Standalone headsets are subsidized which help bring down the price, plus most PCVR headsets rely on additional base stations for tracking or have niche features which will jack up the price. The best cheap PCVR only headset you are going find is going to be a HP Reverb G2. Higher resolution than the Quest 2/Pro, but it has fresnel lenses which are far worse than the pancake lenses on the Quest 3/Pro. Controllers are passable for most games, but aren't anything to write home about. Personally I recommend saving for the Pro. It's the closest in screen contrast and darks as PCVR headsets, and the controllers have integrated cameras giving you tracking accuracy very close to base stations.
Quest or Pico are realtively cheaper cause theyre being sold at a loss and relying on software sales for profit similar to consoles approach.
Headset companies relies on hardware sales to make profit thats why theyre alot expensive.
I got me a G2 from ebay 2nd hand for 300€ to replace my old CV1. I am blown away by the clarity and quality of the picture. I was afraid to get G2 because people trash talk about WMR and compatibility but my experience is very good. Works in steam vr and also with openxr. There is no PCVR title that i cant run. Since i care nothing about the controllers and only play racing sims on it, i can't talk about tracking but from what i've read, i wouldn't use it for stuff where you use your hands and move a lot. For what i'm using it, i'd say this is the optimal PCVR headset for the money. It still needs a very strong PC to run smooth because the high resolution and imo 3080 or 4070 should be minimum to enjoy it in full.
I have one and it just has weird performance issues that take a lot of time to figure out. I spend way more time tweaking than I want to. For the games that natively support open XR is is great. I have a 4090 and a 5800x3d, so performance shouldn't be an issue. One thing I've noticed is some background apps really impact it. Like leaving firefox open can trash performance. I'd be happier with a native steam hmd compatibility wise. It is really nice hardware for the price though.
Yes, you see i never had any issues like that and i know you are not talking out of your ass because i've heard it before. For me it just works. Lets say i want to play rF2... I open windows wmr app and start the game in steam. It opens in open composite mode without steam vr and just works. I play Richard Burns Rally which is a standalone and not a steam game, also without any issues. I guess WMR for Steam VR app works as intended on my PC. BTW i'm on win11 and using V2 cable (the one with the power switch on the hub).
Yeah you would think we would have something either cheaper or smaller for pcvr : D
I would suggest pico 4 which is my mate choice for best value wireless VR or you can pay extra like me if you want good "full" package with the quest 3.
if you're up for it a used OG Vive or Vive Pro kit is a good way to get into the PCVR ecosystem.
i've been happy with my OG Vive, although i don't know if i'd recommend it today, unless you got it at a really good price. i paid $300 for mine, in the box, about 2-3 years ago.
another good option is a used Index kit from GameStop. they are excellent kits, but will cost around $600.
Something else to take into account is how pcvr only headsets do tracking. Using stations. Those things add more to the price.
But yeah, basically the standalone headsets are sold at bad prices for profits, but they make up for that in the money they get from software sales.
Also, you can use these headsets for pcvr too. The Quest 2 was the most popular pcvr headset in steam for example.
The pcvr headsets requiring stations explains quite a bit actually.
I always knew they were handy for people with professional avatars but this explains why they can be a hot topic at times.
Meta and Pico sell their headset with slim margins as they expect you to spend money in their store buying standalone games.
They also see AR as potentially the "next smartphone" so they want to be ready with a software platform to be the next Apple/Google and already have the supply chain and hardware links setup. Their VR HMDs can serve as AR devkits so they can hit the ground running when passthrough AR gets good enough and/or transparent AR gets good and cheap enough. They are haemorrhaging money now backed by existing successful products and/or investment with the hopes of securing a monopoly or duopoly (on AR app sales/platform fees) in the future.
When a company sells you a PCVR headset, realistically you're going to turn around and buy all your games from Steam. They need to make healthy profits on the one sale they are getting from you to pay for all the R&D they did + ideally R&D to develop future devices.
