In case you haven’t heard, the Meta Quest 2’s $249 holiday pricing is sticking around for good. That’s a natural progression for the second-gen VR headset, which launched in 2020 and was recently outclassed by the newer Meta Quest 3. What’s more, if you pick up a 128GB Quest 2 at Walmart right now, you’ll receive a $50 Meta Store credit to help you build up your game library, essentially making it a $200 purchase.
At launch, the Quest 2 was an excellent little device thanks to its standalone nature. As far as mainstream VR headsets go, it remains one of the easiest and most affordable devices to pick up and play, especially since you don’t have to worry about external depth sensors and wires. You won’t be able to engage in unique mixed-reality experiences as you can with the Quest 3 — the last-gen model doesn’t feature full-color passthrough cameras, after all — but the Quest 2 retails for half the price and still supports a vast majority of the same titles, albeit often at lower specs. Plus, Meta has continued to roll out regular updates for its entry-level headset over the last year or so, boosting GPU speeds and CPU power, with the promise of more support to come.
Three things are normally true about Bang and Olufsen products: they produce really good sound, they look outstanding, and you’ll pay a healthy premium to own them. But you don’t have to compromise your budget thanks to Amazon’s current deal on the Beosound Explore, which drops the portable speaker down to an all-time low of $119.78 (about $80 off) in black.
B&O’s cylindrical, Bluetooth 5.2 speaker sends sound in every direction, and it’s made to withstand the elements. It looks the part thanks to the included carabiner, and you can trust it won’t whimper in the elements given it’s built to survive drops of up to 1.5 meters and rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. I’ve used the Explore, and while I baby my gear too much to know whether it reliably can survive worst-case scenarios, I can confirm it feels as rugged and substantial as it looks.
You can also rest assured its 1.8-inch drivers emanate impressive audio. The default sound signature doesn’t provide room-thumping bass, but if that’s what you like, you can dial in your preferred sound signature with the help of an onboard equalizer. It should last for up to 27 hours, too, and supports stereo sound when paired with a second Explore.
