I really appreciate your point of view. A lot of headset reviews are from the perspective of general VR use and "does it just work" I feel like this take was giving a nod to those things but more for those that can tinker and like pcvr. Appreciated
Cool you were able to make it work with the printed interface. I like the diopter dials. A lot of people are interested in this headset for the face/eye tracking add-on, but I heard it makes the FOV even worse.
Oh it gets way worse with the face tracking addon. I don't have numbers for it since I haven't bothered to measure with it on but like you can just barely see the VRChat mute icon when the addon is in. It does allow you to swap the facial interface for it so you probably could make it a bit better, but for some reason HTC decided to make it not compatible with other interfaces for the headset. I'm sure people who bought the deluxe pack are happy about that one, 80 bucks and you can't use half of it if you wanna use face tracking.
@Jacobfov Having bought this full price with both the deluxe pack and the face tracking add on.... can confirm i was incredibly unhappy. I regularly had text appearing on the bottom outside my fov when wearing the face tracking module so i could not read it and ot was very uncomfortable. I immediately had to return it as without the face tracking module it was just worse than my Quest 3 and I was never going to use it.
Wish more headsets had the ability to bypass the battery, much nicer than wearing out the battery, by technically constantly charging it using it for wired pcvr.
META failed to capatalized VR by including displayport and fully power cord features. I have Quest 2 and is an impressive device but I won't be buying quest 3 because of the same problem I had with Quest 2.
6 днів тому+1
Eyy! A review of the same headset i have from my fav derg! Its about bloody time! :D
I've owed both preordered XR Elite and Vive Focus Vision headsets. Ended up returning both for a refund because I felt that my now 2yo Quest Pro/rtx4090 is still better for PCVR, esp with flight/racing sims. I really liked the VFV DisplayPort streaming kit, but the headset was let down by its poor fresnel lens and a very small vertical FOV. Hopefully in the near future Vive will release a VFV2 with pancake lens and better screens (QLED with local dimming or maybe micro-oled), plus a more modern chip (at least as good or better than the Q3's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip. Anyway, I'm glad you're happy with your $360 XR Elite. Since I now own both a QPro and Q3/512Gb, I wouldn't consider getting another XR Elite, even if it were offered to me for free, lol!
Hey, chiming in as an owner of a Zenbook Duo. Vive hub straight up doesn't work with it. Like at all. I downloaded it and it kept telling me my laptop was either under-powered or that I had too many monitors connected even if I disabled the secondary display. I do hope I can get the headset working with virtual desktop or ALVR, though I have yet to try this. My Zenbook as a 3050 ti, so I very much doubt it's a processing power issue. Also great vid as always Jacob!
I'd recommend ALVR if you know enough to get it working well. Virtual desktop doesn't support eye tracking, face tracking, hand tracking, or passthrough for HTC headsets. I think it's really dumb VD charges the same price as on Meta headsets for a less functional piece of software. I don't know if ALVR works with that stuff, but it's free. Vive hub has been getting better since I first got this headset in November-ish but it still has a ways to go to be considered good imo. I miss my old Zenbook Duo but god are they expensive for the specs they have.
@@Jacobfov Good to know, and I do actually like Vive Hub on my desktop PC. I just plug in my headset and it just kinda works, so I didn't feel compelled to get VD despite how many people I've seen praise it. Also yeah, Zenbooks are admittedly overpriced, but I don't regret getting mine. I got it to increase my productivity for classwork, and having a multi-monitor setup that I could just take wherever was super nice.
Everything you mentioned has me nodding like a bobblehead in 110% agreement 😂 Especially the 30watt issue (currently dealing with their lacklustre 'tech support' team now regarding power delivery issues). But my reasoning for getting the XRE was its smol AF (small enough for carry-on and not take up so much space), diopters so I can actually see, its flexibility for standalone and PCVR and the glasses mode (i almost never used the battery cradle... Before my temple arm snapped... More on that in a moment). I think its a good little kit but the pricepointe killed it in my opinion. Also, while the diopters are great for us blind folk lol they actually make the experience (FOV) a little worse. Look too far out of the 'sweet spot' and the secondary lense causes extreme blurr. Regarding their choice to iterate the Focus series, I think they might leapfrog it, so now that the Focus has had an iteration, 2025 might be when the XR series gets an interaction, meaning the next one may not be until 2027. Just my hypothesis based on how other brands iterate their series lines.
