The Best VR Gaming Headsets in 2020 & 2021

Looking for the best VR headset? We've got you covered.

Charlie Noon

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Virtual reality is here and in a big way! The first VR supportive headsets were released back in 2016, since that day, we’ve seen the virtual reality platform grow exponentially. With modern technological advancements, VR has expanded to a point where consumers now have a vast plethora of hardware, games, and media options to choose from.

One of the biggest issues virtual reality had when starting up was the expensive price tags manufacturers put on their products. It just wasn’t affordable. Since then, VR has become a mainstream form of entertainment and a household name. Even though VR is still considered expensive, prices have dropped hugely since it’s initial release in the hope to cater to more of the general public.

In today’s market, there are a number of different VR products available with varying degrees of expense attached. The following article is compiled of what we believe to be the best VR headsets available today. We put each headset through its paces to see how it lived up to both the WEPC strict performance tests and the buzz that currently surrounds the subject.

Let’s get straight into it by taking a brief look at what’s to come in the following best of guide:

Our Top Picks

The Best VR Gaming Headset

HTC VIVE

The Best Standalone VR Gaming Headset

Oculus Quest

The Best VR Gaming Headset For The Phone

Samsung Gear

The Best VR Gaming Headsets

HTC VIVE

Oculus Quest

Samsung Gear

HTC Vive Pro

Sony Playstation VR Headset

In-depth Review

The Best VR Gaming Headset

HTC VIVE

Editor's Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5

Pros

Cons

The HTC Vive gets our number one spot for best gaming VR headset available this 2021 and for good reason. The steam powered Vive comes to shelves with a bunch of cool features and benefits such as room scaling, Play safer and Vive video which combined create a fantastic all round experience for it’s users.

The Vive was one of the first VR headsets to be released back in 2016 and since that day has paved the way as far as high quality VR experiences go. The Oculus Rift has been the Vive’s main rival and was released at the same time, however, cool Vive features help provide a much more realistic VR experience. Let’s touch on some of those features now.

Room scaling is a superb feature which not only lets the user look around the virtual world they’re in, but also allows them to physically walk around it as well. The Vive has the ability to do this thanks to the two mapping base stations the headset comes with. You place the two stations in an open space, up to a maximum of 3.5m x 3.5m, and allow the headset to wirelessly synchronize within the zone you have created. Once everything is paired, fire up your favourite game which supports room scaling and start walking around your virtual universe. Very cool.

Thankfully, HTC have developed playsafe technology to stop you becoming another youtube sensation by colliding with your TV. The playsafe software maps out where your walls and objects are by using inbuilt cameras and sensors, then alerts you when you get close to them. The cameras also allow you to switch between VR and reality so you can converse, drink and eat without having to take the headset off.

The directional audio is an added bonus and can be purchased separately or part of a bundle. It intelligently alters your audio depending on which way your facing to create a more realistic experience. A really cool feature if you’re happy to fork out a little bit more. Vive Video allows users to play standard 3D, 180 degree and 360 degree video content as well.

Overall, the Vive got it right on day one, it’s still our favourite all round gaming VR headset and we look forward to seeing the improves HTC make in the near future.

The Best Standalone VR Gaming Headset

Oculus Quest

Editor's Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5

Pros

Cons

The Quest is the latest offering from Oculus and bridges the gap between mobile VR and PC tethered headsets. In a nutshell, the Quest offers remote VR access without needing a phone or device to power it. The computer is built in to the headset itself which offers true freedom to use VR anywhere, anytime.

Similarly to the Vive, the quest comes with room scaling but doesn’t require any external base stations to do so. It uses the 4 front positioned cameras to map out your surroundings and translate that into the VR very effectively.

A huge positive for me was the positional audio output which can be found at either side of the headstrap. For what essentially is two mini output speakers, the quality is superb and gives you a real feeling of spacial awareness. It does have a mini jack slot for external headphones but that really isn’t necessary. Oculus did a great job in this regard.

The controllers or wands as Oculus like to call them feel great in your hand, they have a real nice ergonomic fit which is perfect for extended periods of usage. One issue I noticed with the controllers was, if you position them behind the cameras, they stop tracking until they come back into the cameras range. It’s not a huge issue but stops you from putting your hands behind your head or back.

As for weight, considering this thing has the computer built in, it’s really not too heavy at all. It has excellent weight distribution which helps to reduce overall stress on the head and neck. Again, like the Vive, the Quest has it’s own version of playsafe, Oculus Guardian. It works in exactly the same way as Playsafe by mapping your surroundings then notifying you when you’re in danger of running into something.

Overall it’s a really great product and one we feel outranks the Rift respectively. You are taking a small drop in graphical output, but the VR experience really isn’t effected massively and still provides users with a great immersive universe.

The Best VR Gaming Headset For The Phone

Samsung Gear

Editor's Rating

★★★★★ 4.4/5

Pros

Cons

The Samsung Gear gets our best mobile VR headset award and provides excellent performance and affordability respectively. This is the final type of VR headset available and is specifically designed to work alongside your smart phone. Specifically Samsungs, who knew?

