This ultraportable VR headset gave me a taste of Vision Pro at a fraction of the cost

• Technology
• master
• September 27, 2023

This ultraportable VR headset gave me a taste of Vision Pro at a fraction of the cost

I recently moved into a new house and decided to leave most of my old furniture behind. To make the new space feel like a true refresh, I ordered a new standing desk, new office chair, new everything. But this review has less to do with the furniture that’s arriving and more to do with the VR headset that’s been serving as my interim work desk and entertainment room, the HTC Vive XR Elite

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HTC Vive XR Elite

A performant headset that offers one of the sharper, smoother displays on the market at a price that’s a little easier to swallow.

I’ll start with the fit and finish because if there’s anything that makes or breaks a VR headset, it’s comfort. With the Vive XR Elite, HTC tackles comfortability in three ways: 

1. The battery cradle, when attached, doubles as a counterweight to all the sensory goodness on the face side. 
2. An overhead strap takes off some of the pressure that’s pressed in from the front and back of your head.
3. When you’re just lounging in bed or on a sofa, detaching the battery cradle allows the Vive XR Elite to be worn like a pair of glasses.

From having shuffled between all three combinations, I’ve found the headset the most comfortable when the battery cradle is attached and fastened in, and the top strap is pressed down just firmly enough to keep the headset from slipping below my eyes. 

Also: Immersed’s new Visor XR headset solves the Vision Pro’s biggest pain points

A couple of reviewer friends who have also tested the Vive XR Elite suggested I stray from using it in glasses mode, and I understand why. When all the pressure is coming from the front side, the imbalance can be a rather disorientating experience if your VR use cases involve any bodily movement. 

Even for my activities, which mainly revolved around the Immersed app for casting my MacBook screens, turning my head from side to side would make the headset wiggle here and there. So my advice, like many others, is to use the glasses mode only when you’re stationary or when you’re carrying the Vive XR Elite from place to place.

That’s my cue to mention that the Vive XR Elite can not be worn on top of glasses unless you buy the optional $25 MR gasket and Quest Pro

Onto the fun part: using the Vive XR Elite as my workstation. You may have seen demos of it before, a person putting on a VR headset and working on a spread of digital monitors. That was basically me, thanks to the HTC headset and the aforementioned Immersed app