Considering jumping into VR this Black Friday, or gifting a headset to a friend or relative so they can join you? Here are the best deals available right now.
Meta Quest
Meta Quest headsets are the ideal way to get into VR and mixed reality for most people.
Quest headsets are fully standalone, meaning you don't need any external device (other than a phone app to initially set them up), and they can also connect to SteamVR on a gaming PC for a higher fidelity experience.
Both Quest 3 and Quest 3S come with Batman: Arkham Shadow, a $50 AAA VR game, for free, and this stacks with the Black Friday 2024 deals below.
Quest 3
Quest 3 is Meta's highest-end headset, priced at $500. It offers industry-leading lenses with a clear and sharp image regardless of the distance between your eyes (known as your interpupillary distance).
David Heaney
For Black Friday 2024, Best Buy is giving a $75 gift card with Quest 3 purchases, effectively valuing the headset at $425.
Best Buy is also offering a bundle of Quest 3 with the $70 official Elite Strap, which significantly improves the headset's comfort, for $550, saving $20, which stacks with the gift card deal.
Quest 3S
Quest 3S is Meta's budget headset, starting at $300. It has all the same VR and mixed reality capabilities of Quest 3 and has the same chip inside, but uses lower quality lenses that may not be suitable for everyone's interpupillary distance.
David Heaney
For Black Friday 2024, Amazon and Target are giving a $75 gift card with Quest 3S headset purchases until the end of Sunday.
PlayStation VR2
PlayStation VR2 with Horizon Call Of The Mountain is $350 until January 3, a saving of $250 compared to the usual bundle price.
PlayStation VR2 is not a standalone headset. It has a cable which needs to be connected to a host device. The headset connects to the PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 5 Pro console out of the box, and can alternatively connect to a gaming PC with the sold-separately PC adapter.
David Heaney
At this discounted price, PlayStation VR2 is an ideal option for a PS5 owner heavily invested in the PlayStation ecosystem, or a PC owner interested in sim racing, flight sim, or other seated games.
Pico 4 Ultra
Pico 4 Ultra is a Quest 3 competitor from ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok.
It isn't sold in North America, so if you're in the US or Canada you can ignore its existence.
David Heaney
For those who are in a region Pico 4 Ultra is sold, the headset comes with the Pico Motion Trackers and three games for Black Friday 2024 at the usual £529 / €599 price.
Pico Motion Trackers, normally €90/£80, strap to your ankles to add leg tracking in supported titles, which includes Blade & Sorcery: Nomad and VRChat. They're an accessory Meta says it won't follow unless they turn out to be a massive success.
David Heaney
With this deal, Pico 4 Ultra could be an interesting option for a VRChat enthusiast who doesn't own a gaming PC, since it has standalone leg tracking, but otherwise we'd usually recommend Meta Quest 3 instead.
Bigscreen Beyond
Bigscreen Beyond is a $1000 unique tethered PC VR headset that achieves the lightest weight and most compact design on the market, optimized for comfortable long-term sessions.
David Heaney
For Black Friday 2024 Beyond comes with the Audio Strap accessory, normally $130, which adds integrated off-ear speakers and improves comfort by acting as a counterbalance and providing a top strap.
Beyond is very much so not a standalone product though. As well as a powerful gaming PC, it requires SteamVR Tracking base stations (at least one, and ideally two), alongside your own input devices such as Valve Index controllers.
Ian Hamilton
For those with the appropriate PC and money to spend though, Beyond can offer a uniquely comfortable experience ideal for flight and racing simulators.
HTC
HTC's holiday deals offer discounts & bundles for its three current headsets: Vive Focus Vision, Vive XR Elite, and Vive Pro 2.
David Heaney
All of these offers apply for the rest of the year, ending after December 31.
Vive Focus Vision: Free Accessory & Games
Vive Focus Vision is HTC's current flagship headset, priced at $1000. It features eye tracking, color mixed reality, and the ability to operate as either a standalone or PC VR headset.
David Heaney
Until the end of the year, Vive Focus Vision comes with the DisplayPort adapter that lets it act as a native PC VR headset with lossless quality, no compression artefacts.
It also comes with either 4 VR games on the Viveport PC store, or 5 mixed reality games on the standalone Viveport store. You choose between the two packs.
Vive XR Elite Discounts
Vive XR Elite is HTC's other standalone headset. It has the same chipset and controllers as Vive Focus Vision, but is a more compact design with lower resolution and single element pancake lenses.
David Heaney
Until the end of the year, Vive XR Elite is available for $800, down from the new regular price of $900. HTC is also offering a bundle with three Vive Ultimate Trackers and body straps for around $1300, saving around $150 compared to the normal price of this bundle. The trackers are supported in VRChat in both standalone and PC VR mode, using HTC's built-in PC VR streaming software.
Both offers still come with the 'Deluxe Pack' of four accessories that HTC has been offering to all Vive XR Elite owners since June.
Vive Pro 2 Discounts
Vive Pro 2 is HTC's tethered PC-only VR headset. It features the same lenses and panels as Vive Focus Vision, but uses SteamVR base stations for tracking instead of computer vision.
David Heaney
For the rest of the year, HTC is offering the Vive Pro 2 full kit with base stations and controllers for $800 (down from $1200) or, for those who already have base stations, the headset alone for $500 (down from $700).
That means if you're solely interested in wired PC VR, you can get the same visual experience as Vive Focus Vision for $200 less - though without eye tracking.
