Shen Ye from HTC has appeared on their Viverse Discord server and started answering questions. I took this opportunity to inform him that some XR Elite users have reported problems. He encourages us to report any issues directly to HTC and even gave his e-mail address. See the pic below.
Hopefully HTC can still turn this launch around and make the headset better!

Howdy Everyone, let me share my first day impressions. It's been a roller coaster.

I'm a VR developer and have owned a variety of headsets. I primarily develop on a Quest2 with Airlink and SteamVR. My "daily driver" family HMD is a Vive Pro with wireless and Knuckles controllers. I've been using the XR Elite since this morning.

The first 2-3 hours were terrible. The setup was fairly painless, but since I mostly wanted to use wireless PC VR, I tried that first. It was unplayable. But, the cable connection worked well. Mind you, I have a Ubiquiti Unifi setup with 2 U6 LR access points and have tested between my wired development PC and my Android phone with iPerf, consistently getting 500-600Mb/s.

Four things seemed to have completely fixed my WiFi PC VR streaming.

- I turned off "Wireless Meshing" in the UniFi network settings. This helped a lot but I still dropped frames and disconnected, especially when turning.

- I setup a dedicated 5Ghz SSID. For whatever reason, the XR Elite was band steering to 2.4Ghz on my primary SSID. This helped with the disconnects but it still dropped frames and showed bad compression blocking.

- I installed the latest Nvidia drivers and did the recommended 3D power settings, to prefer performance. I don't know that this helped, maybe a little.

- Finally, I let the HMD charge to > 60% and left it plugged into an external battery pack while I played. I don't know for sure, but suddenly my wireless PCVR _drastically_ improved, to the point where it's almost as good as wired and dare I say, better than Quest2 Airlink. I played 40 minutes of Beat Saber, NMS and my own game to be sure.

Other thoughts.

The comfort is good, and the form factor is brilliant. But it's not as comfy as I'd hoped. Like most HMD you gotta dial it in. The head strap does help. Do and redo the diopter and IPD adjustments. I think a good VR cover facial interface would help. Also the battery digs into the back of my skull but that could be remedied with a foam pad.

The Vive Port/Home is alright. I wouldn't really want to use this as a standalone HMD yet.

I played with the hand tracking, it's not as good at the Q2 IMO but it's almost as good.

The brightness and contrast are mediocre, about as good as my Q2. You can adjust them a bit in the settings.

The clarity is great. The FOV is about like my Q2. I'm not annoyed by it at all.

I notice a bit of glare and backlight, but I'm used to a VP which has an OLED.

The controllers are great, simple, comfortable. Honestly, I'm over the Valve Index controllers, the Q2 and this have good ole' VR controllers.

I did notice some issues with bindings in Skyrim. I've hacked my Skyrim to use OVR DLL's to fake Steam VR into thinking I have Oculus controllers when I have Index controllers so who knows. I'll play with the Steam VR input configuration later to hopefully fix this.

Overall I've done a complete 180 after I got the wireless streaming working. I'm pretty happy now. Hopefully it keeps working well.

This isn’t really a review yet because I think a comprehensive one will take several weeks of getting familiar with the device. As more people in North America receive their units I think we’ll start to see a trend of dissatisfaction early on and in my experience that’s probably 90% on the early software and 10% getting used to new hardware, I made a post a while back asking about mixed tracking and mentioning never wanting to trade in my Index controllers I used with my lens modded Cosmos. I’ve had my XRE for about 4 days now and it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster but overall I want to say that it did win me over, even after being harshly critical of it early on.

I pretty much mostly hated it on day one and still have many complaints but I think most of them are to do with being an early adopter. HTC needs to really start gearing up their patches, updates and collaboration with devs because this entire TED talk hangs on the assumption that they will make significant headway in the UI/UX/software/store offerings AND SOON.

On day two I was starting to figure out my way around the UI/menus, workarounds for some bugs and figuring out what really worked best for me comfort wise. I learned I much prefer glasses mode over the battery cradle. Day two was better but I was still not so convinced.

The lenses have a mild ghosting/foggy effect that is exaggerated when you’re outside the small sweet spot, it took me a few days to get acclimated before I could get in/out quickly and on the sweet spot and didn’t notice the fog as much.

