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Oct 14, 2024

The 3 Best VR Headsets for 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Signe Brewster Signe Brewster is an editor focused on technology. She also writes about virtual reality and has tested everything from robots to 3D printers. The $300 Meta Quest 3S, a budget

By Signe Brewster

Signe Brewster is an editor focused on technology. She also writes about virtual reality and has tested everything from robots to 3D printers.

The $300 Meta Quest 3S, a budget version of our top pick, the Meta Quest 3, goes on sale October 15. We’ve included more details in the What to look forward to section. We recommend waiting to buy a VR headset until we update this guide with new picks.

Virtual reality can be an arresting way to step into engaging virtual worlds, even if it’s still a new technology that remains far from being a “most people” purchase. We think the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 3 is the best headset for most people because it’s the easiest to use and offers access to the widest range of games and experiences.

The Quest 3 has a cord-free design and convincing hand tracking, with the added option to plug it in to a PC to access more-powerful games.

This headset’s screen handily beats the competition, but you’ll need a high-end computer to make the most of it.

An upgrade to HTC’s stock controllers, we think the Valve Index Controllers are the best combo of comfort and accurate tracking.

You’ll need two base stations to operate an HTC Vive Pro 2 Headset.

If you’re looking for the least expensive way to access the best VR games, this is it.

The Quest 3 has a cord-free design and convincing hand tracking, with the added option to plug it in to a PC to access more-powerful games.

You can spend thousands of dollars chasing the best specs in a VR headset, but we think comfort and ease of use are more important elements for most people who want to explore VR. With that in mind, the Meta Quest 3 is the clear winner. It combines good-enough specs with the ability to use it cord free. Yet you can also plug it in to a computer, which opens up even more options for how and where you can use it. The controllers are intuitive and easy to hold. It can track you as you move around a room, and it comes with some of the best mixed reality abilities we’ve experienced. Additionally, the Quest 3 has a wide selection of compatible content, since you can play games, movies, and other experiences from the Meta Quest Store, SteamVR libraries, and, soon, Xbox Cloud Gaming.

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This headset’s screen handily beats the competition, but you’ll need a high-end computer to make the most of it.

An upgrade to HTC’s stock controllers, we think the Valve Index Controllers are the best combo of comfort and accurate tracking.

You’ll need two base stations to operate an HTC Vive Pro 2 Headset.

For players searching for the latest and greatest VR headset for playing video games, we think the HTC Vive Pro 2 headset paired with Valve Index Controllers and two HTC SteamVR Base Station 2.0 units is the best combination. The Vive Pro 2 has the crispest screen we’ve tried (though you’ll need a powerful computer to max out its abilities), while the Valve Index Controllers combine comfort with the best hand tracking we’ve experienced. Together, they provide an especially immersive VR experience.

If you’re looking for the least expensive way to access the best VR games, this is it.

If you don’t mind a downgrade in specs and the lack of mixed reality experiences, the Meta Quest 2 is a bargain (currently $300). It’s just as easy to use as the Quest 3, and the two headsets share the same expansive library. However, the new generation of games is best played on the Quest 3.

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For more than a decade, editor Signe Brewster has chronicled the rise of virtual reality for publications such as Wirecutter, Wired, TechCrunch, MIT Technology Review, and GigaOm.

Virtual reality can make you feel like you’ve been transported to another world—or at the very least like you are experiencing a wonderfully novel piece of technology. Short films, puzzles, social networks, and other types of VR entertainment are available. But if you’re not into video games, the only VR-ready medium that can offer hours of immersive entertainment, you may grow bored fairly quickly.

Virtual reality games are different from games on traditional consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation. Motion-tracking controllers, which bring your hands into the virtual world, are more intuitive for beginners: Swinging a sword feels more like swinging a sword, and ducking for cover can require real ducking.

If you want to use a Quest or PC headset to its full potential, you need a powerful gaming computer and, ideally, an empty room to set everything up in. Both Meta and HTC have pages featuring compatible VR-ready PCs and bundles, and both have minimum and recommended PC specs (for details, see Meta’s list and HTC’s list) for use with their systems. Both headset makers also offer tools that you can download to test whether your current PC is VR-ready.

