Honest feelings about the Vision Pro after nearly 5 months

[bousozoku]

Apple obviously didn't test it with enough varied people before they decided on a design. That seems standard Apple practice now. It reminds me of Mercedes-Benz back in the 1960s.

I'm sure they'll get to something usable and comfortable later but so will the others.

Right now, I'm sure business can make use of it in engineering.

 

[Macaholic868]

Why don’t you just plug in a portable battery so you don’t have to turn off the AVP?

Stupid question I know but what kind of portable battery are you thinking? I used to just plug the battery into an extension cord running from the wall, under the couch but I do like to be able to put the battery pack in my pocket and move around the house. Nothing too crazy but I’ll hop up and go to the kitchen or run upstairs to grab something from time to time and like not having to have something attached that’s plugged into the wall all of the time so I’d be interested in any solution that lets me do that.

 

[Roller]

Apple obviously didn't test it with enough varied people before they decided on a design. That seems standard Apple practice now. It reminds me of Mercedes-Benz back in the 1960s.

I'm sure they'll get to something usable and comfortable later but so will the others.

Right now, I'm sure business can make use of it in engineering.

You mean Apple's engineers and designers weren't aware that the first iteration was heavier than other offerings and should have waited for a more comfortable version, which may have taken another year or more?

As for "something usable" and "business can make use of it in engineering"... I guess those of us who are using and enjoying the VP for a variety of tasks aren't as savvy as you. It's so helpful to have experts around.

 

[Tdevilsg]

People saying that they reach a point where they don’t even realize it’s on, more power to you for enjoying your device, but it’s shocking for me to hear. One because the device is such an isolating thing to use, but also it’s like strapping a brick to the front of your face and the pass through is super grainy. I love the idea of the technology but it’s got a solid decade to go

 

[subjonas]

Matt Birchler with a rather scathing review after 5 months

"...right now, my feeling about the Vision Pro is that it was the worst way I could have possibly spent $3,500 on upgrading my computing life."

"It’s simply not comfortable to wear, and I don’t like having it on my face."

"anything more than 10 minutes leads me to have serious VR-headset-face, to the point I watched a movie on it before a family event recently and my mom asked me if I got hit in the face because the rings around my eyes looked like double black eyes."

"The battery pack is annoying"

"I dislike Mac Virtual Display"

"Spatial personas are very cool, but...the classic VR problem (“I love this! I’ll never do it again, though!”)."

"the Vision Pro makes the iPad look like a productivity powerhouse in comparison."

"Eye tracking as the only input method is too imprecise and can be frustrating"

"I still watch a movie or two each week on the headset, but it’s mostly out of obligation to use the $3,500 thing I bought."

For thoroughness and objectivity, it’s worth noting the writer had one or two somewhat positive things to say (watching a movie in a hotel and What If) amidst the overwhelmingly negative, and that some of the negatives are probably temporary (the lack of apps, and his issues with virtual Mac display may have been mitigated with the update), and the writer is still holding out hope his experience improves.

But it sounds like device just isn’t for him. He seems to find it more uncomfortable than those who like the VP, and seems to enjoy/need what it offers less than them. People have wildly different experiences of the VP for whatever reasons, so it’s not for everyone. I know many here want to assert they know how many percentage of people it’s for, and especially not for, but to me that‘s futile and uninteresting. But I‘m interested in individuals’ takes, overall positive or overall negative. But I don’t take anyone who only focuses one side without ever acknowledging aspects of the other as an objective judge.

Also those people mocking others who are sincerely expressing their genuine experience—whether it be enjoyment or displeasure, without agenda—I find to be the worst part of public forums.

 

[subjonas]

I'm certainly open to that. I have decided not to return it and enjoy the things I enjoy with it... and see what happens. There's zero doubt that it helps me focus for work during those intense focus sessions. Put on noise cancelling.. use environments for vision cancelling, essentially, and I get pretty locked it.

Multiple monitors in Mac virtual display will be a nice add as well. I'd love to have my windows VM running in one window and then my Mac desktop in another window - just how I use dual monitors in reality.

Have you seen the super wide virtual Mac display in visionOS 2? It would be ideal to position windows anywhere of course, but the super wide might be sufficient, at least for me.

 

[subjonas]

Stupid question I know but what kind of portable battery are you thinking? I used to just plug the battery into an extension cord running from the wall, under the couch but I do like to be able to put the battery pack in my pocket and move around the house. Nothing too crazy but I’ll hop up and go to the kitchen or run upstairs to grab something from time to time and like not having to have something attached that’s plugged into the wall all of the time so I’d be interested in any solution that lets me do that.

