Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset - 32GB

Okay, so I've tinkered with Google Cardboard with my iPhone. But of course, that's pretty limited. It was neat, but no something I'd pay much money for. I spent a good chunk of time reading up on early reviews prior to the official release and decided on the Oculus Go. I had my expectations set appropriately. I wasn't expecting it to blow my mind as if I'd stepped 10-20 years into the future of tech. It's $200, and I understand how much technology you can really fit into that price point. That said, this is pretty darn awesome!! Part of my decision for Go vs. waiting for the Lenovo stand-alone, is that Oculus Go pairs up with the Gear VR store. Soooo many more apps and games in there... some 4-5 times more. And when you're talking 250+ vs. 1000+, that's significant! And while 6dof would have been nice, I can't see paying TWICE the price for it. My initial/primary use for it is to view my home media. I run a plex server at home, and Plex supports this device. It would actually be the only way I currently have to watch a couple 3D videos I have at home (don't you hate when friends/family buy you a gift you can't use yet). The video is not as nice as watching it on a high end TV. But you know what... those cost $600-2000 and is just a TV. Yes, you can see pixels. But after a while, I tune it out. I'm of the generation that remembers growing up with 320x200 TVs. Hell, my college TV was an old 13" VHS/TV combo I'd had since I was 10 years old hooked up to my commodore. So, still WAY better than that! Anyway... I got mine on Friday. The Plex app is good, but needs work (that's on them, not the Oculus Go). I started playing some games as well, and am really enjoying the VR experience. My wife was a little less impressed, but she also expects iPhone OLED reality. I explained the state of the tech to her and she was a little more understanding, but wants her Ready Player One experience already. LOL. My main cons (but not negative enough to take a way a star, for me): - The battery life could be better. 2-3 hours is a lot, but it's amazing how much you lose time when that thing is on your head. They say you're not supposed to have it plugged in to charge while wearing it, but no explanation. I'm not sure if it's about the heat of battery charging while also using it, or if it's a CYA legal disclaimer. But if it takes 3 hours to charge (what claims/reviews say) and 2 hours of play time, that means even if it is pluggged in and charging, it will drain faster than it can charge. - The fabric on the mask is good, but could be a tad softer. I've read some other VR goggles are uncomfortable and can't be worn for more than 30 minutes. This is better than that. But it does have some pressure points and leaves a good indentation on your face after wearing it for an hour or two. - The lenses fog up at first. From what I read, this is a common issue with these headsets. Seems like they would work on some sort of vents or something to promote airflow. But once they warm up (either by warming them [someone suggested a hair dryer for a moment] or after 10-15 minutes of wearing them), the fogging goes away. The $200 is well worth the price! I do hope for improvements with software updates. I think if people have their expectations set appropriately (do some research, watch a few video reviews), they will not be disappointed with the Oculus Go. It's fun and it's priced at a level that I do think will launch VR much more into mainstream. I do hope that more apps/games come out, and that 1000+ app store grows to 10000+ apps. I would love to see more adaptations of mainstream games, although, I suspect processor power wouldn't be able to handle them well with battery life. I'm still exploring the store to find new apps. I want to check out some of the virtual gatherings (wish I had time today to watch the live launch of XSpace rocket for Bangladesh). I don't expect my opinion/review to downgrade, unless I encounter a system failure that Oculus fails to support. If you're new to VR and not expecting a Ready Player One experience just yet, I think the Oculus Go is a good choice.

Simply GREAT! I am shocked at any review under 3 stars. Any other VR device costs around $1,000 or more unless you are using your smartphone. However, to get the content, there is little to nothing else out there. And the Go is completely self contained! I mean you literally have all you need I the box. And there is so much free content, you don’t need to pay another dime and can fully enjoy all the features on this device. One person complained the battery life is too short. So plug the thing in to the wall! Another person complained the video quality is not worth the price. I used the Hulu app to stream movies and was blown away! Yeah, it’s not 4K on my TV, but I don’t have a cinema screen in my living room either. This product is, hands down, the best COMPREHENSIVE intro to VR for the price. Sure, use your smartphone and a Google cardboard VR device, but that will not compare with the immersive experience of the Go. Yes, some content has poor quality rendering, but that is not the fault of the Go. There are tons of high res VR videos and it keeps expanding. As for the screen door effect, that’s simply the trade off for the exceptional price. The Go is all you’ll ever NEED for a VR device of high quality and comprehensive features. That’s what makes it a smart buy, especially for the novice. However, combined with the affordable price makes it a great buy. Of course the Go is NOT all you’ll ever WANT. We all want greater resolution and a more immersive experience. Other more expensive units offer this, to a degree. But I just can’t see any serious negatives on this device. IMO it is the best possible buy you can get for the price. Just be ready to take some Dramamine before you try a fast moving game. You may even need it just for the set up if you get motion sickness easily. Get the Go and have the time of your life. I will say the only issue I have found is learning to navigate and determine what content is good for me. So be ready to learn a new skill. It is relatively intuitive and the learning curve for most should not be steep. But be patient and look for help on YouTube. A lot of good videos are out there to help train you on how best to use the Go. So Go......and Have fun!

