HTC Vive XR Elite Virtual Reality Headset + Controllers

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.

Horrible first-day experience at the initial setup, the software was a disaster, so many issues with the connection to the PC and phone. It appears HTC is aware of the problem and addressing the problem soon after users pointed it out. Hand tracking is improved, at least it no longer recognizes my feet as a 3rd hand. and Phone mirroring connection is now stable to a usable level. There are many other issues that still need to be addressed before a fair judgment can be passed on the unit. The good news is the developer has not given up on it yet. so I will keep the unit for a month to see.

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.

It’s been a week with the headset and so far I have not seen any problems with it. I only bought it for pc vr specifically and I can certainly say it’s better than my index in many ways. First off, giving this 4 stars because the controllers are awful. Now, I’m coming from index controllers so I already had high expectations for them but they are just unusable even with steam vr binding settings. I ended up storing them away and using my index controllers. They don’t seem to track very well, they feel cheap and way too big compared to their quest lookalikes. These are not the controllers to expect on a $1100 headset. The headset itself tracks very well. Even in a low light environment I was surprised by how well it tracked even with half the cameras covered. The headset doesn’t heat up or anything while in PCVR and the quality of the display is there. Not to mention how comfortable it is compared to an index. The unit is very well made. Would I recommend this headset? Only and exclusively if you have a good pc with good internet. I’m talking 3070 or newer gpu and i7 12th gen or newer. The vive streaming software is not well optimized and requests a lot of resources from your pc. Plus if you don’t have any other controllers and are planning to use the ones that come with the headset, this is def not for you unless you plan to spend more money for those. All in all, I’ve had a great time with the headset. So I would recommend it for those of you with good internet and a good pc.

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.

Not sure about the histrionics of the current reviews, this is not a push the boundaries headset but is is the most versatile out there at the moment and capable. There is much to refine but I am pleased with the XR Elite and encouraged that many issues I have read from others have been sorted as I had absolutely no issues with streaming PCVR wired, mirroring phone(Samsung S22+), Immersed worked flawlessly, store is adding titles So it is always important to preface what I was looking for here in a VR headset. I am not telling you the headset is better than any other, that is always going to come down to your desired usage. For me, I already have an Index and Reverb G2 and firmly entrenched in PCVR. No interest in console and after those headsets couldnt downgrade visual and sound quality to consider Q2. QP was too uncomfortable and awkward for me, better visuals than Q2 but l wasnt impressed for the money, I was looking for a headset that could fit the following: PCVR wired PCVR wireless Mobile Mirroring VR Standalone VR Compact for Travel/Flight Movie Watching VR workspace in a pinch that was Viable Viable Passthrough That said the XR Elite was the closest from my estimation that fit the bill for me. Since I was entrenched in PCVR the Facebook Meta library is a non factor for me and I have no doubt the library will fill for HTC. For some critical categories for me: Comfort: It is light and once dialed in more comfortable than either of my other headsets but it took some effort to dial it in. While not horrible for me, expect third party face gaskets will improve this. I do find the full headset with pack much more comfortable. The glasses arms are not long enough for me and, while tolerable, is not comfortable. Also, the arms should rotate a bit to allow you to adjust the fit to your face better, especially in glasses mode. Visual Clarity: As expected it is not as good as the Reverb G2 though not far off, but much better than index. For my eyes, noticeably better than the Q2, and on par with QP though to my eyes XR is touch more clear. The one thing I did notice is light bleed of white text on dark backgrounds, this has been mentioned by others and can be bad in some cases. FOV: Seems roughly the same as QP, better than Q2, and definitely less than the G2 and Index, but honestly given the ease of use, lightness, and connection and overall performance with comparable (G2) or better visuals (Index) I feel for casual/social gaming use it will likely be my daily driver despite less FOV. To get more clarity/resolution with large FOV it will require ridiculous hardware (like a $1.5-2k 4090) to run it so dont expect affordable rigs anytime soon. No scuba mask effect for me that others have suggested. Sound: It is better than I expected here. Coming from Index and G2 it is no where near that but definitely better to my ears than Q2 and QP. I did notice that at lower to mid volumes it sounds pretty decent but at higher volumes you start to notice an imbalance with bass lacking. I was able to use BT headphones (Nuratrue Pros) to watch movies with no sync issues, worked beautifully. I have not tried it with games yet though. If there were sync issues, I wonder if BT 5.3 would help, dont know enough here to speak to this...maybe someone out there has more insight. For those complaining about no headphone jack, there is a very simple solution, a USB C to 3.5mm Headphone and Charger Adapter ($14). This allows you to provide power (up to 60w) and plug in wired headphones in either glasses or with the battery cradle mode. So ignore the whining on that! Passthrough: This was a bit more disappointing, clearer than any other but still not workable. If you look at a screen with text that has white background from a distance looks just white until you move it very close to the headset. Additionally everything looks oddly flat...depth sensor is still not enabled so we will see how it is in future. Resolution is still not great but passthrough is better than any I have tried to date. Hand Tracking: Work in progress. It is workable with some gnashing of teeth along the way. Also mostly available for menus and mirroring, not for many games at moment. The menu mouthing worked great for me, the pinching to click/select often selected when I didnt pinch. Likely due to angle of camera to my hand so may take some learning on my part. So how did XR Elite fare in each of my uses above? PCVR Wired: Downloaded the vive streaming app to PC, plugged in and up came my steam home and away I went into my library. Demeo, Walkabout Minigolf, Alex and others all worked without issue or hitch. PCVR Wireless: I did not get to try this properly, leaving for a trip, but was able to actually connect and start to play Walkabout with my PC wireless and the headset wireless on heavily shared wifi 5 but did get choppy quickly. If I wired the PC to router expect this would have resolved this so very promising, sorry cant offer more here. Mobile Mirroring: For me this was easy to set up, download the manage, connected to same wifi, selected mirroring and it paired and just worked with my Samsung S22+. It was clear and responsive with no issues. In landscape it really crunches your view and portrait seems unusually tall and thin but overall workable and watching movies was great in a non-noisy environment. Standalone VR: Worked great, visuals were better than I expected, but did not do much more that immersed, Cosmic Flow, and some other free options as leaving for a trip so didnt have much time. Others will undoubtedly be able to provide further insight here. PCVR is my main use so not as vital for me. Travel/ Flight Movies: Used a MS Surface with streaming cable and worked just spectacularly. Cant tell you how good this experience was especially with BT headphones...dont bother with just headset speakers on a plane or other noisy environment as even at full volume you could barely hear the movie. Also, movies via phone mirroring was not smooth, to stuttery/lurchy, though sound with BT was good too. Virtual Workspaces: Used Immerse for this and it is workable for sure. Will not be as efficient as working with multiple screens in IRL yet to me but still investigating. Need to figure out if can do virtual screens in passthrough to use actual keyboard and mouse and simply have screens fixed in your space. The resolution is not quite as sharp as I would like but working on the road it is definitely a viable option and could work for hours if I can sort out using actual mouse and keyboard. Passthrough: Discussed above, helpful but hope it improves with enabling of the depth sensor. Resolution while better than any I have tried to date is still not great. If AR is your thing there are better options. There it is, hope it is helpful to some out there considering this headset. This headset is not breaking any new ground in terms of FOV and resolution. For me this is the only one that ticked all the boxes for me to play my PCVR library but also be useful for Travel and have standalone with phone mirroring (compatible phones only). HTC achieved a good balance with this headset and for someone new to VR who travels for work this will be the best option out there at the moment in my opinion. Hopefully they can improve on the glasses mode with longer arms and for future versions adjustable arms at the headset connection to allow for a better fit and placement of in built speaker to your ears. I am looking forward to seeing how the software improves seeing they are actively addressing many of issues people who had it early have reported.

