HTC Vive XR Elite Virtual Reality Headset + Controllers

The goods: 1. I love the futuristic form factor, it’s not as awkward as VR devices were. 2. I was amazed by how small it is, XR Elite is pretty legit 3. Wifi 6E is enabled 4. Stable and low-latency wireless streaming (tethered streaming as good as always) 5. I am excited for the MR gasket, please make it affordable The concerns: 1. The Android interface need to be polished more … 2. The passthrough mode in a low-light environment can be improved

Dude...dont buy this unless you are strictly using it for PCVR. Half the apps dont work. The controllers bug out. The lens are glary . There is practically zero games. No refund policy for games. Oh yeah you heard me right. No refund (meta lets you refund anything as long as you havent played it over 2 hours) and the fan is crazy loud. This thing feels very underdeveloped. We got scammed man

Preface to this review: I have an extreme negative bias towards Meta and refuse to use their products, so Im completely unable to compare this product to any of the Quest offerings. Ill primarily be comparing against the Valve Index. Furthermore, as other reviews have pointed out, the standalone experience is sorely lacking, and in my opinion HTC should have delayed the launch of this headset until they were able to get more apps into their storefront. Because of this, Ill only be focusing on the PCVR experience here. The HTC Vive XR Elite is not the best headset in any one category. Its not the best looking image (PCVR), it doesnt have the best controllers, it doesnt have the best tracking, and its not the smoothest experience out of the box. What it does have, is portability; both portability in travel and portability between users. We have a Valve Index already in our house, and sharing that experience is tedious to say the least, which means in the year weve had it in our house of 4, weve pretty much never shared a VR experience all together. That changed only a few days after the XR Elite arrived. The ability to quickly swap between different users of differing prescriptions, the ability to adjust the IPD to fit my (admitted hey-Arnold-esque) head, and the lack of a top strap to accommodate the widest range of hair styles make it an actually fun and immersive experience you can ***enjoy with your friends and family*** instead of alone. Ill admit the Quest lineup is probably pretty similar here, but as I mentioned above, I refuse to in any way support their parent company, and thus here I am. I believe that this product is perfect for those looking for a higher-end product as their first foray into VR, and many of the flaws the XR Elite has, I hope HTC is able to solve (primarily the lack of apps in the storefront). If youre listening HTC, one thing I would love to see is the ability to integrate with other controllers. The XR Elite can already track my hands, but it cant pair with Index Knuckle controllers and track those instead? Of course Id be giving up some precision the Knuckle controllers usually have by removing the base stations, but I cant see why it isnt possible. That, or release some higher-quality feeling controllers. All in all, I really wanted this to be a 4-star or 5-star review, and I think for the right person (such as myself) it definitely is, but as for the general public... Its a hard sell given that they probably dont share the same aversion to Meta as I do.

I have been waiting for this headset for several months and it is a big disappointment. The Bad: 1. The right lens has two dark specs that are either dead pixels or dirt inside the lens. 2. Vive streaming app is very buggy and does not work very well with Steam VR. 3. Controller support on steam vr games is a big challenge. Many of the games are unusable with the controllers and you need to do a lot of tweaking and hopefully get them to work. 4. Before I got the controllers paired I tried to log into my account with hand gestures and the keyboard. This was totally unusable with missing keystrokes and erratic pointer movement. I had to pair the controllers to get this accomplished. 5. Headset draws more power than the usb 3.0 port on my computer can supply and I slowly saw my battery drain while connected to the computer via usb. Need to try other ports before making a final determination. 6. Face mask is not very comfortable but could be tolerated. Need to look at other solutions. The Good: 1. Very light headset especially without the battery pack. 2. Foldable and very portable. All you need is a power source. 3. Works very well with usb c dongle providing power delivery with a wired ethernet connection. It detects the ethernet connection as a tethered usb port. 4. Picture quality is excellent depending on which app you are using. Summary: In conclusion I think that this product was released prior to being ready. The software issues could be resolved if you are willing to wait for fixes, but there is no excuse for the quality issues with the lenses. I like the ergonomics and portability of the product enough to keep it because I believe that the software issues could be resolved in time however I will be replacing my defective unit. Hopefully Amazon will have one to replace it with. Update - March 29, 2023 ----------------------------- Spent several hours with the headset mainly without the battery pack in glasses mode working with steam vr. Following are the results. 1. The Headset pinches on the sides of the head making my head sore right above the ears. This was after several hours of use and now after 12 hours of resting, my head is still sore to the touch. The nose bridge pinches my nose making it difficult to breath but got used to it. 2. I installed the Vive Streaming App beta version and it works better than the released version. 3. Controllers started working with most apps after I disabled the compatibility setting in the streaming app. For some reason the default setting after installation was with compatibility on. This was a major accomplishment since it made the product usable. 4. Most steam vr games I tried worked fine once I got the controller issue resolved in 3 above however I could not get Flight Simulator 2020 to work even though it works fine with the Quest 2 and Pico 4 on the same system. Got a lot of stuttering and the streamer kept on losing connection. 5. Streaming both wireless and usb tethering mode worked fine. I barely noticed any difference between the two. I have mixed feelings about this headset. I think the comfort and software issues could be overcome. I really like the size and portability and modularity as well as picture quality once you get your sweet spot.

