HTC has been steadily shipping Vives to early customers over the last five weeks, but all you could order from the company was the headset itself. Now the company is taking orders for replacement parts, in case you've already damaged your hardware.
When we talked to HTC’s JB Mcree in January about the Vive, he told us that replacement nose gaskets would be available and that the company would sell additional foam gaskets because they would obviously be a point of wear and tear. When the Vive first launched, those accessories were nowhere to be found, but HTC is now offering those and several other parts that are susceptible to damage.
As we mentioned, HTC has foam face cushions available. The company is selling both the wide and narrow cushions in packages of two for $24.99. The Vive ships with one of each of the face cushions, but it ships with only one nose rest. HTC does offer two sizes of nose rest as aftermarket accessories, though, with both wide and narrow options available. They come in sets of three, and HTC is asking $12.99 for the pack.
HTC is also offering replacement cables in case you damage your own. The Vive requires a few different proprietary cables, including the 15-foot 3-in-1 HDMI cable, the USB 2.0 A-to-A cable, and the power cords. You can’t purchase individual power bricks, but you can get the USB and the HDMI cables. The 3-in-1 cable is $39.99, and the USB cable is $10.
HTC is selling some of the bigger items, too. If you damage the Vive control box, you can pick one of those up for $29.99. The control box doesn’t come with a power cord, though, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to get one. Try not to damage the power cord for your HMD, as you might have a hard time getting it working again. I suppose you could order a space base station and use its power cord, but you’ll be paying $134.99 for what appears to be a single unit.
Vive controllers will set you back a pretty penny. The website doesn’t specify how many you get for your purchase, but the title is not plural, so we expect that for the $129.99 that HTC is asking, you’re getting only a single controller, an AC adapter and a USB cable for it.
The Vive replacement parts can be purchased through the HTC store, but quantities on some items are limited (the narrow face cushions are already sold out, for example). HTC expects to start shipping parts in early June.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
