However, after reviewing one of these demos, we were left mostly unimpressed with our first impressions. Even if the Quest Pro’s new features end up justifying its hefty price tag (and the extra time with a retail device later this week should help answer that question fully), our retail demo didn’t perform better than the Meta.
try the upcoming Quest Pro at select Best Buy stores
Where am I going?
Walking into Best Buy in Columbia, Maryland on Sunday, I found no signage suggesting that the store was hosting some kind of special VR demo. Instead, I had to search the aisles until I found a lone Quest display in an unloved back corner of the store, complete with Quest 2 and Quest Pro under glass. Nearby, a demo employee was leaning on a counter, playing with his phone next to a demo device on a charging stand. When I approached, he said that I was the first person all weekend to show interest in the demo (although another one came to see what it was about while I was on headphones).
There was no dedicated room or space set aside to showcase the Quest in the store. Instead, a demo employee awkwardly led me to a small patch of bare carpet, where I unceremoniously stood between a tower of retail racks and a pile of boxed 4K TVs. When customers and workers crossed this area during my installation, I was redirected to another patch of carpet, even further to the corner of the store. There, I had to set up my own virtual “keeper”to mark a safe workspace and highlight walls and other obstacles for various “augmented reality”experiences.
To make matters worse, after about 15 minutes of my demo, a peaceful meditation session in Tripp VR was interrupted by a sudden power outage message when the headset ran out of power. The demo employee apologized, saying that the device “was at zero percent when I got it”and hadn’t been plugged in long before our demo. I took a short break from the store and returned to a fully charged device, but the Quest Pro still pretty much ruined my only chance at first impression.
Looking for comfort
Demo issues aside, putting on the Quest Pro is noticeably more comfortable than previous Quest headsets. The flimsy straps on these earlier devices have been replaced with a thick headband and large semi-circular pads that rest on the forehead and back of the head. Once it’s on your eyes, the easy-to-turn handle at the back ensures a secure fit without being too tight.
This new design means that the “ski goggle”pressure that the old Quest headsets put on the eye area has almost completely disappeared here. Although the Quest Pro was a bit of a pressure on the bridge of my nose, it was no more distracting than sunglasses. I could even reach out and scratch my nose without removing the headset, thanks to the new open-bottom design that also allows for much better airflow (however, the demo device had magnetic “curtains”pre-installed on the sides to eliminate real-world distractions. I had to ask them to jump out).
Although I only spent about an hour in the Quest Pro during my demo, I felt like I could keep it indefinitely without complaining.
The Quest Pro also features some nice quality-of-life improvements when it comes to positioning the headset for perfect visual focus. The headset’s inward-facing cameras automatically detected pupil distance and told me to adjust the system’s lenses inward to match (which I did by simply reaching across the bottom of the headset and sliding in a smooth but steady motion). The headset also told me that it sat too low in front of my eyes and that I should tilt it up and tighten it again for a better view.
However, when everything is in focus, I have to say that I was not impressed with the Quest Pro’s display. While the picture may have been a bit crisper than I’m used to on previous Quest headsets, it was a far cry from the high-end clarity enhancement you’d expect from a high-end headset. The changes were most noticeable only in my peripheral vision, where images remained crisp and clear without distortion even when viewed from the side of the screen.
My first experience with a full-color pass-through camera wasn’t great either – my view of the outside world wobbled back and forth by a few visible inches as I tried to set up my gaming space. Although the problems corrected relatively quickly, it was still an unpleasant start to the experience.