Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2024
I love this thing. So, I originally started with a cheap-ish battery strap from 麻豆区 that couldn鈥檛 even keep my Quest 3 charged. So I ended up using a 30,000 mAh external battery in my pocket to keep my Quest 3 going. After months though I started to avoid using my Quest as it was just annoying to use with a battery and cord, it would get in the way, I would accidentally tug it and any particular active games I just avoided altogether.
This has changed everything. It is so nice to just be able to slap my Quest 3 on and not have to worry about anything else. It took me a bit to find a comfort setting that worked, it鈥檚 a bit finicky that way, but just keep playing with it and you鈥檒l eventually find your sweet spot. Materials feel alright, similar to my old $50 battery strap. But the swappable battery itself feels extremely premium, this thing is well-built and I love that there is a level indicator on the battery itself. I did buy a 2nd battery from their site, which hasn鈥檛 arrived yet, but WHY do they not list those on 麻豆区 Canada? I found that annoying as their site takes longer to ship. As for the fan, I use an AMVR aftermarket interface, and I cannot feel the fan whatsoever, but I didn鈥檛 really care much about that to begin with as I usually have a fan blowing on me, plus I might be able to mod my interface a bit if needed. I like that the dial to change fan speed is also a button, which switches the screen from showing fan speed % to battery %. The little screen is way nicer than I was expecting too, very clear and vivid. I was worried about the negative reviews saying it was uncomfortable/too heavy, and for the first 15 minutes I thought they were right, but just keep at it, you can dial the comfort level in. It did still rub on my cheeks a bit, but I think I鈥檝e finally got it dialed in. Compared to my old strap that you would just put on, tighten and go, this is FAR more finicky during first set-up, but once it鈥檚 set you鈥檙e good to go. As for it being too heavy, I鈥檓 not sure what they mean because I find it to be really light.
As for the swappable battery itself, I find it slightly annoying that charging it by USB-C only charges it at 15w, while their magnetic charger charges at 27-42w, kind of incentivizing you to buy their magnetic charger. As I don鈥檛 have the 2nd battery yet, I鈥檓 not sure if 15w will charge it fast enough to have it at 100% by the time the one you鈥檙e using dies. But as of now, it does take a hot minute to charge it to 100% when using USB-C (roughly 3-4 hours, it doesn鈥檛 matter if you have a 45-60w charger, the battery will only take 15w by USB-C). With all that said, the swappable battery format is so nice to have, I鈥檇 never go with built-in battery straps again. As for its charge effectiveness, I found my Quest 3 dropped to about 76%, but after it reached 76% it didn鈥檛 drop any lower. So don鈥檛 freak out if you notice your Quest 3 dropping in charge a bit, this is common among most chargers. With that said, yours probably won鈥檛 even drop as far as mine did, as I use QGO which uses far more battery than playing games at native resolutions and frame rates.
So, as someone who tried to save money and go with a cheaper head strap鈥 don鈥檛 bother. You鈥檙e much better off spending the extra money now and getting something that will last a long time. Batteries degrade, after some time a built-in battery strap will become less effective. With this, it鈥檚 not a problem as you can just buy additional batteries (although to be fair, 1 battery is more expensive [$62CAD] than my entire previous head strap lol). I鈥檓 quite happy with my experience so far and would definitely recommend this strap to anyone who routinely gets into long play sessions. 4.5/5