Yeah I've heard about the temple arms snapping, if that ends up happening to mine I'm just printing the thing to convert it to being able to use quest headstraps. With how quickly the battery cradle drains it's not like I even use it for the power capabilities anyways lol
3 дні тому
@@Jacobfov I just printed mine and am now looking about for Q3 headstraps. Sooo many options and great prices too. I don't know if the headstraps with battery options supply at least 30watts though. But I've used mine in glasses mode so much that I'm just used to having my power banc strapped to my hip (which gives me approximately 3hrs of VRchat. A little longer if I don't have the face tracker add-on). There was another printable mod that allows use of the OG Vive headstrap which looks more comfy but I assume the market isn't as plentiful as the Q3 market is.
10:04 But if you're really hate Meta, there's a Pico for it, isn't it? Pico 4 (sales closed, but you can find it on the Ebay-like thing I think) is better than Quest 2 in all ways (except _some_ Quest exclusives aren't yet unofficially ported to it; also it's harder to pirate here, but I use it for PCVR only anyway), close to Quest 3 (better in comfort, but a bit worse in most other things, much worse in AR and standalone stuff), but cheaper (I bought it for ~$250 used when new was ~$300).
A lot of people dislike Meta because they're owned by a social media company that probably is selling their data. Pico isn't seen as much better in that regard because they're owned by the company that owns TikTok. Either way I don't really understand those concerns, the same people scared about that stuff are posting about it on places like Reddit or X where I'm sure what they don't want happening to them with a headset is happening there anyways
@@Jacobfov They probably just don't want to give them their money, although buying Meta's headset and using it as PCVR only headset (not buying anything from their store) is the best way to "not give" money to Meta/Pico. :D Also, afaik, Meta has the most aggresive analytics (don't know if it's true or just exaggeration becouse of their reputation), so Pico can look as "lesser evil" compared to Meta. At least, that's what some of VR headset comparison videos say.
People hate on the Vive Focus Vision, but it's still a baller headset. I don't like the price, but it's got good features That being said, I love the Vive XR Elite and have been using the ABSOLUTE SHIT out of mine
Ive considered getting it here in australia, due to being one of the only headsets that has such an easily replaceable battery. But, most likely at its full price here. Any recommendations on alternatives around its price still that are either wired or, like the xr elite, have batteries that are decently replaceable?
Yeah I don't think there really is anything. The Bigscreen Beyond is the only thing that comes to mind for a decent cabled headset, but you'd still need to get lighthouses and controllers if you don't already have them. The Pimax Crystal Light also exists, but the quality control on that seems to be pretty hit or miss. Might be worth looking into getting a Quest 3 with one of those headstraps that have hot swappable batteries. The two I've tried (kkcobvr and AnnaPro) both are able to keep the headset's battery fully charged. Even if the headset battery degrades you should be able to just supplement it with extra headstrap batteries. Wish I had a better answer for you, but unfortunately there just aren't a ton of options around currently.
I've thought about picking up a set, but for the price they go for I just can't really justify buying them. With every headset I own except the XRE they still require some sort of playspace calibration to sync up correctly. Given I already have base stations I would be better off just buying more lighthouse trackers.
Thanks for doing a more up to date review on this. I wasn't planning on getting it, but was always curious if they ever improved it with updates. I want HTC to do well, but they keep repeatedly rushing products out that feel like a beta tests and for what they're charging, their headsets aren't really worth it for most people.
Yeah they really need to try and target a lower price point or just make better hardware. Even outside of Meta headsets the Bigscreen Beyond and Pimax Crystal Light are just more impressive headsets at a similar or even lower prices. Granted both of those have their own issues. I think the XRE could be considered decent value if they bundle it with the face tracker at a sizable discount. I doubt that will ever end up happening though.
this made me appreciate my pico 4 even more cuz holy shit this htc headset hasnt gotten much better it seems. On pico side they have fixed streaming assistant(its now called pico connect) and its fairly close to VD in terms of quality now. Standalone has now quite lot of popular games, not as good as quest but still FAR better than htc💀. And they also made cheap as hell fbt trackers that are pretty good with ir drift correction.
