workouts, but everyone is different
    - madeofpalk 6y ago
      You sweat a lot during exercise. It's literally dripping off my face throughout the exercise. There's no "grabbing a towel to wipe if off" while I'm wearing the headset. The headset will absorb the sweat.
      - chaostheory 6y ago
        There's an easy solution for this: 1. Momentarily take off your VR headset. 2. Wipe your sweat using the towel on your neck 3. Put your VR HMD back on and continue working out 4. Repeat when sweat becomes an issue again in 30 minutes > The headset will absorb the sweat. Not if you add a silicone liner on top of the padding of your VR headset. It seems like most of the pundits critical of using VR for working out haven't even tried it themselves
        FpUser 6y ago
        >"4. Repeat when sweat becomes an issue again in 30 minutes" I my case the issue resurfaces in a minute or so. >"Not if you add a silicone liner on top of the padding of your VR headset" Actually in my case liner or not any area of my body that is covered sweats. Anyways your advises sound like I have to bend backwards to make use of that VR. I'll wait till VR does that instead. If not fine with me. I have other things to do. >"It seems like most of the pundits critical of using VR for working out haven't even tried it themselves" You are making unfounded assumptions here.
        chaostheory 6y ago
        > I my case the issue resurfaces in a minute or so. You need a VR headset or strap that's easy to take off and put on. They typically operate with a dial on the back. You also probably need to rely on multiple pads that can absorb sweat. Not sure if there are any other solutions to mitigate extremely heavy facial sweating. I'm a pretty heavy sweater myself, where it feels like the entire top half of my body is drenched in sweat including my face. The only time facial sweat annoys me is when it clouds the VR screens. Otherwise, my ritual works fine since I'm still able to constantly wipe the portion of my face that isnt' covered the VR headset and any other sweat gets caught by the towel on my neck How would you even know what would happen working out with VR when it seems that you haven't even tried it yet? > You are making unfounded assumptions here. It's a pretty healthy assumption when you have commenters here making ridiculous claims like sweat routinely destroying VR headsets. I'm ok with valid criticisms of VR and there are many; I can write a fairly large blog post focusing on just downsides of VR. However, I'm not going to tolerate bad assumptions that aren't based on any real personal experience, or just reality in general
    - FpUser 6y ago
      Yes it is a personal experience. I might change my opinion when / if VR headsets will look like a regular glasses so my fan can move the air properly. As for towels - do you ride while periodically removing your headset and wiping your face? I can't imagine myself doing it. I have giant industrial fan that takes care of a perspiration and which is totally useless if most of my face is covered with that blob of VR set.
      - chaostheory 6y ago
        Yes, I ride with a towel on my neck and I periodically wipe my face every 30 minutes. Most of my sweat drains into my towel because I use silicone covers over the VR headset padding. I consider myself a heavy sweater since my shirts are drenched even working without VR
  - fuzzylightbulb 6y ago
    Agreed. There is no way something like this takes off in this segment if it involves something on a rider's face bulkier than a pair of sunglasses. Most people running Zwift in 2021 are doing it on relatively underpowered platforms like appleTV and ipad, so we're no where close to a situation where VR would even be worth the development effort for these companies.
- chaostheory 6y ago
  why not?
djstein 6y ago
can you provide your thoughts on this?
- chaostheory 6y ago
  I workout with VR daily 1-2 hours. Most of the time it doesn't even feel like heavy cardio because all I'm doing is playing games dodging bullets and swinging swords. There are even VR games for stationary bikes (https://virzoom.com/ https://virzoom.com/ & https://www.holodia.com https://www.holodia.com). VR is more accessible, more flexible, offers a lot more variety, all for a much lower price than Peloton and other similar offerings.
ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
I can't imagine the amount of sweat that comes off my head during a Peloton session being comfortable or safe for the Oculus.
- chaostheory 6y ago
  That's an over exaggeration. It's an issue, but it's also safe and comfortable enough. Like with riding a stationary, I just use a towel from time to time. There are other accessories that help too. You should try it before forming such a strong opinion.
  - oarsinsync 6y ago
    You sound like someone who may be in better shape and / or doesn’t sweat a lot. You definitely wouldn’t want to use an exercise bike after me if you saw what it looked like when I was done, before I wiped it down.
    - clpm4j 6y ago
      I could very easily be mistaken for having jumped into a lake after I get off the exercise bike. Thoroughly drenched.
    - chaostheory 6y ago
      I sweat a lot. All of it in the upper body including my face. My shirt is drenched and hard to take off post VR workout, even with a towel hanging from my neck. A VR workout is still doable with heavy sweating; you just have to try it several times before dismissing it.
  - ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. To be clear I was saying I couldn't imagine it being "safe" for the Oculus's internal components, not unsafe for myself. If the Oculus has a level of water resistance to it that means it can take workout sessions from heavy sweaters that is a pleasant surprise!
reducesuffering 6y ago
You can already see the start of this with Beat Saber. Imagine a Peloton, but instead of the 2D workout video, you’re in immersive 3D VR cycling trails. Though Peloton still has like 7 years leeway, they won’t have the VR chops to make it happen and will probably be acquired. Some commenters think it won’t be the case due to sweat? Good luck betting $100B market cap being stopped by the lack of innovation in preventing sweat issues.
- chaostheory 6y ago
  > Imagine a Peloton, but instead of the 2D workout video, you’re in immersive 3D VR cycling trails. https://virzoom.com/ https://virzoom.com/ https://www.holodia.com https://www.holodia.com
  - reducesuffering 6y ago
    They are the AltaVista to future Google

