Oculus Quest Review

The new VR headset from Oculus, the Oculus Quest, is the first completely wireless VR headset from the American company. Oculus, also known from its parent company Facebook, dominated the VR market in 2016 with the very first consumer VR headset: the Oculus Rift. With this headset, Oculus developed the first VR headset that was available to consumers at a relatively affordable price, creating the landscape for future VR headsets. The downside of the Oculus Rift was that you still needed a powerful (VR) computer as a user. The VR headset ultimately works with the graphical power of the computer, so a strong PC was necessary.

• Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835
• Memory: 4 GB LPDDR4X
• Storage: 64 GB, 128 GB
• Resolution (per eye): 2880 x 1600 pixels
• Display: 72 Hz
• Refresh rate: 72 Hz
• Weight: 571 grams

The Quest feels noticeably heavier than the Oculus Quest. With a weight of 571 grams, it is not a very light headset, but it certainly does not feel heavy either. You secure the VR headset to your face with a Velcro system. When you put the headset on your face for the first time, you might notice that it slides down and feels uncomfortable. Our tip is to first place the headset against your forehead and then fasten the Velcro straps. This prevents the headset from sliding down and resting on your nose.

The material of the Quest is perfectly fine. The Velcro feels sturdy and is easy to adjust. The front of the Quest is made of a matte type of plastic, while the sides are covered with a fabric material. This gives the headset a more luxurious appearance, which we think looks good.

The Oculus Quest, along with the Rift S, is equipped with the new Oculus Touch controllers. These controllers make it possible to accurately capture multiple movements of your hand and fingers. When you let the controller rest on your hand, you will see that you have an 'open' hand in the game. When you then grab the controller and squeeze it, you make a fist or grab something in the game. This takes some practice at first, but you will quickly get the hang of it, resulting in some fun (new) experiences. For example, when you pull a VR gun from your pocket during a shooter game, you will notice that you really reach for your pocket with an 'open' hand and then squeeze the controller when you want to grab the gun.

In our experience, the Oculus Touch controllers work well. How they compare to the newer Valve Knuckle controllers remains to be seen, but for now, it is at least a good upgrade compared to the earlier Oculus controllers.

The Quest works based on inside-out tracking. The headset has several cameras that can see the environment. This means you only need to put on the headset, and the tracking is automatically performed. During the installation and setup of the Oculus Quest, you have the option to define your play area. You do this by (via the camera) looking at your environment and pointing out the play area with your controller. This works very easily and is a very good way to determine the play space. While playing a VR game, you will then see a transparent grid when you get too close to the defined area.

Because you do not need to set up external sensors like with the Oculus Rift, the ease of use of the Oculus Quest is incredibly user-friendly. Anyone can use the VR headset, even if you have no technical knowledge regarding tracking. However, inside-out tracking also has some drawbacks. For example, the tracking is somewhat less reliable than with external sensors. This 'problem' sometimes occurs when you play a VR game that requires a lot of arm movement, such as during an intense game of Beat Saber. When the controllers are outside the field of view of the two cameras on the headset, they briefly lose connection. This can result in a short hiccup in the tracking or a drifting controller.

In our experience, this fortunately does not happen very often. Occasionally, you lose tracking when you swing the controller too enthusiastically above your head, but in our opinion, the advantages of this tracking method (no sensors) outweigh the disadvantages.

The more well-known VR headsets are comparable to major game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation in terms of platform: each VR headset has its own pros and cons regarding platform choice. While the HTC Vive has a particularly extensive range of games and apps through SteamVR and VivePort, the Oculus platform is somewhat less extensive. It should be noted, however, that Oculus has some very cool exclusive games on the Oculus platform, such as Space Junkies and Robo Recall. The Quest has a store that is separate from the Oculus Rift and Go store. The reason for this is that the Quest focuses mainly on gaming and not, like the Oculus Go, on watching 360-degree videos. Oculus is working hard to encourage developers to create games specifically for the Oculus Quest, but it still seems that some developers limit themselves to the more powerful headsets like the Oculus Rift S and HTC Vive Pro.

The Quest is Oculus's attempt to make VR gaming mainstream. Due to the relatively low entry price (you do not need a computer), it is already possible to have great VR experiences. The limited VR offering in the Oculus Store is unfortunate, but not a deal-breaker for us. There are enough cool games with sufficient depth to keep you entertained for hours in VR. The complete wireless freedom combined with the high screen resolution provides a very good gaming experience. In short: Oculus has developed a very good product with the Quest, intended for gamers who want to dive into virtual reality.