Comparisons of BCI Headsets/Headbands

In this post, I have listed the comparisons of following brain computer interfaces based on the references mentioned at the bottom of the page.

Headset Brand	Support P300/SSVEP	Additional SW/HW	Licensing	Price
OpenBCI	Good	Cyton BioSensing Board	None	$1420 for 16 channels $920 for 8 channels
Emotive EPOC +	Good	Emotiv SDK	Raw EEG data needs licensing for online analysis	$700 for 14 electrodes $300 for 5 electrodes $55-$99 per month for online analysis
Neurosky Mindwave Mobile 2	Less efficient	Freely Downloadable Software	None	$100 for headset with free software
OpenEEG	Good	Requires Electronic Montage	None	Varies based on electronic montage
Muse	Supported	Freely Downloadable Software	None	Around $250 for Muse2

OpenBCI

OpenBCI is using the quite advanced TI ADS1299 A/D converter chip at it's heart. And is also Arduino compatible. They now support many research applications such as OpenViBE, EEGLAB, BCILAB, MATLAB, LabStreamingLayer, LabVIEW, VVVV, PureData; APIs for Python, C#, Java etc. They have a very active Forum community. 8 and 16 channel versions available. Any types of electrodes can be used: gel/caps, paste, dry. It can be used for measuring P300 or SSVEP. The OpenBCI headset has to be used with Cyton Biosensing board which samples the EEG signal and transfers it over to the PC over bluetooth. The Cyton Board is extensible from 8 channel to 16 channel, if we purchase Daisy board.

Complete Kit
Headset + Cyton Biosensing board 16 channel = $1400
Gel = $20

OpenBCI programmable dongle (independent) = ??
Total: around $1420

No Kit, Independent Purchase
Cyton BioSensing Board 16 channel = $950
Cyton BioSensing Board 8 channel = $500
EEG Electrode Cap Kit = $400
Gel = $20
Total $920 for 8 channel
Total $1420 for 16 channel

Emotive EPOC+

EPOC provides more complex sensor placement with 14 electrodes. However it is missing Cz for whatever reason, which is one of the most popular and investigated sensor positions, therefore either C3 and C4 need to be averaged or the EPOC has to be placed in some other unstandardized manner to measure Cz. It can be used for measuring P300 or SSVEP.

Emotiv is making their hardware require the uploading of data to their web system and charging on a per recording bases (in blocks of 50 or so) for a monthly fee. Emotivs software and licensing policies have always been a hazzle and this might not get better in the future, or at least it'll be very pricy and very restrictive. Which is very sad, because the Emotiv hardware has always been very promising.

They provide an OpenVibe acquisition driver for the Emotiv EPOC headset, with some constraints: You must have the Emotiv Research/Premium SDK installed on your computer. To work with OpenVibe, we must purchase the EPOC headset along with the Emotiv Research/Premium SDK (which has its own cost). Emotiv is very much against allowing people to directly access their hardware, so the best advice is to move to other equipment as soon as you can. [5]

For the better valued Researcher, who has no issues with the subscription payment models and the fact that your hardware is not truly yours anymore and who is also mostly recording offline data, Emotiv hardware is still an option.

Emotiv has proven to perform well in tasks concerning measurement of alpha brain activity and Visual Steady-State Response (VSSR). [17]

HeadSet (14 electrodes) - $700
HeadSet (5 electrodes) - $300
Access Raw EEG Data - $55-99 /month [13]

Essential Software Cost - Depends Upon the amount of data to be analyzed online (which is licensed cost).

NeuroSky - Mindwave Mobile 2

The device consists of a headset, an ear-clip, and a sensor arm. The headset’s reference and ground electrodes are on the ear clip and the EEG electrode is on the sensor arm, resting on the forehead above the eye (FP1 position). Probably insufficient for measuring P300 or SSVEP [2].

HeadSet - $100
Software - Freely Downloadable
Total Cost - $100

OpenEEG

The OpenEEG could work for P300 or SSVEP, but you are also limited to a maximum of six electrodes, which you could stick anywhere. It is cheap as well but this is a do it yourself device ; you'll need basic skills in electronic montage to set this up, or you can buy pre-built cards from Olimex. Still, there will be no case for the cards and you'll have to build the electrodes.

Cost varies based on the electronics montage

Muse

Muse is a more pleasant experience overall, but lacks a more complex sensor placement compared to the EPOC headset. It has a thin strip of electrodes over the front and rubber hooks that fit behind your ears.

Cost is not visible on amazon.com currently. However, google shows it around $250 for Muse 2.