HTC Vive Pro Sees Permanent Price Drop Starting From £599
During CES 2020 last week HTC Vive was noticeably absent when in previous years the company has made quite the effort, last year in particular, revealing Vive Cosmos and the Vive Pro Eye. HTC Vive has had one announcement to share, however, and that’s a permanent price reduction for the HTC Vive Pro, dropping the base price for the headset to £599 GBP/$599 USD.
An upgrade to the original HTC Vive, the Vive Pro improved key features like the resolution and comfort whilst adding extras such as integrated audio. This saw the headset become the defacto device for a lot of virtual reality (VR) developers demonstrating their videogames at events.
The price drop to £599 is just for the headset itself, ideal for those early HTC Vive adopters looking to improve their experience who already own the SteamVR tracking solution and motion controllers. For those new to the system then the HTC Vive Pro Starter Pack which includes the 1.0 bases stations and Vive controllers is now £899, down from £1,119.
Or then there’s the HTC Vive Pro Full Kit which features the new 2.0 SteamVR base stations and second generation controllers for £1,119 rather than £1,219. All these reductions are very similar to HTC Vive Pro’s Black Friday deals a couple of months ago, just this time they’re not time limited.
To help deciding between the two the SteamVR 1.0 system was designed for smaller home play areas, covering a maximum area of 3.5m x 3.5m (15 square meters). The 2.0 base stations can cover up to a 100 square meter area (2 stations cover 5m x 5m), great for massive rooms – which is why VR arcades use them.
For current customers that £599 price makes the HTC Vive Pro a more viable upgrade path than the newer Vive Cosmos which is more expensive at £699. The Cosmos didn’t have a very successful launch back in October, beset with problems including inside-out tracking problems in low light situations. These have mostly been rectified with a continual stream of updates but the reputational damage has been done. Unlike rival Oculus Quest which hasn’t yet had a price drop, the Vive Cosmos saw a £100 reduction on Black Friday.
As HTC Vive continues to make its headsets more price competitive, VRFocus will keep you updated.
https://www.vrfocus.com/2020/01/htc-vive-pro-sees-permanent-price-drop-starting-from-599/