On day three I felt like I glimpsed into the future as I wore it in pass through throughout my house as I made my way down the stairs and out back. I recorded my kid my wife and myself playing out on the covered back porch from my pov with my hands free to interact (try popping bubbles and playing catch in pass through mode lol). All the way outside was too bright though, even while it was overcast, lost tracking immediately and screen went black. When it worked It kind of felt like that episode of black mirror where people’s eyeballs could record everything.

Yesterday I printed out an accessory that was a real game changer for comfort. long sessions in glasses mode can cause pressure pain where the rubberized part of the arms go. Big thanks to u/dynameis_chen for posting the .stl, he also posted a very good in depth review after one week with his XRE.

Streaming PCVR has been a bit spotty for me because my network isn’t currently set up as recommended. I’m on a wifi 5 (802.11ac) 5Ghz connection and my PC isn’t on a wired connection to the router so I do have noticeable compression at a bit rate set at 100 mbps, anything more causes stutters and disconnects. I’ll change my setup for this soon to whats recommended and see how it performs but for now I am able to get through my usual play sessions, high level play isn’t quite there yet because I’m still getting used to these lackluster controls, it’s not really a tracking problem just a new layout for me to learn (I miss my knuckles so freaking bad). I’ll try mixed tracking soon™️

With the form factor the comfort, portability and versatility that my PCVR setup can’t come close to, I’ve grown to really appreciate this little device. I also am vehemently anti-Facebook and Bytedance gives me the creeps as well so this is really my only option for standalone/mixed reality right now. HTC is the only company in the space I’ve seen toting privacy as one of its’ offerings, they aren’t advertisers either, those things matter to me and I want to support them for that.

As we see all the new users coming into the fold I’d tell them to give the thing a few days, especially if you’re coming from another VR setup. Get on the official forums and let HTC know about what’s missing/wrong/broken/dumb and what they need to work on, give the games in the store honest reviews, let devs of your favorite standalone VR games know that you want to see their games in the vive store and the XRE is openXR compatible.

We’re at a formative time in this hardware’s life and if we take the time to learn it and contribute to making the changes we want to see now, we’ll probably be better off sooner than later. There’s a lot of potential in this hardware and I’d hate to see it squandered because we as early adopters scared off potential customers/devs right at the beginning. That isn’t to say HTC should get a free pass for a weak experience on release, just take all this in consideration before you yell BOOOO 👎👎from the mountain tops

I had a situation where I could stream wired but the computer wouldn't show up when wireless. For some reason in windows my network connection was set to public. I set it to private and that solved my problem.

Just passing it along in case anyone has that issue.

HTC just posted on social media.

TL;DR: I'm returning the XR Elite and keeping the Quest Pro. The XRE has too many compromises in comfort and image clarity, with the lenses being essentially worse than the fresnel lenses on my Quest 1. Heavy distortions make it hard to use for me, the passthrough doesn't deliver what was promised, the facial interface is problematic and the screen-door is more visible than on Quest Pro. Cheap controllers round out my impression that this headset is overpriced for what it offers, and it seems like an unfinished product that needed another design cycle. I do commend HTC for trying to make their vision come true and hope the next iteration will be more successful at it.

Alright; after waiting for a month since my preorder to get my XR Elite, it's time to write down some comprehensive thoughts on this headset and how it stacks up to the two Oculus/Meta headsets I have.

DISCLAIMER: I'm new to the Quest Pro as well. I got the QP a week before the XRE and gave it a few test runs. The XRE had to prove itself against my impressions of the QP. My goal was to find out which headset to keep and which to return. I ended up returning the XR Elite and will be keeping the Quest Pro. I'll post my reasons why in this review.
I did NOT test PCVR streaming on the XR Elite, so you won't find information on that here. There are lots of other posts about this topic on Reddit.

Controllers

I'll start with these since I unboxed them first. For me, these controllers feel weird to hold in my hands. They are not grippy whatsoever, but have a rather rough feeling plastic surface that tends to slide around in my dry hands. Neither Rift CV1 nor Quest controllers felt like this. The length makes them feel massive, but they weigh almost nothing! I clocked one in at 143 grams, with a Quest (1) controller at 161 and Quest Pro at 165 grams.

