After months of teasing, Oculus Quest starts shipping today. After testing the headset for several weeks, our Oculus Quest review is here. Because it doesn’t rely on a PC, but still has full tracking capabilities, Oculus hopes that Quest can bring VR’s most immersive experiences to a much wider crowd. Does Quest deliver? Read on to find out.

As usual, we’ll start with a review summary and then dig into the details further down.

Oculus Quest Review Summary

Photo by Road to VR

Oculus Quest is Facebook’s first standalone headset that offers 6DOF tracking on both the head and hands. Practically, that means that the headset has the same full tracking capabilities typically reserved for high-end VR headsets that are hooked up to a computer or game console. Because Quest has full 6DOF tracking, it opens the door to significantly more immersive and interactive content than on a headset like Oculus Go, which is only suitable for mostly static, seated experiences because it has more limited tracking abilities.

Given that it’s a standalone, Quest’s biggest advantage is its low friction experience. When you put the headset on, you see a pass-through video view of the world around you which makes it easy to pick up your controllers. From there, setting up your Guardian—the boundary around you playspace—is as easy as pointing your controller at the ground and tracing an outline around the available space, and then you’re good to go.

Image courtesy Oculus

Quest’s menu is a bit clunky but functional, and feels snappy enough to not be annoying. From the menu you can search the Store for new games, access your Library to launch apps, and do other things like adjust settings, launch a web browser, and more. It’s a familiar experience for those who have used Oculus Go, as it’s largely the same interface.

Photo by Road to VR

Visually speaking, Quest looks pretty similar to what you’d expect from an Oculus Rift, but with a bit more resolution (1,440 × 1,600 per-display vs. 1,080 × 1,200). That means slightly less screen door (the black space between pixels) and sub-pixels which are now just about invisible. The lenses have also seen an upgrade over the Rift, which somewhat reduces reflections in high contrast scenes. That said, the mobile processor in Quest simply can’t push the same quality image as a PC driven headset like the Rift, so in the end you’ll see improved clarity through Quest, but things just aren’t going to look as pretty in most cases—expect ‘mobile’ graphics.

That said, the visuals are more than adequate to provide compelling VR experiences. Some games look and play effectively identical to what you’d expect on PC. Beat Saber, for instance, looks nearly identical, runs smoothly, and feels great. This will be a little hit or miss with many of the ports that are initially launching on Quest, like Robo Recall, which has had much of its luster baked down into garish textures in order to get the game to run on the headset. Made-for-Quest games generally fare better graphically because they were designed for Quest’s graphical limits in the first place.

Quest’s inside-out tracking is perhaps the most important element because it’s the hardest thing to get right. In my time with Quest, I’ve been really impressed with the performance and robustness of the head and hand tracking—Quest is currently leading the industry here. Headtracking is extremely solid with very little latency, and the controller tracking is surprisingly performant, even when playing some of the most demanding games like Beat Saber.

There are two caveats to my praise of Quest’s tracking, although both are challenges faced by all inside-out tracking systems. Firstly, environmental factors can cause tracking issues. I was frankly quite surprised with how well Quest handled tracking in my apartment living room as well as it did. I have large windows around most of the room, and these look like massive bright lights during the day to Quest’s cameras—something that can be very confusing to computer-vision tracking. But still, things worked very well, and in hours of testing over many days I only saw the tracking drop out completely (the screen goes black and a message pops up until tracking is found again) a handful of times; in those times it was only for a second or two at a time. The controller tracking, on the other hand, would funk out briefly a little more often (perhaps due to passing in front of one of the bright windows), but it was infrequent enough that it really didn’t bug me.

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The second caveat is that Quest does have some blind spots to its tracking, though in general they don’t cause trouble unless a game relies on a specific mechanic which frequently puts the controllers into the blind spots for extended periods. For instance, Creed: Rise to Glory asks you to hold your hands up in front of your face like you are blocking in a boxing match, and this would occasionally lead to the controller losing tracking for a few seconds at a time, which felt funky when one of my hands just stuck there in the air as I tried to throw a punch (before eventually popping back into the proper position).

So, edge-cases in both environmental factors and specific game gestures can trip things up, but on the whole Quest’s tracking works very well.

Photo by Road to VR

Quest effectively packs all of the features that make high-end VR great into an easier to use and more affordable package (everything but high-end graphics). And that gives the headset huge potential, so long as there’s great content to back it up.

Quest has a launch lineup of 50-ish titles, including probably the most important game that could be on the headset at launch—Beat Saber—and there’s a handful of other really strong entries, but the vast majority are ports and many of those are quite dated. Oculus will need to push hard to keep Quest’s library growing with quality (and genuinely new) content if they want to capitalize on its potential as an easy-to-use VR headset which has pretty much all the right stuff to deliver some really compelling experiences.

– – — – –

Oculus Quest In-depth Review

Hardware & Display

Photo by Road to VR

Quest is effectively a headset with a mid-range smartphone processor built inside. It’s running a Snapdragon 835 processor with active cooling, and the headset is offered with 64GB and 128GB memory options (unfortunately with no memory expansion ports).

Clearly visible on the outside of the headset are four cameras around the visor’s bezel which are used to track the headset’s movement via computer vision. The same cameras also see and track the controllers (which have invisible IR LEDs on them).

Very similar to Rift, Quest uses a pair of OLED displays, but with an upgraded resolution of 1,440 × 1,600 each (compared to 1,080 × 1,200). Quest also uses single Fresnel lenses, though Oculus says they’re improved over those used in the original Rift (and are in fact much closer, if not identical to the lenses used in Oculus Go). Quest has a field of view that’s almost identical to Rift, which we’d guess to be around 100 degrees diagonally (though Oculus won’t provide an official FOV figure).

