The Best VR Headsets 2022: PC, Console & Standalone VR

Though the Oculus branding has been killed off in favour of Meta, the Quest 2 remains to be hands-down the most efficient VR headset you’ll be able to purchase. Like the unique, the Quest 2 boasts standalone capability and inside-out monitoring, albeit in a smaller shape issue this time round. 

The celebrity of the display is the show; at just about 2K consistent with eye, the Quest 2 has one of the vital detailed presentations of any VR headset in our chart at this time, bested handiest by means of the Vive Pro 2, which is fantastic whilst you take into accounts the entry-level worth. There’s additionally Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Platform to be had, providing a major growth to efficiency that pushes the limits of the standalone apps and video games to be had.

If that wasn’t sufficient, due to Oculus Link, you’ll be able to hook up your Quest 2 on your PC and revel in PC-exclusive VR titles like Half-Life: Alyx, and Air Link capability lets you do it cable-free in the event you’ve were given excellent sufficient Wi-Fi. The hybrid capability merely isn’t matched by means of some other VR headset to be had at this time.

If you’re on the lookout for a really perfect all-round VR headset, the Meta Quest 2 is the only to head for. 

The Vive Cosmos isn’t the most affordable VR headset to be had to customers. But, the modular nature makes the Cosmos vary distinctive, which is why it prices slightly extra.

Rather than having to shop for a completely new headset when HTC finds new tech, Cosmos house owners can merely purchase a brand new faceplate and fix it to their present headset, providing massive financial savings down the road.

The Cosmos itself, with six-camera monitoring, gives a good VR revel in for low- to mid-intensity VR video games, however the digital camera monitoring isn’t best possible and the lack of monitoring in fast paced VR titles may also be irritating every now and then.

But that’s the place the Cosmos Elite is available in: for slightly further, you’ll be able to grasp a Cosmos with true 1:1 SteamVR monitoring, however at the price of lengthy setup occasions and having to make use of the first-gen Vive wands. 

The HTC Vive Pro 2 would possibly look like the very best VR headset on paper, boasting the perfect solution of any headset at this time along an expansive 120-degree FOV and easy 120Hz refresh price, however the execution isn’t relatively as spectacular.

The pixel-packed show does a lovely task at respiring new existence into much-loved VR video games with added element, and all of it however removes screen-door impact too – critically, it’s an excellent panel.

The factor is the oddly oblong FOV, with the 120-degree FOV regarding the horizontal FOV handiest. It makes some VR stories really feel slightly extra claustrophobic when in comparison to the likes of the Valve Index. 

The Vive Pro 2 hasn’t modified when it comes to normal design both, which means that it’s simply as heavy and uncomfortable to make use of over longer periods as its predecessor, and it’s a identical tale with the Vive Pro 2 wands, which stay nearly the similar as they had been in 2016. 

It’s additionally extremely pricey in comparison to maximum headsets in our chart, that means it’s just for essentially the most devoted VR fan that may disregard one of the crucial older design alternatives hired by means of the Vive Pro 2. 

Though it may’t relatively fit the 5K show of the HTC Vive Pro 2, the 4K show of the HP Reverb G2 will nonetheless be an enormous bounce ahead for the ones nonetheless on first-gen VR headsets, providing progressed textures, higher visible readability and a much broader 114-degree FOV with out the top rate worth of HTC’s possibility.

There’s additionally inside-out monitoring, that means there’s no use for exterior base stations like with SteamVR-powered choices, despite the fact that not like choices from Oculus, the Reverb G2 doesn’t carry out that smartly in smaller areas. 

That problematic nature extends past monitoring too; the Reverb G2 doesn’t play smartly with AMD-powered PCs, and the Windows Mixed Reality platform it makes use of is a long way from the standard introduced by means of the likes of SteamVR and Oculus, with system defects and the occasional whole crash.

If you in reality need the excessive solution then the Reverb G2 remains to be a really perfect possibility, however we’d steer transparent in the event you’ve were given an AMD PC. 

Interestingly, the PlayStation VR headset is the one VR headset for console players – Microsoft gives some way for players to play Xbox video games throughout the Oculus Rift S, nevertheless it isn’t VR-enabled. Sony’s digital truth providing includes a 5.7in OLED show that’ll supply players with low patience and, because of this, much less movement blur when getting used.

It additionally boasts ultra-low latency (18ms) and a 120Hz refresh price, which is healthier than the Oculus Rift S and the HTC Vive’s 90Hz providing. It signifies that, theoretically, stunning 120fps gameplay is conceivable, despite the fact that we’re no longer certain the PS4 (and even the PS4 Pro) can take care of that.

It turns out that Sony had the similar concept, and gives an extra field (smaller than the PS4) that handles the brunt of the graphics processing. It’ll monitor the location of your head, and may also be used with Sony’s (failed) Move controllers, giving the previous controllers a brand new rent of existence.

The monitoring is fundamental despite the fact that; it makes use of a PlayStation Camera, and the world that you’ll be able to transfer round in could be very small. It’s designed for sit-down VR stories, and it does it smartly. 

With Meta effectively cornering the standalone VR headset marketplace, HTC has became its points of interest to the light-weight VR marketplace with what it describes as its first pair of “immersive glasses”.

Let’s be fair, the Vive Flow glance extra like a couple of fashion-focused sun shades than a VR headset, whole with relfective lenses and standard hands. It’s a fab glance, nevertheless it’d most likely draw consideration in the event you had been to make use of them on public shipping or lengthy flights – which is strictly what HTC envisions.

Aside from fundamental VR stories akin to these from Google Daydream and Samsung Gear VR, the primary draw of the Vive Flow is the power to reflect your smartphone show. That lets you run apps like Disney+ and Netflix, taking part in your virtual content material on a digital 100in show.

But whilst the theory at the back of it’s forged, the execution is wrong to mention the least.

Aside from the truth that the gadget is handiest suitable with a small collection of smartphones within the wider marketplace (and no iPhone toughen in any respect), the verdict to make use of Miracast as an alternative of same old USB-C connectivity manner there’s enter lag. That manner you’ll be able to’t play your favorite video games by means of the cloud at the headset, nor are you able to hook it as much as a pc for paintings functions.

Throw in fundamental controller toughen by means of a attached smartphone, the truth it will get uncomfortable to put on after round half-hour of use and its reasonably excessive worth level for what’s on be offering, and it’s no longer having a look excellent for the Flow. Oh, and we haven’t even discussed that it calls for an exterior battery supply attached by means of USB-C as there’s no integrated battery. Yeah…

If you’re an excessively particular form of person who travels so much and needs a greater method to watch motion pictures, the Flow is a forged possibility, however for everybody else, there are extra succesful choices to be had at a less expensive worth level.