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We’ve concluded that the best VR headsets have the following features:

We evaluate each headset for its controllers, screen, and fit for comfort. We play a mix of action and puzzle games to evaluate performance.

The Quest 3 has a cord-free design and convincing hand tracking, with the added option to plug it in to a PC to access more-powerful games.

The Meta Quest 3 makes it easier—and fun enough to be worth it—to give VR a try, compared with headsets that require cables and expensive PCs. It’s also the first mainstream VR headset to make mixed reality (also known as augmented reality) one of its core features. And compared with the previous-gen Quest 2, its screen quality and speed represent a significant step up that makes it even easier to feel like what you see on the screen is “real.”

The Quest 3 has two capable controllers and is compatible with our favorite games. It’s also small enough to toss into a tote bag or a backpack, so you can break it out at the office or a party. You can set it up and start playing in less than a minute; thanks to built-in sensors that track the two Touch Plus controllers and your other movements, you can navigate an entire room, and the headset won’t ever lose your location. As a result, we consistently reach for it over headsets that cost two or even five times as much.

It’s cordless, which makes it easy to use. Sensors for tracking your head and hands are built into the headset and controllers, which means you can walk around the entirety of a room and your virtual body will do the same. Although a PC headset with more-precise tracking, such as the Valve Index or the HTC Vive Pro 2, can better replicate your movement and avoid reality-breaking glitches, like your hands floating away, we found the Quest 3 convincing enough to cross that initial threshold into “realness.” The ability to play without a cord also means you aren’t pulled out of a game when you inevitably trip on the cable tethering you to a PC.

You can wirelessly connect Quest headset to your PC to play Steam games with Steam Link or Air Link. However, games will look and play better with an Oculus Link cable.

It has all the games we love to play. We welcomed the return of several of our favorite games, including the addictive Beat Saber, which on its own could be justification to buy the Quest 3. We also like the escape-room-style I Expect You to Die trilogy, the relaxing Walkabout Mini Golf, the battle royale–style Population: One, and the adventure-puzzle game Moss: Book II. If you have a PC, you can play the critically acclaimed first-person shooter Half-Life: Alyx.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR hit Meta headsets in November. You’ll also be able to play Xbox games like Halo Infinite on a virtual screen with Xbox Cloud Gaming come December. The Quest 3 is backward compatible with games that originally came out for the Quest 2.

It’s easy to set up boundaries. When you’re immersed in a virtual world, it’s easy to forget about walls, tables, and other obstacles. Like the PlayStation VR2, the Quest 3 scans the room and builds virtual fences into your play space so you don’t accidentally punch the TV or run into the couch. Other headsets require you to draw these boundaries yourself.

It’s the easiest route into mixed reality. Mixed reality, which lays the virtual world over the real world, still feels like a gimmick—we’ll update this guide later this year with experiences from upcoming games that make use of mixed reality. But the Quest 3’s ability to map games onto the room around us worked well; when we played First Encounters, a virtual spaceship landed on my dining table. Then cracks appeared on the windows and aliens poured into the room, challenging me to race around the room shooting them with my virtual ray gun. It’s also a nice way to be able to still interact with the real world from inside the headset (no more stepping on the cat or worrying about falling through the window!). It’s a big step up from the experience on the Meta Quest Pro, and it’s leaps and bounds beyond the Quest 2, but it still feels like a novelty that didn’t draw us away from our favorite VR games.

Its LCD screen is good enough. It offers 2064×2208 pixels per eye, with deep blacks and vivid colors that do their best not to remind you you’re in a virtual world. It has a 110-degree field of view. The Quest 3 currently has a maximum refresh rate (think of this as the VR way of saying “frames per second”) of 120 Hz, matching the HTC Vive Pro 2 and beating the Quest Pro’s 90 Hz. Higher refresh rates are generally believed to reduce the likelihood that users might experience motion sickness while using a VR headset.

