I originally bought this after looking for hours at different VR headsets. I can't speak for others who have tried numerous headset generations and comparing to the Index but I am overall happy with the headset.
I also purchased with this headset a smaller profile face pad which increased my FOV slightly and a cable management track to help hold the cable out of the way.
The visuals are crisp, the 5k display is great, you do not perceive any screen door effect, and the high refresh rates allow for really smooth gameplay. As everyone says this does get let down by the lenses. In menus and beat saber I immediately noticed the so called 'god rays' although when actually playing I never noticed this as they only appear on high contrast menus (white text on black background) in HL Alyx gameplay I never noticed this. Finding the sweet spot is important in reducing artifacting and making sure the lenses are as close as possible to your eyes, which is a problem for any people such as my partner who wears glasses, they need the lenses moved further away, severely reducing FOV and increasing distortion. Contacts can help but there are some other headsets which have adjustments to allow prescription adjustments.
The tracking is also a strong point as the Vive Pro 2 comes with 2 lighthouse bases for room scale tracking which works flawlessly and allows you to switch out for any number of accessories like leg trackers, or to even swap out the controllers. I will be swapping out the controllers for the Index ones which feature finger tracking, the Vive controllers I found are not great for gaming and are clunky.
It's difficult to say if I would have gotten the Index as in pure specs the Vive Pro 2 beats it which was the deciding factor for me. It feels very much like a push of last gen tech, and the argument for the Index Vs Pro becomes challenging, apparently the lens design on the Index is better.
I think overall this gives you the best of both worlds, if I could get this as a bundle with Index controllers I would do it in a heart beat. I will likely keep this for a few years and when the time is right and other tech has matured I will likely go down the upgrade path of the Bigscreen Beyond which should be a drop in replacement to the existing ecosystem although that headset alone at the time of reviewing is about the same cost as any leading VR kit.
This bundle contains 2 items (may ship separately)
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- Visualize in 5K clarity-bring out the finer details with combined 4896 x 2448 resolution, 5K resolution may be subject to processing compatibility
- See more of your environment-A wide 120 degree field of view (FOV) expands the VR viewing experience, the increased angle better aligns with the human eyes, letting you see more naturally
- Experience seamless visuals-Increase your visual comfort in graphics-intensive games and apps with a 120Hz refresh rate
- Enjoy VR with hours on end comfort-Industry-defining balanced construction and adjustability provide a comfortable fit for VR sessions of any length and purpose, the headset fits a wide range of head sizes and vision types, even glasses
- Find your sweet spot-minimize eye fatigue with the IPD adjustment dial, interpupillary distance (IPD)-the distance measured in mm between the centers of eye pupils
1 of HTC VIVE Tracker 3.0
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- Track movement and bring objects from the real world into the virtual universe
- Body tracking-track the physical presence of your entire body within the virtual environment. Capture full-body motions with as few as 3 trackers
- Data port sharing-in addition to providing power, the USB port can be used to input Controller button events
- Battery life-up to 7.5 hours of continuous use
Very unstable and unusable windows keeps crashing when using the headset
Brilliant bit of hardware but unfortunately the software and drivers are too unstable resulting in constant system crashes to completely blue screening. I thought at first for was something on my existing setup so I purchased a new SSD and installed a fresh copy of windows 10 and updates. Sadly this has not resolved the issue and I have had to contact HTC vive for support. I am using this VR kit on brand new premium grade PC components and have ruled out it being a hardware problem with the PC. As soon as you uninstall the HTC Vive pro 2 software and driver my PC is instantly restored to being completely reliable again with no further blue screening. I have reinstalled the software again and back to blue screening and fatal errors in windows as soon as you turn on the VR link box. I’m in contact with Vive support and they are blaming Nvidia drivers!! I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get this to work by rolling back previous drivers! Despite 3 emails with suggestions from HTC support this is still unresolved and at present this thing is not fit for purpose and I would advise against buying it.
