This Fathers’ day has been full of surprises. From cool tech presents, to catching COVID. But let us focus on the positive. This year I was treated to a BoboVR S3 Pro head strap. I was not expecting such a gift for Father’s day – I had actually been expecting it four days later for my birthday. Anyone who excessively deliberates over tech purchases like me will agree, tech presents are never a surprise. I must research and ponder for weeks – if not months, before selecting a specific device for my family to then gift wrap.
In the case of a new head strap, my deliberations started over 6 months ago, when the Quest 3 still had that fresh headset smell. As my working hours increased, I felt I should treat my face to a spot of luxury. My main criteria were extra comfort, sturdy build as well an external battery – as I currently am constantly tethered to the wall to get through a day.
I instantly had regrets of choosing the latest in BoboVR’s line-up.
In these early days of Quest 3 accessories every manufacture rushed to get their Quest 3 compatible straps to market first. In the rush there were some big oversights when it came to integrated batteries. While the modular design between Quest 2 and Quest 3 was not much different. The power draw certainly was. The batteries designed for Quest 2 could not cope with the incessive hunger of the Quest 3 and even Meta had failed to calculate for this. Forcing them (once again) to publish a recall notice, this time for the Quest 3 Elite Strap. BoboVR and other third parties also got caught out, with their existing battery tech failing to provide adequate charge. Notably was the Binbok VR T3. YouTuber Blunty reported its battery produced a high-pitch audible whine while its life-source was being drained. Sceptical on which head strap to buy, I decided to holdout a bit longer, better the devil you know, and all that.
My opinion regarding the comfort of the Meta Quest series has never fallen in line with mainstream media. While reviewers and bloggers openly air their disdain for the Quest 3 stock straps. I have never found the straps to warrant the negativity bestowed upon it. I agree that the upside-down jock-strap design and simplistic strap adjustment mechanism is not going to win any Red Dot design awards. However, I have not found the level of discomfort so intense that I would throw my hard earnt cash towards an upgrade. I therefore continued to happily work with my stock strap.
It was a few months back that the new and improved BoboVR S3 Pro caught my interest. Comfortable design- Check, Battery that worked and did not whine – check. Reasonable price (£78 at time of purchase) – check!
Fast forward to my overly excited unboxing and I quickly swap over head straps. The first thing that I instantly noticed was the weight of this thing! It has almost doubled the weight on my head. The quest 3 is 490g with zero straps, with the stock strap weighing in at a featherweight of 57g. Adding the BoboVR S3 into the ring and it totals 1048g! with the battery providing 187g of that heft.
I instantly had regrets of choosing the latest in BoboVR’s line-up. My only option was to put the strap and my neck muscles through their paces for a full working week.
Day one was a hot morning when I got to my desk as I over-dramatically lowered the headset like I was a Brotherhood knight from the Fallout series. The heat of the day had caused some perspiration and in-turn fogging of the lenses. This had never been a problem before, but then again, the British summer had not begun until today. So, I put it down to the weather and not an issue with the headset. It was at this stage that I remembered that I now had a glorious source of cooling breeze through the built-in fan.
Looking for the sweets pot between breeze and noise, I settled on a 28% fan speed. Impressively this was still enough to offer a silent but noticeable breeze upon my brow. With that out the way I spend the rest of the morning finding the ultimate position of comfort for me.
Even heading to the loo with the headset still on seems a step too far.
With three main pivot points, the level of adjustment is good. From my personal experience I recommend not to having the back strap too far down the back of the head. While this allowed me to reduce the pleasure on my face, it triggered sensitive pressure points on the back of my head like an evil masseuse, causing more discomfort that the stock strap ever had. An hour later of yes, no, yes!, no, ah! Yes! I finally found my happy place.
As the image shows, my headset is positioned fairly level across my head. My face felt secure in its new habitat with an even distribution of pressure. It is always the indication of a good fit when you can remove your headset without the red face imprints that I became accustom too.
Another advantage of this headset was a few extra degrees of sweet, sweet FOV. With my stock strap and Reloptix lenses inserts, the facial interface could only go as far as level 2 without the lenses inserts trying to embed themselves in my eyes. The S3 Pro’s flexible positioning has allowed me to drop the facial interface to its lowest setting – while remaining comfortable, for which my eyeballs are truly thankful for. It is amazing how far even a few extra degrees of FOV goes toward increasing immersion and the overall enjoyment in VR.
Another benefit this headset had brought to my configuration was the freedom of untethered power. I was not sure how to take full advantage of this freedom. My tethered power cord had never caused any problems and my boundary was only over set to stationary. The more I thought about it I could not think of situations where I would be walking away from my desk with my headset on. I certainty would not be answering the front door and scaring the postman. Even heading to the loo with the headset still on seems a step too far. The best I could come up with as heading to the kitchen for coffee and snacks. Woot!.
By midday my BoboVR B100 battery has depleted, causing me to reach back to the cord. I was not overly surprised by this and knew that another battery would be needed to get though a whole day. On reflection I have wondered if my requirement for additional battery had been justified. I could easily have opted for the M3 Mini or any other battery-less straps – shaving off considerable weight. By the end of day one my buyers remorse was starting to creep in.
As I continued through the week I started thinking less about the headset and more about getting through the working week. It has been a manic month and I was focusing on a relaxing week in France that awaited me.
Each day I customised myself to the additional weight and found more appreciation for the additional comfort and its ease of use. The action of taking the headset on/off became a satisfying manoeuvre, where I could hold the front of the headset with one had and the back of the headset with the other. With a lift from the back and a reassuring click the the headset widens to release my head. The reverse is performed by aligning the facial interface and simply pulling down at the back to clamp into place. Even the rear ratchet requires little adjusting once set.
Outside of working hours , I managed to fit in a couple of sessions in Population One to see how it faired with an game more energetic that Excel. Once again, I was not disappointed. I could now turn off battery saving mode and game, knowing that I my batteries would outlast my sessions. With the background noise of a gaming environment, I could crank up the fan speed up to take full advantage of the head straps features.
After all my deliberation and buyers remorse I have conclude the S3 Pro to been a great purchase, I mean present. I have already gone all-in on all day power and ordered a second B100 battery and 100w GnN charger. My curiosity still persists on how the M3 Mini stacks up against the S3 Pro and will have opportunity to review and compare at a later date. One thing I will defiantly be doing is going back to the stock strap in a months time for a retrospective review.
Let me conclude by saying; if you use your Quest 3 for the occasional gaming session and don’t mind the stock strap then I see no reason in recommending the upgrade. On the other hand, if you want to treat yourself to some additional comfort and extend your session time then you can’t go wrong with the BoboVR S3 Pro.
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