To mark the four year anniversary of the original Vive, HTC is offering its replacement, Vive Cosmos, with a wireless adapter for $799.
That’s a saving of $248 over buying the Cosmos and wireless adapter separately, which would cost $1047. The offer lasts until the end of April 8 and is only available in the US.
Neither Facebook’s Oculus Rift S nor Valve’s Index currently have a wireless adapter. Valve is working on it, and Facebook is potentially working on a wireless version of Link for Quest.
A significantly more affordable way to achieve wireless PC VR is using the Virtual Desktop software for the $399 Oculus Quest. However, this heavily compresses the data and results in higher latency than HTC’s purpose built 60 GHz adapter. This can make people feel sick. And because the data is sent over your regular WiFi network, hitches can occur when the network is congested or the router is too far away, which can also induce sickness.
The Cosmos offers a wider range for controller tracking than the Quest thanks to side cameras, as well as high resolution LCD panels and integrated headphones. It’s also more comfortable for the majority of people- the Quest is a front heavy headset.
But of course, Quest has the benefit of also being a standalone headset. HTC and Qualcomm have teased the idea of connecting a smartphone to the Cosmos, but this hasn’t panned out yet- and perhaps never will.
As of writing, Cosmos is the only consumer-oriented headset with a wireless adapter. This allows the user to rid themselves of a tethered cable, one of the core “friction points” of PC VR – managing it is a conscious effort that takes the user out of the virtual world they’re supposed to be in.
For many PC gamers, wireless capability may be the push they need to buy a headset and jump into SteamVR, and the Cosmos is a decent option. So if you’re one of those people and $800 sounds like a fair price to you, take a look at this offer.
Just keep in mind that the adapter is aimed at advanced users and requires installing a card into a PCIe slot on a desktop PC. If you’re not comfortable with that, skip this.
Interested in this bundle? Check out our review of the HTC Vive Cosmos here.
