The Oculus Quest is a big deal for lovers of VR. Many are quite impressed at the exciting collection of Oculus Quest games currently available. But some still wonder, is the Oculus Quest worth it in 2022? That’s a question that many of us have had on our minds since the initial release of May 2019.
Oculus’s new hardware for VR enthusiasts and casual gamers alike, the Oculus Quest is particularly created for mobile audiences. But is this worth the price tag or not? We are here to review what the Oculus Quest has to offer and whether it’s a good purchase or not.
Verdict
Pros
- No need for a PC
- High-resolution OLED displays
- Manual IPD adjustments
- Updated controllers
- Ability to get access to the full Oculus rift library through the Oculus Link (Gaming PC required)
Cons
- Lower refresh rate than other headsets
- Slightly front heavy, which may be uncomfortable for some
- 2-3 hours of battery life per charge
- Oculus Quest 2 is out
What is the Oculus Quest?
Right off the bat, you will notice that this is a very unique VR headset compared to its predecessors. While its design is very similar to the Oculus Rift S, it’s actually an all in one VR experience. Which brings us to the best thing about the Oculus Quest. Like the Go, you don’t need to be tethered to a PC/PS4 to use it!
Resolution and Performance
Right from the start, you will notice that the Oculus Quest works very well and it’s adaptable to your requirements. It’s the most portable headset yet. It has its own Snapdragon 835 processor which is very powerful.
The Oculus Quest has a display resolution of 2880×1600, which is a bit higher than the Oculus Rift S resolution. The refresh rate is lower however, it’s only 72 Hz here. You have a high resolution for the dual OLED displays and you even have manual IPD adjustment, which is always a nice thing to acquire here.
Tracking for the Oculus Quest
Gone are the days of needing to mount base stations around your room and wire them back to your PC. Oculus Insight tracking makes use of the 4 cameras in total on the headset. These are linked to the Touch controllers which use infrared LEDs for the camera to be used as sensors. Because of this, you may experience slight hiccups when the Touch controllers move behind your head, especially in bow and arrow games. It’s Facebook’s first Standalone headset to offer six degrees of freedom tracking. As of December 2019, the Oculus Rift also offers hand tracking, which allows you to utilize some apps without any controllers at all.
Comfort and Convenience
It’s a breeze to get started with the Oculus Rift, it requires a smartphone to do the initial setup then you’re good to go.
Higher quality games can drain the headsets battery as short as 2 hours. Thankfully, there is an option to charge while you play.
They removed the built-in headphones from the side and replaced them with built-in speakers. However, for full immersion, you should make you of their audio jack if you require any audio features and you can adapt that to your own requirements.
Some users report a slight discomfort when wearing the headset for long periods, this is mostly due to it the weight being front loaded. If you also find this an issues, there are 3rd party straps that help distribute the weight to ensure comfort for longer play sessions.
Minimum PC Requirements: Oculus Link
A PC is only needed when utilizing the Oculus Link cable. Most gaming rigs and gaming laptops will be able to handle the requirements below. The Oculus Link does not support Mac OS.
| Graphics Card | See the Table of supported graphics cards on the Oculus Website |
| Video Output | None: Uses USB |
| CPU | Intel i5-4590/AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater |
| Memory | 8GB+ RAM |
| USB | 1x USB 2.0+ |
| OS | Windows 10 |
Oculus Quest Games and the Oculus Link
The problem with Oculus Quest was that it didn’t utilize the Oculus Rift library when it first came out. Players were limited to the more casual VR games like Beatsaber and Vader Immortal.
As of this article, the oculus quest game library has over 120 titles that are playable on the quest. Oculus recently addressed the low number of “full VR” games by releasing the Oculus Link. This allows you to tether your Oculus Quest to a Gaming PC unlocking the full Oculus Rift Library. Essentially powering up the Headset to play all the games that Oculus Rift S can play.
Now you can play your favorites like Stormland and Asgard’s Wrath on the Quest bringing the amount of oculus quest games to other VR headsets standards.
Oculus Quest Price: Amazon: 64GB or 128GB
Conclusion
So, is the Oculus quest worth it? Not anymore! We would highly reccomend checking out the upgraded Oculus Quest 2. It has all of the above features and more. Not being tied to a PC is a very welcome feature and the option to add on the Oculus Link helps it compete with other tethered headsets making it one of the best overall devices in the market right now.