Choosing the right and best Virtual reality headsets have gotten really impressive in recent years. They offer increasingly engaging ways to explore new worlds, allowing you to move freely and gain a real sense of scale in your games. They are also the only way to experience great new games, including the recent Half-Life masterpiece.
However, getting a great VR experience requires a bit more than placing your smartphone in a plastic holder. While those phone-based VR headsets were an interesting entry into VR, the experience of a dedicated headset is on another level. With advanced tracking and 6DoF (six degrees of freedom), your movements are accurately translated into the game world, making you feel like you’re really there (for better or for worse).
However, quality VR headsets can be very demanding as some contain so many pixels and such a high refresh rate that you would need an amazing gaming PC to run them. Fortunately there is something for everyone. Some more affordable models can run on modest hardware, and there are even some that offer a compelling virtual reality experience without the need for a separate machine to run them. We’ve rounded up our top picks from the bunch so you can find a quality VR headset that will give you the realistic gaming experience you’re looking for.
List of Virtual Reality Headsets | Bestsellers
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Choosing the right VR headset will benefit your learners, leadership and training team. In this article, we break down the 10 best VR headsets for training in 2021 including their price, technical specs, and how they work.
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The purpose of a virtual reality headset is to immerse you in a virtual environment to feel as if you are fighting with life-size game characters, driving life-size cars, chasing life-size dragons, and meeting your friends feeling like it would feel in the physical real life. The more the immersion from a headset, the better, but that may come at additional cost.
The market has enough options–PC, mobile, and consoles headsets. Some headsets come as standalone devices, while others require other devices to be bought. Headsets come with a different capability for integration and support for other hardware, features, benefits, and challenges.
This guide informs you not only the best virtual reality headsets in the market for different operating software platforms but will also let you understand how to buy the best VR headset.
Virtual Reality Headsets
What they are and what are their applications?
Virtual reality is the relatively less popular technology that allows users to virtually immerse themselves in the content they are browsing, for instance, games or virtually working.
Looking and browsing through the content while wearing the virtual reality headset over his or her head with the lens directly in front of their eyes, a user will feel like though they were physically present in the environments they are browsing through or looking at.
Second, the user can use gaze sensor mode by looking at the content through the lenses and can use hand controllers to virtually interact with to control the content they are browsing or looking at. This increases the feeling of immersion.
How Do VR Headsets Work
A virtual reality headset comprises many parts including lenses, sensors, and connector ports.
The basic function of the device which is usually worn over the head with lenses placed in front of the eye is to project the image from a device such as smartphone graphics components, gaming console graphics components, or PC graphics components to the eye after creating a stereoscopic life-size 3D image, and environments.
For starters, a 3D image, video, and the environment is one that a user can browse from all sides, left, right, center, up, and down.
The headset can be so simple that it does not have an integrated computer device to recreate the image to 3D beyond having lenses but instead, has lenses to magnify already generated/created 3D images, videos, and environments into life-size images for further immersion.
#1) Cardboard headset comprises lenses that only magnifies the image and contains the sensors that allow a user to browse the content with gaze mode, just by looking at the control points in the 3D environments or content; and by rotating the head (rotational tracking). A user will only need to slot the smartphone into the cardboard device and start enjoying the 3D environments.
#2) Simpler VR headsets lack 3D audio and hand or body tracking, so it is called half-immersion. The problem here is when the user moves the rest of their body–beyond the head and hands–for instance, the user takes a step forward in the real world, the entire VR environment moves and does not detect these movements.
#3) Headsets used for top quality VR experiences have lenses, sensors, and controllers. Sensors and cameras are used for position-tracking or to track the position of the user, and for motion-tracking or for tracking the user’s motion.
#4) Positional and motion tracking helps to position the user or their body, or their hands, in the VR environment such that the user can move their body and move objects inside VR environments. This is called 6-degrees of freedom and the kind of VR is called Room-scale VR because besides rotating the head and using controllers to browse through the content, a user can move freely in the real world and consequently is tracked in the VR environment as they move around, and can even move objects in the virtual environment.