You could always just get a portable battery roughly the size of the VP battery pack, use a super short usbc cable, and just rubber band the batteries together. Ghetto but it would probably work ok. I would be surprised though if no one is selling some customized third party solution.

edit-
What am I talking about? The batteries probably don’t need to be the same size or stay joined together if they’re both just going in your pocket. You can probably just get a small as possible battery like this and just have it loose in your pocket next to the VP battery, just connected with a short usbc cable.

Poweradd Slim2 5000mAh Mini Power Bank External Battery Portable Charger for iPhones iPad Samsung Mobile Cellphone - Walmart.com

Buy Poweradd Slim2 5000mAh Mini Power Bank External Battery Portable Charger for iPhones iPad Samsung Mobile Cellphone at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Or probably even better, if you do want the batteries to stay joined together, also without needing a cable, something like this might work. Oh wait, I just saw where the usbc port is on the VP battery and this won’t work.

TESSAN Mini Portable Charger with Built-in USB-C Connector, 5000mAh Small Power Bank, Ultra Compact Battery Pack, for iPhone 15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max/Samsung/AirPods/Google/LG and More, 2Pack

2pack mini portable charger, 5000mah small power bank, ultra compact battery pack compatible with iphone 15 series, samsung, lg, google pixel and more. The mini portable charger is as lightweight as lipstick that without difficulty put in your pocket, And power your device quickly and efficiently...

www.amazon.com

Either way, you probably want to get two or three of these batteries, and just keep switching them out.

 

[subjonas]

People saying that they reach a point where they don’t even realize it’s on, more power to you for enjoying your device, but it’s shocking for me to hear. One because the device is such an isolating thing to use, but also it’s like strapping a brick to the front of your face and the pass through is super grainy. I love the idea of the technology but it’s got a solid decade to go

It’s not too surprising to me that people seem to have such wildly different comfort levels wearing the VP. Some of it is probably due to different mental tolerances, but also physically people have wildly different face and head shapes/sizes. It seems very unlikely to me that all can be conducive to wearing the VP, or headsets in general, even with the different fittings. Baseline they’re definitely not going to have equally comfortable/conducive fits. Until headsets get extremely light, they’re going to be comfortable enough for only a portion of the population. As they get lighter/smaller, they’ll include more of the population.

 

[mode11]

Same

Bums me out honestly

I thought all of this tech would be further along by this point

One of the main problems with current genuine AR (i.e. products such as the HoloLens) is that CG imagery has a translucent, ghostly appearance in the scene. This is particularly an issue when the environment is bright. To make the CG opaque, you'd need to block out the pixels behind it by e.g. using a transparent monochrome LCD on the outside of the glasses.

Unfortunately, this still doesn't solve issues with eye focus. AR visors use light bouncing techniques to allow the eye's focal distance to be further away than the visor (e.g. at a metre, rather than a few centimetres). The CG and scene objects need to have a comparable focal distance; also, your eye obviously can't focus on a screen a few cm away.

I assume this means all the CG is 'projected' with the same / fixed virtual distance in the scene. I doubt virtual objects at e.g. 1, 3 and 5m away in the scene can be projected such that your eye can (re)focus on them at different distances. The issue is then that optically, AR is likely to always be presented as 2D cut-outs, ~1m from the viewer, regardless of their virtual placement in the scene. This seems unavoidable, unless some type of 3D projection technology becomes possible.

All of these stereoscopic technologies simulate certain aspects of 3D vision, but there are others that just can't be (at least with 2D displays). It's a complex set of problems. Some of it can be done very successfully, but other parts are currently impossible. This may be why the technology keeps periodically returning for another go, but never quite catches on.

 

[The Game 161]

Apple obviously didn't test it with enough varied people before they decided on a design. That seems standard Apple practice now. It reminds me of Mercedes-Benz back in the 1960s.

I'm sure they'll get to something usable and comfortable later but so will the others.

Right now, I'm sure business can make use of it in engineering.

i think it's more they wanted a product out the door and to develop things further going forward

 

[TriApple]

Have you seen the super wide virtual Mac display in visionOS 2? It would be ideal to position windows anywhere of course, but the super wide might be sufficient, at least for me.

I have! Super excited for that later this year.

