htc-vive-4 — Photo by Road to VR

New HTC Vives Weigh 15% Less Than They Did at Launch

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Apr 6, 2017

While the Vive is often criticized for its front-heavy weight, the headset has actually managed to slim down over time thanks to manufacturing improvements. HTC has managed to shave 15% off of the original 550 grams (1.21 pounds), bringing the headset’s weight in line with the Oculus Rift.

Beyond the obvious wants of next-gen headsets like higher resolution and field of view, comfort is still a major hurdle that needs to be improved going forward. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for a completely new Vive headset to see some improvements there.

Photo courtesy HTC

In addition to explicit improvements through accessories like the slimmer 3-in-1 cable and the Vive Deluxe Audio Strap, HTC has been refining the manufacturing process over time, resulting in what is now a Vive headset that’s 15% lighter than when the unit first started shipping.

“We are always looking to improve the core Vive experience in terms of comfort and durability. We’ve made several improvements since launch including a new 3-in-1 cable,” an HTC spokesperson tells Road to VR. “We’ve also made smaller improvements to the weight due to component swaps and improvements in manufacturing. This has resulted in a 15% decrease since the Vive PRE.”

The HTC Vive Pre — The HTC Vive Pre | Photo by Road to VR

The Vive Pre was a nearly-final version of the headset that went out to developers ahead of the consumer launch of the Vive. The Vive Pre, and the first consumer headsets to ship, weighed in around 550 grams (1.21 pounds); a 15% reduction in the latest headsets rolling off the manufacturing line brings the weight down to 468 grams (1.03 pounds), putting the device right on par with the Oculus Rift’s 470 grams.

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HTC says the 15% reduction in weight is a measurement of the headset alone, which means the 3-in-1 cable offers some slight additional savings as well.

The improvements to the Vive’s weight came over time, rather than all at once, the company says. Depending upon when the headset was manufactured, it seems a given device could fall between the original 550 grams and the current 468 grams.

15% is a solid improvement, though weight alone is surely not the ultimate measure of comfort in a VR headset. In fact, I’ve argued that PSVR has a slight edge on comfort despite being the heaviest VR headset in its class at 610 grams (1.34 pounds). Meanwhile, the Oculus Rift DK2 was actually slightly lighter than the Rift CV1, and yet the CV1 is clearly favored in comfort thanks to the improved head-mounting design.

Similarly, the Vive Deluxe Audio Strap will surely add some weight back to the headset with its rigid straps, foam, and headphones, but we expect it will still be a net gain to the headset’s comfort, thanks to a better distribution of weight than the flexible straps can provide.

Thanks to Hago Boghossian of DigiKinesis fact checking assistance for this story.

iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

Any news on the three vr games that Schatskeys are working on?
Me

I hate when manufacturers do that. Change the cable. Remove some weight. Add this, change that. And still calling it the same product ! As an early adopter I can’t but feel at a disadvantage with others who buy now the SAME product I did back then. That story would be completely different if they called it somewhat else, like Vive SE or whatever.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  Honestly, you bought early what difference does it make? It’s like buying a first year model then seeing refinements over time each year. Your favorite toy is not perfect, never has been and never will be.
  
  What I find humorous is if Oculus did the same thing as providing a new strap or reducing weight all we would hear is how “Oculus screwed early adopters” and the like but if HTC does it “they are advancing”.
- xxTheGoDxx
  
  How would that be an advantage at all??? It would actually be a negative for early adopters because it would reduce the resell value of your headset when you move on to a new product.
  - Me
    
    OK so basically you’re just advocating for a scam. Please don’t ever tell your buyer what revision your headset is, any Vive is the same after all. I hope your car resseller does the same to you.
    
    When manufacturers where doing that by changing the TV panels without telling anyone, there was a general outcry. But when HTC does something similar on its headset it’s suddenly fine ? I just don’t get it.
    - David Herrington
      
      A scam? By providing a better product for the same cost?
      
      If we were talking about 15th generation TV’s and not a struggling new market, I might agree with you. But right now VR needs EVERY bit of help it can get. The adoption of VR is so low that it cannot take any more fragmentation. Also, its not like these changes are revolutionary, its a cable here, or switching out a small component there not to increase performance but to reduce weight.
      
      You are an early adopter. By buying into this market you acknowledged buying the least optimized device.
      
