Customer Ratings & Reviews

I didn’t like this one, quality wasn't up to par so I traded it in for the Vive pro. I heard good things about and honestly the graphics didn’t impress me as much as the vive pro did. Price point was good but spending the extra money is worth it.

the detection from the base stations can be a little tricky, but it works well.

Great service and product selection. This device works like a charm. CJ

VR is the future, does this product meet quality assurance? Absolutely not. HTC is not helpful. Poorly constructed.

You have to set your whole room up and it just seems like a lot my Daughter hasn’t really used it that much

Nothing is easy to set this up and get it running. Virtually no support.

The Vive is MINDBLOWING! I got it home and plugged it into my PC and the next thing I knew I was standing in the middle of a field at night with a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other, zombies were all around me! I was inside the game and I thought I was going to get eaten! VR is here and it's amazing! This isn't the phone VR you've seen it's SO much better! You have to try it to believe it. The Vive is really easy to set up. It took me about half an hour. There are hundreds and hundreds of games you can play. A lot of them are free and surprisingly good. The ones you buy are even better! Horror games, shooting games, sports games, multiplayer and single player, social, educational, and science experiences. I can't begin to tell you how incredible this is. A wireless adapter and gun controllers are coming out in a few months. The Vive is the real deal and there is NOTHING else on the market that even comes close.

Man I loved this thing for about 2 months,after that nothing but controller oui shes had been thru 4,all same issue ,warrantysux

Did not set up easy, did not fit well. Not worth the money paid

I have ordered Vive and a VR graphic card online for my son, but I was surprised to find out that Best Buy doesn't offer any protection plan for these items. If you want to spend 1000$ for VR, Best Buy is not the best place to do it.

My vive has been less reliable overall by being more work to setup and in freezing or glitching or vive parts not being recognized. These are problems I don't have on my oculus anywhere near as regular as the vive. I would equate them to apple vs. android - one works more reliably but has more limitations – thinking cross platform owning games is an example there. I was pro apple in the beginning of the smart phone era and moved to android as it matured, something I could see happening with VR. I wear glasses with -7.5/-8 prescription. I have to wear my older frames with either set to fit in the headset. I don't understand how they think these can fit today's styles of glasses. (The set that doesnt fit has 52mm wide lenses). The steam store is great for buying games and managing them but it is hard when the store is a mix of standard and VR games. It needs a better dedicated store front. The vive and rift have similar screen door effect and I don’t notice it after ~2 minutes. When there is a white object on a black background it will shine strange which is a common complaint for the lenses each system uses. I would say that is more of an issue than screen door effect. Another downside to both systems is really the lack of good content. Oculus is paying for and putting out almost all the high budget titles and Playstation VR is doing the same. That isn’t a focus for the vive. Based on pricing, the vive is more expensive. Sure the rift needs a 3rd room sensor for another $50 but factoring in all the sales, store credits and free games included with the rift it has a far better value. Not to mention a more comfortable, lighter headset and superior feeling controllers over the vive. Throw in the Vive audio strap and you'll be well north of Oculus land. I would give the vive 3 stars and the rift 4 stars. I was pro Oculus for years until the Vive was announced. I waited after both were released and when the Oculus dropped price and controllers came out I think was the moment the tables turned again. This competition will be good for the future of VR innovation. I still use my vive and recommend it along side the oculus, I just think you get a better product for less money with the rift.

I bought this for the excellent tracking. Also I may eventually get the wireless adapter and extra trackers. The Rift does have better controllers but doesn't offer anything else. Plus knuckle controller may come out next year anyway. You might as well get the Deluxe audio strap right away with this purchase. It makes putting on the HMD much quicker. It is also more comfortable. I had trouble putting the HMD on with my glasses until I got the DAS. It also removes the need to wearing earbuds or putting on headphones (more cords). Lastly, the Pro is overpriced and until HTC comes to their senses,I'll be waiting for the resolution upgrade. Put it this way, the Samsung kit is 500 dollars and has the same resolution as the Vive Pro but actually includes the controllers while the Pro is just sold for 800 dollars by itself! Sure you can get the Vive Pro kit but you'll need to add another 500 (1300 total) for the controllers and base stations. That's just ridiculous! The Standard Vive is good for now. I played NES and SNES and it's all about having fun, not extra pixels.

