I am a tech junky and have this unhealthy fixation on buying the newest tech available as soon as it comes to the market. Sometimes this backfires badly and sometimes it actually meets my expectation.

WHAT IS THE VIVE?

I was one of the first adopters of the Vive. First off let me explain what the Vive is…It is a complete Virtual Reality solution for a maximum space of 15×15 feet. It comes with a headset, 2 controllers and 2 cameras. The retail price at the time I purchased was $799 with 3 free games. The Vive is not your standard VR system but is intended to offer a full room scale experience (meaning you walk around the VR environment). This experience is intended to be far more immersive.

The headset comes with two screens each at 1080 x 1200 for a combined resolution of 2160 x 1200 and an aspect ration of 9:5, the screens run at 90Hz.

The hand controllers work by tracking your real hands and offering a wide array of options (such as becoming guns, bow and arrow, sword, wand, or even just… hands).

The two cameras are mounted either on a wall or a tripod and placed at a maximum of 15 feet apart and track your actual location in the space.

I won’t spend any longer going over the specs. There are lots of resources available online breaking down the actual numbers and technology behind the Vive, what I find more relevant is the experience, comfort and value.

Experience

This is the big one… is the Vive truly immersive? The answer is… YES!… insanely immersive. I have been using the Vive for a few months now and in that time I have yet to get bored of it in any way shape or form nor have I lost the WOW factor that originally happened the first time I tried it. Initially when it came out content was limited but the experience was so new it didn’t matter. You really feel transported to a new dimension. The closest thing I can compare it to is being on the holodeck of the enterprise in Star Trek or being sucked in to some kind of hybrid animated world like in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (one of my all time favorites).

The range of content that has come out has also become tremendous. If you enjoy ping pong there is a simulator that is so realistic that it’s almost more fun than the real thing. There is a pool game connects you with people worldwide in a virtual bar to play and interact. That’s just touching the surface, whether you want to transport yourself in to a horror zombie environment, freak fairy tale, robot Armageddon shooter, spaceship adventurer, Walking across a plank thousands of feet up and then jumping off!!! etc… every single game and experience you can think of already has been developed and more and more are coming at better quality every day. The potential here is unbelievable not just for games but for experiences (climbing Everest, being on the moon, Traveling the universe, being underwater) but also for education and medical industries as well. I can not stress enough how incredible the Vive is.

I have brought over so many friends to try it at this point and the reaction is always the same. None of them even knew this kind of technology was available for home use.

The only downside is the wire attached to your headset (it is not yet wireless) can get tangled but it is quite long and after about 5 minutes of getting used to it you become aware of it and know how to avoid it. They are already in development for an add on that actually makes the headset wireless. The other issue is the play space is limited to whatever room you have available so if you are in a small space the Vive may not be right for you. I suggest minimum 10 feet by 10 feet for a fully immersive experience.

Overall I would say the experience of the Vive is truly a 10 on 10 and that I can not think of anything comparable (other than Oculus with the cameras and hand controllers).

Comfort

The Vive is not the most comfortable device but it is also not that uncomfortable. It really depends on how you adjust it on your face. I have tried the Oculus and it was smaller and lighter but the Vive seemed to offer a better Field of View because it seems to be taller. The headset never weight down my head but after around 2 hours of steady use I did feel my nose getting squished and my head quite hot. I would say if you limit the use of this device to under 2 hour sessions (which you probably should anyway) than it is not bad at all but after that amount of time it does start to get heavy and hot. The wire is a necessity but also get’s in the way of the overall experience.

I would have to give the Vive a 6.5 on 10 for comfort especially compared to other devices I have used.

Value

There are other headsets out there but not many that offer this kind of full package. The Oculus now does in fact have cameras and hand controllers and I know of a few others but they all come out to close to the same amount when comparing complete packages. The real question is “Do I want VR bad enough to pay 800 bucks?”… to me the value is there and it is worth it. There are cheaper options such as using your S7 Edge with their headset (which I own as well) but the experience is honestly not the same at all. I would say if you are interested in the Vive and can afford it than it is definitely worth the $800.

I give the Vive a ranking of 9 on 10 for value based on the fact that if you want a truly immersive VR experience that is the price you will pay regardless of which headset you go with.

I hope that helps you make a decision about the Vive. I see a ton of potential with this device and am looking forward to all the amazing content that will come out this upcoming year!