I’m a sim racer with a passion for Motorsport, good racecraft and the tech side of sim racing. I made SIMRACINGCOCKPIT.GG as a place to share my experiences. I hold an International Class C race licence and write for sim racing store G-Performance and Motorsport resource Driver61.com
Featured image: Quest 3 with BOBOVR M3 Battery Headstrap
This weekend my son and I have been playing with the Quest 3 with a far better headstrap. For some reason, the OEM head strap that originally came with the Quest 3 was basically a velcro strap. Literally, no one likes it. It’s almost bearable as an adult but the OEM strap doesn’t fit a smaller head (there are lots of fun games for kids on these things, if you hadn’t gathered that already).
While we’re still squeezing plenty of life out of the Quest 3 (yes – I know the 3S is about to drop, I’ll come to that in a second), I decided a headstrap upgrade was in order.
For anyone who has owned a Quest 3 for more than 5 minutes, there’s nothing that will surprise you in this article. However – I think there will be an influx of new Quest 3 owners as the rush to sell off old stock begins and the inevitable eBay bonanza starts. My best guess is that you’ll be able to pick up the older Quest 3 in VGC on eBay for cheap. According to Road to VR this checks out as Meta reduces the price of the 512 GB Quest 3 and discontinues the 128GB version.
So check this out:
This is a universe better than the Quest 3 OEM headstrap:
A friend recommended the BOBOVR M3 headstrap and I’ve seen enough decent reviews of the heavily modded design to know that it would probably just work, and installation is very easy:
Remove the old headstrap – it’s a simple, sliding attachment that you can pull off. You can see the ridges where the headstrap mounts in the image below:
I’ve put the old headstrap in the box, but I expect never to need it again.
Here’s the unboxed replacement headstrap:
It’s a nice, solid-feeling item with only a few steps required to assemble. It does take a moment to decide how the head padding at the back is orientated, but there’s a handy “L” and “R” marker to guide you as you put it together.
The Quest 3 slides into the “fixing arms” – they’re very tight and it takes a moment to decide if the amount of force you’re using will be OK.
There’s a 5200mAh magnetic detachable battery pack with a USB-C port for charging, and a little button to check the current charge level. It’s all very nicely designed and fits well with the aesthetic of the Quest 3:
As for the improvement, it is dramatic. I’ve always wanted the Quest 3 to be more comfortable and head strap replacmenets like the BOBOVR solve the problem perfectly. Critically it fits my son just as well as it fits me (a 45 year old adult!). The headstrap executes the battery aspect of the design perfectly (easy to remove, easy to charge). My only quibble is the USB-C cable is weirdly long – I tucked a few inches away behind the padding at the back.
I strongly doubt it will be long before a Quest 3S version is released because of the following: Meta hasn’t learned from their previous design in this regard, they insist on a velcro head strap:
If you don’t have a Quest 3 already, try and find a bargain 512GB version on Amazon or eBay. There’s a good alternative headstrap called the Quest 3 Elite headstrap which you can find here.
The Quest 3, with a modified head strap, is by far the most comfortable VR headset around, although you’ll need the link cable for sim racing. Wireless mode simply can’t keep up with the graphics demands of the VR sim racing games I use. Perhaps this will be improved with the 3S release.
To see all of my recommended VR headsets, check out my buyer’s guide here.
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Topic: VR Headsets for Sim Racing