Pico 4 Review After One Year: Better Than Quest 3?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2023
- The Full Story of Pico 4 - The Headset That Almost Toppled the Giants
Welcome to another in-depth review on VR Lowdown! Today, we're diving into the nitty-gritty of the Pico 4 VR headset. If you're at the crossroads of purchasing a VR headset, your timing couldn't be more perfect. As Quest 3 lurks just beyond the horizon, is the Pico 4 still a player in the game or a spectator on the bench?
The Journey So Far: Pico 4 Through Thick and Thin
I've spent an entire year with the Pico 4, and it's been a rollercoaster ride. From being awe-struck by its high-resolution display panels and pancake lenses to grappling with minor software and tracking issues-this headset has shown significant growth.
Battling Giants: Pico 4 vs. Quest 2 vs. Quest 3
The Pico 4 initially bit off more than it could chew, attempting to go toe-to-toe with Meta's Quest 2. But as of September 2023, the Pico 4 is no pushover. But how does it stack against the upcoming Quest 3, which promises a mixed-reality buffet and a more powerful processor? We break it down.
The Budget Factor: Pico 4 is Wallet-Friendly, But at What Cost?
Priced considerably lower than the rumored Quest 3, the Pico 4 is a budget-friendly marvel. But does it offer enough value in the long term, considering the growing Meta ecosystem?
A Few More Things Before You Go...
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📝 Check out the accompanying article on this review for a deeper dive: vrlowdown.com/pico-4-review/
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I'm just waiting for a company to have that light bulb moment. Realizing that the real potential in these headsets has everything to do with evolving inside the desktop computing space.
I think this moment is coming soon. Consumer VR as we know it is going to change a lot over the next few years.
This is what I'm waiting for, being able to replace my monitors for professional production work
@@OwenPrescott Me too, buddy, me too.
foveated rendering needs to be the standard
Thanks for the review! Very insightful!
Glad it was helpful!
It was, thanks!
really well made review, thank you
Much appreciated!
I'd like good quality pcvr but at a budget around $500 I must choose between having display port or pancake lenses. Which would you choose? I've heard pancake looks great but I don't know if that will be offset by the compression of usb vs dp.
Personally, I'd go for Pancake lenses every time.
Pico 5 will have both.
Thanks for review, I'm choosing between Q3 and P4 right now!
I honestly don't notice much in the way of compression artefacts. Virtual Desktop is available on Pico 4 and this definitely provides the best quality PC srtreaming copared to the Pico streaming software. I can't honestly say that I have noticed much ghosting, os it hasn't been something that has impacted my experience.
In terms of choosing between Pico 4 and Quest 3, my Quest 3 is due to arrive this morning, so it's hard to advise. Based on all the info I have seen so far, and my experience with the Pico 4, I think I am swaying more towards the Quest 3, but we'll see. I'm going to do a comparison video of Pico 4 and Quest 3 once I get some hands on experience, so this may be helpful.
I own the pico 4, and it’s pretty decent, I only game on pcvr stuff so it’s great for that. But definitely get the quest 3. Since they are relatively the same price. Pico is good but if you plan on playing games on the head set, the quest has more content. And the quest already has a few years of support while the pico 4 is playing catch up with updates slowly
@@beanslol1725I wish they were the same price :( in my country quest 3 is like a thousand dollars, while pico 4 is 400
@@beanslol1725peoples main reason for quest 3 being better is standalone gaming but I didn't invest in a powerful pc to play games on the headset lol I think I'll go with pico 4 picking it up tomorrow 280 used in perfect condition 👌👍
I loved mine, recently I have developed an awkward performance blurp, the face foam is hard on the forehead, the visuals are awesome tho, I run it 250% in Steam VR, I came from the Q2, and previous to that the Rift S, Rift and DK2. Never had a single issue with tracking, I spend most of my time in DCS.
Pico 4 is awesome for DCS. I play a lot of DCS using Pico 4 at the minute.
@@VRLowdown whats DCS?
Sry for stupid question >_
@@YuriOkolnov It's a flight sim. Think it stands for Digital Combat Simulator. It's basically the best military sim out there.
@@Kman31ca Thanks!
@YuriOkolnov you know if you have the global or Chinese face interface?
Hello! I am a aspiring in this VR World. I always apreciate the VR and ever want to experience this wonderful. Perhaps i am from a poor country and i have a poor salary, so i never used or brought. Soon, I saw this annoucement for quest 3 and i become a mad lol. But, watching this video i don't know what I'll do. What's do you recommends for me? Quest 3? This pico4 (or I wait for pico5)? Other model? Again, I don't know anything like hardware, what is pancake lens or else 😅. I'm just a tecnology apreciate . What's you recommend for a first experience and the bestest VR? (Sorry by the long text 😅)
I think Quest 3 might be the best option for you, but wait for a week or two until you are able to watch or read some reviews. My own Quest 3 is due to arrive on 11th Oct and I hope to be able to provide some feedback on it over the next week.
