The Best VR Headsets - A Top10Tech Review of The Best VR Headsets and a breakdown of which headset i
- Steven Avery
- Oct 25, 2016
- 4 min read
Let's face it, there are a ton of VR headset options available at virtually any price point you can imagine, but we're going to focus on those with the most broad appeal. Obviously Sony is in a great position to own a huge chunk of this market, but there are a couple of other VR headsets worth taking a look at.
Let's break these top VR headsets down, so that you can figure out which is right for you.
At just under $400, the Sony PS VR is the most affordable option of the market leaders. Sony’s VR headset costs $400, but you’ll need two PlayStation Move controllers and the PS4’s camera to take full advantage of the technology. There are games and experiences that you don’t need the Move controllers for, but if you want the full experience, there’s a $500 bundle that includes everything you’ll need, as well as a bunch of mini-games called PlayStation VR Worlds.
Initial reviews of the Playstation VR have been mixed, but overall they're pretty positive. Detractors will tell you that you should wait until more games are released and that might be true, but not everyone can wait to get there gaming experience wrapped around their head. Sony has also been saying that the PS4 Pro, that will launch in November, will improve the overall VR experience, but they haven't really hinted at just how it's going to do that. Of course, if you want a virtual reality experience with a game console, this is your only option today.
Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift launched as a Kickstarter campaign and was followed up with $2 billion buyout from Facebook. To use the Oculus VR ($599 Retail), you'll need a pretty powerful PC that runs Windows, but it does come with an Xbox One controller to improve the gaming experience. If you're willing to plunk down another 200 bucks, you can get the Oculus Touch motion controllers, which provide a more robust gameplay experience in the Rift environment.
The Oculus is about more than just gaming, but that is clearly the big draw to this device. Some of the bigger game titles that currently run on the Oculus Rift VR platform include Adrift, Chronos, Darknet, EVE: Valkyrie, Pinball FX2 VR, Lucky's Tale, Radial G: Racing Revolved and Keep Talking and Nobody Exploded.
With a Resolution of 1,200×1,080 pixels per eye and a refresh rate of 90Hz, the experience is really good. However, the system requirements to get this level are quality are pretty impressive too.
The Minimum System Requirements for the Oculus Rift are NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD R9 290 equivalent, Intel i5-4590, 8GB RAM, Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output, 3 USB 3.0 ports and 1 USB 2.0 port and at least Windows 7 Sp1 64 bit. The VR headset currently supports more than 100 games
The pack comes with an Oculus Rift headset with a quick start guide, Oculus remote with integrated battery, small plastic tool for integrated headphone removal, camera sensor with built-in stand, Xbox One USB wireless receiver for gamepad and instructions, Xbox One wireless gamepad, two AA batteries, two Oculus logo stickers, Oculus lens wipe cloth.
Although much less hyped that the Sony PS VR or the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive is worth considering.
At first glance, the $799 price point seems super expensive, you need to keep in mind that the HTC Vive is being offered and sold as a "full experience". As such, the Vive package will come with the headset, the two lighthouse base stations for room tracking, and two controllers. So, this is exactly the same price as the Oculus Rift VR, if you add their Oculus Touch Controllers.
The Vive comes with a feature that allows you to integrate it with your iOS or Android smartphone, allowing you you to receive and respond to texts and calls while using your Vive. You can also check you calendar, so you'll know exactly what you're blowing off in real life while you exist in virtual reality.
So, the HTC Vive device package is priced in line with the other leading VR headsets, but the real difference could be in the price of a PC powerful enough to drive it. Valve is recommending that users have an NVIDIA GTX 970 or an AMD Radeon R9 290 at minimum. With that in mind, differences in cost on the order of a couple hundred dollars may be less significant than they seem when comparing the headsets themselves.
The HTC Vive is available at a price of $799. The pack contains sync cable, base station power adaptor, 2 base stations, 2 controllers with lanyards, headset, mounting kit, link box mounting pad, link box, link box power adaptor, HDMI cable, USB cable, cleaning cloth, earbuds, alternate face cushion and two micro-USB chargers.
So...Which One Should You Get?
The Sony PS VR is the most economical option, especially if you already have a PS4 and even more so if you're planning to get the PS4 Pro anyway. It's not the best in the market, but considering the price and the features it has, the PS VR is the best deal available. Also, as Sony's quite close to the best game studios, some top class titles may hit the Sony PS VR platform first.
If you don't want a console experience and you're cool with spending a a huge chunk of your budget for a slightly better experience, go for the Oculus Rift. Also, Oculus has been working with its parent company Facebook on new cutting edge VR experience.
The Vive offers the best overall experience at present and the tracking is also fantastic.
if you're a diehard Valve/Steam fan, you want Virtual Reality to remain an open platform, and you have a pretty kick ass PC, you should buy the HTC Vive.
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