Oculus Quest

Hardware

The original Quest felt more premium to me than the Quest 2. The downside was the weight. Moving to the Quest 2 made it obvious how much of the original headset's heaviness I had been carrying around.

I appreciated the lighter controllers of this headset. The newer Quest 2 controllers fit my hands better, but they were heavier and less fun for games like Beat Saber.

Visuals

The OLED display was vibrant. Looking back from the Quest 2, I appreciated the original Quest's darker black point. The Quest 2's muddy dark colors were particularly noticeable in games like The Room: VR and Elite Dangerous.

The lower refresh rate was another compromise for me. Coming from the Rift's 90Hz, 72Hz didn't feel quite as special. Getting back to 90Hz on the Quest 2 was a noticeable improvement in how much control I felt in Beat Saber. Regardless both of these headsets suffered from compression artifacts in the display compared to the original Rift's HDMI connection.

Tracking

Standalone Beat Saber had tight controls and solid tracking through most movements. In my comparisons, I preferred the Rift, but the Quest's standalone experience was quite reasonable.

PCVR

Quest Link running through Steam was a reasonable way to experience PCVR, but the controls didn't feel as tight as the native Rift setup.

My early Virtual Desktop experience was much less successful. The compression and visuals were bad, and the controls felt loose.

Overall

I liked the original Quest most for its standalone experience, vibrant display, and solid tracking. For PCVR, I still preferred the feel of the Rift. The Quest 2 improved the weight, resolution, and refresh rate, but the original Quest had a more premium feel and a display I still appreciate.