Imo Peloton has more to worry about with Oculus Quest 2 and the upcoming generation of VR

madeofpalk 6y ago

As an owner of both, I can't agree.

FpUser 6y ago
Not Peloton but I have smart bike trainer and familiar with related software (zwift, RGT, tacx etc). My experience: using VR set the way they make them now is extremely uncomfortable on a bike trainer. And yes it will drown headset in sweat and kill it in no time.
- chaostheory 6y ago
  > And yes it will drown headset in sweat and kill it in no time. Is this from personal experience or just conjecture? Because this is not common problem. Also this is what towels are for. You can also have interchangeable padding to either be more absorbent of sweat or less depending your preferences.
  - kingosticks 6y ago
    Are you saying that sweating prefusably on an indoor cycling trainer is not a common problem? I must be misunderstanding. I'd need to have a couple of these absorbant interchangable sweat pads for an hours workout if I wanted this thing to have any chance of staying in place. And cleaning it afterwards would be a must, even so it sounds absolutely grim after a few uses. Plus they are pretty uncomfortable (my experience). I suppose it might be tolerable if I was just lightly spinning through a magical VR world enjoying the views. But I'd rather be using regular Zwift and getting fit.
    - chaostheory 6y ago
      >Are you saying that sweating prefusably on an indoor cycling trainer is not a common problem? I must be misunderstanding. No, I'm saying that lots of sweat will not break a VR system. Personally, I just use a towel on my neck and it's more than good enough VR workouts, but everyone is different
  - madeofpalk 6y ago
    You sweat a lot during exercise. It's literally dripping off my face throughout the exercise. There's no "grabbing a towel to wipe if off" while I'm wearing the headset. The headset will absorb the sweat.
    - chaostheory 6y ago
      There's an easy solution for this: 1. Momentarily take off your VR headset. 2. Wipe your sweat using the towel on your neck 3. Put your VR HMD back on and continue working out 4. Repeat when sweat becomes an issue again in 30 minutes > The headset will absorb the sweat. Not if you add a silicone liner on top of the padding of your VR headset. It seems like most of the pundits critical of using VR for working out haven't even tried it themselves
      - FpUser 6y ago
        >"4. Repeat when sweat becomes an issue again in 30 minutes" I my case the issue resurfaces in a minute or so. >"Not if you add a silicone liner on top of the padding of your VR headset" Actually in my case liner or not any area of my body that is covered sweats. Anyways your advises sound like I have to bend backwards to make use of that VR. I'll wait till VR does that instead. If not fine with me. I have other things to do. >"It seems like most of the pundits critical of using VR for working out haven't even tried it themselves" You are making unfounded assumptions here.
        chaostheory 6y ago
        > I my case the issue resurfaces in a minute or so. You need a VR headset or strap that's easy to take off and put on. They typically operate with a dial on the back. You also probably need to rely on multiple pads that can absorb sweat. Not sure if there are any other solutions to mitigate extremely heavy facial sweating. I'm a pretty heavy sweater myself, where it feels like the entire top half of my body is drenched in sweat including my face. The only time facial sweat annoys me is when it clouds the VR screens. Otherwise, my ritual works fine since I'm still able to constantly wipe the portion of my face that isnt' covered the VR headset and any other sweat gets caught by the towel on my neck How would you even know what would happen working out with VR when it seems that you haven't even tried it yet? > You are making unfounded assumptions here. It's a pretty healthy assumption when you have commenters here making ridiculous claims like sweat routinely destroying VR headsets. I'm ok with valid criticisms of VR and there are many; I can write a fairly large blog post focusing on just downsides of VR. However, I'm not going to tolerate bad assumptions that aren't based on any real personal experience, or just reality in general
  - FpUser 6y ago
    Yes it is a personal experience. I might change my opinion when / if VR headsets will look like a regular glasses so my fan can move the air properly. As for towels - do you ride while periodically removing your headset and wiping your face? I can't imagine myself doing it. I have giant industrial fan that takes care of a perspiration and which is totally useless if most of my face is covered with that blob of VR set.
    - chaostheory 6y ago
      Yes, I ride with a towel on my neck and I periodically wipe my face every 30 minutes. Most of my sweat drains into my towel because I use silicone covers over the VR headset padding. I consider myself a heavy sweater since my shirts are drenched even working without VR
- fuzzylightbulb 6y ago
  Agreed. There is no way something like this takes off in this segment if it involves something on a rider's face bulkier than a pair of sunglasses. Most people running Zwift in 2021 are doing it on relatively underpowered platforms like appleTV and ipad, so we're no where close to a situation where VR would even be worth the development effort for these companies.
chaostheory 6y ago
why not?

