Samsung Odyssey+ is the company’s latest VR headset, and while it launched just a few weeks ago for $500, the Korean tech giant is throwing it on sale this Black Friday at a 40% discount.

Update (November 19th, 2018): The deal is now live, although thee’s no telling how long it’ll last.

Original article (November 12th, 2018): The deal is set to start online at Samsung.com on November 18th, slashing the headset to just $300, controllers included.

As a hardware refresh of last year’s Windows VR headset Odyssey HMD, there’s a few notable changes in the latest version.

The biggest change to the Odyssey+ is undoubtedly its new “anti-SDE” display treatment that’s said to visibly reduce screen door effect (SDE) on its dual 3.5″ AMOLED 1,440 × 1,600 panels. SDE is a result of magnifying both the display’s pixels and the unlit spaces between those pixels, which at times can feel like looking through a fine screen door-style mesh.

There’s also been a number of minor ergonomic changes to the headset though that should render it more comfortable to a wider set of users. Because the first Odyssey headset wasn’t incredible in the ergonomics department, the Odyssey+ now features a larger nose cavity and wider face interface, and a new foam material that the company says should improve comfort and reduce lens fogging. The weight of the headset has also been slightly reduced, from 820 grams to 798 grams, cable included. Check out our analysis of the differences between the new and old here.

SEE ALSO
Best Buy Holiday Deals Slash Prices on Oculus Rift, PSVR Bundles & More

An important distinction: Samsung Odyssey+ boasts the same resolution as HTC Vive Pro, but at a remarkably lower price—HTC Vive Pro costs $800 for just the headset, no basestations or controllers included. Windows VR optical tracking isn’t nearly as robust as Valve’s SteamVR tracking system, although it’s certainly good enough to play Beat Saber (2018), making it a strong PC VR contender against Oculus Rift this holiday season.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • johnny

    I should’ve waited for that price, couldn’t help myself and bought it few days ago at full price :(

    • Slackar

      Surely, if it was only a few days you can still return it for a refund.

    • Darshan

      How does ANTI SDE thing.. Did you noticed any change in quality? Is screen door really invisible like advertised?

      • visual

        My guess is the anti-SDE is just a diffuser on the screen surface.

        • Darshan

          Yes its diffuser but not on screen surface rather its diffuser at nano (sub pixel) level and grid type which fill the gap between the pixel thus diffuser in reality do not cover sub-pixel but just cover the gap between them.. thus it does not affect quality,brightness or contrast of original sub-pixel.. this is what we are told.. i really don’t know how this work in reality.. it may or may not be perfect is what i am very very curious to know.

          • Darshan

            Indeed its working.. the way it should .. Now curious how they would look with Oculus Go lenses… This display must make out to Oculus Quest..Is beyond doubt need. Also second generation of Oculus GO need to have these…

        • Darshan

      • Yes. There is no noticeable SDE at all on mine. Games look incredible! :)

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Well, in most cases you can still send it back..

  • Pinokio

    Is this price only on black friday or this will be regular price ?

    • Stewart

      Only Black Friday deal and probably only on 11/18/18 because they will probably sell out fast.

  • Darshan

    Where is the review of Odyssey+ ??

    • Downvote King

      It’s weird right? This came out over 2 weeks ago and no real reviews yet. The only thing I’ve come across is a reddit review, which does seem to confirm at least that the anti-SDE tech is good enough to make it even stranger that no professional reviews for it exist yet. Seems like Odyssey+ should be kind of a big deal:

      https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/9rs1n6/my_samsung_odyssey_review/

      • dz11

        Plenty of reviews on YouTube.

        • Downvote King

          I’m talking about in-depth written reviews from top VR media like Road to VR, VR Focus or Upload VR, or even just CNET, Tech Radar or Tom’s Hardware. I find it odd that only Reddit and Youtube have taken notice of a technology that may well become the new standard going forward, and potentially has huge benefits.

