Oculus Cv1 vs Quest 3

Arguably the Quest 3 grandpa that we all love to talk about but not hang out with

Many things have changed since the cv1 was released in 2016 and some things have stayed the same feature-wise.

Start with what has changed physically the facial interface, not this might be overlooked by many but the cv1 had a piece of foam that felt like packing foam that would suck up sweat like a wet sponge and not hold up the best

Compared to Quest 3 not just nicer but a better fitting one that allows you to play longer and not be uncomfortable.

Another thing is the headband that it came with, the CV1 was way better than the basic strap we get with the Quest 3, you get more adjustability and it's spring loaded so it is easy to take off and on as well as has a better back of the head support.

Remember too you can easily swap out the headband on the Quest 3 headbands and there are so many after-market ones that it is mind-blowing and is relatively an easy fix and replacement.

On the note of headbands, the Speakers of the two are different as the CV1 has big on-ear speakers that sound great and allow for a bit of sound isolation preventing others from hearing what you are playing. Tho the Quest 3 audio is pretty great too don't get me wrong.

The weight is also worth noting as the CV1 is 470 grams vs the Quest 3 at 515 grams, not much of a difference but also remember the CV1 is a PC tethered headset and the Quest 3 has a whole flagship phone crammed into it which is crazy to think about it

The lenses are a key upgrade, of course in 8 years, lens technology has come a long way. The newest Quest 3 has pancake lenses that look amazing and minimize the screen door effect compared to the Fresnel lenses of the CV1.

That is great but one big thing I adore about the CV1 is the Pentile OLED displays, it’s a fact that the blacks will be darker and the Quest 3 has LCD displays that look decent but still suck that it doesn't have an OLED.

But the cv1 falls on its face when it comes to the per-eye resolution - the cv1 has a 1080×1200 resolution per eye, compared to the per-eye resolution of 2064×2208 of the Quest 3.

So even tho it doesn't have OLED I would argue that the higher resolution is a good trade-off for usability along with the Quest 3 being able to push up to a 120 Hz refresh rate compared to the cv1 a 90 Hz refresh rate

One of the biggest problems and also the biggest benefit of using a CV1 is the base station tracking. The biggest problem is that you need to spend time to set them up, which makes it a lot harder to take on the go, and if you only have two base stations, it struggles to see your controllers out of view, however, you can fix this by getting another sensor and hooking that up behind you, eliminating this issue. This is something that is a pitfall with Quest 3, it uses the opposite approach with inside-out tracking with what would be the base stations substituted for the camera built into the headset for tracking. The great part is little to no setup to start using it, it can be taken on the go with ease and just makes it easier for everyone to use. The downside is that the camera can't see behind you because there are no cameras, tho Meta uses AI to predict where your hands are for the brief time it can't see the controllers

Another thing is that the CV1 is useless without a PC and needs a PC to use it whereas Quest 3 is stand-alone with a complete system built in so you can play games right off of it. However, if you want to link it to a PC, you can not just a link cable but you can also use an air link and link it to your PC without any cables at all.

Overall both are great headsets for their time but Quest 3 is not just leaps but light years more advanced than the old dinosaur of the CV1 even tho there are a few benefits to using it still today in 2024.

So if you enjoyed this video, please subscribe and let me know what headset you use down below

Sources: Our Youtube Video on GCRP Media's Youtube