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These are the best VR headsets available today. Credit: Reviewed | Jackson Ruckar

The Best VR Headsets of 2024

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These are the best VR headsets available today. Credit: Reviewed | Jackson Ruckar

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Editor's Choice Product image of Meta Quest 2
Best Overall

Meta Quest 2

Check Price at Amazon

The Meta Quest 2 may suffer from Facebook’s tight integration, but with high-resolution and a solid slate of apps, it’s the best VR headset. Read More

Pros

  • Good-looking display
  • Powerful internals
  • Great value

Cons

  • Facebook integration
  • Only three hours battery
  • Limited adjustability
2
Editor's Choice Product image of Meta Quest 3
Best Upgrade

Meta Quest 3

Check Price at Amazon

The Meta Quest 3 is a VR and mixed reality headset that can do pass-through, full-color video and hand tracking, for half the cost of the Quest Pro. Read More

Pros

  • Improved specs and screens
  • Comfortable and easy to fit out of the box
  • Mixed reality is genuinely impressive

Cons

  • Stock strap won’t fit everyone
  • VR games can still be nauseating
  • 1.5-3 hour battery life
3
Product image of Valve Index VR Kit

Valve Index VR Kit

Check Price at Steam

The packaging, the design of the headset, and all the smaller functional touches establish this as a frontrunner among high-end tethered headsets. Read More

Pros

  • Excellent performance
  • Comfortable and light-weight
  • Precise controls

Cons

  • You'll need a powerful PC to use it
4
Product image of HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit

HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit

Check Price at Amazon

Many VR enthusiasts have long considered the HTC Vive to be the gold standard, and the Vive Pro 2 more or less lives up to its reputation. Read More

Pros

  • Powerful hardware
  • High refresh rate
  • Includes over-the-ear headphones

Cons

  • Very heavy
  • Unwieldy cables
5
Product image of HP Reverb G2

HP Reverb G2

Check Price at Amazon

If not for the fact that it’s a tethered headset requiring a PC to run it, I’d describe HP’s Reverb G2 as the Microsoft equivalent to the Quest 2. Read More

Pros

  • Easy setup
  • Uses old-fashioned velcro straps

Cons

  • Build quality feels fragile
  • Controllers use batteries
  • Best Overall Meta Quest 2
  • Best Upgrade Meta Quest 3
  • Other VR Headsets We Tested
  • How We Test VR Headsets
  • How We Tested
  • What You Should Know About Buying a VR Headset
  • More Articles You Might Enjoy

Most folks fall somewhere on the spectrum between curiosity and deep skepticism when it comes to virtual reality. The metaverse may not live up to your Ready Player One fantasies, but there are some cool gadgets out there worth considering. If you’re unsure where to begin, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered with the best VR headsets on the market.

To find the best of the best, we spent months testing a number of standalone and tethered VR headsets. After our latest testing, Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 (available at Amazon for $249.99) is still our top pick thanks to its approachability, build quality, comfort level, and low cost.

If you’re looking for something cheaper or with a bit more oomph, we’ve got plenty of other options to choose from.

These are the best VR headsets available today.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

The Oculus Quest 2 features high-resolution and a solid slate of apps.

Best Overall
Meta Quest 2

If you’re in the market for a VR headset, the Meta Quest 2 (formerly known as the Oculus Quest 2) is likely already on your radar. As far as standalone hardware goes, it’s dominant in the space right now without much serious competition, and it’s a fabulous VR experience that builds on the foundation laid by the Oculus Rift.

After spending about a month with the Quest 2 and its considerable software library, we’ve got plenty of thoughts on who it’s for, what its weaknesses are, and what to keep in mind when you’re ready to buy.

Right out of the box, it’s clear that this is a quality product, sturdy and well designed. But getting it set up properly is crucial, and you’ll want to be aware of what you’re getting into. For my part, I wear glasses (my vision is exceptionally poor), I have very long eyelashes, and I’m not generally fond of Facebook as a social media platform.

