Comparison of VR headsets: Vive XR Elite, Meta Quest Pro, Pico 4

Trying to figure out which VR headset is right for you? Read our review of the Vive XR Elite, Meta Quest Pro, and Pico 4 to find the right HMD for you.

VR headsets have become increasingly popular in recent years, offering users an immersive and interactive experience. However, the features of the different headsets and also their prices are quite different. In this review, we take a closer look at the Vive XR Elite, the Quest Pro, and the Pico 4 to help you make an informed decision.

Vive XR Elite: Ergonomic and lightweight.

The Vive XR Elite is a lightweight and small VR headset that impresses with its form factor. Thanks to modern pancake lenses, the face part of the Vive XR is significantly smaller than all other headsets in its class. It is the only one with a dioptric adjustment option for both eyes. Furthermore, HTC Vive relies on a modular concept, which allows owners of a Vive to connect additional accessories to the glasses to expand their sensor technology. Thus, facetracking and eyetracking modules can be added via accessories.

HTC will launch another external tracker in the next few months, which should be especially interesting for business applications. This will allow us to add trackers to real objects and make them visible in the virtual world. Until now, additional trackers were only possible with Vivetrackers, which could only be tracked in conjunction with at least two Lighthouses that had to be attached to tripods. Another plus: the battery of the Vive XR Elite can be removed and replaced. The device is priced at €1,399.00.

Advantages

• Ergonomic and lightweight VR headset
• Compact form factor compared to other headsets
• Adjustable diopters for each eye
• Modular concept enables connection of additional accessories
• Possibility to extend the sensor technology with facetracking and eyetracking modules
• External tracker available for business applications
• Battery can be removed and replaced
• Clear commitment to European data protection guidelines

Disadvantages

• Limited compatibility with other VR platforms
• May require additional accessories for advanced features
• Lower developer community support compared to the Meta Quest
• Price: 1.399,00 €

Meta Quest Pro: High-resolution VR glasses with precision.

The Meta Quest Pro is a VR goggle that enables an immersive virtual reality experience. With a high-resolution display, it offers a clear and detailed display of VR content. The goggles also support a high refresh rate, resulting in a smooth and responsive display. The precise tracking system captures the user's movements and positions in real time to enable accurate tracking in the virtual world.

In terms of comfort and ergonomics, the Meta Quest Pro is designed to be comfortable to wear. The lightweight and well-balanced design makes it comfortable to wear, while the adjustable headband ensures an optimal fit. The goggles also feature an integrated audio system that provides high-quality surround sound and enhances the immersive audio experience.

The Meta Quest Pro is part of the Meta ecosystem and provides access to a wide range of VR apps, games and content. Users can choose from a wide range of apps and realize the full potential of the VR glasses. Overall, the Meta Quest Pro offers a combination of powerful technical features, convenience, and a wide range of software to deliver an immersive VR experience.

Unfortunately, Meta lacks enterprise software solutions to comfortably manage these glasses in an operating environment. The kiosk mode is missing, for example. The competition is much better positioned here.

Advantages

• Suitable for professional use and mixed reality app development
• Eye and face tracking support
• Excellent picture quality with sharp and rich colors
• Precise and self-tracking controllers with good ergonomics
• Wide range of software. Especially in the area of games
• Excellent developer community support

Disadvantages

• Limited battery life
• No Enterprise and B2B solutions
• No kiosk fashion
• Limited field of view compared to high-end VR systems
• Somewhat higher weight compared to lighter VR goggles
• High price: 1800,00 €
• Unclear commitment to European data protection directives

Pico 4 Enterprise: Powerful, high resolution, wide field of view.

The Pico 4 VR Goggles impress with powerful hardware, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor for fast and smooth performance. With its 4K resolution and a PPI of 773, it offers high image quality and an impressive display of virtual content. The wide field of view of 101 degrees enables an immersive VR experience with a wide viewing angle.

Thanks to the integrated inside-out tracking, the Pico 4 detects the user's position and movements in space without external sensors. The ergonomic design ensures a comfortable fit on the head and offers adjustable head straps and weight distribution for longer usage sessions.

The VR goggles feature integrated stereo speakers that provide high-quality sound without the need for additional headphones. Pico's extensive software ecosystem provides access to a wide range of VR apps and content via the Pico Store.

The benefits of Pico 4 Enterprise for businesses:

Pico Interactive has fundamentally designed the Pico Enterprise 4 to meet the specific needs of enterprise users entering the immersive world. With a combination of computing power and improved ergonomics, Pico aims to provide enterprise leaders with a more accessible and effective way to explore the Metaverse.

The main benefits include the following:

• Enterprise Operating System
• The Pico Enterprise 4 has all the integrated technologies that companies need to create an on-premises metaverse. Enterprises have access to a user-friendly interface that allows users to customize their immersive experience according to their specific needs. A "Pico Business Store" is also being developed that will provide access to all the core XR tools that enterprises are likely to use for collaboration and training.
• Users also have access to sharing play spaces for location-based VR, allowing more people to participate in the same experience at the same time. In addition, organizations can use Pico Business device management tools to track all their virtual assets, monitor systems, and deploy upgrades and updates remotely.

Advantages:

• Powerful hardware
• High image quality with 4K resolution
• Wide field of view for an immersive VR experience
• Lightweight and comfortable design
• Eyetracking
• Price: from € 750.00 and thus the cheapest enterprise headset
• Kiosk fashion

Disadvantages:

• Limited software offering compared to established meta platform
• Limited developer support compared to Meta
• Limited hardware upgrade options

Our conclusion:

All three glasses have their strengths and weaknesses. The choice depends on individual requirements.

• Meta Quest Pro: Impresses with great developer community support and a large number of already existing applications. However, Meta's focus is B2C and the VR glasses therefore lack enterprise features like device management and kiosk mode. Privacy has unfortunately never been followed very consistently at Meta, formerly Facebook. Therefore, the business use of Meta glasses is always problematic in terms of data privacy compliance. Therefore, the Quest Pro seems to be the ideal glasses for demanding VR enthusiasts, but unfortunately not the best choice as a business device.

• Pico 4 Enterprise: Provides ergonomic, elegant glasses with multiple enterprise features and free additional software for device management. Pico has significantly less community support compared to Quest, which makes development on Pico more difficult for beginners. Pico commits to the European Data Protection Directives, which makes their use in B2B attractive. Pico offers a solid B2B VR goggle at a good price.

• Vive XR: Bit a very elegant lightweight goggle. Like the Pico 4, these VR goggles promise privacy and continue to bring some useful enterprise features. The XR Elite has a modular hardware concept and is the only goggle in this price range where you can adjust the doctrine. For developers, there is also significantly less support for developing content for the Vive than there is for the Meta Quest. The Vive XR Elite is a solid B2B VR product that impresses with its ergonomics and has a few clever designs, but these are also reflected in the price.