Valve might be known for its games and the Steam store, but in the past few years they’ve been doubling down on the idea of virtual reality. And while they did help create the HTC Vive, in June 2019 they released their own VR headset named Valve Index. Almost 3 years later, let’s take a quick review if the Valve Index is worth it in 2023.
Verdict
Table of Contents
Pros
- High Resolution and a wider field of view than other headsets
- Makes use of the cool Valve knuckles controllers
- Room Scale VR
Cons
- Price – one of the most expensive VR headsets
- Need to setup base stations
- Durability issues after extended use and customer support is difficult if out of warranty
Resolution
The Valve Index runs a dual LCD display with a 1440 x 1600 resolution per eye. The refresh rate is set to 120Hz and also comes with the ability to increase it to 144Hz if your computer can handle it. One welcome addition is the wider field of view (FOV), with the Valve Index you will see 130 degrees. Offering an extra 20 degrees compared to the Vive Cosmos 110 degrees of binocular horizontal FOV.
Valve Index tracking
Though the Index has cameras, they are not created for inside out tracking like WMR headsets. These are mostly suitable for developers to experiment and create new experiences.
Instead, the unit works with the previous base stations from Vive, or you can buy the Base Stations 2.0 which brings in even better accuracy and tracking using SteamVR tracking technology and is currently the most accurate tracking set up on the market. This does, however, come with the trade-off of having to set up base stations around the room and make transporting the system difficult.
Comfort and convenience
The Valve Index also has a headstrap, it’s created from high-quality materials and you will be quite impressed with its build quality for the most part. They did include a removable face casket which is easy to clean, that also means third parties can customize those face caskets as they see fit.
The Valve Index also has headphones. Their approach is distinct because they have off-ear immersion, which have been optimized virtual reality. This combats ear pressure and heat build over extended periods of play with other headsets.
Controllers are quite interesting. These are knuckle controllers and they offer you a perfect grip. The focus here is on complete immersion, so these controllers are designed as an extension for your hands.
Minimum requirements: Valve Index
The minimum requirements for the Valve Index are:
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970+, AMD RX480+ |
| Video Output | Display Port 1.2 |
| CPU | Dual Core with Hyper-Threading |
| Memory | 8GB+ RAM |
| USB | 1x USB 3.0+ |
| OS | Windows 10, SteamOS, Linux |
Like all VR units, you will have a much better experience if you own a state of the art graphics card and a quad-core processor. It’s important to note that the product will adapt to your specs to provide the best possible experience and results.
Game Library
Naturally, the Valve Index works well on Steam VR. This instantly gives you access to over 3,000 VR titles in steam including the Skyrim VR, Boneworks, Pistol Whip, Beat Saber and the critically acclaimed: Half-Life: Alyx. The great thing about Steam games is you can always pick them up cheaply during summer sales or check out our guide on how to get cheap VR games.
Pricing
You can buy the full VR Kit with the headset, controllers and base stations, but you can also acquire every part individually or in smaller packages. The complete VR kit is $1000, the headset and controllers are $750 and the headset itself is $500. If this is your first headset we suggest picking up the entire kit. You can go to Steam to purchase, they’re currently shipping to 31 selected countries. For international shipping, you could try Amazon but be warned of inflated prices and make a smart decision.
Consumer Sentiment
Influencer opinions
Cas and Chary VR: In 2019 review after one month of use, would recommend it to VR enthusiasts only, and not a casual VR player due to the high price of the headset along with the expensive computer to run it.
Gethip: The Valve index is it’s still the best headset on the market, when it’s working. But that’s just it, there’s a lot of things that have gone wrong with his headset and his peers around him. And if you’re out of warranty, you’re out of luck.
Super Bunnyhop: After 10 months of use is reluctant to recommend buying it at the price and instead recommend going with one of the cheaper WMR headsets Indeed. He does note that if money is not an issue, by all means go for the valve index. The main issues he talks about is the base stations being annoying to set up, software issues when the headset/base stations which requires a restart of steam, the cost, Hardware failures: cable failure ++ now having to worry about it. While on the bright side it offers a strong FOV, nice modular design and the knuckles are cool, even if they don’t translate perfectly in other games.
Conclusion
As you can see, the Valve Index is quite an extraordinary piece of engineering. The prices might be a bit high, but there’s definitely a lot of value and quality for the money. Certainly, this is more expensive than the Vive Cosmos and the Oculus Rift S, but it also seems to deliver even more immersion, so if you’ve got the rig and got the budget it looks like the Valve Index is worth it. However, if you live out of the supported areas offered from Valve, it would be a risky investment incase something goes wrong or breaks. User and influencer opinions suggests it might!
Valve Index
Consider buying it if you want the best tracking experience for PCVR. But avoid the valve index if you want stand alone gaming, you live outside the warranty area or you want the newest tech.
7.5