      BTW, if you are so mad then just sell your Vive and repurchase a new one…
      - Me
        
        Just… no. Being an early adopter means I get Apple Watch without GPS or water resistance, unlike the next model. You’re mixing that up with being a beta tester which is NOT the same. The vive IS a consumer product, not a prototype, that was the Vive Pre.
      - David Herrington
        
        Apple sold 11.9 MILLION (11,900,000) watches last year, while HTC sold 140,000 Vives. You are literally comparing “Apples” to oranges. Apple also has the capital and user base to have the luxury of updating their products on the tick-tock basis EVERY YEAR. HTC doesn’t have the capital or the user base to make full updates on such a quick basis.
        
        The VR market WILL tank unless people like HTC make EVERY effort to gain the support necessary to survive. This means that while gen 2 is still in the oven, they need to put ANY small improvements they can into the Vive 1.0 to beat out the competition.
        
        Like I said before, if you are angry then just sell your Vive and buy a new one.
    - RFC_VR
      
      The hot tip when buying TV was to check the code indicating panel family, you’d see different panels in same brand/model depending on date of manufacture.
- Nicholas Oldroyd
  
  What? You hate when manufacturers improve their products?
  
  Really? changing the name would make everything different? I think it’s all in your head then if something so trivial as the the name being different would make any actual difference.
  - Me
    
    See my comment to xxTheDoGxx below.
    - Nicholas Oldroyd
      
      I don’t really see what that has to do with your original comment or my reply.
      - Me
        
        Of course improving products is nice. The problem with this practive is it’s a two-way ride. For any reason HTC could decide to swap the lenses for some cheaper, lesser quality alternatives. By keeping the name the same, it makes the product a mess. If you push the comparison to an extreme, would you agree to buy an iPad 2 or 3, instead of the new New iPad ? After all, they’re all just offcially “iPad devices”. For someone not in the know it’s really confusing.
        
        As a business perspective, it doesn’t make much sense either, as normally you’d want to keep all innovations for the next gen product, for customers to have a compelling reason to update…
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        Everything that HTC has done has been an improvement, so your example of HTC reducing the quality of the product by changing to worse lenses is a straw man.
        
        The changes HTC is making are clearly minor and well within the scope of refinements. Sorry to have to say, but nobody is going to mind that they are making these improvements and keeping the name the same, except you.
      - MosBen
        
        There’s a difference between small changes, like a slight reduction in weight, or a slightly more convenient/cheaper cord, and something like the difference between an iPad 2/3/new, which had pretty significant differences in capabilities. With small changes like these early adopters get the benefit of being able to play with new toys first, and to enjoy them for their full life cycle. Someone that buys a Vive today may get a slightly lighter HMD, but they also have one year less of playing with this generation of VR stuff before the real next generation of these headsets are released.
        
        The one year of use that the early adopters got has value.
      - RFC_VR
        
        I enjoyed both my Vive’s but have sold up to sit back and wait for MY18 PC VR development. I got a return of 2/3rd of my purchase so very happy to realise some value whilst 1st generation still has some.
        
        With LG coming to market (amongst others…And Vive second generation, Valve controllers,etc. ) it’s going to be an exciting step forward. The interviews with key Valve members had them taking of ‘done deals’ on hardware side with tetherless add on in MY17 and integrated in MY18, Gabe talked of big jumps in display panel specification as we move away from repurposed smartphone panel, they said the tech is there just needs to be brought to market by manufacturers
        
        Especially with Cannonlake and Volta both incoming on the PC side, to make it easier to build a very powerful VR rig to support higher resolution in HMD with optimised software and introduction of eye tracking/Foveated rendering
        
        Cannot wait to build my new PC and jump into 2nd generation with more mature software library
  - iThinkMyCatIsAFlea
    
    The title of the article reads ‘New HTC Vives Weigh 15% Less Than They Did at Launch’. So it really is a different model right? Maybe, as Me mentioned, they should call it something else.
    - David Herrington
      
      15% isn’t that much. We are talking about less than 0.2 lbs. Creating a new version for such a small change is negligible.
      
      It’s so small that not one consumer has commented on it.
      
      They could have just made the changes and not told anyone (as they have been doing up until now), but they wanted to be transparent to show that they are still trying to make progress even with the current generation.
      
      Calling it something else won’t make it a more capable HMD.
    - Doofcake
      
      Look at consoles. The PS4 for example had 3 different models before the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro came out. There was no differentiation between the 3 models, no “subtitle” or anything. The only way to tell which iteration you had was to look at the model number, either CUH10xx, CUH11xx or CUH12xx.
      This is a very standard thing in hardware manufacturing. It’s optimization. Not only do they make the devices weigh less, they make them cheaper for them to produce.
      
      A weight reduction through production optimization, without any other changes, is not a significant enough improvement to label it a new device.
  - Fanatoli Guyoff
    
    I chuckled when I read your first line there. haha.
- towblerone
  
  You can’t be an early adopter and then complain when improvements are made. What you’re advocating for is just semantics dealing with branding.
  
