Meta Quest Pro Battery Life Is Terrible
Cory Gunther
Review Geek
This week Meta (formally Facebook) revealed its all-new virtual and mixed-reality goggles, the Meta Quest Pro. It’s a high-end VR headset with a lot to offer at an eye-watering $1,499 price tag, but unfortunately, the battery life will be terrible.
As the name suggests, the new Quest is a pro-level VR headset that improves on every aspect of the current Meta Quest 2, which retails for $399. It has an upgraded design, better ergonomics, new controllers, more power, and a slew of eye-tracking sensors to capture facial expressions or blend the outside world with your virtual one.
We knew most of the details ahead of its debut, but a big question mark was battery life. At Meta’s Connect conference, the company confirmed users could expect around one or two hours of battery life.
Yes, you read that right. This $1,500 machine with so much promise will only last around 1-2 hours on a single charge. Big yikes!
Meta talks about Quest Pro as a device enthusiasts can use to immerse themselves in VR games and experiences like never before. Businesses can use it for virtual meetings, and prosumers can get work done on huge triple-monitor displays in a fun virtual world.
That all sounds promising, but not if the battery will run out after an hour or so, which likely isn’t long enough to make it through those weekly or monthly staff meetings for the very people this “pro” device targets. And once the battery runs out, it’ll take around two hours to recharge.
Meta
But hey, at least it comes with a 45w fast-charging dock for both the headset and the controllers. Speaking of controllers, I’m a bit concerned about the battery life on those too. They’re far better than on the Quest 2 and come with upgrades across the board, but the battery is no longer removable like the previous model. You’ll have to plug the controllers in for a recharge instead of simply swapping the battery and jumping back into VR.
Meta says users can extend the Quest’s battery life by disabling some of its pro features, like eye-tracking and such, but we’re not sure how long that’ll extend things.
If there’s a silver lining, you can use the USB-C and turn it into a wired headset or plug in a power brick and put it in your pocket. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than stopping every hour or so. And hey, maybe Meta will release an extended battery head strap accessory. We’ll have to wait and see.
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