Dell gets into VR with the Visor VR headset and controllers

Dell has made a play for the burgeoning VR headset market with its new Visor headset and controller combo. The new device appears to be more streamlined and less cumbersome than its competition, although that will need to be confirmed in due course. It uses a pair of 1440 x 1440 pixel LCD panels that should create quite detailed virtual and mixed reality environments. The visor also features a unique flip-up capability for quickly transitioning from a virtual world to the real world without having to take the headset off completely.

The Dell Visor comes finished in a satin white color that has been treated with an anti-stain coating to protect its appearance over time. It is also fitted with head and face padding and has been designed to allow people who wear glasses to use it with minimal adjustments. As with the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, the headband of the Dell Visor has been designed to take pressure off both a user’s nose and cheeks for extended gameplay. A cable management system is designed to route cables to the back of the headband for freedom of movement.

The new controllers operate in a 3-dimensional space including forward/back, up/down, and left/right with sensors in the headset tracking motion. Inputs include a thumb stick, trigger button, touchpad, home and menu buttons. Dell says it has tested both the Visor Controllers and the Visor VR headset with its VR-ready XPS and Inspiron range and that both will also work with the Windows 10 Fall Creators update. With Microsoft's emphasis on mixed reality, the Dell Visor looks well-placed to integrate with Windows particularly well in this regard.

Priced at US$459 for the bundle, Dell has priced its Visor VR headset and Visor Controllers well under the recently reduced HTC Vive bundle (US$599), and just under the Oculus Rift bundle (US$499). The Visor headset (US$359) and the Visor Controllers (US$99) will also be sold separately when they launch in the US on October 17. No details about wider availability and regional pricing were available at the time of writing. 

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