For that kind of money I was expecting so much from a gadget. This was a big disappointment and I fell for the exaggerated description and of course features which they failed to deliver. The controllers are big and the frame a little smaller to fit on my already small face. Id stick to my oculus2 which I can honestly say never failed me from the day I opened the box.

Late adopter to VR. If this is your first foray into VR, its a solid place to start. My other experience is HTC Vive Pro 2. So the inside out tracking coupled with AR capability is a freedom from base stations and wires. But you do get a downgrade in definition, which is understandable given how light the unit is. The FOV is much less than its Vive Pro 2 sibling. But if youre playing casual VR games like Beat Saber or just getting your feet wet in VR and utterly refuse to be involved with anything Mark Zuckerberg then HTC is the set for you.

so satisfied so I returned it. no worth the money. DONT BUY!

Cons: Getting this to connect to your steam library is terrible. the Vive Streaming app just does not work. Making this unusable. The pass through isnt great. The 5 games it came with is a lie, cause 3 of them arent even out yet. The PC cable should be sold with this headset and what they charge for it is ludicrous. Pros: The headset is light and comfortable. The eye portion comfortable blocks all light for me.

The only pro is that its lightweight. The controller are cheap plastic, the tracking is awesome, the screen is fun and hard to see even on its brightest setting, no exclusive games, no virtual desktop, laggy despite my wifi 6e, did I already mention the controllers that feel like they will fall apart at any second and also have terrible battery life? This takes three place of the pico 4 as the worst headset on the market (with psvr2 taking 3rd. I HATE meta, but the meta pro has great lenses and the sweet spot is enormous, this thing feels like taking a step back in time to a colorized virtual boy with better graphics but just as useless. Already requested a return. This is an embarrassment to HTC. If you buy, have no expectations..... And youll still be disappointed. These lenses are awful.

Ive used Meta and PICO products in the past and I want to say this product is the best in the market. Despite the cost, if only people realize how much costs go into production then one would understand the price point is reasonable. Meta is only selling at their low price point because they want your data so they can make profit out of it. HTC VIVE has no intention whatsoever of collecting your data. If you want high performance and portablity, this product is it, there isnt any other product out there. There are products that give you great performance but is no where near portable and lightweight, nor comfortable. There are products that give you portability but delivers lackluster performance and really has no solid features to use it for. Last but not least, content. Even if you dont use their own vr content platform VIVEPORT which already has all the various types of games and content that one would need, you can still obtain content from Steam which the best games and content are there. As long as you can play Beat Saber and Half Life Alyx which are really the two best games out there, I dont see why everyone is complaining about volume of content since most content are about the same. Aside from games, there are fitness such as Les Mills Body Combat, art such as Gesture VR and productivity content that can be used to enhance your day to day lives. I think majority of people just dont realize there are other non gaming content that deserves more attention to why VR or XR (extended reality) needs to be part of our lives sooner than later.