If you’ve never used a VR headset before, Quests visuals are pretty good and there’s no serious complaints, save for the usual lens reflections (AKA god rays) and black smearing which are problems that every headset with Fresnel lenses and OLED displays runs up against. The field of view is wide enough that the world feels convincingly around you, and everything works well enough to easily make you forget which way you’re even facing in the real world (or even which room you’re in). If you have used another VR headset, I’ll make some comparisons to try to demonstrate what’s improved (or not).

Photo by Road to VR

Quest offers a decent improvement in clarity over the Rift on a pure pixels-through-the-lens standpoint, but relative power difference means this may not mean quite as much except in a handful of cases where Quest is able to match the Rift pixel for pixel (like when playing back video or browsing the web). That said, the improved resolution directly translates to a sharper image, though this is tempered in many cases by the fact that the default render resolution for Quest is lower than its total resolution for performance reasons. The increased pixel density also means somewhat less screen door effect, and makes the sub-pixels just about invisible, making for more cohesive colors.

One of the biggest improvements from Rift to Quest is the mura, which on Rift was really not great, but on Quest looks all but eliminated. Mura is caused by inconsistencies in color and brightness from one pixel to the next, and usually shows itself mostly in darker scenes. Black smear (where dark areas bleed into bright areas during head movement) is still an issue (as it is for most OLED displays) and appears to be equally as bad as Rift.

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Photo by Road to VR

Quest’s lenses have seen an upgrade over the Rift, though it isn’t drastic. Internal reflections (AKA god rays) appear somewhat reduced, but are still annoying in high contrast scenes. The sweet spot also appears to be a little more favorable than the Rift, though it’s difficult to quantify this in a meaningful way.

Quest has a hardware IPD adjustment which means you can adjust the distance between the lenses to make sure your eyes are best aligned with the center of the lens (which is important for achieving maximum comfort and clarity). Oculus says that Quest’s IPD adjustment goes from 58–72mm, and is “best” for users with an IPD between 56mm and 74mm.

During setup, there’s an IPD calibration screen which shows a green cross which attempts to help users set their ideal IPD setting. Unfortunately there’s no digital readout of the IPD width inside the headset, so if you happen to know your IPD in millimeters, you can’t just dial it in based on the number. The green cross does a pretty awful job of making it clear which IPD setting is best. Unless this gets adjusted, I have a feeling many users are going to set their IPD wrong out of the gate, and may suffer reduced comfort because of it. This also means that if one user fiddles with it before handing the headset to another there’s no quick way to return to a known setting, which puts a slight damper on Quest’s potential for pass-and-play.

Tracking

Photo by Road to VR

Quest’s inside-out tracking is the best that I’ve ever seen in a standalone headset, and notably it’s the only headset in its class that offers fully-tracked controllers. Other consumer headsets like Oculus Go and the Lenovo Mirage Solo come with a single controller that only tracks rotation, putting a significant limit to how interesting and dynamic VR gameplay can be.

In my time with Quest, I’ve been really impressed with the performance and robustness of the head and hand tracking—Quest is currently leading the industry here. Headtracking is extremely solid with very little latency, and the controller tracking is surprisingly performant, even when playing some of the most demanding games like Beat Saber.

There are two caveats to my praise of Quest’s tracking, though both are challenges faced by all inside-out tracking systems. Firstly, environmental factors can cause tracking issues. I was frankly quite surprised with how well Quest handled tracking in my apartment living room as well as it did. I have large windows around most of the room, and to Quest’s cameras these look massive bright lights covering the walls during the day—something that can be very confusing to computer-vision tracking. Still, in hours of testing over many days, I only saw the tracking drop out completely—when the screen goes black and a message pops up until tracking is found again—a handful of times, and in those moments it was only for a second or two at a time. The controller tracking, on the other hand, would funk out briefly a little more often (perhaps due to passing in front of one of the bright windows), but it was infrequent enough that it wasn’t a problem most of the time.

It would be nice however if Oculus were to provide a few tips to new users about what kinds of things in their environment could be less than ideal for tracking. Big bright windows, mirrors, and moving objects (like ceiling fans) could pose problems, and it would be helpful if Oculus would tell users: ‘If you’re tracking is having issues, try doing XYZ to improve it’.

For instance, if I was trying to play Beat Saber and the controllers felt a little less reliable than I expected, I would rotate myself 45 degrees and use the recenter button to change my forward direction in the hopes of avoiding whatever in the room was bugging the tracking system. Most users probably aren’t going to really think about the ins-and-outs of the tracking system enough to know to try something like this, let alone to close problematic blinds, turn off ceiling fans, and avoid other computer vision foes.

The second caveat for tracking is that Quest does have some blind spots in terms of where the cameras can actually see the controllers, though in general they don’t cause trouble unless a game relies on a specific mechanic which frequently puts the controllers into the blind spots and keeps them there for several seconds at a time. For instance, Creed: Rise to Glory asks you to hold your hands up in front of your face like you are blocking a punch in real a boxing match, and this would occasionally lead to the controller losing tracking for a few seconds at a time; it felt funky when one of my hands just stuck there in the air as I tried to throw a punch (before eventually popping back into the proper position). Over time, developers will learn to avoid these blind spots when making their Quest-native games, but in the near term you might bump into them here and there.

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So, edge-cases in both environment factors and specific game gestures can trip things up, but on the whole Quest’s tracking works very well.