  You bought in early. HMDs were only going to get better so you have no place to complain. You should be HAPPY that VR is improving at the rate it is.
  - Me
    
    Again, I’m NOT complaining to be an early adopter. I knew what I signed for. I’m thinking of the poor guy that will buy my used Vive and get a large thick cable with an HMD that weights twice the weight as the one of his friend who bought it brand new.
    
    Regarding improvements of VR in general, I’m not sure if I should be happy or concerned, considering where it goes: location based arcade VR insetad of home devices, very expensive accessories, freemium/subscription model slowly overtaking the stores, deep concerns about privacy and rights. Yeah, everything goes fast these days, but not always in a good way…
    - David Herrington
      
      In the end, there REALLY isn’t that big of a difference in the experience. Hence, why they never rebranded and sold under a new name.
      
      We are talking about a 0.2 LB difference…
      - Me
        
        At least they could say revision B or whatever. It would even be something to talk about wich is a good thing, on the PR side. On the consumer side, it makes things more confusing because when you buy it in a brick and mortar store (at best buy as an exemple), you also don’t know what you’re getting. Is it the new model ? An old stock ? It’s not like these things are flying off the shelves. Think of it.
      - David Herrington
        
        So if they renamed it revision B, who do you think would buy revision A? No one. Then you would have all the people who would say, “what’s different about B? Do I need a different video card? Will this work with my current configuration?”
        
        But in the end it all still boils down to the fact that you are arguing over a 0.2 LB difference. No additional capability. No increased performance. No price difference.
    - towblerone
      
      The guy who buys your old Vive should know what he’s signed up for. You just have to clarify that your model is the first and the currently sold one is slightly improved. It’s not difficult.
      
      I can’t believe some people are now complaining that HMDs are actually getting better.
      - Me
        
        “You just have to clarify that your model is the first and the currently sold one is slightly improved. It’s not difficult.”
        
        That’s exactly what I complain for. You said it yourself.
    - MosBen
      
      If it really was a 50% reduction in weight, I’d probably agree with you that it should be classified as a new product. But these are just slight tweaks. I mean, I’m sure you’d agree that not every change to a product should require a whole new SKU. If some company tweaks the battery cover on their device without making any changes to how the product operates, I don’t think that anyone would suggest that they should create a new SKU. But a bunch of small changes that amount to a significant difference in the value of the product probably does require a new SKU. This is somewhere in between. Yes, it’d be nice if early adopters had these, but I’m not convinced that a small reduction in weight requires them to call all future models the Vive-A, or whatever. It’s a hard line to draw.
    - D3Pixel
      
      Now that I know this (have been watching Ebay Vive sales daily) I will not pay the £500 buy it now price that several keep going for, now that I know this I would lower my offering for “early” models. Or I will just keep waiting for v2 of HMD’s.
    - Daemon Hunt
      
      I wouldn’t say the guy was ‘poor’, I’d say he got his feet wet with a discounted entry into ‘high end’ VR. If he had the money, he’d buy new.
      - RFC_VR
        
        well known electronics/games exchange retailer in London selling “grade A” used Vives with full warranty for £620
- Tony Murchison
  
  Essentially, though, the company has only three options:
  
  1) Never improve the production line – obviously undesirable
  2) Incrementally change the production line, while calling it the same product. This is HTC’s compromise.
  3) With every incremental change, alter the name of the product. This would result in every product on earth requiring multiple different names after the product name to identify it.
  
  I’d say that option 2 is easily the least confusing while still allowing improvement.
  - MosBen
    
    Well, the 4th option is to incorporate all improvements into the prototypes for the Vive 2, to be released in 2018/2019, so you’d have generations of products with big improvements. Now, I prefer HTC’s method, but that’s a reasonable option as well.
    - Adrian
      
      The incremental process improvements are typically meant to reduce costs for the manufacturer so it doesn’t make sense to wait before putting them into production. In this case, there’s a benefit to the consumer, as well.
    - Tony Murchison
      
      Agreed, but that’s not really what I meant. When you’re building a production line, especially for something as novel as the Vive, there are going to be some uncertainties. Nobody has any experience with these devices, and so you incorporate some contingencies. As the factory becomes more familiar with the production line, you can start making little optimisations.
      
      The thing is that those optimisations don’t require an entire new production line. They’re adaptations of the materials, the settings of the machines, thickness of certain filler materials, stuff like that.
      
      These aren’t improvements to the Vive series, they are improvements to this particular model. You can’t wait for the next iteration, because that will have entirely different components, to which these little improvements don’t apply.
- NooYawker
  
  When you buy tech, it will always get an update or price drop a few months down the line. Even more so as an early adopter.
  