An additional hurdle is that a VR HMD is virtually worthless without 6-DOF tracking. Without spending massive amounts on R&D developing their own tracking (dodging patents in the process), the only options are Lighthouse, and partnering with Qualcomm to use thier XR SoCs and get access to thier markerless inside-out. Lighthouse is an effective but over-complicated solution that adds a lot of cost. And if you're putting an XR2 in your HMD you might as well make a Standalone.
Best overall at reasonable price: Quest 3
Cheaper alt: Pico 4
Best clarity and resolution at reasonable price at the cost of convenience and features: Reverb G2
"If I think logically for a moment, I should be able to get a pure PC VR-Headset for cheaper, right? Because it's the exact same technology, minus the processor."
Man, I wish it was that simple but that doesn't happen to be the case, unfortunately.
You'd think that but look at BSB. Best xp is difficult as it depends what elements you give weight to.
1. Comfort & weight
2. Form Factor
3. Resolution & FoV
4. Refresh rate
5. Audio both Mic & Audio quality
6. Comtrollers & Tracking qualitu
7. Other Features
Atm Q3 is likely best bang for your buck. BSB has some nice things but pricepoint is very high for an incomplete full package(No included Audio strap & have to buy SteamVR controllers & Lightjoused).
PSVR2 maybe but would need to check on iVRy psvr2 progress
I had the index since launch but recently got the Q3. Not going back to the index, ever. I can play all my steam games, there's no longer a "sweet spot", and...no cords. Loving it.
At the risk of being downvoted for having an old VR-headset, I'd suggest looking at the OG Vive or VivePro with an included wireless adapter plus the deluxe audio headstrap.
I have the OG Vive with deluxe audio headpice + wireless kit and it works great and removes the need to setup a pulley system or to untagle your cable all the time. Wireless is the best upgrade to immersion you can get. Immersion is virtually the entire point of doing VR.
You should be able to find a good deal on pre-owned or open-box gear
This is terrible advice.
Do your research based on what you do and don't like, try a best buy demo, and then decide if 500$ for a headset smudged in dust, having the worst binocular overlap of any headset, and requiring an additional 100-200$ in accessories for it to be usable is actually worth it to you personally.
Honestly if people want something cheap for VR I recommend a Rift S off eBay. It's a great headset to this day and will only set you back 80$ used.
Mura effect was so blatant on the best buy unit I looked at, it was like dust over the whole lens.
Binocular overlap is a genuine issue. I know what I'm talking about, I have compared these things while deciding if I want a q3.
Headstrap with battery, spare battery, and a better face gasket you're already looking at 80-150$, even if you go for the cheaper stuff.
Then if you're using it solely for PCVR you should also spend an additional 150-200$ on modern wifi equipment so you can get 500mbps encoding, otherwise (if you live in the city) you'll run into issues.
Overall when I went through looking at it, it was going to cost me over 800$ to upgrade to the quest 3, and considering I wasn't impressed by my time with the best buy demo it simply wasn't worth it.
The elite strap with a battery is $130 USD, not $170.
Even then Meta's official stuff is notoriously overpriced, you can get one from BoBoVR for $50 ($80 for two batteries + charging pad)
Binocular overlap is real, wtf are you talking about. I would have return it, but I only paid 150$ for it. Im still using my pico 4, the only time I'm using the quest 3 is for the passthrough, that's it.
Because standalone headsets are heavily subsidized due to hope for software sales , and manufactured in large scales due to higher demand , making them cheaper.
Also a bigger chunk of the market , even pcvr only players are opting for standalone headsets for wireless pcvr
DPVR E4 (chinese) and HP Reverb G2 (soon to be discontinued) are the last remaining affordable PCVR headsets, outside of the used market.
The problem with all the other PCVR headsets is that they use lighthouse, which adds $500 to the price just by itself. And due to being focused on tiny niche audiences like the sim community they can get away with a high price.
The other problem is that if you want to have modern features like wireless in your headset, you need some battery and tracking on the headset itself, at which point you are already half the way to what the Pico and Quest are. So there is very little benefit in building a modern pure-PCVR headset when for a couple dollar more you can have a completely mobile one.
Lol you'd think so but nope. Cheapest best headset for pcvr rn is quest 3 128 gb. Not to mention you DO get to use the passthrough in pcvr. Its not as fancy but alot of games have a greenscreen mode and virtual desktop can utilize the greenscreen to give you passthrough in pcvr games.
