Something big happened last week, and I’m not sure anyone really noticed. Both Facebook and Lenovo (with partner Google) released new VR headsets: the Oculus Go ($200) and the Mirage Solo ($400) respectively. Just like plenty of other VR headsets, these devices allow you to fly over mountains in a squirrel suit, watch YouTube on a 100-foot screen, and blast zombies to smithereens.

What’s different is that these headsets are cheaper–cheap enough that the Go is projected to be a bestseller in the industry. They were also designed as completely stand-alone gadgets, like an iPod for VR. They require no tower PC, no tracking systems mounted to your walls, and no heavy cord attached to the back of your head. They don’t ask you to put your smudgy phone into a little scuba goggles case, either. Sitting on my couch, I can slide on the Go or Solo, pick up a tiny remote, and be inside the world of VR in moments. It just goes to show how freakin’ fast a whole new paradigm of computing can move when it’s backed by two of the most valuable companies in the world. Virtual reality is quickly mastering the human factors that have alluded it.

If the first phase of VR was about proving crazy technology possible, then this phase of VR is about proving that these headsets can have a place in your life. As a result, VR has never been closer to its iPod moment. Yet over the last week, as I tried both headsets, I oscillated between being floored by the progress VR has made and frustrated by the lingering disappointment that comes with a technology that feels one small step from being incredible–and that small step, ironically, may be trickier to bridge than all the technical leaps combined.

Industrial design for VR has found its sweet spot

The Oculus Go and Mirage Solo–despite being completely independently designed–take nearly identically designed approaches to creating a VR headset you can pop on and off casually. They’re anything but Neo locking himself down to jack into the Matrix–which is pretty much what the gold standard of VR, the HTC Vive, has asked us all to do. Instead, the Go and Solo sneak into your life a lot like a phone. They sit on your counter mostly asleep, most of the time. Pick them up, and they know to come to life through sensors.

Each pops onto your head in about three seconds of straightening and adjusting for comfort. You probably wouldn’t want to wear either for hours, but they’re comfortable enough for 30 minutes to an hour of use. The Go has a particularly fantastic trick. It’s concealed some mini speakers on your temples, so you don’t even have to wear headphones. It’s such a good illusion, it sounds like the headset strap itself is making music.

In terms of UI, each presents you with a very navigable app store floating in a serene environment when you arrive–like a forest or mountain. That means you can be inside VR in just moments, and when you get there, a whole other world feels ready for you, and it’s filled with a Netflix-like queue of content waiting to distract you from it.

One caveat–the Go tracks you looking on the X Y axis, and the Solo tracks you on the X Y Z. What this means is basically that, for $200 more, the Solo lets you lean in close to a board game, or the virtual face of someone talking to you. I was impressed that it let me to inspect the glowing dashboard of Blade Runner’s flying car as it whipped through the rain. It even let me stand up and take two steps forward on a virtual street before graying out and telling me to sit down for my own safety. From these two-second bits of experimentation, the Solo seems able to track your position in a room pretty well–but not guarantee your well-being walking through it yet.