This day 1 review can only deserve laughter, after all I have gone insane and I applaude HTC for making someone want to be in an insane asylum after mere hours of use.

Introduction

Obvious disclaimer: I’ve only had the headset for one day. I’m not a VR expert by any stretch, but I’ve spent some quality time with the Pico 4 and the Quest 3. So, naturally, I thought, “How bad could the HTC Vive Focus Vision be?” Spoiler alert: I was about to find out.

Moments after pre-ordering the Focus Vision, I stumbled upon discussions criticizing its lenses. “Bad lenses?” I mused. “How bad could they really be?” Oh boy, was I in for an eye-opening—or rather, eye-straining—experience.

Initial Setup

Setting up the headset was like assembling flat-pack furniture without the instruction manual. Sure, I got there in the end, but not without some unnecessary improvisation.

Controller Pairing: The controllers seemed to play hard to get, requiring a bit of back-and-forth before finally agreeing to pair. It felt like trying to connect with a moody teenager. Wi-Fi Issues

The headset’s relationship with Wi-Fi was complicated, to say the least.

Despite my Wi-Fi 6E network broadcasting loud and clear, the headset acted like it didn’t exist. Other devices connected effortlessly, but the Vive Focus Vision remained blissfully unaware.

After connecting to a secondary 5 GHz network and performing an update, the headset had a brief moment of clarity and recognized the Wi-Fi 6E network—for about 20 minutes. Then it went back to pretending it didn’t know it. Battery Performance

The battery life was shorter than your average toddlers attention span.

Within 30 minutes, I received a low battery warning, even though I started at 90%. Impressive, if the goal was to set a record for fastest battery depletion. Maybe it would have lasted longer if i had put on Subway Surfers and a car jumping GTA platforms? Plugging in the charger didn’t help; the battery continued its dramatic decline until the headset shut down. Apparently, charging is just a suggestion. The device seemed to come with a hidden “sauna mode,” causing the battery to overheat. It’s nice to have warm hands, but not at the expense of functionality. The charger is 1.5 meters long, the first time in my life I wish I was a Pygmy. Lens quality, eye strain

Now, let’s talk about the lenses—or as I like to call them, the “portal to migraine town.”

The visual clarity was so poor that I double-checked to see if I’d accidentally left the protective cover on. Spoiler: I hadn’t. Struggling to focus on the indistinct visuals led to significant eye strain. After a short session, I had a headache that could rival any caused by staring directly at the sun. Software and Interface Challenges

Navigating the headset’s software was an adventure in frustration.

Every time I took off and put on the headset, it insisted on showing the IPD (interpupillary distance) adjustment screen, commandeering the entire display. It was as if the headset had trust issues with my eyes. Could you not just do the calibration and get on with it? My play space chair faces away from the calibration direction. This meant that accessing the menus required me to stand up and perform a 180-degree turn each time—a great workout, but not ideal for convenience. The wireless streaming experience was akin to watching a slideshow over a shaky dial-up connection. Jitters and lag were the norm, a stark contrast to the smooth sailing with the Quest 3. Exiting SteamVR and turning off the headset caused it to reboot SteamVR, like a clingy app that just can’t take a hint. Gaming performance

The gaming experience left much to be desired—and that’s putting it kindly.

The frame rates seemed to have an aversion to climbing above 40 FPS, except when I was navigating the menus (which, admittedly, were stunning at this point). Tweaking the graphics settings to their lowest didn’t improve matters; perhaps the headset was determined to keep things cinematic. I normally run 80 stable in most games. Enabling face tracking and eye tracking features turned my 7800X3D CPU into a furnace, with usage consistently over 90%. The eye tracking had a mind of its own. If I so much as blinked, my eyes in VRChat would jump around like it was imitating my REM sleep patterns. The face tracker had commitment issues, randomly stopping its function. Unplugging and re-plugging became my new VR ritual. Convenience and usability

Convenience was clearly not a priority in the headset’s design.

Controllers: In my mixed VR setup (Quest 3 with Index controllers and Vive 3.0 trackers), I couldn’t find a way to turn off the Vive Focus Vision controllers. To avoid controller conflicts in SteamVR, I resorted to hiding them out of sight, like a parent hiding candy from a child. The streaming software incessantly nudged me to set the quality to “Auto.” When I obliged, the visual output transformed into a grainy mosaic, reminiscent of a pixelated 8-bit game. Nostalgic? Maybe. Helpful? Not at all. Conclusion

In summary, the HTC Vive Focus Vision offers a VR experience that’s more comical than immersive—but not in a good way. Between the battery that drains faster than a leaky faucet, the lenses that could double as a blur filter in Photoshop, and the software quirks that test the limits of patience and sanity, it’s hard to recommend this headset over competitors like the Quest 3.

Unless you’re in the market for a new headache or enjoy troubleshooting as a hobby, you might want to explore other options. After all, VR is supposed to be a gateway to other worlds—not a source of eye strain and frustration.

I tested in total with 5 games on BOTH headsets: VRChat, DCS, MSFS2020, Pavlov and VTOLVR. The Vive and its streaming software (shitware) didn’t stand a chance. I’m returning tomorrow, and I will never look back to HTC.