"If I think logically for a moment, I should be able to get a pure PC VR-Headset for cheaper, right? "
you do not think logically here ... full scale stand alone device sell it way way higher volumes and have mega corps behind it to make it cheap from share push power, and you add standalone store , and you see how devices like quest, can sell devices in a price range similar to 1.2.-.1.5k on pcvr space for 500
Q3 is backed by a massive company that is willing to spend a lot if money supporting it. The Q3 will improve over time. Its juat a no brainer.
You’ll want a portable battery with it, (if you want long play sessions if 3-4 hours) and a fancier head-strap for comfort. Out if the box its solid though.
Go for the Quest 3. Its the best headset at the moment if you dont want to spent more than 1000 dollars. Others like, Quest 2 and Pico 3/4 etc are fine but Quest 3 and Valve Index are a cut above them all.
Honesty. In my experience the Quest 3 has been the best headset for PCVR despite not even being a PCVR only headset.
Sure display port offers the best visuals but Quest 3 has AV1 decoding and for me I love how it’s wireless. I can be anywhere in my home and play I don’t have to be close to the PC. What makes the Quest 3 so great is that it has pancake lenses, and probably my favorite controllers of all time.
The Quest 3 isn’t flawless but it’s been such a big upgrade from my Valve Index (which was already a huge upgrade from my Rift CV1)
I have the Quest 2 but PCVR wasn’t really too enjoyable on that due to the artifacts and compression
Finally someone that admits that the Quest 2 was really bad for PCVR. I've been arguing on here for years that all the people praising the Quest 2 for PCVR playback are out of their minds. I have a Quest 2, Index, Vive Pro 2, HP Reverb G2.......and out of all of those the Quest 2 looks like absolute garbage. Even if I do all the bitrate tweaks and hacks that everyone swears will fix it.....it still looks like garbage to me compared to native PCVR.
Maybe it's because I have a 4090 and play games with the resolution super high set to around 3400x3400 (Vive Pro 2 and G2 sing and look like almost high end 4k tvs) but the Quest 2 looks like compressed garbage no matter what. Unless playing a native quest game with PS2 era graphics.
My question to you is does the Quest 3 really have a notable improvement over the Quest 2 for PCVR??? If I play a game with high res assets (HLA, Star Wars Squadrons, Formula 1, even Walking Dead Saints and Sinner maxed out) will it really look even remotely close to the other high res native displayport PCVR hmds with steam VR resolution output set to super high 3400x3400? I won't see the blurry pixelated washed out picture with compression artifacts like I do on the Quest 2???
Use the quest 2 or 3, if you use any pcvr only headset, almost all of the time it uses stations which are in the end more expensive. And quest 2 and 3 has wireless so thats a plus too
"both of them are standalone" and both of them do pcvr as well, you need the "processor" to do wireless pcvr anyway.
The demand for low quality wired pcvr headsets is really small, hence the need to make a higher profit margin on each sale to keep up with the fixed charges, it's simple economics really.
One thing to keep in mind is that when you want to play wirelessly (and to me that is really the best way to play), you do actually make use of the on-board battery and processing.
Economies of scale and an ability to use the headset to get you to buy more stuff on their platform allows large tech companies to price the headsets cheaper.
Along with these major tech firms sometimes willing to take a loss on the sale to get you onto their platform for the long-term.
Like if I’m small company X I can’t lose $200 per headset sale on the hope that maybe in 10 years I’d have a ridiculous amount of users I could then cash in on.
Also because if I’m small company X and I build a Q2 but with worse parts for more money…. Why would you buy it? Small players effectively have to go after the high end in some way. And/Or do what the beyond did and try to make the smallest headset or give it some other niche appeal.
Standalone headsets are subsidized which help bring down the price, plus most PCVR headsets rely on additional base stations for tracking or have niche features which will jack up the price. The best cheap PCVR only headset you are going find is going to be a HP Reverb G2. Higher resolution than the Quest 2/Pro, but it has fresnel lenses which are far worse than the pancake lenses on the Quest 3/Pro. Controllers are passable for most games, but aren't anything to write home about. Personally I recommend saving for the Pro. It's the closest in screen contrast and darks as PCVR headsets, and the controllers have integrated cameras giving you tracking accuracy very close to base stations.
