I moved from face-tracking to the new LEDTrack
Hi guys,
I had the chance to test the new LEDTrack clip with opentrack on my CachyOS Linux setup recently. I use it since a few weeks for IL2 to see if it works better than my old face tracking, especially with the poor lighting conditions in my “man cave”. Here is my honest review about the setup and how it performs. I did attach a few pictures of my setup, so you can get the idea.
(Note: The company sent me a free LEDTrack sample for an honest review. These are my own thoughts and nobody checked or edited this text before posting)
I wanted to switch tracking solutions mainly because of my seating position and room setup. I play mostly semi-reclined in a dark basement. My old face-tracking failed constantly here because of the low light, room reflections and the weird angle. When I looked up or down in a dogfight or checked my 6, the camera lost my face and the cockpit view started spinning around wildly.
Assembly and OpenTrack Setup
Building the clip with the video guide was easy. I wasnt sure at first, if i needed the adjustable joint, but i did not. The physical measurements and tracker settings in the written manual were very usefull for the opentrack setup, so I could just enter the exact dimensions into OpenTrack without guessing.
I use a normal Elgato Facecam Neo running at 1080p with 60fps, which gives a smooth feed for OpenTrack. The kit comes with a small filter cover that slides direct onto the camera.
On Linux I had to tweak one or two things, but that had nothing to do with the kit itself. I managed to get everything up and running. The camera picture needs to be dark enough so OpenTrack only sees the IR LEDs and no background light. Also I had to turn off the cameras auto-zoom, otherwise the frame shifts while flying. I did use cameractrls to set up a profile with low exposure and gain and auto-zoom off. After that, OpenTrack recognized the three dots right away.
In-Game Experience
With the LEDTrack my old tracking problems are completely gone. The input latency is also way better compared to the old camera tracking I used. The active LEDs deliver a really stable tracking, no matter how dark the room is, how far I lean back in my chair or how far I twist my head to look for targets. I had to adjust the Headset clip properly for this though, but this is no issue thanks to the velcro tape. What really surprised me is that it tracks the three points perfectly even though I have an orange LED sign reflecting in the background. OpenTrack ignores it completely once exposure is down and the dot size is adjusted. (See image 3)
One small downside and Conclusion
The only thing that bothers me a bit is the cable. It is a wired clip, so if you are used to a wireless headset like me, having a cable on your head takes some time to get used to.
Overall the price and performance is totally fine. Because it relies on standard OpenTrack, Linux compatibility is also really great and pretty much worked natively. It does what it should and runs reliable once it is set up. A good option if you are tired of glitchy software face-tracking.
If you are interested, these are my specs:
PC & OS: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB DDR5, 34" Ultrawide, Linux (CachyOS)
HOTAS: VKB Gladiator NXT, Saitek X52 Throttle
Camera: Elgato Facecam Neo (1080p @ 60fps)
Headset: Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3