Oculus Quest 2 Review - Introduction

Oculus Quest 2

The Quest 2 is a stand-alone VR headset that can optionally also be paired with a PC, for use with VR apps for the PC. Compared to its predecessor, the Quest 2 offers a faster processor, a display with twice the resolution, and support for refresh rates up to 90Hz. The price of the Quest 2 is also 100 euros lower than that of the Quest 1. Disadvantages are the simpler and therefore less comfortable headband and the lower contrast of the new screen. We also see the mandatory use of a Facebook account as a downside. Bottom line, however, the Quest 2 offers a very good VR experience for a low price. That is why it deserves our Excellent Choice award

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The Oculus Quest 2 will be in stores today. Just like its predecessor, the Quest 2 is a stand-alone VR headset with inside-out tracking, which can also be connected to a PC and thus potentially rivals more expensive headsets. The headset can be purchased from 349 euros, while the Oculus Rift S – currently the cheapest current PC headset – is 100 euros more expensive. We investigated whether the Quest 2 with its competitive price and wide deployability is the best all-round VR headset of the moment.

The Quest 2 is the direct successor to the first Quest that was released early last year. The Quest 1 cost 449 euros at launch and is special because it is the first stand-alone headset with inside-out tracking. With four built-in cameras, the Quest continuously maps its surroundings and ‘knows’ not only where the headset is, but also what the exact position of the included controllers is. This makes it possible to move as a user over six axes. In addition to turning and tilting the head, something that other stand-alone headsets can also register, the Quest also allows you to move forward, backward, sideways, and up and down in the virtual space. No longer a ‘turning head on a stick’, but complete freedom of movement, which greatly benefits the VR experience.

Oculus Quest 1 (left) Oculus Quest 2 (right) Oculus Rift S (background)

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Initially, the Quest only worked as a stand-alone headset on which graphically (relatively) simple games could be played. Later in 2019 Oculus released ‘Oculus Link‘functionality for the headset, which made it possible to connect the Quest to a PC via a USB cable and then also stream much nicer VR games for the PC to the headset. Thanks to its low price, but also due to the addition of that Link functionality, the Quest became a success, with Oculus having difficulties meeting the demand several times in the past year.

The Quest 2 is even more interesting on paper in almost every respect. The new headset has a much more powerful soc that allows for better graphics when playing stand-alone games. In addition, the headset has a new display with a higher refresh rate and more than twice as many pixels, so that the image also looks a lot sharper with existing content. Take the lower price and success seems guaranteed in advance.

Even so, there was also strong criticism when the Quest 2 was announced last month. Oculus was taken over by Facebook in 2014, and where it operated fairly independently within Facebook in the first few years, Oculus has been increasingly integrated into this platform in recent years. Facebook has long encouraged Oculus users to link their Oculus account to a Facebook profile in order to play games together with Facebook friends and to gather in virtual spaces. Until now that was always optional, but with the Quest 2 it is mandatory for the first time to log in with a Facebook account. If you find that an insurmountable objection, you can immediately stop reading this review.

Later in this article we will discuss the (possible) implications of the Facebook integration in more detail, but of course we also look at what the headset has to offer in practice. We were already able to get started with the Quest 2 in recent weeks and during that period we compared the new headset not only with its predecessor, but also with the Oculus Rift S, which can only be used in combination with a PC. Of course, we tested the Quest 2 not only as a stand-alone headset, but also in combination with the PC. For this we used the optionally available Oculus Link cable and software that makes it possible to connect the headset wirelessly to the PC.