Facebook introduced a 128GB version of the Oculus Quest 2 headset last week, entirely replacing the 64GB base model which launched for $300 in October 2020. Now the long out-of-stock 256GB is back on the shelves too, both of which should include protective covers in the box for the minority of users who may experience skin reactions to the stock facial interface.

Update (August 31st, 2021): After a lengthy hiatus, the 256GB version of Quest 2 (priced at $400) is back on sale. You’ll find it direct from Oculus in all supported regions. Follow the links below to see both the 128GB and 256GB variants from other online retailers.

The original article detailing the entrance of the 128GB variant ($300) follows below:

Original Article (August 24th, 2021): At the time of this writing, the 128GB variant [Amazon] is currently the only version on offer, with the 256GB version still listed as out of stock. You should be able to find both models offered from Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Adorama in the US, as well as direct from Oculus.

Other online retailers will likely catch up soon too, as many, such as NewEgg, MicroCenter, and B&H, have listed the 128GB variant as “coming soon” or releasing on August 24th.

Image courtesy Facebook

Facebook globally paused sales on Oculus Quest 2 late last month due to a skin irritation issue with the headset’s face pad, something the company said affected a “very small percentage” of customers. Existing owners of Quest 2 can still request a free silicone cover directly from Oculus regardless of whether they experience skin irritation.

The company says it revealed no issues in its manufacturing process of the original 64GB and 256GB models, claiming that the minority of users were experiencing a reaction non-allergic in nature. Just the same, all newly shipped headsets are said to include the silicone cover just in case.

SEE ALSO
The First $100 You Should Spend on Meta Quest Games

If you’re just now considering a Quest 2 purchase, make sure to check out our deep dive review where we called it “the best standalone headset” when it launched in October 13th, 2020. Outside of Quest 2’s impressive hardware, that’s even more true today than it was at launch.

Now with more games available from the Oculus Store, which is partially thanks to Oculus relaxing its app submission requirements and opening up its App Lab distribution channel, there’s more reason than ever to have extra on-board storage. Road to VR’s monthly rundown of the top 20 most popular and best-rated games on Quest is a great place to start if you’re looking to see what everyone else is playing.

Besides the flood of games, there’s been a lot more software improvements along the way this past year that have made the headset even more capable. With the entrance of Air Link, you can now play PC VR games wirelessly if you have a VR-capable PC. The company is also experimenting with passthrough augmented reality on Quest 2, something Facebook expects will bring new a brand new class of applications to the platform.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • Nice.

    But you know what I really want to see, and they obviously can’t do this on the current Quest 2: A MUCH lighter headset–my God, you have no idea how much the weight has been a burden (discomfort on both face and head regardless of using alternative faceplates and straps and so on, losing the sweet spot constantly as the headset is pulled down with the weight)–a much larger sweet spot, a noticeably larger field of view, and better contrast. I’m happy to see more resolution and better graphics and and so on too, but I really want to see those things before anything else.

    • MeowMix

      It’s about weight distribution; grab an upgraded strap and play with improved comfort.
      As a comparison, the Valve Index is over 800g (Quest2 is 500G), but it has good comfort due to better weight distribution. Although, the 800g likely gets top heavy after 1-2 hours.

    • kontis

      Palmer wanted to separate the battery and compute unit from the headset like Magic Leap did, but Facebook didn’t listen to him.

      • ViRGiN

        Palmer wanted to offer CV1 Audio Fix Kit to anyone who asked for it, but he couldn’t even do that, despite being a billion dollar worth. So fck that guy, he is the next Epstein of VR

    • sfmike

      If you want better graphics we’ll have to hope they return to OLED panels with their amazing black levels.

      • Rupert Jung

        Yes, that was really a step back.

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    • Geoff

      It is the main thing that puts me off playing on them, I have Quest 1 and 2, CV1, Oddssey+ , elite strap’s, battery counterweights etc. Can only be in VR for about an hour before my face aches so much that I have to stop. The most comfortable of them all is the Rift CV1 and that is the least spec wise. So totally with you on this one. Shame my games consist of long playing games like Skyrim VR, Fallout VR, Half Life Alyx etc.

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      • Literally agree with you on the comfort of the Rift CV1. It’s so disappointing going from that to the Quest 2 that just constantly reminds me I have a VR headset strapped onto my face.

        • Jistuce

          Ironically, the original Rift was WILDLY uncomfortable for me in ways the Quest isn’t. The eyebox forced my glasses into my face hard enough that the nose pads bruised my nose. (It remains a testament to how good VR is that I put up with that crap.)

          • Take you glasses off and try it . . . because it wasn’t designed to properly accommodate glasses. Or, get prescription VR lenses put in. Like I said, it wasn’t designed to be used with glasses, so you can’t really blame the headset if it’s uncomfortable when you wear them with it.

          • Jistuce

            I can’t see without my glasses(my vision is exceptionally bad). I did try it, it worked as well as I expected.

            I actually did research before I bought in. One of the things that pushed me over the edge was a consensus that the eyebox had room for glasses, and that if there wasn’t enough room there was a glasses spacer available.
            There was not actually enough room, and the broad assertion of a spacer was apparently all tied to a pre-release promise that was broken.

          • I don’t recall seeing any stuff with them claiming the original Rift CV1 was specifically designed to accommodate glasses. It was more that it kinda could if really necessary, as I recall.

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    • Rupert Jung

      If they would just move the battery to the back and use a descent halo design this alone would do wonders.

  • xyzs

    The index is way heavier, lower res, needs a room of sensors installation, cable pc only, and way more expensive. I don’t even understand how they manage to sell it against Facebook offer tbh. Valve faithfulness I guess.