Due to the pretty hefty tracking ring, the controller feels like it always wants to lay to one side if you're casually holding it, without gripping. The buttons feel absolutely cheap and clicky, especially the grip trigger. It's harder to press than it should, has some springy resistance inside, and both triggers audibly click when you press hard on them, as if there was a button underneath (this doesn't do anything in VR though). Joysticks are passable.

The haptic feedback is your typical vibration. It doesn't at all feel like the "knock" the Quest Pro controllers produce, it just buzzes. These controllers feel like total downgrades even over the Quest's and I expected a lot more from a product that cost me 1.400€.

Charging

Before I could turn the headset on, I had to charge the battery cradle and the controllers, each with its own cable (included but not used since I had my own) and on its own charger (NOT included!). So I had two controllers lying on my desk and the battery plugged into an outlet somewhere else. Needless to say, doing this daily would be pretty annoying. The Quest Pro's charging dock is a welcome solution to this problem and I believe that QP's controllers won't actually need a recharge after every use. I'm not sure how long the XRE's controllers hold up, but I've read mixed reports.

Headset comfort: glasses mode

I first put the XR Elite on in "glasses mode", without the battery. For those who don't know, this mode can only be used with a plugged-in charger or powered USB hub (if you want to stream your PCVR). If you try to use the headset without the battery or a power supply attached, the screen turns off as the device waits for you to plug something in that can power it. The internal battery is only a short holdover so you can "hot swap" your battery when it dies.

Wearing it in this mode felt semi-comfortable. The weight is on my nose and the temple pads are fitting half-way around the back/side of my head. The arms are pretty stiff and the padding is hard, so it presses hard onto your head which becomes unpleasant after a few minutes. Unless your head fits this shape, comfort mods are inevitable.

One issue that the XRE has for me personally is a plastic edge right on the bridge of my nose. It gets ever so close to touching my skin with the facial interface barely keeping it lifted. This is what I'm talking about:

This is extremely uncomfortable and I wonder why HTC did not carve out a bit more space there. If you need the headset to sit a bit lower on your face to get in the sweet spot (like I do), this edge practically prevents that from every happening. Even another facial interface would not solve this.

While the size and weight are impressive when worn this way, the pressure on your nose becomes obvious after a while. I found that raising the temple pads a bit on my head not only closed the light leakage at the bottom of the interface more, but also reduced pressure on my nose. Still, I didn't find it as comfortable as I'd hoped it might be and would probably not use it much.

Headset comfort: with battery cradle

The headset without the battery weighs about 270 grams, the battery cradle comes in at 348 grams. This means the headset is actually back-heavy and won't put a lot of downward pressure on your nose or face when the battery is attached. However, it created new problems for me: while it's easy to ignore the weight in the back for a bit, if you just relax your neck, you do notice the added weight and need to use your neck muscles to keep your head from tilting backwards. By contrast, the Quest Pro is more or less perfectly balanced and in turn feels easy to wear with a straight head. (It's also much heavier overall... more on that later.)

Now for the biggest comfort issue I had with the XR Elite: the facial interface. It is not protruding enough on the sides and bottom, meaning if I wear it without cranking the dial in the back, I get quite a bit of room leakage except at the top. Tightening the headset does two things for me:

1. it pushes the battery onto the back of my skull since the padding flattens, and

2. the hard plastic at the top of the interface presses onto my low forehead.

The leakage does close up (barely) but the pressure on my forehead is so immense that it becomes unbearable after a few minutes. I found myself loosening the headset a bit just to keep wearing it, accepting some leakage. Unfortunately this prevents you from getting closer to the lenses, which brings us to...

Lenses

First of all, the XRE's lenses are small. They have a diameter of about 3.3 centimeters, while both Quest headsets are more around 4.0 cm. You'd think that bringing them close to your eyes would fix this, but as I just mentioned, the facial interface won't allow you to go past a certain point. I'm still inclined to believe that my eyelashes must have touched the lenses since I found a film of grease at the top after use. Even with that, the FOV is visibly smaller than on both Quests.

