Everywhere I've been, it's been the same: Entering mysterious worlds through kitchens or bedrooms or offices or hallways. No matter where I go, I put on the headset, draw the magical boundaries of my new space like a boy making his window out of magic chalk, and I'm there. No matter where I go, there I am.

8.3 Oculus Quest $554 at Amazon $536 at Walmart $399 at Abt Electronics CNET may get a commission from these offers. Like Creates really immersive VR on a standalone headset

Fantastic controls and full positional tracking

Requires no phone, PC or game console

Passthrough cameras allow easy setup and view of your surroundings Don't Like Closed-off design will only run apps and games for the Quest

Oculus Rift, Go titles may or may not make the leap

Not meant to be used outdoors

Mobile processor means it's not always as good as a PC

That's the feeling with Facebook's newest, totally standalone VR headset, the Oculus Quest. Unlike the also-new, PC-connected Rift S (read my hands-on comparison to learn how they're different), the Quest doesn't need a phone or a PC or anything else to work. And yet, this little marvel ends up feeling improbably amazing for its size and $399 price tag.

For weeks before the Quest arrived, I used it at home, at the office, even on vacation. And now, months later, I'm still using it. And I'm more impressed than ever.

I said the Oculus Quest reminded me of the Nintendo Switch the first time I used it. Both are devices that seem to melt gadget boundaries, and aim to push mobile gaming into new forms. Like the Switch, the Quest is self-contained, and can go anywhere. It's a fully standalone, walk-and-move positional-tracking VR headset system. It costs $399 (£399; Australian pricing is TBA but the UK price converts to about AU$740). So, what's it like to travel with? Say, to Aruba, with my family? That's where I was already heading when Facebook gave me the Oculus Quest to review.

Three years ago, I thought VR was the future. So where's VR now? The Oculus Quest is a pretty good barometer. It's a fantastic way to experience VR without wires or hassles.

After trying nearly every game and app on the Quest, I appreciate how many titles are high quality. I'm also surprised by how my favorite things to do are active games, like Beat Saber or Racket Fury, a table tennis game that's astoundingly convincing. It's not so much about entering new worlds -- it's about making active spaces in my home that I can play effortlessly. I'm starting to use it as a fitness device, wildly enough. Admittedly, I'm also sweating up the headset. But I've never felt that any VR or AR experience was this effortless, this enticing or this fun.

Sarah Tew/CNET

A magic bag of universes

Virtual reality is peculiar. It can take me to many worlds while staying in one. And it can make the places I go all seem like home. Traveling with the Oculus Quest was like carrying the universe in a small bag. The stiff, round carrying case the Quest headset and controllers are packed into are a weird bundle to bring with a family.

I'm apologetic about the bulk in my backpack. But I also feel like a wizard. Taking the cumbersome gear out feels almost Victorian. It's like I'm a magician bringing out my hat and wand. This isn't casually cool, like a phone or even a Nintendo Switch. I'm wearing stuff. There are velcro straps.

And yet, it's portable. I'm firing up the headset in seconds. It works wherever I am. That's a special type of amazing.

Now playing: Watch this: Oculus Quest unboxed: what's inside Facebook's new VR...

Every time I draw my boundaries on the floor for my Guardian space, it feels like sorcery. Then, the black-and-white view of the real world dissolves into a color VR space, like the Wizard of Oz. The spaces I choose are usually smaller than what Oculus recommends (6.5 by 6.5 feet), because really, who has nearly 43 square feet of free, unobstructed play space at their disposal? In which case, I see my boundaries as I get near, a glowing blue grid. My reality fence. If I lean to the edge of the bubble, I can peek through, and the real world appears again in black and white, like I'm poking my head past the curtain. When I pull my head back, the VR world unpauses and I'm immersed again.

The Oculus Quest may not be the perfect solution to fix VR, but damn, it's impressive.

I don't think of this as the final form, though. I'm wearing the prosthetics for where the future lies. Eventually, it'll be even smaller and easier than the Quest. Enabling a similarly smooth, and always available, doorway to fully immersive universes.

So yes, I tried to use this over a week in which I was otherwise occupied with family on a sunny vacation in the Caribbean. Here's what I discovered about that proposition.