Quest 2 cheapest vr
headset
Do you know if the Pico 4 will work in the U.S? I have a friend in the UK who could ship me one from there, but I want to make sure everything will work all right here.
It will def work great in USA. Just not officially sold there.
i mainly want to use PCVR so should i go for pico 4 or wait for quest 3?
@@rangerkayla8824 okay thank u so u think quest 3 is decent for PCVR? because im trying to find a decent headset for mainly PCVR so i think im gonna go for quest 3?
That's such a tricky question. With Meta Connect being tomorrow, wait to see the full details of Quest 3. I'll def be doing a video comparing Quest 3 and Pico 4.
Excellent review, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Hello Harry, is worth to buy pico 4 pro ? Im now in china and there pico4 pro already in store, but in torrents, forums I can't find any guid to change location
Pico 4 Pro is a really nice headset, mainly for the eye tracking, but it is a lot more expensive. I'm not sure about location changing, as I'm in UK, which is one of the locations supported by Pico 4.
@@VRLowdown Thank you sir, some ppl in Russian TH-cam videos says that eye tracking useless feature, and one weird point, is 500 pounds is expensive for England Knight's? I mean with your average salary in Europe gb or us, you can completely buy out my village in Kyrgyzstan, many of with your average salary you can get into Forbes in my country😅 and you saying that 500 pounds is expensive?)
@@VRLowdown I found some Global patch for pico 4 but there no for pico 4 pro,I don't know if patches are compatible or not. Coz there no Global ver for Pico pro.
Do you think i should buy the quest 2 or the pico4? I really don't know (can't buy the quest3 btw)
That's a really tough question. I'm really tempted to sale neither, as you'd be better holding off and saving up, rather than buying a headset that is outdated. If you really must choose one, then Quest 2 is definitely better if you're going to do standalone content mainly, and Pico 4 is better if you're mainly going to do PC VR content.
all the movies i see with pico 4 it looks like its lagging alot,and quest 3 running smooth,is pico running better now and with more mixed reality?or are pico only good for pcvr?
Pico 4 has improved a lot over the last year. It's best for PC VR due to the more limited standalone content library, but the actual performance of standalone content isn't that much worse than Quest 2 and Quest 3 now. Mixed reality content on Pico 4 is not worth talking about.
ty for help:)
I'm using my Pico4 mainly for PCVR and my Quest2 for fitness. Yesterday I played Skyrim VR with my Quest2 instead of the Pico4. I was curious if all updates of the Quest2 made any change (faster processing and GPU) and after that with my Pico4. Well.... Pico4 was a big winner once again. If you only play PCVR, there is no doubt about it: Pico4.
But I will buy the Quest3, since it will have similar lenses and a much better chip. To me the Quest3 will be a Pico4 and Quest2 melted together and will have the benefits of both headsets.
I also heard the rumour that there is a Pico5 coming to the market.... I'm curious.
That is now confirmed. Pico 5 and a couple of variants will be out in early 2024.
I think you're right about the Pico 4. It's been a great headset, but I think the Quest 3 will beat it in almost every way. Although I also keep hearing runours about the Pico 5 coming. Who knows though, it could be at least 6-9 months away, as all the runours are quite non-specific at present, apart from the leaks of the new Pico controllers.
Good to hear. I just ordered a Pico 4 in hopes of having better PCVR performance than my Quest 2. I also play Skyrim in VR and can't wait to see the difference.
@@JohnSmith-mk8hz I don't know what GPU you have. I upgraded my system last year after I bought the Pico4 from an old i7 and GTX1080 to a modern i5 with a RTX3080. For about 99% of all games it is fast enough to get a great performance on the Pico4. Because you're closer to the lenses than with Fresnel lenses, the FOV is bigger with the Pico4 then with the Q2.
@@SjaakSchulteis I'm running a Ryzen 5 5600 CPU and an AMD RX 6600. I get ok performance with the Quest 2 but I'm probably going to get a 6800xt at some point...possibly a 7800xt.
I have a largish IPD and the FOV seems fairly small on the Quest 2. Also the sweet spot is very small. I'm constantly trying to find it when reading text or looking at small details. Hopefully the Pico 4 will improve that for me.
