At CES 2023 HTC revealed its new Vive XR Elite headset which is positioned as a Quest Professional competitor. By way of options and {hardware}, the headset is basically a refinement of formfactor over anything; and whereas it’s undoubtedly compact and light-weight, it might be hampered by an unclear worth proposition and a few ergonomic particulars that went ignored.
For an in depth take a look at Vive XR Elite’s specs and options, try our announcement article
Everybody’s head form, nostril dimension, and eye positions are completely different. That mentioned, the primary time I placed on Vive XR Elite it was clear to me that there wasn’t almost sufficient room for my nostril… one thing that I’ve no situation with on virtually each different main headset in the marketplace (even HTC’s different VR headsets).
It’s not that it’s unimaginable to get the stress off your nostril—the optionally available top-strap (which HTC well included) makes this straightforward sufficient—however the issue is that if I increase the headset as much as get weight off of my nostril, my eyes are now not within the candy spot of the lens, making the view by means of the headset sub-par. Extra padding across the nostril would have the same situation of shifting the lenses out of the candy spot.
Whereas I didn’t get to make use of the headset for an prolonged time frame, I’ve a powerful suspicion that the nostril factor goes to be a literal and figurative ache level on this headset. And as somebody who doesn’t have a very giant nostril, I can’t think about I’m going to be the one individual with this situation.
The nostril factor isn’t the one ergonomic oversight that was instantly obvious. There’s additionally the truth that the rear pad, which is designed to cup the again of your head, doesn’t cushion your head sufficient to stop contact between your cranium and the battery on the again. That implies that as you tighten the headset you possibly can really feel a giant, flat, plastic floor pushing in opposition to your head. That’s in comparison with one thing just like the Quest 2 Elite Strap (which the rear of Vive XR Elite seems to emulate), the place I can solely really feel the pads hugging the again of my head, however by no means the battery behind them.
Past these worrying ergonomic subtleties, the headset’s fundamentals really feel strong throughout the board, making the Vive XR Elite the corporate’s most refined standalone to this point. However from a function and efficiency standpoint, the headset feels extra like Quest 2 than Quest Professional, which places it in a clumsy place with its $1,100 pricetag.
Visually, Vive XR Elite’s pancake lenses are fairly good on the readability entrance, with good edge-to-edge readability, although falling wanting the wonderful lenses on Quest Professional. Using non-Fresnel lenses means a discount in glare and god rays in comparison with Quest 2, although the decision and visibility of the display screen door is about the identical between the 2 headsets (1,920 × 1,920 vs. 1,920 × 1,832). And whereas the peripheral discipline of view feels a bit of tight, the added dioptre management (for altering the main focus of every lens) can be welcomed by these with glasses, and even these with out can be served effectively by the continual IPD adjustment (which incorporates an on-screen measurement readout and calibration pop-up).
Inside-out head-tracking feels fairly good and is definitely ‘adequate’, although the instantaneous rotational latency doesn’t really feel as tight as Meta’s bar-setting inside-out answer. Importantly, the monitoring feels higher than Vive Circulation, which in my expertise has an excessive amount of latency for long-term consolation. Controller-tracking on Vive XR Elite additionally feels strong, and with cameras on either side pointed virtually solely to your left and proper, protection must be good (probably surpassing Vive Focus 3).
Because the identify implies, the HTC is pushing the XR Elite as a headset that does passthrough AR along with VR. The headset’s coloration pass-through view isn’t stellar. Much like Meta’s headsets, the XR Elite makes an attempt to rebuild the depth of the actual world just about to supply geometric correction and depth cues, however even with a depth-sensor on-board (which Quest Professional lacks), my expertise with the headset’s passthrough AR confirmed plenty of warping attributable to incorrect depth-mapping.
With out having the ability to do a direct side-by-side comparability, my impression was that XR Elite wasn’t fairly as sharp as Quest Professional relating to passthrough AR. Granted, the passthrough AR on each headsets headsets is undoubtedly in the identical approximate ‘class’ (not sharp sufficient to learn textual content out of your smartphone and fairly poor dynamic vary at that).
Identical to with Quest Professional, the standard and utility of passthrough AR feels solely undercooked, with the handful of AR apps I attempted on the headset not sufficiently answering the query ‘why AR?’. However now that one other headset in the marketplace is embracing and enhancing this functionality, maybe the solutions to that query will come a bit sooner.
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Contemplating its efficiency and options, Vive XR Elite appears to share the identical core drawback as Quest Professional—and that’s the worth proposition. Even when we ignore any potential ergonomic mishaps… at greatest Vive XR Elite is akin to a considerably extra compact model of Quest 2. And even when we ignore that Quest 2 has a way more in depth content material library… it’s tough to see how, for most individuals, Vive XR Elite can justify an $1,100 price ticket in comparison with Quest 2 at $400.