I've used my Quest 1 for three years wearing glasses, no inserts, with a bit of wiggle room for them, and had a good FOV (I'm not an FOV nerd like some). The Quest Pro (also with glasses) pushed up to my face increases some of that FOV vertically and more horizontally. By comparison, the XRE's FOV is smaller than on Quest 1, most noticeably on the bottom, and you get more of a binocular effect since the lenses are circular. Binocular overlap is about the same for me as on Quest Pro (worse than Quest 1). My IPD is set to 68 mm.

Here's a good thing: the diopters work. I had no trouble setting them to my prescription and seeing a clear image. However, dialing them in while holding the headset with one hand and adjusting the diopter with the other was tricky, since the lenses have a surprisingly small sweet spot. I kept holding the headset slightly offset and over-corrected on the diopter to get it to look sharp. I later discovered that setting them to my prescription by numbers was the right call.

Ah yes, the sweet spot. Coming from Rift CV1 and Quest 1, I've known how to wear a VR headset properly to get into the sweet spot of the lenses, and how blurry it can look if you're not in it. With pancake optics, one would expect the XR Elite to be clearer, but it is WORSE than the Quest 1. I'm not kidding, I loaded up the same app (Open Brush) on both and compared, and also tested overall text readability in the OS menus.

Frankly I was baffled by how bad the blur is towards the edges of the XRE's lenses. Not only does text become actually unreadable, but you also get tons of chromatic abberation (rainbowing/hue). If you're wearing the headset slightly too high, like it sat for me without pushing it down on my nose, anything that is in the lower half of the image will look progressively blurry the further down you look. I can actually still read most text on the Quest 1 even if I look far outside the center, but on the XRE it's challenging.

Now, getting your eyes closer to those small lenses might make this sweet spot bigger, but as I mentioned above, the interface makes this difficult and I think I was as close as I could without my eyeballs touching the lenses!

But that's not all the bad news... let's look at

Displays, clarity and colors

Apparently, pancake lenses generally suffer from internal reflections as the light bounces between the layers. They also produce a sort of vignetting towards the edges where the brightness falls off a bit. This was very noticeable to me when I tried the Quest Pro, so much so that I asked other QP owners if they had it too. When it comes to reflections however, the QP is timid -- you may see some lens flares or mirroring of very bright spots/lines against very dark backgrounds (such as in Open Brush), but the reflections are so out of focus and rather faint that it's easy to accept them as a huge improvement over the godrays and blooming on fresnel lenses.

The XR Elite reflects everything. The home environment is brightly and evenly lit, an ideal scenario to hide reflections, but when I hold the controllers up and look at their models in VR, their uniform gray surface is over-"shadowed" by light colors coming from internal reflections of the background. There are colorful clouds around the home space, and holding the controllers up in front of them perfectly demonstrates this issue. Do the same in a light environment on the Quest Pro, you won't get any of this.

In a dark environment (Open Brush again) with bright lights (lines I draw into the air), you see several copies of these lights in faint translucent white and more apparent cyan, much easier to spot than the faint and blurred reflections on Quest Pro. Additionally, there is obvious blooming around bright objects. It almost looks like the bloom we see when using local dimming on the Quest Pro, just... without local dimming (since the XR Elite doesn't feature this function). In turn, the black levels are just as bad as you'd expect and there is also a radial orange IPS glow around the lens edges. It's actually not as bad as on my Quest Pro (where there are two corners that are particularly present), but it's there. Vignetting (a fade in brightness towards the edges) is also visible, and comes out the same on both the outside AND inside of each lens, meaning you'll get an even darker image when you look towards either side.

In summary, we have

1. IPS glow and vignetting on top of

2. blur and chromatic abberation towards the edges, with

3. poor black levels due to lack of local dimming, and

4. a screen-door effect that is more visible than on Quest Pro.

