Meta Quest 2

The Oculus Go headset was the company's first foray into standalone virtual reality, but it didn't really nail a genuinely immersive, cable-free VR experience until the Oculus Quest. Then Facebook purchased Oculus, and now both are under the Meta umbrella. The Meta Quest 2 (formerly Oculus Quest 2) follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, but improves upon the experience with a more powerful processor, a sharper screen, and a lighter design. It offers all of this for $299 (recently returning to its original price after a $100 price bump last year) and remains significantly more affordable than competitors like the HTC Vive Cosmos ($699) and the Valve Index ($999). Add optional PC tethering with an accessory cable to the mix, and you have a comprehensive and accessible VR system that's worthy of our Editors’ Choice award.

Update: On June 1, Meta announced the successor to the Quest 2, the Quest 3, which will launch in the fall of 2023. Few details have been made public about the headset, except that it will have a better display and faster processor, and will cost $499. We'll see if it offers a better experience later this year, but if the Quest 2 remains available it might stay our top pick for getting into VR thanks to its low price.

The Quest 2 is a bit smaller and lighter than the original; it weighs 17.7 ounces and measures 4.0 by 7.5 by 5.6 inches (HWD), not including the strap. The smooth plastic chassis of the headset is white, while the plastic and foam eye mask behind it are a contrasting black. The front faceplate is nearly bare except for the four position-tracking cameras along its edge.

The left side of the headset houses a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the right side is home to the power button and an indicator LED. A volume rocker sits underneath the headset, along with two pinhole microphones. The eye mask easily pulls out so you can adjust the position of the lenses or insert a separator that lifts the headset slightly away from your face to accommodate glasses. Even with the separator, however, glasses can make the experience feel awkward if you have particularly large frames.

The headband is a three-point elastic strap that stretches across plastic arms and can pivot slightly up and down. The arms house speakers that pipe sound into your ears without headphones. The top strap connects to the headset with hook-and-loop (Velcro) fasteners, thus letting you adjust how the top of the Quest fits against your face. The side straps connect at the back with two plastic sliding clips.

It's fast and simple to adjust the headset with the default strap, but it doesn't provide the most secure fit and it can shift if you move your head quickly or sharply. You can replace it with the Quest 2 Elite Strap, a $49 accessory that provides a more secure fit. That add-on features a ring-shaped piece of plastic that cups the back of your head as well as a ratcheting wheel that keeps the strap locked in place.

The two motion controllers you get with the Quest 2 are slightly different than the original Oculus Touch controllers (now simply Meta Quest 2 controllers) that came with the Quest and the now-discontinued Rift S. They still feature curved handles with prominent rings on top that enable tracking via the headset's cameras, while the two triggers fit naturally under your index and middle fingers. The circular control surface at the top of the handle is larger than before and offers a comfortable bare spot to rest your thumb when you aren't actively using the analog stick or two face buttons.

The new design makes the controllers feel a bit thicker in the hand and easier to hold securely. The battery door is also less prone to sliding off during intense gameplay sessions. It isn't a drastic redesign, but the few small tweaks make the controllers feel better overall.

You can also use the Quest 2 with your bare hands because the headset supports hand tracking (originally a beta feature for the first-generation Quest). Essentially, the headset's cameras follow the position, orientation, and shape of your hands. Once you turn this feature on, you can move your hands freely in front of the headset to control the in-system pointer. Pinching your thumb and forefinger together for a moment serves as a click, while pinching and holding works as a click and drag.

The hand-tracking feature works well, but, unfortunately, it doesn't replace the controllers for most apps. You can use your hands to navigate the Quest 2's menu system, for instance, but you must switch to the controllers to launch Netflix or YouTube VR.

Meta gave the Quest 2 a Snapdragon 865-derived Snapdragon XR2 processor, a notable improvement over the original headset's Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip. This is impressive in and of itself because the Quest 2's then-$300 price made it the most affordable Snapdragon 865 device available in North America (phones with the same chip sold for around $1,000). It unlocks a significant performance boost over the original Quest, especially with the addition of two more gigabytes of RAM, for a total of 6GB.

The headset launched with 64GB of storage, with no way of expanding it, but now comes standard with 128GB. Unfortunately, you still can't expand the storage. A model with 256GB is available for $100 more.