Design & Ergonomics

Photo by Road to VR

Quest feels remarkably similar to the company’s first PC headset, the Oculus Rift. For those unfamiliar, that’s a compliment—the Rift is a well-built and designed headset that easily holds up three years after its initial launch. Like Rift, Quest feels like a solidly built device, and its fabric accents help it feel a little more human than a plastic box on your head. That said, it’s still a little bulky (as pretty much any VR headset is these days), and at 571 grams weighs in heavier than the Rift’s 470 grams.

Despite 100 grams of additional weight, I’ve found Quest to be at least as comfortable as the Rift. Quest has a larger and more flexible triangle opening in the rear straps which seems to find better purchase on the crown of my head than the Rift’s smaller and stiffer opening can manage. Slightly more generous foam also seems to help relieve pressure on the face.

Photo by Road to VR

Just like with the Rift though, Quest can be very comfortable, but adjusting it as such is not intuitive for new users. Out of the gate, most people want to stick the headset on and then crank the side straps tight to create a vice-like grip between the visor and the rear straps; this feels like a good fit, but 15 minutes later your face won’t be very happy. The key is actually to find the place where the rear of the straps best grips the crown of your head, then use that grip as an anchor to adjust the top strap so that most of the visor’s weight is ‘hanging’ from the top strap. At that point, you want to tighten the side straps only as much as you need to in order to keep the headset stable on your face. This is far more comfortable for long-term play sessions.

Though Quest and Rift are quite similar in design, Quest drops the on-ear headphones in favor of some hidden sound holes in the headband. While this means more sound leakage (ie: other people can hear what’s going on in the headset) and arguably less immersive audio (because the sound is originating at the side of your ear instead of going straight into it), it does mean one less thing to fiddle with when you put the headset on.

The audio is acceptable and gets reasonably loud, though anything with deep bass has a chance of bottoming out. Luckily, you can use your own earbuds or headphones by plugging into either of the 3.5mm audio jacks on both sides of the headset. While Oculus is considering an official earbud accessory which would use both jacks, the company has confirmed that both are wired fully for stereo, so either side will work fine for any normal pair of stereo headphones.

Photo by Road to VR

Quest’s Touch controllers are a little different from Rift’s. For one, the tracking ring now goes over the top (to make it easier for the headset’s cameras to see), and the shape has been adjusted a bit too. To my hands, Quest’s controllers are ever so slightly less comfortable than the original Rift Touch controllers, but in the end they are equally functional and a very good controller design with a quality feel to every button and stick. Like the Rift controllers, Quest’s controllers use a single AA battery.

Continue Reading on Page 2: Experience »

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • I’ve only played with it for a few minutes but it’s readily apparent the reduction in friction is MASSIVE.

    This device should be accessible to anyone but the most hardcore Luddite.

  • Zachary Scott Dickerson

    Will multiplayer games be cross-play? Can my family play in Recroom, WaveVR, Orbus VR with me on HTC vive while the other uses Quest?

    • gruguir

      That should depend of the app not the hardware.

      • Zachary Scott Dickerson

        Yes, I know I play a lot of games with Vive and Rift players at same time, but never a PS4 user. I wonder if Quest will work, because it requires so much change to the game to run at lower graphics… maybe?

        • Engineer_92

          Quest is included in cross-platform play

        • Grey Lock

          We’ll have to ask the game vendors about cross play and cross platform play support in their new Quest Games.

          For those who don’t know, all Steam games support cross hardware play for all the headsets they support. I often play VR games with my Rift with friends who have Vive and WMR HMDs.

          Additionally, some games support cross store play, but not all. What I mean by that is most big titles you buy on the Oculus Store can be played with friends who buy on Steam. That said, be careful with indie games as I’ve found most don’t support cross store play as those small companies don’t host their own servers.

          Finally, there are quite a few games that support cross platform play. Rec Room, Star Trek Bridge Crew, and some other games support VR cross play between PC and PSVR. Hopefully more will as time goes one ;-)

    • benz145

      This is totally app dependent; it’s up to developers to decide if they want to allow cross-buy, cross-play, etc.

  • Foreign Devil

    This is definitely going to outsell any previous VR headset. For better or worse. .. good content, ease of use and price matter more than quality. Just look at how well Nintendo has done with that model!

    • VR4EVER

      Probably not outselling PSVR but still… I preordered mine…

    • DarkAvry

      Nah, i wont touch with ten ft pole, too weak for my tastes.
      Rift S with some x8 AA can use my 2080ti, but i wont buy an HMD with same CPU that my PH1 phone has.

      • Moe Curley

        I cannot understand why they put the Snapdragon 835 in this. Penny pinching at the exact wrong time. That processor was released at the end of 2016!

        • Jan Ciger

          You do realize that the hw development, necessary certification, sw and so on actually takes time, right?

          When a CPU/SoC is “released” it means that it becomes available in quantity maybe 6-8 months later. So that brings you to 2017 or so already. Even if you were working with engineering samples, you will need 8-10 months to get the new hw ready to the point that the software guys can start working on it. That’s 2018 already. Now it needs to pass FCC/CE certifications and what not and all the while your teams are busy working on the software.

          Using a new chip is not like updating your browser – it is effectively a new hw product each time. That takes time, 18-24 months is completely normal there. And that ignores that Oculus is certainly not the priority customer for these processors so they may even have to wait to get their hands on them – that would be Samsung and other phone manufacturers that buy 10x more of them each.

          • DarkAvry

            If mobile phones are available to buy NOW with certain Chip it means they could use it too.