  PS. I literally just discovered one punch man last week. one of my favorites by far.
- Caven
  
  In a case like this, the upgrades generally don’t change the product in such a way as to render it incompatible with previous versions of the product. As a vague example, if you had to send your headset back to HTC for warranty repair, it’s quite possible that Revision B parts might be used to repair your Revision A headset due to parts compatibility.
  
  In a case where both headset revisions provide identical functionality and have interchangeable parts, there’s no real reason to brand the newer revision as an entirely different product, especially if the improvements aren’t being used as a major selling point. Renaming the product could cause all sorts of headaches. It could easily trigger all sort of concerns over market fragmentation and compatibility. People already have complained about market fragmentation with the Vive Business Edition, and that’s just the standard Vive headset with a different colored camera bezel and marketed with corporate warranty support. Then you have the various versions of the Rift (DK1, DK2, CV1) that raised legitimate concerns about compatibility. There’s also the expense of having to update packaging, which means either throwing out and replacing incompatible boxes, or creating labels that have to be manually applied to the existing packaging until the new packaging starts to deliver. And sometimes the upgrades aren’t even a matter of choice. A vendor may discontinue a particular component, requiring a replacement component that meets or exceeds the specs for the original component. Finally, there’s also the matter that in many cases parts are sourced from multiple vendors. Should a manufacturer now have two different branded products because certain units have Sharp displays in them, while others have Samsung displays in them?
  
  A lot can go on, and basically turning every mid-life product upgrade into a new product causes more problems than it solves.
- Gus Bisbal
  
  Are you serious look at your statement “As an early adopter I can’t but feel at a disadvantage with others who buy now…” Being an early adopter means what you buy will be upgraded almost immediately and you will have to buy again. Your acting like you were promised a stable long lasting appliance and how is it a disadvantage… are these people superior to you now? For F@#$ sake, every decision you make has a cost, live with the cost of your decisions!!
- DaKangaroo
  
  In fairness, all of us who bought the Vive at release knew what we were getting into, being early adopters. We knew we’d be paying for something that would be more expensive, less polished, and made redundant by a second generation or update only a year or two later. There were plenty of warnings. But we bought it anyway because we couldn’t wait for the 2nd generation, and because we wanted to support VR.
pj530i

The thinner cable weighs a couple grams more than the original one, fyi. So there is no weight savings from that.
- OgreTactics
  
  Only $ savings indeed.
- Adrian
  
  You’ve weighed them? Are they the same length? From the pics I saw of the 3-in-1, it looks like it _should_ be lighter for the same length.
  - pj530i
    
    Yes, I got a kitchen scale (not for the purposes of weighing cables..) shortly after someone posted about the weight difference on reddit and I wanted to see for myself.
    
    They are exactly the same length.
    
    My guess is there’s less rubber but more copper in the new one
Tom Daigon

Screw the weight. Increase the resolution and image quality!
- Mei Ling
  
  Weight/ergonomics is just as important as the rest.
  - Bryan Ischo
    
    My nine year old son can wear the Vive indefinitely without complaint of any kind of discomfort. I’ve never heard a single person I’ve demoed my Vive to even mention the comfort in any way (except to ask for straps to be adjusted at first, but once it’s dialed in, they never mention it again).
    
    I’ve used mine for hours at a time without even thinking about comfort.
    
    Comfort is NOT a problem at the moment. This does not mean that I am contradicting your statement, because perhaps if the Vive actually was uncomfortable we’d consider improvements in comfort to be at the top of the list.
    
    I agree with Tom Daigon though that weight savings are not what we need right now; improved resolution and image quality is what is needed — and I’d add increased FOV to that list.
    - NooYawker
      
      It’s a pretty common complaint that it’s heavy, HTC obviously thinks it’s an issue. There’s huge interest in the deluxe strap that’s supposed to make it more comfortable. So while I wouldn’t call it a problem, it does matter. Does it matter more than resolution and image quality? Definitely not.
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        Hm, the only complaints about weight I ever saw where when people were doing spec comparison against the Rift when the Vive first came out. People read the spec lines that listed weight and got all freaked out about it because it was something that you could identify as being ‘inferior’ on the Vive just from a spec line and without actually even using the devices. This led to lots of discussion of the issue, most of which wasn’t even warranted, in my opinion.
        
        When people actually started using the devices … the claims that the Vive are too heavy never actually materialized in any meaningful way in practice. Sure some people have problems with the weight, but I think they’re a small minority.
        
