HTC Vive’s Focus Vision is a $999 stab at high-end VR and mixed reality
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HTC Vive follows up its attractive, but expensive, XR Elite headset with something that’s still quite expensive, the $999 Focus Vision. Built on the same platform as the standalone Vive Focus 3, the upgraded model adds a number of new features like built-in eye tracking, a 16MP stereo color front-facing camera for mixed reality, and automatic IPD adjustment (which makes sharing easier). And with an additional $149 DisplayPort wired streaming kit, gamers can also connect the Focus Vision to their PC for more immersive VR experiences.
Just based on price and features, HTC Vive’s Focus Vision isn’t that great for mainstream consumers. But it should be. While Meta has spent billions of dollars making its Quest headset cheaper and more accessible, HTC Vive has tended to make its more expensive headset more suitable for business and government purposes, without concern for profitability. For example, the Focus 3 made its way to the International Space Station to help astronauts exercise and relax.
While the Vive XR Elite looked almost like a pair of over-sized glasses, the Focus Vision doesn’t look much different from the Focus 3. It’s clearly a standard VR headset, although it’s a step up from the Meta Quest 3, which is a device made mostly of cheap plastic and other low-grade materials. There’s plenty of cushioning along the front headset and rear head strap, and enough room to fit larger glasses.
Under the hood, the Vive Focus Vision has a 5K LCD display, which offers 2.5K resolution per eye, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a wide 120-degree field of view. (HTC says it’ll get 120Hz support over DisplayPort later this year.) In addition to the two 16MP front-facing cameras, which are positioned like human eyes for distortion-free mixed reality, there’s also an infra-red flood light for hand tracking in low light, four external tracking cameras, and the usual depth sensors.
Once again, HTC has built a removable battery pack into the headset’s rear strap, but there’s now also a small built-in battery that provides an additional 20 minutes of standby charge. This means you can swap out the battery pack without taking the headset off and giving up your VR immersion. This feature alone could be attractive to organizations where employees have to wear the Focus Vision for hours on end. HTC claims the headset can last up to two hours of continuous play.
With the Vive Focus Vision, HTC is also making an effort at high-end VR gaming. While Meta’s Quest headsets can connect to gaming PCs wirelessly and with USB-C cables, they’re essentially delivering a compressed video feed of VR experiences from those systems. Focus Vision’s DisplayPort kit acts more like a standard PC VR headset: It gives you a direct connection to your computer’s video card. You shouldn’t see any of the lag or compression-related issues that sometimes occur with Meta Quest to PC connections.
As I expected, the Focus Vision feels very similar to the Focus 3. It’s easy to adjust, there’s enough room to fit my glasses, and the front and back cushioning helps it rest comfortably on my head. Thanks to the rear battery pack, the headset feels well balanced on my head, too. Other headsets, even Apple’s Vision Pro, can feel heavy from the front and put pressure on your nose and eyes.
When it comes to the actual VR experience, the Focus Vision delivers what I’d expect from an expensive HTC Vive headset. The 5K display is sharp enough to read small text, and its large field of view makes walking around locations in Nature Treks VR feel really immersive. I haven’t had much of a chance to try out PC gaming yet, but I’m looking forward to delving into that for my review.
I’m still disappointed by the limited selection of apps in the VivePort store, but once again this isn’t a device that general VR users need to pay much attention to. Companies relying on the Focus Vision will either use existing enterprise apps or build some for themselves. And gamers probably won’t spend much time outside of a wired DisplayPort connection, where they can access the full details of their SteamVR library.
The Vive Focus Vision is available for pre-order today until October 17 for $999 ($1,299 for businesses with an additional warranty). HTC will also be throwing in a free DisplayPort kit for early adopters, and there are three game bundles to choose from.