VR Recs?

Vek1313 · December 19, 2024

Apologies if this isn't the proper place to ask for VR. Prefacing this by stating I am US, and I don't have a set budget. I don't want to spend more on a system just to spend more, but if it's the right use case or drastic increase in quality/experience, then I am open to spending more. My use cases would primarily be gaming. While I have no issues with tethered gameplay (because I do have the space, PC setup, and capability to drive it), a standalone does present intrigue for me. Especially with mixed reality capabilities. I work in IT, so the Virtual Desktop capabilities could present fun self projects for me to explore.

I'm looking to get a VR set at home. I've been doing some research, but I am also curious with community opinion/experience. My only experience with VR is my friend's original HTC Vive. I remember originally being enamored with the Valve Index a few years ago, but it sounds like outside of the tracking, it's kinda fallen behind other competitors especially without any price decrease over the 5 years of its lifetime. All I see online is how heavily the Quest 3 is recommended. Is it really that good? Has Meta addressed motion sickness concerns with it? (My knowledge around that is how anti Meta my friend with the OG Vive was for the original Quest's motion sickness that I never ran into over the hours of playing in his Vive.)

I've looked at the Quest 3, Vive XR Elite, and Vive Focus Vision. I haven't found much for the differences in Focus Vision vs Focus 3? Are there any fees/memberships with these headsets that are mandatory or something I should be aware of that enhances the use/experience? Is the Vive Pro 2 something to look into? Is there a different VR set coming to hold out for? Are there any other general recommendations for a first time VR buyer? Anything is appreciated!

trufret · January 2, 2025

Quest 3 is pretty much the go to headset at this point. The pancake lenses and higher resolution display are absolutely worth it over the 3s for image clarity in virtual desktop use and for flight/racing sims where you need to see/read small details.

The battery life is a drawback with the built in battery so I use a 3rd party head strap with an 8000mah battery to increase playtime from around 2 to about 5+ hours

If you want to tether to your PC for longer sessions I use this cable along with the original quest power adapter to keep the headset charged while playing.

I'm not a fan of Meta and avoided their headsets after they required a Facebook profile but since that has been removed i reluctantly tried the 3 as I needed a new headset and nothing else really fit the bill for a reasonable price.

VR Sickness is on a per person basis and while things like incorrect IPD settings and low FPS can make it worse, any experience where your eyes are telling your brain your are accelerating but your inner ear doesn't agree can cause it and there isn't much manufacturers can do about it with current tech. It pretty much boils down to acclimatizing yourself to it. Stop as soon as you feel odd or start getting cold sweats and don't play again until you are 100% better. You will build up a tolerance after awhile and it even helped my regular car motion sickness so that's a plus.

When I got the first Oculus DK2 i couldn't play elite dangerous for more that a few mins until I was ill, after a few months I could play infidelity.

Any game/experience that is room scale or otherwise doesn't tell your eyes you are physically moving when you're not shouldn't cause motion sickness at all.

There are some other niche non-Meta headsets like the Pimax for ultra wide FOV (Camera and lighthouse tracking) or the Bigscreen Beyond (Lighthouse only) for ultra small light weight HMD. but are many times the price of a Quest 3 and for me weren't worth the extra cost for what they offered.

I'm still hopeful Valve releases the Deckard/Index 2 soon as I'd like to check that out but will be sticking to the Quest 3 for now.

I had the original Vive but from the reviews I watched on everything they released after it (except maybe the Vive Pro 2) were all overpriced with weird janky bugs that made them no goes for me.