I really wish I could give it 4.5 stars since I don't think the Oculus Go is perfect, but it is still pretty great. I have had my Oculus Go for about 2 weeks now and I've used it nearly every day. I really have only two complaints but one of them is a pretty big one. The smaller complaint is the battery life. I would love for this thing to have a 5+ hour battery life but in reality I get 2 to 3 hours out of it when watching Netflix or other videos. I am not as upset about this after a couple of weeks because I find that I'm really ready to move on to doing something else by the time the battery runs out anyway. It was definitely more annoying during the first few sessions though when I wasn't ready to put it down when the battery ran out. My biggest complaint by far would be the fact that many apps have no way to recenter the screen. I admit that I could be missing an option to recenter the view on some apps but I don't think so. Many apps do have that option but not all. I don't see any reason why I can't set back in a chair in my living room and play a poker game or a shooting game where all the action happens right in front of the player. I understand that it would make playing some games difficult but I haven't played many of those yet. Even some of the Oculus apps don't have a "void" mode that I can find where you can recenter the screen. Ok, that's enough complaining. I really love the headset itself. I wear glasses so I put the glasses spacer in before even powering it on and it works just fine. My glasses do get smushed up against my face occasionally but that is mostly my fault when I tighten the headstrap too much. I definitely like being able to use my glasses more with the Oculus Go than trying to use the focus wheel on the Gear VR 2018 that I have used before. The padding of the headset is excellent and never feels uncomfortable to me. Watching Netflix is great (even if the resolution could be better). Watching the various 360° videos is fun. My hopes are that the app selection continues to increase. I would love to see a streaming app for the Go from Xfinity so I can watch content from the headset. The thing that I'm trying to figure out right now as well is the best to watch TV and chat with family members. Oculus Rooms can do some of that but the streaming options are limited to Hulu and Facebook videos for the time being. Even just adding Netflix to the Oculus Rooms app would be great but it'd be even better if it supported either an Xfinity Stream app or even just a stream from a computer. Edit on 3/4/2019: Everything I wrote about above still stands but I want to add a note saying that I actually have gotten the Xfinity Stream app to work in Oculus TV now by sideloading the Android app and a file browser. That is a cool thing in Oculus TV in that Android apps can be sideloaded and played in Oculus TV since it is really just an Android environment. I would still rather have true support for more streaming apps on the Oculus Go (preferably with a way to watch with friends) but it is nice having the sideload option. (Edit continued): I will be getting the Oculus Quest when it comes out hopefully in a few weeks and I hope it will be even more awesome than the Oculus Go is already! I also expect that the Oculus Go will be getting better as well since I assume much of the software upgrades in the Quest will also trickle down to the go when possible.

