These VR glasses are as good as the Meta Quest 3 but are much cheaper, especially on Black Friday, and without Meta constraints

It doesn’t always have to be Meta (or Valve…): The Pico 4 Ultra offers great hardware, lots of games and mixed reality.

Mixed reality has made VR glasses interesting again: No more isolation because cameras integrate the outside world into VR.

This not only enables completely new game ideas but also many other exciting things – How about a huge virtual flat screen TV right in your living room? Or a dinosaur instead?

But you don’t have to pay the four-digit prices of an Apple Vision Pro or Samsung Galaxy

The Pico 4 Ultra hasn’t been this cheap for a long time

Sometimes it seems as if there is no way around Meta Quest 3 when it comes to affordable but high-quality VR experiences. In fact, in our VR purchase advice we also recommend the Meta glasses as the best overall package.

But if Meta hardware is out of the question for one reason or another, there are still good alternatives. And that too without having to wait until 2026 for the Valve Steam Frame.

Technically, the current (and upcoming) self-sufficient VR glasses are very similar. The Pico 4 Ultra even scores points with a slightly higher resolution than the Quest 3. The Pico glasses also offer the extremely clear image quality of the pancake lenses used in Quest 3 and Steam Frame.

The integrated processor’s computing power doesn’t change much either, but Pico can score points with a little more RAM – 12 gigabytes instead of 8.

Our tip: Buy the motion tracker at the same time, the total price is still below what Amazon regularly charges for the Pico 4 Ultra.

Some time ago I was able to talk to the developers of a VR training app for rescue services, who were very surprised that their app ran perfectly on the Pico 4 Ultra and stuttered on the Meta Quest 3.

VR glasses with the image quality of a Meta Quest 3S but for 399 euros? Yes, there is.

There is also a little Valve Steam Frame in the Pico 4 Ultra

Since Valve announced that it would be bringing three new hardware products onto the market next year, there has been a lot of discussion about the performance and areas of application of the products presented. The Steam Frame also includes VR glasses, the successor to the Valve Index.

Steam Frame and Pico 4 Ultra are quite similar – Pancake lenses, LCDs with 2,160×2,160 pixels per eye, Snapdragon SoC (even if Valve uses a slightly faster one and provides more RAM with 16 vs. 12 GB). The Quest 3 offers slightly less resolution and RAM.

Valve relies on SteamOS, a Linux derivative and newcomer to the VR environment, but should also be able to play SteamVR titles natively. If the computing power is sufficient, which might not look good for more complex titles. It can be assumed that Valve is initially planning to use Steam Frame primarily for streaming from the PC or Steam Machine.

That’s not a bad idea, the greater computing power makes for more impressive VR experiences and makes a well-stocked store less important. And if you’re nodding now: the Pico 4 Ultra can do that too.

In addition to the Meta Quest 3 and the 3S, I used the Valve Index for a long time and am also interested in the Steam Frame. The Pico 4 Ultra can also do a lot of what these glasses can do.

With SteamLink, Valve’s own app, which is also used in Steam Frame, is available for free in the Pico Store. Half-Life: Alyx with the Pico 4 Ultra? Sure, the connection to the PC is very easy to establish.

Buy the Pico 4 Ultra now in the Black Friday sale and save yourself the wait for Steam Frame

Pico 4 Ultra as the ultimate fitness solution thanks to motion trackers

At Meta, classic VR games are increasingly overshadowed by popular fitness apps: VR glasses as a training camp at home are now increasingly replacing a trip to the gym.

While with Meta you only get your hands and head tracked correctly in VR, Pico goes one step further: the optionally available motion trackers also bring your legs into virtual reality.

The Pico Motion Trackers are surprisingly easy to set up and work just as smoothly. They are a game changer for fitness apps.

This has clear advantages for sweat-producing workout apps, as you can now use other body parts with high accuracy in VR. Or you can simply use it to flex in VR Chat, which also supports motion tracker.

My personal tip: Blade&Sorcery also comes with support for motion trackers and it’s a thieving pleasure to kick enemies off a bridge. Or competing with Chuck Norris on the roundhouse kick. Hopefully you are well insured, otherwise take good care of your household goods.

Perfect bundle: Take the motion trackers with you when you buy the Pico 4 Ultra

Pico 4 Ultra mit farbigem Mixed Reality

While Valve’s Steam Frame only has monochrome cameras and therefore only offers a colorless passthrough (important for mixed reality), the Pico 4 Ultra comes with a colored version whose cameras even have a slightly higher resolution than those of the Meta Quest 3.

Spatial Ops plays in your living room – mixed reality makes it possible.

A tip to try out right away would be Spatial Ops from Resolution Games. These are the makers of Demeo, which is also highly recommended. Write it down on your list and thank me later. Spatial Ops turns your home into a playing field for exciting shootouts with enemy agents or even your friends.

The game costs a modest 9.99 euros and offers not only a campaign but also co-op and confrontational multiplayer. Or you can follow the VR community and relive an almost forgotten sport: Walkabout Minigolf VR is the surprise hit of the VR scene.

Of course you can also do all the other practical MR things like with the Pico 4 to put a gigantic virtual television in your living roomexpand your workplace or or or.

And all of this without a meta account or the anxious wait for price information for the Steam Frame. Currently, and probably with a little support from the approaching Black Friday, the Pico 4 Ultra with 256 GB costs only slightly more than a weaker Meta Quest 3S with the same amount of memory.

The future awaits you with the Pico 4 Ultra and it costs 33% less