HTC VIVE Pro Starter Edition- Virtual Reality System

I received an opened product with missing parts. The product arrived late and I had to deal with this. I’ll update the review when this gets resolved and actually get to use the product. Can’t believe HTC did this.

Put about 2k hours on my Pro and Im left with some very mixed feelings. There has been an overall lack of support for this product by HTC and they have completely suspended production on them. The proprietary cable was an ABSOLUTE mistake. An $80 cable that dies after 400-500 hours of regular use is INSANE. Worse than that the head-strap. Although the halo style band is comfortable and fits to the head very securely it is VERY fragile given the right circumstances. At 800 hours I dropped the headset from chest height onto its side horizontally and it completely snapped clean. Thats not the worst of it however because getting a replacement for the head-strap is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE. These arent made anymore and any site that was selling replacements have been sold out for well over a year or more. The headphones were really nice, sounded great and very comfortable. Unfortunately I had to remove mine as the leads to the left ear cup were ripped out when I snapped the head-strap. Theres no auxiliary out on the headset so Im forced to run a 3 meter auxiliary cord to get functional headphones and it gets tangled up with the Pro cable constantly. The displays themselves look FANTASTIC and coming from no VR experience to the Pro was really perspective changing. As time has gone on the Im wearing goggles tunnel effect has gotten worse and worse and now I cant help but notice it. Wish the FOV was a little wider. Included controllers were okay, and I still give them to first time players to jump them in. Some games are better with the wands but Ive since started using the Knuckles, which I prefer. Honestly the only reason I bought into this headset was because the Valve headset was sold out during lock-down. Wish I would have waited as the Index complete kit cost LESS than I paid for the Pro. It also doesnt use a proprietary cable and has a wider FOV. Oh well, I enjoyed the time I spent with mine getting introduced into VR but I should have been a little more patient. If HTC wouldnt have made this thing abandonware well before I bought it I might be a return customer. Fortunately though Ive learned my lesson and will probably be buying an Index.

I demoed an original Vive in 2016 and immediately fell in love, but life got in the way and it was never the right time to buy one for myself. Luckily, that time came this year and I had extremely high expectations. [SETUP] The box comes with a very easy to follow guide to install an even easier to follow (and fun) software guide that you install on your computer. Setting up the lighthouses/base stations was a bit of an endeavor for me, as Im not overly experienced with a drill, but I managed to get them up in about 30 - 45 minutes. The software guide explained where to install and how to angle the base stations and I was able to achieve next to perfect tracking in all corners of my room. [INITIAL CONNECTION/UPDATING] Connection was a breeze, but updating the firmware of my controllers was slightly tricky. I had to manually restart them in the middle of their updates to get them to proceed to the final step. All in all, updating took about 10 minutes. [FIRST LAUNCH] I noticed I was getting very motion sick when I first started playing and I realized this was caused by three things. The first is the most obvious: smooth locomotion. Start out with teleporting (can be changed in most game settings) if youre new to VR, or youll have an unpleasant experience. The second was something I should have realized sooner, which was my headset adjustment. It was very blurry and I was getting migraines within minutes. There are some helpful videos on YouTube that I watched to assist me in properly positioning my HMD on my face/head, which in turn alleviated the migraines I was experiencing and allowed me to get a clearer picture. Lastly, I encountered stuttering/lagging within SteamVR and SteamVR Home, but I resolved this by opting in to SteamVR beta within Steam, so nothing related to the headset. All in all, I cant say Ive ever been happier with a purchase. Id recommend this highly. Paired with the Index controllers and some body trackers, this is a very solid setup.

I got this for my son for Christmas. He loves it

Ive wasted enough time on this thing. The software sucks. The firmware sucks. One day when VR headsets are plug and play theyll be worth using, but right now Im 2 hours in to trying to figure out why my base stations have vanished again. Im done.

Really great product

TLDR: Basestation failed in less then 2 weeks of use, had to pay to ship in back for repair and HTC would not supply a working one while I wait 2 weeks for the repair. Overall Ive enjoyed my Vive Pro Experience. Its my first entry into the VR world. I added in the wireless expansion card/headset and overall spent about $1400. Besides being overcharged for some things like the wireless headset adapter for the headset, I was still in a good place. Then after less then 2 weeks of play a basestation failed. Didnt fall over, or get knocked around, just failed. Previous night worked, in the morning the blinked red LED was on. I was then faced with either returning the entire VivePro setup to amazon (package it all up, ship it all back, etc) or having to pay to send in the basestation for repair, without an offer to send me a working on in the meantime. I have to say that dropping $1400 did lead to expectations of far better build quality and customer service. Im happy to put money into the VR ecosystem because when it works, its amazing and I want to support hardware and software developers. However HTC is making it difficult to recommend the setup to others if the hardware is this prone to failure and they simply do not have an interest in supporting their customers with a higher tier of customer service.

After a buddy brought over his Oculus Quest I was completely blown away and started researching VR. Built a PC and picked up the Vive Pro. After the painstaking setup and fairly steep learning curve just using the thing I realized this is the exact same resolution and even though I’m powering it with an $800 video card the visual experience is barely any better than the $400 Oculus Quest. The controllers are large and awkward and it’s so much more complicated to use, not to mention you have a thick wire sticking out of it grazing your shoulder and that you can trip on. Save yourself thousands (I spent $3k all in between the PC and the Vive Pro) and pick up the Oculus Quest for $399. My buddy brings it over in it’s little box and has us playing games within a minute, with no wires, and much sleeker and more intuitive controllers. Total disappointment.

Great headset and easy to setup. But I never got the game code and when I emailed them they were never detailed emails so after 5 emails on things they needed “i don’t know why they couldn’t just tell me everything they needed in 1 email” I gave up cuz the 6th email they needed more info but I gave up. I love the subscription and there is always new games on it.

In case you were wondering, Half-Life: Alyx is not included. (Btw: running a core i5 9400f with an RTX 2070, and 16gb of ram) Ive only had this headset for two weeks, so keep that in mind, and its my first VR headset ever. I dont believe HLA makes a VR Headset worth it at the moment. The included controllers makes locomotion awkward because touch pads does not equal the tactile feel of a joy stick. Makes moving feel like riding a skateboard. Just teleport when you can, or get the Index controllers. That being said: HLA is a great game and was an awesome experience. Completely spoiled all other VR for me. As for motion sickness: I rarely felt motion sick, I could game for hours in this headset. It only occurred when there was a sudden drop in frame rate (which mostly occurred in loading screens) 90 fps is good enough for me. The breakaway box has only caused me problems once. The cable that runs out the back of the headset and is only a slight annoyance. The included headphones are great, I wouldnt suggest removing them because a full, over ear headset would just be awkward. I dont think the headset would accommodate them very well. If you must stop using them, use ear buds. Room scale was easy enough, just make sure you keep your base stations steady. They dont NEED to be facing down at a 30° angle, however, they can be easily disturbed if something tugs on the cable. Steam VR still isnt perfect and I get an annoying glitch where I get no audio unless I restart steam. Lastly, dont punch your monitor by accident. ----------------------------------------------- 1 year Later ------------------------------------------------------------- I still enjoy this headset, though I did have to replace one of the lighthouses, but htc was kind enough to replace it for free. The headset still works as advertised, however I can no longer recommend this headset as there are superior and cheaper alternatives out there (like the Oculus Quest 2). I definitely feel buyers remorse, but until I have a good reason to replace this headset, I am going to stick with it because its adequate.