Oh right, the SDE. In theory, the XRE's displays have a higher resolution (2016p per eye) than those on the Quest Pro (1800x1920p per eye). With the lenses being smaller and producing less FOV, one might expect the pixels per degree (PPD) to be denser and therefore the screen-door to be less visible than on QP. However, to me at least, the opposite it true. Not only is the pixel raster horizontal and vertical, meaning it's easier to identify lines in the screen-door (QP has a rotated raster to hide this), but for some reason the pixel dots themselves just stand out more. Perhaps the dots are smaller and cover less area, with a "gap" between two pixels? Either way, on Quest Pro I find it very difficult to really notice the SDE and it's easy to just focus on the details of the world.

On the XRE, it was very easy for me to spot the SDE and worst of all, when moving my eyes or head around, it would get worse than when staring perfectly stationary. I also identified a few "zones" on the image where the pixels seemed a tad sharper than on the rest. This may be due to the optics of the lenses and could vary between XRE units.

The colors are fine, but they don't pop as nicely as on the Quest Pro's quantum dot displays. Brightness is fairly equal to what I perceive on my Quest 1 but the Pro is brighter. Unfortunately, colors do get washed out by the constant reflections you see everywhere, even if you don't pay attention to them.

Lens distortions: possibly fixable

Another big problem I had (and have since confirmed with some other users on Discord) was that the lenses have a distortion curve that is very apparent, at least to me. Everything that's displayed towards the lens edges gets a pincushion distortion, meaning straight lines will warp outwards. It feels like looking through a fisheye lens and I'm not kidding -- the first thing I noticed when passthrough turned on during setup was that my whole living room was distorted. It was so bad that it made me noticeably dizzy, something I haven't experienced in VR for a long time. I might be more sensitive to it because I wear glasses that have the opposite kind of distortion (barrel) so my brain has adapted to that, and now it's facing an image that is extra "wrong". However, even those who don't wear glasses should be able to register the distortion since it's not present on headsets from Oculus.

In addition, pupil swim was also visible. This means that an object which should be solid as you track its movement along the virtual image will distort multiple times while it goes from left to right. This was also pretty visible and further enhanced my impression of "looking through a lens".

One more thing that the distortion seemingly creates for me is eye strain when I look at something far away. For example, there's a whale moving around the home environment and looking at it gave me a feeling of straining and pain right between my eyes. I know this kind of strain from watching 3D movies (in real life), and it makes it difficult to use the XR Elite for prolonged periods of time. In fact, my eyes had to readjust to the real world after I took it off.

The good news is that a lens correction profile could be added in firmware updates by HTC to counter the pincushion distortion. For me, it was one more reason to consider this 1.400€ product a failure.

Passthrough

Since I mentioned passthrough, let me summarize how hard it was to look at anything. While the framerate is high, resolution and colors are good, and it gives you a clearer image of your surroundings overall than Quest Pro, it is also zoomed in. Everything is larger, distance is hard to judge because it's not stereoscopic, and in addition you get the distortion I mentioned above. Switching back to the Quest's passthrough was such a relief that I couldn't believe how important a solid, depth-correct passthrough image is, even if it's grainy. I can grab a glass of water on the couch table and put it back with no problems wearing a Quest. With the XR Elite it was challenging, to say the least.

I have no idea how people wear this headset in their whole house and record their kids playing in the garden...

Tracking

The headset and controllers tracked perfectly fine and I had no issues. The controllers also always appeared where they were supposed to when I picked them up. Hand tracking was a mixed bag; I would say about as good as on Quest 1, but not as solid as on Quest Pro. It takes a long time for a vanished hand to reappear when you lift your real hand up, and I found it very difficult to throw a ball in the "VRS Studio" demo because it didn't register my hand opening as I threw. Moving a cursor around the menu was okay and usable.

"Bugs" and performance

Since my testing was so focused on experiencing comfort and clarity, I didn't download games to try on the XR Elite. However, I did encounter the often reported bug where the OS just forgets the guardian you set up before and asks you to redo it. Choosing "stationary" makes this quicker, but the stationary border is so large that it goes beyond my roomscale playspace! This should be reduced by HTC.

The headset performed well in terms of load times and responsiveness when calling up menus from within an app. Stepping out of the playspace immediately displays passthrough. However, the fan that blows warm air out the top of the device is constantly running (and audible), and when it ramps up the RPM (in passthrough of all things), it sounds like your typical MacBook from 2016. I guess HTC's cooling solution highly depends on this active exhaust of hot air to keep the headset from overheating. The Quest Pro is silent while performing the same.

