The HTC Vive has been aging gracefully over the last two years, but there's room for improvement in terms of its audio and display capabilities.
That's where the Vive Pro comes in.
This virtual reality headset has sharper screens, high-quality built-in headphones, dual outward-facing cameras, and a more comfortable and secure design.
It's better than the Vive in every way, except for one major flaw: Its $799 price tag doesn't include the base stations and motion controllers it requires to function.
A bundle is available for an additional $300, but that means you're spending more than $1,000 before even considering your PC, which better be pretty powerful if you want to use the Vive Pro.
Headset
The Vive Pro looks like an overbuilt, navy blue version of the original Vive.
It has the same general shape, with a rounded, pock-covered visor marked with a series of reflective nodes for the external sensors to pick up.
The visor is now equipped with two cameras instead of one, for outward-facing 3D-tracking stereoscopic vision like on Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
Rather than a 3.5mm headphone jack for use with your own headphones, the Vive Pro has built-in on-ear headphones similar to the Oculus Rift.
The headphones are higher quality than the Rift's, with faux-leather earpads and helpful controls like a volume rocker on the left earpiece and a microphone mute button on the right.
They also sound a bit better, though apart from completely replacing the headband with a non-audio version, there are no alternate options like Rift's in-ear Oculus Rift Earphones.
The Pro feels more heavy-duty, with thicker plastic hardware for the visor's facial mask, the mounting points where the headband attaches to the visor, and the rear head support on the headband.
The horizontal part of the headband is supported by blue plastic and well padded, particularly on the back part you can tighten against your head using a dial.
A vertical strap runs from the top of the visor to the top of the rear support, and is adjustable with hook-and-loop fasteners to hold the headset steady.
Dual 3.5-inch 1,440-by-1,600 AMOLED screens drive the Vive Pro's display system, sporting the same 90Hz refresh rate and 110-degree viewing angle of the original Vive's 3.6-inch 1,080-by-1,200 AMOLED screens.
The result is a significantly sharper picture with a remarkably high density of 615 pixels per inch.
It's the same jump you'd get from the Oculus Rift, which has the same display numbers as the Vive.
Link Box
Like the Vive, the Vive Pro connects to your PC using a Link Box, a small device that serves as the connection hub.
The headset itself connects to the front of the Link Box through a proprietary connector at the end of a length of cable hardwired to the top left corner of the visor.
The front panel of the Link Box also has a round blue button that toggles power to the headset, indicated by a green LED on the top.
The back of the box holds a micro USB port and a mini DisplayPort for connecting to your computer with the included cables, and a barrel connector port for the included power adapter.
The Link Box doesn't have an HDMI port, which might be an issue depending on your PC.
We were unable to get the Vive Pro working with our usual VR test system, a Razer Blade Pro notebook, using a mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI cable.
Instead we had to find another test system with a DisplayPort connection.
Even if your PC is otherwise VR-ready and fulfills all of the other technical requirements for the Vive, you should make sure you have a DisplayPort or mini DisplayPort (with adapter).
Base Stations and Controllers
The Vive Pro uses the same two external base stations and the same two motion controllers as the original Vive.
When I say the same, I mean you better have a Vive on hand so you can use its sensors and controllers if you don't want to spend another $300 on the Vive Pro.
Despite the headset's $800 price tag, it doesn't come with its own sensors or motion controllers like the $500 Vive does.
HTC announced a SteamVR 1.0 tracking bundle for $299 that includes two base stations and two motion controllers, cutting the a la carte price of those accessories significantly.
It's still a pretty big add-on for an already expensive headset, though.
While we still prefer the Oculus Touch for its ergonomics and more conventional gaming controls, the Vive motion controllers are functional and reliable.
Setup
The setup process for the Vive Pro is identical to the original Vive.
Place the base stations apart from each other in your room, facing the center of your play area.
Plug them in and make sure the LEDs on the base stations indicate they're synced.
Plug the headset into the Link Box, then plug the Link Box into your PC with USB and DisplayPort, and plug in the power adapter.
Charge the motion controllers with micro USB cables.
