Best head tracking in 2024? TrackIR 5 vs Tobii Eye Tracker 5 | Honest comparison

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[@theMedicatedCitizen]

The TrackIR Pro clip has a slip joint hinge (like pliers) to put on thicker headphones, and once I realized it was just a power cord going to the Pro tracker, I cut the wires and soldered on a JST connecter and use a small 3.7v LiPo battery from an RC car in a 3D printed holder to power it for wireless freedom

[@waynenetzley1045]

I subed . Thanks for the heads up!

[@Rhyfelwr_Cymreig]

Nobody ever mentions "Delanclip" It's the same thing as "TrackIR 5", its Wireless, its easy to attach to your headphones with a little Velcro pad it comes with, battery lasts all day and takes 2 minutes to unbox it, set it up and get to gaming. Oh and its super cheap compared to TrackIR 5 and Tobii

[@jorgentoll314]

What receiver does the Delanclip use?

[@CRESUSMAX]

I think it's a PS2 camera

[@mynameisprivate158]

It is cheaper at least in Europe as it looks to be sold in pounds shipping would probably kill the deal for me but I would prefer to buy a working flushed out system like the TrackIR over an unknown system that is compatible with who knows what games! Edit: I just took a closer look at the delanclip it is a home made solution for use with open track software!!! You can make one of these yourself for about $30 if not cheaper! Especially if you have a 3D printer! No wonder it is cheaper

[@LazerDon271]

GRASSMONKEYSIMULATION also is an elite head tracker that's affordable.

[@levinste2750]

is Delanclip better than TrackIR 5?

[@casyo]

I have the Tobii 5 for years now. First on a 34" Ultrawide, now on a 42" monitor, which "officially" is not supported. The eye tracking needs good calibration of course, but if you're more in it for the head tracking... well. Currently (because on the new 42" OLED I neither can use the velcro mount, nor the magnet strip) I have it sitting on the desk below the monitor or on a small box. EVEN if it moves a little bit from time to time, it does not really matter for effective head tracking in Star Citzen for example. Still works, even if not perfectly centered. Magnets: The magnetic strip included is crazy strong - at least in newer mounting kits. I made the mistake to bring the magnet strip near the back of the Tobii while playing around with it, and it snapped in place. I needed quite some strong tweezers to get if off from there. Also - Tobii heard us users with bigger monitors or where we don't want to install it directly beneath the monitor. There is a beta software, where you can configure where exactley you installed the tracking device in relation to the display and your head. Really powerful. Also have the TrackIR... never used it much since I got the Tobii. For me, it's the clear winner (even for head tracking, not even considering the added features like eye tracking and Windows Hello capabilities).

[@tedstriker4278]

Same here, got a new display with buttons in the middle where the Velcro is supposed to be. I sticked tobii on an old iPhone box and put it below the monitor. Works fine as long as it roughly stays at that spot.

[@CitizenRyan]

I use the cheap clip on TrackIR 5 and it is perfect - no wires, no lag. I wear hats so it doesn’t bother me and I just found that I can attach to the top of my audio headphones (Sony studio monitor) directly!

[@LORDV4DERONP1LLS]

Thanks for this review. Never used TrackIR 5 but I have Tobii Eye Tracker for almost 3 years now and I am really happy with it. Works perfectly with Star Citizen!

[@MebraRandoms]

Best comparison video for those 2 producs so far. Thanks a lot!

[@robwoodring9437]

I use a set of AKG's that have the strap plus 2 hoops over the top. Any chance that trackIR hat clip can attach to them instead of a hat brim? I'm thinking it might be modified to grab the hoop that's always above my head

[@noxxtromonoctis5295]

Awesome! This is VERY valuable input and exactly what I as looking for! THANK YOU - and really nice channel and content btw.!

[@festersmith8352]

I have had my Track IR 5 for 13 years without any issues. I also have only used the hat clip. Never had an issue attaching my hat clip to a headset. If you need to get creative you can make your own clip out things around the house. The hat clip has no batteries or wires needed. Works in all lighting situations. The hat clip is not flimsy. Its made from spring steel which can be damaged with intentional excessive force. But your not going to break it under normal use. I just ordered another Track IR for a second computer, and made sure it came with the hat clip.

