My previous VR device was the original Oculus Rift. You had to use a few USB ports on your PC and setup a zone in one area that the two infrared sensors could see. The motion tracking wasn't always great, and the headset fogged up quickly. I recently upgraded to the Quest 3 after all these years and wow, VR has come a long way.
The passthrough allows me to go anywhere in my house and setup a massive boundary at any time. It's not very clear, but it's very useable. The videos you see posted of recordings from the headset are much more clear than the physical use of it. Performance wise, it's incredible. I generally play games directly from the headset and they work flawlessly. The battery life isn't great, it lasts a couple hours or so depending on what you're doing, but to be honest I can only use it for max that long as my forehead starts to hurt. Both of these issues can be fixed with a 3rd party battery strap, however I have yet to set mine up. The lenses never fog up, regardless of how strenuous the game I'm playing might be. The audio is very cool, it comes from tiny speakers in the strap of the headset that are funneled towards your ears. The quality is actually quite good and it doesn't disturb anyone around you much at all.
As for gaming via Steamlink. I've only tried it via wireless as of now, and have a very good router, but it does seem to work well. I have had a couple instances while playing HL Alyx that the quality drops and the movement glitches but generally it's been very playable.
Overall, it's a very worthy upgrade if you are a few generations back, no doubt. Looking back on it, the Quest 2 might have been more than enough for me, but truly the upgraded lenses and the passthrough feature has been excellent and frankly I use it more than I thought I would. Excellent device.
| Hardware Platform | Oculus Quest 2 |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Meta |
| Item model number | NIUJF55 |
| Product Dimensions | 12 x 12 x 12 cm; 400 g |
| ASIN | B0C8VKH1ZH |