#6) Sensors can be located on the controllers operated by hand, placed or worn on the body, integrated on the headset itself, or even placed in the room to track the position and motion of the user in relation to headset and controllers. Controllers may contain sensors to detect finger movement or hand gestures.
#7) The other kinds of inputs include buttons on the controllers, gamepads, keyboard, and mouse buttons. These are used to relay the signal from hand or eye or head or body to be fed into the system and to allow the user to control or manipulate the VR content, for instance, shoot a character with a virtual gun if playing in a VR game.
Types Of VR Headsets
Virtual reality headsets are divided according to pricing and the level of immersion and experiences they provide, type of connectivity with other devices, and based on how they track the user’s motion and position as they use the devices.
#1) Based on connectivity or no connectivity with other devices:
a) Tethered
Types such as HTC Vive Pro and others are physically connected/tethered to a computer through a USB and/or HDMI cable. The connected powerful PC processes the 3D or VR environments and sends them to the headset which magnifies them and also manages the other inputs and outputs from and to the user.
b) Standalone
These lesser powerful headsets do not require an external connection to a PC or smartphone but come with an integrated computer, processors, sensors, battery, storage memory, and displays, and once strapped, they are ready to go, although they can work with separate controllers and other position and motion tracking sensors and devices. Examples include Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage Solo.
c) Smartphone
These lesser powerful (than above two categories) headsets contain lenses and sometimes sensors and all it requires the user to insert a VR-capable or other smartphones to enjoy VR apps. Smartphones that have gyroscopic sensors and accelerometers help create better immersion experiences with these lower quality headsets.
Examples include the Samsung Gear VR, Xiaomi Mi VR Play 2, and Cardboard devices.
#2) According to the quality of VR experiences:
a) High-end
The Oculus Rift, Valve and HTC’s Vive, Vive Pro, Oculus Quest, and Sony PlayStation VR are examples of headsets you might want to buy if willing to experience the best of quality graphics and refresh rates.
Besides the high-resolution screens, they contain motion and position tracking sensors and devices, which is best for full immersion in VR and free movement when playing games and exploring VR content in a room.
These are the most expensive but have lesser motion sickness. You might need to spend around $1,000 together with other hardware costs, such as buying a GPU for your PC.
b) Mid-range
The mid-range VR headsets are the ones powered by smartphones, though some come with integrated computer processing units.
However, unlike the cheaper cardboard options, they may comprise own screens, more powerful lenses and field of view, motion tracking sensors, position tracking systems and sensors, a dedicated app store, content subscription with the brands, built-in controls such as through buttons as controllers, and focus wheels.
Samsung’s Gear VR is the most sophisticated, and probably the most successful in this category. These devices cost between $75 to $125.
c) Low-end
These devices are the cheapest. Made of cardboard, plastics, or aluminum bodies, they have lenses that magnify the 3D and VR content is viewed from a VR app installed in a smartphone inserted in the headset. They are countless, cost as low as $10, and examples include the Mattel View-Master.
#3) According to position and motion tracking mode:
a) Inside-out tracking headsets
Mostly for high-end tethered and wireless headsets, these have sensors attached or fitted on the headset itself to track the motion and position of the user or headset versus that of the room in which the user is roaming as they play VR games or browse VR content.
There is the freedom to roam without restriction, hence more real. The problem is accuracy and latency because good computer vision is required, yet the technology is behind outside-in solutions. Another problem is the headset will need to do all the computational work itself.
b) Outside-in tracking headsets
In outside-in tracking, position and motion trackers or sensors are placed separately from the headset, in the room, or on an external device such as on the tethered PC, to track the position of the headset against that of the room. Examples are Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PS VR.
They do not cause a lot of nausea. It is the most powerful kind of tracking for now, best for accuracy, and it is possible to add more trackers around the room to increase accuracy.
However, there is the problem of occlusion, and sensors must be in the position to track the user effectively in 360 degrees otherwise they can lose placement when you turn around, and the user has to be in the field of view of the cameras to be tracked in the VR environment.
VR Headset Buying Tips
#1) Decide on which device you want to use to view the virtual reality content and the minimum requirement to operate VR, whether is it a PC, smartphone? You might need to buy GPU graphics for your PC.