Finally, install the Viveport software and SteamVR (if you don't already have Steam installed, the Viveport installer will walk you through installing that as well).
See How We Test VR Headsets
With everything plugged in and installed, pressing the button on the Link Box and opening Viveport VR will load SteamVR and the headset will start displaying a VR environment.
It will hopefully prompt you to set up your room, but if it doesn't you can easily go through room setup through the SteamVR interface.
The room setup walks you through identifying the base stations and motion controllers, drawing a boundary around your play area using one of the motion controllers to set up a glowing border that appears in your VR experience if you get too close to leaving the cleared space.
You can also set up SteamVR to only offer a stationary sitting/standing VR experience without a boundary, but you'll have to be careful of not bumping into your desk or a wall if you use it.
If the software doesn't walk you through pairing the motion controllers, you can pair them while the Viveport and SteamVR software are up by holding the two buttons above and below each controller's touchpad.
VR Experience
I tested a handful of different games on the Vive Pro, and was fairly impressed.
The higher resolution of the screens makes the games appear sharper than similar demos I tried with the original Vive, and the on-ear headphones provide powerful audio that blocks out outside noise quite well.
Star Wars: Droid Repair Bay is a short, free game based on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
It puts you in the role of a droid mechanic on a Rebel cruiser and walks you through fixing different BB-8-style droids by guiding them to a pedestal, opening them up, replacing parts, and guiding them around the repair bay.
It looks nice and crisp on the Vive Pro, and the motion controllers work as intended for manipulating the droid electronics.
Silicon Valley: Inside The Hacker Hostel is another free experience based on the show Silicon Valley, putting you in the shared living space of the shows' main characters.
It's a surprisingly well-realized, detailed space with some simple physics games and objectives, like drilling holes in hard drives and finding notes.
The motion controllers aren't quite as precise as I would like here, especially when manipulating the power drill, but everything else about the game is fun and engaging.
I also tried VRChat.
The software can be used without a headset, which is part of the reason it's so popular.
It's a fascinating experience, wading through different worlds made by users appealing to varying ratios of nostalgia and trolling.
Graphics look crisp and clear if relatively simple, and voice chat comes through the headphones easily.
All of these experiences feel very similar to other VR experiences on the HTC Vive, because effectively that's what the Vive Pro has to offer.
It's the Vive, with the same motion-sensing capabilities and general features, just with a much nicer display and sound system.
The crisp view of the droid repair bay and hacker hostel are a bit nicer than other scenes on the Vive, but it's not a huge leap in clarity that makes everything suddenly seem more realistic or engaging because of the hardware.
It looks and sounds better, but not by a massive amount, and the headset doesn't really try to do more than that.
Power for a Price
The HTC Vive Pro is a very impressive tethered VR headset.
It's nicely built and comfortable, and its higher resolution and built-in headphones are notable upgrades over the original Vive.
However, those upgrades feel relatively incremental, and the Vive Pro doesn't give a sense of a huge leap in quality over the Vive or Oculus Rift.
More importantly, its $800 price tag doesn't include the base stations and motion controllers that the $500 Vive come with, meaning if you don't already have a Vive you need to spend at least $300 on the SteamVR tracking bundle to get your Vive Pro up and running, bringing the total cost to $1,100.
On a technical level, the Vive Pro is better than the Vive in every way.
On a value level, though, it is bafflingly expensive.
Since the Vive itself is still a very solid VR experience, we have to recommend just getting the regular Vive and leaving the Vive Pro until it either comes down in price or includes the expensive accessories that it requires and that the Vive already has.
And if you want an accessible way to try the high-quality experience of tethered VR without worrying about your computer specs, the PlayStation VR with a PlayStation 4 or PS4 Pro remains our Editors' Choice for its ease of use and variety of content, even if it's a step or two behind the Vive and Vive Pro in terms of power.
Pros
Crisp, high-resolution graphics.
Good sound.
Solid, comfortable build.
The Bottom Line
The HTC Vive Pro is the most technically impressive tethered VR headset we've tested, but it doesn't offer enough over the standard model to justify the steep increase in price.
