I’ve been testing the BOBOVR S3 Pro Strap for Meta Quest 3 over the last few weeks to see how it stacks up as a battery strap solution for Quest 3. This article is going to cover everything you need to know about this head strap, my experience of using it, all the pros and cons, and help you decide if this is a good head strap for you to choose for your Quest 3.
Two of the main drawbacks of the Meta Quest 3 are the limited battery life and the mediocre comfort level of the default head strap. There are a growing number of battery strap solutions for Quest 3 that aim to fix both these issues. I’ve tested quite a few options over the last few months, but I was really interested in testing the BOBOVR S3 Pro as soon as it was announced, as BOBOVR has a great reputation for making comfortable head straps for Quest 2.
I haven’t previously used any BOBOVR head straps for Quest 2 or Quest 3, so this was my fresh take on their products. I haven’t had any communication with the company and I purchased this head strap myself, so I hope the following review will be as impartial as possible.
BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery Strap For Quest 3: First Impressions
The BOBOVR S3 Pro is a pretty bulky and heavy head strap, with a significantly different design from the head straps I have previously tried, including the official Quest 3 Elite Strap With Battery, the KIWI Design SPC Battery Strap for Quest 3, and the Yoges VR battery strap for Quest 3.
Rather than securing the headset in place by tightening it against your face, it uses a halo design that tightens around your forehead and the back of your head, letting the facial interface of the Quest 3 rest gently against your face. The aim is to provide a much more comfortable solution that can be worn for long periods without discomfort.
Whilst it is a more complicated design, the improvement in comfort was immediate when I first put this head strap on. The front forehead cushion is made of a wide band of PU leather with a thick foam layer ensuring that it feels soft and comfortable against your forehead.
The rear head support has similarly comfortable cushioning and a flexible head support that is able to conform to the shape of your head. This does a noticeably better job at comfortably cushioning the back of my head whilst ensuring a secure fit that won’t move around during use of my headset.
There is a ratchet wheel at the back of the head strap that is used to adjust the fit, and this is easy to adjust in small increments with one hand to achieve a very precise fit. The rear part of the head strap can be lifted up to allow you to more easily position the headset against your face and you can then pull the strap down and adjust the fit with the ratchet wheel.
The hinged rear portion moves smoothly when you lift it up, but also has ratchet-like movement close to the neutral position to help maintain it in the desired position for a great fit.
The front part of the head strap is also adjustable, and you can move the forehead cushion up and down, closer to, and further away from your headset. All of this adjustability gives you enormous freedom to fit the headstrap and your Quest 3 in the most comfortable way for you.
I had worried that the headset itself would wobble around in front of my face while in use due to the fact that it is not being pressed against my face, but I actually found this head strap hold the headset really steady, and there is very little movement, even when turning your head rapidly.
On the right side of the head strap, on the side with the power connector, you will find a small LCD screen on the arm of the head strap and a scroll-wheel button. The cable management of the BOBOVR S3 is really good, as the power cable first travels from the back of the head strap to the arm with the LCD screen integrated, and then a shorter cable comes out and can be connected to the USB-C port on the side of your headset.
This makes cable management very neat and limits some of the issues with cable management that arise with other battery straps due to having to accommodate a wide range of head sizes.
The LCD screen gives you a precise reading of how much battery life is left in the head strap battery, although you obviously can’t see this whenever you have the headset on. This is a very welcome feature, as it’s good to get a precise reading of how much battery life you have left before starting to use your headset.
Although there is no way to tell how much battery life is left in the battery strap while wearing the headset, you will of course be able to see the headset battery indicator while wearing the headset, so once your headset starts draining, you’ll know the head strap is drained and you’ve only got about 2 hours of battery life left from the headset battery.
Another interesting feature of the BOBOVR S3 Pro strap for Quest 3 is the integration of a cooling fan. You can turn this on by pressing the scroll-wheel button and then the fan power is adjusted from 0-100% by turning the scroll wheel. The fan blows air out from the top and bottom of the forehead cushion to help keep you cool while you use your Quest 3.
There are pros and cons of the fan integration. When you keep the fan below 50%, it runs fairly quietly, but the airflow is somewhat limited, and when you boost the power up to close to 100%, the airflow does a pretty good job of cooling you down, but it is rather noisy.
I can definitely see myself using the fan at 100% when using fitness games, and in particular during the summer months, where hot weather and lack of air conditioning means that there are often days or weeks when I just can’t use my VR headsets due to the heat. The addition of a fan is likely to mean I can still use my headset on hot days without getting too uncomfortable.
Whilst the noise of the fan at full blast is quite noticeable, it’s not actually particularly distracting when you’re playing sports or fitness games. I’ve tried using it while playing Golf+, Thrill of the Fight, and Les Mills Bodycombat, and I’d much rather have the fan on than not.
BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery Strap Video Review
In addition to this article, I’ve made a detailed video review of my impressions of the BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery Strap For Quest 3. I’ve been able to compare it head-to-head with the other three battery straps I own for Quest 3 to get a really good idea of where its strengths and weaknesses lie.
BOBOVR S3 Pro Battery
BOBOVR uses a modular battery system for its head straps, and the S3 Pro sees the introduction of a new B100 battery system that has a lot of advantages over the old batteries. The B100 battery has a 10000 mAh capacity (36.5Wh). This compares to the integrated Quest 3 battery which has a capacity of 4879 mAh (18.88 Wh).
