Last week, when discussing the HTC Vive Pro's sky-high, $799 headset-only price , we noticed a bit of an oddity surrounding the pricing of the tracking base stations and controllers needed to go along with the system. Picking up two of each accessory at HTC's retail pricing would run about $530, or $30 more than a $500 original Vive bundle which also includes the same accessories.

Someone at HTC seems to have noticed the same oddity, because the company is now offering a "Pro Headset Accessory Starter Kit" for the slightly reduced price of about $450 ($450.47, to be exact), down about $80 from the a la carte price. As noted by UploadVR, the accessory pack doesn't currently show up for purchase on the Vive's main accessory store page, but it does appear as an additional option after the Vive Pro is added to your online shopping cart.

The deal lowers the "starter" price for a Vive Pro experience to about $1,250, not including the high-end computer needed to power the setup. But the new price doesn't change the fact that, for about $50 more, you can buy a Vive Pro and an original Vive, getting two headsets and one set of needed accessories for very nearly the same price (as if that wasn't enough, the original Vive comes with a copy of Fallout 4 VR to boot).

HTC has promised a "full kit" Vive Pro package will launch later this year, including updated controllers and new tracking base stations that can handle larger rooms. With no pricing or specific timing details on that package, though, we can't say for sure whether waiting will be worth it.

We've been testing out the Vive Pro here in the Ars Orbiting HQ in recent days and will have a full review ready before the April 5 launch. For now, suffice to say that HTC is asking quite a lot of money for a higher-resolution version of essentially the same VR experience.