The HTC Vive is due to land on people’s doorsteps from April 5th, and our in depth review is on its way then too. In the mean time, here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect to get in the box to help tide you over.
It’s hard to fathom that the HTC Vive, the first flagship virtual reality system to be launched for Valve’s SteamVR platform, was unveiled just 12 short months ago. And yet, on April 5th, Valve’s bid to bring virtual reality to the masses will arrive on people’s doorsteps after pre-orders went live on February 29th.
Road to VR‘s review unit landed earlier in the week, and we thought you’d like a closer look at what you’ll be getting in the box when it arrives. The HTC Vive’s launch price was considerably higher (Vive is $799 versus Rift’s $599 minus taxes and shipping) than the Oculus Rift due to the addition of included motion controllers and two Lighthouse tracking base stations, but seeing the amount of kit you get in the final, sizable consumer package may still surprise you.
The external of the HTC Vive consumer edition box in all its glory. It’s all about blacks with flashes of cyan, with a tastefully spot varnished Vive headset the only visual clue as to what’s in the box. Also note the nice spot varnish detailing on the Cyan inner box. In comparison to the consumer Oculus Rift, there’s no outer sleeve adorned with clues of the contents, it’s altogether a more muted design. (Note: iPhone for scale, please don’t write in to complain you didn’t get one)
Lift the lid and you’re greeted by a large quick start guide, but the kind you’re actually likely to find extremely useful as you embark on your room-scale set up journey. With that removed, the capacious interior reveals the stars of the SteamVR hardware show: 2 Lighthouse laser base stations, 2 wireless SteamVR controllers and the bagged Vive headset and cabling.
The more you dig, the more packages you find to open – it’s a real treasure chest of gear – until eventually you’re left with an impressive array of power adapters, cables, breakout box, headset and brackets looking something like this.
With all the equipment out of the box, lets take a closer look at the consumer Vive headset.
Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek at the consumer edition Vive, we’ll of course be back with our full review and some other goodies on April 5th. Stay tuned.