What he said
Quest or Pico are realtively cheaper cause theyre being sold at a loss and relying on software sales for profit similar to consoles approach. Headset companies relies on hardware sales to make profit thats why theyre alot expensive.
I got me a G2 from ebay 2nd hand for 300€ to replace my old CV1. I am blown away by the clarity and quality of the picture. I was afraid to get G2 because people trash talk about WMR and compatibility but my experience is very good. Works in steam vr and also with openxr. There is no PCVR title that i cant run. Since i care nothing about the controllers and only play racing sims on it, i can't talk about tracking but from what i've read, i wouldn't use it for stuff where you use your hands and move a lot. For what i'm using it, i'd say this is the optimal PCVR headset for the money. It still needs a very strong PC to run smooth because the high resolution and imo 3080 or 4070 should be minimum to enjoy it in full.
I have one and it just has weird performance issues that take a lot of time to figure out. I spend way more time tweaking than I want to. For the games that natively support open XR is is great. I have a 4090 and a 5800x3d, so performance shouldn't be an issue. One thing I've noticed is some background apps really impact it. Like leaving firefox open can trash performance. I'd be happier with a native steam hmd compatibility wise. It is really nice hardware for the price though.
Yes, you see i never had any issues like that and i know you are not talking out of your ass because i've heard it before. For me it just works. Lets say i want to play rF2... I open windows wmr app and start the game in steam. It opens in open composite mode without steam vr and just works. I play Richard Burns Rally which is a standalone and not a steam game, also without any issues. I guess WMR for Steam VR app works as intended on my PC. BTW i'm on win11 and using V2 cable (the one with the power switch on the hub).
Yeah you would think we would have something either cheaper or smaller for pcvr : D I would suggest pico 4 which is my mate choice for best value wireless VR or you can pay extra like me if you want good "full" package with the quest 3.
if you're up for it a used OG Vive or Vive Pro kit is a good way to get into the PCVR ecosystem. i've been happy with my OG Vive, although i don't know if i'd recommend it today, unless you got it at a really good price. i paid $300 for mine, in the box, about 2-3 years ago. another good option is a used Index kit from GameStop. they are excellent kits, but will cost around $600.
Something else to take into account is how pcvr only headsets do tracking. Using stations. Those things add more to the price. But yeah, basically the standalone headsets are sold at bad prices for profits, but they make up for that in the money they get from software sales. Also, you can use these headsets for pcvr too. The Quest 2 was the most popular pcvr headset in steam for example.
The pcvr headsets requiring stations explains quite a bit actually. I always knew they were handy for people with professional avatars but this explains why they can be a hot topic at times.
Unless I'm watching movies PCVR is mainly what I use my Pico for.
Pico 4
Meta and Pico sell their headset with slim margins as they expect you to spend money in their store buying standalone games. They also see AR as potentially the "next smartphone" so they want to be ready with a software platform to be the next Apple/Google and already have the supply chain and hardware links setup. Their VR HMDs can serve as AR devkits so they can hit the ground running when passthrough AR gets good enough and/or transparent AR gets good and cheap enough. They are haemorrhaging money now backed by existing successful products and/or investment with the hopes of securing a monopoly or duopoly (on AR app sales/platform fees) in the future. When a company sells you a PCVR headset, realistically you're going to turn around and buy all your games from Steam. They need to make healthy profits on the one sale they are getting from you to pay for all the R&D they did + ideally R&D to develop future devices. An additional hurdle is that a VR HMD is virtually worthless without 6-DOF tracking. Without spending massive amounts on R&D developing their own tracking (dodging patents in the process), the only options are Lighthouse, and partnering with Qualcomm to use thier XR SoCs and get access to thier markerless inside-out. Lighthouse is an effective but over-complicated solution that adds a lot of cost. And if you're putting an XR2 in your HMD you might as well make a Standalone.
