Oculus Quest 2 review

Our Verdict

The Oculus Quest 2'due south price, game library and overall ease of utilize make it the best entry indicate into virtual reality yet.

For

• Sleek, comfortable design
• Impressive game library
• Intuitive controllers
• Good price
• Potent built-in sound

Against

• Controllers aren't rechargeable
• Link cable required for PC games
• Requires Facebook account

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

The Oculus Quest 2's toll, game library and overall ease of use go far the best entry indicate into virtual reality yet.

Pros

• +

  Sleek, comfortable design

• +

  Impressive game library

• +

  Intuitive controllers

• +

  Proficient price

• +

  Strong built-in audio

• +

Cons

• -

  Controllers aren't rechargeable

• -

  Link cable required for PC games

• -

  Requires Facebook account

• -

The Oculus Quest 2, now officially titled Meta Quest, is the virtual reality headset you lot're after if yous're looking to play games and enjoy other immersive experiences in VR without being tethered to a PC or having to dock your phone.

You tin can pop on this VR headset and battle your way through Resident Evil 4 VR. Or bank check out the best way to play Microsoft Flight Simulator. And as it's a standalone headset, information technology makes VR an easily attainable road into such escapism.

Building upon its predecessor, the $299 Oculus Quest 2 comes with a more intuitive and slicker design, as well every bit more performance and a boost to its brandish resolution. I won't say information technology's perfect, equally at that place are a few drawbacks to the Oculus Quest 2. But until the Oculus Quest 3 comes along, the Oculus Quest 2 is my pick for the best VR headset.

Only exist warned, thanks to Facebook's recent rebrand to Meta, Oculus at present has a new proper noun. So if you encounter anyone talking about the Meta Quest, know that they're talking well-nigh this.

• I bought an Oculus Quest 2 instead of the PS5 — and I have no regrets
• Here's how to clean Oculus lenses

Oculus Quest 2: Price and availability

Currently, the Oculus Quest 2 starts at $299 in the U.Due south. and £299 in the U.K. for the 64GB unit. But we'd suggest paying a little more to get the 256GB pick; it volition set you back $399 or £399, just will hold a lot more games and apps.

Check out our circular upwards of all the retailers yous can check to notice where to purchase the Oculus Quest ii.

 Oculus Quest two: Design

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

When it comes to design the Oculus Quest 2 is rather sleek for a virtual reality headset. Normally bulky googles ae replaced with light and comfortable headset that's no ten% less heavy than its predecessor. A simple strap and four camera sensors on the headset give it a unproblematic and make clean aesthetics that ways it looks decent just sitting on a desk as well as mounted one's head. And a light grayness color also makes the Quest 2 easy on the heart.

The headset'south sparse, smartly placed push and port layout helps maintain its seamless pattern. Y'all'll notice a power button on the correct side of the headset, a volume rocker on the right underside, and a USB-C port and headphone jack on the left for charging and audio. You can adjust the spacing of the Oculus Quest 2's lenses with three different viewing settings past pinching them or spreading them out manually correct within the inside of the headset, eliminating the demand for the switch that saturday at the bottom of the original Quest.

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

At a compact 7.5 x four ten 5.2 inches and ane.1 pounds, the Oculus Quest 2 felt lightweight and comfy, fifty-fifty when I spent more than an hour at a fourth dimension in VR. A generous amount of foam padding made it easy to forget I had a hunk of plastic strapped to my face up, while the headset'southward adjustable elastic bands allowed me to find the right fit for my head. A word of warning: I finished a rather long play session with a comically large blood-red indent on my forehead, then yous might want to make sure your Oculus Quest two isn't too tight earlier you dive in.

If you're looking to keep your Oculus viewing experience pristine, check out our guide to how to clean Oculus lenses quickly and safely.

And do be a petty careful most overusing your Oculus Quest 2 as it could end up injuring you lot.

