The $299 Oculus Quest 2 VR headset starts shipping today

The Oculus Quest 2, Facebook’s new digital actuality headset, has began shipping today. The Quest 2 is a less expensive, revamped model of the unique 2019 Quest. It’s received the identical untethered standalone design however with a brand new chipset and an enormous bump in display decision and controller battery life. And it’s beginning at $299 for the bottom 64GB mannequin and $399 for a 256GB model, a $100 drop from the unique Quest.

Quest 2 preorders have been open since September, and it’s obtainable by Oculus’ personal web site and shops like Best Buy and Walmart, with a full record of outlets in Oculus’ announcement publish. It was troublesome to purchase an unique Quest over a lot of the previous yr, because of persistent provide issues, however the Quest 2 nonetheless seems to be broadly in inventory.

(*2*)As we wrote in September, the Quest 2 improves among the Quest’s greatest shortcomings, notably its weight and stability issues, so long as you pay the additional $49 for an alternate head strap. Oculus has additionally expanded its library because the unique Quest’s launch, and it’s received a slate of upcoming video games promised for later this yr. The solely potential catch is that you just’ll want a Facebook account — not only a separate Oculus account — to make use of it.

The Quest 2 is changing the unique Quest, and beginning subsequent yr, it’s going to be Facebook’s solely headset, because the tethered Rift S will likely be discontinued within the spring. The product nonetheless has some higher-end competitors, together with the Valve Index and upcoming HP Reverb G2. But when you’re on the lookout for comparatively low cost VR that doesn’t require a PC, the Quest is in a singular place — and now, it’s on sale.