This right here, is the HTC Vive Pro 2.
[Table sounds]
And here it is. So I actually preordered this unit, because I wasn’t sure if HTC was going
to send me a review unit or not. They did with previous headsets but this time I wasn’t
sure so maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But that’s okay because I just wanted to
review this unit as soon as possible for you all and well, this one arrived sooner.
So in the upcoming days I’m going to be deep-diving into this headset, testing everything
out, and then all of my test results and impressions is going to be in this review video. The video
that you are watching right now.
But let’s unbox it first!
The Vive Pro 2 is the newest headset in HTC’s Pro line. The first Vive Pro is now discontinued
in favor of this one. If you buy the Vive Pro 2 headset only, it will cost you 800 US
dollars. A full kit including Base Stations 2.0 and Vive Wand controllers is 1400 dollars.
I got the headset only since I have the rest already. So in that box, you get:
- Documentation and a voucher for a 2-month Viveport trial
- The VIVE Pro 2 headset with the all-in-one cable
- DisplayPort & USB 3.0 cable to connect to your PC
- Then the Link box and the 18W AC adapter that is used for it. By the way, this new
Linkbox also works with the original Vive Pro too.
- Then Mini DisplayPort to big DP Adapter - Ear caps, I guess these are for closing
the holes if you remove the headphones - Oh, and lens cleaning cloth
So if you’ve followed this channel for a while, then you know we’ve reviewed pretty
much every consumer headset out there. All our reviews cover every aspect of the headset,
from the exterior to the interior and gameplay. As always, timestamps are below so you can
skip to a section you want to see. If you want to compare headsets, you can check this
playlist right here for all our headset reviews.
I review VR headsets as it was delivered to make it fairer. So the Vive Pro 2 as well
without any modifications, so with its stock foam. Well, except the FOV part, more about
that later. I also used my Valve Index controllers, and I used it with the Valve Base Stations
2.0.
Let’s move on to setup first.
The setup should be familiar to those who have used an HTC Vive before:
You plug in the DisplayPort cable to the Linkbox, and then your PC
Then the same with the USB 3 cable Plug in the headset cable on the other side
Then plug in the power adapter Turn the Linkbox on with this button
Now, on your PC, you have two options to play VR games. You can use SteamVR, which most
of us use. And you can use HTC’s gaming platform VivePort, which can be nice to start
with because using your included two-month trial subscription, you can try out many different
VR games.
In any case, you need Vive Software that you can find on Vive.com/setup. This includes
the Pro 2 drivers and the Vive Console. The Vive Console always needs to run simultaneously
with the gaming platform you want to use.
The software setup was straightforward. I was ready to go very fast, but I already had
the base stations setup. So if you don’t have base stations yet, you will need additional
setup time to find the best mounting spot.
Ok, design. Here’s its size and weight measured by me. It’s the same design as the previous
Vive Pro headset except for the black color in the front.
Familiar things are a button to move the display and lenses further or closer to your face.
This is especially useful to make room for glasses, and it has enough space for that
But for those who don’t wear glasses, you’ll want it closest to your face for a better
field of view. Then there’s a dial here to set your IPD to match the lenses to the
distance of your eyes. The range for my headset is 57mm to 70.5mm.
To adjust the headset to your head, you can adjust the top strap and back dial. There
are no springs at the front so you will need to keep dialing to put on and off the headset.
The biggest change is the lens design, as you can see, but more about this later. The
nose flaps are around the same position, and this is good, there is almost no lightbleed.
In my opinion, this design is outdated, but it does compensate by being one of the most
comfortable headsets out there
What I did notice is that the headset gets hot when turned on for a longer time. It gets
hot here at the top and here. So, you will feel it when you play VR too. Not a big issue
to me, but if you sweat a lot, then *Worried face*. Also, when you leave on your Linkbox,
the headset doesn’t seem to go on standby, even if the display is off. Strange and I’m
not sure if this could cause any overheating issues so it’s best to turn the Linkbox
off if you don’t use it.
So yes, this is definitely the most ‘hot’ headset I’ve ever tried. I actually bought
a thermometer for this, however, I’m a noob so I bought the wrong one, so for now you
just gotta trust my word 😉 Leave a comment below if you want to know the temperature,
I’m getting a good thermometer and I’ll reply to you after.
Time for my favorite part, the interior. The specs and its performance. First up, these
are the minimum computer specs you need for the headset and my PC specs that I used for
testing at the right.
Now, I’m going to go through all the headsets specs while letting you know my impressions
and test results. Let’s start with the display.
So, HTC moved away from the AMOLED and went for two RGB low persistence LCDs. So yes,
greyer blacks. Not different from other headsets nowadays, but if you come from the original
Vive Pro, then the blacks may impact you. Not a dealbreaker, though, as the first Vive
Pro had a lot of screen door effect, and is just outdated. This new display is a significant
upgrade to the original Vive Pro.
