The best mid-range VR headset
Specifications
Display:
LCD
Resolution:
4320 x 2160
Refresh Rate:
90Hz
Field of View:
~114 degrees
Controller:
Odyssey Controllers
Connections:
DisplayPort 1.3, USB 3.0
Reasons to buy
+
Easy setup and long cable
+
Accessible physical IPD Toggle
+
No screen door effect
Reasons to avoid
-
FOV below average
-
Limited tracking volume
The HP Reverb G2 has won a place here with the best VR headsets, thanks in no small part to its fantastic resolution. If future-proofing your setup in terms of image fidelity is your main concern, it will not disappoint. With 2160p per eye, the Reverb G2 manages to completely alleviate the screen door effect that can cause issues with some lower resolution headsets—provided you have a powerful enough GPU to handle it.
You are able to step down the resolution per eye with relative ease if it surpasses the limitations of your hardware, though. And even playing in lower resolutions, you get to take advantage of great features like the highly inclusive, physical IPD toggle on the underside of the headset, the range of which is impressive compared to other options on the market.
The use of standard Mixed Reality controllers is a little disappointing, though. While they're battery operated for quick juice swaps, they forgo a lot of the more advanced features found in other designs like the Valve Index's finger-tracking knuckle controllers.
The Reverb G2's tracking solution does mean no base stations are necessary, and that means simpler setup, but also comes with some drawbacks. Visible light tracking means surrounding lighting conditions can really affect your experience. Don't expect it to work particularly well in a Sunroom, or in the dark, as the headset relies on a very particular lighting requirement to position you properly in physical space.
The hand tracking is a little limited without base stations, too, but HP counters this with fantastic IMU gyro sensors will predict movements beyond the tracking area, as long as they are fluid motions. Holding your hands still tells a different story, but this shouldn't make a difference in most in-game situations. It's possible to land steady sniper shots even when prone, as long as you don't pull the controllers too close to your face.
The Reverb G2 might not have all the fancy greebles of some of the other headsets on the list, but it has enough great features that do make it worth a look.
And speaking of invading your headspace, the headset is a snug fit. The Velcro strap gets caught in my hair a fair bit, but its a comfortable solution. It needs to be quite tight on to prevent slippage and, although it's not the heaviest VR headset around, there's a noticeable pressure on the cheeks. After extended periods of play this can make you feel strange due to interference with the sinuses. Either way it doesn't put any pressure on the bridge of the nose itself, and there's enough room to wear glasses inside comfortably.
Some users have complained of trouble with the curvature on the face gasket being too extreme, but there are 3D printed solutions out there if it doesn't fit right. Still, the Reverb G2's tether at least is a step up from the G1, in that it's now a singular cable as opposed to two adjacent cables. At 19.5 foot (6m), it's a little longer than a lot of other top VR headsets, but the jelly feel means it catches on itself, making it a little awkward to untangle.
The off-ear, BMR powered headphones are brilliant, however. Not only is the sound quality incredible, it also helps with keeping you cool and immersed without anything more pressing up against the side of your face. They're similar to the headphones used on the Index, and hopefully we'll see more headsets utilise the tech going forward.
The HP Reverb G2 works seamlessly with Steam VR, though I do have some gripes with its reliance on Windows Mixed Reality. Essentially there is no way to stop it from opening on start-up if you've left the headset plugged in, aside from uninstalling it—which I don't want to do because it does include some cool features. Other than that, I've no real complaints on the software front when it comes to actually using the set on a day-to-day basis.
The Reverb G2 might not have all the fancy greebles of some of the other headsets on the list, but it has enough great features that do make it worth a look for the money.
Read our full
HP Reverb G2 review
.
Also tested
Pico 4 VR headset
The only reason the Pico 4 hasn't made its way onto our best VR headset list is due to its lack of availability in the US. When the price often comes in lower than the Oculus Quest 2, and for a more impressive feature set, it's easy to recommend this one to the rest of the world.