Scott Stein/CNET

What I learned while using the Oculus Quest on vacation

It's not easy to do VR! By that I mean, it's not a lazy thing like leaning back and browsing on an iPad. Getting geared up, even on the wireless Quest, and then doing something is an active experience. When I'm zonked at night, it's hard to get motivated to jump into virtual worlds.

By that I mean, it's not a lazy thing like leaning back and browsing on an iPad. Getting geared up, even on the wireless Quest, and then doing something is an active experience. When I'm zonked at night, it's hard to get motivated to jump into virtual worlds. It's an excellent offline device. Most early apps were made to run offline, and the Guardian boundary system worked great offline. I didn't miss not being connected.

Most early apps were made to run offline, and the Guardian boundary system worked great offline. I didn't miss not being connected. Stay away from sunlight! Bright sun seems to throw the Quest's camera tracking off a bit. Also, getting the lenses exposed to sunlight can damage the VR display. I ended up staying indoors, mostly.

Bright sun seems to throw the Quest's camera tracking off a bit. Also, getting the lenses exposed to sunlight can damage the VR display. I ended up staying indoors, mostly. You need some serious play space. Apps can be set to "stationary" mode and boundaries can be drawn around your space limitations, but Quest always wants those 6.5 by 6.5 feet. And that means unobstructed by furniture, things, and definitely no random people walking around. That's more free space than most hotel rooms or office areas offer. A smaller area means the guardian boundary grid pops up a lot during gameplay, ruining the endless space illusion.

Apps can be set to "stationary" mode and boundaries can be drawn around your space limitations, but Quest always wants those 6.5 by 6.5 feet. And that means unobstructed by furniture, things, and definitely no random people walking around. That's more free space than most hotel rooms or office areas offer. A smaller area means the guardian boundary grid pops up a lot during gameplay, ruining the endless space illusion. It packs easily, but it's still a bundle. The carrying case made it something I could tote, but the stiff side straps mean the headset won't fold down as flat as you think. The case took up a major chunk of my backpack. The Nintendo Switch is miniature by comparison.

The carrying case made it something I could tote, but the stiff side straps mean the headset won't fold down as flat as you think. The case took up a major chunk of my backpack. The Nintendo Switch is miniature by comparison. Taking time away from reality for VR, even a half an hour, is a big demand on a vacation getaway. I'm with my family, taking in sun, enjoying a beautiful place. Every second in VR is a second I'm not there. The blindered goggles guarantee I can't multitask. It's not like headphones at all.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The transformative part: Mobility

Taking the Oculus Quest on vacation was an experiment. But it's not really the point. The point is that VR is now actually that portable. The point is that it's feasible to go places with it. Yes, the prosthetic feeling of it ends up being more like traveling with a CPAP machine than an iPad. But the Quest can end up feeling as transformative for my VR experience as my CPAP is for my sleeping.

The Quest has been impressive enough that I've started wondering about what else it could be used for. Training? Perhaps. There's no eye tracking, which is the real future of where immersive interfaces lies. The Quest App Store is locked off, unconnected to any OS like Android or Windows, or a larger ecosystem like Google Play. I have no idea how many developers will end up making homes here, and how much Quest will communicate to other services down the road.

Also, with the App Store walled off and with Facebook as the entity controlling it, there are natural concerns about privacy. Oculus promises that the room boundary creation, and what the passthrough cameras see, won't be shared or collected by Facebook.

But the dream of VR being a magic set of goggles you can use anywhere has become real. The Oculus Quest is just about as good as most VR, but it's now wireless and self contained, and costs $400. That's twice the price of last year's Oculus Go.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The magic is in the tracking

The actual experience of the Oculus Quest isn't really about the headset or the display, which is great. It's about the tracking and the controllers. The thing to know about the Quest is that it takes a fantastic pair of Oculus Touch controllers with motion, haptic feedback and finger-motion sensing and sets them loose in a mobile headset running off a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip.

That alone feels like magic. Admittedly, it's not perfect: The self-contained tracking sometimes has hiccups and sometimes, in bright light outdoors, the Quest can't always track perfectly. But in general, it's these controls that have stunned me, because I've never seen any mobile or self-contained VR that's worked better.

