The Quest 2 looks very similar to its predecessor, apart from the new paint job and a slightly smaller frame (which Oculus says is 10% lighter than the original Quest). The headset’s body is made of smooth white plastic, with no geometric patterns or swiss cheese-esque tracking sensors – just four cameras along the front corners. Gone is the rough fabric covering the headset body, resulting in a more unified look that will likely show dirt easier – but will also be easier to clean without the fabric. The strap, however, does use white fabric, which will almost certainly get grimy after some sweaty usage. (It also feels a bit cheaper than the original Quest’s strap, though its less rigid nature makes the Quest 2 way more portable.) Oculus does sell a new Elite Strap separately, which uses a plastic halo design with a twist-to-tighten wheel that clicks the headset to size. It’s a worthy upgrade, if you can spring the extra cash, and there’s even one with a battery pack, for those that spend hours at a time in VR.

Speaking of cash, the Quest 2 costs $299, making room-scale VR more affordable than ever. That price is for the 64GB model, and as a Quest owner, I’ve found 64GB more than adequate for my usage. If you plan on loading up your Quest with heavier games, movies, and other files, you may want to spring for the $399 version, which has a whopping 256GB of storage (twice as much as the higher-tier Quest 1).

The rest of the Quest’s specs have been souped up as well, with a per-eye resolution of 1832×1920 (up from 1600×1440 on the original Quest), a 90Hz refresh rate (up from 72Hz), 6GB of RAM (vs 4GB), and a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, which Qualcomm claims has twice the CPU and GPU performance of the previous headset’s Snapdragon 835. I wasn’t able to test the 90Hz support, since games haven’t implemented it yet, but we’ll hopefully see developers roll out 90Hz support soon after launch.

The inter-pupillary distance (IPD) adjustment now only has three settings, rather than being able to adjust it millimeter by millimeter. If you wear glasses, the Quest comes with a glasses spacer, and you still have the option of getting prescription lenses for the headset as well, but this is a minor downgrade.

Finally, the controllers have an updated design, with better haptic feedback, four times more battery life (according to Oculus), and a larger size with plenty of room for your thumbs to rest without risking accidental button presses. This is a double-edged sword, though, which I’ll get to in a moment.

Setup and Requirements

The Quest 2 is just as effortless as its predecessor, giving it a big advantage over more complex PC-based VR headsets. Once your headset is charged, you just need to download the Oculus app on your phone and follow the instructions to set everything up. You’ll connect to Wi-Fi, put AA batteries in the controller, and wait a few minutes for the latest firmware – oh, and log into your Facebook account, which is required for the Quest 2. Those that already use Facebook regularly may not have a problem with this, but for those philosophically opposed to Facebook, this is a legitimate dealbreaker for a device that, unfortunately, doesn’t have any real competition.