Meta Quest 2 - Virtual Reality Headset (128GB)
$189
$249
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Condition: UNOPENED
Capacity: 128GB
Top positive review
5,190 people found this helpful
A startling, occasionally disquieting virtual reality experience for all
By Eugene W. Maloney on Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2022
First, a little background. I'm 73 years old. Above average in the activity department, adept mentally, although I am literally the only person I know who can lose something when standing perfectly still. I have four grandchildren. I hold down a full-time job as a writer, and a once-a-year gig teaching Rio Grande Board Games at the annual World Boardgaming Championships (WBC). It was at the most recent WBC that I was introduced to MetaQuest 2 and in particular, its bundled game called Beat Saber. I'd tried much cheaper VR systems, the ones that hold your phone and you have to download apps to run on them. This was an entirely different ball game. This was, I should note, not a function of the WBC. It just so happened that one of the site administrators had brought the system along with him and one evening, invited me to give it a try. The first issue that one should note is that once you put the headset for this system on, you are pretty much detached from the reality around you. This is fine as long as it's just you and the machine, but you can forget about being outside the machine and trying to instruct someone inside the machine about what's going on. As it happened, the man who introduced me to the system basically set it up for me - put it on his own head, clicked the right buttons - and then transferred the headset to me. With a couple of hand prompts and a word or two, Beat Saber, the program that comes with the MetaQuest 2 when you buy it these days, came on line and there I stood, with two controllers, one in each hand, as my eyes beheld on the screen in front of me, a series of square blocks coming at me, each with an arrow, pointing either up, down, right or left. The controllers operate two light sabers, one in each hand, and the object of this game is to swat the approaching blocks in the direction indicated by the arrow on them. There are also occasional large obstacles coming at you, like skinny walls, which appear like three-dimensional line drawings as they approach. You can't swat these aside and the idea is to avoid them. In most cases, this entails just stepping out of their way, either to the right or the left, but dependent on some choices you make in Beat Saber, some of these objects can be wide and impossible to avoid unless you duck as they approach. No way to jump over them. And there's music. At first, you don't pick up on the idea that your swatting activity with the light sabers can occasionally be rhythmic, linked to the beat of the music. . .Beat Saber. Get it? But you'll pick up on that fairly quickly. If you don't dance and would like to, this is a good program that will force-feed you the concept of moving your body in beat with the rhythm of a song. You don't realize you're dancing because as far as you're concerned, you're swatting colored boxes with virtual reality light sabers. A note of caution. People familiar with the system and how it works will delight in recording video of your attempts to play the game; unbeknowst to you, 'cause you're wrapped up in the headset and can't see anything but what the machine is giving you to see. These people recording you will be LOL-ing themselves breathless, as you contort yourself in a relatively confined space, trying to dodge things and swat at the colored boxes. I made the mistake of failing to heed the warning that if I didn't buy one of these systems soon, its price was going to go up. A lot. And it did. But I bought it anyway and am just beginning to tap into the available free apps and exploring the possibility of buying other ones. There's a free Epic Roller Coaster app, which is fairly enjoyable, although oddly enough, both myself and my wife (now at home with our own MetaQuest 2) found ourselves getting a little queasy during the experience. Not sure what that's about. She NEVER goes on real roller coasters and I do it all the time. Also found a walking-on-a-building-skeleton app that had me God knows how many stories high and though not generally afraid of heights (acrophobia), I wasn't all that keen on walking on the available, skinny steel walkways to approach the edge. I'm in my living room, my mind knowing damn full well that I'm not only not as high as the program makes me think I am, but am, in fact, on solid ground. Yet, in an attempt to approach the edge and have a look OVER the edge, I am literally creeping forward, edging my foot out in front of me, making sure of my balance with each step. My mind absolutely refuses to grasp the concept that I am not in any danger. It should be noted that when you play in virtual reality, the mechanism has you define a space where you are going to be, literally drawing a perimeter line. It's not because the machine is worried you might step off the big building you only think you're on, but when you're playing a game like Beat Saber, you want to make sure that your arm movements don't knock over a lamp your Aunt Ethel gave you for Christmas last year, or in moving your legs around, you don't accidentally kick the screen out of your new Smart TV. I haven't been too excited by any of the first-person shooter kind of apps that are available. That kind of activity never lured me to the various systems that were already on the market. But I did notice and have been on the verge of pulling the trigger on some of the other activities, like table tennis, actual tennis and some other sports activities, like baseball. Am also interested in what is, at present, a small selection of board games, like Tsuro and chess (in a variety of different environments). They offer Catan (originally, Settlers of Catan) and though my interest in board games is strong, I never really liked Catan in real-time, so I'm not going to pick it up in VR. I recommend this system highly. The experience of good VR (and you can buy systems better than the basic one that I purchased) is mind-altering. It's something to which your mind has never been previously exposed; an alternate reality with its own set of rules that takes some getting used to. It's more expensive than pot, but unlike pot, it doesn't just let your head create new connections and free it from everyday anxieties, it creates a reality within your brain that is intriguing to watch, hear and interact with. And as my age indicates, fun for all ages. Oh, and one other cautionary note for those of a certain advanced age. The first time I tried the system, at the WBC, my score at Beat Saber was abysmally low. So I tried again. And again. It wasn't my hand movements with the controllers or the side-stepping away from approaching objects that got to me. It was the ducking at things that I had to let go over my head. I made the crouching moves necessary with reckless abandon. Once, again, and again. My upper thighs complained to me all of the next day. The good news is that it makes for good, healthy exercise.
