Anyone here have experience with DIY head trackers?

[Sokonomi]

Ive been pining for a headtracker, though I dont want to spend too much on it with the HTC vive on the horizon (so the trackIR set is out). So ive been looking at this website instead http://edtracker.org.uk/

It looks easy enough, though the price is a wee bit steep for what it is (just an arduino with a 9DOF sensor).
They dont offer a DIY package with the 9DOF sensor, just the 6DOF one (no compass, so it drifts a little).

So ive been wondering what kind of solutions others have come up with.
Does anyone here have any experience with DIY headtrackers?

[Loriath]

They do offer them pre-built as well, and the 9150 is not that expensive in relation to the Commercial headtrackers out there. I am planning to get one before summer, just need to let the dust settle on the X52Pro/New Monitor/New Headset purchase.

Could you not source the MPU-9150 and substitute it? I am by no means capable of doing this myself, but if You are inclined, sourcing the parts should be easy.

I take it you have been following the thread on the Frontier site?

[Cmdr Kharma]

I used this for a while in DCS......Cost about £6 to build as I already had an old webcam......

Worked quite well with a bit of tweaking......

http://www.free-track.net/english/

You can get a built head clip here....

http://www.delanengineering.com/

I now use TrackIR which is better.....But cost a hell of a lot more.....

HTH

[Sokonomi]

They do offer them pre-built as well, and the 9150 is not that expensive in relation to the Commercial headtrackers out there. I am planning to get one before summer, just need to let the dust settle on the X52Pro/New Monitor/New Headset purchase.

Could you not source the MPU-9150 and substitute it? I am by no means capable of doing this myself, but if You are inclined, sourcing the parts should be easy.

I take it you have been following the thread on the Frontier site?

Their prebuilt one isnt as expensive as trackIR, but 60 dollars is still is quite expensive for what it is.
I know what an MPU board generally costs, because I use similar boards for my hobby, multicopters.
An arduino board with identical sensors generally goes for around 15 to 20 dollars these days.

Id gladly just buy their PCB and enclosure, and just source/solder the whole thing myself,
but the problem is they arent being specific enough about which parts would actually fit in the enclosure.
I suppose I could just shrinkwrap the darn thing. :')

FD has a thread about it? I came to know about it through reddit, myself.
Maybe I should check it out.

[Sokonomi]

I used this for a while in DCS......Cost about £6 to build as I already had an old webcam......
Worked quite well with a bit of tweaking......
http://www.free-track.net/english/
You can get a built head clip here....
http://www.delanengineering.com/
I now use TrackIR which is better.....But cost a hell of a lot more.....
HTH

Im not a big fan of having another stick in my face, thats why I was looking at ACC/MAG sensors.
The price of a real trackIR3 is a bit nuts imho, too much to spend when it ll be replaced by a VR set soon anyway.

[de Carabas]

I built my first EDTracker myself and it was pretty straightforward. I got the parts I needed from a store linked to from the EDTracker website and followed the pdf guide. That one I found fit nicely in the old battery/speaker box that came out of one of my girls stuffed toys. Apparently tic-tac boxes work pretty well.

I now have the magneto version and decided to pay for them to build it and send it to me. Yes it's more but the reality is that these guys and girls have come up with the idea, designed the pcb, got it printed, coded the calibration software and they keep on improving it. I was happy to pay them the little extra for their efforts. Compared to the trackir stuff it's peanuts.

I had tried webcam trackers but the lighting and setup in the room with the PC made it very flakey for me.

[Synthesis]

I run the EDTracker with the MPU-9150 (magnetometer/gyro) for Elite.
Parts came out to approximately 25 dollars here in the US, and both the Arduino clone and the Gyro were found on eBay.

I did all of the soldering myself using short lengths of 26 gauge stranded wire and was able to assemble the whole thing in less than 30 minutes.

I have had some minor calibration issues with it, but believe I have tracked that down to my computer chair being the culprit. It has rear speakers built into the headrest on it, so I believe the magnetic field from the speakers is what is causing the random pan when I look up.

[Sokonomi]

I just pulled the trigger and bought a 6050 basic sensor kit from EDtracker and a separate 9150 magneto sensor from ebay. I chose to have EDtracker provide me the correct arduino board because ive had problems with ebay ones before (people selling 5v ones as 3.3v and such).

The whole thing cost me about 31 euros, which is only half of a fully assembled one, so im happy enough with that.

Soldering arduino boards is like 50% of my other hobby already (multicopters), so I dont mind tinning a row of headers.

Hows the tracker? Is it really as much of a gamechanger as people claim it to be?

[Synthesis]

Yes.

I use OpenTrack along with the EDTracker for more refined control.

When dogfighting, the ability to follow your enemy as he/she flies overhead is amazing. Especially as you can always keep them in sight and react on the throttle and stick accordingly.

[Sokonomi]

How does the game even see your headtracker? Is it registering as a generic joystick?
I could see this little gimmick have a lot of potential in other games as well.
Warthunder comes to mind, as well as star citizen.

How is the latency?