More than two months after it was released, the Apple Vision Pro, a mixed-reality headset, is causing some users neck pain, headaches and black eyes.
Even Apple warns consumers, saying that “extended periods of use may increase your risk of discomfort or injury” and they should stop using it if they “feel unwell or experience discomfort, such as nausea, dizziness, headache, numbness, eyestrain, eye pain or a change in vision such as blurred or double vision.”
Apple advises customers to get a proper fit using the correct seal and headband, plus use contacts or optical inserts instead of eyeglasses.
Some users say getting the right fit for the $3,500 device hasn’t been easy.
“I wasn’t able to use it very much the first few weeks because the fit was just off,” Emily Olman told MarketWatch, adding that the headset left her with “superdark black eyes” due to the weight on her cheeks.
Neck strain also appeared in testing for the Vision Pro because of that heft, according to Bloomberg. Each headset weighs over a pound.
“It’s not surprising that prolonged use of any headset can lead to neck pain or muscle fatigue. The head itself weighs about 10 to 11 pounds. These devices usually weigh close to 1 to 1.5 pounds, so it is an additional 10% of weight that one’s neck muscles have to accommodate,” Dr. Michael Lee, a spine surgeon at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told The Daily Beast.
Reviewers of the product noticed similar issues.
“It was wide, ridged and soft, and I at first thought it would be very comfortable. But 15 minutes into my experience, I started to feel weighed down by the device, and five more minutes later I was in pain,” Engadget’s Cherlynn Low wrote, adding that swapping in a dual looped headband helped distribute the weight better.
As for visual discomfort, Apple says on its website that when buyers first use the device they should “take a break at least every 20 to 30 minutes. If you experience visual discomfort, stop using the device until fully recovered from your symptoms.”
Amid all the complaints, what draws consumers to the Vision Pro? Simply because of reviews from the likes of CNET’s Scott Stein, who calls it “the best wearable display” he’s used.
And from Reddit user Brief-Assignment-691, who wrote that “AVP blows every other VR headset I have ever used out of the water. … [The] eye tracking and intuitiveness of it all make me feel like Tony Stark.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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