Top critical review
2,109 people found this helpful
Amazing But..
By Pedro Rodriguez on Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2022
Pros: - Fairly Immersive. - Amazing experiences. - Personal home theater, huge movie screen, made even better with paid Virtual Desktop ($20usd) that gives you actual movie theater vibes and tons of other scenes. Oculus link (Free) does a pretty good job with big screen too. - Nice desktop experience in VR through Oculus Link (free) - High refresh rates up to 120hz (if you're wired and can find a game that supports it) - Haven't seen other views to compare, but I'm very satisfied with the resolution. And hear its better than most if not all other VR headsets right now while also keeping in mind its the most compatible with VR games. Im guessing this is the Playstation or XBOX of Virtual Reality. Or they are lining up to be. Either way, its the right choice for gaming and other. - Truly the next level in gaming and virtual spaces like home theater. - Gonna list Half Life: Alyx as a pro. Was my first VR experience, and although god-tier amazing, I would suggest working up to it as not much has compared since :P But I am having fun in other games like Boneworks and TWD Saints and Sinners. I like TWD more so far but I have a few gripes with that game. (Not a reflection of this product) - As anyone would tell you, works well with streaming services. You got your Netflix Hulu and Disney plus. - You can load movies and videos from your pc stored into Oculus directly for trips without wifi. Cons: - Good thing I already owned a beasty gaming pc. You're gonna need one for titles like Half Life: Alyx. - Battery life. Could not watch a 2hr30min movie without plugging in. Con still offset by the amazing movie theater-like experience. Was using Virtual Desktop so maybe the wifi usage played a part. - Real Con, the strap it comes with is uncomfortable and will give you a headache the first week or so. - It is heavy on the front and my forehead and cheeks hurt, requiring me to take a break, wash and massage my face every couple of hours, every day. (I've watched videos on how to adjust and not over-tighten but not much can be done about the reality of the situation. It is far from weightless and fairly noticeable. -If you need glasses to see things far away, you will need glasses for the VR headset too. Special lens caps cost roughly between $60 and $100USD. But it comes with a spacer. You can likely get away with those retro non-spacer glasses.If they have those little feet that push off the nose you might be in trouble and if they are really big, you might be in trouble so look into the dimensions of the quest 2 view port and your glasses. An annoying extra step but probably worth it. -Scuba Diver effect. The view cant be in the pro section. As I said, you'll feel like a scuba diver. Only during the most immersive of times will you not notice too much. To be fair this is.. most of the time. - blurring and lens-rings. If not absolutely perfectly centered, you'll get some blurring in various parts of your view. At first and for a few days the little magnification rings of the actual glass piece of the lenses will be very noticeable in your peripheral. Again to be fair.. again, while having an amazing time, you will not notice. - Also there's this thing about the lens spacing I hear a lot of people complaining about. I think I'm just at the edge of the farthest setting but could probably do with a tiny bit more. Read other reviews and look into it about I forget what its called, the space between both your pupils. - It'll take a few days or more than a week for your mind to ignore some of these, like the rings, occasional blur, and scuba effect. -Serious con, be ready to shell out at least another $100usd or so on extras. $19 link cable $16 extension cable plus breakaway protection, Silicone Grips and hand strap (worth it and kind of necessary for throwing objects in comfort,) $30 Rechargeable batteries or a large supply of AA’s. Be sure either are 1.5v. $10-30. Head Strap pad I bought $15 (not compared to $30-50+ or so elite straps. And if you need the prescription lens caps another $60-100. And your first game ranges from $10-40usd or so, for the good stuff. - Very few free games/stuff. And not that many AAA amazing titles. (Not exactly a reflection of this particular product) -This thing gets sweaty after a few dozen minutes of intense gameplay so have a dry cloth handy and don't get pulled into the ‘pass it on or around after