Meta Quest 2 — Advanced All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset — 128 GB

A startling, occasionally disquieting virtual reality experience for all
First, a little background. I’m 73 years old. Above average in the activity department, adept mentally, although I am literally the only person I know who can lose something when standing perfectly still. I have four grandchildren. I hold down a full-time job as a writer, and a once-a-year gig teaching Rio Grande Board Games at the annual World Boardgaming Championships (WBC).It was at the most recent WBC that I was introduced to MetaQuest 2 and in particular, its bundled game called Beat Saber. I’d tried much cheaper VR systems, the ones that hold your phone and you have to download apps to run on them. This was an entirely different ball game. This was, I should note, not a function of the WBC. It just so happened that one of the site administrators had brought the system along with him and one evening, invited me to give it a try.The first issue that one should note is that once you put the headset for this system on, you are pretty much detached from the reality around you. This is fine as long as it’s just you and the machine, but you can forget about being outside the machine and trying to instruct someone inside the machine about what’s going on. As it happened, the man who introduced me to the system basically set it up for me – put it on his own head, clicked the right buttons – and then transferred the headset to me. With a couple of hand prompts and a word or two, Beat Saber, the program that comes with the MetaQuest 2 when you buy it these days, came on line and there I stood, with two controllers, one in each hand, as my eyes beheld on the screen in front of me, a series of square blocks coming at me, each with an arrow, pointing either up, down, right or left. The controllers operate two light sabers, one in each hand, and the object of this game is to swat the approaching blocks in the direction indicated by the arrow on them. There are also occasional large obstacles coming at you, like skinny walls, which appear like three-dimensional line drawings as they approach. You can’t swat these aside and the idea is to avoid them. In most cases, this entails just stepping out of their way, either to the right or the left, but dependent on some choices you make in Beat Saber, some of these objects can be wide and impossible to avoid unless you duck as they approach. No way to jump over them.And there’s music. At first, you don’t pick up on the idea that your swatting activity with the light sabers can occasionally be rhythmic, linked to the beat of the music. . .Beat Saber. Get it? But you’ll pick up on that fairly quickly. If you don’t dance and would like to, this is a good program that will force-feed you the concept of moving your body in beat with the rhythm of a song. You don’t realize you’re dancing because as far as you’re concerned, you’re swatting colored boxes with virtual reality light sabers. A note of caution. People familiar with the system and how it works will delight in recording video of your attempts to play the game; unbeknowst to you, ’cause you’re wrapped up in the headset and can’t see anything but what the machine is giving you to see. These people recording you will be LOL-ing themselves breathless, as you contort yourself in a relatively confined space, trying to dodge things and swat at the colored boxes.I made the mistake of failing to heed the warning that if I didn’t buy one of these systems soon, its price was going to go up. A lot. And it did. But I bought it anyway and am just beginning to tap into the available free apps and exploring the possibility of buying other ones.There’s a free Epic Roller Coaster app, which is fairly enjoyable, although oddly enough, both myself and my wife (now at home with our own MetaQuest 2) found ourselves getting a little queasy during the experience. Not sure what that’s about. She NEVER goes on real roller coasters and I do it all the time.Also found a walking-on-a-building-skeleton app that had me God knows how many stories high and though not generally afraid of heights (acrophobia), I wasn’t all that keen on walking on the available, skinny steel walkways to approach the edge. I’m in my living room, my mind knowing damn full well that I’m not only not as high as the program makes me think I am, but am, in fact, on solid ground. Yet, in an attempt to approach the edge and have a look OVER the edge, I am literally creeping forward, edging my foot out in front of me, making sure of my balance with each step. My mind absolutely refuses to grasp the concept that I am not in any danger.It should be noted that when you play in virtual reality, the mechanism has you define a space where you are going to be, literally drawing a perimeter line. It’s not because the machine is worried you might step off the big building you only think you’re on, but when you’re playing a game like Beat Saber, you want to make sure that your arm movements don’t knock over a lamp your Aunt Ethel gave you for Christmas last year, or in moving your legs around, you don’t accidentally kick the screen out of your new Smart TV.I haven’t been too excited by any of the first-person shooter kind of apps that are available. That kind of activity never lured me to the various systems that were already on the market. But I did notice and have been on the verge of pulling the trigger on some of the other activities, like table tennis, actual tennis and some other sports activities, like baseball. Am also interested in what is, at present, a small selection of board games, like Tsuro and chess (in a variety of different environments). They offer Catan (originally, Settlers of Catan) and though my interest in board games is strong, I never really liked Catan in real-time, so I’m not going to pick it up in VR.I recommend this system highly. The experience of good VR (and you can buy systems better than the basic one that I purchased) is mind-altering. It’s something to which your mind has never been previously exposed; an alternate reality with its own set of rules that takes some getting used to. It’s more expensive than pot, but unlike pot, it doesn’t just let your head create new connections and free it from everyday anxieties, it creates a reality within your brain that is intriguing to watch, hear and interact with.And as my age indicates, fun for all ages.Oh, and one other cautionary note for those of a certain advanced age. The first time I tried the system, at the WBC, my score at Beat Saber was abysmally low. So I tried again. And again. It wasn’t my hand movements with the controllers or the side-stepping away from approaching objects that got to me. It was the ducking at things that I had to let go over my head. I made the crouching moves necessary with reckless abandon. Once, again, and again. My upper thighs complained to me all of the next day. The good news is that it makes for good, healthy exercise.