It’s heavy but still comfortable. At a claimed 515 grams (1.1 pound), the Quest 3 is a hair heavier than we prefer our VR headsets to be (the experience is like hanging a half-liter bottle of water from your face). But due to cushy foam padding that rests on the face and adjustable straps that reach around to the back of the head, we found that the Quest 3 is fairly comfortable to wear for hour-long play sessions, though we had to fiddle with the fit to get it to sit correctly. If you care enough to want to change it, you have to shell out $50 extra for the halo-style Elite Strap. However, the Quest 3’s strap is the first we’ve found that accommodates a high ponytail.

Its Touch Plus controllers rank among the best. The two controllers are molded to sit in your hand, with your pointer fingers resting on triggers and your middle fingers resting on “grip” buttons. Your thumbs can reach a small joystick, plus A, B, and home buttons. Sensors built into the headset track the location of the controllers, so moving your hands physically moves them in VR. The Quest 3’s controllers are intuitive to use and easy to hold for long periods.

Its audio is good enough for immersive VR. The Quest 3 has built-in speakers that direct 3D sound toward your ears. We like the open-ear setup in a social setting, where the speakers can clue onlookers in on what the person wearing the headset is seeing, but audiophiles are likely to want to plug in their own headphones.

The battery life is just okay. Meta says that the Quest 3’s battery lasts two to three hours, though we found that it fell closer to the two-hour mark. That’s plenty of time for solo play. However, when we’ve used cordless headsets with friends, we’ve always ended up running out of battery power.

No one has gotten the strap quite right on a VR headset. I have yet to use a strap that doesn’t slide around or bunch up my hair. The Quest 3’s strap lacks padding and doesn’t distribute weight on the back of the head as well as a halo-style strap, and we think many people will choose to upgrade to the Elite Strap. However, the Elite Strap is uncomfortable to wear with your hair up, whereas the included strap is the first we’ve found that wraps around a high ponytail.

The Touch controllers have a flaw. While they are the most comfortable controllers to hold and use, they lost sight of our hands more often than headsets with exterior sensors that you place around the room to track the location of your body and hands. The Quest 3 is built with inside-out tracking, which means the headset uses cameras to track lights that the controllers emit. Throw your hands behind your back, and you might find that your virtual hands no longer respond when you move the controllers.

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This headset’s screen handily beats the competition, but you’ll need a high-end computer to make the most of it.

If you want a more powerful headset that pushes VR closer to its current bounds (or want to avoid a headset affiliated with Facebook), we recommend buying the HTC Vive Pro 2 Headset and pairing it with Valve Index Controllers and two HTC SteamVR Base Station 2.0 units. You’ll need a fast gaming computer—and be willing to spend many times more than it would cost to buy a Quest 2 or 3—but you’ll be rewarded with the crispest screen, detailed position and motion tracking in a whole room, and access to VR’s best games. This headset isn’t a level-up for the VR industry as a whole, but it does offer a step forward in specs at a price that would have been a dream just a decade ago.

It most convincingly brings your body into VR. Setup involves placing two HTC SteamVR Base Station 2.0 devices in elevated locations; you can either mount them on a wall or set them on a shelf. Then, they communicate with your headset and controllers to create a strong sense of presence within VR. When you move your hands or take three steps, so does your in-game body.

Using the Vive Pro 2 and the Base Station 2.0 devices, our hands never disappeared or floated away like they sometimes do while using a Quest headset. If you have four base stations, your VR play space can expand to as large as 33 by 33 feet. There’s also the option to add a wireless adapter to the headset for $350, though it limits the Vive Pro 2’s resolution and refresh rate.

The VR game library is enormous. SteamVR, which you can access on your headset or computer to easily download games, has a huge library for the Vive Pro 2, including the adrenaline-pumping Half-Life: Alyx and the perennial favorite Beat Saber. For those already accustomed to using Steam, it’s an especially easy way to manage a library of VR games.

It has an especially high-resolution screen. Each of the two LCD screens that float in front of your eyes has a resolution of 2448×2448 pixels, making it a 5K headset. The Pro 2’s field of view is particularly wide at 120 degrees, and it can reach a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz (or 90 Hz if you’re using the headset wirelessly). In practice, that means you’ll still be aware that you’re staring at a screen; we sometimes noticed flares of light when we looked at high-contrast images like white text on a black background. But the colors and blacks look crisp, in-game action is smooth, and the experience is convincing enough that you can focus on what you’re doing instead of what you’re seeing.

