The VR scene is more competitive than ever – Meta’s Quest headsets offer brilliant value, so what can HTC’s latest Vive headset do to justify its premium existence? HTC’s angle appears to be around picture and video quality, with boasts about lossless video passthrough from a capable PC, with the potential for mixed use, including some gaming. The Focus Vision has a familiar look with a shiny front panel that houses the main body of the headset, along with a three-strap system that lets you wear it snugly.
At the back of your head, there’s an adjustment dial to get that fit correct, along with a battery holder that both helps to balance the weight of the headset and lets you more easily swap in charged batteries. The headset’s main front section is peppered with cameras and sensors to enable its room-, hand- and motion-tracking, and you also get two controllers with buttons, a joystick each, a trigger and a grip button. The headset also has a few buttons on its exterior, including a volume rocker for its built-in speakers on each side, and a multi-purpose button that you’ll use to power it on and off. The headset is well-built, making it feel more premium than some cheaper options. It’s also comfortable enough to wear for an hour or more. Everything is included to use the Vive Focus Vision as a standalone headset, including the option to stream from a PC over Wi-Fi. We also had access to the Streaming Kit – which is a relatively straightforward array of wiring options that you can set up according to your PC and GPU.
Not the snappiest
The Vive Focus Vision uses the first-gen Snapdragon XR2 chip – the same one in the older Meta Quest 2, whereas the second-gen version of the chip is in the newer Meta Quest 3 and 3S. Those headsets are substantially cheaper than the Vive, which makes for a letdown hardware-wise – but it’s also related to HTC targeting this product at enterprise, where spec changes aren’t as fast. Another minor is that the headset still uses fresnel lenses, an older and less impressive implementation than the pancake lenses favoured by most of the competition.
An automated adjustment system accounts for the distance between your eyes pretty well, but it’s surprising to see another advancement ignored at this price. The Vision delivers an experience that almost exactly matches its aspects – some good and some mediocre. That resolution per eye (2,448×2,448 pixels) results in an impressive sharpness and clarity. If you have a gaming rig that can power some proper VR experiences then you can enjoy some amazing stuff, and that wide field-of view (120-degrees) also helps here. Immersion is no trouble, though, and we were also impressed by the built-in speakers. The controllers, meanwhile, are just as impressive as they were in previous Focus iterations, capable of fine movements and enough buttons to allow for intricate controls when desired. They both charge by USB-C, which is also handy.
HTC highlights its new eye tracking system, which we found impressive – and very easy to set up for the first time. It tracked glances really well, which makes us wonder why so few VR experiences actually use it. The same verdict goes for mixed reality, too, which again is one of the points HTC has made about the upgraded Vive Focus Vision. Its 16MP cameras do indeed offer a good view of the world around you whenever you need it, at the tap of a button on the headset, and it’s a step up from HTC’s previous work.
Without its charging cable, you’ll get just under two hours from it before it powers down, which is in line with HTC’s claims, but predictably shorter than Meta’s cheaper headsets. The Vive Focus Vision does have the option to swap in a charged battery pack without your headset turning off during the process, although you’d need to buy a spare to make this work. When the HTC Vive Vision Focus is good, it’s very good – and someone with a beastly PC would definitely find it an excellent pairing thanks to its lossless capabilities. However, we suspect that most people could almost certainly save a few hundred and get a headset that feels about 90% as impressive with less fiddling required. Overall, the Vive Focus Vision is an enjoyable headset to use and heavyweight VR enthusiasts happy to spend the cash will love this option.
Pricing and Availability
- ₹99,900
- vive.com