I had a Quest 2 and changed to the Pico 4 a year ago and found it to be so much better, I recently sold it and bought a Quest 3, what a mistake I should never have got rid of my Pico 4, luckily although has been expensive I now have a Pico 4 again, it's far better in every way down even the menu system and UI is far better, the only downside is less games, I also find it so much more comfortable and don't get any light bleed like you do it could possibly be your head shape? I won't be changing again that's for sure!
I'm genuinely surprised. I really do like my Pico 4, but since I bought Quest 3, I've hardly used it. I think the lenses, controller tracking and software are better on Quest 3. However, everyone's experience is different, and I'm glad you highlighted yours, as it goes to show that the right headset depends on so many individual factors. Glad you ended up with the right headset for you at the end of the day.
@@VRLowdownis the clarity and sharpness of q3 worth it for an upgrade from pico 4. I feel that my screen is not sharp enough … now I wonder if a q3 could solve this problem
I would say no. There is only a very slight improvement in clarity going from Pico 4 to Quest 3, so I don't think it's worth upgrading.
Im only getting a vrheadset for Vrchat only so I ask which is better Pico 4 or Quest 3? cause Vrchat now supports Pico 4 and I have been thinking but I cant decide due to my Autism where Im having a bit of trouble deciding things
If you only want it for VRChat, then Pico 4 is much better value. The visual clarity is very similar, and you won't miss a lot of the other Quest 3 features if this will be your main use.
Thank you @@VRLowdown thats super helpful and happy 2024
Leaks have the Pico 5 releasing next year with better resolution than the Quest 3. I will wait for more Pico 5 announcements.
From what I've heard about Pico 5, it's going to be really impressive. No harm in holding off as there's a lot of new VR hardware coming out over the next year.
@@VRLowdownI'm holding out for Pico max.😁
Just bought the Pico 4 as it was on sale at a local online store, less the price of a bnew Quest 2 in fact. It is a steal. I only play pcvr mainly. I actually also own and will keep my Quest 2 as a back up
Solid choice. The lenses and FOV of Pico 4 are excellent and it makes for a really good, affordable PCVR headset.
Is it possible to use this vr gogle as a monitor for gaming on pc or PS4?
Yes, no problem. You can use an app called Virtual Desktop to stream your computer monitor to your headset. You can play regular flatscreen games, watch movies etc on a huge virtual screen.
@@VRLowdown it's a perfect news for me and for have a sense to buy vrset
I will gonna to buy Pico 4 over Quest 3 in Half of the price, because I'm PCVR player , there no BIG different between Quest 3 and Pico 4
I agree. You also have to factor in the cost of a proper headstrap, so Pico 4 works out a fair bit cheaper.
exactly! @@VRLowdown
Thanks for the information
after 1 month I have replaced my Pico 4 with Quest 3
The Quest 3 is much much better
better lenses and FOV by Far
Screen Colors is much better
No Godrays or Door Effects
Much Much better UX and more supported apps
the strap actually is ok for me.
The controllers much better
standalone games
The Brightness of Screen is Critical here , it's much better in Quest 3
For PCVR
I think Pico 4 provides better performance for Half Life Alyx, maybe 10% better in terms of FPS
I Recommend Quest 3 for all aspects it's deserve the $100 more over the Pico 4
@@loyaltybeats9022is it bad !!!!?
im sure its a great headset but the fact that all the games ive bought are link to my quest account it only makes sense to stay with meta. now if the pico 5 comes and they offer titles that will not be found any where else that are big tripple A games then that would probably make me migrate if its a better headset and if it has a ton of games
Such a problem with closed ecosystems. I can of course see why companies want to lock games to their ecosystem, but it's so bad for creating healthy competition.
Do you have the global or chinese face interface?
I wasn't aware that there were separate ones and I haven't been able to determine which one I have. I bought mine from Amazon UK, so I presume that it must be the global one.
I have a pico 4 full moded with accus, heatstrap and so on. I testet the Q3 and the Q3 is so much better but not comortable at stok
Totally agree about Quest 3 not being very comfortable with the stock strap and facial interface.
My Pico 4 is being delivered tomorrow. What game(s) should I download?! 🙏☺️
There's a growing list of really good ones. Walking Dead, Smash Drums, Superhot, Walkabout Mini Golf, Moss, Into The Radius, RagnaRock, Eleven Table Tennis, Blade and Sorcery: Nomad. Those are some of my favorite ones on Pico 4 so far.
@VRLowdown I'll be checking them all out later, thankyou 🙏🤗
That would suck if you punched the guard rail for your staircase..... it would probably shatter however i punch my tv all the time and it still works fine though 😂
Didn't think of that! Punched furniture way too many times playing Thrill of the Fight.
