Why You Can Trust CNET Meta Drops Quest 2 Price Below $200
$199 is an absurdly good price for a still-good standalone VR headset, but is the Quest 3 Lite around the corner?
- Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
The Quest 2 now costs even less (Elite Strap shown here sold separately).
How much would you pay for a VR headset? Apple says $3,499. Meta, meanwhile, has a starting price of $199 -- the cost of a Vision Pro battery replacement. The Meta Quest 2 got a surprise price drop below $200 on Thursday, fueling speculation that a new headset might be on its way soon.
The Meta Quest 2 has been CNET's Editors' Choice VR headset for years, mainly because it's totally standalone, plays a ton of games, can also be used for surprisingly effective fitness apps, can be used as a work device (with mixed results) and can connect to PCs as well.
The Quest 2's price dropped to $250 over the holidays, but a new price drop now puts it at $199. That's for a model with 128GB of storage, which is enough to download dozens of apps. We loved it at $250, and that feeling's even stronger now. One word of caution, though: A newer model with a low price could be right around the corner.
Walmart is offering an additional deal of $50 Meta Quest store credit along with the lower price, making it an even better buy. (It's also available at Amazon for $199, but with no store credit.)
Will Meta be readying a replacement soon? Reports are growing that a lower-cost version of the newer Meta Quest 3, which arrived last fall, will offer up mixed reality features while cutting a few Quest 3 functions, and possibly being sold without controllers. However, even if that does happen, it's hard to believe it'll be anywhere near as affordable as $199.
The Quest 2 debuted in 2020, and its display resolution and passthrough cameras aren't as good as the Quest 3. But it still does a lot of things remarkably well: even if Meta never released another game or app for the Quest 2, it would be a fantastic buy at $199 for anyone interested in exploring hundreds of compelling games and apps. The Quest 2 also supports hand tracking, which means it works with or without its included controllers.
VR is still an unnecessary purchase for most, and some people use the Quest as a device for kids -- which I'd just recommend you supervise very carefully. The Quest 2 at $300 less than the Quest 3 still makes it the most affordable VR experience by far right now, but before buying one you might want to ask yourself if an improved version coming soon would be worth waiting for.