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Is the HTC Vive Pro or Oculus VR headset best?

Do you want to completely immerse yourself inside a video game? From having to always keep your head turned when walking down dark alleys in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners to dodging and weaving as you try to fend off Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel, VR games have become sophisticated and fun, allowing you to drop yourself into whatever world or experience you want. But should you get the Oculus Quest 2 or the HTC Vive Pro?

Oculus VR headset

Oculus Quest 2

An Oculus Quest 2 is a video game console in it's own right. You won't need a PC or a TV, just enough space to move around and maybe some friends to stand nearby and catch you if you get too into the game and forget where you really are. The Oculus store has all kinds of blockbuster games  to choose from and lets you access them all directly through the headset, so new game experiences are always available to you. The headset is able to track the movements of your hands and body precisely, making your actions translate well in whatever digital world you choose to enter.

Oculus VR headset pros

The Oculus Quest 2 has a wide variety of high-quality games that are easily accessible. You don't even need to own a PC with an expensive GPU. The Quest's graphics processor is just as good as an Xbox One's. The headset is comfortable and doesn't feel loose or hug the face too tightly, and the headphones do well to block outside noise while delivering amazing surround sound, which is perfect for the ambience of a battlefield or a haunted house.The game library in the Oculus store is expansive with titles like Resident Evil 4, Vader Immortal, Superhot VR and Beatsaber, but also plenty of simulators and virtual communities, like VR Chat. The Oculus is also affordable compared to the HTC Vive Pro.

Oculus VR headset cons

Some people have complained that the Oculus Quest 2 is blurry and that they have a difficult time adjusting the lenses. While only a few people reported blurriness, for some reason, the Quest requires a Facebook account, which may turn away some users. Because it's all in one, it has worse power, audio and resolution than the HTC Vive. Because some games require you to stand, it requires a room with some open space, and even then, the immersion itself might cause some people to get motion sickness.

HTC Vive Pro

HTC Vive Pro

The HTC Vive Pro is true to its professional namesake; its quality is undeniable and this headset is sought after. The headset is powerful and has 1600p resolution per eye and a 110-degree field of view, completely enveloping you in high-definition gameplay. It has advanced tracking that scales to fit whatever room you're in. No matter the room's size, you'll be able to traverse gigantic virtual spaces. There are all kinds of indie and blockbuster games on Viveport, and for a cheap annual subscription, every game on there is available to you.

HTC Vive Pro pros

The HTC Vive Pro has a much faster refresh rate than the Oculus to go along with a display of 2880×1600. The Vive doesn't just make games look better. The high-resolution-certified headphones have integrated 3D spatial sound. The games on Viveport are easy to access and include games like Half Lyfe: Alyx, an unofficial Half Life 3 that provides a compelling, first-person shooter experience. Unlike the Quest 2, you won't need to charge it, but if you want to play unplugged, it can last for six hours, four hours longer than the Quest 2. Luckily, even though it requires a computer, it works with Windows, macOS and Linux. The power of the device and its connectivity to computers make it an excellent tool for professional use and for developers to work on projects. This thing even tracks eye movements so that whatever you're looking at has higher resolution than its surroundings.

HTC Vive Pro cons

The downsides to the Vive Pro stick out as soon as you see the price tag. The performance is much better than the Oculus in terms of raw power, but the Vive's scarcity has made it overpriced. Even though you'll be spending nearly four times as much money to get it than the Oculus Quest 2, you won't be able to use it if you don't have a PC with the specs required to run it. The Vive requires that you have a PC with at least an i5 intel core and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU. You won't be able to move around as much either. You'll have to set a small boundary around yourself and you'll be tethered to your PC.

Should you get the Oculus VR headset or the HTC Vive Pro?

There's not much of a question when it comes to value. For practically a fourth of the price you get a product that is only marginally inferior and you'll get access to a greater number of big titles. You can even play some PC titles on the Quest, which makes it even more comparable to the Vive. Besides, with the quest you can play anywhere, you set the boundary around yourself so that you can move around and play or just casually sit and casually use your controllers. The winner is definitely the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.

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Sam Bramlett writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.

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