Bought a Pico 4 for my first vr headset for half the price of a brand new one. Around $500 AUD instead of up to 1000$ AUD, Mainly being used for PCVR and Steam games due to the high rez per eye display. People still gota understand that you need a pretty beefy machine to even run 90htz or more for VR.
Totally agree. The hardware requirements to run high quality PCVR are still huge.
Pimax crystal is worht the money or should i buy pico 4 ? the Crystal is so much better than Pico 4? What do you think?
It depends what you use your headset for. If you mainly do PCVR racing and flight sims, then Pimax Crystal is great. The Pico 4 is a much more well rounded headset that is good at most things. The clarity and resolution are very good, and it's a really solid all-round headset. But if you want the very best visual clarity, it can't compete with the Crystal.
It's a simmers headset and it has a small distortion sweetspot which half the reviewers don't even mention. So I would beware of reviews with affiliate links as TH-camrs can make good money out of the Crystal if they give a good review.
@@rangerkayla8824 You must have seen different reviews from me then.
@@rangerkayla8824Thanks yes Quest 3 would be much affordable would be for room scale VR and i think the resolution and lens and FOV won't be much worse than Crystal . Time will tell but the software support very important for me
@@rangerkayla8824 thanks! i am interested in room scale vr and not sim but i like the G2 sharpness and i have RTX 4080 but i think the crystal won'T be foer times better than quest 3 but the price would be four times expensive.
I don't see how you could use over the ear headphones with Pico 4 since it covers the tops of your ears.
Good point. The integrated audio is pretty good though.
Need to know if the Q3 has one or two displays. If one, a lot less resolution than the P4. Making two displays eats a lot of horizontal resolution and is not accounted for in the specs. Same for Q2.
Good point. Makes a big difference. My bet is on one display for Q3, but we'll find out soon.
I'm actually in the same boat. If it's 2 screens, Pico. If it's 1, then Q3 for me. I've seen it theorized both ways. I'm leaning towards it being 2, though. Leaks show ipd dial, and one store listed screen size as 2.4 inch.
@@sodapopinksi667 Maybe you meant if 2 = Q3. If two, it should be better than the P4.
@@rushmore3927 Exactly. The store posted that it was a 2.4 inch screen, implying that it's 2
@@rushmore3927 also, I don't think you can have a physical dial for Ipd with a single screen
if Q3 had eye tacking they would monopolize the market immeditely. One major problem with commercial vr is that you cant see anything outsite the center of the screen. Like pico 4, if use as a desktop vr browse internet I cannot read anything if dont move my head to center what I want to read...
If I were Meta, I'd be tempted to get eye tracking in Quest 3, even at a big loss per headset, to really drive adoption and cement their position as the mass market leader.
Have had my P4 for a few days now. Visuals look better than the Q2 and QP, since way less screen door. Good set for movies and media! Added: The huge 3.1GB update made a big difference. Better color and contrast to go along with the panel resolution. The video player has an enhanced video setting that makes it look great and I'm a picky SOB.
Glad to hear you're having a positive experience.
@@VRLowdown They updated to 5.80 now. Good stuff.
Better than quest pro? Did you compare them yourself?
How is Pico 4 in watching 3D movies and does VRChat work on it (for the movies)?
Does Pico 4 censor stuff like words?
Not that I am aware of.
If Pico sold in the USA I would buy it. But they don’t threfore Meta quest 3
I think you'll be pleased with Quest 3. I love my Quest 2, and will be picking up a Quest 3 on day 1.
I purchased Pico 4 to replace Quest 2 after it lunched mainly due to massive youtube hypetrain. And I was pretty dissapointed, everything felt so "beta" compared to Q2. My main problem was lack of any good PCVR connection at the time, resulting in worse image than Airlink. So it was actually a downgrade and I got rid of it... I also had a lot of pupil swim, but I can see it even in Q Pro so maybe my eyes dont like pancakes.
I think Pico missed a big oportunity releasing it unpolished. The price, is great, the specs are great. The passthrough was vomit inducing though 😂
I would totally agree. This was my initial experience with Pico 4. Initially impressed with the hardware, then disappointment at the rough edges. There's been a lot of improvement over the last year, so overall I think it's really solid now. The question is whether its time has passed. I think Pico 5 will be a big jump forward, but there's going to be a lot of competition.
Purchased mine 6 days ago and was initially impressed, but as time went on I realised there was an issue.
No matter what adjustment I did to the ipd I could not get a clear focus. Also I was getting a slight heat haze/ shimmering effect on the visuals. Small text was sort of shimmering, although when I angled my head over to right or left shoulder it corrected the issue.