I don't understand the hate for the focus vision. Using it for the first time tonight with pcvr, the only annoyance I had was that it sometimes required you to fire up the controller it came with when it fell asleep after a 15 min break to get past the menu and back into steam. Apart from that the face and eye tracking worked, not as good as the pro eye mind you. The sweet spot was small yeah and the god rays were about as meh as the vive pro 2.... But apart from that it did what I wanted which was face and eye tracking.
Same I bought the focus vision also and really don't understand why there is so much hate for it. The sweet spot is small, but when running it at ultra with sharpening turned up in vrchat it has been the best headset I have own.
3 дні тому
Might be the fresnel lense dilemma. 'Enthusiasts' see that on the spec sheet and immediately banish it to the shadow realm (kinda don't blame them, especially at that price pointe). I personally can't tolerate fresnel for too long. Astigmatism issues and fresnel lenses make it a worse/painful experience.
I really appreciate your point of view. A lot of headset reviews are from the perspective of general VR use and "does it just work"
I feel like this take was giving a nod to those things but more for those that can tinker and like pcvr. Appreciated
I gave up the privilege of any headset just working when I decided to use every single one I own with index controllers lol
Cool you were able to make it work with the printed interface. I like the diopter dials. A lot of people are interested in this headset for the face/eye tracking add-on, but I heard it makes the FOV even worse.
Oh it gets way worse with the face tracking addon. I don't have numbers for it since I haven't bothered to measure with it on but like you can just barely see the VRChat mute icon when the addon is in. It does allow you to swap the facial interface for it so you probably could make it a bit better, but for some reason HTC decided to make it not compatible with other interfaces for the headset. I'm sure people who bought the deluxe pack are happy about that one, 80 bucks and you can't use half of it if you wanna use face tracking.
@Jacobfov Having bought this full price with both the deluxe pack and the face tracking add on.... can confirm i was incredibly unhappy. I regularly had text appearing on the bottom outside my fov when wearing the face tracking module so i could not read it and ot was very uncomfortable. I immediately had to return it as without the face tracking module it was just worse than my Quest 3 and I was never going to use it.
I love your thumbnails!
The art in them is beautiful!
Wish more headsets had the ability to bypass the battery, much nicer than wearing out the battery, by technically constantly charging it using it for wired pcvr.
META failed to capatalized VR by including displayport and fully power cord features. I have Quest 2 and is an impressive device but I won't be buying quest 3 because of the same problem I had with Quest 2.
Eyy! A review of the same headset i have from my fav derg! Its about bloody time! :D
Hard to justify spending 1300 on something you could get for 300$ or less with meta, but with only a few drawbacks
Also the selling point of the XR is it’s lightweight compact design, it’s so much more portable then any standalones.
Well, I was looking for a replacement route for a headset that's capable of facial tracking. Guess the elite is out of the ring
HTC has really crumbled compared to what they used to be! I'd love to see a real comback from them!
Not a bad headset for htc. If they were to make something like this but better, i'd totally switch out of my quest 3 to a htc headset
When Meta releases the OS for other headsets this is going to be a great headset to have.
I doubt HTC is going to put horizonOS on any of their headsets
I've owed both preordered XR Elite and Vive Focus Vision headsets. Ended up returning both for a refund because I felt that my now 2yo Quest Pro/rtx4090 is still better for PCVR, esp with flight/racing sims. I really liked the VFV DisplayPort streaming kit, but the headset was let down by its poor fresnel lens and a very small vertical FOV. Hopefully in the near future Vive will release a VFV2 with pancake lens and better screens (QLED with local dimming or maybe micro-oled), plus a more modern chip (at least as good or better than the Q3's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip. Anyway, I'm glad you're happy with your $360 XR Elite. Since I now own both a QPro and Q3/512Gb, I wouldn't consider getting another XR Elite, even if it were offered to me for free, lol!