Like, the resolution got a huge bump, now 2448 × 2448 pixels per eye.
There is also a higher refresh rate mode added, a 120hz mode, which you can turn on in the
Vive Console software. Please keep in mind here that if you plan on using the Vive Wireless
adapter, full resolution is not supported and 90hz is the max you can get. But more
about the Wireless Adapter later in the video.
Yes, the resolution bump makes the visuals beautiful. Screen door effect is no more,
and there is minimal ghosting and chromatic aberration.
I compared this display side-by-side with the HP Reverb G2, because that’s the headset
closest in resolution. What I noticed here, and this is interesting, G2’s display is
sharper and has a little less motion blur. This could be because of the G2’s pixels
that are closer to each other, maybe because of the smaller field of view, or the G2 displays
may have lower persistence.
Let me say tho here that I don’t think this is that noticeable if you don’t do a side-by-side
comparison because I did NOT notice it when I was playing games before comparing.
As for reading text, here is the visual acuity that I measured. I was writing this script
while in the headset actually, and it was perfectly readable when looking straight in
front of me. I say looking in front of me, because… There is one letdown, the lens
design.
My goodness, the first time I went into the headset I was shocked. I wanted to crown it
the King of Glare. I don’t see much godrays, but there is a lot of visible glare around
the edges of the lens. More than the Valve Index. Glare is mostly noticeable on high
contrasting colors like white on black for example.
However, do consider this, you don’t see the glare as much in most games, because colors
in-game are usually not so contrasting so you -will- forget about the glare inside those
games.
A bigger deal to me is the distortion around the edges and also the sweet spot is small,
so in the small middle, everything is very sharp but it gets blurry around the edges.
For example, this is very noticeable when you try to read and you only move your eyeballs
up and down without moving your head. Text gets blurry around the edges, and well, it’s
not completely unreadable but the Reverb G2 is better at keeping sharpness towards the
edges. So I am guessing that this will bother people who play certain games like space or
flight simulators. Since in those games, people tend to look down at their dashboard without
moving their head. For example, this could also be bothersome when watching movies with
subtitles.
For comparison, the sweet spot seems a lot smaller than Quest 2 and a little bit smaller
when compared to HP Reverb G2, but I think the Vive Pro 2 -feels- smaller because of
the added glare and a bit of distortion.
Next, field of view, I know lots of you are interested in this because of the HTC’s
promised 120 degrees horizontal FOV. But before I get you measurements, please keep in mind
that the exact number I’m giving you is personal and this really depends on subjective
things like your face shape. But all these numbers are measured by the same face and
tools so it should give you an indication and comparison between headsets.
So when I measure field of view, I always use the stock foams on all headsets to make
it fairer, and I also put them pretty tight but not too tight for it to be uncomfortable
for my face.
However, as highly requested and because I love you all, I did include a FOV measurement
using a very thin VRcover from the original Vive Pro, yes, that fits.
So here are my results:
I used two tools for this. The first numbers are with the tool HMDQ by risa2000 and this
is the FOV actually rendered by the software. The second number is the FOV that I can see,
measured with HMD tester by infinite.
As you can see, the new lens design does come with a benefit, and that’s a larger horizontal
field of view. Unfortunately, the top and bottom are cut off, so the vertical FOV is
less than most headsets. Yes, this is pretty noticeable and will take time to get used
to.
However, when using the thin VRCover, it was way better. Horizontally it’s the same because
you’ll see the left and right edges of the display, but vertically, it improves a lot.
Although the nose flaps do touch my face then which is less comfortable but you can easily
move the flaps to solve that.
Also keep in mind that the horizontal field of view; even though it is bigger, it is reduced
a bit by the blurriness at the sides. But this new FOV is very nice, it’s not gamechanging
but I like it.
Okay, now tracking. The Vive Pro 2 uses the same SteamVR outside-in tracking as the original
Vive, Vive Pro, and Valve Index. The Vive Pro 2 is compatible with both base stations
1.0 and 2.0.
If you buy the full kit, you’ll get the 2.0 base stations. These are only a bit better
in tracking accuracy, but having tried both, I don’t notice much difference here. However,
the 2.0 base stations do support larger play areas. But usually, the one-point zeroes are
good enough for most people and cheaper too.
To this date, SteamVR tracking is still the most accurate and best tracking mechanism
amongst VR headsets. Do keep in mind, to get the best tracking, you do need some space.
But besides that, there are no complaints here at all.
As for the controllers, if you get the full kit, you’ll get the original Vive Wand controllers.
Not this one, you’ll get a blue one, but I do not recommend getting these; these are
controllers from 2016 and very outdated now. Since this is a SteamVR tracking headset,
you can use it with the Valve Index controllers and Valve base stations too.
So if you are interested, you’re actually better off buying the headset only with the
Valve equipment, which is actually cheaper too than the Vive Pro 2 full kit.