          • That’s a good point. I can’t recall where I’d originally read about it’s release, but it was literally the day it dropped. It just sort of came out of nowhere, the announcement saying it’s coming, and the article I read (iirc) *did* go into a little bit of detail about the improvements, and Samsung’s motivation for releasing this device just 5 months after the release of the original Odyssey HMD.

            Anyway, it was enough to pique my interest, so I went and started searching for anything I could find on it… at the time, YouTube vids were about all I could find. Not sure now… but I don’t think it was out even 3 weeks before it went on BF-Sale and I placed my order.

            So far, one week after receiving it, I’m loving my headset… but I need to fix up the forehead-padding to be quite a bit thicker –the halo-band that runs beneath the pad has been cutting into my forehead after a while of use, but aside from that (which is something I can fix in-house), I’ve really got no other complaints about it. The performance overall has been excellent, even in fairly low light.

          • Downvote King

            Yeah, I still haven’t seen a single review from a VR site. It’s getting a little odd at this point. The anti-SDE tech seems like a big deal if it works. How do you find the screen door effect on the Odyssey+ now that you’ve been lucky enough to try one yourself? Does it seem to make a significant difference over the original?

          • It’s excellent –basically, there’s no SDE that’s discernable at all.

            I’ve been using mine at every opportunity since it arrived, and have since added in a 6′ extension-cable-pair for USB-3 & HDMI, combined with a USB-3 Hub to keep the single strong (it’s working fantastic, and spans the whole room now).

            I mostly play VRChat, Skyrim VR, Battlezone Gold, Elite:Dangerous (Commander Edition), and just recently picked up Fallout4VR, Overload, Everspace, Dead Effect 2 VR, House of the Dying Sun, Redout – Enhance Edition, Seeking Dawn, Onward, Pavlov, and Code51:Mecha Arena –all of which I’m trying to squeeze in time to play before I start a new job on Jan 7th, after which I may be a bit taxed on time. But yeah, overall, I’ve been extremely pleased. The only area I find lacking is the controller tracking, and I think that could be augmented by an external camera if Microsoft will update their backend to support it –at which point, I’d pit this headset against the Vive Pro, because it otherwise essentially matches, if not exceeds in in specs. The one thing the Vive has over all of the others is having gotten out there early enough that their controller templates are in most all games, while some titles are totally playable on WMR headsets, even though their optimized for Vive or Rift. I just run a search before I buy a game, when in doubt, to make sure others have found it working.

    • Mythos88

      Check out the MRTV YouTube channel

      • Tailgun

        I like MRTVC but that guy absolutely is in the tank for the Sammy HMDs. He even called the OG Odyssey the best VR headset available (which assuredly wasn’t the case.)

        • Viktoras Saulis

          It depends, as for simracing / flying / movies / desktop it is the best HMD, for other VR applications not so much…

          • Tailgun

            I don’t necessarily disagree with this, even though I am enjoying my Rift with it’s superior ergonomics and near-perfect 3-camera roomscale just fine.

            In fact, I am strongly considering buying an Odyssey+ on this upcoming sale just for playing Elite Dangerous and perhaps Project Cars 2 with my HOTAS and a racing wheel, respectively..

          • Renzo V

            I follow what you are saying , i wish you can add a lighthouse for added accuracy.. just in case

  • Joshwa Sanders

    I have no need for this, but this deal is too good to pass up.

  • Gregory Martin

    Anyone who has this HMD, can you recommend it? Or, how good is the anti SDE?

    • Stewart

      My friend owns the Lenovo, Rift, Odyssey, and got the Odyssey+ last Monday. I own the original Vive. I played the Odyssey+ for two hours and I will tell it is the best VR headset I have ever used it eliminates around 90% of the SDE of the original Odyssey which was already pretty good, I mean you really have to look hard to see it. Compared to my Vive it is like looking through a window. The controller tracking is just as good as my Vive they really fixed it with the bluetooth integrated into the headset. It still tracks behind you for about 10 sec more than enough time to draw a sword or arrow off your back. It is a lot more comfortable than the Odyssey also. The one limitation is the cord it is only 4m long so you will need to buy extensions for the USB and HDMI. Make sure when you buy the USB is it a 3.0 Super Speed (5gbps) like this one http://a.co/d/g1Z0duT. The HDMI extension has to be 4k like this one http://a.co/d/2jPdQO5. Tape them up with electric tape.

