Introduction to Alternative VR Options

Let’s say you’re frustrated with the limited visual capabilities of your Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3s. Perhaps you’re not keen on supporting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s anti-diversity crusade and wide-ranging layoffs. This is why I embarked on a search for an alternative way to experience XR that won’t break the bank with a seven-times-higher price tag than the major player. Meta may have a strong grip on consumer-end VR, but should that mean there are no other wireless, base-station-less PCVR options? The HTC Vive Focus Vision is a commendable headset on its own, or it would be if PCVR were genuinely worth spending $1,000 on.

Expectations for a $1,000 VR Experience

What should you expect from a $1,000 VR experience? Meta’s Quest series currently dominates the VR/AR realm, and the Quest 3 is priced at $500. There are Pico headsets and Sony’s PlayStation VR2 that might fit the bill, but Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro misses the mark for a whole separate reason. You need something with controls that function for gaming, and you need it to turn on fast and launch games without extra hassle. The $1,000 HTC Vive Focus Vision has half of that, but the software is slipping into the past.

HTC Vive Focus Vision Specifications

HTC’s XR headset includes two 90 Hz, 2448 by 2448 lenses with a combined resolution of 5K. It supports up to 120 degrees FOV and dual 2x driver directional speakers. Simply put, it’s a solid headset to look at and listen to. I wasn’t jumping for headphones to complement the experience, and that wide field of vision was a boon for immersion (and slightly better than the Quest 3’s 110-degree FOV). The exterior of the device includes two 16 MP passthrough cameras that act as serviceable passthrough, and the device also includes two internal eye-tracking cameras. If you were merely going by specs, it feels like a fair balance between what you get with lower-end headsets. The PSVR2 may have OLED displays, but I didn’t feel like I was missing much for the sake of VR games in the HTC Vive Focus Vision.

Hardware and Comfort

All those specs make it seem solid. It’s running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 CPU with 12 GB of RAM