          • Yeah, because only Apple does that. smh lol

      • NooYawker

        The best is never the best seller. A known brand with a decent price will always sell the best.

    • Hopefully it will outsell the last gen, but… good content? Exactly none of the launch games that I’ve played are anything I’d play for more than a few hours. Which is good, because the battery only lasts two hours, and the storage capacity will limit you to perhaps one lengthy single player game, IF the headset can power it. It’s worrying to me that so many fans are equating this to PC VR, when it appears to be only capable of supporting arcade level games.

      • Lulu Vi Britannia

        Batman Arkham games last less than 10 hours each, have very few replay value, and are still considered among the best videogames ever.
        If you can play each games for “several hours”, for such a low price point (each game announced so far costs less than 40$), you can’t consider it a flaw.
        Let’s admit you play only 5 hours per game. You buy two games for 50$, so you get get 10 hours for this price. It’s equivalent to an Arkham game.
        My point is, the “length” of the game barely matters as a matter of fact. The level of enjoyment is what matters, and arcade games definitely can be enjoyable. Being able to tear the enemies apart like in Robo Recall, it’s definitely not something we can do in 2D games.

        Also… Rec Room and VRChat aren’t arcade games and are definitely not the kind of games people play only for a few hours ^^.

        Finally, people say it’s equivalent to PC VR not in terms of power, but in terms of features. Everything you can do on PC VR, you can do on the Quest. For now it’s limited in power, but not in features.

    • Jarilo

      Thing is, Nintendo has specific 1st party titles that are responsible for those sales. Is Oculus willing to shaft the PC-VR community by releasing high cost to develop games exclusively to Quest?

      • Jorge Gustavo

        They should. Now it’s time for facebook throw real money at developing premium games for Quest. It`s the smartest thing to do.

        • Jan Ciger

          They most likely won’t otherwise they wouldn’t have shuttered Oculus Studios. I think they want to build a “platform” (= walled garden where others make content and they collect “toll” from it – aka Apple store model).

        • Jarilo

          They can dig their own grave for a VR future if they want. I expect to see FB trying to sell Oculus off by the end of 2022.

  • Jesus. I’ve been waiting now for how many years for WORK apps. Any idea when I can use Adobe Creative Cloud in VR mode on this thing? Games are OK but II want to work in the damn thing.

    • Metrogenic

      This headset is squarely aimed at the gaming market. If you’re looking for something professional-grade, I’d stick with a Samsung Odyssey+ or an HP Reverb. They’ll offer more resolution and are tethered to a PC. As far as “VR mode” goes for Adobe products, that’s something you’ll have to take up with Adobe.

      • Get that. It’s sad that this hasn’t been done yet. This is a no brainer for video editing or anyone like me that uses multiple monitors. I imagine I’ll have to wait close to ten years before the demand even starts.

    • gothicvillas

      Quest is Nintendo Wii for VR, not for business lol

      • I get that this is a toy. My point is that it is powerful enough to do basic desktop work and could create multiple monitors virtually with software. Plus being untethered makes it perfect for movement for working with multiple monitors. As a web designer and video editor I would work in this. The resolution is good enough now to read text so I think we’re here.

        • Nelson Tutorials

          Its not a toy!! I know what you are searching for, the problem is not the Quest or even GO, the main issue is that there is not many VR software apps that will let you work inside VR. The only option available is Virtual Desktop as the previous user mentioned but you cant use the mouse or keyboard on it for your desktop works yet.

          • NooYawker

            They’re all toys at this point. It’s main purpose is to play games.

      • Nelson Tutorials

        Not for business really? Lol You will be suprise what you can do with Quest for business in games and apps,ofc you have must have the right experience for it.

    • beestee

      Virtual Desktop is one of the launch apps for Quest. How it will work is still a mystery to me, but it is an answer to your wish. WMR is probably a better bet for productivity in VR, and there are WMR headsets on the near horizon that will deliver a decent enough PPD to make working on it bearable.

    • There’s a half dozen reasons why a mobile VR solution isn’t a good fit for professional content creation. All the same reasons video editors don’t use iPads, PLUS a lack of processing chops.

  • HamletXVIII

    For your review, but specially for this, thank you Roadtovr:

    “Luckily, you can use your own earbuds or headphones by plugging into either of the 3.5mm audio jacks on both sides of the headset. While Oculus is considering an official earbud accessory which would use both jacks, the company has confirmed that both are wired fully for stereo, so either side will work fine for any normal pair of stereo headphones.”

    I´ve asked redditors, youtubers, supposed experts (I´ve should have asked oculus but since NDA´s and such I wasn´t hopping they would reply). Their only answer was “I dont know” (fine, ok) and YES you can BUY specific OCULUS earbuds/headphones… That was not my question at all… Thank you Roadtovr & (a few) other VR media news webs for testing, investigating, informing and digging for the info, instead of what some influencers and wannabe news reporters do canibalizing other media without making any sense nor having any useful new data…

    • benz145

      Thanks Hamlet, we try to pepper in the details and posts like this make it clear that it’s worth the time : ).

  • John Smith

    Being a huge Oculus fan back in the day I lost massive faith in the company during the initial Rift release by facebook. Up until DK2, Oculus was nailing it but after
    Luckey and Iribe’s resignation it became nothing but lies and contradictions in the former shadow of the company. Putting all of that aside, the Quest seems like just another ploy by facebook to cash in on the VR space. I have no problem with cable headsets as they continue to offer superior tracking/graphical solutions. If you want something mobile, buy a Go or Gear VR instead. 50 launch titles vs 1100+ on the Go and Gear plus better battery life. The lackluster inside out tracking is the main dealbreaker for me, not to mention facebook camera’s pointing out from every orifice. No thanks, Zuckerberg can keep giving them away all he wants to try winning over journalists and reviewers. I’ll wait for the Cosmo or Valve’s mobile solution. They haven’t dropped product support or lied to their fans for starters.

