
This can cause motion sickness, and feels less immersive. If you step to the side while looking forward, the headset won’t know you’ve moved at all.
Basic VR headsets (like a Google Cardboard, GearVR, or Oculus Go) only offer 3DoF, which only track the direction you are looking.
6DoF vs 3DoF (Degrees of Freedom): The best virtual reality headsets have 6DoF, which track not only the direction you are looking, but the actual position of your head in 3D space. You do sacrifice some performance since all the processing power needs to be built into the headset, however the Quest can be used with Oculus Link, which lets you use your Quest tethered to your computer using a USB cable, so you basically get the best of both worlds. They are completely wireless and can be taken anywhere. Stand-alone VR headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 are more portable, accessible, and easy to use because they don’t use your PC. Tethered headsets tend to be more expensive, especially when considering the cost of the graphics card needed to run them, (although I’m sure you’ve already got a pretty nice computer setup, so it’s not like you’re going out and buying a new graphics card just for this.) The downside is that you have wires coming out of the headset that need to be connected to your computer, so the headset isn’t very portable, and the wires can get in the way while using the headset. You’ll have access to the largest selection of VR apps and games. PC Tethered: With PC tethered VR Headsets like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or Valve Index, you are getting the best resolution, performance, and refresh rate because you are using your computer’s high-performance graphics card. Then, I’ll take a deeper look at why I recommend the Oculus Quest 2 for most people looking to get a VR Headset. Knowing which of these features are most important to you will help you decide the type of headset you should get.Īfter reviewing the different VR headset features, I’ll group them into four main categories, and recommend a headset for each use case. Aside from obvious things like display quality, refresh rate, weight, and physical comfort, there are some major features that put VR headsets into distinct categories. There is a very wide range of VR headsets on the market, each providing a very different experience depending upon which features it has.