Once you get through a brief but annoying setup process (you’ll need to make a Meta account if you don’t want to link it to your Facebook), the Quest 2 is fairly comfortable to use. It comes with a thin plastic “spacer” that you’ll want to install immediately if you wear eyeglasses. The foam cushion where your face meets the headset snaps off easily. You then insert the spacer in between the two pieces, distancing your corrective lenses and the ones used for VR. Take the extra three or four minutes to install the space; you’ll be glad you did.

In terms of carrying around a large piece of hardware on your face, the Quest 2 is highly adjustable and cozy to have on. But the thought of using one frequently, for years, makes me want to consider switching back to contact lenses. No matter what you do, it simply isn’t accommodating to people with glasses, long lashes, or both.

Depending on the shape of your frames and the thickness of your lenses, though, your mileage may vary. At about $80, it’s probably worth it to just order a pair of VirtuClear Custom Lens Inserts (available at Frames Direct).

For an additional $100, Oculus offers a version with 192GB of extra storage, on top of the usual 64GB. The company also sells a special carrying case for $59, an Elite Strap for “enhanced comfort” ($59), and other odds and ends. If you buy directly from Oculus, they recommend Anker’s third-party charging dock as well as a pair of Logitech earphones made specifically for the Quest 2.

For $249, the stock Quest 2 offers a charging cable and two motion controllers—each with three buttons, two triggers, and a thumbstick. I didn’t feel as though I was ever missing out by not having any of those other items, but audiophiles and frequent fliers may find them useful.

The Oculus library is full of riches. Amazon’s Prime Video VR app lets me watch stuff like The Big Lebowski, David Gilmour: Live at Pompeii, and the first act of The Rise of Skywalker in a spacious, old-timey movie theater—all without leaving my home.

I especially enjoyed Vader Immortal (available at Oculus) and the popular rhythm game Beat Saber (available at Oculus), which runs at 90 Hz. I also tested games like Superhot (an old favorite) (available at Oculus), Job Simulator (available at Oculus), and Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge (available at Oculus).

If you’re interested in a new kind of filmmaking, immersive experiences like Vader Immortal, or games that use motion controls and player movement, the Quest 2 is a worthwhile investment.

One step up from the Quest 2 is the top of the line Meta Quest Pro for $999. The Pro is a mixed-reality headset with improved internals, increased pixels-per-eye on the screens alongside quantum dots, and passthrough cameras for overlaying digital content with the real world.

Read our full review of the Meta Quest 2.

Pros

  • Good-looking display

  • Powerful internals

  • Great value

Cons

  • Facebook integration

  • Only three hours battery

  • Limited adjustability

$249.99 from Amazon

$249.99 from Best Buy

$299.00 from Abt

$240.00 from Walmart
A white vr headset, the meta quest 3, on a podium with two controllers
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Hilburg

The Meta Quest 3 is a material improvement on the Quest 2 in every way apart from price.

Best Upgrade
Meta Quest 3

There’s no denying that the Meta Quest 2 is a great value, but if you want to upgrade, the Meta Quest 3 improves on its predecessor in pretty much every way.

Pulling the Quest 3 from its minimalist packaging reveals a thinner, slightly smaller headset with a redesigned Y-shaped strap and controllers that eschew the big plastic rings found on the previous generation. The headset also has a smidge more personality thanks to the three camera bubbles on the front. Despite the slight increase in heft (515 grams versus 503 grams), the Quest 3 remained comfortable throughout our testing and most people won’t need to upgrade to the $70 Elite Strap for day-to-day use.

The comfort and ergonomic improvements continue on the headset proper, where Meta has included a wheel to increase the interpupillary distance (IPD) from 53mm to 75mm. Combined with the ability to move the facial interface (the part that connects the strap to the headset) forward and back, wearers won’t have to take off their glasses or order pricey custom prescription inserts to play. Still, we noticed that the stock Quest 3 strap might not fit some people with larger hair.

