Just because of how niche this hobby still is, I strongly believe there is no perfect VR headset right now. However, I’m happy with my setup right now, after going through a few headsets.
✍️ My VR History
Long ago I had a Vive Cosmos, but the framerate was awful.
May 2022: A few years later I bought a Quest 2 (later sold) and upgraded my computer after a year of VRChat. For the most part I was wired into my computer with a special cable that would also inject power. However, I ended up replacing cables every few months (luckily it was usually before the return window was over). Even with the cable mounted with pulleys on the ceiling, the connection would fail after a couple dozen hours. I tried the D-Link VR Air Bridge, but that was hot garbage, and I still needed to plug in to keep charged.
June 2023: Sick of the connection issues, I upgraded to a Valve Index. Which is super heavy on the face.
Sept 2023: Eventually, I wanted to try making videos again, but I really wanted face tracking in order to do that. I had bought the Vive Face Tracker, but the software for it was awful, and I was convinced it was frying itself when it crackled every time I unplugged it. I was going to build an EyetrackVR kit but…
Feb 2024: I bought a lightly used Quest Pro. Right from the start, I loved how it attaches to the head. I’m not a fan of how other headsets tend to crush the sinuses. Scared by stories I had read of people breaking the USB-C port, I decided to add a wireless access point to my room so I could use Virtual Desktop. When it became available, I switched to Steam Link
Major downside of the Quest Pro is the controllers are horrible. I’ve never had then stay on for more than a hour without getting a notification claiming they are overheating. (Even if they’re just sitting on a table!) I typically just use hand tracking until I get SteamVR running.
Sorry to turn this post into your a cooking recipe blog, but here’s the ‘ingredients’ of my setup:
🖥️ Hardware
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Quest Pro
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KKCOBVR Battery Head Strap, and a spare battery.
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Vive 3.0 Tracker with a 3D printed mount on the headset.
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3x Vive 3.0 Trackers, Legs and Waist. (Total 4.)
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4 Lighthouses
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Index Knuckle Controllers
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A seperate access point that is ~10 feet line of sight to my VR space
Rarely used hardware
- Muse Headband
- Woojer Haptic Strap 3
PC Specs
- Tiny11
- Ryzen 5 5600X
- 32GB DDR4
- B550 Gaming X V2 AM4 Motherboard
- GeForce RTX 3060Ti 4GB
💿 Software
Through Steam:
- OVR Toolkit - Mostly just use this to check battery levels and to have the watch on my wrist.
- OVR Advanced Settings -
- Space Calibrator - Combines the play spaces with continuous calibration.
- VRC Face Tracking -
- VRC Video Cacher -
Natural Locomotion- Still having trouble configuring this, would like to use it with my treadmill.Standable-
Startup Process:
- Attach a fresh battery to the Quest Pro strap
- Open Steam Link on Quest and Connect
- Strap on trackers
- Turn on headset tracker first (This is an old habit, Space Calibrator didn’t save the serial number before)
- Turn on the other trackers
- Start VRC Face Tracking + VRChat
- Calibrate in VRChat.
Other notes:
- When having a room-scale playspace, having a rug the size of your space helps!
Much less distracting to feel you’ve stepped off the rug versus a virtual barrier popping up! - Quest Pro Ears Mount is a cute idea, but everything kept falling off.
- While I would like to get a set of Trackstrap Plus batteries for my trackers, I would like to have a solution where the batteries could be replaced. Who knows, I might switch to FluxPose in the future anyways.
- I tried building a Gridfinity charging basket, but honestly I need to make something more sturdy, as the magnets holding the charging stations aren’t strong enough.
- Tupper’s Best PCfor VRChat Guide
- Echo’s PCVR Performance & Tracking Ultimate Guide