Oculus Quest ii: specs

	Oculus Quest 2
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
Display resolution	1832 x 1920 per centre
Storage	64GB, 256GB
RAM	6GB
Battery life	2-3 hours (rated)
Size	7.five x 4 10 5.2 inches
Weight	ane.1 pounds

Oculus Quest 2: Getting prepare

Like the original Quest, the Oculus Quest 2 is an all-in-1 VR  arrangement that doesn't crave you to set upwards whatever external sensors or cameras — everything you need is right in the headset. The setup process only takes a few minutes; you'll put the headset on, activate your account via the Oculus mobile app, establish your play area, and you're practiced to go.

The Oculus Quest two once again uses Oculus' Guardian organisation, which lets you lot sketch out a playspace with your Oculus Affect controllers to avert bumping into walls and furniture. Creating my Guardian space was as simple as nearly painting a rectangle in my living room, which I could clearly see thanks to the headset'southward Passthrough+ cameras. The Oculus Quest two's Passthrough+ mode is designed to reduce the depth disparity institute in other passthrough cameras, and I found it to lucifer upward well to my actual surroundings during testing.

(Image credit: Oculus)

The headset will automatically switch to Passthrough style if you lot leave your Guardian purlieus, allowing you to instantly encounter any surround you lot might come into contact with. In that location'southward also an optional power to toggle Passthrough fashion with a quick tap on the side of the headset, which is handy for when you lot want to cheque in on the existent world every now and so.

Oculus recommends having a 6.5 ten 6.five-foot space for room-scale VR, which allows you to freely walk around a virtual infinite for more active experiences. Don't take a ton of space to play with? You lot can likewise establish a stationary boundary for playing with the Oculus Quest 2 while sitting or standing in a single spot. If the room you set up things upwardly in has a Tv, it'south possible to cast your Oculus Quest ii to a TV set.

I important notation: You'll eventually demand a Facebook account to use the Oculus Quest 2. According to Oculus' latest policies, all-new Oculus users will have to log in via Facebook. Existing users have until the start of 2023 to utilise only their Oculus accounts; later that, they'll have to merge their Oculus and Facebook accounts. While Oculus announced this change in the name of simplicity and privacy, it'southward worth keeping this policy in mind if yous cull not to apply Facebook for personal or security reasons.

Oculus Quest 2: Upgrades

Rather than leave the Oculus Quest 2 as it is, Facebook has worked to push out updates, with the latest v28 update bringing in some serious upgrades.

You lot can bring your desk-bound into the Oculus Dwelling house VR surroundings past placing a virtual desk on top of your existing one to mimic its position in the real world. And you can use as use a Bluetooth keyboard with the Quest 2. But at that place are two significant updates.

The first brings a 120Hz refresh rate choice, ramping up from the 90Hz the Quest 2 comes with out of the box. It'll only work with uniform apps, simply should make for a smoother experience.

The second major upgrade, is yous can connect to an external gaming PC wirelessly via Air Link. Currently, in an "Experimental" beta mode, Air Link can be accessed via the Oculus PC app and used to stream games without needing the optional Oculus Link cable. Just bear in mind in listen that y'all'll need a robust Wi-Fi connectedness to get the nigh out of it. As such, the Link cable might even so be the better pick for people with shoddy internet connections.

There'due south also a rumor that the Oculus Quest 2 could come gain admission to Android apps, which could heave the scope of information technology'due south employ even further. But VR on Android has been a mixed bag, and so information technology's not something to get overly hopeful well-nigh.

Oculus Quest 2: Controllers and paw tracking

(Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

The Oculus Quest 2 features a redesigned version of the Oculus Bear on Controllers built to evangelize better gesture tracking. The setup is largely the same as before: each of the scoop-shaped controllers feature ii shoulder buttons for doing things like firing weapons and grabbing objects, with clickable analog sticks and a pair of face buttons on each controller. You lot'll besides desire to use the included wrist straps to make sure they don't become flight in the middle of a tense lightsaber fight.

