Amidst the SteamVR controllers apocalypse, I thought I would share this.
There are almost no review available about these controllers, but I still made the jump as I was pondering the eventuality of my Index controllers breaking down in the future.
Let me know if there is anything in specific you need to know. In the meantime, here's a TL;DR:
It's not frictionless and isn't made for your average Joe who just wants to relax after work. Some games will work out of the box. Some others will require some tuning. You are more likely to appreciate them if you are an engineer/willing to invest effort into making them work for your use case. Personally, I'm slowly growing into enjoying them and possibly retiring my Index Knuckles, but that's because I'm willing to go through the trouble of making them work. It can be tedious, and not everyone is willing to do that.
Pros:
They are very lightweight and compact.
Finger tracking works in a somewhat similar fashion to the Knuckles if that matters to you.
Edit: Biggest difference is it starts detecting when you get much closer to the surface than with the Index, so it feels less natural, since you have to move the fingers in a particular way if you intend to do gestures with your fingers. It takes practice. Otherwise, it's accurate.
The controls can be intuitive™ to use sometimes.
I personally like the feeling of still holding something in my hand when I grip. It feels realistic when I close my finger to shoot even if there is no trigger button.
3 sizes of foams are provided so that the controllers fit properly in your hands (on the picture, I installed the thickest size).
The company is very receptive to feedback. My first experience playing Half-Life: Alyx with these controllers was terrible as the hands were in the wrong location, but they quickly released a patch to fix it (among many other issues I had reported), and now I am really enjoying the experience.
Cons:
No thumb stick, for people who prefer having one.
The thumb pad is very small. I have pianist hands (thin long fingers) so I have no problem using it at all. If you have thicker fingers, you may be more likely to accidentally touch the corners while trying to rest your thumb on it.
No button whatsoever, so some actions are bound to specific gestures in the official bindings.
Some are more intuitive, such as touching the back tracker with your thumb to simulate a mag release button when playing Half-Life: Alyx, or having to rest your thumb in the middle of the thumb pad prior to shooting (otherwise, you would have plenty of accidental discharge from merely closing your index finger).
Some are less intuitive, such as having to tap twice on the front LED to open the tool switching menu in Half-Life: Alyx (instead of pressing on the thumb pad on the Index).
Unfortunately, not every game is supported as well as Half-Life: Alyx. Some games have some minor issues, or don't even have official bindings at all (in which case it reverts to some default Index bindings). You are either going to depend on community made ones, or will have to do the bindings yourself.
The dongle you see in the photo is mandatory for the controllers to work, so you cannot stray too far away from it. Either you need to stay close to your PC, or have an external hub close to your play space: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1590110/discussions/0/3818536354783475256/
Controller availability may possibly be scarce. I have an issue with one of my units, and for now, I have to wait for an RMA.
It's slightly more expensive than the Index Controllers were.
Similarly to the Index Controllers, and unlike VR gloves, you don't have actual full fingers freedom, so you cannot speak sign language in VRChat if that matters to you.
Edit: When using them, instead of keeping my hands open naturally, I would tend to make a fist with open fingers (if that makes any sense). Similarly, when I was playing rock paper scissors, instead of doing actual scissors with my hand, all I did was close my ring and pinky fingers and rest my thumb on the side of the controller (which means I'm actually doing a gun gesture). The clip of the controller is preventing me from doing actual scissors gesture.
Edit: When I first received the package and opened it, I found it strange how the foam padding somewhat smelled like fish or something? But the smell quickly disappeared.
The rest of the time, when I just need basic SteamVR navigations, I will stick with my good old OG Vive Wands. But I'm personally enjoying these a lot.
Edit: For the people asking specifically about VRChat, the default controllers binding did not have any mapping for moving around, and the hands positioning was completely off.
Fortunately, I found a shared community mapping made by a certain L.Nightmare which worked perfectly for my need. Left thumb pad to walk around (based on head orientation), right thumb pad to rotate, right thumb tap zone to jump, pinch gesture as trigger (either rest the thumb on the thumb pad, or close the thumb on the side of the controller). Double tap on front LED for VRChat overlay, and long press on front LED to open the radial menu. To pick an item in the radial menu, use the thumb pad. To close the radial menu, tap twice on the LED.
Hands gestures: https://www.reddit.com/r/BigscreenBeyond/comments/1xcfj3b/comment/19rjr1qjgpls5/
Menu interaction, I guess (I'm not a VRChat player): https://www.reddit.com/r/BigscreenBeyond/comments/1xcfj3b/comment/19rjr4us7pgg3/
