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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n