Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPro is not worth the Price
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2020
I've owned many VR headsets and systems over the past few years, and the Vive pro has to be the only one that's seriously made me question its price. As of current, I have a original Vive, Original Rift, Valve Index, a dell visor that I sold, and now a Vive Pro HMD. It's not all bad, but there's no reason it should be nearly 800$ for the headset alone. Lets get into it.
Pros:
To start. This headset is very light and comfortable in comparison to some of the other headsets I've owned. The balance of the weight seems to be nicely distributed across the skull, while fitting snug on the face. I'd say that, depending on who you asked, it's as comfortable or even more comfortable then the index. It's lighter then the index, and better balanced. A definite improvement in that regard.
Additionally, the display is much better then the original Vive's. It's not perfect, and it definitely still has a screen door effect, but not nearly as blatant as older headsets like the Rift and Vive.
Microphone is also a great improvement. It's still not the best out of all the headsets I own, but it's much better than the Rift and Vive.
Cons:
Unfortunately there's quite a few cons I have for this headset. The first major one I noticed was the earphones. They're TERRIBLE. For the price and size of the earmuffs, this is simply an unacceptable quality of sound for a "pro" headset. The Vive's audio strap accessory even blows it completely out of the water, and I'd say that the rift's dinky headphones are about par with this headset. Seeing as the original rift is worth less then half of this headset, I find it extremely frustrating. The audio has almost now low-end and is very "tinny".
Next is the proprietary cable. This isn't a show stopper... but the fact that I had to buy a 60$ accessory pack to attach my wireless module to the already 800$ new headset is insane in my opinion. Seems like a very large anti-consumer move from HTC. The link box is fine though, and the length of the cable is adequate, but the same accessory pack for the Cosmos is cheaper AND comes with a spare battery with the same cable...
My last major gripe with this headset is the lens they chose. It seems that they decided to just use the same lenses from the original vive. Godrays and glare are just as bad or even seemingly worse then the vive, and that's just unacceptable for a headset of this caliper. Additionally, the IPD adjustment doesn't allow for tighter adjustment then 61.5mm, while it's advertised as a range from 60-73mm just like the original vive
Overall:
In all honesty, if I didn't need this headset to keep wireless adapter and upgrade to the 2.0 base stations, then I'd say to avoid it at all cost. Weigh your options with other headsets. It's way overpriced for what it is, and with better options on the market like Index and Pimax, it's not justifiable. If you already own a vive, then just keep it... this isn't much of an improvement in any way other then slightly improved pixel density and microphone quality. I got this headset for 500$, so 300$ cheaper then MSRP, and it's still not worth that in value. It should be a 400$ package for just the HMD, and maybe 700-800$ for the full kit it to really be worth it. Anything more and it's beat by better options for better prices.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk
