VR Headsets 2024 | Is now the time to upgrade? | My personal views, opinions and recommendations 

Note post making this video the Varjo Aero is being discontinued.

I wish everyone did reviews like this, No fluff and straight to the point, Great video!

As always your video is informative, thank you for making them!

Many thanks Marc for a most useful summary of the current VR hardware scene, as seen from the flight simmers point of view. Just the info I was after for a possible purchase this coming year.

Thanks mark really helpful

Thanks for sharing.

Great video as always.

Good summary. I use the quest 3 as my daily driver and generally happy with it. I would be happier with the pimax and it's resolution but in addition to the cost of the headset I would have to upgrade my computer to handle it appropriately, and that would be an order of cost magnitude that I don't want to deal with at this time. Maybe later. Thanks.

Timely! I’m a Reverb G2 user and considering an upgrade. Your closing comments about the Quest 3 and Pimax were very helpful. Great video Mark.

I recently bought my first ever VR, the Meta Quest 3. I have only had it for a month, and have 2 main observations. 1. Racing in VR is incredible, and I am hooked on it. It is so life-like. My triples don't come close. 2. My pc includes a 5800X3D, and a 4070 TI. Despite having a reasonably quick pc, the picture quality is terrible. Looking at numerous videos and forums creates a lot of confusion, wth many people having different "Perfect" settings, none of which has improved my VR picture quality in iRacing. So, getting the Quest 3 to look good with iRacing so far has been extremely difficult and very frustrating.

Love the t-shirt Mark 😁 Disappointed to hear that Pico are not going to produce a Pico 5, I currently enjoy the Pico4 but it needs a DP connection for us flight sims and racing sims fans

Have the PSVR2, and using triple monitors with head tracking for PC. Waiting for a reasonable combo with micro oled, foveated rendering with eye tracking, pancake lenses with widefov extension. Seen all the tech already in prototype stage but they remain frustratingly separate. Apple vision pro is maybe the first step.

I have thought about the eye tracker 5 but I am just holding out to see what will be coming in 2024.

My pimax crystal has been flawless! It's unreal with the 4090 👌

I agree entirely with your conclusion about the Quest 3 vs Reverb G2. I made the switch a few weeks ago and I'm very pleased with the level of detail across the entirety of the lenses, the cockpit gauges are much easier to see without having to train my eyes to focus on a narrow point. Also, I am now playing some of the games from the meta store and that's a bonus. One thing thought, the head strap is useless so factor in a new one and order it at the same time as the headset, you're gonna need it. I had thought that I might use both the G2 and Quest side by side, but now don't see the point, the G2 will be going on Ebay soon.

After owning over 10 VR headsets I will say for now only 2 things worth it: 1. Quest 3 (normal consumer) 2. Varjo XR-4 (business enterprise) Apart of these 2 simply nothing worth going for, Quest 3 deliver everything a normal consumer need from VR at a reasonable accessible price and as a hardware I think it's worth it more than PS5 or XSX Ready to wait? Samsung new headset + Quest 3 light are worth waiting for depending on price you target

That's a pretty hot six pack you got there SimHanger

The description would benefit from time-stamps

Hm. I've heard that pico is still working on at least an improved version of pico 4, so I hope the details about this will appear soon.

A very useful video Mark. Thanks. Fyi I have upgraded to the Quest 3 128gb from my Samsung Odyssey Plus and am really happy. What swung it is the Mixed Reality and depth perception the Quest 3 has, also its stand alone Wifi 6e connection. Or the Meta Link Cable for PCVR. Also the speakers do Spatial Audio brilliantly. I now watch most of my RU-vid videos/movies in the Meta browser in 4k and full screen on a very large virtual screen. At some stage I hope to be able to afford a new VR ready PC with an Nvidia RTX 4090 or possibly the new release this month, a RTX 4080Ti Super which seems to be a good price point/deal etc.. Laurie NZ. 😊

Thank you for the video, Sir. I've got one question. Do you use air link with a dedicated wifi6 / wifi6E router? Regards

Hi Mark another great video, what do you think about Varjo not supporting their hea$set after 2025? Also can you please share which mo7nt you bought for your keyboard. Thanks a lot

I want your Tee shirt ! Cool

I am still using a Rift S I got right before Oculus got Meta'd. I want to upgrade to something that'll blow me away in MSFS2020 and 2024, but also be usable in War Thunder and possibly DCS if I ever get time to learn that. Ive thought about the clarity of the Pima Crystal, but can only imagine the neck pain from looking over my shoulder in a Spitfire for 3+hours. Meta Quest 3 looks enticing for the size and nice visual upgrade from the Rift S. but then something like the XR4 at ridiculous cost might give be the super immersion feeling I crave in War Thunder and MSFS. I think the price wold hurt for something like the XR4 but if its useful life is 5-8 years of amazing visuals, maybe its worth it? my Rift S was cool to me for the first 6 months, then the shortcomings of it in MSFS and War Thunder use made me start looking to upgrade. just don't want to do it every 2-3 years, but I guess that's technology nowadays! Great Video, thanks for the Chat!

Hi. I’ve started Ms FS with quest 2 and finally went later to hp reverb g2, but as wmr is going end of life soon I’m thinking going back to quest with the 3rd version: wireless + video pass through + not so expensive + virtual desktop open xr Since i have the g2 I’m not playing anymore to other PC games I used to play with the quest 2 wirelessly (no mansky, half life alyx etc…). G2 was a better image quality and better performance as the signal is coming directly from the gpu, but being tethered locked me on my chair.

My big take away is that I first need to upgrade my GPU from a 3080ti to at least a 4080. I might run the Q3 ok, but not the Pimax so that makes my decision for me. If price were not the problem, I would order a Pimax Crystal and 4090 to run DCS.

Great Vid! I am fairly new to VR, and have owned the Pico 4 now for about a Month. I like it but I have no other experience to base it off. If I put a Quest 3 headset on now after using the Pico 4 would I be blown away by the clarity enough to want the Quest 3 over the Pico 4?

I bought the pico 4 mainly for my simracing. I would love to get the Quest 3 but the cost is a definitely a factor. I saw the Pico being sold brandnew at the same price as the Quest 2 at around 250usd and i immediately jumped on it. Paired with the Virtual Desktop, the Pico 4 for wireless PCVR is awesome.

Hello. Love your channel and really appreciate all your great tutorials. I currently have a Reverb G2 and I just bought the Pimax crystal. Since the Crystal uses Pimax OpenXR, does that mean I have to uninstall the Microsoft OpenXR or can they coexist so that I can switch headsets if I need to? Since you have used both headsets, your reply would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks for the imformative update! I'm "finally" upgrading some of my pc hardware from I7 9700K setup: Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Rog Strix X670E E gaming MOBO, DDR5 and a new Gen 5 M.e SSD. Keeping the RTX 3080Ti for awhile longer though until I see what AMD comes out with later in the year. Still using the Reverb G2 for last "3 Years now". I would really like to go wireless, the cord has always been an irritant too, LOL! The Quest 3 pricing is hard not to consider and I really don't want to spend so much more on a crystal. You think with the 3080Ti, and wireless with the new MOBO setup, I have the HP to run MSFS202 and DCS and not sacrifice too much improvement in FPS? I know wireless takes more resources vs wired but not sure where, CPU/GPU or both and would like to start fresh and not reload Windows mixed reality again. Ideally the answer is: the quest 3 needs greater GPU resources so all my new CPU capability can still go to MSFS2020 and it's limited core usage right now. (Will see what changes in MSFS 2024?) And I am also not going to a 4090, Im skipping that purely on engineering reasons because of the suspect new smaller 12V HP connector issues continuing to increase with age. Waiting for next gen GPUs from either AMD or Nvida. I also rarely go more than 2 hours on any sim at a time and I have an excellent 7.1 surround sound system that I can crank to any levels I wish and not interfere with anyone in the household, neighbors: I need binoculars to even have a chance to see, LOL!!!! By the way that new motherboard has Wifi 6E not 7. Seems like 7 is not fully fleshed out anyway and the Quest 3 had only 6E in mind for maximum performance anyway? One final important detail: I'm old like you; used to have a private pilot's licence and lost it a few years ago when I developed retina tears in both eyes. Even right now, after all the surgeries, and later: lens replacement procedures, lazer membrane removals, and on top of that; an old "RK" cornea procedures done in the 90's etc. etc; I can't get to perfect 20-20 vision anymore with or without corrective lenses!!!! I don't use any glasses right now because im 20-(25-30) right and 20-(35-40) left. (Varies because of the OLD RK procedures before Laser corrective surgery was available!) In other words; I don't think I could notice the benefit of something like the clairity in a Pimax crystal or Vario Aero. I am more interested in relieving the slight but still noticeable "Eye Strain" in the Reverb-G2. Finally, 128GB or 512Gb? Thanks for any input/recommendations.