    • xxHanoverxx

      *golf clap*

    • USPatriot

      I agree with your post.

    • WyrdestGeek

      Oculus Go and Gear VR only have 3 degrees of freedom. Getting 6 is kind of a big deal I think.

    • markiej

      Um, you realize that all these manufacturers put out hardware catering to your (my/our) tolerances and desires, and collectively sold a few million total on planet with 100’s and 100’s of millions of gamers. This segment will die without a larger user base. They absolutely should focus on reducing cost and friction. If this trend can double or triple to the user base, it just means more software and more potential users who start to demand better VR.

    • MountainK1ng

      Go and Gear are primarily media viewers, more on par with Cardboard. Quest is in the same use case as PSVR and PCVR, just with lower quality graphics. With Go and Gear you don’t even have two controllers, and the single controller you do have isn’t even fully tracked. Comparing the two is a joke, like comparing a tricycle to a car. If the Index is a Porsche, then the Quest would be a solid Ford Focus, and Go and Gear are walmart brand bicycles.

      • WyrdestGeek

        Yes, thank you. I think those are good analogies.

        So far, I’ve only been able to purchase a crappy VR bicycle.

        Sure, I’d love to own a VR Porche, but given how limited my $$, space and *time* are for fiddling with it, I’m looking to get the new VR Ford Focus.

        • MountainK1ng

          For most people the Focus is the more practical choice. Gotta know your own priorities.

  • John Smith

    No external storage, what a joke.

    • TJ Studio

      Are you saying you will not buy Oculus Quest because it doesn’t have external storage?

      • Jan Ciger

        Well, given the size of a typical VR game (and Oculus own software!), yes, that could be a serious issue. Even the more expensive 128GB version could become very tight very fast.

        • Engineer_92

          Oculus Quest games take up less storage than their PC counterparts

        • jj

          they average 1 gig so i think 60-100 games should be good enough….. oh yeah and we have the internet now so u can always re download later. if u have an issue with that then you’re just a lul

    • Joe Holliday

      What’s wrong with just using the usb-c external storage?

  • oompah

    What we need is :
    1. light weight sliding goggles inside a light weight helmet like device that user wears on head ( as of pilots of fighter airplanes). The helmet has all electronics with weight distributed all over the head instead of highly inconvenient present ones that have most weight in front
    2. The job of sliding goggles should only be to reflect images from inside
    3. The images should be projected from sides
    4. The images should be built using small RGB lasers or as in hololens
    5. IPD adjustment is a must
    6. The helmet can have holes so that air conditioning can take effect
    7. If its structure & safety is similar to real helmets then these can also be used while driving / travelling so that google maps etc can work (or as in movie terminator) to give info about places, people or events , integrated with vast amount of facebook data available.

  • Unimpressed

    Hi Ben,

    Does Quest support Bluetooth headphones or do we have to use the 3.5mm jack?

    • benz145

      I see no option to use BT headphones with Quest. It’s possible that you might be able to plug an adapter into the USB-C port (or you could use one that would plug into the 3.5mm jack), but I don’t believe there’s any official support right now.

      • jj

        the go has bluetooth, but its not a simple to access as most devices, I predict the quest will have ti to but thats just an assumption

  • and… pre-ordered :-)

    My simple VR journey continues. Firstly with Oculus DK2 then Google cardboard, Vive and currently a Dell Mixed Reality headset. I’m still a big fan of what VR can offer. Though whilst we still tinker now and then with 3D animation/experience ideas for our growing UK animation studio clients. In reality, grand ambitions to make something awesome of our own have dwindled.

    My current headset really only gets the dust brushed off to show off VR to friends and family when I’m willing to endure the ‘not always’ simple setup process. Beat Sabre and ‘walking the plank’ experience are still firm favourites for the masses. I suspect this headset will reignite some VR fire.

    Out of interest does anyone know if Quill (the drawing/animation VR app) is coming to Quest?

    • Hi, as a designer and developer I agree. I have no incentive anymore to use or work in VR. I am not a gamer. I sometimes play high end games but not the junk Oculus is putting out that resembles simple phone based games. Quill is cool because it is almost a production/work app in VR. But, it’s not good enough. If I could create a model, say Blender ported to VR, that would be great. Adobe in VR? Editing 2D and especially 360 video in VR? Imagine being surrounded by the video as you edit it and run it forward and backward and adding title effects and filters all while in the video itself while floating tools follow you. *sigh* This reminds me of trying to convince people that they should use the web back in 1985. It’s like pulling teeth.

      • beestee

        I don’t think the difficulty is in convincing anyone that there is merit to this. It is just a monumental task to redevelop the interface for existing DCC progs. Unreal and Unity have made some headway in this area, but I think they are waiting for the tech to bake a bit longer.

    • beestee

      Google is bringing Tilt Brush to Quest, and I believe I read that it is a cross-buy title. I am pretty sure I saw that Medium is a hard no right now. Quill should be possible but I don’t think I’ve seen it on the launch list.

      Google’s “Welcome to Lightfields” on Steam has been my go-to for introducing folks to VR lately.

    • One really positive thing, I am hoping for with the Quest and similar future headsets (from a work point of view). Is that our animation studio could develop quick example VR experiences in a single day, with basic animation and simple models (dropped into Unity) .

