Being one of the lucky few to get my Steam Frame a few weeks ago, I have been using it quite a bit since then. I have been buying some third-party accessories to mitigate some of its weaknesses.

First the obvious one: it is surprisingly light and small, but overall not comfortable enough due to my glasses. To solve that I went ahead and bought prescription lenses from VR Optician (119€ including fast shipping and additional prescription fee).

Then I figured I had better protect it against sunlight because I do not have one of those fancy head mounts nor do I want to pack it in its box between each use. Thus I got an AMVR lens cover that fits quite well (13€).

And finally the battery life situation is… Well it’s bad. I got decent VR legs and can play for hours, but the battery only lasts at most 1h30 when running PCVR at 120Hz. So I got myself a UGREEN Nexode 145W 25000mAh Power Bank (56€), 2 short angled USB-C cables (24€), round magnetic USB-C adapters (16€) and a small fanny pack (10€).

I will also say there has been some trial and error regarding the magnetic adapter. The idea is to protect the headset port in case the cable snags on anything. I wanted to plug it directly in the headset port, but it tends to disconnect when I turn my head. The tradeoff I landed on is : one very short cable plugged in, magnetically coupled with a longer one that goes to the battery. The 240W-rated USB-C cables are also overkill but hey, not that much of a price difference (they are quite thick though and contributed some in my disconnect issue).

So there you have it, 238€ on top of the initial Steam Frame + ergonomic accessories kit purchase (which is a must-have if you ask me), not counting said trial and error.

  • JelleWho@lemmy.world
    0·
    13 hours ago

    Note that the magnet connector limits you to USB 2.0, because it does not have enough pins. This limit the charging speed at total maximum 15W* (5V 3A). This is enough to keep you streaming (around 11W usage), but not enough for standalone (19W usage or so)

    *Not all chargers can go there, your usage may vary, and it might be lower

    • Natanael@infosec.pub
      0·
      9 hours ago

      FYI USB 2 data pins does not prevent use of Power Delivery on USB C for higher charging speeds, the real limit is you can’t really certify a good safe connection on magnetic adapters without a shitton of work

      • JelleWho@lemmy.world
        0·
        8 hours ago

        You require to have the CC pins (CC1 for left and CC2 for right) to be able to use power delivery, these are the data pins that the device and adapter communicate on for highering the supplied voltage (and using power delivery).

        I do not know what magic you use to get PD working on an USB 2 cable. So please share

        I’ve attached a photo of the pins of an somewhat higher end magnetic cable, showing these pins are not available on an magnetic USB C cable Photo of magnetic cable

        • Natanael@infosec.pub
          0·
          6 hours ago

          Passive USB C cables can use resistors to signal up to 20V 3A (60W) under Power Delivery with just USB 2.0 data pins (as compared to classic USB 2 which is capped to around 5V 2A). You can even do cables with the chip which only makes the 2.0 wires available for data while still getting 100W

          That way a cheap manufacturer can put weakass cables in for negotiation rather than USB 3 data rate compatible ones

          • JelleWho@lemmy.world
            0·
            4 hours ago

            I think you got some things mixed up maybe? There is a resistor in an USB C to USB C cables but, this tells the power supply the max rating of the cable so it can respect this. This has nothing to do if both device and adapter actually agree on a higher voltage to change to.

            Also my point was that most magnet connectors only carry 2, maybe 4 connections. Which is enough for power only (2) or USB 2 data (4-5 wires), but not enough for Power Delivery.

            It can and will still charge, just at a slower speed.

      • JelleWho@lemmy.world
        0·
        5 hours ago

        Yhea it depends on what game, Factorio runs below 15W for me, and would work. But some games drain the battery a bit more on the Deck. You can also set a power limit, but this is quite sickening on the Frame.

        If you look at you decks light when charging, you can see that is yellow (slow charging) instead of white