We own two Oculus Rift setups and I have always wanted to add the HTC Vive, so I finally purchased one from Best Buy. I also purchased the Vive's Deluxe Audio Strap as I immediately noticed there were no stereo headphones in the online photos. Of course the Deluxe Audio Strap was an additional charge of Ninety-Nine bucks. Compared to the Oculus Rift, they include the equivalent stereo headset at no additional charge. (Start striking stars off right here.) If you choose not to purchase the Deluxe Audio Strap, your audio is left to using either the enclosed earbuds (low-end quality) or your own; plugging them into the dangling 3.5mm female jack located with the other cables that connect to the front of the Vive's headset. Oculus Rift does have an earbud option as well, and make a product simply called 'Oculus Rift earphones' (UPC 8 15820 02004 2 and Best Buy SKU: 5665534) for Fifty bucks (a totally unnecessary accessory, but if you're into earbuds, you're covered). Upon opening the Vive box, the first thing I noticed was the size of the Vive's controllers; HUGE! And not only huge, they are HEAVY! (More on the weight later.) The baby blue safety straps on the black controllers is another thing that immediately grabbed my attention (not in a good way... You never get a 2nd chance to make a GOOD first impression) and I was left wondering "Why in the world would [whomever] chose such a color for the straps?" It really does take away from the sophistication of the entire look. Like getting smacked in the face with a snowball while enjoying a leisurely stroll looking at Christmas lights! OUCH! :o/ The Vive headset is also heavier than expected and the finish is not as polished looking at the Oculus Rift's. The Vive has what looks like pockmarks on the face of the headset, which is where the sensors are located. Aesthetics? Perhaps. But I'd be willing to bet when you picked out your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, etc., you didn't set out to look for the most unattractive broke slob with pockmarks either, did you? (Rhetorical question, btw. lol.) Also, the Vive has three cables placed right over the top of your head vs. the Oculus Rift having one, which is off to the side of your head. Let's start comparing the weight of the Vive to the Oculus Rift. Each Controller: Vive = 7.2 oz. with internal rechargeable batteries vs Oculus Touch 5.6 oz. (with two AA-Duracell batteries installed) Vive's Deluxe Audio Strap (by itself) 7.9 oz. Headset: Vive's w/ Deluxe Audio Strap: 1# 12.8oz. vs Oculus 1# 7.6oz. This doesn't sound like a lot of difference, but weight does make a difference in comfort. Especially if you don't have the Deluxe Audio Strap, the Vive headset feels completely nose-heavy. That is, the strap that comes with the Vive (without replacing it with the Deluxe Audio strap) is much less supportive. The HTC Vive has two wireless sensors they call base-stations, which is a plus in the Vive column, as both of the two Oculus Rift sensors are wired and require a USB port on your PC. After completing the setup process, the Vive system informed me that a firmware update was needed for both controllers and both base-stations. Okay, fair enough. It gave me line-by-line instructions on what to do, and I followed it to the letter. Here, I must add, this step was a real pain in the backside, as it required me to take the base-stations down from the wall mounts (that I just installed) to do the firmware updates. The reason for this is the base-stations must be plugged into a USB port to the PC (one at a time). The instructions suggest using the same micro USB cable that the controllers use for charging the internal batteries, which are only around 12-inches in length. (Compare that to Oculus Rift's updates which only require a mouse-click and the rest is automatic.) And this is where I really ran into problems. In the line-by-line instructions, they require you to (after connecting the micro-USB to the PC) restore power to the base-station while simultaneously depressing a channel button, all located in close proximity to one another on the rear of the base-station. The first base-station ("b" as they call it) updated without a hitch. The second base-station ("c" as they call it) failed miserably as when I depressed the button while restoring power, the button would not "spring" back up to its normal position, thereby rendering this particular base-station totally and utterly useless! UGH! Needless to say, at this point, I was forced to box the Vive back up and promptly make a trip to our local Best Buy store for an exchange. Once there, the Best Buy associate informed me the HTC Vive was not an In-Store item (unlike the Oculus Rift which is readily available In-Store). That said, it would take over a week for a replacement. I opted for the full refund. Kudos to Best Buy for having such great people to help with such matters! SIDE NOTE: (BTW, some have said it is required to have at least three sensors for the Oculus Rift setup, and that is absolutely untrue. You can add an additional one or two sensors, for a total of 3 or 4, but it is not required. I do have one of our two Rift setups with three sensors, but that is because the room I'm using is over half of our upstairs total space and being it is such a large play area, I thought it would help.) Another side note... I read somewhere here on the Best Buy reviews (before I purchased the Vive) where one reviewer had stated they noticed "ridges" in the lens. I thought to myself "Self, I wonder what they are talking about?" Self had no clue. Then, as it was, this all came back to me (and self) when I noticed that when I focused on the lens (kinda like when your eyes are focused on the rain-drops on your windshield, the items beyond that focal point is blurry), concentric rings on the lens from the center outward. I assure you this is not the case with the Oculus Rift. Price! Currently the Vive is 599 USD + 99 (audio strap), totaling 698 USD before tax. Compare that to the Oculus Rift at 399 US Dollars. I feel this is one of those rare instances where "You get what you pay for" DOES NOT HOLD TRUE. Personally, I'll wait until the HTC Vive catches up to the Oculus Rift in both quality and price. At that time, I'll take another look at the Vive and hopefully be more pleased. In the meantime, for myself, the Oculus Rift is the clear winner. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and I truly hope it helps in your decision making process while shopping for the right VR setup for you and yourself! ;o)