The Gear is probably the most popular form of VR today due to it’s price, it hit shelves at a fraction of what the tethered models were going for. This is mainly down to the technology which has been implemented within the headset. Ultimately, it’s only as powerful as your smart phone, which in real world terms is much less than that of your flagship PC’s.

This being said however, the apps and games that are supported on the Gear are extremely immersive and provide a great VR experience for those wanting to get a taste of the action. Sound is achieved by plugging headphones into the mini jack provided and work efficiently, but nothing special.

The Gear is the lightest headset on the list and is extremely comfortable thanks to it’s design. The build quality does feel a little cheap in comparison to other models in this list, but what do you expect for a fraction of the price.

Overall, if you’re looking to get a taster of what VR has to offer, we couldn’t recommend this enough.

A Luxury VR Gaming Headset

HTC Vive Pro

Editor's Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5

Pros

Cons

The Vive Pro from HTC is something we were looking forward to for a while mainly due to how successful it’s brother, the Vive, was amongst consumers.

The Pro is basically a bolstered version of the Vive but with some additional features and benefits. If you’ve been fortunate enough to have or try the Vive, you’ll be more than impressed with the improvements HTC have made to the new Pro addition.

Like the Vive, the pro comes equipped with 360 degree tracking, room scaling upto 3.5m x 3.5m and Playsafe technology. However, to justify the Pro title this model has been branded with, HTC have increased graphics, audio output and general VR usability.

The first change we noticed was the newly installed screen panels which boast 2880 x 1600 resolution. This basically translates to 37% better PPI (Pixel per inch) ratio creating a much clearer, crisper visual. It’s not just better graphics that the pro benefits from either, the audio has been upgraded as well.

With the Pro you get 3D spatial audio which have been HMD certified for quality assurance. Whether you look up, down or continually turn around, the headphones will intelligently adjust the audio so create a true feeling of spatial awareness. This feature really helps achieve the feeling of total emmersion.

The Pro’s design has also been altered to try and increase comfort. The Vive wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but HTC have optimized ergonomics by designing a new chassis which distributes weight much more evenly. A great little benefit for what HTC claim as their ultimate VR experience.

On the downside, all this doesn’t come cheap. It’s by far the most expensive kit in the list but with that comes the most realistic VR experience. We’d recommend this for people who are extreme VR enthusiast’s and those not sticking within a budget. A great product, but an expensive one.

The Best VR Gaming Headset

Sony Playstation VR Headset

Editor's Rating

★★★★★ 4.4/5

Pros

Cons

Sony’s playstion VR headset has been specifically designed to work in partnership with your console. It takes the top spot the console VR solution and provides a decent overall experience.

Sony equipped a 5.7 inch OLED screen, for what they describe as ‘hyper-real 3D’ graphics, in their VR headset. Alongside this comes 360 degree visual tracking which helps the user become immersed in the virtual universe they find themselves within. Their VR solution can also boast up to 120 FPS across games and apps creating smooth, seamless playback.

It comes with built in audio and a microphone to support multiplayer games and platforms. The headphones work well and have spacial awareness with excellent accuracy. The mic works well but is nothing to write home about.

The lightweight design is super comfortable thanks to the ergonomic design Sony have worked on. The design is certainly unusual but has a certain, pleasing aesthetic element which we really enjoy here.

Nine LED’s and a camera form the tracking technology which accurately tracks your position when in game. All this combined makes for a really enjoyable VR experience and if you’re looking to make your PS4 VR ready, look no further.

Final Word

So, there you have it, the best VR headsets available in today’s market. VR is an industry that is on the verge of exploding due to new technological advancements allowing manufacturers the ability to create superb realistic alternative universes without needing a mass of equipment.

Devices have become more and more versatile and today we find ourselves in a time where there is a product for every type of consumer. Whether it’s the ultimate VR experience you’re after or a cheaper budget version to get a taste of what virtual reality has to offer, fear not, there is an option for everyone!

Which VR headset do you use? Leave us a comment letting us know!

WePC’s mission is to be the most trusted site in tech. Our editorial content is 100% independent and we put every product we review through a rigorous testing process before telling you exactly what we think. We won’t recommend anything we wouldn’t use ourselves. Read more

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The Best VR Gaming Headsets in 2020 & 2021

Our Top Picks

HTC VIVE

HTC VIVE

Oculus Quest

Oculus Quest

Samsung Gear

Samsung Gear

The Best VR Gaming Headsets

HTC VIVE

HTC VIVE

Oculus Quest

Oculus Quest

Samsung Gear

Samsung Gear

HTC Vive Pro

HTC Vive Pro

Sony Playstation VR Headset

Sony Playstation VR Headset

In-depth Review

HTC VIVE

HTC VIVE

Oculus Quest

Oculus Quest

Samsung Gear

Samsung Gear

HTC Vive Pro

HTC Vive Pro

Sony Playstation VR Headset

Sony Playstation VR Headset

Final Word

The Author Who Worked On This Article

Charlie Noon

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