Meta quest 2 Oculus VR - Opinions

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

Does anyone in here have the Meta Quest 2 and all the goodies with it....my son has been bothering me for what seems like FOREVER to get him one...if you have one what is your opinion about them...are they worth getting...or bet yet let me put it this way...he is mildly autistic and he's going to get one even if he has to save his own money because his mind is made up that he needs one...and he wants all the stuff that goes with it...chargers,the carrying case,battery pack ect....so when he gets one is it going to be worth it or do you think he's going to be really disappointed haha? Thanks guys

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I guess it depends on what it would be used for, and how much it'll get used.

If it's gaming, you'd need to spend quite a bit of money to get up and going game-wise, to the point where I believe it wouldn't be worth it due to how expensive the games are and how relatively little long term gameplay there is for the vast bulk of them.  There's freebie stuff here and there, but most of it is stuff you've got to pay for, and the best stuff has prices that align with AAA game prices and will require you to hook your headset up to a fairly stout gaming PC to be able to run them.  Those ones are the games that are truly worth running, but unless you've already got the PC capable of running the stuff sitting around, it's absolutely not worth the $800-1000 additional investment beyond the $300 headset to play some really nice looking 3D VR games.

If it's for 3D video, I'd say absolutely not, as there just isn't much non-adult-oriented 3D video content out there.  Although, I can say that it's awesome to have when everybody else in the house wants to watch their own thing and you can have your own "movie theater" sized screen to watch whatever the heck you want on, all while not disturbing anyone else.  There's native Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube apps, but most of the rest of the "big" streaming providers have yet to produce an app.  That being said, the web browsers available aren't at all bad, so most other services can be used, just not as seamlessly as those that have been designed to work natively.

If it's for a decent mix of stuff (some games, some video watching, some "experiences")...then I'd say yeah, probably.  One thing to take into account, though, is how 3D stuff can affect younger eyes (and especially those that have some sort of imperfection, like myopia), as too much exposure can lead to issues or worsening of existing conditions.  If you remember Nintendo coming out with the 2DS as a play for parents to get their kids 3DS compatible systems but not having to worry about whether the 3D was turned on or not, that's the kind of thing to think about before jumping into any sort of VR headset, as a lot of the content works very similarly.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your research & decision!

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

12 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

I guess it depends on what it would be used for, and how much it'll get used.

If it's gaming, you'd need to spend quite a bit of money to get up and going game-wise, to the point where I believe it wouldn't be worth it due to how expensive the games are and how relatively little long term gameplay there is for the vast bulk of them.  There's freebie stuff here and there, but most of it is stuff you've got to pay for, and the best stuff has prices that align with AAA game prices and will require you to hook your headset up to a fairly stout gaming PC to be able to run them.  Those ones are the games that are truly worth running, but unless you've already got the PC capable of running the stuff sitting around, it's absolutely not worth the $800-1000 additional investment beyond the $300 headset to play some really nice looking 3D VR games.

If it's for 3D video, I'd say absolutely not, as there just isn't much non-adult-oriented 3D video content out there.  Although, I can say that it's awesome to have when everybody else in the house wants to watch their own thing and you can have your own "movie theater" sized screen to watch whatever the heck you want on, all while not disturbing anyone else.  There's native Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube apps, but most of the rest of the "big" streaming providers have yet to produce an app.  That being said, the web browsers available aren't at all bad, so most other services can be used, just not as seamlessly as those that have been designed to work natively.

If it's for a decent mix of stuff (some games, some video watching, some "experiences")...then I'd say yeah, probably.  One thing to take into account, though, is how 3D stuff can affect younger eyes (and especially those that have some sort of imperfection, like myopia), as too much exposure can lead to issues or worsening of existing conditions.  If you remember Nintendo coming out with the 2DS as a play for parents to get their kids 3DS compatible systems but not having to worry about whether the 3D was turned on or not, that's the kind of thing to think about before jumping into any sort of VR headset, as a lot of the content works very similarly.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your research & decision!

Thank you bud...that actually helped me out A LOT...looks like the family is going to have I nice big discussion about it haha...thank you again

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

10 hours ago, Hollywoodcaddy said:

Thank you bud...that actually helped me out A LOT...looks like the family is going to have I nice big discussion about it haha...thank you again

No problem, and glad that it helped!  I'm the only person in the house that uses the one that I picked up and, honestly, it's really just an expensive toy for all the use it actually gets.  All your purchases are solely digital, with zero real ownership or way to get/keep a copy to install later on (at least via the official system that's in place, there are some third party solutions for installing/backing up stuff, but I believe it's technically in violation of your agreement with Facebook/Meta if you do so), which didn't sit well with me.  As such, I've got a freebie fishing game and a freebie roller coaster game that I play with sometimes, a few freebie tech demos and "experiences" (basically artsy stuff that shows off someone's work as well as what VR can do), but mostly find myself using stuff like the Prime Video and/or Netflix apps to watch movies on "the big screen" versus any truly interesting or "hardcore" VR stuff.

If you can find one locally, on FB Marketplace or Craiglist, for example, for about half of what retail is, I'd say it's probably worth it, even if it doesn't get a ton of constant use.  Should you choose to go that route, make sure to ask the sellers what size the storage is, as a few months after I bought mine, the default storage sizes were doubled, so you could end up with one with the smallest storage like I did (64GB) or one of the larger options (128GB - former high end but new entry level, or 256GB - current high end) for the same amount of money.  No external storage is possible with these, so purchase as much storage up front as you think you're going to need.  I don't know that there are any games that are stand-alone with the headsets (no PC required) that take up more space to install than the low end 64GB units, but moving stuff on and off via a computer is very slow unless you've got a USB-C connection on the computer side, so it's not at all convenient to do so if you'll need to do it constantly.

[RH | 4,895]

On a recent Digital Foundry video, John made an off the cuff statement that with one breath, Mark Zuckerberg made VR "uncool".  I laughed because I agreed, sadly.

I think it's worth pointing that out because this device might be pushing a lot of advertising and therefore getting the attention of kids and, thus, parent money but if you want a better option, I think the PSVR might be the way to go.  Eventually PSVR2 is coming out.  It won't be cheap but I dare say you'll get more bang for your buck.  Getting a current gen PSVR and a PS4 Pro still won't be cheap, but at least you'll have many many more options for gaming and can own physical media.

I'm seriously considering getting into VR in a couple more years.  Honestly, I'm waiting for the tech to still get a bit better.  The PSVR2 looks like it might be getting to where I need it to be, but YMMV.

Good luck, and if you go VR, I hope you get something your whole family is happy with!

[MrWunderful | 2,926]

Not related to discussion, but Myself and my company built the prototype lab for this product. Thats it, carry on! 

[RH | 4,895]

24 minutes ago, RH said:

On a recent Digital Foundry video, John made an off the cuff statement that with one breath, Mark Zuckerberg made VR "uncool".  I laughed because I agreed, sadly.

21 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

Not related to discussion, but Myself and my company built the prototype lab for this product. Thats it, carry on! 

[koifish | 555]

It's really cool if you're into sideloading and/or doing your own development. If you have a computer and a free install of unreal or unity engine, then you can basically start making your own quest games right out of the box. It doesn't even need to be a good computer, as they can run internally on the quest itself rather than on the PC. I also really enjoy seeing people do experimental stuff and so I like sideloading things off of sidequest to see what they are like. You can find some really interesting things that way. Not sure if this is a relevant use case for your family however.