Resolution has been bumped up 30% to 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye and the field of view is 15% degrees wider. Both of those upgrades combined create a smooth, lifelike experience when watching movies or TV shows in a big virtual theater, or playing games on the Quest 3.

Native gaming has gotten a big bump thanks to the newer Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor—putting the graphics on par with the Nintendo Switch—but the increase in visual fidelity is most obvious when connecting the headset to a PC. Text is legible and crisp, and using the Quest 3 as a virtual workspace, with giant monitor windows floating overhead, was genuinely impressive.

Meta touts the Quest 3 as the first “true” headset for mixed reality, and in that regard, they’re not wrong. The six full-color cameras do an admirable job of feeding video to the dual displays, allowing wearers to play mixed-reality games (though there are very few at the time of the device’s launch), orient themselves by toggling between mixed reality and VR, and map the room they want to play in.

Meta eventually wants to include virtual, persistent widgets that will live in your play space and act as portals for news, fitness apps, radio and music services, and more. It’s not quite at the level of the Apple Vision Pro, but it is one-seventh the cost.

Although the Quest 3 is one of the most technically impressive VR headsets on the market, it isn’t perfect. There are the fit issues mentioned in our review, and the battery life is the same as the Quest 2, topping out at 1.5-to-3 hours depending on the use case. Still, if you’re willing to pay the $250 premium, the Quest 3 is flat-out better.

Read our full review of the Meta Quest 3.

Pros

  • Improved specs and screens

  • Comfortable and easy to fit out of the box

  • Mixed reality is genuinely impressive

Cons

  • Stock strap won’t fit everyone

  • VR games can still be nauseating

  • 1.5-3 hour battery life

$499.00 from Amazon

$499.99 from Best Buy

$499.99 from Target

$499.99 from Abt

Other VR Headsets We Tested

Product image of Valve Index VR Kit
Valve Index VR Kit

I don’t know if anything has ever wowed me right out of the box like the Valve Index. This is a big, expensive set of powerful VR gear, but it’s also beautiful to look at. The packaging, the design of the headset, and all the smaller functional touches establish this as the frontrunner among high-end tethered headsets on our list.

It’s an investment, but for this kind of low-nausea, high-performance experience, you’re getting what you pay for. You can expect frames rates of 90 fps or higher, immersive audio, and at least four different main points of comfort adjustment

It comes with wall-mountable base stations (for room-scale tracking), user-friendly documentation, and has the best VR controllers I’ve tried to date. Each Index controller boasts 87 sensors for precision gesture-based input, along with comfy fabric straps that hold them in place—especially convenient when you have a large head-mounted display blocking your vision. Speaking of which, this didn’t feel as heavy and unwieldy as any of the other tethered headsets I’ve tested, which is a big win for long-term comfort.

If you intend to spend hours in VR playing performance-intensive games and don’t need a standalone headset, you’ll be quite pleased with the Valve Index and its massive software catalog, including Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx. Just make sure your PC has enough power to support it.

Pros

  • Excellent performance

  • Comfortable and light-weight

  • Precise controls

Cons

  • You'll need a powerful PC to use it

Buy now at Steam

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit
HTC Vive Pro 2 Full Kit

Many VR enthusiasts have long considered the Vive to be the gold standard, and the HTC Vive Pro 2 mostly lives up to that reputation. It has a 120Hz refresh rate like the Index, it features immersive over-the-ear headphones, and it performs like a dream.

If you’re worried about VR-induced nausea, the Vive Pro 2 is probably the best antidote we’ve found so far. If you’re skeptical about the amount of time you’re likely to spend in VR, or don’t care about top-performing hardware, then the Pro 2 is probably too big an investment for you—but it’s truly an impressive way to experience the medium. Pair it with a high-end gaming PC, and VR doesn’t get any more convincing.

A few issues hold this one back. For one thing, setting it up involved a lengthy, frustrating gauntlet of update downloads and troubleshooting. The PC-gaming hobbyist who’s used to the do-it-yourself mentality may not mind, but it’s a tedious barrier compared to headsets like the Quest 2.

