Steam Frame

Hardware

The hardware is quite good. It physically feels better than the Index to me. It squeaks less. The controllers are comfortable in my hands and have so many buttons. The whole thing feels like a proper gaming device.

Not having a battery puck or cable is lovely. There is just a headset, and I put it on. I do hear the fans spin sometimes when I'm not in a game, but it hasn’t really bothered me.

Visuals

The display is a solid improvement over the Index. I have zero complaints about it. It is not a next-generation display in the way the Vision Pro is, but it is a very good display for gaming. I'm actually happy it's not too high resolution or I'd have more frustrations with the capabilities of my PC.

The lenses are very solid. Low glare, low reflections, and a big sweet spot. My eyes sit really close to them and the field of view feels great. Being able to read things in Elite Dangerous and iRacing without turning my whole head is a noticeable improvement over the Index.

PC streaming is also much better than I expected. There is a small amount of compression, but this is the closest visuals to DisplayPort I’ve experienced. As someone who has historically been very snotty about DisplayPort-only VR, I think this is a real success. It is completely acceptable.

Comfort

This headset is comfortable in its default configuration. No mods, no replacement strap, no messing around to get it wearable. It’s light and easy to wear. It makes the Vision Pro feel three times heavier.

The lenses are slightly tight against my nose. It’s not completely uncomfortable, but it was unexpected. I assume is it because my IPD is on the low end. I added the lens insert and now it is fine. Didn't notice any real loss of FoV.

After about 25 minutes of standalone Beat Saber, I felt the headset get a little warm on my face, but not enough to make me want to stop.

I can’t peek out through the nose gap like I could with the Index. It’s easy to lift the headset for a moment to see something without losing the connection. I'd use the passthrough but the resolution is too low to read screens while in the headset.

Software

SteamOS and SteamVR was pretty buggy when I first started using it. I spent most of my initial experiences fighting technical issues instead of playing games.

At one point, the headset locked up at 17% battery and the passthrough suddenly flung to the side. It scared me and I actually yelped. That was unacceptable.

Operating the PC desktop is a little frustrating. By default the Frame isn’t always acting as a PC streaming headset, so when I stop a game I don’t have an obvious way to get back to my desktop. I resolved this through a setting in the streaming quick menu.

I miss hand tracking for operating the OS. Picking up and putting down controllers while playing something seated like Elite Dangerous feels silly. I have defaulted to mainly using the button on the side of the headset for interacting without controllers.

Having a Steam Deck on my face feels pretty cool. It feels like a fun computer. In some ways it is faster than the Vision Pro, probably because it’s doing a lot less.

I pin the Discord window from my PC while playing Elite. I can see OBS and my second desktop while gaming and streaming from the PC. That setup is genuinely useful. You can also pin a window to your hand for controller games.

SteamOS is getting updated daily, and the change logs are encouraging. My first impression was that the product wasn’t quite ready, but I do believe it will get better.

Audio

The audio is terrible compared to the Index. It is thin and quiet. It feels bad to say that because the Index was peak VR audio for me and I was expecting more, but this is a huge downgrade.

I have been wearing my normal audio headset underneath the Frame. It fits fine and sounds massively better. For Elite and other seated games, this will be my setup.

Tracking

It’s lovely not having to worry about base stations. Tracking works in the dark or low light, which is great.

Standalone Beat Saber was the best test of the controller tracking so far. I played for about 25 minutes and it was honestly pretty good. Definitely top tier for inside-out tracking. Completely playable, and the performance felt locked in.

The guardian and playspace setup are fine. I would have liked something more like visionOS that requires no maintenance.

Performance

My first PC streaming session was rough. Gunman Contracts was unplayable, and I couldn’t figure out graphics settings that made it run well. Beat Saber never got working through PC streaming. VRChat basically worked, but the inputs were funky and I couldn’t scroll menus.

Elite Dangerous was pretty good, but I’m still dialing it in the details. The higher resolution compared to the Index seems to mean I have to compromise graphics settings in ways I didn’t before. That’s frustrating.

Once I got iRacing running well, I was seriously blown away. I could comfortably get 96fps, and it felt really good. Smooth, clear, and immersive.

Something I really appreciate about the Vision Pro: its dedicated tracking and passthrough processing keeps the world feeling stable. That should be a baseline for VR. Steam Frame does suffer from some hiccups in this realm.

There is very little lag to the streaming setup. I'd say overall the performance is adequate for PC streaming and playing simple games on device. Do I prefer it over wired PCVR, no. Is it acceptable and likely to be my primary headset, yes.

Overall

The hardware is good. The headset is comfortable, the screen is nice, and the lenses are really good for gaming. The audio is disappointing, and the software experience is definitely not smooth yet.

It feels really cool to be back in VR playing Elite and iRacing. Once the technical problems are resolved, it’s just immersive. That’s the whole point. I don’t want to think about the headset. I want to be somewhere else. Hopefully the Steam Frame will be this device for me.