The hardware delivers

The Oculus Quest's design looks nearly identical to the Oculus Rift, or even last year's Oculus Go. There's a set of plastic and fabric covered goggles, with adjustable velcro straps. It's particularly similar to what Oculus achieved with the Go: It's comfortable, has built-in spatial audio that pipes in from holes in the side rails where the straps attach, and worked perfectly over my large glasses. (There's a spacer for fitting glasses, but I didn't even need it.) Like the Oculus Rift, the Quest also adjusts the distance between lenses via a slider on the bottom, to fit for ideal inter-pupillary distance.

There are two headphone jacks, one on either side of the headset, but I always used the built-in audio. The Quest has either 64GB or 128GB of storage. The 64GB version I've been testing seems like enough, but apps seem to range from several hundred megabytes to a couple of gigabytes, and there's no microSD card slot.

The Quest uses four in-headset cameras to track movement in a room, including ducking, leaning, walking and anything else. The six-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) tracking is like what many PC VR headsets now have, and Oculus Insight, the name for the tracking system, is also on Oculus' new Rift S PC headset. It works similarly on both. On the Quest, it sometimes had issues with bright light outdoors. On a patio, it had problems sensing my play area. Oculus suggests that the Quest only be used indoors, by the way. Also, never expose a VR headset's lenses to bright sunlight -- it can ruin the display.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The LCD display in the Quest, at 1,440x1,600-pixel resolution per eye, looks fantastic and crisp. If you look closely at the edges of the display, you'll see everything becomes more pixelated, because the headset uses fixed foveated rendering that reduces resolution at the periphery to get more performance out of the Snapdragon 835 mobile chip. Some VR headsets also use eye tracking to move foveated rendering around, following your fovea, the center of your vision, to only highly render what you're specifically looking at, but the Quest doesn't have eye tracking. I don't miss having it, not at this price.

The best part of the Quest hardware is the controllers. The Oculus Touch controllers are the same ones that come with the new Rift S, and they can do just about anything, much like the Touch controllers for the PC-based Rift. They feel like a split apart PlayStation controller. There are buttons, clickable analog sticks, dual analog triggers, plus the controllers even sense finger movement. Lifting a finger up or pointing can equal hand motions in games, and allows objects to feel like they're being grabbed. They have vibration feedback, and can register perfect motion all around. They feel as good as Microsoft's Windows VR controllers, but without needing a PC. They're a bit bulky to pack in a bag to travel, but they're my favorite VR controllers, period. (Admittedly, the new Valve Index has some even more impressive finger-tracking tech in its new controllers, but you need a gaming PC and lots of room setup to make those work, and the controllers alone cost $279.)

Sarah Tew/CNET

Oculus' new cameras allow me to see the world in black and white as I put the headset on, in a mode called Passthrough. The headset recognizes the floor level automatically. I can paint my room boundaries with a controller and a blue grid rises like a fence when I'm done. When I'm playing, that's my safety zone. If I get near the edge, I can lean in, peek through the grid and the VR world dissolves back to the real world. It's a brilliant and weird way to bubble-in my play space. But when I'm in VR, the headset won't sense new obstacles on the fly. I need to trust my space will be safe, at my own peril.

That's why, for a lot of people, the stationary mode might be best. It assumes you're standing (or sitting) still. I love the extra range of motion, though. I just wish the tracking system could somehow dynamically sense obstacles rather than ask me to draw the safety zone.

Battery life is about 2 to 3 hours, according to Oculus. A half hour of playing reduced the battery to about 80%. Considering how most of my VR play sessions don't go past an hour, this seems OK. An extra-long USB power cable is included.

Oculus

So, what are the games and apps like?



The Quest will have over 50 games and apps at launch, according to Facebook, including Google's Tilt Brush, Lucasfilm's Vader Immortal, and AAA VR games including Job Simulator, Moss, Beat Saber and Superhot. I've had a chance to play nearly all the launch titles so far. Curious? Here's thoughts on every one I tried.

Beat Saber , a lightsaber music rhythm game that's already been a hit VR game, is fantastic on Quest.

