Meta Quest 2 Official Elite Strap with Battery
design
Where the original Quest 2 strap feels somewhat under-engineered, the Elite Strap is almost the opposite.
The basic elastic straps that come in the standard box do little more than hang the Quest 2 off your face. With the Elite Strap, the elastic is gone in favour of a more rigid and considerably more clever system. An extra lump on the back is where all of the magic happens and it’s an addition that plays a number of roles.
A turn of the large click wheel swallows up the hard plastic arms to tighten everything in a really uniform way and the bulge also adds a bunch of extra juice thanks to a hidden external battery. Attached to all of this is a flexible brace that gently grabs the back of your head and keeps the whole unit nicely locked in place even during the most animated of movement.
There’s clearly been some heavy consideration when it comes to the placement of this brace, and it’s noticeably more effective than copycats like the KIWI design Comfort strap. Where others may follow the same shape, the official Meta Elite Strap’s brace sits lower and does a better job of grabbing onto the bottom of your skull and feels way more secure as a result. If I had one tiny criticism it’s that while the flexible rubber is fine, a little bit of a foam padding wouldn’t go amiss.
It’s also worth noting the Elite Strap doesn’t include a facial interface so you’ll need to keep the original or invest in the Fit Pack.
performance
I cannot stress enough how much of an improvement the Meta Quest 2 Elite Strap is over the original.
From a comfort point of view the combination of the rigid arms and flexible brace helps disperse the pressure across a far wider area on your head. This meant I was able to keep the whole thing tighter and more secure without feeling like I was going to pop my eyeballs out. Even in sports games with a high range of movement the Elite Strap meant the headset never budged and it was far easier to forget I was wearing it.
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It’s also far simpler to find the right fit both in terms of tightness and vertical alignment to get everything sharply in focus. If things do change as you’re playing little adjustments are also easier to make on the fly. It’s just a far better experience than the original strap.
The battery does just about double the total weight of the strap but it’s actually a positive and not a negative. The front-heavy nature of the stock strap meant I always felt the Quest 2 was hanging off my face rather than securely attached. The counterweight effect of the battery on the back however actually balanced everything out better and made it the full package seem lighter as a whole.
One other benefit I hadn’t considered was the party-play improvement the Elite Strap brings. It wasn’t until I first had a friend over to check out the Quest 2 that I realised how much quicker and easier it was to adjust the fit from one player to another than the clunky elastic strap setup. If you often find yourself gaming with multiple people sharing the same headset, the Elite Strap is a no brainer.
It’s not all about comfort and fit though, while Meta do offer a strap only version of the Elite Strap – it’s the Elite Strap with Battery I’ve got here and I wouldn’t recommend anything else. Unlike third party options like the KIWI design version, Meta don’t specify the exact mAh of the extra battery but instead just say it ‘doubles your playtime’. In my testing I found this claim pretty fair though and it was a refreshing change to not have to keep a nervous eye on that rapidly emptying battery icon. The UI will also let you know the battery percentage of the headset itself and the external battery independently, which is a nice quality of life bump over other brands.
You’re able to charge the headset and the battery pack together through one cable though I did find it was pretty picky with which charging brick I used. The battery pack also suffers from a surprising amount of battery drain when not in use, even when everything is completely shut down. Don’t expect to leave it turned off and unplugged for a week and come back to full batteries or you’ll be very disappointed for an hour or two while you wait for it to charge up again.
summed up
Yes, you’ve already invested pretty heavily in the Quest 2 itself (particularly after Meta’s mid-life price hike), but the official Meta Elite Strap with Battery is worth lumping for as well. This is more necessity than luxury and far closer to the strap the Quest 2 probably should have shipped with in the first place.
Not only is it more comfortable and secure than the stock strap, it brings double the play time and makes gaming with friends far less hassle. I’ll say it again, just get one. It’s worth it and so are you.
