HTC Vive Pro 2 Headset Only

A friend of mine has an Oculus Quest so that's unfortunately the only standard of comparison I have, but between the two, my friend and I regard the Vive as providing a higher framerate, less motion sickness, and a better ability to read print in VR. The only downside to the Vive is the cable, which does sometimes interfere in games that require a lot of looking around

I'm upgrading from a Oculus Rift S and settled on the HTC Vive Pro 2 (Pro 2) because it offered the highest resolution available and I very much wanted to eliminate the so called "screen door effect" that really deprived me of a fuller sense of immersion with the Rift S. While I must admit that the Pro 2 display is a huge step up in a million ways, I have some serious gripes that I think will see me returning the Pro 2 for something else.1. All VR headsets have lenses that will have halos or rings, but these are much more noticeable on the Pro 2. If an in game beam of light or an especially bright scene is displayed, these rings create glares and halos and all sorts of visual anomalies.2. Those same rings and halos are visible whenever my eyes drift from the lenses sweet spot. Much more so than was the case with the Rift S.3. The supposedly adjustable IDP doesn't seem to improve or make worse the quality of the image displayed. I can swing from 60mm to 73mm and fail to see or feel a differenceAll of the above issues make me wonder if I just got a defective headset or something. Alas, my issues don't end here.1. SteamVR crashes a lot. Like I mean a whole F******* lot. If a game doesn't crash at least twice while trying to load a game or every time you pull up the SteamVR overlay in game, it's a precious miracle right up there with the conception of Christ himself. Super frustrating and I'm not sure if this falls on Steam, HTC, or is just an inherent compatibility issue. I'm running a Ryzen 7 5800x at 4.9 Ghz, RTX 3080Ti, and 64GB of RAM, so I'm sure I've got the chutzpah to run things just fine on the PC side.2. The Pro 2 controllers suck more than a black hole. No game can escape just how awful these things are. Just about every game wants you to have a joystick and at least A and B buttons. HTC decided to do away with these altogether which makes some games incredibly difficult and unintuitive to play. In some instances I have utter failed to find a way to work around some of the wonkiness. It also appears to me that many games are designed with the superior Valve Index controllers in mind.At this point I am questioning my sanity and wondering if I should plunk down another $300 on a set of Index controllers, but when you are already $1500 in the hole, what's another $300 right?Yeah naw...I think I'm going to cut my losses, return the Pro 2, and forget that I even wanted to upgrade as this point. It's going to take a lot of effort and money to get back to a point of playability and even then, I'm going to be dealing with lense issues that just are unfixable. Honestly, the issues I seem to be having are inherent to the design of the headset and lenses themselves.

I was a bit apprehensive due to the negatives reviews on the web, but at $500 on sale I thought it was worth the risk. And it paid off, because I love this headset! Great FOV, resolution and comfort. It's feels exponentially better than the original Vive in every way. If you are at all curious, give it a consideration. At $500 it's a good headset. I have no desire to upgrade to something better and will keep this thing for years.

Before I had gotten the Vive Pro 2 headset, I had used an Oculus Rift CV1 before it. The Vive Pro 2 has some of the best screens on the market.Screen door effect is almost entirely non-existent.If you were born with some magical ability to see things with amazing clarity, or essentially have superhuman 20/20, you may be able to see screen door. But for the most part, I could not see it. It's basically non-existent to me. The picture quality is similar to that of a 2K gaming monitor, but a little better as each eye is 2448x2448. Because the screens use liquid crystal displays, or LCD, blacks aren't as good as they would appear on my Oculus Rift CV1; The CV1 uses AMOLED displays, which display accurate colors with great blacks. On the Vive Pro 2, however, blacks are washed out. But bright colors remain prevalent. There is also a quirk on the screens. If you were to point the headset straight and move your eyes only, other parts of the screen becomes blurry and only detail within your paracentral and near-peripheral vision are the main selling points of this headset.I do enjoy other features of the headset, such as being able to move the front of the headset forwards or backwards to either let more air circulate within the face area (as there are vents at the bottom), or fit prescription glasses inside. I would be careful of the Fresnel lenses, though. There is also a button at the side that can act as a temporary controller whenever your VR controllers die and don't feel like taking it off. Speaking of taking off the headset, the headset strap does not move forwards or backwards unless you're turning the knob at the back. It does a little bit because of foam padding, but it's not much. The strap is very bulky and its stock foam padding are horrendous. I would advise buying new foam replacements from VR Cover for both the front face cover and strap paddings, which would be an extra $60.The headset does come with two cameras at the front, similar to the Valve Index headset where it could used for developing purposes. But also as a pass-through camera whenever you need to see what's outside your headset without having to take it off. There are rubber covers around the nose bridge area that blocks all light from entering into the face area. The vents I had mentioned earlier provide some air flow within that small space, so it's fine. The headset radiates lots of heat when in use. I use a program called Vive Console, which is necessary to power on the Vive Pro 2 headset, that has settings for which display preset I'd want to choose. I chose Extreme, which boasts 4896x2448 @ 120 Hz. Not only the heat from my headset makes my face hot, but also my computer. Think of it as having two heaters for your room. That's not good.Its headphones are removable. Its microphone is sub-par and sounds awful. The Valve Index and HP Reverb G2's microphones are far more superior in microphone quality. The headset strap can be removed as well, but it's very difficult to find a different compatible strap for it, so modding would probably be best if you're fine with voiding warranty. It comes with a 12-month warranty.Overall, the headset's main selling point are the screens. Its strap is pretty bulky and isn't ideal for someone who's comfortable in their bed or couch. Its microphone should ought to be changed out for a lapel or mod mic, and its headphones can be left on or changed out for a headphone or pair of earphones. Although it radiates lots of heat and its stock paddings are terrible, it has one of the most amazing screens I have seen. No screen door effect, but lacks black color depth and you could see most detail within the paracentral vision. If your computer can run this headset at 4896x2448 @ 120 Hz and you have an old headset that you still use to this day, such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, this headset is a worthy upgrade. If you wish to get a more comfortable headset with better overall features, the Valve Index is a better choice. Otherwise, if you're in it for the screens, get the Vive Pro 2.

So purchase this and received a new headset, not sent a used one or anything. The headset worked exactly one time and then never again. Called the help desk to get help either with what I am doing wrong or with getting the headset replaced. The guy with the help line walked me through all the normal steps of uninstall turn off unhook yada yada yada and when it was determined that the headset was infact the issue I was told the only option was to return the device to Amazon. All I wanted was a reply or for it to be fixed, and instead I was forced to get a refund. So I give the headset one star for working one time, and I give HTC negative stars for not standing by their products. I will not be buying this company's products in the future