The HTC Vive has been aging gracefully over the last two years, but there's room for improvement in terms of its audio and display capabilities.
That's where the Vive Pro comes in.
This virtual reality headset has sharper screens, high-quality built-in headphones, dual outward-facing cameras, and a more comfortable and secure design.
It's better than the Vive in every way, except for one major flaw: Its $799 price tag doesn't include the base stations and motion controllers it requires to function.
A bundle is available for an additional $300, but that means you're spending more than $1,000 before even considering your PC, which better be pretty powerful if you want to use the Vive Pro.
Headset
The Vive Pro looks like an overbuilt, navy blue version of the original Vive.
It has the same general shape, with a rounded, pock-covered visor marked with a series of reflective nodes for the external sensors to pick up.
The visor is now equipped with two cameras instead of one, for outward-facing 3D-tracking stereoscopic vision like on Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
Rather than a 3.5mm headphone jack for use with your own headphones, the Vive Pro has built-in on-ear headphones similar to the Oculus Rift.
The headphones are higher quality than the Rift's, with faux-leather earpads and helpful controls like a volume rocker on the left earpiece and a microphone mute button on the right.
They also sound a bit better, though apart from completely replacing the headband with a non-audio version, there are no alternate options like Rift's in-ear Oculus Rift Earphones.
The Pro feels more heavy-duty, with thicker plastic hardware for the visor's facial mask, the mounting points where the headband attaches to the visor, and the rear head support on the headband.
The horizontal part of the headband is supported by blue plastic and well padded, particularly on the back part you can tighten against your head using a dial.
A vertical strap runs from the top of the visor to the top of the rear support, and is adjustable with hook-and-loop fasteners to hold the headset steady.
Dual 3.5-inch 1,440-by-1,600 AMOLED screens drive the Vive Pro's display system, sporting the same 90Hz refresh rate and 110-degree viewing angle of the original Vive's 3.6-inch 1,080-by-1,200 AMOLED screens.
The result is a significantly sharper picture with a remarkably high density of 615 pixels per inch.
It's the same jump you'd get from the Oculus Rift, which has the same display numbers as the Vive.
Link Box
Like the Vive, the Vive Pro connects to your PC using a Link Box, a small device that serves as the connection hub.
The headset itself connects to the front of the Link Box through a proprietary connector at the end of a length of cable hardwired to the top left corner of the visor.
The front panel of the Link Box also has a round blue button that toggles power to the headset, indicated by a green LED on the top.
The back of the box holds a micro USB port and a mini DisplayPort for connecting to your computer with the included cables, and a barrel connector port for the included power adapter.
The Link Box doesn't have an HDMI port, which might be an issue depending on your PC.
We were unable to get the Vive Pro working with our usual VR test system, a Razer Blade Pro notebook, using a mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI cable.
Instead we had to find another test system with a DisplayPort connection.
Even if your PC is otherwise VR-ready and fulfills all of the other technical requirements for the Vive, you should make sure you have a DisplayPort or mini DisplayPort (with adapter).
Base Stations and Controllers
The Vive Pro uses the same two external base stations and the same two motion controllers as the original Vive.
When I say the same, I mean you better have a Vive on hand so you can use its sensors and controllers if you don't want to spend another $300 on the Vive Pro.
Despite the headset's $800 price tag, it doesn't come with its own sensors or motion controllers like the $500 Vive does.
HTC announced a SteamVR 1.0 tracking bundle for $299 that includes two base stations and two motion controllers, cutting the a la carte price of those accessories significantly.
It's still a pretty big add-on for an already expensive headset, though.
While we still prefer the Oculus Touch for its ergonomics and more conventional gaming controls, the Vive motion controllers are functional and reliable.
Setup
The setup process for the Vive Pro is identical to the original Vive.
Place the base stations apart from each other in your room, facing the center of your play area.
Plug them in and make sure the LEDs on the base stations indicate they're synced.
Plug the headset into the Link Box, then plug the Link Box into your PC with USB and DisplayPort, and plug in the power adapter.
Charge the motion controllers with micro USB cables.