        But I think we agree — weight matters, but it’s a small issue at the moment compared to the much bigger issues of display quality in all of its facets (fov, resolution, screen door, distortion, etc).
      - Kyle
        
        You are complaining about weight improvements as if HTC has sacrificed fundamental improvements to achieve them. They have been achieved through manufacturing improvements.
        
        The new strap, a response to a needed Audio solution and an excellent opportunity, to alleviate a legitimate (albeit not a major) comfort issue.
        
        You want HTC to change format(fov), resolution, and Image quality. those would be major hardware changes and HTC has explained why they are not interested in doing that right now.
        
        1) Those changes would create compatability issues further fragmenting VR compatability, and putting negative pressure on VR development. (exactly what the fledgling industry does not need)
        
        2) VR is incredibly demanding on PCs upgrading resolution to lets say 4k would mean a pc would need to drive 2 4k displays, plus handle VR. putting VR further out of reach of the average consumer. (again not what this new industry needs)
        
        3) while the hardware to achieve what you want exists, it is not currently available in the appropriate volumes and prices to meet economies of scale. in other words. it would drive the price of VR headsets through the roof. (again not what VR needs right now…. notice a trend)
        
        There are legitimate reasons as to why HTC does not want to make major changes to the Vive right now and those reasons serve you more than it serves them. so just take the minor improvements and enjoy them and be thankful you live in an era where this technology can exist.
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        I’m not complaining about weight reductions in the Vive, I’m just saying that there are higher priorities. I also understand that it’s not a zero-sum game, and it’s not like HTC is deferring improvements that they could make in more important areas to work on weight reduction.
      - Mei Ling
        
        Jesus Christ any improvement is welcome but when it comes to a VR device which you have to physically wear for, ideally, long periods of time then weight and ergonomics is a huge factor.
        
        We’re not going on about some device that’s removed from your body like a desktop where it doesn’t matter how much it weighs or how it feels. Any change to the overall physical design that benefits UX is as significant as upgrading the lens or the display and its not about the magnitude of the improvement either – it’s about the factors themselves. The less it weighs and the better the ergonomics the more likely the product would see a wider adoption especially by those who are not tech savvy.
      - NooYawker
        
        I’d take on 5 more lbs to get rid of the screen door effect.
    - Ethan James Trombley
      
      While playing any games I am perfectly fine. However if one were to use the vive for a virtual Desktop or to attempt to watch Naruto on a huge screen ( which kinda sucks due to resolution anyway) the weight becomes very apparent. Still that being said since the resolution isn’t high enough to grant an enjoyable TV experience there really isn’t a need to focus resources on decreasing weight. ( Though HTC probably saves some money manufacturing less.)
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        Idiot no. 3!
    - Mei Ling
      
      It doesn’t just account for comfort but the lighter the device the more the immersion factor goes up along with improved resolution and optics. In addition due to power requirements and processing power it is not as straightforward to improve resolution than it is to make small incremental updates to your existing design so we have to be realistic here. On a HMD weight and the physical aspects of UX are indeed as important as it’s visual and tracking capabilities.
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        I disagree 100%. I believe that visual and tracking capabilities far, far outweigh the importance of incrementally better weight and comfort. But, I think I’ve stated that already pretty clearly so …
      - Mei Ling
        
        It doesn’t really need further discussion if you argue that visual and tracking is significantly more important than weight and ergonomics especially if we’re talking about HMDs..
      - Bob
        
        Obviously something you want to put on your head for hours on end doing God knows what I want it to be comfortable and weigh like nothing and feel like nothing that’s clamping on your head because it’s virtual reality we’re talking about – being in a different world. It should be less intrusive as possible….
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        Idiot.
    - JaGimp
      
      First, sorry for my english. Comfort it’s one of this things, that are hard to compare. Its like you think comfort is great, and then you buy nex gen of device, and after a while you try old device, and you are like “why I ever thought this shit was comfortable”?
    - Graham J ⭐️
      
      I find the Vive fairly comfortable but am looking forward to the audio strap.
      
      RE weight, I think it has more to do with distribution than absolute weight. Less on the front pressing down on your cheeks is key whereas extra weight on top, such as from the strap and cable, are less important.
      
      Glad to see they’re making improvements – assuming they are improvements. Hopefully the weight doesn’t come from cheaper/more porous/less durable materials.
    - KuraIthys
      
      It’s really rather relative. I own a rift, and when I tried a Vive at a gaming convention it struck me how bulky and heavy the thing actually was.
      Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a disaster by any means, and the Vive is comfortable enough.
      But the Rift is still better for comfort and wearability. (And I don’t mean with specs. I mean from practical reality.)
      
      Though the biggest comfort problem I had with the Vive wasn’t weight, it was heat. The thing caused more heat and my face got sweaty and hot. (This happens with the rift too, but much less easily.)
      