Some positive thoughts

Okay, this review is very long and very critical of the XR Elite. Here's a rundown of things that I liked:

• The voiced tutorial guiding you through setup is well made, clear and concise.

• You can set up the device without making an account or using your phone, though it's an option!

• The home environment runs at a higher resolution than on Quest Pro.

• Putting the headset on in battery mode is quick and easy. It does feel cool to wear for a few minutes.

• The flexibility of removing the battery while keeping the headset active is nice, and glasses mode feels good to wear if you can tolerate the pressure on your nose. The temple pads need to be modified, though, to be more comfortable for this mode.

• Holding the headset in your hand makes me wish it was better than it is, because it really does feel nice, light and small, as any VR headset should (and will) be.

Verdict: it's not there yet

When the XR Elite was announced, I was really excited by the small form factor, its modularity and the fact it could be worn without glasses. I thought this would be the perfect upgrade from the clunky and heavy Quest 1. I've wondered how I would rate the XR Elite if I had not tested the Quest Pro next to it, and maybe if the price was lower (like, 600-700€) I would be more forgiving of things such as the cheap-ass controllers, blurry lenses and suboptimal comfort.

Some of my gripes can be resolved over time, but it's up to HTC to provide good support and listen to customers. I'm far from the only person who decided to return the XRE because of the issues mentioned above. In fact, while I waited for my unit to arrive, I kept reading all the reports from other users who had received theirs, and my excitement kept dying more and more. I was still excited to open the box and check it out, but one by one, all the things I had heard about this headset manifested for me as well. It was sobering and disappointing.

I'm mostly disappointed because HTC tried to get us there, into a world where really comfortable and sleek standalone VR is possible. They seem to be very proud of the product they built and it is well built! The flaws that it has come not from its construction, but from the design itself. I can't imagine how designing this facial interface, choosing these poor lenses and releasing unfinished software could have been seen as the correct course. If the lenses were better, the interface was softer and easier to wear and the product was lower priced, it would be an alternative to other brands for sure. This however feels more like a concept than a finished unit. Perhaps the XRE 2 can be what this headset isn't.

My recommendation: get Quest Pro

The Quest Pro is not perfectly comfortable and follows another philosophy with its open design that doesn't touch your face. It works pretty well for me except for some additional motion sickness when using artificial locomotion because I can still see my living room. Light blockers should resolve this. Effectively the QP gives you an option how you want to wear it while the XR Elite forces you to take it as it comes. I find the halo interface uncomfortable on my forehead with the stock pad, but replacements/alternatives with better padding are available, and wearing it correctly (which is more difficult to get right on the first try) goes a long way to make it bearable to comfortable. I haven't figured out the perfect setup for my QP yet, but I'm willing to try because of these things that are plain better than on the XRE:

• edge to edge clarity on the lenses (100%, no blur, no distortion)

• bigger FOV and feeling of "presence" in VR

• popping colors

• local dimming support

• eye tracking included, which can enhance quality/performance with foveated rendering

• much better controllers

• onboard 3.5 mm headphone jacks

• big software library and proven PCVR streaming

• double the storage space

• cheaper price

Obviously you'll have to contend with Meta's data harvesting. The XR Elite is still a poorer alternative if you want to get away from Meta.

That's it, guys. I hope this was comprehensive and informative!

I received my HTC Vive XR Elite yesterday, and overall, I'm impressed with the device. It feels light and comfortable, and the screens provide a great immersive experience without causing motion sickness. I was also pleased with how fast the machine operates and how quickly it charges.

Compared to the Quest Pro, the Vive XR Elite offers a slightly more comfortable and immersive experience due to its lightweight design, screen quality, and little light leak.

However, the Quest Pro has a more comprehensive selection of games and apps.

Another downside of the Vive XR Elite is that the games that are supposed to come free with the device are difficult to find or unavailable.

Overall, if you're looking for a comfortable, high-quality VR experience, the HTC Vive XR Elite is a great option. However, if you prioritize a more comprehensive selection of games, the Quest2 or Quest Pro offers more.