The battery attaches to the back of the head strap with four strong magnets so you just bring the battery close to the connector and it will snap into place. The magnets seem to hold it in place really well and I haven’t had any issues with the battery coming loose, even during really vigorous sessions playing Thrill of the Fight.
Just as important, it has an output power of 5V 3A and 9V 2.25A, ensuring that it is able to meet the power demands of your Quest 3 in all situations, meaning that your headset will remain at 100% battery until the head strap battery has fully drained. In all of my testing, I have never seen my headset drop below 98% battery life while the BOBOVR S3 Pro battery still had power.
In terms of overall battery life, the B100 battery on the BOBOVR S3 Pro lasts about 3.5 to 4 hours depending on use. add this to the approximately two hours of battery life from the integrated Quest 3 battery, and you can get almost 6 hours of total battery life on one charge.
The only drawback of the B100 battery is that I can detect a very faint humming noise coming from the battery at times when it is in use. This is much quieter than the fan, even when it is on low power, but when I was playing very quiet VR experiences, I could hear it. Whilst it didn’t bother me, I know there are some people who will find this very distracting.
Comfort
The BOBVR S3 Pro feels pretty heavy as soon as you take it out of the box. The weight of the Quest 3 with the BOBOVR S3 Pro and the battery comes in at 1012 grams. The head strap and battery weighs 552 grams, the head strap alone weighs 367 grams, and the battery weighs 185 grams. Although the Quest 3 weighs 515 grams in the official specs, without the default head strap, mine weighs 460 grams on my kitchen scales.
This means that the BOBOVR S3 Pro weighs more than the entire headset, and whilst this may sound pretty crazy, it just works. The weight of the headset and strap is perfectly balanced between the front and back of your head, meaning it doesn’t feel anywhere near as heavy to wear as the numbers suggest. Combined with the comfortable halo design, soft padding, and lack of pressure on your face, means this is easily the most comfortable head strap I’ve ever used for Quest 3. It’s not even a particularly close contest!
Charging
The B100 battery has a rated input charging limit of 15W, meaning that the battery charges pretty slowly. Charging the battery separately from the headset takes about 2.5 hours, and if I charge the headset and battery from fully drained using the USB port on the battery, it takes about 3.5-4 hours. Whilst the battery capacity is big enough that I’m usually ready for an extended break after fully draining the battery, if you pick up your headset and it’s fully drained, you’ll have to wait a while to charge it to a reasonable level.
One way around this is to use a separate charger for your headset and the B100 battery, and this is actually something I have been doing. It effectively doubles the rate of charge, so is a convenient work-around. BOBOVR have announced that they are going to release a charging dock for their head strap that will enable 30W charging, but this will add additional expense to an already premium-priced head strap, so won’t be for everyone.
Face Gasket Compatibility
Whilst the BOBOVR S3 Pro works perfectly with the default Quest 3 facial interface, the same can’t be said of some third-party alternatives. Recently, I’ve been using the excellent AMVR facial interface for Quest 3, which I love due to having the option of a fabric and PU leather facial cushion. Unfortunately, the top section of the AMVR face gasket is too wide to allow the forehead support of the BOBOVR S3 to slide past it, and I can only use the AMVR facial interface with it when the forehead support is pushed up as far as possible.
I can still use the AMVR face gasket, but it limits the fit and functionality of the S3 Pro, and I wouldn’t recommend using these two accessories together. This is a real shame, as I love playing fitness and sports games on Quest 3 and I really want to use a waterproof fitness interface, rather than the breathable default interface. I’m on the search for a suitable alternative facial interface, as I have no intention of stopping using the BOBOVR S3 Pro.
Value
The BOBVR S3 Pro is priced at around $90 / £82, so it’s still a lot cheaper than the official Elite Strap with battery, but it’s a bit more expensive than the KIWI Design battery strap for Quest 3 ($60 / £49), which is another excellent option. The BOBOVR S3 Pro is the most comfortable option in my experience, has the largest battery capacity, and is the only option with an integrated fan.
I was entirely happy with the KIWI Design battery strap prior to using the BOBOVR S3, but I do think the BOBOVR S3 Pro is the better overall battery head strap for Quest 3. However, if you’d rather save some money, I think the KIWI Design option is a great alternative.
I also own the official Eite Strap with Battery, and I do think this is also a good battery strap, but it’s much more expensive than the competition (£130/$129) and has a much lower capacity battery than either the BOBOVR S3 Pro or the KIWI Design battery strap. In addition, it has been plagued with reliability issues since it was first released, and I had to send two faulty units back before I finally got one that worked.
As a result, I can’t recommend that anyone chooses the official Elite strap with battery now that there are a good range of better and cheaper alternatives available.
The 4th battery strap that I own is the YOGES VR battery strap. This is a much more budget-friendly option at approximately $50 / £43, but it’s very much a case of getting what you pay for. The onboard battery has half the capacity of the BOBOVR S3 Pro, at 5000mAh, and will last for approximately 2 hours. It is fairly comfortable to use, but the overall product feels of a much lower quality.
If you need a battery head strap on a tight budget it’s not a bad option, but the KIWI Design battery strap isn’t much more expensive and is a much better product. The BOBOVR S3 Pro is better again in most respects, but it does come at a higher price.