[@urduine]

Thanks for the video. Can you share yuor Tobii setup for DCS. I have one, but I'm not able to find the right setup for DCS. Thanks

[@StrGzr101]

I love me some Tobii 5. It gave me all the emersion I crave for MSFS. The perfect medial solution toward VR. Thanks for the breakdown. I learn a little more.

[@malismo]

Great comparison! I used to own a trackIR a couple of years back, now use a Tobii in Star Citizen and I must say you were spot on in my opinion with the grades

[@mynameisprivate158]

I think your TrackIR is an older version my pro clip has it's own USB power cable and I can use it with an extension if needed. Nothing from my pro clip connects to my TrackIR5 sensor camera.

[@YilmazMeteGuler]

like 10 years ago when i first made my track ir thing with a ps3 eye and some ir leds, i read somewhere that you should mount the camera off center of the monitor -slihtly left of the center to be precise-. because your head would obscure the leds when you turn your head to left. the track clip and the trackir camera should be in line basicly. that would help the tracking when you turn your head to left.

[@loststarman]

Great video as this is a much over looked topic. I personally have Tobi and love it.

[@Swatmat]

The best setting with tobii for SC is head tracking to do head movement, eye tracking just for eye targetting, look at what you want it will highlight and press target lock.

[@Luckycharmz4U]

Can just imagine you in a super serious space battle, lit ciggy in the lip 😂

[@Gwydion_Wolf]

I had been useing Track IR 5 for a few years... and just got a Tobii.. My two biggest con/pro for each is: 1) Track IR cares not what size your screen is. Tobii does. 2) Tobii's combination of eye-head tracking feels more 'natural' in movement wise than the pure head-tracking of the Track IR. This is part of the "snappyness" of Track IR... it feels to 'jerky' even if you use the software to 'tune' the head-motion with curves.. it just feels more 'artificial'. Biggest issues i had with both: 1) Track IR hates, hates, hates, sunny days. If you have a window anywhere near you and sunlight is coming behind you or even onto you... it'll interfere with the tracking (as said in this video) 2) The Tobii can make your eyes feel tired/agrivated after a long gaming session as the unit itself is 'transmitting' an IR signal nonstop to work its tracking. Oddly enough, i havnt noticed it moving when i move my mouth, though i may keep an eye out for that now to see if its still doing it or if after 3 months of your video being out, if they have changed its software any to filter that out :P

[@mynameisprivate158]

My main gaming desktop is tripple 27 inch monitors, my flight simulator has a 55" TV and I use Tobii eye tracking just fine on both! TrackIR is a more flushed out system and compatible with way more games.

[@Accuracy158]

So I'm not the only person who experiences Tobii track my jaw or facial movements when talk and such.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

I'ld say that we all do, but most people don't talk about it

[@MylesAwae]

I love my Track IR. I actually prefer the Traick IRs ball cap clip over the "Pro Clip". I have found the pro clip cuts out if you turn your head too far to one side and the the way it clips on to you headset wears out too quickly making it difficult to say on. I have been using the ball cap clip exclusivly and have better gameplay.

[@archmage1969]

Isn’t there a resolution limitation with the tobi product? When I switched to a 4K monitor I struggled with keeping to Tobi in sync. It’s a great product and can’t wait for them to support the larger resolutions.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

I'm on 4k and I have no issues

[@elementalgaming59]

thanks been wondering about this. was not sure if i should go for a tracker or say F it and get VR headset

[@carpless]

Don't go VR, its as real as it gets but you need muscle memory for any keyboard keys also I have dizyness afterwards for days.... but thats just me

[@jackmcdrake8686]

I use Tobii for about 4 years now (Elite and some other games like assassins creed, farcry or division)...i like it :)

[@Storm-Cleaver]

If I could afford it, I'd definitely be going for a Tobii. But figuring out why my son's Win10 PC is getting daily BSOD's is a higher priority. One day. Maybe by the time I do you'll have a Tobii sponsorship and I can get a discount while you get a kickback.