I found the Oculus Quest 2's controllers to be comfortable and like shooting fish in a barrel to use across a variety of different games and experiences. The snappy triggers and accurate motion sensing allowed me to snag easy headshots in Pistol Whip, and I had no trouble hacking away at color-coded blocks during the rhythm-action of Shell Saber. The controllers' haptics are likewise impressive, equally they allowed me to feel the distinct fizz of an ignited lightsaber during Vader Immortal while keeping me on track in Tetris Effect with a subtle pulse that matched the in-game music.

(Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

I'yard slightly disappointed that the Impact Controllers run on AA batteries, and aren't rechargeable via USB. Still, each controller uses only a single battery, and both of my controllers are shown as having full battery chapters on my Quest interface afterward several weeks of use. The controllers are rated to offer around thirty hours of juice on a unmarried battery.

The Oculus Quest two also offers hand tracking, assuasive you to navigate the headset's menus and play select games using your easily alone. While I appreciate having the choice, I plant that manus-tracking wasn't every bit intuitive every bit I'd hoped, and had problem getting my pinch-to-select gestures to register equally I moved around the Oculus dwelling screen.

There are currently just a handful of Quest apps that back up paw tracking, and the characteristic was finicky at best in the ones that I did employ. While I eventually got the hang of navigating menus and moving documents around in the Spatial productivity app, I struggled to control mitt-supported games such as The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets.

Oculus Quest two: Performance

The Oculus Quest ii has been given a performance crash-land over its predecessor, thanks to the use of a Snapdragon XR2 chip. Matched with 6GB of RAM, the Quest 2 has a notable bound in specs over the original Quest, which was saddled with a Snapdragon 835 CPU, a chipset designed more than for smartphones than VR headsets. This ways the Oculus Quest ii runs a lot smoother than the older VR headset and makes for smoothen and snappy menu navigation. And thankfully, I didn't run into any slowdown when playing games while downloading several other titles in the background.

Games similar Beat Saber, Pistol Whip and Vader Immortal, ran smoothly and looked impressively well-baked and articulate. That being said, I wouldn't exactly compare them to what you'd go out of an Xbox Series X or PS5, let alone a powerful gaming PC. Just the titles I played were flush with color and detail to continue me immersed in the action. And I didn't experience any crashes or framerate dips to take me out of the VR experience.

Oculus Quest 2: Games

Pistol Whip (Image credit: Cloudhead Games)

The Oculus Quest platform has clustered an impressively solid game lineup that runs the gamut from new takes on established AAA franchises to exciting indie titles that make full employ of the Oculus Quest 2's VR abilities.

Highlights include rhythm-slashing game Beat Saber and the immersive time-bending shooting of Superhot VR, the latter of which made me feel like I was in a trippy sci-fi activeness picture as I controlled time and threw bullets back at enemies.

As a Star Wars nerd, I completely geeked out on Vader Immortal, a get-go-person action-chance game that had me sneaking around imperial strongholds and engaging in tight lightsaber combat. And I absolutely loved Pistol Whip, a neon-drenched arcade shooter that had me popping headshots and dodging enemy fire to the beat of pulsing EDM music.

Tetris Effect is already 1 of my favorite games of all time, merely being able to bask its serene visuals in the Oculus Quest two'southward completely immersive 3D environment fabricated the experience that much sweeter. And Polyarc's Moss is an first-class fusion of traditional controller-based platforming and deep VR interactivity, assuasive y'all to move obstacles with your hands while guiding an adorable mouse with your joysticks.

Another crawly single-role player game is Resident Evil 4 VR, which will add The Mercenaries mode equally gratis DLC in 2022.

Moss (Image credit: Polyarc)

The Quest ii also excels as a multiplayer auto, assuasive yous to play in virtual spaces with friends at a fourth dimension when gathering in-person is more difficult than ever. Beating upwardly bad guys in VR brawler Path of the Warrior with a friend is 1 of the nigh hilarious and fun multiplayer experiences I've had in a long time, and Eleven: Table Tennis VR did an admirable job translating my poor table tennis skills to the virtual world.

