The Best VR Headsets of 2024

I don’t know if anything has ever wowed me right out of the box like the Valve Index. This is a big, expensive set of powerful VR gear, but it’s also beautiful to look at. The packaging, the design of the headset, and all the smaller functional touches establish this as the frontrunner among high-end tethered headsets on our list.

It’s an investment, but for this kind of low-nausea, high-performance experience, you’re getting what you pay for. You can expect frames rates of 90 fps or higher, immersive audio, and at least four different main points of comfort adjustment

It comes with wall-mountable base stations (for room-scale tracking), user-friendly documentation, and has the best VR controllers I’ve tried to date. Each Index controller boasts 87 sensors for precision gesture-based input, along with comfy fabric straps that hold them in place—especially convenient when you have a large head-mounted display blocking your vision. Speaking of which, this didn’t feel as heavy and unwieldy as any of the other tethered headsets I’ve tested, which is a big win for long-term comfort.

If you intend to spend hours in VR playing performance-intensive games and don’t need a standalone headset, you’ll be quite pleased with the Valve Index and its massive software catalog, including Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx. Just make sure your PC has enough power to support it.

The PlayStation VR2 (PSVR 2) delivers an impressive VR gaming experience. Its advanced specs and technology like high-quality motion tracking make it a console gamer's immersive video game dream—provided that dream involves being tethered by a wire to your PlayStation 5. This VR headset comes with no wireless connectivity. Even its integrated earbuds are connected by wire.

The PSVR 2 comes with two Sense motion controllers, which are both accurate and enjoyable to use for navigating through the games we tested the headset with. It's got two 2000 x 2040 HDR-capable OLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate, and uses foveated eye tracking to render specific areas (where your eyes are focusing) in great detail. During testing, the headset itself fit us comfortably.

Sony has promised that a large library of games to use with the PSVR 2 is on its way. Unfortunately, if you invested in the original PlayStation VR headset, you'll find that your existing VR games aren't backward compatible with the PSVR 2. That's disappointing, especially when you consider that, at the time we reviewed it, the headset was selling for $550.

Being able to play the VR titles that gamers already own would take some of the sting out of that price, though launch titles like Horizon Call of the Mountain are still technical achievements in their own right. And if you prefer PC VR games, don’t fret; Sony is working on official compatibility for sometime later in 2024.

Read our full review of the Playstation VR2.

Bnext’s straightforward mobile headset is a top seller on Amazon. It’s got a pair of sliding mechanisms—similar to the Merge’s—that let you fine-tune your lens placement for maximum clarity.

There are some great free VR experiences that can be enjoyed with something like this, but it’s ultimately unremarkable compared to the elegant simplicity of Google Cardboard—or something a little nicer.

Although the straps are gentle and easy to set up, its facial interface isn’t all that comfortable for lengthy VR sessions and, worst of all, there’s no easy way to use your phone’s touch screen without taking it back out of the headset.

Some apps, like Within, offer a full library of content that lets you input commands simply by holding your gaze in one direction, but this is a big source of friction a lot of the time.

Google Cardboard is a wonderful novelty: it’s inexpensive, accessible, and user-friendly. Like the Merge, it’s easy to slide your phone into, but it also does a pretty good job of holding the device in place.

There’s something playful and immediately charming about the simple cardboard construction; it gets the job done, and it captures children’s attention in a way that a fancy Oculus headset doesn’t.

At $25 or less, the price of entry is roughly equivalent to buying your kid a toy at Target. This headset opens them up to a whole new medium for experiencing places they’ve never been, seeing things they probably won’t find in 2D filmmaking, playing different kinds of games, or for learning.

It’s smooth, sturdy, and a breeze to put together. It’s held in the proper configuration with strong velcro, and there’s a single button in the upper right corner for basic touchscreen input. Kids and adults alike will appreciate the comfort and ease of access here.

It doesn’t have straps or adjustable parts, so it never feels restrictive in the way other headsets do. You can simply remove it from your face at will, which makes it easy to share, check the environment around you, and so on.

If you want to dabble in VR and gain a better understanding of the medium or introduce your children to it, this is the fun, risk-free option you’re looking for. Who said the best VR headsets all need to cost an arm and a leg?