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hardware, but they feel more interactive with
the Index Controller. Being able to release
items by opening your hand – a completely
natural experience here in the real world –
feels unnatural at first after using regular VR
controllers for the last two years, but once
you adapt to it, it once again becomes
second nature.
When talking about virtual reality, there’s
also sound quality to consider. The Valve
Index uses a built-in solution that, to all intents
and purposes, works incredibly well. You’re
able to hear a great number of details without
distortion, and even though it’s an inch from
the ear, it can still get reasonably loud. It also
feels a bit more hygienic when it comes time to
pass the headset to another person – as your
ears never make contact with the pads,
although that’s a fairly minor detail.
Over the course of several sessions we were
able to get a lot accomplished - we played a bit of
Beat Saber’s campaign, chopped some fruit in
Fruit Ninja and wrecked some robots in Space
Pirate Trainer – and through it all the
controllers held their charge. At the end of the
last day the controllers dropped down to a
single bar of life, but a safe assumption is to
expect around five hours of playtime before you
need to recharge the controllers, and about an
hour on the charger to bring them back to
full juice.SETUP AND STEAMVR
The biggest fault we found with the headset
after using it for more than a month is that
SteamVR can be capricious... and,
occasionally, a malicious, dastardly platform.
As anyone who’s used an HTC Vive or Vive
Pro can tell you, SteamVR doesn’t always like
running properly the first time, telling you
that something is disconnected, or that your
firmware is out of date despite just being
updated, or simply telling you the hardware
can’t be found. And that’s frustrating when
you just want to jump in and play this week’s
latest release.
This happened to us a few times throughout
our testing, and it gave us a real sense of deja
vu – we can remember testing the Vive Pro
just over a year ago and having the same
problem. Friends and readers have also
complained about the original Vive’s lengthy
and unwieldy setup process, only to find a
number of errors the next time they go to
play it.FINAL VERDICT
Around the house, there’s no doubt the Valve
Index will be our default VR headset going
forward. It’s a significant upgrade to the HTC
Vive, and runs much smoother than the Vive
Pro, a powerful VR headset that really struggled
to deliver on the promise of high-end VR.
Whether it’s a better all-around headset than
the Oculus Quest, however, is up for debate; the
Valve Index has the better specs, but Quest has
the convenience. Ultimately, which one you
choose depends on the experience you want...
and how much money you have in the bank.
Not to mention when and if it becomes available
for Australian users.VALVE INDEX
US$999
https://store.steampowered.com
CRITICAL SPECS
1440x1600 (per eye); 120 Hz (with experimental 144 Hz
mode) refresh rate; ~130 degrees FOV; 37.5mm off-ear
speakers, built-in microphone; SteamVR 2.0 sensors
(compatible with SteamVR 1.0 base stations).4WINNERAPPROVED
AWARDdTESTBENCH
RADAR