Pico 4: Wearing comfort

Pico 4: Wearing comfort

  • The Pico 4's visor is about 40% lighter than the Quest 2's VR goggle front...
  • ...but this is negated by the poor fit stability of the head mount.

I criticized it in my previous tests of the Pico Neo 3 Link and Pico Neo 3 Pro as well: The Pico VR headsets leave a lot to be desired when it comes to comfort. This is even more true for the Pico 4, I would even go so far as to say it is the most uncomfortable VR headset Pico has made so far.

Pico 4 (left) and Quest 2 (right): The difference in form factor looks significant, but makes less of a difference in practice than hoped. | Image: Pico / Meta / MIXED

From my perspective, the reason lies in the manufacturers' tunnel vision. While the 40 percent lower weight due to the new pancake lenses on the visor (i.e., the front part of the headset) ensures noticeably less pressure on the face, the fitting stability is entirely ignored. The same goes for Meta - the Quest 2's standard strap is an imposition, and you need the Elite strap or comparable accessories to get it to fit reasonably.

Instead of learning from their experience (and from Meta's), Pico 4 relies on a non-interchangeable plastic halo head mount. The problem is the plate at the back of the head, which cannot adapt to different head shapes. While the Elite Strap head mount of the Quest 2 adapts to any head shape thanks to the wide rubber ring and thus offers a secure fit, I can only clamp the Pico 4 to my head via the adjustment wheel.

In fact, you can see directly that this plate is hardly stable and comfortable on the back of the head.
The rubber ring of the Elite Strap for the Quest 2 adapts to any head shape for a better fit.

Even then, it does not sit stably. Quick head movements to the right and left cause short additional lateral movements of the headset because there are only two fixed points.

The back of the head (a narrow contact surface depending on the head shape) and the forehead (an area about two centimeters wide above the eyebrows). This makes for a shaky image during fast movements, but it also squeezes the blood out of my forehead. I find that very unpleasant.

Even though my glasses fit perfectly under the Pico 4, the rather stiff face mask does not close cleanly on the right and left side and lets light through. As a result, I have annoying light reflections from outside on the lenses, especially in dark VR scenes. It might be possible to improve some just mentioned points of criticism by replacing the face gasket with a softer and overall better face-enclosing design.

https://mixed-news.com/

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