PC Gamer score: 90%
For
Crisp visuals
Cute controller design
Aces price to performance
Accurate tracking
Easy IPD and headset adjustment
Great colour passthrough
Against
Difficult to buy in the US
A little front weighted
Struggles a bit streaming wirelessly
Of course, we cant recommend Sony's PS VR2 for PC gamers in good conscience when we know all their games are on Steam and unreachable with this headset. Nonetheless, the smart design here is something to behold with its cracking fidelity and eye tracking, there's a lot to like if you're more of
PC Gamer score: 88%
For
Clever design
Eye tracking
Runs well on PS5 hardware
Controllers are great
Comfortable over prolonged use
High fidelity
Against
Limited on games compared to PC
Pricier than a Quest 2
Struggles a bit streaming wirelessly
VR headset Q&A
What are VR lighthouses?
To keep track of your movements, your VR headset needs to use some method of sensing both the headset itself as well as the controllers in your hands. The first VR headsets used what are known as lighthouses, individually placed sensors, or positional trackers, which plugged into your PC.
This is the most accurate method of tracking but is cumbersome, and unless they're permanently installed in a room, you'll need to set them up each time you want to play, and that includes calibrating them anew every time.
What is inside-out tracking in VR?
Inside-out tracking means you don't need external sensors as the headset can keep track of both itself and the controllers around it. Originally this method wasn't as effective, wasn't quite as responsive, and broke immersion in-game. But with the best VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2, the tech is almost on par with the lighthouse in terms of responsiveness now. And is certainly far more convenient.
Are there wireless PC VR headsets?
The Quest 2 is a wireless headset, but you officially need to plug it into your gaming PC via a USB Type-C cable to enjoy the best VR headset experience with your rig. But there are now easily accessible ways to do that wirelessly. However, you do need to have a Wi-Fi 6 router to deliver the level of throughput you require not to spend the entire time vomiting your guts up due to incessant lag.
The old Vive did have a wireless module you could add to the system, which was almost effective, though, in our experience, the connection dropouts would not be something we could put up within the long term.
The Valve Index could be due to its own wireless module as some
patents have emerged, indicating a wireless head strap
has at least been considered for the company's stellar goggles.
Jargon buster
Field of view (FOV)
The field of view refers to the amount of an environment that's visible to an observer; in VR, it's the extent of the game world that's visible in the displays. A broader FOV in a headset is integral to a feeling of immersion.
Head-mounted display (HMD)
Broadly any wearable mounted on the head with graphical capabilities but often used to refer to VR headsets specifically.
Inside-out tracking
Systems used to track a user's movements in VR that originate in the headset, as opposed to outside-in tracking, where external sensors are used to track movement. Tracking, and the method used, is crucial to enable either three degrees of freedom (being able to look around in any direction in VR) or six degrees of freedom (being able to look around and move your body in any direction in VR).
Latency
The delay between an input and a response, in VR, the delay between user input through a controller, moving your head, or other methods, and the response on the headset displays. Low latency is vital to reducing nausea in VR, which is most intense when there's a delay or stuttering between moving or looking and the display reacting.
Resolution
Resolution is the measurement in pixels, horizontal and vertical, of an image or display. Higher resolution in VR is essential because the displays are so close to the user's eyes, which emphasizes jagged lines, pixelation, and the screen door effect.
Refresh rate
The number of images a display is capable of displaying per second, measured in hertz. The high refresh rate is essential for VR similarly to latency, as a low refresh rate can cause stuttering (or even the appearance of freezing), which can cause nausea.
Screen door effect (SDE)
The fine mesh-like effect of viewing an image rendered in pixels at close range, where the grid between pixels is visible. Higher resolutions (or proprietary solutions like that built into the Odyssey+) mitigate this effect.
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Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog from his hometown in Wales in 2017. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, where he would later win command of the kit cupboard as hardware editor. Nowadays, as senior hardware editor at PC Gamer, he spends his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industry. When he's not writing about GPUs and CPUs, however, you'll find him trying to get as far away from the modern world as possible by wild camping.