    • kontis

      Valve doesn’t pay everyone $200 (!!!) to buy the headset, like Facebook does. Quest costs them ~500 USD per unit. Of course no normal company can compete with that on price/value. Ironically Valve now does similar thing (not as aggressively but still) with the Steam Deck and all the classic handheld PC companies cannot match the price. So, they got their lesson…

      And there are valid reasons to choose Index: headphones, comfort, native PC support (instead of streaming with delay and blur), better IPD adjustment, better tracking, support for vive trackers for FBT (VRChat) or mocap (for animators and devs), more advanced controllers.
      But obviously Quest is currently the absolute king in price/value factor.

      • xyzs

        First of all, stop pulling numbers out of your magic hat like you do all the time. You have no sources like anyone else about how much Quest 2 cost. The finish of Quest 2 is basic plastic, and it’s mechanically simpler than the Quest 1, they designed it to be cheap AF to manufacture.

        Second, stop acting like Valve is a poor company, they get 30 percent out of almost every pc game sold over the past 15 years.
        Valve is just MONSTROUSLY RICH, you can’t even guess. They are a private company and that is why nobody can witness their huge annual figures. They could probably buy Disney if they wanted.. So if they price the Index so high, it’s not because they cannot go lower, it’s because they want to.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          Valve is rich, but probably not as rich as many believe. As a private company they don’t publish earnings, but estimates for total Steam revenue were around USD 4-5bn a few years ago, with estimates around USD 500mn earnings per year. Since then total revenue should have gone up, but Valve reduced the revenue share to 25% and 20% for top grossing titles, so it wouldn’t have doubled, they may make USD 600-700mn per year.

          Not exactly lump change, but not a lot compared to Facebook with USD 86bn revenue and USD 24bn earnings in 2020. And Fortnite alone generated USD 5.1bn in revenues 2020.

          I don’t think that Facebook is selling the Quest 2 hardware at a loss, but they most likely eat all the development and promotion cost. Pico is selling the technically similar Pico 3 in China for about USD 350, and besides lower costs in China they most likely pretty much used the Qualcomm X2 reference HMD, massively reducing their development costs.

          It is hard to estimate how much of the money that FRL burns every year is due to the Quest, but let’s stick with kontis’ number and estimate that they would have to sell the Quest at USD499 to recoup all their development costs. This does not include any ROI for the USD 2bn FB payed for Oculus, because this would add another USD 400 on top of each Quest 2 sold so far.

          With the recent estimates of ~5M Quest 2 sold at USD 200 unrecouped costs, you are already at USD 1bn “loss” for a headset that has been on the market for ten months, so a lot more then what Valve makes per year. Valve’s value is estimated at about USD 12bn, Facebook’s market cap is a hundred times higher at USD 1,200bn. Disney’s market cat is USD 323bn, about 27 times larger than Valve.

          Consumer hardware is expensive and risky, even for a rich company like Valve you easily get into dimensions that the company cannot afford. I seriously doubt that Valve could afford to release a Quest 2 competitor at the same or similar price.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Oh please, facebook also doesn’t pay $200.. the quest hardware itself is barely (if at all) the price they sell it for. The $500 is bullshit.

      • MeowMix

        Quest costs them ~500 USD per unit

        Where’s that figure from ?

        • ViRGiN

          out of his anime, male-to-female voice changer, valve driven body tracked vrchat neckbeard universe, he is so anti social he will call it social

          • Rogue Transfer

            Your childishness is showing again with the ad-hominem attacks.

        • shadow9d9

          Make believe.

      • shadow9d9

        Most consoles sell at cost or at a loss, to be made up with game sales. This is no different.

    • Rogue Transfer

      The base stations are *emitters – the actual tracking sensors that look out for them, are inside the headset and controllers. The main reason they sell(apart from brand reputation) is because they offer the best all-round tracking volume and for a set of users(mostly VRChat), allow for accurate, lag-free, full body tracking too.

      Plus, the unique controllers, that offer throwing and grabbing(in some games) without needing to hold them all the time, alongside all-finger tracking/gestures without losing access to joystick movement & buttons.

  • If that’s what I described then yes, and standalone at that. And I’m not being funny about it.

  • MeowMix

    The Silicone cover is pretty decent. Now it has me rethinking if I want to go back to the Stock interface (+Silicone Cover, +Glasses spacer) over the VRCover interface replacement.
    The VRCover looks nice, but I always found the foam padding to be very ‘mushy’ and not supportive.

    • johann jensson

      My feeling as well. I used the VR Cover they sent me for a few days when playing HL:A with a friend, and then went back to the original – better sweet spot and better support.

      The VR Cover is not only mushy, it’s sticky and pull your skin down in the eye area. In addition to now allowing to use glasses spacer, this really screws my sweet spot and makes my vision blurry. Oh, and not to forget – VR Cover gives me much more chromatic aberrations (again, bad sweet spot).

  • johann jensson

    I hope that the original facepad is available separately now/again. I find it better than the VR Cover version they sent me.

  • JB1968

    If you’re just now considering a Quest 2 purchase, make sure to check with your dermatologist to acknowledge your skin is resistant to Propylene carbonate, Phenol, fragrance 7-hydroxycitronellal, Benzocaine and other cheap chinese shit. Otherwise you have to use the attached preservative. The customer health first! Thank you Facebook.

  • ImperialDynamics

    I have bought THREE Oculus Quests in Greece and Oculus won’t send me one replacement cover. I’m taking the issue to the European Commission. The EU has a common set of rules when it comes to consumer protection. And this is a health issue.