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Comment by dinkleberg | Hacker News Reader

Forgive my ignorance, but I always see the quest mentioned. Are there any comparable devices that don’t require Facebook?

I’ve sworn off FB and while VR for cardio has me intrigued, nothing is gonna get me to sign back in there.

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Pico Neo 3 IQ Q3 (still in development) HTC Vive Focus Lynx R1 ( still in development ) Oculus Quest using Oculess to remove FB ( or just ask Meta support to unlink your headset from your account )

IMO not really atm. Inside out tracking and cheap. It’s hard to compete with the Quest 2 on convenience.

Well there are pros and cons selling at a loss

PS5 is another notable example of selling at a loss (at least initially)

Almost every console and handheld have been sold at a loss -- including the new Steam Deck. Games, licensing, and access to the platform has always been the money makers.

It isn't really comparable, but the only other real VR competitor out there is the Valve Index, which is considerably more expensive, requires base stations and requires a cord to a (beefy) computer, but on the flip side can support many more games, with much better controllers and is much more powerful.

What games does the Index support that the Quest 2 doesn't? Honest question since the Q2 works fine with Steam VR.

You are right, in tethered mode I don't think the Quest 2 has any fewer games than the Index, I was just considering the standalone mode of Quest 2.

That is not a reason to choose one over the other, for the reason you stated.

Why not the Vive? They've made huge progress in the last few years.

That's true, I just forgot about them. From what I've seen, the Vive occupies a midpoint in price and quality between the Oculus products and the Index.

EDIT: I hadn't actually seen much of the Vive Pro 2, it looks... comparable to the Index? Both price and feature-wise?

Not really a midpoint, but more on a similar level to Index. Generally, people like Index more than the Vive Pros on most points (display, audio, controllers, etc.) except for the wireless capability, and some niche features like eye tracking on the Vive Pro Eye. If you want a wireless high-end headset, Vive is the only game in town (Index is wired-only) so you have to get a Vive. It'll end up being more expensive than Index because the wireless adapter is $350. Since the Vive Pros and Index share the same tracking system, people do mix and match equipment other than the headset though. Many people will buy a Vive Pro headset and use Index controllers with them, since they're better. Index users will buy Vive trackers for full-body tracking because nothing equivalent exists for the Index.

That's still their flagship I think, check out their other lines like the cosmos which has AR/VR type camera integration etc, room scale without the base stations and so on.

With the quest you can stream beefy games from your computer

I'd recommend you look at the HP Reverb headset, which has a good performance/price ratio. Technically, it is made for the Windows Mixed Reality ecosystem, but I find it supports almost all Steam VR games and there are work arounds to make it work for oculus games without a FB account. YMMV

Meta Quest is totally unrelated to Facebook Blue :)

This is simply not true. It's obviously the same company and will treat your privacy right the same way (i.e. as nonexistant)

Further, you need a facebook account to log in (at least, for now) and it needs to be your real name (if you don't want to run afoul to Meta's terms and conditions).

so yeah, the will use and combine your data for any nefarious purpose see: https://support.oculus.com/146743104076817

"Yes. Facebook will use information related to your use of VR and other Facebook products to show you personalized content, including ads, across Facebook products. This could include recommendations for Oculus Events you might like, ads about Facebook apps and technologies, or ads from developers for their VR apps."

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