      Meanwhile I have a FOVE headset here, alongside my rift (it needs a lot of driver work, but that’s a side issue), and it was REALLY heavy and unbalanced.
      Like, it’s not weight. It’s balance. The weight is too far forward away from the face, and this strains your neck.
      
      You get used to it, but when you have multiple headsets you choose to use on a daily basis it’s very apparent how big of a difference that can make.
      
      The Fove headset has it’s own issues, but it’s design has more in common with the way the Vive is built than with the way the Rift is built.
      
      My experience with the Vive tells me the Fove headset is considerably less refined and more awkward, but the basic design problems of both are roughly the same.
      
      Try both a Vive and a Rift for some time and tell me you can still say with a straight face that they’re about the same.
      
      Don’t get me wrong, The Vive is the better headset overall, but that’s not because of ergonomics, because it loses fairly badly in that regard.
      It’s something you can lay almost entirely at the feet of Valve’s lighthouse system just being an order of magnitude better than the tracking cameras Oculus uses.
      
      And of course the software… And Oculus’s policies on content and exclusives, which is also not so great.
      
      But in terms of ergonomics? I would say the only people that would say the rift isn’t obviously superior to the Vive are those that have never used a rift.
      - Bob
        
        “But in terms of ergonomics? I would say the only people that would say the rift isn’t obviously superior to the Vive are those that have never used a rift.”
        
        Exactly. I think its all subjective according to their personal experiences but making it weigh much less and be more comfortable should never written off for this kind of tech. Besides average sally isn’t ever going to wear the Vive to be used as a daily thing because right now it’s just uncomfortable. Resolution is meh but acceptable; mainly weight is putting me off using it for frequently and for long periods.
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        I tried the Rift, yes its comfort was better, but it was a very marginal issue for me that didn’t really matter. More important to me was the fact that the Rift seemed to have better lenses, that made a much bigger impression on me than any comfort difference. However, I experienced tracking issues which kind of negated it all.
    - Mable Sharkfin
      
      Another idiot…
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        Welcome to my blocklist, useless tool.
      - Ethan James Trombley
        
        There’s a block list!? That’s sweet, negative people are lame. Unintelligent people are worse. He doesn’t even make a point, just says something without backing up his point. Probably didn’t go to college.
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        Actually I have a MSc in Computer Science. If I need to back up the obvious it is clearly you who needs to go back to school! ;D
      - Ethan James Trombley
        
        Ahhh, that explains the lack of communication skills.
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        LMAO, ahem – being a company director as well as head of customer and developer relations for a multi national business requires first rate communication skills. Let me guess, you work in McDonalds?
      - Ethan James Trombley
        
        It also warrants arrogance apparently.
        あなたわばか
        You are a very rude human, it’s pitiful. I’m not upset by you because I know who I am and am satisfied with my life, and no I don’t work at McDonalds I’m just a small business owner aspiring to jump into international relations. I’m only 23 so I have a ways to go but God is good and I’ll follow him. Sorry I was indeed rude to you. I let you get a touch under my skin and that wasn’t right. For that I apologize.
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        LOL, oh look – here I still am :D
  - Kira00
    
    JUST AS IMPORTANT? How about no. Would you rather have twice the resolution or half the weight?
    - Bryan Ischo
      
      I’ll do you one better. I’d rather have 10% better resolution than 90% weight reduction.
      - Mable Sharkfin
        
        Lol what a load of BS
      - Bryan Ischo
        
        As if you have any idea what I’d prefer, moron.
    - Mei Ling
      
      If they’re all equally important then your product would have both things and not make a single compromise because they’re all “equally” important – “equally” being the keyword here buddy.
      - Kira00
        
        Fucking idiot how do you define equality between two completely different attributes? You have to measure it in relative terms.
    - Bob
      
      Oh my god are you serious?? Have you tried wearing the Vive for more than more 20 minutes? It feels like your head is about to collapse. I would rather have them do something to make it weigh like nothing than it looking twice as sharp with what it weighs now.
      - Kira00
        
        I am serious. I’ve owned the Vive sinve release. So yes. It would seem like you are just weak.
      - Bob
        
        Why is it always the little shits that resort to the word weak? Fucking hilarious.
      - Kira00
        
        I am guessing you hear that a lot? Is it because you might be weak?
      - Bob
        
        So defensive kid. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.
      - Kira00
        
        lol
      - Ky
        
        I wore it for 4h yesterday, no issues. I’d rather have a better resolution.
    - Mable Sharkfin
      
      Currently, half the weight – obviously. Double the resolution and no consumer PC will handle the 90hz required for a comfortable experience.
  - Kouki
    