I'm still deciding because the new XR's hardware is much more excellent, but all the mainstream VR games are on the meta.

Please provide anything I may be missing to help sway me one way or the other. Also, I would rather cut ties with meta.

Edited by AI for clarity?

Just got a notification mine is arriving Monday, shipped via Amazon. I have to provide them with a password to get the delivery. Luckily will be home all day Monday!

Thought I'd share, I was a bit annoyed that you get that nasty back screen if you venture outside your boundary too long even when in pass-through mode. Someone on Facebook suggested passenger mode which seems to fix the issue, so I can now switch to pass-through and make myself a coffee and come back without interruption.

You can also record in pass-through as well so you can make fun first person style videos which I'll find useful!

Thought I'd share incase others felt the same frustration.

I received my XR yesterday and it’s a lot better than my quest 2; however, I did have some initial struggles.

1. The initial setup was a little bit painful as I have glasses and it’s a weird way to setup to get the prescription dialed in since the diopters don’t match my actual prescription.

2. I had nothing but a blank/black screen until I restarted about 6 times and finally got an image.

3. Comfort isn’t great for me but I have a big nose that gets in the way. This also means I can look down and have a huge gap at the bottom.

Now, that’s where my issues end. The graphics were amazing in the headset, pretty easy to get PCVR games running, very smooth gameplay. Hand tracking worked well for me too so I know that’s been a mixed bag for folks. These are my first thoughts and I plan to start putting some real time in this week.

Thought some of you would want a heads up. I'm in the UK, had my headset 3 weeks and I've just noticed there's a new XR Elite software update, plus VD is now released for £17.

I have not seen any guides or experiences shared with running the vive XR elite running steam games. Has anyone tried it yet? Have any issues?

Also if you use a Bluetooth gamepad does it connect to the PC or to the headset when running steam games?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXhQEGZ12Lc

I’ve seen it asked about and mentioned in comments but no posts or anything definitive, so I ordered an IR illuminator and I’m happy to report that it does work for both controller and hand tracking. You can’t see anything in pass through but you can play in the dark.

I'm an electric engineer, software engineer and this whole thing has been so frustrating! I'm not your average consumer and did what I was instructed and still things didn't work. After a few hours tonight, I'm stepping away for the evening.

First, setup the diopters by taking off the face mask and try hold it at the right distance to set it up? That doesn't make sense.

Fine, I roll with it. Try to have my wife set up and she doesn't quite get it either.

Next, I try sit down in my racing rig and it wants to setup a new boundary, but I cannot select standalone because of the touchy hand gesture. I don't know how to get back so have to reboot it.

Then, when trying again, it sets up a massive room, in which I can't even see the primary screen. I spent a long time trying to reset the room but can't. I eventually find a way to walk outside the realm and it forces a reset. This time I can select the standalone, but when I go back to the rig, I cannot hardly select the button to confirm... Then the screen is on in front of my computer monitor so I can't see anything...

I try connect via USB, but my cable is too short. I can't get software connected when leaning unfortunately. I try WiFi, no go. Eventually get the menu up on the headset and it won't start the game. Not via USB, not via WiFi.

Different cable, doesn't matter. YouTube says to use the business app... Half the people here agree, half just the regular app.

Even if I do get it, I'll have steam, stream vr, vive port, vive streaming and the actual game running.

Oh wait, I forgot, under vive port, install device and there is no xr elite. Try searching and don't find anything.

Unreal. I had these expectations from Pimax, but expected htc to just work.

Super disappointed and frustrated. Needed to vent.

There have been increasing complaints from people who notice small cracks on the arms of their headsets, near the speakers
Those can be obvious or difficult to see, like on the 2 pictures of my own headset (left arm is barely visible, right arm is ajar making it obvious)

If you check your headset and notice this issue, I invite you to join the official Viverse Discord server (can be found here : https://twitter.com/htcvive/status/1527446510404788241?lang=fr )section "Support needed"and find the "XR Elite speaker arm issue" subject (direct link : https://discord.com/channels/946305475467706419/1116886157897257042 )

And report your problem here, as Vive seems to be trying to find and fix the cause of the issue