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The wonderful folks at HTC were kind enough to include me in a preliminary shipment of Deluxe Audio Straps for the HTC Vive virtual reality headset.

The box arrived relatively quickly, and I was excited to connect it to my Vive. I decided to test it out first, then dissasemble it to do a video demonstration of the install.

Once I got my Vive ripped apart, I noticed that the new strap did not just SNAP on like the instructions indicated. A quick trip to Twitter helped me determine that the Vive Pre kit that I was currently using at home was not compatible with the new deluxe strap. Bummer.

I contacted HTC. They knew about the issue and graciously offered to swap out my Vive Pre for a retail version. They did the swap the next day at a Star Trek: Bridge Crew event at Portal VR Arcade in Seattle. They also informed me that there are over 7000 Pre kits out there, and a solution was being created for those folks as well.

To me, it appeared that HTC was excited to promote their new deluxe strap, and were keeping the entire VR community in mind while conjuring up solutions.

I finally got all of my ducks in a row, had the deluxe strap, my newly swapped retail Vive, and a YouTube stream to show off the install process. Things were good.

I played for a bit (hours) in the new setup and thoroughly enjoyed myself. When I left my VR Dungeon and rejoined my family, I noticed some black ‘stuff’ on my shoulders and in my very sweaty hair. I just assumed that I had brushed up against something in my garage on the way back to the living room.

I was wrong.

This morning, I had to grab a few items from my VR Dungeon and I noticed abrasions on the padding of my Vive deluxe strap. Uh oh. Another quick trip to Twitter confirmed that I wasn’t the only one who noticed this.

I wondered what that black crap on my head was. My @htcvive Deluxe Audiostrap is melting! #VR pic.twitter.com/Q9nZgQpaiO — Reverend Kyle (@reverendkjr) June 7, 2017

HTC immediately responded, which is a good thing.

The fact that NOBODY noticed this, is probably a bad thing. I feel like if I ripped this padding off (it IS completely replaceable) and tossed it into a glass of water, it would dissolve surprisingly quick. Not the best material to stick on a part of the body that loves to sweat.

I have the utmost confidence that HTC will remedy this. I will report back once I have the solution presented to me. I am sure that I will hear about their solution as quickly as they can create it.

Stay tuned…

UPDATE:

Science Time w/ Rev. Kyle – Dissolving the HTC Deluxe Audio Strap Foam https://t.co/PWFo1Qosav — Reverend Kyle (@reverendkjr) June 8, 2017

Until next time, Remember to follow the rules…

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