      We can then show a prospective clients a rough concept easily at their own offices with very little set up required. This would allow us to quickly present a concept and highlight the effectiveness that unique engaging VR experiences can offer. Hopefully, this would increase the liklihood of getting sign off for an investment into a larger bespoke VR project.

      The speed of setup, the fact that no extra expensive hardware
      would be needed outside of them purchasing the needed number of quests
      would make it seem more likely to get approval. Whilst the processing power won’t match desktop output, I don’t believe that matters as much as the ease of experience, especially with business experiences for training, safety awareness or promotion.

      *Worst case scenario, a future client ends up with a workforce who are all pretty awesome with lightsabres.

      • beestee

        You’ve seen Microsoft Marquette Beta?

        • I’d not seen that at all. Looks rather cool with real potential for quick creative mockups. Hmm… I may have to cancel the tethered headset we’d only just put up for sale on that popular online auction site.

  • tjitah

    What about compatible games bought on Steam? Will I have to buy again on Oculus store or will Quest run Steam games?

    • FireAndTheVoid

      Quest will not run Steam games. If you wan to play your Steam games on the Quest, you will have to rebuy them on the Oculus store. I’ve read that you may be able to contact the game developer directly and convince them to give you an Oculus store code for a game you’ve already purchased on Steam.

      • tjitah

        I thought as much. Don’t think too many developers give codes for both platforms anymore. There were one or two in the early days of the Oculus Store, but all my recent requests were ignored or denied.

    • Thunk

      That’s like asking if your PS4 and PSVR plays Steam games. Quest isn’t a PC. It isn’t using the same PC architecture that Rift and Vive uses, so any PC VR game won’t automatically work on it. That said, there will be crossbuy on select Rift and Quest games: https://uploadvr.com/rift-quest-cross-buy-games/

  • Francesco Fazio

    Well nice piece of crap Facebook. Congrats !

  • Michael

    I’m ready to buy but I need to know does it have a default mode for sitting down cause I’m bed ridden but I can twist and move my upper body great?

    • benz145

      So you would be sitting upright in bed using it? Would you be leaning your back again the bed or wall, or sitting in the middle of the bed? Let me know, I’ll try to test and see how this would work.

      • Michael Garry

        I have a Hospital bed and can raise the back up like a chair but my legs are stretched out in the bed I can twist and turn and use both of my arms and hands,fingers perfectly the disabled need to know this before we buy wei would really appreciate knowing all the details on this and a video of you booting it up from the beginning and show us what buttons to press and you in the bed doing this the back of my bed is close to a wall will it work?
        P.s Thank you.

  • NooYawker

    64 or 128GB with no expandable memory for a device which will be used to play games. Games which take up gigs of space each. That makes zero sense.

    • Justos

      games average 500mb-1gb with some exceptions obviously for the biggest tiles. 64gb is enough but 128gb is comfy if you want to save lots of media on the device

      • NooYawker

        Arizona Sunshine requires 12GB of space, but yea I guess most more casual games are much smaller.

        • FireAndTheVoid

          My impression is that, in order to improve performance on the device, Quest games have reduced textures when compared to their PC VR equivalents and sometimes even ditching textures altogether in favor of solid colors. This will likely cause game files that were originally large on the PC to become much smaller when ported to the Quest.

    • Tommel

      Ehm. I think the average size so far is somewhere between 1-2 GB.. so… having 20 games installed at the same time should be more than sufficient for most people.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Yeah, I think they should have added a memorycard slot, and just released the 64GB only..

  • El Corn

    I’m wondering, as a Newbie, if there will there be enough of a difference between the 64-bit and 128-bit versions to justify paying the additional hundred bucks.

    • MountainK1ng

      It’s 64GB or 128GB, not bits. No performance difference, just more storage for games and movies.

  • RUSS

    Can it be viewed on tv? I know Oculus Go had the viewer app but i found it very laggy when trying to screen mirror from phone to tv. Any inptovment or different method on Quest?

    • benz145

      Yes, you can cast to the Oculus app on iOS or Android, and also cast to Google Cast compatible displays/devices.

  • Amazing review as always!

  • Justos

    Ordered two of these for me and my boyfriend. Excited to play all the social VR games together.

    • Jarilo

      This is so a product for you. lol

  • Jarilo

    “I haven’t yet had any issue with it as my play sessions for the available content have consistently been well under two hours at a time.”

    That’s nice but I play a lot of VR, some of us like VR and not just write about it all day. 5+ hour sessions in Skyrim, Sparc, and Fallout 4 vr are not unheard of for me on a regular bases.

    • Lulu Vi Britannia

      I heard you can use the Quest while it’s charging, and the charging cable is long (15m long, I think). That means you’ll be able to do long sessions with the Quest, if the cable is not a big issue for you ^^.

      • Jarilo

        That’s good to know, interesting.

        • jj

          can confirm cable is long and you can use while charging !

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Just use powerbank with short cable… keeps you really movable without having to think about the cable..

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Just use an extra large powerbank clipped to your belt as you can charge the device.. So no need for an extra long charging cable and having yourself thetered to the wall.

  • Matthew

    Is it going to support multiple people using the headset in the same space like at the convention from the start? If not, does anyone have any ideas when it will, problems it has or how many can be in the same space? Thanks in advanced!

    • jj

      I would like to know this as well seeing as generally those features are on the game side and integrated into network coding. if the quest has this which i dont believe it does that would be major.