It’s also very heavy, with a lot of cables running to and from your head, the Link Box adapter, your PC, and your power source—not to mention the cords from the two base stations. It feels like a bit of a mess.

The fantasy of the metaverse is still an imperfect one, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some terrific fun with this undeniably powerful piece of hardware.

Pros

  • Powerful hardware

  • High refresh rate

  • Includes over-the-ear headphones

Cons

  • Very heavy

  • Unwieldy cables

$1,199.00 from Amazon

$1,676.54 from Walmart
Product image of HP Reverb G2
HP Reverb G2

If not for the fact that it’s a tethered headset requiring a PC to run, HP’s Reverb G2 feels like the Microsoft Store equivalent to the Quest 2. It’s a good headset with Oculus-style controllers and a solid, playful user experience. It’s a breeze to set up, doesn’t come with any base stations, and the documentation is clear and simple.

Like the Quest 2, you can designate a boundary for a certain degree of room-scale tracking, but it works with a stationary setup as well. The Reverb G2 has over-ear headphones like the Vive or Index, but the overall construction feels lightweight and a little on the fragile side. Unlike a lot of rechargeable VR controllers, the G2’s take two AA batteries each.

One thing I particularly liked about the headset is its use of old-fashioned velcro. It’s very easy and intuitive to adjust to your head shape. It’s an easy piece of hardware to get calibrated and running the way you want it to in general.

If you’re a casual gamer looking to check out a game like Superhot and see what VR’s all about, this is a low-risk entry point, assuming you’ve got a compatible PC.

Pros

  • Easy setup

  • Uses old-fashioned velcro straps

Cons

  • Build quality feels fragile

  • Controllers use batteries

Buy now at Amazon

$430.00 from Walmart
Product image of Sony PlayStation VR2
Sony PlayStation VR2

The PlayStation VR2 (PSVR 2) delivers an impressive VR gaming experience. Its advanced specs and technology like high-quality motion tracking make it a console gamer's immersive video game dream—provided that dream involves being tethered by a wire to your PlayStation 5. This VR headset comes with no wireless connectivity. Even its integrated earbuds are connected by wire.

The PSVR 2 comes with two Sense motion controllers, which we found were both accurate and enjoyable to use for navigating through the games we tested the headset with. It's got two 2000 x 2040 HDR-capable OLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate, and uses foveated eye tracking to render specific areas (where your eyes are focusing) in great detail. During testing, the headset itself fit us comfortably.

Sony has promised that a large library of games to use with the PSVR 2 is on its way. Unfortunately, if you invested in the original PSVR headset, you'll find that your existing VR games aren't backward compatible with the PSVR 2. That's disappointing, especially when you consider that, at the time we reviewed it, the headset was selling for $550.

Being able to play the VR titles that gamers already own would take some of the sting out of that price, though launch titles like Horizon Call of the Mountain are still technical achievements in their own right.

Read our full review of the Playstation VR2.

Pros

  • Comfortable to wear

  • Accurate motion sensors and controls

  • Wide library on the horizon

Cons

  • Not wireless

  • Not backwards compatible

  • Expensive

Buy now at Best Buy
Product image of Bnext VR Headset
Bnext VR Headset

Bnext’s straightforward mobile headset is a top seller on Amazon. It’s got a pair of sliding mechanisms—similar to the Merge’s—that let you fine-tune your lens placement for maximum clarity.

There are some great free VR experiences that can be enjoyed with something like this, but it’s ultimately unremarkable compared to the elegant simplicity of Google Cardboard—or something a little nicer.

Although the straps are gentle and easy to set up, its facial interface isn’t all that comfortable for lengthy VR sessions and, worst of all, there’s no easy way to use your phone’s touch screen without taking it back out of the headset.

Some apps, like Within, offer a full library of content that lets you input commands simply by holding your gaze in one direction, but this is a big source of friction a lot of the time.