The headphones are according to HTC, a hi-res certified headset via USB-C analog signal.
Sounds fancy but it sounds similar to the first Vive Pro headphones. That sound is good
enough, but its not the best. I think it lacks a bit in bass compared to the audio solution
on the Valve Index and HP Reverb G2 which is actually the same. I also noticed a low
buzzin my headphones when it’s all quiet. It doesn’t bother me when playing games,
but audiophiles won’t like it. And I’m actually not sure if I have a defective unit
or not which I’ll have to check.
You can remove the Vive Pro 2 headphones with a screw driver if you want to use your own
But for now, the Valve speakers are still my number one.
As for the microphone, well… Integrated dual microphones and unfortunately, not improved.
But judge for yourself.
“I am testing the microphone of the Vive Pro 2 while I ask you to please leave this
video a like if you enjoy it so far.”
Time for performance. What I noticed is that my PC handles the full resolution at 120Hz
pretty well. I’m so proud. I’m able to play Half Life Alyx at a good framerate. I
do get reprojection and very occasional stutters at other demanding games that are not well
optimized for VR, but it’s still playable if you don’t mind the reprojection.
If your PC is lower spec, then it may be good to know that the headset doesn’t support
Steam’s Motion Smoothing. Vive Console does a Motion Compensation feature, but it looks
like that will keep your framerate at 90hz.
But overall, I’m satisfied with it’s performance. This seems better than the G2 actually; maybe
Vive’s software is better than the Windows Mixed Reality one? I’m not sure what’s
causing this difference.
I also tested the camera passthrough, nothing special here. It works, except, currently,
there is a bug, and it only works with the SteamVR beta, but to turn this on you have
to go in Steam’s settings. And well, this is always nice feature for quick peeks at
your real life surroundings. However, this may impact performance so usually, I have
it turned off.
On to the last test I did, and that is also a highly requested one which is its wireless
experience. One of the main benefits of using HTC Vive headsets is that you can use them
with their very own Vive Wireless Adapter, which removes the tether. Well, apart from
the cable to a power bank connected to the adapter. You can then play somewhat wirelessly
in good quality. It does set you back 350 dollars extra.
So the Vive Pro 2 also works with it, as you can see. HOWEVER, it will not support full
resolution. Currently, if you use with the wireless adapter, it supports a max resolution
of what you see on the screen and 90Hz refresh rate when used. HTC says that they will upgrade
the resolution to 3264 x 1632 in the future, and I guess by software update.
I tested the Vive Wireless adapter with the Vive Pro 2, and yes, it works great. My impressions
here are not that different—almost no noticeable latency and much better compression than Oculus
Air link. The Vive Wireless Adapter is the best wireless solution to date in my opinion.
It is a shame that you cannot use the wireless adapter at full resolution and refresh rate,
as I think this would have been killer otherwise. If you want more info on the Vive Wireless
adapter, then I will direct you to my Vive Wireless Adapter review for Cosmos since the
wireless experience is basically the same as with this headset. I’ll link it below
and here.
Conclusion And that concludes my HTC Vive Pro 2 review,
and I need really some water. Pff, heh, yes, I don’t think it’s a bad headset, but
it does have its flaws. When compared with the first Vive Pro headset, it’s a significant
upgrade. The display is beautiful. But, unfortunately, the lens design drags that down. That, paired
with the high price, it’s hard to recommend it as other headsets provide better value
for their price.
If money wasn’t an issue, I think it could compete with the G2 as long as you don’t
have the G2 to compare it with side-by-side. G2’s screen is better but of course the
G2 does sacrifice in tracking. I think the Pro 2 display is better than the Valve Index,
but it lacks in other areas like audio and keep in mind that the Index is also 2 years
old and who knows what Valve has up their sleeve.
*Fingers crossed*
If you already have a 2nd gen headset, like the Valve Index, then I don’t think the
upgrade is significant enough to pay that much for.
But, you know, all these headsets have their pros and cons; we just don’t have the perfect
headset yet. So what headset suits you best depends on what you find important. Don’t
forget that you can check out my other headset reviews here.
However, what I find essential, currently, is actually something entirely different.
It’s content for me.
I think we need more good VR games than new hardware right now as you don’t have much
utility for that shiny new headset if there’s not much to play. Yes we got some big titltes
coming but not in the near future and most of them are from Oculus.
Currently, if you’ve played most big titles already, then there’s just not much else,
and I think for the industry to grow, I think we need more titles like Half-Life: Alyx.
So honestly, I really hope HTC will invest more in content like Oculus is doing. Do you
agree, leave me a thumbs up and let me know in the comments below. Also let me know if
you are going to get this headset or maybe you got it already. What do you think and
why are you not getting it?
Thank you so much for being here, echt ik waardeer je echt, and a special thanks go
to all our Champions, especially these Patrons down below.
As always, VR on! .