  • F**K Beat Saber. If Beat Saber is your go-to game for VR, you aren’t into VR. If I hear Beat Saber drop from a reviewer’s lips, my respect for them plummets. This reads like an advertisement for that crap game. I don’t think this reviewer spent more then an hour with the Quest before writing this. This article could have been written weeks before getting the review unit. You phoned this one in, Ben!

    Where is Super Hot? How playable was Robo Recall? Did you get anywhere in Orbis? Is Beat Saber the only game currently working for review units???? I have higher expectations of this site.

    I want to hear about spinning around for an impossible shot in a shooter. I want to hear reaching a new level of interactive freedom in an adventure game. I would even have more respect for a seated car racer or plane sim, as at least they require some real interactions.

    If you’re swinging around a sword, there better be another guy with a sword at the other end! Just standing, facing forward, swinging on the same pile of CUBES for hours at a time is an activity for a chimpanzee. It’s the LOWEST of VR experiences!

    Hell, go pick up Thumper and give that a try! At least it’s visually interesting. Jedi’s hitting cubes isn’t. It’s about the dumbest game for VR.

    • Nicholas Hunt

      Couldn’t agree more! I’ve read the same review written by 14 different people? Why is this not more of a issue with other consumers? Is it not obvious that they are biased? They all got a hard on for beating their saber to the max! Surprised they all are not blind!

      • MountainK1ng

        And yet, I bet Beat Saber will be responsible for selling more headsets than any other game when people try it out on the Quest. It is eminently approachable, the controls really couldn’t be any simpler. Getting more headsets out there will lead to more of the longform experiences you desire having a chance to be made for VR.

        • jj

          you say “and yet” as if its disproving his point when really you’re helping his point. beat saber selling headsets is the product of these writers, not the other way around. its called influencing and its a pretty big topic right now.

          • MountainK1ng

            Nope, you hand a Quest to someone and let them play Beat Saber, it basically sells a Quest, they don’t have to go read an article to tell them it’s fun.

    • gothicvillas

      Because Beat Saber sells? Quest is a device for masses and Beat Saber is going to shift bucket loads of headsets you like it or not.
      Edit: i haven’t bought Quest, I went for Index instead. I’m not defending quest and don’t care much frankly.

    • Gbvff

      Yikes, somebody is deathly afraid of simple pleasures. Have you seen people dancing? They’re barely sentient! Enjoying music? What a bunch of single-celled organisms! Exercising to improve their health! Pure masturbation! If you’re not pointing a gun at something you’re doing it wrong!

    • Twa Corbies

      Yeah. Everytime i see beat saber this or that, i feel sick. This is like mobile gameing to me.

  • I’ve preordered it on Day 1!

  • Nicholas Hunt

    Anyone else catch the comment of tracking being lost on controller’s when he had his hands in blocking position much like boxing? So a dead spot in front of your face? That is alarming!

    • Jan Ciger

      I think the issue is that it doesn’t “see” straight in front of your nose due to the way the cameras are angled. How often do you bring a controller that close to your face as when blocking in box? Most people will never have issue with that.

      The camera placement and orientation is always a compromise and you will always have dead spots, especially on an inside-out system.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Yeah, these headsets really need at least 2 camera’s more, one diretly in front, so the hands in front of your face shouldn’t be a problem. And and pointed more to the back on top like the S has.. Best thing ofcourse would be if the controllers themselves would have inside-out tracking.

    • AJ_74

      It’s not an exaggeration. The Quest controllers are literally lost at a 45-degree angle from the front/center of your body, even if your arms are fully outstretched. If you hold the controller 6-12 inches in front of your face, then raise your hand until it’s slightly above your head, the tracking again is lost. I previously owned the Dell Visor and Samsung Odyssey+, both of which use the 1st-gen 2-camera I/O tracking, and I honestly can’t tell the difference between those and Quest, even though Quest has twice as many cameras. What this tells me is that Oculus used sub-par camera sensors in the headset. I believe they’re suppose to be the wide-angle variety, but given the narrow tracking range I find that hard to believe.

      Also shocking to me is the fact that my Oculus Go display is noticeably sharper than the one in my Quest. I knew there were more sub-pixels in the Go’s RGB LCD panel, but I didn’t think it would look this much better than the Quest display. It’s not even SDE per se, just that the pixels themselves are very noticeable on Quest. After going back and forth between Quest and Go while watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on Netflix and viewing ESPN.com in the Oculus Browser, the best analogy I could come up with is that Quest is akin to watching video or playing a game on a 480p TV, while Go is akin to doing the same on a 720p TV.

      Prior to receiving my Quest I knew I’d have to be blown away in order to justify keeping it. At that point my biggest complaint was the purposeful lack of a video input for PC usage. However, the display sharpness and tracking would be complete deal-breakers even if the Quest had PC-tethering capability.

      Back goes the Quest, as expected.

      • eg1000

        Your are of course entitled to your opinion but I will point out that your experience is FAR off the general consensus. Quest is selling like mad and for good reason – it’s amazing. The tracking is superb and often cited as one of the best features of the headset. Perhaps you had unrealistic expectations.

  • KOSTANTINOS KOD

    They should had left the sim slot in and sell it like the phone it is.

    • WyrdestGeek

      I’m not quite sure what you’re saying.

      Because
      1) not all phones have sims.
      2) there’s more that differentiates a phone from a not-phone than just a sim slot– main one, for a cell phone, would be capability to use the cellular network to make or receive calls.
      3) why in the world would they “sell it like the phone it is”? They’re not branding this product as a phone. It can’t make or receive calls. And since it’s built into a VR HMD, it doesn’t have the ubiquitousness of cell phones.