Bit of a shame but I returned them as defective due to watching many youtube vids with the pico 4 showing none of these issues.
Reddit has many comments on these visual aberrations on the pico 4. many were saying it is down to known manufacturing issues on sets made in certain batches during 2021 and 2022.
Shame I was looking forward to using it, but I think I will wait another year or so and see how the vr/ar industry progresses.
I will watch your channel to see how advancements in the more budget range progress.
Thanks for the feedback. Sorry you seem to have gotten a bad unit. No harm in waiting a year as I'm expecting a LOT of interesting and improved headset to come out in the next 12 months.
Appreciate the reply, keep up the great vids.@@VRLowdown
I like more pico 4 over quest 3
It's a great headset at an awesome price. I definitely prefer the Quest 3 overall, but I'd be very happy if I just had the Pico 4.
just wait until pico 5
It should be really impressive.
If the Quest 3 just had 4k microOLEDs per eye, it would be the best headset for the next 5 years.
That would be a dream come true!
That would add about 300 to the retail price. Would be nice though.
lol not even close, I think they're releasing a Pico 5 tho.
It's good to see so many new headsets coming in the near future, so hopefully we'll have lots of options to choose from.
I can't imagine too many going from a Pico 4 to a Q3. It's the other segments that's in question.
@@rangerkayla8824 I'm itching to upgrade soon, but I'm not a heavy enough vr user to want to upgrade every time a new headset comes out. I don't want to wait for Pico, but if Pico 5 came out this year, I'd wait. They aren't, though.
Pico 4 in my country Nz goes for $699 . A bare bones 128 gb Quest 3 will cost $929! And 512 gb? $1129.
Add in a elite strap and that's $1250 competing against a very similar pcvr experiance you can get for less than half that?😡
And Pico 5 is only in April!
That's a huge price difference! Could well be worth waiting.
it's better at spying on you . ❤
True, lol.
I think the Q3 will be similar to the P4 for visuals and if one display, the P4 would be better. As far as visuals for gaming, Q3 is obviously going to be better with the faster SOC.
I think this sums thing up perfectly.
@VRLowdown Check out 5.
80 update they just released. Not sure how they're milking even better image quality, but I'm fine with whatever they're doing. Media rocks on the P4.
disappointing these companies cant include $2 displayport over usb c connection they probably do it on purpose so people are more inclined to use the in headset store. If have they money get bigscreen beyond.
Would love to see this on future headsets. I'm honestly not sure why they don't.
@@rangerkayla8824 you clearly never used pc vr and they subsidize valve even without displayport anyway just trough shittier quality
I personally going for meta headsets. Meta has a way better library and better support. Overall, Meta has more experience in vr technology and has a better future in vr industry. I am definitely going for quest 3.
Maybe I'm biased, but I'm v optimistic for Q3. Meta have come a long way over the last few years, and it's hard to argue with their library of content.
Majority of people I've seen with the Pico seem happy with it. I might try the Meta ecosystem for the first time with Q3, though. We'll see Sept 27
pico的游戏太少，除非你玩steamvr
I agree. I use mine for PCVR streaming a lot.
You sound like Bruce from Family Guy. 😂
Lol, thanks. I had to go check who he is.
After i learned that pico is owned by the parent company of tiktok i said to myself, i much rather have americans have my data than the chinese.
facts 😂🙏
Fair point. Def worth considering.
What a morons point of view! If you're Chinese its better to have Americans collect your data and if your American it's better to have the Chinese have your data. Its your own government and elites that control your life not a foreign country. No wonder they have control of everything if people are so jaw droppingly stupid, you are the reason these tech giants get away with so much. No common sense, but always time for relied up fear of "the foreign" just like monkeys
I’d prefer the Chinese I don’t trust 🇺🇸
@@tictactaylor5255 what ever floats your boat mate.
how can you compare an unreleased product to something that is actually available
Good question! I think so many specs have leaked that we have a really good idea. But, of course you're right, there is a fair degree of speculation.
Pico 4 isn’t quite as good as quest 2
From a software and content perspective, I agree. However, the Pico 4 hardware is closer to the Quest 3 in most areas.
@@VRLowdown you’ve got your onion and I have mine,it’s all good,it wasn’t a quest 2 killer though(runs off to put his quest 3 on)
And yes,I meant to say onion
@@VRLowdown I’ve got quest 2,pico 4,psvr2(had psvr1) and I’ve got quest 3,out of them all I use the pico 4 the least which is hardly any.it’s still like brand new in its case( it’s up for sale at the moment)