Skip to main content

HTC Vive flip-up face mount Revolve easily surpasses its Kickstarter goal

rEvolve Kickstarter Promo
Revolve, a third-party head mount for the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, surpassed its Kickstarter goal by almost six times, with nearly $30,000 earned. The Vive mount’s main draw is that it lets you easily flip the VR headset up away from your face so you can quickly switch between virtual reality and actual reality without needing to take the whole thing off.

Made by SynergyWiz, the Revolve also promises improved comfort while wearing the Vive, easier donning with a single-strap system and customizable padding, and “easy access headphones” that hang next to your ears. It also boasts increased field of view while in VR thanks to thinner padding on the front (putting your eyes closer to the lenses) and support for various third-party wireless VR solutions.

There is still a week remaining in the Kickstarter campaign, which launched with the original goal of just $5,000. A pledge of $85 gets you a single Revolve, while “business class” bundles that go up to $1,500 offer bundles of five to 20 mounts.

SynergyWiz is a tech company whose website says it specializes in “creating value through innovative design” and “product development […] delivering paradigm shifting technologies.” If the paradigm, in this case, is the annoyance of fiddling with the Vive headset’s straps every time you want to check your phone while using virtual reality, then they’re welcome to shift it all they want.

In fact, that is one of the central drawbacks of using VR — the fact that your view of the real world is obscured. A headset that uses a phone as a display, like Samsung’s Gear VR, can bypass that issue by having camera passthrough that lets you see through the phone’s camera, but for higher-end headsets like the Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR, it remains a problem.

The company expects to finalize the Revolve mount’s design “in the coming weeks” and begin production “shortly afterwards,” according to the Kickstarter page.

Editors' Recommendations

Michael Rougeau
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mike Rougeau is a journalist and writer who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs. He specializes in video…
HTC offers cheaper Vive Pro Eye bundles, expands eye-tracking in VR
HTC Vive Pro Eye virtual reality headset

HTC is expanding its push into enterprise virtual reality solutions by launching several new bundles in the Vive Pro Eye family. Both new bundles come packaged with HTC's Vive Pro Eye, which boasts to be the first virtual reality headset that comes with built-in eye tracking technology.

However, enterprise users who just want the VR headset without buying a bundle can grab the Vive Pro Eye at its new lower price of $1,399, HTC announced. This represents a savings of $200 from the original $1,599 price.

Read more
HTC Vive Cosmos Elite hands-on review: External tracking returns
vive cosmos elite

Setting up sensors in your living room to use VR isn't fun. It takes time, requires a lot of space, and is a hassle to transport. In the era of inside-out tracking on headsets like the Vive Cosmos and Oculus Quest, external tracking feels like a technology ready to be phased out.

HTC has announced a new external tracking option with the Vive Cosmos Elite. It's a faceplate attachment that brings external tracking to the Cosmos. The $899 bundle includes SteamVR base stations and two controllers, and is priced as a successor to the Vive Pro.

Read more
With new swappable faceplates, the Vive Cosmos is now a modular VR platform
HTC Vive Cosmos

After having debuted the HTC Cosmos late last year with an innovative flip-up display to switch between the virtual and real worlds, HTC is expanding its Vive Cosmos series in a surprising new way. Faceplates with different features that can be upgraded to or purchased with the Cosmos.

The star of the show remains the different experiences you gain when adding HTC's unique and modular faceplates. This allows users to grow with their Vive Cosmos investment by being able swap faceplates to gain new functionality in the future.

Read more