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Comment by brian-armstrong | Hacker News Reader

It's amusing to talk to Quest owners in VRChat. They talk about as a mark of shame, and inevitably want to upgrade to a "real" headset. If nothing else I suspect the Quest drives a number of regret purchases into the Index, so it does have some marginal utility!

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I think it depends on the person and what they want out of a VR. I own both a Quest 2 and a Valve Index and I find I play the Quest 2 a lot more than I do the Index, simply because it is easier and more portable. The games don't look as nice, to be sure, but they're not terrible either.

(NOTE: I'm not saying I like the Quest 2 more than the Index. That isn't the case. The Index is an amazing system and the best VR experience I've had. I'm just saying I use the Quest 2 more often due to convenience, so, for me, it has its place.)

My Quest 2 has really grown on me and I'd buy a Quest 3 without any hesitation. Having said that, I only use the Quest 2 to play single-player games. I have no interest in online multiplayer games nor in VRChat. If those features are important to you, perhaps the Quest 2 isn't a good option.

Same here. I bought the Quest 2 after I couldn't get my hands on a PS5. Amazing tech but I still find it uncomfortable after playing for longer than 15 min. The more I need to move my head during a game the worse it is. I also find the fitness games the most fun and best fit for VR. Eleven ping pong is amazing. I also like boxing but I stopped playing it as I always feel shitty afterwards (Stride was the worse game for me). I tried RE4 which was fun, but I think for story games I'd enjoy playing more on the Xbox or PS, since I will be able to play it for longer and the quality of the graphics is more important than the immersiveness. I'm sure others have different opinions. Any games you recommend?

The best games I’ve played on Oculus Quest 2 so far are:

The Room VR

Myst

Death: Unchained

Until You Fall

Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge

The third Vader Immortal (the Dojo part and not the actual game though)

The Walking Dead game is OK, but there’s too much wandering around and returning to the school bus for my taste.

Red Matter

As someone who is considering upgrading to a quest 2, I'd like to know more. Everything I've read about it says it's close to top of the market in terms of visual quality and comfort. I presume I'd have to use it tethered with steamVR, just like my current acer headset... though I'm equally sure that undemanding titles should be OK untethered.

So what gives? Why do users in your circle regret it? And where does the vr community hang out, so I can learn more?

You're likely coming at it from the angle of already having a powerful gaming PC. A lot of people buy them hoping to end-run around that. The Quest can let you do that, but the promise turns out rather empty when people find out VRChat is much less capable without a PC.

The other obstacle is full body tracking. Turns out this just works much better if you have lighthouses to begin with, plus a headset that uses them.

Huh. My Acer has just hand controllers, no towers. I haven't noticed a difference compared to when I used the same generation HTC vive.

You can use it wireless with Steam VR using Virtual Desktop. If you have the right setup, performance is close to wired.

As a current Index and former Vive Pro, I can tell you that my Quest 2 has the most game time because of one thing: wireless. The other issue is Steam VR doesn’t have nearly as many people on multiplayer.

VR Chat is interesting, but most people in VR don’t spend a good portion of their time there.

Only VR Chat and one game take advantage of full body tracking. I wouldn’t focus to much on it.

You mean the original quest model, as opposed to the quest 2 i assume?

Both. The Quest is practically a second-class citizen in VRChat. It can't run many models or worlds unless it's PC linked and running on desktop hardware.

To be clear, the people who can run these models and worlds are also tethered to a PC. So the quest isn’t any worse than the competition. The complaint here seems to be that it isn’t better enough to justify… well something I’m sure

So its more about stand alone vs PC? The Quest display and tracking is pretty great.

Yeah, but the PC is quite a large fraction of the cost of going from nothing to full Index system. If you don't already have a good gaming PC then the Quest alone can't help you, and once you have one you might as well get a system that can also easily do full body tracking.

Quest as a platform is nonexistent in “gamer” PoV. It’s just the cheapest and most robust _SteamVR_ headset.

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