I have a still working HP Reverb G2, but it will soon stop working due to a Windows update (24H2). I use the glasses for MS Flight Simulator and watching 3D movies. So my experience is based on the comparison with the HP.
First the positives:
Hand tracking: That is missing on the HP and is therefore an improvement for me. It seems to work well, but only works in apps that support it. I have not tested that.
Passthrough: the cameras provide a good image of the environment when you turn it on. However, the image is not sharp enough to read text on your computer screen properly, and not good enough for the "Mixed Reality" experience. The image of the environment is much better than that of the HP.
Comfort: it is a fairly heavy headset, heavier than the HP, but quite comfortable due to the weight distribution. However, the face mask did not fit my face perfectly, which meant that I got false light from behind the headset during dark images. Unfortunately, there were also some things that disappointed:
Image quality: Fresnel lenses are known for their small sweet spot: the image is only sharp in the middle. In the Vision Pro, that sweet spot is smaller than that of the HP and for me, a step backwards. In addition, the Vision Pro suffers from so-called "glare" and "God rays" with images with high contrast. This starts at startup when the logo is visible on a dark background. Not a good introduction.
Sound: A real disappointment. HTC advertises the excellent sound, but I noticed that there is no significant bass in the sound straight out of the box. The HP does that better. Perhaps it is a teething problem, or a setting that I could not find, but it was a major disappointment.
Controllers: I use Steam apps such as Skybox and VHT cinema to watch 3D films. However, these apps do not recognize the controllers. Steam does, however. I tried different profiles, but eventually gave up. I think this can eventually be solved, but given the other negative points I didn't want to put any more effort into it. And given the price I expected more Plug and Play, like the HP Reverb G2 was. It just worked when I bought it, although I have to say that it had already been on the market for a while (possible teething problems had been solved).
So I returned the glasses. I'm holding off on the Windows update for a while, so that the Reverb will work for another year and in the meantime other candidates will come onto the market.