      • Gregory Martin

        Shoot Stewart. Thanks for the thorough run down! I think I will try to buy this one while it is marked down!!

        • Mario Moretti

          Ho guys,
          I have oculus Rift, Samsung odyssey, Samsung odyssey plus, HTC vive Pro, and i can assure you: in sim racing ( and not only) the best headset Is the vive Pro, much clear Image , the odyssey have on paper the Same Resolution but in game Is worst vs the HTC Pro. Traducing this in Number i give HTC 100 odyssey plus 60′ Rift and odyssey 50.
          the only headset vr that I consider sufficient to play with a good graphic level is absolutely the vive pro.
          I dont think many have been able to try all these headsets specifically for driving simulations. This cosiderations are true for AC, Rf2, RRRE, Iracing, Pcars 2.
          Trust me guys, i am a very very esigent sim Racer abaout graphics.

          PS: I7 8700 5150 mhz – 32 gb ram 3 ghz – RTX 2080 ti

  • Internet_User_1087

    Can’t find this deal on Samsung.com

    • q23main

      starts November 18th

  • Mateusz Pawluczuk

    Tyrel Wood did a review on his channel (as well as side by side comparison with Vive Pro) :)

    All in all nothing too groundbreaking but he did say he now notices SDE on Vive Pro whereas before he didn’t really care :)

  • bobzdar

    I’m betting this deal is for the original odyssey, not the +. The + will be $424.99.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Why? they both have the same price on the Samsungstore.. They don’t sell the original anymore through their webshop.

    • Stewart

      That is what I was thinking also that this is a typo we shall see on the 18th when I buy it.

      • It wasn’t a typo. :)
        But the deal *was* pretty unbelievable. It’d just released less than 6 weeks earlier and already had blitzed at $200-off. It’s an amazing headset too. I’m glad I grabbed one while the sale was on.

    • I landed my + for $344 (including sales taxes and shipping). Before checkout, it was $299, via the Microsoft Store, which I used because Samsung’s site was quoting several weeks ship-time, while Microsoft was able to get one out the same night. It arrived 3 days later, and I’ve been loving it ever since. :)

  • brandon9271

    Just goes to show how ridiculously overpriced the Vive Pro is. I’d get one of these for $300 but with the Rift “S” coming and possibly a Valve HMD on the horizon I’m going to wait until next year. My Rift CV1 collects enough dust on its own

  • Daemonic

    Wonder if they also made the cable a bit longer. Current one is too short.

    • Stewart

      Same length you will need to buy extensions. USB 3.0 Super Speed (5gbps) http://a.co/d/d3OX6BI and the HDMI 4k High Speed http://a.co/d/gAxbvDK. Make sure you tape them together with electric tape. This will give you 10 feet longer cables.

      • Pasi Ripari

        Jesus Christ Lord Almighty. How God Damn HARD can something this simple be. Same with Vive. 1 meter more length would solve most problems. But no, it has to be furiously “pc at the edge of playspace and MAYBE you can reach the other corner” -distance.

        • Stewart

          Yeah I know I figured it would be longer also but I will say the extensions give you a lot of room and they are not that expensive at least. Would be nice if they even had a wireless adapter for them.

      • I did something similar. ‘uGreen’ was the brand I went with, via Amazon. I’ve gotten them in, bound my extension lines with zip-ties and trimmed for sharp sprew, then pumped the USB-3 over a new USB-3 hub, certified for 5GB per second. The performance is fantastic! :)

  • Tailgun

    For me the deal breaker would be the tracking and controllers. I have a three camera 360 setup for my Rift – can the Odyssey+ match that for accuracy? Also, the Touch controllers helped put the Rift over the top for me a month ago when I went shopping for my first PCVR.

    As for the screen quality I am curious if anyone has used the Odyssey+ with a 1080 ti card and can tell me if it’s significantly better than a Rift headset with 1.5 SS enabled (I get almost no SDE on my Rift with this setting).

