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VR and AR headsets

Oculus Go

14owners with an opinion
45%of verdicts positive
1/2positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for comfort and portability; criticized for software and value.

What people wrote

Likes it
I bought an Oculus Go last year for € 30. Its support has been dropped for quite some time, and you can only activate developer mode and sideloading through an old version of the Meta Horizons app [1]. But if you do that, there are 71 GiBs of games to explore on the Internet Archive [2]. Some need patching to remove an online check to a server that no longer exists, but that is easy enough to do with a (regrettably Windows) tool someone published. The Go is not the best headset of course, but the games are a different style because of the 3DoF tracking without camera's. Somewhat slower paced and sitting down. A style I personally like more. You can also unlock the device to get root on it [3], which is quite neat, although there doesn't seem to be any homebrew scene at all. Not even the most bare-bones launcher that doesn't require a Meta login. [1] That doesn't even seem intentional, but it does mean that once the old version of the app can't communicate with Meta servers anymore, any uninitialized Go turns into a brick. [2] https://archive.org/details/gear-vr-oculus-go [3] https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/unlocking-oculus-go...
Neutral
This isn't true. It's more that the Vision Pro deliberately prioritized certain things that Meta or Vive or Valve or Sony have not: geometrically stable pass through, wide library of popular 3D movies via AppleTV and Disney+, high resolution immersive environments, seamless keyboard/mouse/trackpad migration between PC and native apps, strong iOS/iPadOS ecosystem integration, high fps / low latency wireless ultra-wide virtual displays for the Mac, etc. In some ways it focuses on what the Oculus Go was trying to do but was underpowered to really do it. It's meant to replace other iOS devices for general productivity and entertainment, and to complement a Mac. It's not focused on VR gaming though it can do that. I have a Oculus Rift dev kit, Ovulus Go, Quest , Quest 2, Valve Index, PSVR2. The AVP is much better of an experience on almost every level but three: too much motion blur when moving your head (this isn't bad when watching high fps video), lack of controller support, not so great hand tracking (which the Quest had to do well due to lack of eye tracking). The controller support should be fixed with the Sony PSVR2 partnership. Motion blur and hand tracking I suspect will be software fixed as they evolve to prioritize active fitness with the AVP.
Doesn’t like it
On an unrelated note, in 2021 Carmack and Meta announced [1] unlocking the Oculus Go bootloader, explicitly mentioning that it "opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today, and means that a randomly discovered shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now will be able to update to the final software version" [2]. I thought that was great, wanted to hack [3] on it a bit, so I went ahead and bought an Oculus Go on the second hand market. Turns out that the quote isn't true at all [4]. Updating the firmware requires enabling developer mode [5]. Enabling developer mode requires activating the Oculus Go with a Meta or Oculus account [6]. I don't have or want to have a Meta-related account, and in twenty years the online activation process likely won't work at all, making Carmack's shrink-wrapped headset useless without a fight. I'm sure the point is moot in twenty years because you'll just ask Skynet to write you an Android root exploit, but right know my second hand Oculus Go is surely acting like a brick in my drawer. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22696030/oculus-go-root-a... [2] https://xcancel.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1441496416463904768 [3] https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_ocul... [4] Although at first I couldn't believe this and assumed I must be doing something wrong instead. I'm still not ruling out that possibility; I would very much like to hear a solution. [5] https://developer.oculus.com/blog/unlocking-ocul…
Neutral
I had the original Oculus Rift (tethered to a PC), the Oculus Go, the Quest 2 (paid for by my former employer) and now the Quest 3 (employer discount, I work for Meta but on WhatsApp, not Quest), and it’s a huge improvement over the Quest Pro or Quest 2, which is why I got it. My main use case is watching the 360º spherical panoramas I take with my Ricoh Theta Z1 camera, and possibly some light gaming, although Call of Duty Above and Beyond’s dogged insistence on realistic weapons handling is more of a drag than fun. I’m still working on getting a WebXR-enabled photo gallery generator using Three.js to be able to share those immersive panoramas with friends & family.
Neutral
I definitely watched Netflix on the Oculus go which was a crappy screen and a overheating headset, and yet it was amazing. The only thing that prevented me from finishing was the battery. I also joined a cinema experience and there were other people sitting next to me in the room. Man you really have to try it to understand how dope it is
Doesn’t like it
Completely agree with your points here. I personally see nearly zero times when I would use this given what I've seen so far. I imagined consuming content with the cheap Oculus Go would be cool, but mine has been gathering dust for years. This Apple device seems like a moonshot. I am actually really glad for them to use some of their $100B+ of cash to take a shot at this product rather than other things that might be more sure-fire profit makers. I think if there is a killer app for AR/VR, we haven't seen it yet, and also, it'll be mind-blowing. But I think the chance of that happening anytime in the next 5 years is minimal. It's a low probability of something really awesome, so I'm rooting for it even though Apple is overall not my favorite company.
Likes it
Can't comment on what it's like with a modern headset, but I have used an old Oculus Go with great success, despite its low resolution. It's definitely uncomfortable and hard on the eyes for long periods of time, but the focus it affords makes it worthwhile for short bursts. I set everything up to interface with my computer using a web browser on the headset, which might not match your use case. https://jstrieb.github.io/posts/vr-programming/
Doesn’t like it