Marketing so aggressively to such a niche market is only risky if you are unable to deliver, and this headset falls very short of expectations they themselves set. The hardware has promise, in so far as I could be OK with it IF the software experience wasnt so underwhelming. I certainly would like to veer away from Meta to support privacy centric efforts and willing to pay a premium for that. However the state of the UI / UX is so rough, that I do not have the patience to cheerlead for future updates will sort this out. Not for $1200 after tax. I was ready to scoop up accessories and lean into this headset, but I will happily continue on with PCVR via the Quest 2 headset for now. It really boggles the mind how they could even ship a product with software in such a state as if there were no market leaders present currently highlighting the short coming so plainly. Hopefully they can get sorted on future iterations. Im increasingly interested in Big Screens product despite the workarounds for feature parity as I am not skeptical about their marketing. Unfortunately my opinion of HTC is now negatively informed by their willingness to ship a product that over promises and under delivers.

I have been in vr since 2016 and owned most headsets. This is the worst experience Ive ever had with VR. Streaming has issues via USB or wireless (I have a dedicated wifi6e router and zero issues with Quest 2 or Vive focus 3 at ultra quality streaming). IPD constantly adjusts on its own. Unusable as a standalone or with PCVR in its current state. HTCs own forums and Reddit are filled with the same problems. Dont buy.

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.

The valve index had set a very high bar, years before the quest 2 ever cam to market. Based on the quality valve is known for and numerous early reviews, I was expecting an exceptional headset when I preordered this one. I already own a quest 1, quest 2 and pico 4, so Im very familiar with vr. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The headset wasnt comfortable at all. I couldnt get a very good light seal around the face cushion. The cushion itself seemed very flimsy and had a tendency to fall off if I grabbed it the wrong way. The battery pack that attaches to the back, like the pico 4 , is a great way to balance everything. However, unlike the pico, the back doesnt pivot at all. This means you have to loosen the back every time, which is inconvenient. This might have been manageable, but the only way to keep the headset on when I moved around was to tighten it excessively so that my face bit into the face cushion and it stayed on the back of my head. (This gave me headaches after 15-20 minutes of using it.) Visually, its not very impressive either. While it does look better than my quest 2, it doesnt look better than the pico 4. Also, the field of view seemed smaller, sort of like I was looking through binoculars. I tried playing Pop One and found myself having to look around a lot more, because my peripheral vision was almost non existent. Lastly, the controllers seem like a step backward. The body of controllers are straight bulky sticks, without any effort made to help them conform to your hand and be comfortable. The controllers on the quest 2 and pico 4 both feel comfortable in my hands. The xr elites did not. Both the quest 2 and the pico 4 are better headsets than this at a lesser price.