Because I already own an Oculus Rift, this thing was kind of redundant. However I wanted a lower cost option for playing vr games with company, and for watching 3d movies in bed. The Oculus Go has really delivered on both of those promises, and in several areas it is actually superior to the Rift. First and foremost, this is above and beyond the better choice for watching movies. When I ordered my Rift I had grand visions of myself curled up in bed on those cold winter nights, enjoying 3d movies the way they were meant to be enjoyed. Well, I had another thing coming. Although the Rift is a great multimedia machine, the wires really do make it a pain in the ass in bed. Besides that fact, you have to be in range of your sensors for it to work, and more than once I had to fish out my expensive Touch controllers from behind the bed. The whole endeavor just wasn't worth it. On the other hand, the Oculus Go seems like it was built for watching movies in bed. It takes a little fiddling, but once you get the settings to your liking it is easy. As an added bonus there is additional room inside the headset, which as someone who wears glasses I can definitely appreciate. With my Rift I have to use the stuff divers use on their goggles to keep them from fogging up, but with the Go it just isn't a problem because of the extra room. The processor isn't as powerful as what drives my Rift, obviously, but taken for what it is I don't have any complaints about performance. If you are wanting to play action packed, high end games then get a Rift because this thing will disappoint you. On the other hand if you want to watch movies wireless and don't mind playing cartoonish, cell phone style games then this is for you. My only complaint really is the lack of social settings. I think that Oculus should have built the Go in such a way as to have them be capable of "seeing" each other when they are in the same area and automatically network. If a family can all put on their individual headsets and watch a movie TOGETHER, that would go a long way toward spurring sales. Virtual reality will be made or broken on the altar of social, and I don't understand why the Go doesn't have this basic functionality. I can use it for a guest to join me for a few games on my Rift, but we can't just watch a local movie together without one of us having to stream it as an upload for the other person to stream it down. That works, but it's kind of silly. Oculus just needs to make local parties a thing again. So all in all, as long as you have realistic expectations you will be pleased with the Oculus Go! Keep in mind that the Rift is driven by the powerful processor and graphics card in your desktop, and the Go is powered by two year old cell phone processors, so the Rift will always be the superior unit from a pure quality standpoint. However the Go provides mobility that the Rift can not, so which one you get is dependant on what you want from your VR headset. For the price I feel like I've gotten a good value, and this unit compliments my Rift quite nicely.

I own both the Oculus Rift and The Go. I love both devices but for different reasons. The Rift is superior in terms of game-play. With "six degrees of freedom" and the "Oculus Touch" controls, games are definitely a much more immersive experience. Although the prices seem similar, when factoring in the cost of a computer that has high enough specs to run it, the Rift is a much more expensive device. The Go is a great stand alone experience. While the game-play might be better on the Rift, I have experiences better multimedia experiences on the Go. The Go has slightly better resolution, which means that the "screen door effect" is minimized on the Go. Some experiences seem better optimized for the Go vs. the Rift, with smoother video play and less lag. When I want to use the Go, I don't need to mess with inserting a phone or bother with connecting to a computer or other sensors. It is much more portable, easy to throw in a duffel bag and go! With the Rift, I'm limited to using it in a defined area of my house. With the Go, I can sit on a couch or recliner, an airplane, hotel, even lay on my bed, and enjoy surfing the web, 3D movies, and other multimedia experiences in any comfortable position I like. It is much more comfortable than holding a phone or tablet for long periods of time. While VR can be a solitary experience, it doesn't have to be. I've used apps to watch movies on one device while letting my kids watch it on another. Imagine movie night with a best friend or sister that lives on the other side of the country. This device makes it possible...and what's more, it can create the illusion that I am watching the movie on a massive screen. Like a smartphone or a tablet, there are many free Apps available that can cater to many different interests. Through VR I can go to live concerts, comedy clubs, or sporting events and feel like I have the best seats in the house. I can take a virtual tour of the White House, with the President and First Lady as a guide, or travel to Venice, where a professor of history will lecture all the fascinating history behind what I am seeing, as I glide down the canals. Does it equal actually going there? Of course not...but I can say having actually been to some of the places experienced in VR, it certainly brings a different perspective and is about as close to being there as it gets! I'm very happy with my purchase of this device, and I love the new ways I am finding how to use it. While the Rift has been great, I'm definitely finding that I use the Go quite a bit more. I'm looking forward to further developments in VR and where the future will take this technology.

I was conflicted between the Pico Goblin and this one, but ended up getting this one. Pros: - It just works - The browser is sufficient for YouTube. I much prefer the browser YouTube because I can control the playback speed easily. - Okay price for what it is, especially compared to the Lenovo one. I really only wanted it to watch VR video on it. - The controller works pretty well. Cons: - I wish it was higher resolution, but I think this is just where the technology is at the moment. You can definetly see the pixels and 2k or 4k video looks low quality because of the screen resolution and how close your eyes are to it. - Text is usually blurry with color shift, and I have to adjust the headset frequently to get it back into focus. - I couldn't really wear it for more than 30 minutes as it caused my neck to hurt. It doesn't feel heavy, but I'm not used to wearing any weights on my head either. - you really have to use it with the power cable plugged in. Otherwise the battery drains very quickly - The Netflix app has a dumb virtual living room surrounding the video for some reason. I'd much rather that it just played the video without anything around it. It's hard to describe, and I couldn't find any settings to change it. basically when you open Netflix, you see a large screen surrounded by a coffee table, a window to your left, and other random cabin like decor that just feels out of place. Once the video plays the light dims in that virtual room, but it's still visible. It's pretty annoying. - Transfer speed is pretty slow. Also no SD card unlike the Pico Goblin - It's from Facebook, ugh.

