VR HMD Upgraded: VIVE Pro 2

I was an early doubter turned early adopter of virtual reality gaming. I really enjoyed the HTC Vive and it has been my sole VR head mounted display for the past 5+ years. When Vive Pro and the Valve Index that came after it showed up later on, they were not compelling enough of an upgrade for me at the time because I feel that I needed to spend more time in VR to justify an upgrade. Last year, I decided to get the Index Controller while still sticking with the original Vive. Now that I am ready, I regretted that decision because to buy an Index HMD these days require you to buy it bundled with accessories via Steam.

My library of VR games has grown substantially over the years.

Since the individual unit has not been available forever now, I had to consider other alternatives. I narrowed my choices down to the HTC Vive Pro 2 or the HP Reverb G2. The latter only because of its reasonable price and its high-resolution display even though pairing it with the Index Controllers, which is the preferable way to play VR for me these days, would require some extra steps. I searched for opinions about the two HMDs around the Internet and for a while, I found myself trapped in a spiral of negative impressions, which did point to some valid concerns, namely the binocular overlap issue for the Vive Pro 2 where images between the left and right screens are not properly aligned with one another and tracking inaccuracies with the Reverb G2. Balancing those out with happier experiences however did convince me to go with the Vive Pro 2, and now that I have used it myself, I am very happy with the upgrade.

The Vive Pro 2 combines the Pro's dual blue camera mid-section with the original Vive's color.

I use the extreme setting of 4896 x 2448 @ 120Hz and immediately noticed how sharp everything looks when I landed on SteamVR's Home space. There is also no visible screen-door effect. I think I can kind of detect stacked pixels if I really look for them against a bright background, but they are virtually non-existent. The view size is wider and larger coming from the original Vive. I have read so many complaints about replacing the original face pad with a thinner one to experience better field of vision but to be frank, with the closest lens position to your eyes, which is adjustable just like the original Vive, I don't think that it's necessary whatsoever. I know that many criticized the Pro 2 usage of LCD vs OLED, but the colors look vibrant and clear to me so there's no complaints here. I really wasn't looking forward to using the Vive Console on top of SteamVR, which is mandatory for the Pro 2, but they work well together and launching one will activate the other automatically, though it's annoying that you have to shut down the Vive Console independently.  I do like that there is a power button on the new Linkbox so you don't have to unplug the power supply at the end of a VR session. As for the binocular overlap, I have not noticed that in regard to the screen image, but I am seeing some of that with the frames surrounding the lenses. It's something that I also remember seeing in the original Vive and I would stop noticing them while I am focused on the screens and the same thing is happening with the Pro 2. Perhaps it will take some time for my eyes to adjust to the new setup to further help with this.

The Vive Console can be conveniently installed via Steam and it's not as invasive as I thought.

VR gaming may never reach the level of precision and complexity out here on the 2D plane but it's an accomplished format in its own right. With my 5+ years of VR gaming experience, I can say that its strength lies in the rhythm and shooter genres. Sometimes, the best VR games are also the simplest to play while providing fully realized VR environments. Now that I have the Vive Pro 2, I am looking forward to more visually demanding VR games. Playing most VR titles on this thing feels like playing upscaled PlayStation One games on a high-resolution display. I look forward to getting back into Half-Life: Alyx using the Vive Pro 2. I know, I haven't even played that with the new HMD yet: I am just waiting for the mood to strike. If you are an original Vive owner looking to step up your VR setup, there is no doubt that the Vive Pro 2 is worth it.