[@kaisersolo76]

Great a nd fair review, I prefer tobbi as its built into the game. Tobii 5 mounting issues can be fixed easily with 1-2mm think double side super stickt tape. Mine tobii 5 has not moved in 3 years

[@trevoC132]

Grumpy: have you ever been sponsored by tobii? Seems like the entire SC community creators have. I've owned both for years, Track IR much longer. At the end of the day, both are a step up from nothing. However, only track IR has little to no latency on your movements and allow muscle memory. When you've used track IR, tobii feels heavy and slow. You can easily move from tobii to track IR... because its better in game. If you've used track IR, you couldn't possibly move to tobii and feel its ok. Its just not. Do you have to clip it to a hat... yup... is that hard, not at all. If you have a headset, then you buy the headset version of track IR. Personally , I wear a hat with headphones over the hat with the track IR hat clip. I find tobii just unusable and it sits at work now as a glorified windows hello device. I don't smoke inside but I do vape... never noticed a single issue with this, that's news... anyway, nice video but I'm always unsure about SC creator opinions on tobii when they are so heavily subsidized by tobii themselves. To be clear to those not owning either of these... I have a track IR with hat clip that has zero cables and no batteries.

[@trevoC132]

The best way I can put this to those who own neither devices... track ir feels like you are looking around... tobii feels like you are using your head to move the screen around because it doesn't react to you head movements fast enough... I can't notice any lag in track ir whatsoever so it feels like I'm just looking around. Hope that helps anyone looking into either.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

Nobody ever sponsored me on this channel. Probably because I tend to point the bad stuff out

[@Sylar0n]

TrackIR is snappier, but im not sure both should be used the same way. Grumpy definitely uses Tobii the same way as he would the TrackIR, and he is discarding a large portion of the feature set, which is the actual eye tracking. I do use both (takes a little getting used to), and i cant imagine myself playing for example without gaze targeting or gaze missile loading. I you wanna go full Erich Hartmann on the game, grab the TrackIR, but for general use, id say the Tobii is a significantly better package.

[@trevoC132]

@@Sylar0n Track IR is cheaper so I'm not sure why you wouldn't go the snappier route. Personally, I also turn off eye tracking when I did try the tobii as its annoying. In order to stay locked you have to keep staring at your target... look down at your power settings or shield and it loses. I re-tried tobii this afternoon to remind myself of the experience and almost got sick using it. Head wondering around all the time with movements that didn't match my head and I must have it reset head tracking / 100 times in a short period as it slowly drifts or loses my center position. I'm not a fan.

[@Sylar0n]

@@trevoC132 Again, what are you trying to achieve? IF you want to be Erich Hartmann and you snap your head left and right all the time, by all means, pick TrackIR. I will not trade my Tobii because i look left/right/up/down 90 degrees and target a ship effortlessly. I can missile lock someone without pointing my ship's nose at the enemy ship. Its the package. It may be slower to react, but ill take the eye tracking over it any day. And lets not even talk about the fact that i have a cross on my head with an attached cable all the time.

[@MultiFishslayer]

ahh great stuff! thanks for helping me decide I don't want a track IR. I had a tobii a year ago but i could'nt handle it. Because it made me sick. I sent it back. I want to try it again but it costs so much. Guess I'll have to save my $$.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

you need to set it up. just disable eye tracking and you won't get sick :)

[@effectspedals]

This is a brilliant review Grumpy! I'm so impressed by how comprehensive your thoughts were. I subscribed. I'm interested in Tobi for MSFS 2020... It's the only game I play. But, I have a bunch of Honeycomb flight controls on my desk in front of my three 4k monitors. And, I guess I'd have to raise the monitors to get Tobi to see my face? Also, I'm not sure how it works with three monitors. I'm using MSFS's experimental feature to split my cockpit across three monitors. It's crazy immersive and really does a nice job of show casing my Nvidia 4090 GPU. Any thoughts are appreciated. I'd love to be able to look around the cockpit. Thanks! Jerry. Fort Worth, Tx

[@effectspedals]

Oh, I have VR, HP goggles... but, I found I couldn't fly for more than 20 minutes. Almost too immersive and tiring. And like you, you have to memorize where all the controls are on your flight set up. Not easy.

[@alexb115]

Tobii eye tracker, I suggest you wire it to monitor USB and then wire neatly the monitor USB to PC.

