As the number of new VR headsets hitting the consumer market continues to increase it makes choosing the right one for you more challenging than ever before. Whether you’re on a budget or looking for the best headset money can buy, we have you covered in our buying guide to the best VR headsets.
Best Value For Money: Meta/Oculus Quest 2
Price: $399.99 USD (128GB) / $499.99 USD (256GB)
The Quest 2 is the VR headset currently dominating the market and for good reason. It’s an excellent all-rounder that lets you play PCVR games but also has an onboard computer to play standalone (without needing a PC). This versatility along with a great price, a generous 1832x1920 per-eye resolution, and some awesome cutting-edge features like hand-tracking make the Quest 2 an instant favorite.
Whilst it’s not the most technically superior headset out there it’s hard to fault the Quest 2 given the price. If I had to pick a couple of limitations it would be the limited 2-hour battery life and the notoriously uncomfortable fabric head strap that it comes bundled with. Fortunately, the head strap can be upgraded to something like the AUBIKA Excellence Head Strap With Battery to increase both the comfort and the play time between each recharge.
Best Visuals: Varjo Aero
Price: $1990 USD (headset only)
If you have the cash to splash and you’re looking for the best-looking visuals money can buy, look no further than the Varjo Aero. Whilst pricey, this headset features a whopping 2,880 x 2,720 per-eye display on top of aspheric lenses that don’t suffer from God rays and reflections in the same way that Fresnel lenses do. It also features eye tracking and automatic IPD adjustment so you can get the lens spacing just right.
Price is a significant drawback with the headset alone costing around $2000 without tracking stations or controllers. It also requires a beast of a PC to render games at a good frame rate on the headset’s high-resolution display. An onboard audio solution is also absent making a pair of earphones another essential purchase.
Best PCVR Headset: Valve Index
Price: $1000 USD
If you’re wanting something a bit higher end than the Quest 2 but not wanting to shell out over $2000 for a Varjo Aero then the Valve Index is a good middle ground. It is a PCVR-only headset that provides a nice balance between quality, specs, and value.
Whilst it has a slightly lower resolution compared to the Quest 2 with 1440x1600 per eye it also has a lot of benefits such as an eye-relief adjustment that lets you move the lenses closer to your eyes. This feature is useful to create space for glasses or to maximise the Field of View (FoV). It also comes packaged with quality finger-tracking controllers fitted with ‘knuckles’ straps that keep them secure in the palm of your hand even with an open grip.
On the downside, it requires a bit of setup as it relies on outside-in tracking which means you will need to place at least two external base stations around the room. Its resolution is also relatively low compared to most other current headsets, especially given the price you pay.
Best Console Headset: PS VR2
Price: $549.99 USD
This next one is a no-brainer as the PS VR2 is currently the ONLY console-powered headset currently on the market. Well, that isn’t strictly true as there is also the original PS VR but the PS VR2 is an upgrade over its predecessor in almost every way.
Powered by the PS5 and featuring a 2,000 x 2,040 per-eye resolution display, the PS VR2 is capable of delivering impressively crisp visuals. The headset can also track the user’s eyes allowing for something called dynamic foveated rendering. This feature saves processing power by reducing visual clarity in areas of the on-screen image that are outside of the eye’s focus.
The PS VR2 also includes other unique features that you won’t find on other headsets in this list like headset haptics and adaptive controller triggers capable of adjusting tension in response to gameplay.
Whilst the headset and console combo will provide a higher-fidelity VR experience than headsets like the Quest 2 it is also a lot more costly if you don’t already own a PS5 console. Another limitation is the lack of backward compatibility with PS VR games which is a shame given the decent number of great PS VR titles available.
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