Hey, chiming in as an owner of a Zenbook Duo. Vive hub straight up doesn't work with it. Like at all. I downloaded it and it kept telling me my laptop was either under-powered or that I had too many monitors connected even if I disabled the secondary display. I do hope I can get the headset working with virtual desktop or ALVR, though I have yet to try this. My Zenbook as a 3050 ti, so I very much doubt it's a processing power issue.
Also great vid as always Jacob!
I'd recommend ALVR if you know enough to get it working well. Virtual desktop doesn't support eye tracking, face tracking, hand tracking, or passthrough for HTC headsets. I think it's really dumb VD charges the same price as on Meta headsets for a less functional piece of software. I don't know if ALVR works with that stuff, but it's free. Vive hub has been getting better since I first got this headset in November-ish but it still has a ways to go to be considered good imo.
I miss my old Zenbook Duo but god are they expensive for the specs they have.
@@Jacobfov Good to know, and I do actually like Vive Hub on my desktop PC. I just plug in my headset and it just kinda works, so I didn't feel compelled to get VD despite how many people I've seen praise it. Also yeah, Zenbooks are admittedly overpriced, but I don't regret getting mine. I got it to increase my productivity for classwork, and having a multi-monitor setup that I could just take wherever was super nice.
Still love ur new avi smmmm
Everything you mentioned has me nodding like a bobblehead in 110% agreement 😂
Especially the 30watt issue (currently dealing with their lacklustre 'tech support' team now regarding power delivery issues).
But my reasoning for getting the XRE was its smol AF (small enough for carry-on and not take up so much space), diopters so I can actually see, its flexibility for standalone and PCVR and the glasses mode (i almost never used the battery cradle... Before my temple arm snapped... More on that in a moment).
I think its a good little kit but the pricepointe killed it in my opinion. Also, while the diopters are great for us blind folk lol they actually make the experience (FOV) a little worse. Look too far out of the 'sweet spot' and the secondary lense causes extreme blurr.
Regarding their choice to iterate the Focus series, I think they might leapfrog it, so now that the Focus has had an iteration, 2025 might be when the XR series gets an interaction, meaning the next one may not be until 2027. Just my hypothesis based on how other brands iterate their series lines.
Yeah I've heard about the temple arms snapping, if that ends up happening to mine I'm just printing the thing to convert it to being able to use quest headstraps. With how quickly the battery cradle drains it's not like I even use it for the power capabilities anyways lol
@@Jacobfov I just printed mine and am now looking about for Q3 headstraps. Sooo many options and great prices too.
I don't know if the headstraps with battery options supply at least 30watts though. But I've used mine in glasses mode so much that I'm just used to having my power banc strapped to my hip (which gives me approximately 3hrs of VRchat. A little longer if I don't have the face tracker add-on).
There was another printable mod that allows use of the OG Vive headstrap which looks more comfy but I assume the market isn't as plentiful as the Q3 market is.
Ok $300 for this is a crazy deal
I should look at ebay more often
I actually found this one on Amazon resale
@Jacobfov sadly Amazon resale doesn't ship to my country so the listings aren't visible
This sounds pretty good but i'm definitely not sidegrading my quest pro when the deckard is around the corner *copium*
10:04 But if you're really hate Meta, there's a Pico for it, isn't it? Pico 4 (sales closed, but you can find it on the Ebay-like thing I think) is better than Quest 2 in all ways (except _some_ Quest exclusives aren't yet unofficially ported to it; also it's harder to pirate here, but I use it for PCVR only anyway), close to Quest 3 (better in comfort, but a bit worse in most other things, much worse in AR and standalone stuff), but cheaper (I bought it for ~$250 used when new was ~$300).
A lot of people dislike Meta because they're owned by a social media company that probably is selling their data. Pico isn't seen as much better in that regard because they're owned by the company that owns TikTok.
Either way I don't really understand those concerns, the same people scared about that stuff are posting about it on places like Reddit or X where I'm sure what they don't want happening to them with a headset is happening there anyways
@@Jacobfov They probably just don't want to give them their money, although buying Meta's headset and using it as PCVR only headset (not buying anything from their store) is the best way to "not give" money to Meta/Pico. :D
Also, afaik, Meta has the most aggresive analytics (don't know if it's true or just exaggeration becouse of their reputation), so Pico can look as "lesser evil" compared to Meta. At least, that's what some of VR headset comparison videos say.