      Maybe you meant: “it has snapdragon 835, so it’s just a phone with delusions of being a VR headset.” ?

      If that’s what you meant, I would conditionally disagree.

      Obviously the Quest will never be able to be a top tier headset. But, kinda like how there can be different qualities of car, there can be different qualities of VR headset.

      Or do you only drive Porche or something?

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Because it uses a mobile sock, doesn’t mean it’s a phone..

  • Marek Luzak

    Hi
    Two question:
    1. Can I use Oculus Quest laying on my bed?
    2. As an owner of Playstation VR I would like to use Quest generally for watiching movies or similar experiences (because of screen resolution). Do you think that’s good idea?

    • jj

      if those are what you want then yes the quest is almost over kill for that. if youre just watching media id go for the go. its what ive been using for that for a while and i love it for just that. anything more then that like games youd want the quest for

      • MosBen

        Eh, personally I don’t really want multiple devices for different types of VR activity.

        • jj

          well he was asking about “general for watching tv” but thanks for your unsolicited opinion on what i told marek his options were….
          if marek had said gaming id have suggested the quest.

          • MosBen

            You’re right, and looking back I misinterpreted his post. My apologies. That said, your response was more dickish than it needed to be.

  • Papias

    I also would prefer better pass-though options. It would be nice if the Oculus Home could be replaced with pass-through and use the menus in your own home. Perhaps other apps, such as Netflix, can be make more AR than VR.

  • DarkAvry

    I honestly dont understand why would ANYONE buy this thing.

    • Lulu Vi Britannia

      Because it is very unlikely to actually work.
      First, most people won’t have the proper network to use it.
      Then, the data transmitted wirelessly must be compressed, meaning the visual quality will very likely be crap.

      Finally… there already are 3rd party devs trying to connect the Quest to the PC ^^. They did it with phones, they did it with Go, they’ll do it with the Quest but aren’t sure it will work as well as expected. ALVR devs state that we shouldn’t “expect too much”.
      Source: https://uploadvr.com/alvr-oculus-quest-plan/

      • DarkAvry

        No one has 802.11ad network adapters, it needs to be sold separately as ad-on
        Wireless Display port, the HMD already supports it, all they need is to sell special adapter to connect it to your PC and transmit data.

        • Lulu Vi Britannia

          That was my point, buddy. WiFi 60 GHz is not a standard. It’s already available, sure. But for no less than 400€. Are you really suggesting they should make an ad-on the price of the main device? Nah, not possible ^^. Only HTC would be foolish enough to do that xD.

          Had they offered the ability to connect it with WiGig, they would have just confused the average user, who would think they can actually connect it to the PC when they actually don’t have the network for it.
          Just picture it: you buy it, you see you can make it a wireless PC VR, then you realize you have to pay 400€ for Wifi 60GHz. It’s pointless. No one would buy the Quest for PC VR, as almost no one owns a router for that.

          Such a solution will come. Later. When Wigig is a standard. In the meanwhile, there’s no point in offering that.

          That said, a 3rd party app is likely to do that. Then again, it may not work that well. I’m pretty sure TPCast devices work with WiGig, and their solutions are known to have the usual streaming issues (visual artifacts, latency, …).

          • DarkAvry

            I have to disagree, the Quest costs 400$ and it has Snapdragon 835 chipset which supports wifi 60Ghz.
            So just a dongle cant cost more then complete device.
            And no matter how much it costs, customers should decide if they want it or not.
            No such thing as confusing, no one asks them to buy an add-on, it exists for people that need it thats it, average user dosnt need to know anything above that such option is available.
            Also, no one mentions accessory prices in ads and on the box, but a mention that this wireless device can become PC HMD if you wish so in the future, mention one the box and in the add would of boosted sales, people love when their product can do MORE, even if they never going to use the option,

  • oompah

    If these VR headset makers can
    provide cordless wifi vr headsets
    powered by USB powerbank which
    u keep in pocket , it’d be so nice

    • jj

      tcp link

  • MosBen

    What kind of video content is available? YouTube is great, but is there a video store to rent/buy video? I briefly tried watching a 3D movie on the Rift, and while the 3D effect was awesome, the resolution was just too crappy to make it a viable option, so I’m hoping that the increased resolution of the Quest will solve that. Are there plans for a Plex app for watching our home video libraries?

    Also, I vaguely remember reading about screen mirroring being possible on the Quest. Being able to pass it around is awesome, but it’d be nice for the people waiting to play to be able to see what is happening in the game.

    • Lulu Vi Britannia

      Virtual Desktop is available on the Quest. It should be a great option as you can store your content on the PC and still watch it on the Quest.

      • MosBen

        I’ve played around with it a bit on my Rift and never really liked it. I do have a program on Steam that did what I really wanted in terms of playing local content, but can’t remember the name off the top of my head, and I’m at work. Really, a Plex app that allowed multiple users to watch 3D and 2D video content streamed from a Plex server would be ideal.

  • Rational Attempt at Discussion

    Why is nobody writing about the incredibly stupid choice by the Quest team to have it be a one-user device? There is no way to log in to different accounts, meaning all your games have a single save file that all users must share! It’s like having to buy one XBox for each member of the house! Plz bump this post to make sure people see this massive limitation that nobody seems to be talking about…

    • Adam Wells

      I agree 100% with you. This is a crazy situation.

  • Adam Wells

    It seems a lot of people like this but most didn’t realise it doesn’t support multiple accounts on the same unit. This is a major omission, it means sharing it with your family and friends is currently impossible. So only one person can play one game at a time, otherwise you write over their save game. I find this an incredible over site