ANNAPRO recently sent me their new edition to the Oculus Quest VR headset accessories. This new product is for the Quest 3, and it’s the much anticipated battery head-strap.
We have all been there, playing our favourite game on the Quest, immersed fully in VR, only for the battery to die and you end up in total darkness….immersion broken.
There are a number of head-straps on the market, including the official Oculus Elite Strap, but to be quite honest, the official head-strap has had a number of issues, mainly due to the build quality causing them to crack.
The ANNAPRO hopes to improve on this. The ANNAPRO Battery Head-Strap is currently priced at £57.00, reduced from £73.00, and can also be purchased from Amazon.
I find the strap that comes with the Quest 3 to be very uncomfortable, especially for extended play sessions. I also found this to be so with the original Quest 2 head-strap too. Whilst they were functional, they really aren’t the best head-straps to use if you want comfort.
This is one of the main benefits of using the ANNAPRO head-strap. It helps to support the main Quest 3 unit so that it isn’t pushing against your face. Not only that, but due to the built-in battery on the back of the head-strap, it helps balance the weight so that it isn’t so front-heavy, which can put too much pressure on your face, especially on the cheek area.
Fitting the ANNAPRO Battery Head-Strap is really simple to do. Firstly, remove the main goggle section (the bit that has the face padding on it); this will make it easier to put the main strap on the battery head-strap through the slot. Remove the old head-strap, and you are good to go.
Unclick the arms off the side of the Quest, and you will be left with just the VR unit itself. It’s then as simple as connecting the new arms belonging to the ANNAPRO head-strap to the main unit, making sure they click into place securely and putting the strap through the slot and into place. It took me around 2 minutes altogether to replace the head-strap.
I found the ANNAPRO head-strap to be very well-made. The top strap is velcro, similar to the original head-strap, but it has a nice, comfortable cushion built into it. This allows it to sit nicely on top of your head.
On the rear of the head-strap is a black semi-flexible pad that nicely cups the back of your head and prevents it from moving or sliding once in place. This is so much better than the strap that comes with the Quest 3. At no time did I feel the headset slip or move around once I had tightened the rear wheel into place.
It literally took me around 5 minutes to get everything changed over and set-up on my head the way I wanted it for comfort. Once on, it stayed exactly where I had put it, no slipping or moving around, even when playing boxing games. The experience for me was 100% better than using the original strap that comes with the Quest 3.
The materials used are strong yet lightweight, which is exactly what you need when using a VR headset. I found myself going from around 30 minutes of play time to well over an hour and a half…purely because it was so much more comfortable on my head and face.
Aside from the improved comfort, for me the best feature of the head-strap has to be the built-in rechargeable battery. The battery on the Quest 3 isn’t fantastic, even though it lasts longer than the Quest 2. But it’s still one of those issues when playing a standalone VR headset.
With the ANNAPRO Battery Head-Strap, I was getting around an additional 2 hours of gameplay on a single charge, sometimes just over that depending on what game I was playing. This may not sound like a huge amount of additional time, but for VR, this is totally acceptable and ample for uninterrupted play time before you need to take a break.
As I mentioned before, build quality is excellent and makes a world of difference when it comes to comfort. The addition of the battery is the icing on the cake for me and makes this head-strap a must-have purchase for anyone who owns a Quest 3.
You can also purchase your ANNAPRO Battery Head-Strap from Amazon.