You can broaden the Oculus Quest 2's game library even further with the $79 Oculus Link cable, which lets you lot connect your Quest to a VR-set PC and play an fifty-fifty larger range of VR titles including One-half Life: Alyx, Star Wars Squadrons and Fallout 4 VR. While it'south a bummer that some of the best VR games out there aren't available on Quest 2 out of the box, the Oculus Link effectively turns your Quest into an Oculus Rift for slightly less than the Rift's $399 asking toll.

Oculus Quest two: Apps

(Image credit: Spatial)

The Oculus Quest 2 is much more a gaming device, with a healthy pick of entertainment and productivity apps that permit you watch videos and collaborate with others in absurd ways. I looked around in awe as I virtually stood at the top of Mount Everest in a 360-degree YouTube VR video, and was surrounded by the mesmerizing percussion of the Blue Man Grouping when watching their virtual concert in the Oculus Television set app.

Oculus' TV app also let me ride a virtual rollercoaster, which had my adrenaline surging and almost made me wimp out before I remembered I was sitting at my desk. The Spatial app provides an impressively robust virtual workspace for collaborating on documents and 3D models. Meanwhile the Virtual Desktop app immune me to use my Windows x PC in an immersive VR environment.

Oculus Quest 2: Sound

The Oculus Quest two'southward built-in positional audio isn't new — information technology also appeared on the Quest and Rift South — but it even so blows my mind every fourth dimension I utilize information technology. The headset'south built-in speakers pump out crisp, loud sound without the need for headphones, with some impressive directionality to kick. I could hear where the buzzes of nearby bees and chirps of birds were coming from while hanging out in my dwelling house screen oasis, and could easily pinpoint enemy burn down while blasting away in Pistol Whip.

If yous want even more than immersive sound, the Oculus Quest two has a handy iii.5mm jack for connecting whatsoever headphones you like. Just the headset's built-in audio feels like magic, and adds to its selection-up-and-play allure even more.

The Oculus Quest 2's congenital-in microphone proved undecayed also. I had no problem coordinating with a friend as we tossed around bad guys in Path of the Warrior, and his vocalism sounded crisp and articulate coming from his own Quest 2.

Oculus Quest 2: Battery life

The Oculus Quest 2 is rated for 2 to 3 hours of battery life: 2 if yous're playing games, and around three if y'all're mostly watching videos. I found this to exist largely in my line with my testing, as I merely had to plug the Quest 2 in every few days while using it in small chunks. Later on several sessions playing games on a fully charged Oculus Quest 2 for more than an hour, I establish that the battery was around l% drained past the time I finished.

Oculus Quest ii: Accessories

(Prototype credit: Time to come)

At present that the Oculus Quest 2 has been out for a while, at that place a good choice of accessories for the virtual reality headset. And then practise brand sure to cheque out our roundup of the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories.

Ane of the accessories that you really should consider straight away is the Oculus Quest Aristocracy Strap with Battery. It provides a much more flexible head strap that works  better for people with big or longer hair. In fact, dwelling editor Katie Mortram institute it to exist a game changer for the Quest 2.

Oculus Quest 2: Verdict

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

The Oculus Quest ii has a joyously simple "it just works" magic to information technology that reminds me of the first fourth dimension I picked up a Nintendo Switch or an iPhone. Like its predecessor, the Oculus Quest two eliminates the previous hurdles of getting into virtual reality — namely the need to have a powerful PC and tons of wires and sensors — and packs a ton of not bad experiences into a sleek device that you tin can pop on at a moment'south notice.

If you already own an Oculus Quest, the Oculus Quest 2's improved design and performance solitary might non sway you to plunk down another $299. And the new headset tin can get costly if you factor in the price of an Oculus Link cablevision or the optional 256GB model. Merely if you've nonetheless to dive into VR or want to finally go untethered, the Oculus Quest ii's price, game library and overall ease of use make it the best entry bespeak into virtual reality yet.

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.K. Editor at Tom's Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He frequently writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he's also got an involvement in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/oculus-quest-2-review

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