AMVR Halo Strap and Back Pad: A $30 Comfort Upgrade for Pico

Pico has been on the market for quite some time now and it has already amassed a notable number of third-party accessories. There are carrying cases, battery packs, controller add-ons, and of course, various comfort solutions, which is where the “Halo Strap and Back Pad” fits in.

Short Verdict: Affordable and useful. Increase in confort is perceptible and provides good value (especially to heavy VR users).

Piece-by-Piece Overview

Let’s start with the back padding. The original stock pad is quite sturdy but also hard and inflexible. What AMVR does is replace it with a cushy and much softer leather one. As one would expect, the difference is noticeable, especially when leaning back, but also when standing or sitting.

The top part is where design innovation lies. It provides additional comfort through its padding but more importantly it shifts the pressure from the sides to the top. It took me a couple of tries to get Pico 4 to sit nicely, but once I found the sweet spot, I was surprised to notice that not only had the comfort improved, the headset itself started to feel lighter as well.

With the halo strap in place it is possible to remove the front padding and turn Pico 4 into a flip-up headset. The stock version does not allow this and this is why I consider the AMVR Halo Strap part comfort booster and part design mod.

Installation

The installation consists of a couple of steps. The back padding must be detached with a “crowbar,” which is a plastic tool included in the box.

As for the top Velcro strap, it can only be replaced after removing the front leather pad. Having solved that puzzle, it was all smooth sailing. I had the whole thing assembled in 15 minutes and ready to put on.

Testing

So how does the AMVR headstrap mod fare in practice? Well, as you can expect it fares very well. I had a chance to test it out in a full five-hour session, first playing games like Walkabout Mini Golf and then, when the battery ran out, watching a movie with Pico 4 plugged in and I made it through without any issues.

I can say confidently that the comfort is higher because the original padding would often pinch the bridge of my nose, leading to redness and pain during extended play sessions. Not having to deal with this problem was a big improvement for me.

While not required, the Halo Strap and Back Pad replacement could work well in combination with AMVR PICO 4 Leather Facial Interface. Those who want to maximize their FOV and get so close to the virtual worlds that their eyes almost touch the lenses might consider removing the facial interface altogether.

Removing the face cushion turns the headset into a semi-open device akin to Quest Pro. This can be especially useful with Pico 4 Ultra, which has substantially more advanced passthrough, but even in the case of the standard Pico 4, having peripheral vision extending into the real world can be very useful, for example in a public setting. Use cases could range from productivity apps to workouts to just about anything that requires maintaining awareness of your surroundings. The downside is that the lack of a facial interface can cause glare and reflections on the lenses.

I tried using Pico 4 in this format at a gym (together with a passthrough browser) and it worked as intended. Obviously, AMVR is not advertising this as a Pico 4 to Quest Pro converter and I’m not suggesting all users should remove their front cushions, but it is an interesting potential that I found worth exploring.

Finally, cleaning the AMVR kit is easy, since it’s all made of leather, plastic, and silicone. These are neutral, non-absorbent materials, so a quick wipe or rinse should be enough.

Conclusions

Comfort is hard to quantify. For some it might mean the difference between putting the headset on or not. For others it’s just a quality of life improvement, as they would spend time in XR regardless. And for some it’s a difference between two and three hours spent inside. The AMVR Halo Strap and Back Pad retails for around $30, which I consider reasonable. It provides notably good value to power users, though casual users will also find the improvements beneficial.

Disclosure: AMVR supplied the kit, but had no input on this review. All opinions are my own.