    Regardless, as others are saying, for $300 it’s almost too cheap to pass up even if it’s not your primary headset.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      SDE is a hardware problem, not a software problem..

    • Stewart

      I can tell you right now the screen on the Rift is complete crap compared to the Odyssey+. The original Odyssey was 10x better than the Rift and this eliminates around 90% of the SDE of the original. The controller tracking is just as good as my Vive controllers after 2 hours of play they did not mess up once.

  • lqd303

    I had ordered the Lenovo set through Walmart as my first vr set. I’m picking it up today. Should I hold off on opening the Lenovo and try for the Samsung. I can then return the Lenovo. The Oled screens for $120 more should be worth it, right??

    • Xilence

      Well, there’s no guarantee you see. It might sell out and if that happens then you’re SOL. There’s a lot more to it you see. The Lenovo has RGB stripe so it may have a nice deep resolution with still a screendoor, whereas the Samsung will have a slightly lower resolution but pretty much no screendoor.

      Also consider your IPD, the Odyssey is adjustable and the Lenovo is not. I loved my Explorer but returned it and IMMEDIATELY bought an Odyssey. I bypassed the aged Rift and more expensive Vive simply because the WMR headsets are as a net effect superior.

      The Explorer is super light, the lightest in the world I believe. You’ll be surprised you’re even holding it. In the end, you have options and I’m typing this from a phone so I can only detail and mention so much.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Uhm the Samsung doesn’t have a lower resolution, it has a HIGHER resolution..

        • Renzo V

          he is comparing between Lenovo and Dell

          • Andrew Jakobs

            huh? he doesn’t mention Dell at all, only Samsung and Lenovo.

      • Stewart

        Yeah it is higher resolution than the Lenovo. The Lenovo looks washed out to me compared to the Odyssey+. But for the lower end WMRs the Lenovo is the best. My son has the Dell and my friend has the Lenovo and it is a lot better than the Dell.

  • crim3

    The problem is… how do I explain the boss I *need* a new VR headset.

    • Renato Wisocki Jr

      you must break it

      • crim3

        Brilliant! :D

        • Idk

          You must defeat the boss

          • (heard from the distant background)
            “Round One… FIGHT!!!”

  • Pasi Ripari

    Must be nice to live in US.

    EU I can get an old Vive for 600.

  • meron

    Do you think how much stock they have?

  • Lucidfeuer

    Is tracking better than on the Odyssey or still clunky and far from an Oculus?

    • jj

      you mean far from vive right? because 2 towers are better than 3+

  • Skippy76

    Has anyone tried playing Onward with this setup?
    My vive and controllers are on the edge of falling apart. I’d love to upgrade but the Vive Pro is just ridiculously priced for just the HMD. plus 2 new controllers at $200/pop. No way man!!

    • RockstarRepublic

      Did you hear the leak about Valve coming up with a new VR headset? Its planning to be bundled with the new knuckle controllers and supposedly a half life VR game.

      • Gregory Martin

        I heard this rumor. I don’t doubt that Valve will do it either. The only problem is a matter of *when* will they do it. Valve is famously nitpicky with their products, so who knows.

    • Renzo V

      I play Onward with the OG Samsung, no issues now as compare from back on the day, it wasn;t the the headset but SteamVR/game and windows updates, i will say you will get 85-90% percent of the tracking

  • $255 for students, someone told me!

  • Bad, Samsung are trolling Europe with this headset.

    • Tom Szaw

      Just buy it from the USA.

      • Darshan

        Then suffer from RMA / Warranty Nightmares … Not to mention Custom Duty

      • Martin355

        “Just buy it from the USA”? Paying for a company buy and ship it to Europe, and then adding taxes and fees, it will be THREE TIMES AS EXPENSIVE as the American price, and you lose out on warranty.

        • Tom Szaw

          It is 200% more expensive. 300 USD + ~100 USD Fedex + ~70 USD for VAT.
          That is not 300% more.