djstein 6y ago

can you provide your thoughts on this?

chaostheory 6y ago
I workout with VR daily 1-2 hours. Most of the time it doesn't even feel like heavy cardio because all I'm doing is playing games dodging bullets and swinging swords. There are even VR games for stationary bikes (https://virzoom.com/ https://virzoom.com/ & https://www.holodia.com https://www.holodia.com). VR is more accessible, more flexible, offers a lot more variety, all for a much lower price than Peloton and other similar offerings.

ghostbrainalpha 6y ago

I can't imagine the amount of sweat that comes off my head during a Peloton session being comfortable or safe for the Oculus.

chaostheory 6y ago
That's an over exaggeration. It's an issue, but it's also safe and comfortable enough. Like with riding a stationary, I just use a towel from time to time. There are other accessories that help too. You should try it before forming such a strong opinion.
- oarsinsync 6y ago
  You sound like someone who may be in better shape and / or doesn’t sweat a lot. You definitely wouldn’t want to use an exercise bike after me if you saw what it looked like when I was done, before I wiped it down.
  - clpm4j 6y ago
    I could very easily be mistaken for having jumped into a lake after I get off the exercise bike. Thoroughly drenched.
  - chaostheory 6y ago
    I sweat a lot. All of it in the upper body including my face. My shirt is drenched and hard to take off post VR workout, even with a towel hanging from my neck. A VR workout is still doable with heavy sweating; you just have to try it several times before dismissing it.
- ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. To be clear I was saying I couldn't imagine it being "safe" for the Oculus's internal components, not unsafe for myself. If the Oculus has a level of water resistance to it that means it can take workout sessions from heavy sweaters that is a pleasant surprise!

reducesuffering 6y ago

You can already see the start of this with Beat Saber. Imagine a Peloton, but instead of the 2D workout video, you’re in immersive 3D VR cycling trails. Though Peloton still has like 7 years leeway, they won’t have the VR chops to make it happen and will probably be acquired. Some commenters think it won’t be the case due to sweat? Good luck betting $100B market cap being stopped by the lack of innovation in preventing sweat issues.

chaostheory 6y ago
> Imagine a Peloton, but instead of the 2D workout video, you’re in immersive 3D VR cycling trails. https://virzoom.com/ https://virzoom.com/ https://www.holodia.com https://www.holodia.com
- reducesuffering 6y ago
  They are the AltaVista to future Google