    This. When I tried my friend’s Vive, which she said was the one that was first publicly available, I had no complaint about the image. My only complaint was that it gets really hot and makes you sweat over time, and is heavy (I’m a 4’11” adult so I am not going to grow bigger lol). I’ve even met young kids in the online VR game I’m playing, so I can imagine that this would also benefit them the most, and it is important to take younger generations into consideration of a product which has a bright future ahead for young gamers who will grow along with it into adulthood, just as adults today did with the old game consoles.
- Me
  
  I guess they keep this for the “real” next version.
  - brandon9271
    
    How does this sound:
    
    “Introducing Vive: Special Edition!
    Features include, 15% lighter AND… nothing else”
    
    If that sounds dumb it’s because it is.
    - Cl
      
      Vive special edition 15% lighter, new headstrap and new lighthouses would be nice. Maybe with knuckles controllers and wireless.
      - Me
        
        Touché.
- Fanatoli Guyoff
  
  Why, my overclocked i7 and overclocked 1080ti cant even run elite dangerous or project cars, or eve valk, or any of the other AAA vr games in high settings. What’s the point of bringing the vive higher when the PC hardware cant even support it yet.
  - Bryan Ischo
    
    Foveated rendering.
    - Daniel Gochez
      
      The way HMD displays render right now can be improved, not only with Foveated rendering but with a direct lens distortion correction, Now it has render to the image, then distort it before it’s being displayed, so it is in essence two passes. But even having a much clearer image (borrow a GearVR and go to it’s store to see what I mean by a really clear image) There is still a bit of “screendoor” effect caused by the native resolution (and flavor) of the displays, So yeah increased resolution will also help.
  - 4wheeln
    
    My AMD 8350 and 1070 card runs everything just fine. Including Project Cars.
    - Fanatoli Guyoff
      
      I doubt you could even get max settings and 1.5x super sampling with that. It probably looks blurry as shit
      - Xron
        
        1.5 ss = equals to 3840*1620 -.-…. you want to get 90hz with this res and at ultra? ;p
      - JaGimp
        
        First, sorry for my english. 45FPS is enought due to Time Warp Reprojection(it’s called sth like that)
        Also, no one have to have evrything on max, time where games on low/medium were loolking like shit, already pass. Now ultra/max setting are more for people who want spend aditional 50% of processing power, to get 10% in “ghrapic”.
      - J.C.
        
        Aaaand the other shoe drops. You COULD run those games just fine, EXCEPT you somehow think you can run them at insane SS levels as well. Complaining that you can’t run them at “medium settings” on a ti, then knocking a 1070 for not doing max settings + 1.5 means you left something out of your original equation.
        
        Neither PCars nor ED was designed with VR in mind, and Valkyrie runs just fine as long as you don’t try, I dunno, ridiculous SS. PCars can bring a top-end PC to its knees on a regular monitor…we’re talking sub-30 FPS in rain. Those graphic settings weren’t made for VR, they were made for the prettiest screenshots possible at any cost. PCars 2 is supposedly being made with VR in mind from the start, so maybe it won’t stutter when you get near grandstands like the original.
        
        As for looking “blurry as shit”, that’s going to happen when a developer builds games with desktop-level artwork being displayed on a FAR lower-res device. To combat this, some devs have gone to sharper color palettes and simpler texturing. Arcade Saga and Racket NX (similar games and visual style) look stellar and run like champs on even base-level hardware. Same with Incredible Contraption and Job Simulator, due to visual choices made specifically to suit the medium. The Lab doesn’t really count, that shit is straight up voodoo, being streamed back in time from a future where “video cards” are a quaint memory.
  - Tom Daigon
    
    Sounds like your system has issues. I play Elite for 6 hours a day on a Falcon Tiki I7 system using a 1080 gpu.
- Brian
  
  and what gpu is going to drive 4k screens with 1.4x off screen rendering?
  - RFC_VR
    
    Volta with Foveated rendering will come close
  - D3Pixel
    
    Many graphics cards will be able to do this with foveated rendering. Based on the gains reported that should be no problem. You also need eye tracking for this to work. Also, when drivers can make dual cards render one screen per eye exclusively for VR, much like multi-monitor gaming then it will be available for even cheaper multi card systems. I have been waiting myself for 4k or better yet 8k (2 x 4k) rather than buying into Vive/Rift over my old DK2.
    - D3Pixel
      
      For VR SLI reference: https://developer.nvidia.com/vrworks/graphics/vrsli
  - Graham J ⭐️
    