For the money, nothing else even comes close. Great way to get into VR and really easy to set up and use. You need a reasonably late model Smartphone to set it up, but it will run out of internal memory for most things. Get the one with the bigger memory, you will be glad you did. Some people are disappointed comparing the Go to the Rift, I think that is really incorrect and this is my response to them. I have a DK2, a Rift and the Go. Of course it can't do what a Rift connected to an Nvidia 1080 Video board with hundreds of GPUs can do. The Go essentially has a smartphone processing unit. That said, it is completely portable,costs way less than a Rift and way way less than a rift plus a high end computer and high end video board. In fact, the Go's capabilities are truly amazing taking into account what it is and what it costs. I'm still waiting for them to port one single high end video game to my Rift. (Game developers do not seem overly inclined to develop for a tiny platform with a tiny, tiny set of early adopters). Sure the Vive has Fallout 4, but HTC is owned by the Company that wrote it in the first place. Basically the high end HMDs are a huge disappointment to actual Game players at this point. The Go is not a disappointment, it is an excellent platform for small applications such as you might run on your smartphone, only in full stereo surround video and really portable so you can take it anywhere, it is an outgrowth of the Samsung Gear for people without a Samsung Galaxy Phone and it's price versus capability is incredible. Only thing it really needed was a Micro SD card slot in addition to the built in memory so you could acquire and transport more apps. The Go does work with a game pad which you can also get and some of the more capable video games work better with the game pad than the supplied controller. That said the Go controller works fine for most things.

As far as first impressions go, I was impressed initially by the videos and packaging, it felt like a high quality product when unpacking it. Pulled out the headset, started it up, the setup seemed to drive me to set up a Facebook account (which I don't have.) The interface should have tiles with "Create Oculus Account" or "Sign in with Facebook Account." BUT that wasn't the case here, it was Facebook account and in smaller font, "create oculus account." After setup of the headset and the app on my phone, here are my gripes: 1. Battery life. There was enough battery life when initially opened to set up the headset, download 2-3 apps and maybe watch one VR video (3-4 minutes). Charged the headset for about an hour and half, had it up to 60% battery life and that lasted about 30-40 minutes. Seemed on the low end. 2. Casting to phone or smartTV. This was painful and the cast hardly ever rendered on any devices casted to in realtime. Note, the Oculus wasn't able to directly cast to my TV, so I had to install the application to an Andriod/iOS device and hope I could cast/mirror from there to my TV. Installed it on my phone with the hopes that I would be able to cast to my TV. Didn't work. Then installed Oculus app to my new-ish iPad, the cast to the iPad was choppy and it wouldn't cast to my TV. This REALLY impacts the user experience for those not wearing the headset. FYI, I cast my phone to my TV fairly regularly. My kids cast YouTubeKids from their iPads to our TV on their own, they push a button and voila, iPad to TV! 3. The Operating System seems really cheap. The user interface/experience is horrible. 4. Prior to purchasing the headset, scroll through the application library/store online. I was somewhat taken aback on how pricey the applications are, found a few free applications, like epic roller coasters, with the free version of this application, you get 1 roller coaster track and your pick of one or two cars for that track. Come on Facebook. 5. Downloaded Bait, Coco, VR Youtube, Netflix and a few others. I tried to like the headset but the applications were extremely pixelated. 6. Micro USB?!? I would have been able to overlook the MicroUSB had you provided a cable that was over 3 feet long. Given No 1 (battery life), why not include a cable long enough to allow us to keep our headsets plugged to a power source while in use? The adapter was really cheap, and barely stayed connected to my power strip. [shaking my head] 7. No bluetooth/built-in cast I just re-packed the Oculus and am sending it back after 2 days of use. That's my experience. Seems like many others loved it, it was the reviews on Amazon that drove my decision, which is why I felt the need to post my experience since there's an overwhelming "loved it!!!" on here.