          • Martin355

            Can you name a store that sells/sold them for 300 USD and ships to Europe? I wasn’t able to. The only option I found was one of those companies that buy and ship things for you overseas, and their listing for the Odyssey didn’t come with any rebates. Not entirely sure, but it may have been ($579 + shipping) * 1.25 (VAT) + $15 VAT handling fee, so maybe $865 or so?

          • Tom Szaw

            Ah you missed it greatly. There was Black Friday. I bought mine like that. 299 USD from Microsoft through AppleBuddy. I sent the link to him, he bought it. In total it costed me 530 EUR after VAT and customs. Still cheaper than 500 USD + all the expenses. Odyssey+ is fantastic, especially playing Apollo 11 HD from steam (Moon walking, re-entry to Earth – a crazy experience). https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ee4abf37558dba47f01536a4d70b9ee8e02c622828a4b1bd977974f65c9bb75d.jpg Look, my 83yo grandma is playing Apollo 11 HD from Steam. She just walked on the Moon! The headset is making a sensation among anyone who try VR for the first time (100% people from my family) :-)

  • motowntom

    i have had an OG Odyssey since launch, and this is a steal!!!!!
    Cheers

  • Sugar Berci

    It’s out of stock instantly. It was a big scam. thx samsung.

    • Macros

      Same here. Load of BS

    • Brian

      Same thing here the SECOND it dropped in price.

      • Macros

        I guess this explains why no other retailers seem have this headset. Would have been called out on their fake deal by Amazon and the like

    • Devilik g

      nah i bet its fucking low life scum scalpers with bots took care of it, look at fleabay how much it being sold there

      • jj

        best buy price matches….

        • Bob Smith

          As far as I can tell Best Buy doesn’t actually carry the +.

    • Independent Contractor

      It was out of stock at ~12:20am, now you can order it. Estimated shipping is in 7-10 business days.

      • Gregory Martin

        Yeah it was instantly sold out. But I got on Samsung.com yesterday and was actually able to order it (on back order). So, who knows when I will actually get the headset, but I am still payng 40% off, which is the only way I would have bought this HMD.

        • Wolfkolf

          Right! Got mine yesterday. Now I can do VR LAN parties! :D

          • gadgetgnome

            Well you can still get it in the USA from Samsung’s website. They do not list it as unpurchaseable. You can buy it, but it’s out of stock, and on back order, but they will honor the price and say they will ship on Nov 25th. Pro tip, it appears if you try to cancel the backorder after a day and state the reason as “found it cheaper elsewhere” they offer to knock 10% off the $300. I didn’t do this as I was able to get it in stock and pick up in person from a Microsoft Store (they price matched it, but are out of stock online, still have some in store stock if you want to get it right away). But they offered say another $30 off? not bad really. Or maybe it’s $50 if they do it off the MSRP? Someone try and let us know =)

          • gadgetgnome

            I just hope for those of you that do the backorder that it doesn’t end up like the Rift Prime Day backorder that went on for like 2-3 months for some.

          • Wolfkolf

            Mine comes in tomorrow the 23rd XD

        • Macros

          Eventually managed to get mine on backorder too. Took about half the day before it changed from ‘where to buy’ though. Now to wait…

      • Toni Hebert
    • jj

      BEST BUY PRICE MATCHES DEALS… you should know this by now, its how you save hundreds but the downside is dealing with bestbuy haha

    • gadgetgnome

      Microsoft Store online has it in stock again. Shipping Nov 21st. Price matched with samsung.com $300. Plus if you have an Xbox account and are doing Microsoft Rewards I believe you get points.

      • Got mine here. While Samsung’s store couldn’t keep up with demand, Microsoft’s store got mine to me in 3 days, shipping from Louisville, KY to Little Rock, AR (and that was a day late, due to local mail volume on the Monday after Black Friday, as I’d paid for 2-day business class, but the MS store shipped it on time… it wasn’t their fault it was late).

        I got it for $299 (after shipping + taxes: $344).