    With 4k resolution you wouldn’t need SS.
- Daemon Hunt
  
  I agree, weight isn’t the problem, although I look forward to the Vive Deluxe Audio Strap in terms of distributing the weight better, as well as the thinner cable. Of course I’m going to go wireless when the add-on accessories are being shipped to the public. Specifically, it’s the display that affects me, I get tired eyes and a slight headache after a while. It’s probably going to be a year or two at least for the displays to improve – particularly resolution and convergence – I think these are the two major problems to be solved as soon as possible.
- Mable Sharkfin
  
  Idiot. Clearly no CLUE re current GPU restrictions, supersampling, 90hz requirement etc…
  - Tom Daigon
    
    Jerk Off. Clearly an asshat.
OgreTactics

Some build/components economies is good. But it doesn’t change the relative crap that headset is.

Waiting for late 2018 to release a new headset and it’ll already be too late. However I can’t wait to see what HTC is going to do for a smartphone + mobile Vive.
- Xron
  
  Wtf do you mean? o.O
  Mobile Vr is crap atm, maybe it will reach todays REAL vr headset level after 5 years, though I doubt it…. it lacks power…
NooYawker

I don’t think I want slimmer wires, I’ve ran over them multiple times with my chair. I need the extra protection.
Colin Parnell

I am realising this has to be very subjective then, as I have read the comments below, but personally cannot wear it for long without constantly adjusting the headset for comfort. I bought a PSVR and loved the comfort of it and could wear it for hours, except the content was not there so I sold it (plus its not as good obviously) but I will instantly buy the new VIVE strap as it is very similar to the PSVR one.
Jack Liddon

Never thought the Vive was too heavy. I have more issues with the Vive and Oculus being too sweaty and fogging up my lenses. Of course, it could just be that I’m a sweaty meat sack and no tech can help me with that.
OkinKun

LMAO.. yeah, good job HTC.. beat the Rift by 2 grams.. Pretty obvious what you were shooting for. Still crap for comfort until you make the rigid head-strap the default setup. And how much does THAT make it weigh then? lol
Meanwhile, I’ve probably made my Rift significantly more than 2 grams lighter, by simply changing the headphones to Oculus earbuds. ;P
lol good comparison: http://i.imgur.com/CdIdCFE.png
- Caven
  
  Weight becomes a lot less of an issue with a proper head strap. In fact, extra weight is beneficial in that case. It works quite well for the PSVR, which had enough weight at the rear that it counterbalances the headset. The result is that despite being the heaviest of the major tethered headsets, it has zero weight pressing on and hanging from a person’s face.
  - OkinKun
    
    Yeah.. basically the reason why HTC designed their new rigid strap.. and why they should make it their new standard.. But they aren’t so far. Not even dropping their price a little. lol
  - RFC_VR
    
    I spent a lot of time riding motos and dh mountain bikes, wearing moto-x full face helmets. Typically 1.5kg, you get used to having an extra weight after your body quickly accomodates by muscle development. Helmets are very well fitted (for safety/to function) and can be comfortable to wear for long periods even in hot climates if well vented.
    
    An ergonomically well designed HMD with good ventilation could be heavier but much more supportive, and comfortable for long sessions
    
    depending on your climate where you live and use VR, the Vive can fog easily, which is more pronounced if using thin aftermarket face cushions
    
    an active, but whisper quiet cooling system on the HMD could be fantastic
Dllemm

This story is a day late (anniversary sale yesterday), but still interesting
McGamerBadger

How about make them 15% cheaper while you’re at it.
Kaleo Kripton

Next generation plz
Owen Prescott

I’m developing a game for VR so I spent lots of time wearing the headset and I have never found the weight difficult or even uncomfortable. I can’t imagine a child thinking it’s to heavy so I wonder how people are struggling with it.

Update the screens on the old headset and I would buy, everything else in my opinion is just decoration at this point.
Owen Prescott

Guys here’s a test. Find your HTC Vive and pick it up by the strap.

Seriously it’s not much heavier than a pair of headphones. I think weight is just a vanity spec for Oculus comparisons.
Mable Sharkfin

For backing the industry’s most accurate professional tracking technology that requires no LOS, at a small fraction of the current proposed Pro launch cost? LMFAO you really ARE an idiot! :D
- Ethan James Trombley
  
  You will never see your STEM which is inferior to Vive Tracking.
  - Mable Sharkfin
    
    LOL yet AGAIN you demonstrate your complete lack of understanding. I own a Vive, I have used a STEM – the STEM is completely superior and required no line of sight. The Vive lighthouse system is fraught with issues. And even if Sixense went under, I use a credit card for ALL Kickstarter purchases – instant refund protection under Section 75 for 5 years.
    
    Idiot…