HTC this month has reduced the price of its Vive Pro VR headset by $200, bringing the pricetag of the HMD down to $599. The VR headset is now slightly more expensive than the original Vive and is cheaper than the Vive Cosmos, which started sales last October.

HTC’s Vive Pro released roughly two years after the original Vive and while it was not a full generational update, it featured a considerably higher combined resolution of 2880x1600 at 90 Hz refresh rate, as well as a revamped design for increased comfort. Originally priced at $799, HTC’s Vive Pro VR headset was aimed at a mix of professional VR developers and users who needed a more robust headset with more support options, as well as virtual reality enthusiasts who demanded the best experience possible.

After the release of the Vive Cosmos headset last October, Vive Pro’s appeal naturally decreased. The newer model offers similar image quality, a built-in inside-out 6-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) positional tracking system, and numerous other innovations, but at a $100 lower price point (when compared to the Vive Pro). With its price cut, HTC seems to be addressing this inconsistency.

For those who already have Vive controllers and SteamVR Base Station 1.0/2.0 tracking devices, the Vive Pro still makes a lot of sense, so HTC will keep selling it for $599 for a while. Meanwhile, the top-end kit with two Base Station 2.0s and two controllers is priced at $1,199.

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Source: HTC

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  • austinsguitar - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    just the headset alone. nothing else. is 600 dollars now. YOU CAN'T EVEN USE THE THING at 600 dollars. this is still just as dumb as when it released :)
  • jordanclock - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    That's a very VERY weird opinion to have on a tech news website that regularly covers components with similar or higher MSRPs that are equally useless on their own.
  • austinsguitar - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    do you think so? why on gods green earth would someone buy this over say.... a valve index? That headset is 100 dollars less. Sure this has full wireless capabilities but everyone i know with one of these things wished they would have waited a little and got a index. And i know way too many people with this thing(vr chat rooms lol). there are use cases but it's kinda a dead product.
  • timecop1818 - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    Because this has proper room-scale tracking. Because most people buying this already own original vive and want to upgrade, reusing everything else. Because occulus^Wfacebook shit is a non-starter. Because valve index doesn't have room tracking.
  • antonkochubey - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    Can't you use HTC Vive basestations with Index to get room tracking? It's an additional expense, sure, but I was convinced they'd work together.
  • JKflipflop98 - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    Index uses lighthouses. It does indeed have full room tracking.
  • austinsguitar - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    valve index also uses vive 1 lighthouses for headset support and controllers... and full room tracking... so...yea...idk aboot that m8.
  • jordanclock - Monday, January 20, 2020 - link

    "This is expensive compared to the competition" is a completely different statement than "it is $600 and useless on its own". They're all useless on their own, except the Oculus Go.
  • Tams80 - Saturday, January 18, 2020 - link

    Please do point us to a product of similar quality that is significantly cheaper then.

    You can't because this stuff is still expensive to produce and there's lots of R&d investment to recoup.
  • cyrand - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - link

    Valve Index is $100 cheaper and for original HTC vive owners just like the pro you can still use your original base station and controllers.

    I own the original HTC Vive since 2016 and neither for the price worth the update for me yet but if I was going to update just the headset the Index would be the easy choice at this moment.

    I am tempted to get the index controllers for my Vive before Half life Alyx come out. Still undecided on that since cost pretty high for controllers $225 ($279-$53.99 pre order price of Alyx).

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