        The night before it arrived, I went out and bought a new PC (an iBuyPower BB953; prefab built like I build customs, which saves me a lot of time that I don’t have right now) to power it with, and luckily found one that not only didn’t kill me financially, but provided plenty of horsepower –when the headset arrived and I fired it up into the first game I played on it, I was instantly pleased with the performance. It’s fast and the Odyssey+ looks beautiful on it! :)

        I dunno if this deal can still be had anywhere, but even if not, the Odyssey+ is worth full price.

  • Evol Love

    Last second stipulation.. Buy Notebook Odyssey and HMD Odyssey, Save $400 on HMD Odyssey. Limited time only.

    • Caven

      That’s just an additional offer. If you do the math, you’d be getting the headset for $99 with that deal. That’s not the same as the $299 sale price.

  • Sugar Berci

    You can buy again!

  • Caven

    The $299 deal is also available at the Microsoft store! I successfully placed an order just now.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Sadly only US store.. grrrrrrr…

  • gothicvillas

    I wish UK had deals like this

  • Tom Szaw

    I still have it in my shopping cart for 299$ in Microsoft store :)

  • JesuSaveSouls

    My rift just stopped working for its right headphone.Its definitely a hardware problem.I got external headphones.Its actually a fuller sound but less convenient,much less with the software dropping out for games.This samsung odyssey is very appealing at the price but when I looked for the sites to purchase it was listed over 500 bucks.

  • NooYawker

    This deal is still good, just have to wait until end of Dec for it to ship. Won’t make it in time for Christmas.

  • Mario Moretti

    Ho guys,
    I have oculus Rift, Samsung odyssey, Samsung odyssey plus, HTC vive Pro, and i can assure you: in sim racing ( and not only) the best headset Is the vive Pro, much clear Image , the odyssey have on paper the Same Resolution but in game Is worst vs the HTC Pro. Traducing this in Number i give HTC 100 odyssey plus 60′ Rift and odyssey 50.
    the only headset vr that I consider sufficient to play with a good graphic level is absolutely the vive pro.
    I dont think many have been able to try all these headsets specifically for driving simulations. This cosiderations are true for AC, Rf2, RRRE, Iracing, Pcars 2.
    Trust me guys, i am a very very esigent sim Racer abaout graphics.

    • Veron

      How long have you worked for HTC, ‘Mario’?

    • Thanks for the perspective. I’ve been wondering how they stack up against one another. Specs tell the story that they’re pretty much identical, but I could see where the Vive Pro would be superior in many ways… I’d hope so anyway, considering what it costs.

  • Mario Moretti

    Ho guys,
    I have oculus Rift, Samsung odyssey, Samsung odyssey plus, HTC vive Pro, and i can assure you: in sim racing ( and not only) the best headset Is the vive Pro, much clear Image , the odyssey have on paper the Same Resolution but in game Is worst vs the HTC Pro. Traducing this in Number i give HTC 100 odyssey plus 60′ Rift and odyssey 50.
    the only headset vr that I consider sufficient to play with a good graphic level is absolutely the vive pro.
    I dont think many have been able to try all these headsets specifically for driving simulations. This cosiderations are true for AC, Rf2, RRRE, Iracing, Pcars 2.
    Trust me guys, i am a very very esigent sim Racer abaout graphics.

  • Got mine!!!

    OMG, Skyrim VR for PC is so much better looking in high-rez! (I have the PSVR version too, and it’s great after the patch that increased it’s rez, but this is noticeably higher/better/cleaner.

    The real mind blower though was last night when I fired up Elite:Dangerous in VR and took off from a planetary installation –it was like I had my own “Farscape Moment”, where the beginner-ship while launching suddenly reminded me of John Criton’s craft, the “U.S.S. Farscape” (in the show ‘Farscape’), mostly due to the new perspective giving me an accurate sense of the diminutive scale of that craft.

    Oh, and (PSA) VRChat is one of the most insane things ever created! I think it’ll take a few days to get my bearings there, but even just goofing off while getting used to what all it can do was mind blowing. I can’t wait till this weekend to show it off to some of my friends and family.

  • 123

    its back-ordered now have to wait about 3weeks to get it