Get an HTC Vive on Finance Program

Image credit: YouTube - iwantmylauren

The HTC Vive is one of the only virtual reality headsets that have not undergone a significant price reduction since its release a year ago. Instead of offering a price cut, HTC is offering a finance program to help buyers out while also spurring sales.

A finance program would be helpful because the HTC Vive is the most expensive headset on the market. Here, I will discuss the finance program but before getting into details about financing, I will give a brief overview and description of what many consider to be the king of virtual reality headsets.

HTC Vive

Sitting at a lofty $799.99, the HTC Vive is regarded as one of the most full-featured virtual reality systems currently on the market. When purchasing the HTC Vive, you get far more than just a virtual reality headset. The HTC Vive includes a set of motion controllers (two, one for each hand), a room scale laser tracking system, and a nice head strap. As for the headset itself, it has all the features you’d expect when paying 800 dollars for PC hardware.

Image credit: The Verge

Specs

-OLED
-2160 x 1200
-90Hz
-SteamVR, VivePort
-110 degrees
-15 x 15 feet
-Vive controller, any PC compatible gamepad
-Accelerometer, gyroscope,
-Lighthouse laser tracking system,
-Front-facing camera

The OLED displays in the HTC Vive are sharp and extremely colorful. That said, the resolution while among the best at 2160 x 1200, is not high enough to eliminate the dreaded screen door effect. This is a problem for almost all virtual reality headsets at the moment. Headsets like the Chinese Pimax offer 4k displays that eliminate the screen door effect, however, such displays often lack bright colors and have problems with ghosting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-e-GCxuoUQ

HTC will probably improve screen resolution with the Vive 2. Recent statements indicate that the second iteration of this headset may be ways off. On the HTC Vive 2, HTC recently said: “It’s not about picking a production cycle and timeline, it’s about bringing really meaningful innovation that helps the developer community to create compelling new experiences.”

This means that purchasing or financing a Vive at this point is not such a risky proposition. In other words, if you buy the HTC Vive now, you’re not going to be filled with buyer’s remorse because of a new product release that makes the current model appear outdated.

When buying the HTC Vive, it is super important to make sure your computer meets the recommended computer requirements. They are as follows:

Recommended Computer Requirements
-GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480, equivalent or better
-CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350, equivalent or better
-RAM: 4 GB or more
-Output: HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
-USB: 1x USB 2.0 or better port
-OS: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 or later

HTC Vive being used to track hip movement. Image credit: Arstechnica

Financing

As for the financing plans, they are pretty self-explanatory. The plans in which you buy the HTC Vive within the span of a year are the best. As you can see below, no interest is charged if you pay off the headset within a year’s time. That said, the interest rate for a two-year financing period is only 7.99 percent.

Plan 1) 0% Financing for 6 months for a total monthly cost of $138.00 (plus tax and shipping)
Plan 2) 0% Financing for 12 months for a total monthly cost of $66.58 (plus tax and shipping)
Plan 3) 7.99% Financing for 24 months for a total monthly cost of $40.13 (plus tax and shipping)

I would avoid Plan 3 because of the 7.99 percent financing but also because of the term length. Although the HTC Vive 2 is not on the near horizon, we will almost assuredly get a significant hardware update before two years from now. All and all, the financing plans offer an intriguing and flexible option for consumers to purchase this expensive beast of a VR headset.