, a lightsaber music rhythm game that's already been a hit VR game, is fantastic on Quest. Harmonix' Dance Central shows how addictive motion-based dance games in VR can be. I got exhausted fast, but it's fun (and it has lots of recognizable music tracks).

shows how addictive motion-based dance games in VR can be. I got exhausted fast, but it's fun (and it has lots of recognizable music tracks). Superhot VR is one of the best VR games ever made. It's a series of bullet-time sequences in which quick reflexes are needed to defeat sudden surprise attacks. The extended demo I played on Quest is perfect, and feels like what I played on PlayStation VR.

is one of the best VR games ever made. It's a series of bullet-time sequences in which quick reflexes are needed to defeat sudden surprise attacks. The extended demo I played on Quest is perfect, and feels like what I played on PlayStation VR. Dead and Buried 2 feels like a console game, but maybe one from a generation ago. The multiplayer shooter zips around through massive arenas. I played, had fun and didn't get nauseous.

feels like a console game, but maybe one from a generation ago. The multiplayer shooter zips around through massive arenas. I played, had fun and didn't get nauseous. Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs is Angry Birds in VR! It's as good as the version I tried before, and similar to the AR app available on iPhones.

is Angry Birds in VR! It's as good as the version I tried before, and similar to the AR app available on iPhones. I Expect You to Die is a James Bond-style puzzle thriller. It's another early hit VR game, and makes the transition really well.

is a James Bond-style puzzle thriller. It's another early hit VR game, and makes the transition really well. Wander isn't a game, it's a 360-degree Google Maps-connected app that doesn't gain much from Oculus Quest.

isn't a game, it's a 360-degree Google Maps-connected app that doesn't gain much from Oculus Quest. Bait! is a fishing game that I loved playing on the Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage Solo. The improved Quest controllers make it better.

is a fishing game that I loved playing on the Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage Solo. The improved Quest controllers make it better. Creed: Rise to Glory is a port of the boxing game on PlayStation VR and PCs. The Touch controllers make good virtual boxing gloves, but the graphics feel dialed back.

is a port of the boxing game on PlayStation VR and PCs. The Touch controllers make good virtual boxing gloves, but the graphics feel dialed back. Racket Fury: Table Tennis VR is a ping-pong game, and it's one of the best examples of how well Quest can simulate action games.

is a ping-pong game, and it's one of the best examples of how well Quest can simulate action games. Space Pirate Trainer is a dual-gun arcade game, where you shoot spaceships. It's simple and fun, and works as well as other PC and console versions.

is a dual-gun arcade game, where you shoot spaceships. It's simple and fun, and works as well as other PC and console versions. Journey of the Gods has simplified graphics, but a clever story involving growing and shrinking into god-sized and normal-human forms.

has simplified graphics, but a clever story involving growing and shrinking into god-sized and normal-human forms. Face Your Fears 2 is full of spiders and terrifying things to make you jump, and I hated playing it so much.

is full of spiders and terrifying things to make you jump, and I hated playing it so much. Sports Scramble is like Wii Sports in VR, in the best way.

is like Wii Sports in VR, in the best way. Ballista involves shooting things with giant catapults. I didn't get much further than that, but it's another game that goes for simplified, cartoon-style graphics.

involves shooting things with giant catapults. I didn't get much further than that, but it's another game that goes for simplified, cartoon-style graphics. Virtual Virtual Reality is a wonderful, weird world-hopping game that debuted on Google Daydream and Oculus Go, and gains some extra movement and improved controls in this version.

is a wonderful, weird world-hopping game that debuted on Google Daydream and Oculus Go, and gains some extra movement and improved controls in this version. Apex Construct is a point-and-click kind of immersive adventure set in a ruined robotic world. Finding things and solving puzzles sometimes feels like an escape room.

is a point-and-click kind of immersive adventure set in a ruined robotic world. Finding things and solving puzzles sometimes feels like an escape room. Vader Immortal , the first of a multipart Star Wars experience from LucasFilm, is set around the time of Rogue One, and feels almost like a home version of a theme park ride. The atmospherics are top-notch.

, the first of a multipart Star Wars experience from LucasFilm, is set around the time of Rogue One, and feels almost like a home version of a theme park ride. The atmospherics are top-notch. Moss has been one of the best VR games on PC and PlayStation VR. A platformer game starring a little mouse who explores tiny dollhouse-like worlds, the game translates amazingly to Quest and feels nearly identical.

has been one of the best VR games on PC and PlayStation VR. A platformer game starring a little mouse who explores tiny dollhouse-like worlds, the game translates amazingly to Quest and feels nearly identical. Rec Room , a free bundle of social games with plenty of chat options, was one of the best things to try with PC VR. The Oculus Quest room controls the same, but sometimes looks a little more pixelated.