playing beat saber to your friends’ fantasy. IMO/SideNotes Related to this product directly and VR as a whole: - The device should have been a more evenly weight-distributed helmet. - I wouldn't expect to game any more than an hour or two without being plugged in either to a power outlet or pc. Mileage may vary. - Buy a 10 - 20 ft data cable with your purchase. The provided cable is like 3ft or something. You're gonna need it regardless of pc ownership. Search youtube for good 3rd party brands it should cost around $18-28usd or so for a good cable with decent length. - Find your play area and hold your arms out, now plan for an additional one or two feet, mainly North, West and East of you. The Quest 2 comes with a 'Guardian' thats really good at letting you know when you're 'out of bounds' but you will be bending to search or grab stuff reaching and leaning over, tossing things aside (In VR, While stationary, with one or two steps of leeway) make sure you have the space to be swinging your arms around like that. be honest with yourself about this space. If you don't have it, you don't have it. Sorry. I had to rearrange my room a little but luckily I had the space and it was absolutely worth it. -VR is very physical. Some games have seated options but require too much leaning and grabbing and searching to do it sitting down. So be ready to stand and crouch and lean. I kept that from both pro’s and cons. IMO, awesome, but be ready for it. Make yourself take breaks every half to sit and stretch if you're not used to standing all day, but not even taking into account the workout apps, this has gotten me burning more calories and keeping my redstuff circulating more and my metabolism on its toes. Actually crouching behind cover is pretty cool but also tiring lol. - IMO, Probably not a con, too many older games being remade or re-released in VR. Don't get me wrong, Fallout 4 with Whispering Hills mod was and is mindblowing but after putting in so many hours on the pc version and playing it for years, its kinda hard to get all the way into again. But I guess for kids who never ever played Fallout 4 and they get it for VR, then it’ll be pretty awesome for them. Same for Resident Evil 4 Which I played on the Gamecube, not in VR yet but I fear the novelty will wear off as I played that game like crazy already and it would be a massive retread - even if VR itself is still amazing, I’ll stand by that. (So not a direct reflection of this product) -I want to see more completely brand new AAA single player games. -I hear GTA San Andreas is coming to VR.. Again, great for kids, but how about a brand new GTA VR?. - Only been in the scene a few weeks but, looking back and ahead, it looks like a really lazy and slow march into making VR a thing for everyone. IMO right now it's still more of a niche enthusiast thing. I only say that because I’ve been hearing about VR for years. What did people play on the Quest 1? - Get a small rug or mat to stand on, maybe even a towel will do so you know when you're stepping off too far out of bounds. I have a small rug I folded up just enough to fit my feet with a little bit of slack on all sides. This’ll make you more comfortable but will also help keep you stationary and orient you. They sell $100 tough gamer standing pads about the size of the guardian, if you have the dedicated space and money for it, I can't stop you I guess, but a simple, thick rug or small yoga mat will do. -Like a baseball plate, add a little point when you draw your guardian space to let you know which way you should be facing at all times, you want that wire mostly behind you at all times. I have more to say but admittedly this is getting long. I would wait a couple of years until a much lighter and more comfortable VR device comes out. But, if you cannot wait any longer and love gaming or just want what VR has to offer. I can tell you that, it is here, and it is amazing. Seeing previews of anything VR on a 2D screen cannot do it justice and neither can words, of this you must trust me, you would have to experience it yourself to truly understand. Ask a friend or coworker if they have one and if you can try it. You wont believe it until you do. Or take the plunge like I did. I have my gripes with this thing, and it's not all fairy tales, but I do not regret purchasing it. Like I said before, it really is the next level in gaming, and it really is here. Be considerate, please. This took a while to write to help you.
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