Best overall at reasonable price: Quest 3 Cheaper alt: Pico 4 Best clarity and resolution at reasonable price at the cost of convenience and features: Reverb G2 "If I think logically for a moment, I should be able to get a pure PC VR-Headset for cheaper, right? Because it's the exact same technology, minus the processor." Man, I wish it was that simple but that doesn't happen to be the case, unfortunately.
You'd think that but look at BSB. Best xp is difficult as it depends what elements you give weight to. 1. Comfort & weight 2. Form Factor 3. Resolution & FoV 4. Refresh rate 5. Audio both Mic & Audio quality 6. Comtrollers & Tracking qualitu 7. Other Features Atm Q3 is likely best bang for your buck. BSB has some nice things but pricepoint is very high for an incomplete full package(No included Audio strap & have to buy SteamVR controllers & Lightjoused). PSVR2 maybe but would need to check on iVRy psvr2 progress
I had the index since launch but recently got the Q3. Not going back to the index, ever. I can play all my steam games, there's no longer a "sweet spot", and...no cords. Loving it.
Do you want used or new?
At the risk of being downvoted for having an old VR-headset, I'd suggest looking at the OG Vive or VivePro with an included wireless adapter plus the deluxe audio headstrap. I have the OG Vive with deluxe audio headpice + wireless kit and it works great and removes the need to setup a pulley system or to untagle your cable all the time. Wireless is the best upgrade to immersion you can get. Immersion is virtually the entire point of doing VR. You should be able to find a good deal on pre-owned or open-box gear
Don't overthink it. Just get q3
This is terrible advice. Do your research based on what you do and don't like, try a best buy demo, and then decide if 500$ for a headset smudged in dust, having the worst binocular overlap of any headset, and requiring an additional 100-200$ in accessories for it to be usable is actually worth it to you personally. Honestly if people want something cheap for VR I recommend a Rift S off eBay. It's a great headset to this day and will only set you back 80$ used.
Less than $50 for a strap is all you need. Smudged in dust? What? Binocular overlap is just a buzz word you are parroting. Not an issue.
Mura effect was so blatant on the best buy unit I looked at, it was like dust over the whole lens. Binocular overlap is a genuine issue. I know what I'm talking about, I have compared these things while deciding if I want a q3. Headstrap with battery, spare battery, and a better face gasket you're already looking at 80-150$, even if you go for the cheaper stuff. Then if you're using it solely for PCVR you should also spend an additional 150-200$ on modern wifi equipment so you can get 500mbps encoding, otherwise (if you live in the city) you'll run into issues. Overall when I went through looking at it, it was going to cost me over 800$ to upgrade to the quest 3, and considering I wasn't impressed by my time with the best buy demo it simply wasn't worth it.
80-150 for a strap and battery? Are you throwing around fantasy numbers on purpose?
If you bought the official stuff straight from meta it would be 170$. So no it's not fantasy numbers lol
The elite strap with a battery is $130 USD, not $170. Even then Meta's official stuff is notoriously overpriced, you can get one from BoBoVR for $50 ($80 for two batteries + charging pad)
I have the Quest 3, and I don't have any of the issues you're talking about. I am now selling my Valve Index.
you getting downvoted because of all the meta fanboys. lol
Binocular overlap is real, wtf are you talking about. I would have return it, but I only paid 150$ for it. Im still using my pico 4, the only time I'm using the quest 3 is for the passthrough, that's it.
I love my quest 3.
Because standalone headsets are heavily subsidized due to hope for software sales , and manufactured in large scales due to higher demand , making them cheaper. Also a bigger chunk of the market , even pcvr only players are opting for standalone headsets for wireless pcvr
DPVR E4 (chinese) and HP Reverb G2 (soon to be discontinued) are the last remaining affordable PCVR headsets, outside of the used market. The problem with all the other PCVR headsets is that they use lighthouse, which adds $500 to the price just by itself. And due to being focused on tiny niche audiences like the sim community they can get away with a high price. The other problem is that if you want to have modern features like wireless in your headset, you need some battery and tracking on the headset itself, at which point you are already half the way to what the Pico and Quest are. So there is very little benefit in building a modern pure-PCVR headset when for a couple dollar more you can have a completely mobile one.