, a free bundle of social games with plenty of chat options, was one of the best things to try with PC VR. The Oculus Quest room controls the same, but sometimes looks a little more pixelated. YouTube VR is a decent app portal for YouTube, plus 360- and 180-degree video viewing, and is easier than using the Quest's browser.

is a decent app portal for YouTube, plus 360- and 180-degree video viewing, and is easier than using the Quest's browser. Job Simulator was one of the first games I ever played on Oculus Rift in 2016. Owlchemy Labs is now owned by Google, and the nature of job-simulating satire has aged, but the game still feels great and shows off the Touch controllers.

was one of the first games I ever played on Oculus Rift in 2016. Owlchemy Labs is now owned by Google, and the nature of job-simulating satire has aged, but the game still feels great and shows off the Touch controllers. PokerStars VR is a free poker game. Poker's oddly compelling in VR.

is a free poker game. Poker's oddly compelling in VR. BoxVR , like Beat Saber, involves ducking and moving to a beat, except here you're throwing punches. Workout sessions give it more of the feel of a fitness app (it made me work up a sweat, and was a lot more fun than I expected.)

, like Beat Saber, involves ducking and moving to a beat, except here you're throwing punches. Workout sessions give it more of the feel of a fitness app (it made me work up a sweat, and was a lot more fun than I expected.) Epic Roller Coasters is a free roller coaster simulator. It made me nauseous, not in a good way.

is a free roller coaster simulator. It made me nauseous, not in a good way. VR Karts: Sprint is the Quest's only driving game for now. It's like a much less impressive Mario Kart. But, the controls feel better than the Gear VR or Oculus Go version.

is the Quest's only driving game for now. It's like a much less impressive Mario Kart. But, the controls feel better than the Gear VR or Oculus Go version. Ocean Rift is an aquatic meet-the-fishes demo that goes all the way back to the launch of the Samsung Gear VR. This version has full motion tracking, but that's it.

is an aquatic meet-the-fishes demo that goes all the way back to the launch of the Samsung Gear VR. This version has full motion tracking, but that's it. Shadow Point is another point-and-click 3D adventure, with puzzles that involve holding objects up to create shadows. It has a bit of the vibe of games like The Witness.

is another point-and-click 3D adventure, with puzzles that involve holding objects up to create shadows. It has a bit of the vibe of games like The Witness. Drop Dead: Dual Strike Edition is an old zombie-shooting game I played on VR years ago. It's back. How desperately do you want to shoot zombies?

is an old zombie-shooting game I played on VR years ago. It's back. How desperately do you want to shoot zombies? Guided Tai Chi : oddly hypnotic. Each hand controller follows black and white trails in the air, following meditative exercises. Looks beautiful. Controls well, but you'll need a fair amount of free space.

: oddly hypnotic. Each hand controller follows black and white trails in the air, following meditative exercises. Looks beautiful. Controls well, but you'll need a fair amount of free space. Fruit Ninja : the old mobile fruit-slicing game comes back in VR with swords, and even though I was ready to hate it, the damn thing charmed me. It's Beat Saber with fruit.

: the old mobile fruit-slicing game comes back in VR with swords, and even though I was ready to hate it, the damn thing charmed me. It's Beat Saber with fruit. Bogo: Oculus' free virtual pet game was one of the first demos I ever tried with Quest. Petting the alien critter and feeding it is more adorable, and convincing, thanks to having full-motion hand controls.

Oculus' free virtual pet game was one of the first demos I ever tried with Quest. Petting the alien critter and feeding it is more adorable, and convincing, thanks to having full-motion hand controls. VRChat is a mobile version of the popular version of the Metaverse. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. Mingling with people of all avatar styles in a maze of rooms feels like early chat rooms and Second Life all rolled into VR.



is a mobile version of the popular version of the Metaverse. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. Mingling with people of all avatar styles in a maze of rooms feels like early chat rooms and Second Life all rolled into VR. Tilt Brush , a mobile version of Google's hit VR art app, is the only art creation tool on Quest at the moment. The controls don't always track perfectly, but on a whole it's a stunning must-get for any would-be VRtist, and has lots of effects and brushes.