It’s heavy, which makes it uncomfortable to wear for long periods. The Vive Pro 2 weighs 850 grams, and as a result, we noticed its bulk more than we did that of the 515-gram Quest 3. We’ve also seen complaints online that some face shapes don’t mesh well with Vive headsets, though we didn’t have a panel of testers with more physical variations try this one out because of pandemic restrictions at the time of our testing. However, we find halo-style headsets especially helpful for adjusting fit.

We recommend upgrading the controllers. The wand-style controllers included with the full Vive Pro 2 Full Kit are a bit awkward to use. We think it’s worthwhile to spend a bit more and buy Vive Pro 2 accessories à la carte so you can swap in a pair of Valve Index Controllers instead. The Valve Index Controllers can track each individual finger, have both a joystick and a trackpad (most controller sets have only a single trackpad), and are more comfortable to hold. They’re widely considered the best VR controllers made.

The headset comes with on-ear headphones. They’re good enough for an immersive VR experience, and we didn’t think twice about using them. But if you’re an audiophile, it’s possible to remove them and use USB-C headphones instead. Or, you could consider getting the cheaper Valve Index headset for its slightly superior audio quality.

If you’re looking for the least expensive way to access the best VR games, this is it.

The Meta Quest 2 lacks the Quest 3’s mixed reality abilities, and it comes with a downgrade in screen quality and speed. But we think at its current price of $300, it’s the best bargain in VR. You can still play all of the popular games (including Steam titles with Steam Link or Oculus Link) and take advantage of its light, cordless design to get into VR with as little friction as possible.

The specs are a step down but still playable. The Quest 2’s screen is 1832×1920 pixels per eye; that made it one of the first headsets that didn’t regularly give us the “screen door effect,” which is a light grid laid over your field of view. While that can’t match the resolution of the Quest 3 or Vive Pro 2, it’s enough that you’ll feel immersed in VR. The Quest 2’s refresh rate tops out at 120 Hz, matching the HTC Vive Pro 2 and Quest 3.

There are lots of great games, but you’ll miss some of the latest and greatest. Unlike the Quest 3, the Quest 2 won’t automatically scan your room to create boundaries around obstacles. It also lacks the Quest 3’s mixed reality features. That will neuter your experience in the new generation of Quest games, but you’ll still be able to play most of them. And while mixed reality can be fun for pretending your living room is being invaded by aliens or being able to see your friends still stuck in the real world, it’s far from the best of what’s available to do in VR; if you’ve never experienced it, we don’t think you’ll miss it much.

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Apple’s long-awaited $3,500 Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset is available to buy as of February 2, and while it’s way too expensive for us to recommend for most people, the technology is impressive.

The Vision Pro looks like a pretty standard virtual reality headset, though with some Apple flair — its rounded glass visor and aluminum chassis take design cues from the Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, and the MacBook. The headset is powered by Apple’s M2 processor and augmented by the company’s new R1 chip to speed up the Vision Pro’s five sensors, 12 cameras and six mics. Apple created a new operating system, visionOS, to run on the Vision Pro, and if you’ve used a Mac or even an iPhone, the interface will feel familiar. Instead of using mouse clicks or taps to navigate, you use your eyes, hands, and voice. We found the eye tracking to be particularly impressive—you select an icon or menu item by simply looking at it, and then you tap your fingers together to open it. The process is quick, seamless, and becomes intuitive after just minutes with the device. You can also use Siri to navigate visionOS, which can be helpful as you’re learning how to use gestures and eye-tracking and aren’t sure where to find things.

You can use the Vision Pro to access apps and websites, just like you would on an iPhone or a Mac (but blown up to a screen that can feel 100 feet wide). This is the augmented reality part — using the Vision Pro as a display overlays open apps or browser windows on top of the real world around you, which you can see in a pass-through video feed, and you can use a virtual keyboard or pair a physical one to interact with the device. You can also use the headset for immersive virtual experiences like watching a movie on the moon. The two microLED displays (one for each eye), which are packed with 23 million pixels, are truly incredible, and the pass-through video feed that allows you to see your surroundings in real time is also very cool. But while having a workstation and a home movie theater in one portable device is very cool, we’re not convinced it’s $3,500 cool — especially when you can buy an excellent computer, 4K monitor, or high-end TV for less than the cost of an Apple Vision Pro. The headset is also isolating, because it’s difficult to share the experiences you have in virtual or augmented reality with other people in your life. And it feels heavy to wear on your face, despite the fact that the battery pack is an external one that connects to the headset via a cable.

