Meta's best VR headset is at its lowest price, but not for long

Have your eyes glued to a Meta Quest Pro VR headset, but put off by its exorbitant price? Then you’re in luck: it’s currently $400 / £200 cheaper than normal, but for a limited time only.

As of now (January 30, 2023) the Meta Quest Pro is down to $1100 in the official Meta store (opens in a new tab) in the US, while Brits can pick it up for £1,300 from Meta’s UK store (opens in a new tab). Unfortunately, this deal won’t last forever, so if you want to pick up one of the best VR headsets at its lowest price, you’ll only have until the end of the week in the US – or two weeks in Great Britain.

If you’re one of those people who consider Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 headset underpowered and don’t want to wait for the launch of the Oculus Quest 3 which is expected to launch at the end of the year, then this is a lot to take. enjoy it while you can.

Looking for something to play with the Meta Quest Pro? Check out the VR games and apps we played in January 2023, or our picks for the best VR games.

In terms of raw power and performance, comfort and functionality, the Meta Quest Pro is by far Meta’s best VR headset.

Not only does it offer the same standalone VR experience as the brand’s other Quest devices – meaning you won’t feel the constant tug of a cable tethering you to your PC or console – but it also improves on older setups with higher quality miniLED panels and the powerful Snapdragon XR2 Plus chipset.

It also features an improved design with more padding and better weight distribution; unlike previous Quest models – which have a front-heavy layout – the Quest Pro houses its battery in its strap, placing it at the back of your head and using it as a counterweight to the screens and cameras on your face.

But despite the Quest Pro’s improvements, the less impressive Quest 2 is still the VR headset we think is the best for most people, mainly because it’s so damn cheap. You can buy Meta’s older headset for just $400 / £400 / AU$630, which is less than a third of the cost of Meta’s Pro model; sure, he’s less capable, but in the areas that matter, he’s certainly not a third as capable.

The Meta Quest Pro is great, but the Quest 2 offers amazing value for money (Image credit: Shutterstock / Boumen Japet)

However, where Meta’s Quest Pro might take the edge are its unique tools: its eye and face tracking, and color shifting. These functions are exactly what they sound like; eye and face tracking lets the Pro track and use your eye and face movements in VR experiences, and color passthrough means a wearer can see the real world in color through the cameras of the Pro, without needing to remove the device (which is ideal for mixed reality software).

The technology required to pull off these new features apparently drives the majority of the Quest Pro’s extra cost, but right now they’re more like gimmicks than must-have hardware. That’s not to say these features don’t bring benefits to titles that implement them, but they’re pretty minor upgrades and so far we haven’t used any software that makes the extra cost interesting.

Over the coming year, we believe that may change. With PlayStation VR 2 also introducing eye tracking, we’re likely to see a host of apps put it to good use; we’re particularly excited about the foveal rendering capabilities, a feature that will allow headsets to selectively render only what the user is looking at. This will allow them to use their power more effectively and facilitate better experiences.

As the Quest 3 isn’t expected to launch with face or eye tracking capabilities, Meta’s Quest Pro might be the only device in its lineup to be able to enjoy these inflated experiences for the foreseeable future. So picking up the Pro cheaply while you can might be a good idea if you want to experience the best in VR.

That said, choosing to wait might not be a bad idea either. There’s plenty of excitement to come this year with the launch of the Quest 3, HTC Vive XR Elite and Apple VR headset; so we wouldn’t be surprised if this discount returns later in the year to entice people to stick with the current champion of VR.