[@maxnoah743]

I have a tobii5. I use a odyssey ark 55" curved monitor. The tobii is only supposed to be on a 32" max monitor. So if you want to get more accuracy make a stand and put it closer to your face. Mine is positioned a little higher than the bottom of the monitor and about a foot closer to me. Eye tracking with a little adjustment to find the sweet spot works perfectly on my screen now.

[@CaptainBruce]

I have the same setup... after mounting Tobii5 closer to me it worked much better. But, did take some "home engineering" to get a stable mount at the right height and distance.

[@mynameisprivate158]

I have a 55 inch tv I use with my flight simulator and the Tobii is about 3 feet away mounted to my TV and it works perfectly! It may just be the angle of the camera and yur setup

[@michalbelko5676]

Thanks

[@AtlasGaming4k]

Got both. Tobii is way better. Independent head and eye tracking you cans do with trackir.

[@baronvonschnellenstein2811]

Really good, objective comparison, @Grumpy, with a liberal and welcome dose of your trademark humour - Thanks! I get that many PvP pilots prefer TrackIR for the snappy response. I'd previously plumped for Tobii on the basis I didn't need to clip something to my scone. I personally like the eye + head tracking in SC, as it allows me to glance down at the two bottom MFDs in a Sabre, for instance, as well doing preliminary scans just outside my direct cone of vision without moving my bonce. - My main gripes with the Tobii are: - The adhesive on the Tobii's pads will fail after some months if you're in a climate where the room gets quite warm in summer - Bringing a mug of tea to my mouth will upset the Tobii's tracking - even more so than talking / pulling faces P.S.: I rather enjoyed your provided conversion of metric units to so-called "freedom" units 🤣

[@ChaosAura]

I only have tobii. Love it other than centre focus being bugged and needing to be set every time you sit in a pilot seat. Also had to full reinstall when it broke after I reset it in ac.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

you can set it to a keybind. I have it on my sticks because I move around a lot.

[@ChaosAura]

@@GrumpyEyeGaming ​​ I've got an on/off toggle set. Centre focus I need to change the slider value to fix. It's well reported on IC, hopefully should get fixed.

[@chawkes70]

With TrackIR I find the software crashes every now and then which requires a restart of the game which is frustrating. Looking at getting a Tobii at some point this year.

[@ezekielhudson5769]

Welp time for a suggestion beam eye tracking. Uses webcam and one can mount anywhere that it sees your eyes/face well.

[@evictor99]

I used AI Head Tracking and OpenTrack for almost a year before getting TrackIR, and it works 75% as well as the Track IR, just not as precise and doesn't handle the greater degrees of movement that you really need PVP dogfighting. My biggest complaint is that Track IR is technology from 40 years ago, and is way too expensive for what it is.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

so true

[@XJoukov]

you got me confused at "and doesn't handle the greater degrees of movement that you really need PVP dogfighting" are you talking about the AI Head Tracking and OpenTrack here or TrackIR ?

[@DavidWorm]

I disabled the movement for the tobii 5 eyetracking in star citizen as well. But I do use the eyetracking for target selection. You can look at any target even in the corners of the screen (its not necessary for it to be under the reticle) then it gets highlighted. Then you can press a button on your joystick to lock it (must be assigned, this one is not default). This feature is really nice.

[@TheWorldsprayer]

if you give yourself a TINY amount of eye input, it makes it even more responsive in SC. You usually move your eye before/same time as your head and the software seems to prioritize eye movement over head movement (likely easier to calculate), so with a tiny amount of eye input, it responds to head movement much faster.

[@DavidWorm]

I'll give that a try! @@TheWorldsprayer

[@sudonix5923]

I did this too

[@sudonix5923]

@@TheWorldsprayer nice! thanks im going to try that too

[@dkindig]

@@TheWorldsprayer I naturally settled on a 98-99% head to eye ratio when I set mine up. Seemed to have the most natural motion.