 

[Roller]

People saying that they reach a point where they don’t even realize it’s on, more power to you for enjoying your device, but it’s shocking for me to hear. One because the device is such an isolating thing to use, but also it’s like strapping a brick to the front of your face and the pass through is super grainy. I love the idea of the technology but it’s got a solid decade to go

Perhaps it would surprise you to hear that we people who are enjoying our AVPs don't feel like we're wearing a brick. That doesn't mean we wouldn't prefer a lighter device, but the hyperbolic similes (strapping an iPad, brick, computer, etc.) don't make for a cogent argument.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Perhaps it would surprise you to hear that we people who are enjoying our AVPs don't feel like we're wearing a brick. That doesn't mean we wouldn't prefer a lighter device, but the hyperbolic similes (strapping an iPad, brick, computer, etc.) don't make for a cogent argument.

That user was replying to comments implying "I forgot I even had AVP on!"

Speaking of hyperbole...

Nobody is "forgetting they have it on" with any of these current VR HMD devices

 

[Roller]

Apple obviously didn't test it with enough varied people before they decided on a design. That seems standard Apple practice now. It reminds me of Mercedes-Benz back in the 1960s.

I'm sure they'll get to something usable and comfortable later but so will the others.

Right now, I'm sure business can make use of it in engineering.

I love it when someone's response to a post is a laughing emoji instead of responding intelligently with counter-arguments. Brilliant.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I love it when someone's response to a post is a laughing emoji instead of responding intelligently with counter-arguments. Brilliant.

No offense, but your reply didn't have much to respond to.

..and when you finish with a sarcastic shot ("it's so helpful to have experts around"), you aren't going to get much qualitative engagement.

 

[Roller]

That user was replying to comments implying "I forgot I even had AVP on!"

Speaking of hyperbole...

Nobody is "forgetting they have it on" with any of these current VR HMD devices

IDK, maybe the people who claim they forgot they had it on really did. I don't, but I also don't feel it's anything remotely akin to strapping a brick to my face. What I dislike about the naysayers here is their refusal to accept that some of us are genuinely enjoying our AVP and are using it productively despite its shortcomings.

 

[Roller]

No offense, but your reply didn't have much to respond to.

..and when you finish with a sarcastic shot ("it's so helpful to have experts around"), you aren't going to get much qualitative engagement.

View attachment 2393331

Fair enough about my sarcasm, but I'm tired of reading comments from people like that poster who think they know what's useful and acceptable to me better than I do — see my latest reply to you.

 

[SunMac]

Stupid question I know but what kind of portable battery are you thinking? I used to just plug the battery into an extension cord running from the wall, under the couch but I do like to be able to put the battery pack in my pocket and move around the house. Nothing too crazy but I’ll hop up and go to the kitchen or run upstairs to grab something from time to time and like not having to have something attached that’s plugged into the wall all of the time so I’d be interested in any solution that lets me do that.

You could just keep this in your other pocket with a charging cable connected to the AVP.
Ones like this:

 

[Roller]

No offense, but your reply didn't have much to respond to.

..and when you finish with a sarcastic shot ("it's so helpful to have experts around"), you aren't going to get much qualitative engagement.

View attachment 2393331

I genuinely appreciate your willingness to engage. As I wrote in another post, I accept your point about my sarcasm.

To me, though, this feels much like what I experienced after I started to use a Mac in 1984: endless comments on bulletin boards claiming my computer was a toy and I should have bought an IBM PC if I wanted to do useful work.

I bristle when I hear people say the AVP isn't useful as a generalization — not because they don't have legitimate complaints about design, cost, or other aspects, but rather because they imply that those of us who feel otherwise about the AVP's utility just don't get it or perhaps are simply trying to justify an admittedly large expense.

I suppose at my age I should just brush off or ignore those comments. But some of us who come to this forum to share tips, whether about new apps or how to do things on the AVP, have sometimes felt the negative posts were interfering with that to an extent.

​

 

[cardfan]

Matt Birchler with a rather scathing review after 5 months

"...right now, my feeling about the Vision Pro is that it was the worst way I could have possibly spent $3,500 on upgrading my computing life."

"It’s simply not comfortable to wear, and I don’t like having it on my face."

"anything more than 10 minutes leads me to have serious VR-headset-face, to the point I watched a movie on it before a family event recently and my mom asked me if I got hit in the face because the rings around my eyes looked like double black eyes."