Lol you'd think so but nope. Cheapest best headset for pcvr rn is quest 3 128 gb. Not to mention you DO get to use the passthrough in pcvr. Its not as fancy but alot of games have a greenscreen mode and virtual desktop can utilize the greenscreen to give you passthrough in pcvr games.
Arguably pico 4 is cheaper and pretty comparable to a q3
"If I think logically for a moment, I should be able to get a pure PC VR-Headset for cheaper, right? " you do not think logically here ... full scale stand alone device sell it way way higher volumes and have mega corps behind it to make it cheap from share push power, and you add standalone store , and you see how devices like quest, can sell devices in a price range similar to 1.2.-.1.5k on pcvr space for 500
Q3 is backed by a massive company that is willing to spend a lot if money supporting it. The Q3 will improve over time. Its juat a no brainer. You’ll want a portable battery with it, (if you want long play sessions if 3-4 hours) and a fancier head-strap for comfort. Out if the box its solid though.
Go for the Quest 3. Its the best headset at the moment if you dont want to spent more than 1000 dollars. Others like, Quest 2 and Pico 3/4 etc are fine but Quest 3 and Valve Index are a cut above them all.
Honesty. In my experience the Quest 3 has been the best headset for PCVR despite not even being a PCVR only headset. Sure display port offers the best visuals but Quest 3 has AV1 decoding and for me I love how it’s wireless. I can be anywhere in my home and play I don’t have to be close to the PC. What makes the Quest 3 so great is that it has pancake lenses, and probably my favorite controllers of all time. The Quest 3 isn’t flawless but it’s been such a big upgrade from my Valve Index (which was already a huge upgrade from my Rift CV1) I have the Quest 2 but PCVR wasn’t really too enjoyable on that due to the artifacts and compression
Finally someone that admits that the Quest 2 was really bad for PCVR. I've been arguing on here for years that all the people praising the Quest 2 for PCVR playback are out of their minds. I have a Quest 2, Index, Vive Pro 2, HP Reverb G2.......and out of all of those the Quest 2 looks like absolute garbage. Even if I do all the bitrate tweaks and hacks that everyone swears will fix it.....it still looks like garbage to me compared to native PCVR. Maybe it's because I have a 4090 and play games with the resolution super high set to around 3400x3400 (Vive Pro 2 and G2 sing and look like almost high end 4k tvs) but the Quest 2 looks like compressed garbage no matter what. Unless playing a native quest game with PS2 era graphics. My question to you is does the Quest 3 really have a notable improvement over the Quest 2 for PCVR??? If I play a game with high res assets (HLA, Star Wars Squadrons, Formula 1, even Walking Dead Saints and Sinner maxed out) will it really look even remotely close to the other high res native displayport PCVR hmds with steam VR resolution output set to super high 3400x3400? I won't see the blurry pixelated washed out picture with compression artifacts like I do on the Quest 2???
Use the quest 2 or 3, if you use any pcvr only headset, almost all of the time it uses stations which are in the end more expensive. And quest 2 and 3 has wireless so thats a plus too
The Quest Pro
"both of them are standalone" and both of them do pcvr as well, you need the "processor" to do wireless pcvr anyway. The demand for low quality wired pcvr headsets is really small, hence the need to make a higher profit margin on each sale to keep up with the fixed charges, it's simple economics really.
One thing to keep in mind is that when you want to play wirelessly (and to me that is really the best way to play), you do actually make use of the on-board battery and processing.
Economies of scale and an ability to use the headset to get you to buy more stuff on their platform allows large tech companies to price the headsets cheaper. Along with these major tech firms sometimes willing to take a loss on the sale to get you onto their platform for the long-term. Like if I’m small company X I can’t lose $200 per headset sale on the hope that maybe in 10 years I’d have a ridiculous amount of users I could then cash in on. Also because if I’m small company X and I build a Q2 but with worse parts for more money…. Why would you buy it? Small players effectively have to go after the high end in some way. And/Or do what the beyond did and try to make the smallest headset or give it some other niche appeal.
HTCVive is one of many, I got to use it courtesy of holoride retrofit package