We’re currently long-term testing the Apple Vision Pro and will update this piece once we see how the device and platform perform over time.

If you want to spend less on a PC-tethered headset: We think the Valve Index offers a great middle ground between price and performance. For $1,000, you get a headset, the widely beloved Valve Index Controllers, and two base stations, allowing for a more accurate and immersive room-scale VR experience than a Meta Quest 3 can provide. We also think the Index audio sounds a hair better than the HTC Vive Pro 2’s. However, the Vive Pro 2 has a better screen and added options like the ability to go wireless. There’s also some evidence that an Index 2 is on the way.

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Meta announced the Meta Quest 3S—a cheaper, slightly downgraded version of its Quest 3 headset—at its annual Meta Connect developers conference. The headset is available with two storage options: a $300 128 GB version and a $400 option with 256 GB of storage. The Quest 3 will remain available to buy at reduced prices: The 128 GB base model is being discontinued, but will see a price drop to $430 until supplies run out. The 512 GB Quest 3 is now $500, down from $650.

The Quest Pro and Quest 2 are being discontinued. Unlike the Quest 2, every Quest 3 game will work on the Quest 3S. Compared to the Quest 3, the new headset has a narrower field of view and downgraded lenses. Still, we think the lower price tag will make the headset worth it for most people. The headset runs on the same processor as the Quest 3, and in our hands-on time with the lightweight new 3S at Meta’s annual Meta Connect developers conference, we were pleasantly surprised at its performance while playing Batman: Arkham Shadow and throwing punches in a Supernatural shadowboxing workout. We also weren’t bothered by the narrower field of view. The full-color passthrough is also a welcome feature on a low-priced VR headset. Those who’ve never tried virtual reality before will likely be impressed. The Quest 3S is available for pre-order now and will be in stores October 15.

Meta also announced improvements to the Quest 3, which will also be available on the Quest 3S, including higher resolution, lower latency passthrough. We plan to do in-depth testing of the Quest 3S soon and will update this guide with the results.

The PlayStation VR2 is comfortable and easy to set up, it looks great, and it comes closer than any other cabled headset to bringing console-level simplicity to VR. But at $550, it’s more expensive than the even easier-to-use Quest 3, which also has more games and better specs.

Windows Mixed Reality headsets, in our experience, have less reliable tracking and less content, and worse controllers than Meta and HTC headsets. However, the HP Reverb G2 is the best option currently available.

Pimax headsets have impressive features that match or beat the competition. But in our experience these headsets are bulky, suffer from screen flaws, and are among the most expensive VR options out there.

The Meta Quest Pro lags behind the Quest 3 when it comes to price, screen quality, field of view, weight, and the mixed reality experience. It does add eye and face tracking, which could be useful for developers or more realistic “face-to-face” interactions. But we think most people will be happier with the Quest 2 or 3.

If you can swallow spending $1,000 more to avoid a Meta-branded gadget, you could consider the HTC Vive Focus 3, which has a higher resolution screen and wider field of view than the Quest 3. There’s also the $1,100 Vive XR Elite, which has some of the better passthrough we’ve seen and a smaller profile, but we found it uncomfortable and difficult to use compared to Meta headsets. For the price, the Quest 3 is still an easy pick.

Arthur Gies and Caitlin McGarry contributed additional reporting.

This article was edited by Arthur Gies and Caitlin McGarry.

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Signe Brewster

Signe Brewster is an editor on Wirecutter's PC team. She also writes about virtual reality. She previously reported on emerging technology and science for publications like Wirecutter, MIT Technology Review, Wired, Science, and Symmetry Magazine. She spends her free time quilting and pursuing an MFA in creative writing.

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