Meta Quest Pro vs the World's BEST VR Headset - Varjo Aero w/ Through the Lens Detailed Comparison

Meta Quest Pro has good image quality. But how "good"? In this video, we will use THROUGH THE LENSES real-world video footage to benchmark and compare Meta Quest Pro with the World's "BEST" VR Headset - Varjo Aero.
I hope you can use this video to break through the hype and discover the Meta Quest Pro's true potential and limitations.

0:00 - Introduction
2:18 - Why is image quality important to you
2:50 - Varjo Aero Review
4:15 - Specs comparison: Resolution / Pancake Lens
5:39 - IPD adjustment w/ eye-tracking
7:00 - Meat Quest Pro Peak Brightness Comparison
7:28 - Eye-Tracked Foveated Rendering (available on Oculus Link soon)
8:41 - Live Red Matter 2 gameplay on Varjo Aero
11:30 - How I capture Through the Lens on Meta Quest Pro
11:52 - Meta Quest Pro Through the Lens
12:17 - Varjo Aero Through the Lens
13:00 - Comfortability
13:48 - Uncut feedback from a 1st time Meta Quest Pro user
15:00 - The VR Headset Face 😝
15:40 - Verdict

Games and Apps we used in this video:
Red Matter 2 on Steam and on Oculus Store
Gravity Sketch for Meta Quest Pro

🎆 FOLLOW ME:

#MetaQuestPro #VarjoAero

[rayneraccoon]

Good review Hugh. I just bought a Quest Pro because I have bad eyes and my Quest 2 always annoyed me with the Fresnel lenses. The Pro is a huge jump in quality for me, so I'm happy. I think your review was really fair about the good and bad of the Pro.

[dirkfierce]

I have both and I prefer the QPro for most uses. The display panel in the Aero is amazing but I could never get along with the lenses. It has a weird binocular overlap and a much smaller FOV and sweet spot. The perfect headset would be the something like the Pro with the display of the Aero (though I do love the colors of the QPro, despite the lower res screen).

[stefanismx]

I have the Quest pro and i love it really.

[RemyGuyon]

Hi i really like my quest pro it's the best headset i had till today and i had many including hp reverb g2, pico 4, some htc vive and all previous meta headsets. Thank you for your video !

[incom]

That feeling of "processing/ downloading" on the forehead is actually the cooling fan being active.

[damiengvideos]

I agree..the Pro is about 90% of the visual quality of the Aero having both and testing them back to back. One big difference you skipped is the Pro has a much better FOV which to me easily offsets the 10% visual difference….not to mention the Pro is wireless. I had expected to send the Pro back was but so surprised by the quality and FOV I sold my Aero. Waiting for the Aero 2!!!

[matthewfrew]

Always love Hugh’s reviews and tutorials. On money here. Quest Pro has good image quality while Varjo is better price differential means it’s Apples Vs Oranges. 👍😎

[MethosOhio]

You mention seeing the foveated rendering in the Varjo Aero. That's a bad thing. You shouldn't be able to notice it when wearing the headset due to the eye tracking moving it away from your line of sight. That says to me it doesn't work properly.

[Maebbie]

for 8k vr180 video you only need to have enough resolution to see around 110 to 120 degrees, as thats what most hmds are limited to. So if we take 2/3 of 8k vr180 video then the varjo is about there for pixel to pixel clarity. That said the quest pro is great for how compact it is, an overall great package.
btw have you ever tried those ar glasses that look like sunglasses? I have an nreal one myself and they said they would be adding a vr video player soon, it may not have as much of an fov as a full on vr headset, but for light travel and some demoing of past vr videos it seems like an interesting idea for when you are out in the field.

[almaximus]

Oh cool. You should make more VR related videos 😃

[fuxiang]

This is really nice comparison. Could you tell us what camera you use for capturing through the lens video?

[Itskoooo]

~25 ppd?
The Meta Quest Pro has a resolution of 1800x1920 per-eye, totalling approximately 3.46 million pixels per-eye, or 6.91 million pixels overall. The horizontal field of view of Meta Quest Pro is estimated to be 106 degrees. Using the formula Pixels Per Degree (PPD) = Horizontal Pixels / Horizontal FOV, we can calculate that the Pixels Per Degree count for the Meta Quest Pro is approximately 17 (1800 / 106). This means that for every degree of the wearer’s vision, there are approximately 17 pixels displayed.

[cyphre]

Would love to see the Pico 4 added to the mix!
Varjo definitely is more expensive, but for current VR users, there wouldn't be any extra cost in practice. Event for business users. Also.... no battery life concerns.

[AnthonyFransella]

Good review! Sorry if I missed it, but how were you connecting the QPro for the TTL? Wireless vs cable, bit rate, etc. I've heard people say to use link cable and 960mbit for best quality, dunno.

[SquarelyGames]

Really nice comparison!

I am curious, do you think that Quest TV is a huge selling point for the Meta headsets for 360 media creators? Currently have a Reverb G2 but I am not satisfied. Considering the Pico 4 since I live in europe, but worried if I would be too limited in software.

[stel]

Great review! What is your opinion on pico 4 vs quest pro? I read there will be a pico 4 pro, if that’s the case I guess it all comes down to the games available for each as well? I look forward in reading your opinion.

[REDxFROG]

There are only two games working with foveated rendering using eye tracking for the Varjo. MSFS and iRacing.
And you're saying the Lighthouse tracking is worse than Quest Pro.... LH more laggy and prone to fail...sorry but that's plain laughable. Lighthouse is a rock solid system and has no noticeable lag whatsoever. No human being can see the lag because even the displays are slower.

[Because_Reasons]

I love your accent. Great vid, nice music!

[thedman]

Are the low end gpu and cpu not bottlenecking the Varjo Aero. Others i have watched said that even the 4090 isn't powerfull enough to unleash the full potential of the Varjo Aero. Had you used a 4090 the gap would of being bigger between the headsets

[techscience]

This guy looks like as some from tv show or movies, when they get info about guy who can only help, an expert, this is that guy