Original Author : James Payne
Packaging & Instructions
As I said earlier I really liked the packaging, it made the product look premium straight from the box. I found the instructions on the lid of the box easiest to follow however only discovered them once re-looking at the packaging. The placement of the cable clip in the box was unusual however as I already have a bunch of these I worked it out really quickly. A few things to note with the instruction manual. I found it confusing that each step of the instructions was broken down into the 6 different languages. I would of much better preferred that it had all of the instructions for English followed by all of the instructions for German etc. I did find on page 19 the LED indicators guide to be hard to understand however now that I have used it, it is not a problem and good that I can refer back to it if needed.
Head strap
The head strap itself build quality is premium as displayed on the box. The rear ratchet has a very good secure feel and I do like that it attaches to the side arms of the headset without covering up any speakers/vents. This snap on design is good for being able to swap head straps as well and it attaches very securely.
Comfort
At first I was very sceptical of this as I usually like to use a halo style head strap, however I was pleasantly surprised with this. I don't normally like to use top strap as they are usually very hot but I kept it on for testing and found that it was quite soft and comfortable and no hotter then not having one at all. I usually use a rubber backing for the head cradle for heat and cleaning purposes and would of liked to see that option but the PU leather rear pads were very comfortable. This also allowed me to ratchet the strap quite tight without losing any comfort and also got my eyes closer to the lenses for a wider field of view. A fold in the top strap would of been nice as attaching it to the loop on the quest is a pain but I got there in the end without too much hassle.
Weight
I couldn't notice the extra weight whilst it was on which surprised me. In the past I have steered away from battery straps due to the weight as I have a very small head and usually get headaches, I discovered this whilst I was in the army as using heavy head mounted equipment like night vision goggles made me uncomfortable. The balance on this head strap seems to be perfect.
Battery
So far I have only tested one game and again I was surprised. I played puzzling places in Mixed Reality, I chose this title as I have found MR games to be the most demanding and probably the biggest use case for battery straps. I played for 95 Minutes and noticed that the battery in the head strap had dropped to 87% and was still charging. The LED indicator lights had dropped to 2 remaining. This personally isn't a problem for me as most of my VR sessions are between 1-2hrs however I know that some people are a bit picky about this. I charged the headset back up but not the battery as I want to see how much I could get out of it. I continued the following day for another hour which depleted the battery entirely. So all in all I got 2hrs and 25 minutes out of the battery alone using mixed reality. I am impressed for a battery that size so good job! I really like that I can charge the battery and the headset at the same time as well.
Improvements
I think the instructions could be improved and an additional rubber backing be included in the box. I think it will become all to easy for users to leave there battery charged to 100% all the time and I would also like to see an on/off switch on the battery to make it easier to drain down the headsets battery occasionally. I say this because I left my Quest 2 turned off on charge for 6 weeks and I have damaged the battery. I can only charge it up to 75% now which is a bummer as I was giving it to my brother for xmas.
Further testing
I will do further testing for battery life and charge drop using normal VR, PCVR and Quest Game Optimiser.
Did you convert me from a Halo Strap?
I think you have, I think this will be my go to head strap once I can get a more comfortable facial interface. I normally use a halo style head strap without battery from a different company, which was a complete nightmare to get my hands on and caused me to break the quest 2 arms (I used a conversion kit on it) but now its only advantage seems to be using it for MR without a facial interface.
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