Pros

  • Adjustable

  • Offers free VR experiences

Cons

  • Not super comfortable

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of Google Cardboard
Google Cardboard

Google Cardboard is a wonderful novelty: it’s inexpensive, accessible, and user-friendly. Like the Merge, it’s easy to slide your phone into, but it also does a pretty good job of holding the device in place.

There’s something playful and immediately charming about the simple cardboard construction; it gets the job done, and it captures children’s attention in a way that a fancy Oculus headset doesn’t.

At $25 or less, the price of entry is roughly equivalent to buying your kid a toy at Target. This headset opens them up to a whole new medium for experiencing places they’ve never been, seeing things they probably won’t find in 2D filmmaking, playing different kinds of games, or for learning.

It’s smooth, sturdy, and a breeze to put together. It’s held in the proper configuration with strong velcro, and there’s a single button in the upper right corner for basic touchscreen input. Kids and adults alike will appreciate the comfort and ease of access here.

It doesn’t have straps or adjustable parts, so it never feels restrictive in the way other headsets do. You can simply remove it from your face at will, which makes it easy to share, check the environment around you, and so on.

If you want to dabble in VR and gain a better understanding of the medium or introduce your children to it, this is the fun, risk-free option you’re looking for.

Pros

  • Accessible

  • Playful design

  • Easy to set up

Cons

  • None we could find

Buy now at Google

How We Test VR Headsets

These are the best VR headsets available today.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

We tested each of the headsets several times, casually browsing different software libraries and taking extensive notes on both objective and subjective factors.

How We Tested

To find the best virtual reality headset, we researched the current market for standalone and mobile-based headsets. We reached out to manufacturers, tracked which hardware had been recently discontinued (and which ones might be coming down the road), and got our hands on the most widely-available headsets.

The Tests

Working closely with Reviewed’s chief scientist, we developed a battery of tests tailored to both the quirks of the VR medium and personal comfort. We tested each headset several times over a month, casually browsing software libraries and taking extensive notes on both objective and subjective factors. All of the mobile-based headsets were reviewed using a Google Pixel 3a XL, which has a 60 Hz refresh rate, averaging about 57 frames per second in a 3D benchmark test.

What You Should Know About Buying a VR Headset

Virtual reality has gained some mainstream traction over the last five years, thanks to efforts to make the tech more affordable and consumer-focused. Unlike a television, VR relies on lenses close to the eyes and three-dimensional audio to trick the brain into a sense of being within a virtual space.

The better the hardware, the faster and more convincing the pseudo-reality; the better the sound and user comfort, the more pleasant the experience. Typically, you want at least 72 to 90 frames per second for more than casual, occasional use. You’ll want high-resolution screens too, as higher-resolution displays will lessen your ability to see individual pixels or the “screen door effect.”

There’s also a noteworthy difference between standalone VR headsets and PC VR headsets. The former is either an all-in-one package (like the Meta Quest 2), or one that simply requires a smartphone to operate. PC VR headsets, on the other hand, require a connection to a substantially powerful computer (or a PlayStation 4 or 5) to run games or other media.

The Difference Between AR and VR

VR, of course, is different from AR (augmented reality). While AR makes digital elements seem like they exist in the real world (like trying to catch a Snorlax on the sidewalk in Pokémon Go), VR gives the illusion that you are in the videogame itself. A VR headset covers your entire field of view, so the only thing you can see while wearing it is whatever happens in the game.

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Meet the testers

Alex Kane

Alex Kane

Sr. Editor, Search & Updates

@alexjkane

Alex Kane is a senior editor at USA Today’s Reviewed and the author of the Boss Fight Books volume on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He has written for Fangoria, PC Gamer, Polygon, Rolling Stone, StarWars.com, and Variety. He lives in west-central Illinois.

See all of Alex Kane's reviews
Edgar Ortiz

Edgar Ortiz

Digital Producer / Tech Writer

Las Vegas-based digital producer and tech writer.

See all of Edgar Ortiz's reviews

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