TrackIR 5 Head Tracking System – 6DOF USB Optical Motion Tracker for PC Gaming – Natural Head Movement Camera for Flight, Racing & Combat Simulators – Windows Compatible by NaturalPoint

A friend of mine bought one of these and I got to try it out first before I bought mine. I was sold on it immediately.For my purposes, I currently use it for Microsoft Flight Simulator and Warthunder. It's ridiculously easy to set up, just plug it in, download the software, then grab a hat to attach the hat clip and you're good to go. It works seamlessly with the games, all you have to do is open the TrackIR software first before you open the game. I didn't have to change any settings or anything, literally plug and play interface.What I like about this is that you have awareness of your surroundings vs being blind to everything around you in VR. It's a lot more convenient, a lot less intrusive in PC resources, not to mention a fifth of the cost.Wherever you move your head, it follows, and it's VERY accurate and smooth. For those of you that like to fly tail-draggers like I do, this allows you to open the canopy and stick your head out to see past the nose of the aircraft when taxiing. Not to mention be able to look around and find all your switches for startup procedures.10/10 would definitely recommend.

This is a pretty neat gaming device once you get used to using it and spend time tuning it for your games. Boxing and hooking it up is easy. The USB cable is long enough that it can run from the sensor atop my monitor to the tower on my floor when I have my standing desk all the way up. The hat clip is fine too. I keep an old hat on my desk.First use is just getting used to using the software and seeing the results on screen. I watched some Youtube videos to understand the configuration options. I play mostly racing games, so I fired up Grid Autosport and went for a drive. The first thing to notice is that the default setting may be way too sensitive. A slight movement of your head translates into really big movements in game. I looked down to the wheel and I'm no longer looking out the window. I look slightly left on the monitor and I'm looking over my shoulder in the game. I messed with the settings and tuned them way down which made it far better in a racing game.The more radical movements are better when having a 360 degree view is useful such as in X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator. You can set it up so that the in-game movement is amplified the more you turn your head in real life. You should be able to turn your had 1/8th of a turn IRL and look behind you in the game. It's all about tuning the curves so that it's not twitchy with little movements but helps with bigger ones. Once you get it, it's fun being able to look around easily. I can't wait to try it in a flight combat sim.Using it takes some retraining and I got the hang of it after maybe 10 hours in. While driving in real life, I naturally look to where I want to go. The view usually isn't far enough out that I can't see from my peripheral vision. In the game, I wanted to same effect so that I can see the corners and other cars while driving. Without the sense of motion, keeping the car in the right motion while turning the view is tricky at first. I continually turned the wheel less because I the view was turned more. I had to learn to pay attention to the visual clues of the direction of travel in the view compared to where I wanted to go. If the scenery was sliding by, I was either turning or looking sideways and I'd want to align the motion front to back. If the scenery was passing straight back, I was going and looking straight.3 things to be aware of:I find I have to calibrate it often. This isn't a big deal in game but I have to remember to pick my moments such as not during a tricky corner, when passing, or other cases where I am occupied. When racing, I find I need to calibrate once a lap. The view becomes "off" and I seem to be looking askew. I mapped a button on my wheel to recalibrate so when I get a chance, I center my head and calibrate which takes affect either immediately or within a second.You can't have a bright window or light source behind you. It's winter here and the snow is on the ground. The reflections makes if very bright on my office and if I don't darken the office, the sensor is useless. I supposed the Pro attachment might help but I'm not that bothered by it.Not all games are supported and that's a drag. I did review the list of games on Natural Point's site and most of my games are supported, but not all. Don't be surprised check the list before you buy.

Looking up TrackIR year back, and having used FreeCamNoIR for a while with just a webcam, it was exciting to try out an official TrackIR product. After getting it setup and using it for a while now, here's my takeaway!What You Get: In the package is the TrackIR Camera, a plastic bar made to fit on a baseball cap with the three reflective 'trackers' affixed to it, a small adjustable magnetic mount that you place the TrackIR Camera on and can then place on top of your TV or whatnot, and the usual promotional/instructions paper stuff.Programming: After downloading the drivers and software from TrackIR's website and getting everything plugged in, I gave the software a go. It's a handy tool that lets you preview movement in a 3D sphere and adjust some settings to your liking (turning range/sensitivity). There's profiles you can use or create for more settings, but I haven't done that yet. You might want to look into that first thing, as there's an 'auto-center snap' feature that means when you're looking close to dead-on wherever your center point is, the TrackIR feature won't turn your view until you move far enough outside of the deadzone. The size of the deadzone, for me at least, is small enough that I am at least aware of where my 'center' is at all times, but big enough where it's always a distraction to have my in-game-view suddenly snap whe I don't want it to--or where I have to turn my head further than I normally would, just to 'escape' the deadzone. Take this paragraph for what it's worth in my opinion: software good, but be prepared to look into changing deadzones if that's going to be a distraction for you.However, the head tracking itself is pretty darn good. There's no, or at least, very little latency--your head movement will move your view in real-time, and being able to look around in ARMA or Elite Dangerous is a pretty sweet experience! It is well implemented and functional, and that's definitely a good thing!When it comes to what games are supported, it depends. Obviously, simuation games like ARMA, Flight Simulator X, XPlane, Elite Dangerous etcetera, are going to have built-in support. Getting TrackIR working in those games was as simple as checking a box labeled "Enable TrackIR", and in Elite Dangerous' case TrackIR was working as soon as I started the game. And in ARMA 3, at least, TrackIR movement was interpreted as joystic movement--if that holds true for other games, you could probably use TrackIR inputs for other games as well--but that's just me speculating.All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with this. Fun stuff!