Finally, install the Viveport software and SteamVR (if you don't already have Steam installed, the Viveport installer will walk you through installing that as well).
See How We Test VR Headsets
With everything plugged in and installed, pressing the button on the Link Box and opening Viveport VR will load SteamVR and the headset will start displaying a VR environment.
It will hopefully prompt you to set up your room, but if it doesn't you can easily go through room setup through the SteamVR interface.
The room setup walks you through identifying the base stations and motion controllers, drawing a boundary around your play area using one of the motion controllers to set up a glowing border that appears in your VR experience if you get too close to leaving the cleared space.
You can also set up SteamVR to only offer a stationary sitting/standing VR experience without a boundary, but you'll have to be careful of not bumping into your desk or a wall if you use it.
If the software doesn't walk you through pairing the motion controllers, you can pair them while the Viveport and SteamVR software are up by holding the two buttons above and below each controller's touchpad.
VR Experience
I tested a handful of different games on the Vive Pro, and was fairly impressed.
The higher resolution of the screens makes the games appear sharper than similar demos I tried with the original Vive, and the on-ear headphones provide powerful audio that blocks out outside noise quite well.
Star Wars: Droid Repair Bay is a short, free game based on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
It puts you in the role of a droid mechanic on a Rebel cruiser and walks you through fixing different BB-8-style droids by guiding them to a pedestal, opening them up, replacing parts, and guiding them around the repair bay.
It looks nice and crisp on the Vive Pro, and the motion controllers work as intended for manipulating the droid electronics.
Silicon Valley: Inside The Hacker Hostel is another free experience based on the show Silicon Valley, putting you in the shared living space of the shows' main characters.
It's a surprisingly well-realized, detailed space with some simple physics games and objectives, like drilling holes in hard drives and finding notes.
The motion controllers aren't quite as precise as I would like here, especially when manipulating the power drill, but everything else about the game is fun and engaging.
I also tried VRChat.
The software can be used without a headset, which is part of the reason it's so popular.
It's a fascinating experience, wading through different worlds made by users appealing to varying ratios of nostalgia and trolling.
Graphics look crisp and clear if relatively simple, and voice chat comes through the headphones easily.
All of these experiences feel very similar to other VR experiences on the HTC Vive, because effectively that's what the Vive Pro has to offer.
It's the Vive, with the same motion-sensing capabilities and general features, just with a much nicer display and sound system.
The crisp view of the droid repair bay and hacker hostel are a bit nicer than other scenes on the Vive, but it's not a huge leap in clarity that makes everything suddenly seem more realistic or engaging because of the hardware.
It looks and sounds better, but not by a massive amount, and the headset doesn't really try to do more than that.
Power for a Price
The HTC Vive Pro is a very impressive tethered VR headset.
It's nicely built and comfortable, and its higher resolution and built-in headphones are notable upgrades over the original Vive.
However, those upgrades feel relatively incremental, and the Vive Pro doesn't give a sense of a huge leap in quality over the Vive or Oculus Rift.
More importantly, its $800 price tag doesn't include the base stations and motion controllers that the $500 Vive come with, meaning if you don't already have a Vive you need to spend at least $300 on the SteamVR tracking bundle to get your Vive Pro up and running, bringing the total cost to $1,100.
On a technical level, the Vive Pro is better than the Vive in every way.
On a value level, though, it is bafflingly expensive.
Since the Vive itself is still a very solid VR experience, we have to recommend just getting the regular Vive and leaving the Vive Pro until it either comes down in price or includes the expensive accessories that it requires and that the Vive already has.
And if you want an accessible way to try the high-quality experience of tethered VR without worrying about your computer specs, the PlayStation VR with a PlayStation 4 or PS4 Pro remains our Editors' Choice for its ease of use and variety of content, even if it's a step or two behind the Vive and Vive Pro in terms of power.
Pros
Crisp, high-resolution graphics.
Good sound.
Solid, comfortable build.
The Bottom Line
The HTC Vive Pro is the most technically impressive tethered VR headset we've tested, but it doesn't offer enough over the standard model to justify the steep increase in price.