The headset now shows a 1,920-by-1,832-pixel picture to each eye, up from a resolution of 1,600 by 1,440 pixels. The Quest 2 supports a 120Hz refresh rate, too, another upgrade from the original Quest (72Hz). The bump was originally to 90Hz, but after being an experimental feature for over a year a 120Hz mode has been added to the headset.

Battery life remains short, which is one of the main issues for all standalone VR headsets. Oculus says you can expect between two and three hours of use between charges, which is about the same as with the original. That's not very long, but you can double that time with the $129 Quest 2 Elite Strap With Battery and Carrying Case, a version of the aforementioned accessory strap with a built-in battery pack. That add-on isn't cheap, but it's also not an unreasonable purchase if you really want long play sessions.

The Quest 2 uses the same in-headset menu system and store as the original Quest. This gives you access to dozens of compelling VR games and experiences, all accessible and tracked through your unified Meta account. You can access plenty of entertaining software through the store without a PC, including Beat Saber, Rez Infinite, Superhot VR, Tetris Effect, and more.

Outside of the games available through the in-headset store (of which there are many), you can also enjoy the full breadth of the Steam VR store with the optional $79 Link Cable. It's a 16.4-foot (5m) USB-C cable that lets you connect the Quest 2 to a compatible PC to access its VR software library. While you can probably find a cheaper USB-C cable to use, the Meta Link Cable's length and flexibility make it particularly ideal for VR applications.

The PC tethering option is important for two reasons. First, a PC simply provides far more power than the Snapdragon 865 processor, thus enabling more graphically advanced VR experiences like Half-Life: Alyx. If you want the most advanced VR available, you need a tethered connection to a powerful computer. Second, Meta has phased out the Rift line of tethered headsets, so the Quest 2 is the sole VR headset the company offers with both standalone and PC-tethered VR capabilities.

The Quest 2 uses the same Guardian system as its predecessor, which lets you draw boundaries around your play space so the headset can warn you if you’re about to step out of the designated area (and perhaps bump into something). It works well. The system remembers the specific areas you choose and lets you set up a stationary circle for games that don't require a lot of movement or walking around.

The head tracking remains accurate, too. The headset's four cameras constantly scan the area around you to determine your position, while its internal sensors track orientation. The cameras also track motion data from the controllers, as mentioned. It's a full six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) experience, just like the original Quest, and it feels immersive.

The higher display resolution makes a noticeable difference as well; everything just looks a bit sharper than on the original Quest. You can still discern pixels if you look very closely, but just barely. Ultimately, the experience is much crisper and cleaner all around.

I started by playing Tetris Effect, which originally launched on the PlayStation 4 with support for the PlayStation VR. It looks and sounds great on the Quest 2; the game is just as immersive and looks a bit crisper than on the PS VR. My only complaint is the control scheme: Tetris requires digital precision and a direction pad like those on the DualShock 4 controller is ideal for input. The analog sticks on the Quest 2's controllers are a bit too sensitive and I occasionally dropped blocks by accident.

I then played some Gun Club VR, a shooting gallery game. The headset tracked my controller movements accurately, letting me carefully aim different firearms at pop-up targets with precision. The higher-resolution display helped me pick out distant targets and better align headshots, for an entertaining simulator experience.

You can also use the headset to watch YouTube in VR. It produces a simulated big screen directly in front of you and lets you watch videos as if you were sitting in a theater. It's suitably immersive and easy to use. Again, the higher-resolution panel means the viewing experience is sharper and more pleasant.

Finally, I spent some time with my two favorite VR games, Beat Saber and Superhot VR. Superhot VR is a first-person shooter in which time only passes when you move. This mechanic enables you to pull off incredible feats of disarming and marksmanship. The Quest 2 tracked my head and the controllers perfectly, thus allowing me to dodge bullets and pick off attackers like John Wick. Beat Saber is a rhythm game in which you slash at glowing blocks flying at you in time with the beat of a song. Again, the Quest 2's tracking worked accurately. Both games looked sharp through the headset and the 120Hz refresh rate kept the action smooth.

The original Meta Quest VR headset was a breath of fresh air with its 6DOF head and controller tracking, strong performance, and, most importantly, standalone functionality. The Quest 2 is an upgrade in every way. It offers a lighter design, a sharper display, and a faster processor, all at a more affordable price than the original. For $300, it's the best all-in-one VR package, with optional accessories that enable PC tethering and much longer operating times. That makes it the best VR headset at this price and our Editors’ Choice winner even a few years after its launch.