Published , by Josh Hawkins
Published , by Josh Hawkins
Valve is finally stepping its game up and joining the VR battle with its own first-party Head Mounted Display. If you’re curious to know what the Valve Index VR HMD price, specs, release date, and preorder options are, then we’ve got all the info you need to know about the Valve Index, so let’s dive right in!
The Valve Index is currently slated to release on July 1, 2019. This means VR fans have just a couple of months to wait before they can see Valve’s VR entry in action themselves. If you’re curious about picking one up, then there are some things you need to know about the Valve Index VR and its current pricing.
Users looking to pick up the Valve Index will find a few different purchase options available to them. Purchasing the VR Kit outright will cost $999.00 USD, or 1,079 EUR. However, you can also purchase smaller variances of the package, which we’ve outlined in the table below.
| PACKAGE NAME | USD PRICE | EUR PRICE |
| VR Kit | 999.00 | 1,079.00 |
| HMD & Knuckles Kit | 749.00 | 799.00 |
| HMD Only | 449.00 | 539.00 |
| Pair of Knuckles | 279.00 | 299.00 |
| Single Base Station | 149.00 | 159.00 |
Now that you know when the Valve Index is set to release, as well as the HMD’s price, let’s talk a little bit about the specs that users can expect to see in the Valve Index.
With such a strong history working with HTC on the Vive, it makes sense that Vive knows what they’re doing when it comes to VR and creating a strong contender for the current HMD market. The Valve Index will no doubt be an impressive piece of hardware. The entire goal with the Valve Index is to offer a high-fidelity VR experience featuring some of the best-in-class visuals and audio options, as well as natural input and comfort.
Based on this desire to deliver a great product, the display on the Valve Index is made up of a custom full-RGB panel that provides minimal screen-door effect, according to Valve. The panel includes 50% more subpixels than OLED and offers an insanely low persistence at .330ms. The headset's display will be made up of dual LCD panels at a resolution of 1440x1600 each.
As far as optics themselves go, the Valve Index includes a set of custom dual-element lenses that achieve sharpness with a large FOV and eyebox. According to demos, the typical experience offers an FOV that is 20 degrees larger than users will find available on the Vive. The display will also offer a 120Hz framerate, as well as an experimental 144Hz mode, which should offer additional fidelity and comfort for VR users.
The Valve Index is also heavily based towards overall user comfort, with the headset offering a reduced weight compared to other headsets, as well as additional fabric and padding, which should make playing for longer sessions much more viable. The 7-hour battery life in the controllers will also support longer play sessions.
When it comes to audio, Valve is looking to provide high quality audio using nearfield off-ear speakers, which feature actual speaker drivers as opposed to the typical headphone drivers used in other HMDs. This will provide more comfort for the user, as they won’t have additional pressure on their ears. The Valve Index is also slated to provide quite a bit of access for modders and others that want to experiment with new features and additions in order to foster open innovation that can help drive the VR industry forward.
The new controllers packaged with the Valve Index will provide 87 sensors per controller to help offer better motion tracking, capacitive touch, as well as force sensors. This should all around create a more natural VR experience as the controllers can better read the user’s intent. The new controllers also feature increased immersion capability thanks to finger tracking, as well as a more comfortable feel and looking that should grant users more open-handed interactions.
Both the new controllers and the headset will be useable with the first and second generation base stations. The new Base Stations will offer a longer range, wider FOV and are compatible with both the Index and the Vive Pro HW, giving users all the optional access they’ll need.
Users can preorder the Valve Index starting on May 1. This gives VR enthusiasts a month to pick up the product before it ships out in July. If you’re interested in seeing how Valve plans to tackle the VR industry, then the Valve Index is definitely a great option for VR users looking to upgrade to a new and improved headset.
We’ll continue to monitor the information being revealed for the Valve Index and update this article as any additional information becomes available. For now, users can head over to the Valve Index page on Steam for more details about the headset, as well as to preorder it when that option goes live.