The Best VR Headsets, VR Accessories & Games – HUGE Black Friday Deals 2022

There were more VR Black Friday deals in 2022 than ever, which is good news: it means VR keeps growing. More accessory brands, more headsets, more games, and much of it was already discounted the week before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In this video I went through the headsets that mattered most (as mini reviews), the accessories I’d used the most, and the games that stood out to me. The deals below are the ones from that week in November 2022, so they’re long gone now, but the opinions on each product still tell you who it suits.

Surfshark VPN sponsored the video. That pays for our time, not for my picks.

VR headsets on sale

Meta Quest 2

The Quest 2 was $50 off and came with Resident Evil 4 and Beat Saber while supplies lasted, about $70 of games that are must-haves on the platform. With the Quest Pro out, you might wonder if the Quest 2 was still worth it. The Quest Pro is an enterprise-focused headset at around $1,500, and I don’t think it’s worth that for gaming. A Quest 3 was rumoured for the next year, but nothing was confirmed.

My advice was: if you’re interested in VR now, don’t wait. The Quest 2 was the best value for your money, with the best content library and exclusives you can’t play anywhere else. If you have a gaming PC, you can also use it as a PC VR headset, which opens up even more games.

Pico 4

New on the list this year. Buy a Pico 4 between November 24 and 30 and you could claim three games for free, including After the Fall and Body Combat, worth £77 in total (in pounds, because the headset wasn’t officially sold in the US). The Pico 4 is the first real competitor to the Quest 2: standalone, usable for PC VR, with better lenses and a thinner, lighter design that makes the Quest 2 look dated. Its software is far less developed, though, and it’s a waiting game to see if it can keep up. I enjoyed all three of the free games. I also made a Quest 2 vs Pico 4 video if you’re choosing between the two.

HP Reverb G2

Down from $600 to $300, only in the US on HP’s official store. When I reviewed it, I loved the clarity and the audio, but found the controller tracking so-so. It’s good for casual gaming and for hardcore simulators thanks to the high resolution, but for normal room-scale competitive gaming it doesn’t match the Quest 2 or SteamVR-tracked headsets. You need a powerful PC for that resolution. Still, there was no PC VR headset at this quality for this price, and I don’t think the screen will feel dated soon. There was a rumour that HP might leave the VR market, but it came from one Reddit post, so take it with a large grain of salt.

Varjo Aero

The most expensive consumer VR headset, and for a reason. It has the best PC VR display so far, with dual mini-LED screens, excellent colours and one of the best resolutions at 5K. Its eye tracking adjusts the IPD automatically and adds extras in compatible apps. It was $300 off, so $1,690, until midnight on November 28, with the discount applied in the cart on Varjo’s site. That’s still very expensive, and you only get the headset: SteamVR base stations, controllers and a powerful PC come on top. This is for people who want the best and don’t care about money. Everyone else gets better value elsewhere.

HTC Vive Flow and Vive Pro 2 (Europe only)

• Vive Flow: €120 off, but I don’t recommend it. It’s designed for watching media only, and there are better headsets for that price.
• Vive Pro 2: €100 off both the headset only (€719) and the full kit (€1,339). It’s always been reliable and won’t disappoint you, but HTC is known for pricier headsets and there are better-value options. The deal included a 12-month subscription to HTC’s VR game service, which I call the Netflix of VR games: unlimited games for a low monthly price, and it works with any VR headset, including headsets from other brands.

About the sponsor

Surfshark VPN hides what you do online, a bit like a mask, so others can’t see what you’re doing or where. You can also use it to get past geo-blocks, like a Netflix film that isn’t available in your country. I’d been using it for two years at that point because of its pricing.

The VR accessories I use most

• VRCover. The brand I’d used the longest, intensively, for over two years, and they never let me down. My most used item is the Quest 2 facial interface and foam replacement. I love their PU leather foam because it’s easy to clean and soft on the face, and I get their foam for almost every headset when it comes out. They had up to 70% off from November 22 to 29.
• AUBIKA grips. I’d just started using their rechargeable grip covers. The handle is longer, so it works with bigger hands, and the knuckle design lets you open your hand without dropping the controller. Most knuckle grips make you take off the whole cover to swap batteries. These use a built-in rechargeable battery that you charge with the included USB-C cable, rated at over 24 hours. Their Black Friday deals ran November 24 to 28 on Amazon.
• Battery head straps. For standalone headsets, which run out of power too fast. On Quest 2 I prefer the official Elite battery strap because it’s the most comfortable for me, but it wasn’t on sale. Kiwi Design has very similar ones that I find comfy too, and they had 30% off.
• bHaptics vest. If you want extra immersion. I mainly use bHaptics because no alternative has as many supported games, and it works natively with Quest 2. Motors vibrate separately to match what happens in the game, and because you’re in VR your brain buys it. The X16 and X40 differ mainly in the number of motors. Knoxlabs had a deal with a free mesh lining and audio cable (about $30) with the X40.
• ProTube gunstocks. The ones I’ve enjoyed most. A gunstock gives you a steadier grip and aim, which matters in competitive shooters. 30% off products with a carbon option on their site.
• KAT Walk C2. The only consumer VR treadmill so far that fits most homes; you walk in place to walk in the game. It arrived at a busy time, so I hadn’t tried it yet and couldn’t say if it was worth it, but I enjoyed the first KAT Walk. It was $200 off ($1,100) and came with a free add-on that lets it work with Quest standalone games, so you don’t need a PC.

VR games worth buying on sale

Almost every store had big game sales, so I picked a few must-haves.

On Quest 2

The Quest sale ran until November 29 at 10 AM PT, with some nice bundles.

• My favourite of the year, a turn-based tabletop strategy game. Seeing a tabletop game come to life was a childhood dream, and the developers did a fantastic job. It’s addictive and so much fun with friends.
• Resident Evil 4. One of the best VR remakes of a flat-screen game, a classic that influenced the whole industry, now in first person. I’d never played it before, and it was less scary than I expected, which is great for a horror baby like me.

On PC VR

• Half-Life: Alyx, 60% off. Still the best VR game of all time in 2022, and I’d never seen it this cheap.
• No Man’s Sky, 50% off. One of the games Chary and I spent the most time in. Exploring the universe in your own spaceship in VR is incredible, and you can do everything together with friends, including building. It was a bit buggy back then, but the fun outweighed that.
• A psychological horror game where you hunt ghosts, 20% off. If you have a heart of steel: you gather evidence in abandoned places with tools, alone or with friends. It’s a ton of fun in VR, and you can play it flat too.

Humble Bundle had many of these PC VR deals as well, sometimes more.

Which VR Black Friday deals I’d pick

For most people, the Quest 2 bundle was the one: the best value and the biggest library, and no reason to wait for an unconfirmed Quest 3. The Pico 4 was a real alternative if hardware matters more to you than software. For PC VR, the Reverb G2 at $300 was hard to beat if you mainly play sims, while the Varjo Aero only made sense if money doesn’t matter. Skip the Vive Flow. And if you already have a headset, a good facial interface and a battery strap made the biggest difference in my own daily use.