If you’re more into fully immersive games and experiences, you might prefer a traditional VR headset that plugs into a PC, blocks out the world around you and delivers high-end visuals direct to your eyeballs. While these are bulkier and don’t usually have pass-through cameras, they’re still improved today over where they were a few years ago, with integrated tracking removing the need for sensors placed around your room.

The Pimax Crystal is the epitome of high-end consumer VR, with the Chinese company’s unmatched panels and lenses providing the clearest and sharpest view into a virtual world I’ve ever seen. Tech-wise, there’s not much this headset doesn’t do, from eye-tracking to automatic mechanical pupillary distance adjustments, but overloading on features does come at a cost. You’ll pay about $3000 for the set-up, which is steep considering the Quest can plug into a PC for a similar (but much simpler) experience using a $100 cable. Other options such as the $700 HTC VIVE Cosmos provide solid PC options.

Yet for folks who are into flight simulators or racing games and want a huge field of view and the fastest, best graphics possible, the Crystal will be at the top of the list. You do miss out on a bit of the refinement and ease-of-use — if you think of the Quest as like an iPhone, the Crystal is like an absurdly powerful Android — but it’s hard to argue with the experience once you’re inside. The Crystal does have a standalone mode so you can use it with no PC, but it currently has very few games available.

A console contender

This year, Sony introduced the PlayStation VR2, and on paper it’s an incredibly capable device for the competitive price of $880. But despite its sharp high-resolution displays, eye tracking and great controllers, it comes with a number of caveats.

First, it only works with a PlayStation 5 console so if you don’t already have one, that’s an additional cost of $800. On its own that wouldn’t be so bad, given comparable PC VR systems also require an expensive computer to function. But while the PC has hundreds of good VR games available in established ecosystems, the line-up for PS VR2 is quite thin. The bulk of games are also available on Quest, major games from PC are missing, and Sony’s own studios have only produced one full VR game for the system: Horizon Call of the Mountain, a $110 climbing and archery adventure.

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For existing PS5 users with faith in the future of the platform, it’s a great tethered VR unit. But those with a powerful PC or interest in wire-free VR might think twice.

Apple’s waiting in the wings

Coming to the United States next year and the rest of the world at some point later, the Apple Vision Pro headset is shaping up to be like a supercharged Quest 3 with several Apple-specific touches. Internal cameras can project a view of your face on the outside of the headset, so people in real life can see your eyes, while Apple’s existing ecosystem of phone, tablet and computer software will work as floating windows within mixed reality.

If you already use Apple products, this might sound like the perfect way to enter the world of VR but at $5300, it also costs more than seven times the Meta Quest 3.

Eventually, it seems like the Vision Pro could stand in for something like a Mac, so that price might not be too outrageous. But that assumes one can use it for hours at a time without fatigue, a feat that would be a first for any headset.

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