I returned mine. The set up went easy, but it took me a lot of troubleshooting to get it to work properly...ie not hang up windows ten on startup. I have a GTX 1080 TI graphics card and it turns out that it does not play well with just any port to hdmi adapter. After hours and hours, really two days, I decided to replace the adapter with a port to hdmi cord instead of using an adapter. For whatever reason, it worked fine. I also bought and tried the Oculus Rift. Had the same problems and took it back before I realized why it hung up windows was because of the cord. Keep in mind, both HMD sets worked fine once you did a hard restart on your computer. That was a no go for me. Then this kid working in Best Buy, not a geek squad member, told me his machine doesn't do good with port to HDMI adapters. So, thus the purchase of the port to hdmi cord. Worked great then. Thanks young fella! Love Best Buy:) The problem was in the mean time I had ordered a Samsung Odyssey, and in my opinion it just completely blew away the Rift and the HTC Vive. From reviews online, it also beats the Vive Pro System. So don't wasted your money on an expensive ($1300) system for the Vive Pro, or even pay a lot for the Rift. You can get the Samsung Odyssey for $399, and the resolution is quite a bit better without as bad of a screen door effect or God Rays. Sorry if you don't know what those are I don't have time to explain read the reviews or watch youtube videos on it. I mainly purchased an HMD to use in XPlane 11. It is incredible! It seems you are actually flying. So much better than a flat screen monitor. I did have to use a bluetooth dongle with the Odyssey because my integrated bluetooth was not reading the controllers. The Odyssey also only has two plug ins, sensors are built in. So, in conclusion, yes the HTC system works, but at a resolution loss compared to the Odyssey, and there are way too many cords with the HTC system. Plus, the Odyssey costs less than the Rift or HTC system. So below I did not recommend this to a friend, because of the price and it is already antiquated from a technical perspective.

Seeing is believing. The HTC Vive delivers an amazing experience that is indescribable. Seeing videos isn't enough to describe what it brings to the table. If you have the money it is definatley worth it!

Best VR Expirience out of all the VR headsets I have tested out

HTC VIVE is the coolest experience and now with the new low price it is even better. With VIVEPORT you have a large selection of games to choose from and always adding more also if you buy a subscription you can chose select games up to 5 a month to play.

Setup was a bit of a pain, but once you work it out everything is smooth sailing. The experience is good and is fun. The Vive itself functions well....WHEN it functions. Mine worked for about 3 hours flawlessly, and now I cannot get it to work at all. Presently, it is just a $500 heap of scrap laying on my desk because the HMD is not being picked up by my computer. I have tried a myriad of "solutions" but it ends up that the HDMI port on the headset fried...and took my GPU's HDMI port with it. VIve support offered little assistance and they seem to have forgotten about me. So when the headset functions, it is awesome and easy to adjust to fit your head. Just hope you do not get a Vive that will randomly burn out on you.

I am glad that Best Buy is carrying HTC Vive product now, I was able to try the Oculus in-store but was not impressed, as I already owned the Vive. I did not buy my Vive from Best Buy as it was not available when I purchased mines at the time. If they had it available, I would have bought it from the store.

The HTC Vive has the largest room-scale of any of the other current systems. The cable is also long enough to allow for a lot of moving around.