People hate on the Vive Focus Vision, but it's still a baller headset. I don't like the price, but it's got good features
That being said, I love the Vive XR Elite and have been using the ABSOLUTE SHIT out of mine
Is it just me? Or does this dragon sound like Styropyro? It's....crazy, I can't shake the idea. lol.
Ive considered getting it here in australia, due to being one of the only headsets that has such an easily replaceable battery. But, most likely at its full price here. Any recommendations on alternatives around its price still that are either wired or, like the xr elite, have batteries that are decently replaceable?
Yeah I don't think there really is anything. The Bigscreen Beyond is the only thing that comes to mind for a decent cabled headset, but you'd still need to get lighthouses and controllers if you don't already have them. The Pimax Crystal Light also exists, but the quality control on that seems to be pretty hit or miss.
Might be worth looking into getting a Quest 3 with one of those headstraps that have hot swappable batteries. The two I've tried (kkcobvr and AnnaPro) both are able to keep the headset's battery fully charged. Even if the headset battery degrades you should be able to just supplement it with extra headstrap batteries.
Wish I had a better answer for you, but unfortunately there just aren't a ton of options around currently.
@@Jacobfov Between the vive focus vision vs xr elite what would ya recommend :3 trying to gauge folks on recommendations between the two
@@dalekman9999 I don't think the XRE is a good value at full price, but in my opinion the Focus vision is even worse in that regard
Hey you should look at the vive ultimate trackers next or not
I've thought about picking up a set, but for the price they go for I just can't really justify buying them. With every headset I own except the XRE they still require some sort of playspace calibration to sync up correctly. Given I already have base stations I would be better off just buying more lighthouse trackers.
Vive headsets feel so uncomfortable
Where did you get it for that price?
Amazon resale
7:54 blud has a 4090 owo
why are the controller so big? lol
They’re really not that big
@@captainflowers748lol
@@noahthompson5373 I got the XR? They’re very small actually
OMG FINALLY!!
minion wifi router spotted
Thanks for doing a more up to date review on this. I wasn't planning on getting it, but was always curious if they ever improved it with updates.
I want HTC to do well, but they keep repeatedly rushing products out that feel like a beta tests and for what they're charging, their headsets aren't really worth it for most people.
Yeah they really need to try and target a lower price point or just make better hardware. Even outside of Meta headsets the Bigscreen Beyond and Pimax Crystal Light are just more impressive headsets at a similar or even lower prices. Granted both of those have their own issues. I think the XRE could be considered decent value if they bundle it with the face tracker at a sizable discount. I doubt that will ever end up happening though.
Ohhh hey arvo :3
Got vr xr elite on day one it was really bad
What got me the microphone sound like you have a donkey in it on launch day
ya worlds most fragile headset vive xr, the arm gonna brake.
Honestly, I don't care if it does. That just gives me an excuse to mod it to be compatible with quest headstraps
this made me appreciate my pico 4 even more cuz holy shit this htc headset hasnt gotten much better it seems. On pico side they have fixed streaming assistant(its now called pico connect) and its fairly close to VD in terms of quality now. Standalone has now quite lot of popular games, not as good as quest but still FAR better than htc💀. And they also made cheap as hell fbt trackers that are pretty good with ir drift correction.
holy yap
I don't understand the hate for the focus vision. Using it for the first time tonight with pcvr, the only annoyance I had was that it sometimes required you to fire up the controller it came with when it fell asleep after a 15 min break to get past the menu and back into steam. Apart from that the face and eye tracking worked, not as good as the pro eye mind you. The sweet spot was small yeah and the god rays were about as meh as the vive pro 2.... But apart from that it did what I wanted which was face and eye tracking.
Same I bought the focus vision also and really don't understand why there is so much hate for it. The sweet spot is small, but when running it at ultra with sharpening turned up in vrchat it has been the best headset I have own.
Might be the fresnel lense dilemma. 'Enthusiasts' see that on the spec sheet and immediately banish it to the shadow realm (kinda don't blame them, especially at that price pointe).
I personally can't tolerate fresnel for too long. Astigmatism issues and fresnel lenses make it a worse/painful experience.