"The battery pack is annoying"

"I dislike Mac Virtual Display"

"Spatial personas are very cool, but...the classic VR problem (“I love this! I’ll never do it again, though!”)."

"the Vision Pro makes the iPad look like a productivity powerhouse in comparison."

"Eye tracking as the only input method is too imprecise and can be frustrating"

"I still watch a movie or two each week on the headset, but it’s mostly out of obligation to use the $3,500 thing I bought."

Preaching to the choir. The ones that returned know this.

 

[SunMac]

People saying that they reach a point where they don’t even realize it’s on, more power to you for enjoying your device, but it’s shocking for me to hear. One because the device is such an isolating thing to use, but also it’s like strapping a brick to the front of your face and the pass through is super grainy. I love the idea of the technology but it’s got a solid decade to go

It’s not isolating if you keep the pass through on. It’s the exact opposite. I can see everything in my environment. I was sitting at a desk with my MacBook Pro screen enlarged in front of me just like a computer monitor would be. It’s so soft on my face and like I said before I don’t tighten the strap at all and it sits comfortably on my head/face.

 

[cardfan]

I'm certainly open to that. I have decided not to return it and enjoy the things I enjoy with it... and see what happens. There's zero doubt that it helps me focus for work during those intense focus sessions. Put on noise cancelling.. use environments for vision cancelling, essentially, and I get pretty locked it.

Multiple monitors in Mac virtual display will be a nice add as well. I'd love to have my windows VM running in one window and then my Mac desktop in another window - just how I use dual monitors in reality.

I was open to that stuff as well. But had to make a decision and don’t see Apple doing this. Let’s just say the engagement level from Apple was silence.

I get it they’re big. Maybe it’s not the way they do things. Didn’t have to do this for iPhone iPad etc. I say bs. Apple needed another level of support on this. The App Store was trash and looks to still be that level.

So decided to return and wait and see what Apple does. Good thing. They’ve done as expected. Very little.

 

[cardfan]

Not a "neck strength" thing ..

More like ... "impossible to forget you have a scuba mask on"

lol

Yep. Even if you can bear it and deem it comfortable. You look like a train wreck after taking this off. Red lines over face.

 

[Night Spring]

Yep. Even if you can bear it and deem it comfortable. You look like a train wreck after taking this off. Red lines over face.

But this again varies by individual. Some people get red lines. Friend of mine got red lines when she did the demo. I didn't, even though I wore it longer than she did.

 

[subjonas]

It’s not isolating if you keep the pass through on. It’s the exact opposite. I can see everything in my environment. I was sitting at a desk with my MacBook Pro screen enlarged in front of me just like a computer monitor would be. It’s so soft on my face and like I said before I don’t tighten the strap at all and it sits comfortably on my head/face.

I think it’s not as isolating as many people initially think just looking at the device—they may not realize you can very plainly see your environment and others can (pretty much) see your eyes with EyeSight (what I generally hear from people who actually gave the feature a fair chance is it’s weird and needs lots of improvement but baseline letting people see the user’s eyes helps and is better than not having it). But even still, there is the isolating aspect of not being able to share what you’re seeing with anyone who is not also wearing a VP. I think in many cases that’s not an issue and is actually desired because most of people’s personal device usage is personal and isn’t supposed to be shared. But there are the times you want to show someone something on your screen. And of course there are the normally shared television type experiences that become isolated on the VP, as well as AR/VR-specific experiences that can only be seen on a headset.

Of course all these wouldn't be issues if everyone had their own VP (or some Apple headset), but that’s not likely to happen for awhile if ever. But for times you want to show someone something you're looking at, there should be ways to do that. If I’m not mistaken, I believe you can live stream your POV or a virtual window to a physical screen? At the very least you can send things via Airdop or some messaging app. Sharing these ways does take an added step or two versus just showing someone your screen. Hopefully Apple made it as easy as possible, but if you’re often needing to show things to people, say at work, either the VP isn't the right device or I suppose one could set up a display to be constantly receiving live stream.
For shared screen television type experiences, I’d say people should just stick to televisions.
As for AR/VR-specific experiences that can only be seen on a headset, if others don’t have their own headset, obviously there is no other option, you either go it alone or go without, just like any other single rider experience (like a massage chair) 🤷‍♂️. And maybe some will want to go without until they can share it—to each their own.

So I don’t think the VP is particularly isolating unless one chooses to use it that way—ie. alone in place of social experiences. But we do that with all our other personal devices, so it’s essentially just another personal device.