Nice quality VR goggles
Very cool to use VR goggles! Great selection of games and pretty easy to set up. Best saber is my favorite game for it. If you aren’t sure where to start in the VR gaming world this is a good affordable place to start!

First VR that is truly “entry level”, but with some catches.
Ok, I have to say, this is what I was waiting for. VR that wouldn’t break the budget. On some sales, it can be had as cheaply as $200, which is amazing for a true VR system. Well, it’ll be $250, and you get $50 back that you can spend on other stuff, like games, which you’re going to need to buy for it anyway.I also like that you don’t need to set up sensors.. you can take it with you! That’s so cool and conveniant!I had heard bad things about the onboard speakers, but I found them to be quite good for what they are, and perfectly usable, with excellent 3D head tracking! If you don’t like them, you can always just plug in some earbuds of your choosing.The meta store has a nice selection of games and software that often go on sale, and have a fantastic “sponsored” system, where if you take someone’s recommendation, you get 25% off and they get a $5 credit, and once you purchase and recommend, you get $5 to spend on some other purchase. I got quite a few cool games for $100, half of which was covered by my initial $50 credit. I’m more than happy in this area. Only complaint? The Meta “library” where you browse titles is kinda clunky, but I don’t have hundreds of games, so it’s ok for now. The games do have less depth and replayability than regular games, that seems to be the nature of VR.Now, for the downsides.- right off the bat, if you’ve tried other systems that are more expensive like Playstation VR or PC VR, you’ll notice the graphics look.. um.. very primitive in games. The 3D processing power seems to be somewhere between a Nintendo 64 and a Gamecube, sorry to be blunt about it. However, developers are doing creative things to get around it as best they can. It is what it is, when you use “budget” tech.- I’m not sure if it’s due to the lack of external sensors, or if it’s the weak processors choking, but semi-regularly the head tracking “stutters” which is really off putting, and takes you out of the game and immersion, and makes motion sickness worse. You’ll be looking around, and even if it’s for a few frames here and there, it’s just not always smooth. It’s not a total game breaker, but again, there are real sacrifices to using cheaper, simpler hardware.- You will have to buy some accessories to get the most of this system. The headstrap that comes with it is functional to an extent with casual games and short playtimes, and VERY travel friendly, being just an elastic strap, and the battery life is very short for the syste, but the good news is, there’s lots of choices out there for better headsets that have built in extended batteries, and they’re not super expensive. I picked up a black friday headset with a built in battery for $25. That’s great! I also recommend a carrying case to keep the system all together and safe.I haven’t tried linking the system to my PC, but I’ve heard that can bring out even more possibilities to what games you play.So that’s about it so far. I have heard a complaint that Facebook can take your whole system offline if you get reported on your facebook account, so that’s horrifying. maybe don’t use your real facebook account when you setup the system just to be safe.Summary: the best system on a budget, with some drawbacks. I think if money is tight but you want your kids to experience VR, this is perfect. That’s where I’m at, so I’m happy with it.Pictured with third party headstrap and case, two accessories I feel are necessities for the system.

the battery life, and in my case the head strap are annoying
the console is really good, except for the battery life

The best value for money standalone VR headset.Dont go for the negative review that it has bad lense or is cheap bla bla bla, cause you cant even find any VR standalone headset at this price.1. Quality is great, even if you drop it it wont break easily and still works, check out ThrillSeeker channel on youtube for more strees test that guy did.2. Lenses are old once, yes they are but in this segment they wont dissapoint you compared to $1000 Valve Index3. Resolution and FOV is good but not great but perfect for movies and watching 3d movies, 360 movies and Oculus games for sure. Casual user wont even find any difference4. Great library of games, litttle expensive but you get sales now and then and you have sidequest if you want more for free and also with some tricks you can install any android apps.5. The glimps and your start to metaverse6. Battery is a concern but get the cable creation cable and you are goog to go. Get the 16ft one7. Install Sidequest. (Mobile and PC) if you want a lot of best and free content and if you are a advanced PC user. Not recommended for users not fimiliar with advance PC use or adb, but you get a tons of tutorial on youtube if you want to try.8. If you have a good PC, VR ready GPU, then this can play Steam VR as well, now it has Airlink wireless as well, but you need Wifi6, 5ghz band and PC connected using ethernet for best quality.9. Amazing hand tracking and controllers at this range10. In any case you end up scratching the lenses, get a polywatch solution and see the magic, it would be as good as new, thank me later for that advice. See youtube for more info11. Great mutiplayer capabilities, mic is great and stock speaker are just awesome, and you can still connect your own headsets as well.12. Get a rechargable battery for your controller, cost around rs400 with batgery and its charger.13. If you still have more money get an Elite strap for best comfort and wobble free experience.14. If you sweat much, mind that you might see fog on lense on prolong use, there are tons of alrernatives to try to avoid that, but the cheapest option is simply put a tissue to your forehead and put on the headset and good to go.15. You are still here that means you are convinced, just go for it and buy it, you will not regret for sure. Search me in case you need more assistance on Oculus, Ashura- is my Oculus id.

My son loved it. Very good quality.