, a mobile version of Google's hit VR art app, is the only art creation tool on Quest at the moment. The controls don't always track perfectly, but on a whole it's a stunning must-get for any would-be VRtist, and has lots of effects and brushes. Penn & Teller VR is a totally unique collection of VR pranks to pull on friends, with a few magic tricks thrown in. It's something I've never seen before.

is a totally unique collection of VR pranks to pull on friends, with a few magic tricks thrown in. It's something I've never seen before. National Geographic Explore VR is a series of missions in wild locations. I kayaked down a river and took photos of penguins by sitting on the floor and moving the controllers...that alone was one of the coolest things I've tried on Quest.

In nearly every instance, these apps are silky-smooth and look crisp. But graphics tend to be more simplistic, cartoonish. Creed, the boxing game, didn't seem great in an early version. Nevertheless, these games are all way beyond the experiences on last year's Oculus Go. They are closer to console and PC-level VR than anything I've previously played on the go.

But there are graphical limits, clearly. The Quest works wonders with its smooth motion, crisp display and fluid controls, and that helps make up for games that aren't always as rich as they are on PC or console. Many times, I never even noticed.

I can't wait to see what comes next. I'm especially looking forward to the wild live theater experiment of The Under Presents. Watch this space as I test more apps between now and the Quest's launch.

But it's important to note that, by default, the Quest doesn't play all the hundreds of Oculus Go apps that are already available. And it doesn't tap into the whole Oculus Rift store, either. The Quest's App Store is a third space. Hopefully, Go and Rift apps will arrive quickly. But that's not a guarantee, and Oculus is currently curating which apps can make the move.

The Oculus Quest can pair with a mobile app on iOS or Android for viewing the Quest's app library, adjusting settings or browsing and buying new apps in the Oculus Store. It works as easily as it did with the Go last year.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The future, now

Three years ago, I looked at the Oculus Rift and saw a future split between dreams and reality -- possibilities and limitations. It's stunning how, only three years later, so much can now be done in so small a footprint. If I gave my 2016 self the Oculus Quest, I think he'd freak out.

I've spent a lot of time in VR since then, and AR too. I've had a chance to temper the initial excitement and get used to the leaps into new worlds. But even so, the Oculus Quest is impressive. It's the best thing, VR or otherwise, I've tried in a long time. And it's finally the hardware I imagined back when I read Ready Player One. Those freeform rigs you can just jump into? This is the beginning of that. The ability to hop into another world on the fly hints at where our weird multiverse of realities is going, whether you like it or not.

It's a sign of where things are going, fast. There will be self-contained VR that wirelessly connects to things everywhere, streaming from your phone or computer, or via USB-C. Eye tracking will allow our eyes to zip around and help control worlds without our hands. Voice interaction will improve. And the Oculus Quest's self-contained 6DoF controllers and tracking will become standard in many more mobile devices. Plus, expect the intelligence of computer vision in cameras to improve, and blend the real world with the virtual even more.

The Quest doesn't do all of these things. But it's a big stepping stone. And unlike the Vive Focus and Lenovo Mirage Solo, which also used Snapdragon 835 chips in standalone VR last year, the Quest feels like the perfected vision of that idea. It feels, in a way, like the beginning of the VR and AR Immersive Universe, Phase 2.

What the Oculus Quest doesn't do much is push the idea of VR forward. It's superior untethered VR, but it's not deeply integrated into any existing OS, such as Android or Windows. It's not going to be a social platform, even with Facebook, that users will be ready to dive into. The Oculus Quest's app approach is more game console than phone or PC ecosystem at the moment. Will that work?

Can Facebook find a way to grow Quest into a platform that eventually becomes the successor (or alternative) to the RIft? Are Oculus' VR goggles going to slowly evolve into AR glasses? Will this convince enough people to hop aboard and share worlds together? Will Facebook succeed in keeping its social media platform problems away from the Oculus Quest? These are the unknowns.

But that doesn't take away from the fact that what the Oculus Quest is doing right now is already pretty incredible.