[@Verinia]

Great video and thank you! You're always welcome back again and again and again in Star Citizen! Whenever you're ready to go through the meat grinder again, we'd love to have you :)

[@xYxColeTrainxYx]

Long story short: If you are using Tobii for headtracking, you are fucking up. The eye tracking is where it is at ESPECIALLY for flight sims. People move their heads a lot, but the way our eye muscles work keeps our eyes steadier than our heads. Setting flight sims to use eye tracking for in-game gaze controls results in a much more natural "look around" feel in flight sims

[@criticalchai]

that attachment issue for the tobii is why I don't use it. Been sticking to the OpenTrack for a while and it works fine. Its opensource and just uses the webcam. kind of reminds me of the built in thing in star citizen but works in all games that support eye tracking

[@cqc2238]

I own both. Tobii

[@Rompelsteelskin]

Welcome back Grumpy Eye...

[@siriusaltaisandromeda7275]

ooohhh man that sucks you got that glue stuck on your monitor. Grab some nail polish remover or if you got iso par that works great. just careful if you have iso par cause it can eat through glue.

[@zacharypump5910]

Is that Star Wars squadrons at 2:32?

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

Yes

[@Going13ananas]

subbed for the American conversion

[@frogger2011ify]

Red panda...not a raccoon but close

[@voodoovinny7125]

I am laughing so hard at the trolling of Asians with the "raccoon"!

[@TheWorldsprayer]

The big thing about TET 5 that puts it over TIR 5 is that you can run something like nofaceir which converts tobii to TIR signals and allows you to use tobii in any game that trackir can whereas you can't do the opposite so far as I'm aware. Tobii is SLIGHTLY less responsive and accurate than Track IR, but the issue is you don't use head tracking for aiming, you use it to look around which means it's MORE than responsive enough. The difference between the 2 is small enough that only experienced TIR users will really notice the difference. Edit: facetracknoir

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

holy shit I didn't know that nofaceir can do that.

[@TheWorldsprayer]

Whoops, it was facetracknoir @@GrumpyEyeGaming

[@yct6956]

have u tried them on movie editing, sth not gaming can they work fine and accracy what u aimming thx

[@methodmizzle]

bruh you just chiefin cigs in the house? is it 1986?

[@middleagedbaldguy6774]

Have both. The Tobi has been utter garbage when I wear my glasses. The Track IR works better but needs an update and an onboard battery. I soldered a small buck converter and run mine from a 850 mah lipo. The IR is great for DCS and even works in DayZ but I get weird pulsing behavior and have to reset it in Star Citizen every few minutes.

[@TheWorldsprayer]

I wear glasses all the time, no a problem at all with TET so it's by no means a universal issue. I've several friends with glasses as well that swear by tobii so I'm also not an outlier from my experience.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

I never had any issues with tobi because of my glasses. Check if you have some strong IR signals bouncing around in your room

[@SkrapSF83]

There’s software that lets you use both head tracking tracking(camera) and eye (Tobii). Only use it for star citizen though so not sure about any other game. It lets you tweak the head tracking in the software and the Tobii is tweeted in game. Works great for me.

[@gerlock22_84]

Using the Tobii 5 in DCS does not work at all. its jittering all over the place and cant hpld still for even a second

[@raymondnist8770]

I think your spirit animal is a red panda not a raccoon 😀

[@Glathgrundel]

Grumpy Eye Tracker.

[@Chapkin_]

I'm very unhappy with TrackIR. Whatever setup and orientation I try, there's always an angle where 2 of the 3 IR lights - as perceived by the sensor - overlap into one point, and it snaps into a weird angle. It always happens at the worst times during a dogfight. And as you said, it's also incredibly sensitive to IR noise in the room. If it's a sunny day and there's a window behind you, it will snap. If the sun is shinning on your face, it will snap. IMO it's an outdated, overrated, overpriced piece of junk. And there are very cheap alternatives using the same flawed tech if that's what you really want.

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

I can't say that it's an overpriced piece of junk, but I can say that it's outdated and overrated for sure. Although, it might solve some issues temporarily for some people.

[@jonathanagudelo6383]

You didn’t include webcam…

[@GrumpyEyeGaming]

Never had any luck with it. It was too slow and too unprecise when I tried it

[@TheLoneBirb]

But Grumpy........

[@karbonxiii]

you need to learn to hone your track IR profile. you move your head waaaaay too much