I kind of stumbled across a pleasant surprise tonight. Several weeks ago I ordered an aftermarket VRology mask for my Oculus that is designed for the Gear VR. I don’t even recall what prompted me to order one (hey I’m old ok!?!) but it had something to do with it being thinner than the stock mask and helping to increase your FOV. So I thought it might work with the Oculus. It arrived several days later and sat untouched on my table as one of the many things I need to get around to doing.

Anyway fast forward to tonight. We’ve had some pretty hot weather (for Seattle) of late and I was getting tired of sweating up a storm just to turn a few laps with the Rift. So I pulled the stock foam seal out of my Rift and fit the VRology mask in it’s place. The shape does not match the Oculus except across the top. So all that was holding it in was the pressure of the rift against my face.

Instantly I realized it was much more comfortable and breathed better than the stock. But the area around the nose was kind of funky and kept interfering with my view just enough to be irritating. So for the hell of it I cut the nose area of the mask off and…viola! Much much more comfortable!

I continued messing around and trimming it and eventually got so bold as to cut off the entire bottom line of the foam leaving just the top and sides in place.

The end result is not only a TON more comfort, but it is VERY VERY “airy”.

No more sweating. No more constant breaks to take the rift off and get some fresh air around my eyes. None of that stuff at all…and it’s been in the low 80’s in the room I am playing in. I like it so much that I just went and ordered another one so I have a back-up. With shipping it’s only $16 so pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. And in case you are wondering it has very little light leak at all. I suppose in some darker games like Elite Dangerous you might notice light leaks, but for iRacing there is very little and certainly not enough to bother me in the slightest.

Tomorrow I plan to do some more custom fitting and velcro it in place so it is more permanent, but thought I’d share my experience in case anyone else is interested. Here’s the site I ordered it from: VRology

Step by Step Guide:

I went ahead and did a full trim and install today and I couldn’t be

happier. It works great! Very comfortable in terms of softness but even more comfortable in terms of fresh air. (If that makes sense.) The pictures should give you a good idea on how to do the same mod yourself but I’ve also included a few comments below that might be helpful.

Step 1

You want about a 4 to 6″ strip of 1″ wide velcro. We will use only the “hook” side. Save the fuzzy side for another project. Cut the velcro down the middle so you have two strips about 1/2″ wide.

Step 2

Trim your velcro to fit in the areas shown in photo #1. I used white velcro to give a better contrast in the pictures. Notice that the top center area of your HMD has a small sensor and LED light. You do not want cover those up. You want to cut and fit the velcro as seen, leaving the top center clear and running the velcro down each side. You can go as far around the bottom of the eye and nose section as you like. However, the further you go, the less area you have for fresh air to circulate in and out of the mask. Yet the larger you go the more of a light gap you have when looking down at your nose. The photos show where I trimmed mine to. Personally the light gap is all but non-existent for me and what is there I don’t even notice. I have to purposefully look down at my nose to see the light gap. But this is a personal preference so trim it to your liking.

Step 3

The VRology mask has two distinct sides to it. One side is fairly smooth and will not adhere to the velcro at all. The other side is slightly fuzzy and adheres to the velcro perfectly. So be careful when cutting and trimming the mask as you will end up having two distinct halves, one left and one right.

Step 4

Start by laying the mask as it would fit on the right side of the HMD,

sticking it to the right side velcro. Now use a sharpie or something to mark a cut point in the top of the mask. (see photo 2) Cut the mask in half where marked. Take that trimmed half and place it back in the velcro on the right hand side of the HMD. Move it around until you are satisfied with the fit. Now mark the bottom section of the mask and trim the mask again. You should end up with a perfectly fitting right half.

Step 5

Now do the same to the left side. Notice the top left corner area where the Rift cord exits the HMD. Use velcro on either side of it but when fitting your mask, just fit it directly over the cord in one piece. In

others words, don’t trim your mask into multiple pieces, just trim it to fit as one left hand side section and it will lay perfectly over the cord. (See last photo.)

Once it’s all trimmed and fit, stick both sides into the HMD and try it on. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how well it works. Better than stock!