I'm not sure if this is what you were getting at with your last paragraph or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if people who get motion sickness from VR are less likely to want to be VR devs. And that would likely influence the type of content being made. That's my case at least. I was so thrilled that VR was finally becoming somewhat practical now and I wanted to get into VR dev. I got an Oculus Go when they came out as a cheap test, and discovered that I get sick when my viewpoint moves in VR. That pretty much killed my desire to invest more time or money into VR development.
Likes it
I can use my Oculus Go apps (like my beloved 'Race for the Galaxy') on the Oculus Quest (and perhaps there's a way to run it on the Quest2). I can still use my Google Daydream VR set, but there is no real use case for it (except, like with samsung gearVR underwater VR with a watertight phone). Most if not all apps of these early mobile VR systems have been ported to the Oculus Go, which has superior hardware compared to GearVR (and weighs less then the Quest). There are probably useful apps or good games on Go that haven't been backported to Samsung GearVR, but seriously - the Go is much more comfortable to wear then the bulky GearVR. 250 euro is a lot, but I gladly paid it for a bit more comfort. Why still use Daydream or GearVR? SteamVR apps can still be run on Windows11 and streamed to Oculus Quest. What do you mean with
Likes it
Antecdotal: Oculus Go and Rift S were the only fixed IPD headsets they produced, and I was able to use the Go comfortably with my abnormally wide IPD (69-70mm.) Quest 2 has 3 digital settings for IPD, and that also works fine for me at the widest setting. (And both of the other consumer-release Oculus headsets (Rift CV1, Quest 1) had analog variable IPD.)
Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it
The Oculus Go was discontinued June 2020, the shop was locked down for any further updates or new games December 2020, that's just six months apart. They did "support" it with security updates until 2022, but it's pretty dead when no new games can be sold.
Likes itDoesn’t say they own it
The Go was certainly not "ahead of it's time". It was a standalone version of the GearVR, which was released three years earlier. At the same time Oculus released the Go with 3DOF tracking, Google released the Lenovo Mirage Solo with 6DOF tracking. That said, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the Go. It was and still is, the cheapest entry point into VR. The lack of features made it much more lightweight and comfortable than its successors, which also cost double of the Go. The only real problem with the Go is that Facebook didn't continue that line of product. There is plenty of room for a 3DOF/2D content focused headset, but Facebook never really cared about that area of VR.
Likes itDoesn’t say they own it
I know someone who built a solid business around using the Oculus Go to show off kitchen designs to prospective buyers. The fact that the Go was a cheap-ish stand-alone Android device was really valuable for them.
Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it
Throwaway because it could be easy to identify my position from my normal account name. Carmack is many thing, engineering genius above them. However, he would frequently wade into areas where he had no experience, demand others do what he said, ignore evidence he was wrong, bully people, and disparage entire teams who were doing good, and in some cases legally required, work. When data proved his idea was wrong, he would say words to the effect of "I don't care, because I still believe I'm right from an ideological background". He would devalue people, there expertise, there experience, and there thoughts because "I'm John Carmack". Truthfully, I have never worked with someone before who was somehow so politely toxic to a workplace. Carmacks work in VR was absolutely invaluable from a technical standpoint, but VR now is as successful as it is in spite of his influence, not because of it. When I hear people say "If only Meta would let Carmack do what he wants we'd see his ideal VR experience and it would be amazing". You already saw it. It was Oculus Go, and by every metric is was a commercial, financial, and technical, disaster.
Likes itDoesn’t say they own it
Yeah well, you're anonymous, so you might as well be someone with a huge ego who got their idea shut down by Carmack once and is still bitter about it. More often than not, when people think they "prove something wrong with data" it's more that they're "taking some data and interpret in a way that fits their standpoint". Carmack has proven enough times in the past that he's able to deliver, that he can push technology, knows what's possible and what isn't, and can wrap up a product. "Wading into fields he has no experience in" sounds pretty unlikely for VR given his past work. And I wouldn't consider the Oculus Go a failure, more like ahead of it's time and released too early. A prototype of the quest. But I guess now it's easy to claim everything that's bad about the go was Carmack's work and everything good about the quest and quest 2 was someone else's.
Likes itDoesn’t say they own it
I would be surprised if it’s fixed - gyro based head tracking is very well established tech now. It’s probably 3dof tracking. (So no translation, just rotation.) the Oculus GearVR and Oculus Go took this approach which works fine for most people for sit and watch theater use cases. Edit: oh, yeah so I think you’re referring to 3dof. I could imagine these being fully tracked but thought you were suggesting entirely untracked.
Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it
> The people who bought a headset and phone to use Samsung VR got fucked. The people who bought a headset and a Google Daydream-certified phone got fucked. The people who bought an Oculus Go got fucked. These things were all essentially experiments, or at best a little taster of VR for those not ready to invest in serious (PC-based) VR. Decent VR needs a truckload of GPU power, and these early attempts to use phone hardware for VR were never going to be much good.
Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it
The Oculus Go was a 3DOF headset. That's basically a glorified 360 movie viewer. 6DOF is the absolute bare minimum and I feel we should have reserved the term "VR" specifically for 6DOF devices. The immersion just isn't there without positional tracking. And positional tracking with the controllers is another huge factor. So - I would argue you've never really tried "real VR".