I currently use the HP2 running on an I9 12800, RTX 4070 and am looking for an upgrade. My wish list is to be able to fly at night in MSFS and have the clarity better with real black..not that foggy gray overlay as it depicts night. Open for your suggestions...

trying to get as much use out of my G2's as possible, need all the software and tips and tricks possible. if you have a link of more recent upgrades and tips and tricks for the HP G2, I'll take any link or any suggestions youv'e got.

Thx Mark voor the nice video's. I was wondering if i can use Virtual Desktop on meta quest 3 using my VD that i bought on pico 4. Or do i need to purchase on both devices? I dont see a way to login on existing accounts. Hope you can shed a light on this as former pico4 pilot :)

I chose the PICO 4 as the price was far less expensive than the Quest 3. 320 euros so 200 less than the Quest 3. I was very surprised of the fluidity (40 fps) and the image quality is very good. But you see you prefer the Quest 3. Do you see a big difference in terms of image clarity? Thanks in advance.

Do you recommend using your quest 3 with a Link cable or wireless?

The Pimax Crystal was disappointing for me when i tried it. You can tell immediately it was LCD. Low contrast and grey blacks did not impress me. It did jave a great resolution but micro OLED is definitely the future. The Shiftall looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to cheaper headsets when BOE start selling their micro OLEDs soon, which i hear are amazing.

1. Latency?

with the quest 3, which do you recomend the 128Gb or the 512Gb ?

Still cannot seem to get the same graphics quality out of steam link compared to VD and open XR? have you found this?

Where can i get the tshirt?

I use Valve Index; I would like to upgrade to Quest 3. Do you think it's worth it? is there a difference in visual quality? Thank you!

I was disappointed to hear of the cancelation of the Pico 5 line. The Pico 5 Pro Max looked incredible on paper. I was originally hoping it would release around the same time as the 5090. So now I'll just settle for my Pico 4 on my 2020 3090. Looks like I'll be using that the rest of the year 😐

Of course. Year is New so VR headset must be New.

Would you upgrade from Pico 4 to quest 3? Pcvr

Just try virtual desktop (with a 4090) in quest 3 and override resolution to 5800xXXXX and tell me what you see in msfs2020. Thank me later. Btw when I hear that the Pimax is the best I don't understand it. SadlyitsBradley, probably the most important VR guy in RU-vid talks about distortions, glow and awful user experience (size). I tested it and I don't see the $1000 difference with the Quest 3. Not to mention the pancake lens quality of the Q3. Best overall experience.

Making good quality VR hardware isn't cheap in this decade. Companies know people dont want cheap low quality VR experiences. Only Meta can come close. So heres where we're at now. It will be like this for a very long time I fear. Maybe 10 years out and cheaper high quality VR experiences will become the norm.

I haven't seen you do a review of the Big Screen Beyond, yet you are fairly dismissive of it. Can I ask what you as basing your opinion on?

My best advice would be to never upgrade to THIS headset, only THAT one.