#2) What is your application? Do you need the high-end VR headsets that support full-body positional and body movement tracking? What is your desired level of immersion?
High-end tethered or wireless VR headsets are also best for hard-core gamers, trainers, and their trainees, for example, in Government Defense departments who need top-notch immersion in their training simulations, etc. If the application is not as sensitive, it may be quite expensive for you to buy a high-end VR headset.
#3) If you need mobility, then you might need a mobile VR headset such as the smartphone-based headsets, wireless headsets, standalone headsets, or the cardboards. The smartphone category might need you to add an extra cost for VR-capable smartphone. The tethered ones are connected via a short cable to a PC and will limit movements, though you can upgrade some to be wireless by buying additional devices.
#4) Budget–High end cost the tunes of $3000 while the cheaper cardboards cost as low.
What’s Next?
VR technology isn’t going to sit still, and there are still more headsets on the horizon. One such upcoming VR headset is the HP Reverb G2, which takes the already high-end HP Reverb and levels it up. While the original model was more of a pro product, this new model has gaming in mind. The new model has improved controls that aren’t the clunky Windows Mixed Reality controllers of yester-year, and it includes integrated headphones for precise audio with a slightly changed design over the previous model.
These upgrades to the HP Reverb G2 are solid, especially when considering that the headset features one of the sharpest displays on the market. Like the original Reverb, the HP Reverb G2 offers a 2,160 x 2,160 resolution for each eye. That makes for a full image that packs more pixels than 4K and runs at 90Hz, so it’ll take a serious gaming PC to power. The HP Reverb G2 is set to launch late this year, but pre-orders are available now for a fairly competitive $599.
What to look for in a VR Headset
These aren’t the only headsets on the market, and they won’t be the last—there are more on the horizon (including HTC’s upcoming Vive Cosmos). When deciding which VR headset is right for you, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Platform: The best VR headset is the one you can actually use. If you already have a beefy gaming PC in your house and it’s in a room large enough for room-scale VR, grab a SteamVR headset. If you’re more likely to play a standalone system despite the lower graphical quality, don’t second-guess that instinct—go with the Oculus Quest.
In addition, if there are any exclusive games you want to play, keep that in mind as you narrow down your platform of choice—PSVR games will be limited to the PlayStation, and Oculus has some exclusive games for its headsets as well. SteamVR is pretty open, so it’ll work on pretty much any PC-based headset. Some Oculus exclusive games may be playable on SteamVR devices with Revive, but it’s no guarantee.
Challenges Of Using VR Headsets
- VR and headset devices have not reached mainstream adoption. All of them, VR hardware companies, software companies, and content creators are yet to find regular day-to-day and massive applications for VR.
- Virtual reality hardware, including the headsets, is expensive. At the same time, only a few hardware currently in use can support virtual reality content and platforms.
- A long period is needed before companies and persons can receive back on their VR investment or ROI.
- Steeper learning curve and complicated setups compared to other technologies.
- Internal implications such as nausea feelings when you use the headset for long. Other challenges include light-headedness, discomfort or pain in the head or eyes, drowsiness, fatigue, sweating, increased salvation, impaired hand-eye coordination, and impaired balance. Most of the best virtual reality headsets try to reduce those effects.
Conclusion
In conclusion, virtual reality headsets come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and types. If looking for the best virtual reality headsets, there are those standalone types that can be used alone without needing attachment to smartphones or PCs and there are those that require being tethered on PCs, and those that require smartphones insertion to play their role.
Among the top virtual reality headsets, we have high-end VR, mid-range, and low-end VR in terms of the quality of virtual reality experiences. Most have associated content and app stores from which the user can get content to play if they buy a headset.
We looked, in this top virtual reality headset tutorial, at the specifics of a virtual reality headset, but most importantly, we concentrated on the top 10 virtual reality headsets available in the market today.
They include Samsung Odyssey+, HTC Vive, and Vive Pro, Oculus Quest and Rift S, Homido, Microsoft HoloLens, Valve Index, Samsung Gear VR, and without forgetting one of the most valuable for gamers, in this list–the PlayStation VR headset.
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