Enjoy my Rebuff Reality VR Power 2 Battery Pack for Oculus Quest 2 Review. You can buy the VR Power 2 for $69.99 from Rebuff Reality directly, and also on Amazon US → https://amzn.to/3qoahaW or from Amazon UK here → https://amzn.to/3dbdzcn.
So on average the Quest 2 internal battery lasts around 2-3 hours. You can extend this playtime with the Oculus Elite Battery Strap, which costs $129 and it includes a 4,676mAh battery that will give you a total playtime of 4-6 hours. Aside from this, the only other solutions to extending your Quest playtime is to use a dedicated battery strap or DIY velcro straps to attach a portable battery to your headset or stow the battery in a pocket and run a cable to the Quest’s charging port.
After the success of the first VR Power battery pack for the original Quest, Rebuff Reality has revised and optimised its second edition for the Quest 2. The VR Power 2 offers over 8 extra hours of additional playtime, along with some additional improvements that work best with the Quest 2 headset.
In the box you get the battery pack itself, there’s a short USB type C to C charging cable, an extra cable management clip, a small paper manual and some stickers. The most striking difference between the original VR Power is in its colour. With the VR Power 2, its primary focus is support for the Oculus Quest 2, so its white colour compliments the Quest 2 along with its grey cable management clips and white USB charging cable.
Features
Inside they have made improvements to the circuit board to help improve charging and discharging when the battery isn’t in use. On the outside, its 3 strap design has a butterfly strap design that has been optimised for the Quest 2 strap, however, it will also fit the original Quest too. Each strap has been made longer than the original, to help fit around the default soft strap of the Quest 2, the Oculus Elite Strap, and many other third-party straps that I’ll go into later.
On the inner side of the battery pack, there is a recessed velcro area that helps to attach the pack onto the top strap, and on either side, there is some comfortable rubber padding to help distribute the pack’s 279grams of weight and ensure a snug fit on the top of your head.
The attached strap at the top is also longer and it also includes a butterfly strap underneath, and on top, there is an improved cable management clip to fasten the charging cable into, and there is also a second channel that you can use for any additional accessories, or for an Oculus Link cable for example.
Along the top of the battery, there are three USB-C ports, each with its own rubber covers underneath. The middle port can output 3 Amps, so this is used to connect the battery to your Quest 2 along with the bundled charging cable. To the left of this port, there is a 1Amp USB-C output port, for use with any additional powered accessories, and on the right, there is a USB-C input port for recharging the VR Power 2 as well as being able to charge the headset itself. Neither of the three ports supports Oculus Link input, so you will have to disconnect the power cable from the headset for that, or you can wirelessly connect to your PCVR machine using AirLink or Virtual Desktop.
On the back, there is a large button that features a subtle Rebuff Reality logo, along with a segmented circle of blue LEDs that light up in four separate segments – to display how much charge the battery pack has remaining before it needs to be recharged. Pressing this button once will activate charging, and two presses of the button will stop the battery from charging.
When charging the battery whilst it is connected to the Quest, it will first charge the Quest, then it will go onto charging the battery itself. If you wish to do the reverse, you just have to disconnect the charging cable that goes into the Quest and the battery will charge itself instead.
Installation & Function
Installation of the strap is super easy. First, you need to position the battery on the top strap of your head strap, its inner velcro pad helps attach itself to the material of the top strap. Next, you fold over the butterfly straps around the top strap and fold them onto each other to fasten them. You then need to position the loop fabric of the lower straps over the lower part of the head strap and then pass the hook fabric part of the straps around the strap and fasten them back onto the loop fabric. It is easier to do this on the default soft strap than it is on the Elite, but it is possible, and you can even fasten them over the VR Cover head pad, as I have done here, too.
Using the additional cable management clip is optional, but if you want to channel the power cable more over the top of your head you can fasten this to the front side of the top strap and press the power cable into the ridges to secure them in place. You could also choose to mount this clip onto the sidearm of the head strap too.
Finally, you just insert the straight USB-C end of the charging cable into the 3Amp port on the battery and then connect the elbow USB-C connector into the Quest headset – and that’s the VR Power 2 installed.
You can either choose to keep the battery on by pressing the power button once on the back of the battery pack, or wait for your Quest to show you its low power warning first before turning the VR Power 2 on. Either way, with the 10,000 mAh battery inside, you should extend your Quest playtime for an additional 8 hours, maybe more if you use the Quest for less intensive tasks, such as movie watching, web browsing, or playing games over AirLink or Virtual Desktop. Due to the size of the battery, charging it back up can take a few hours, more so if you have to charge your Quest battery back up first. Its improved circuit board helps manage the charging and discharging much better than the original.
Counterbalance & Third-Party Head Straps
The VR Power 2 also acts as a counterweight for your head strap. But I found its impact can vary based on the head strap you attach it to. I always find that the soft strap doesn’t work well with any counterbalance techniques, mostly due to the stretchy fabric strap. To feel any counterweight advantage, you need to add weight to a more rigid strap, such as the Elite Strap, and a top strap is always advised to distribute the weight more evenly.
I tried mounting the VR Power 2 onto a number of alternative head straps. I found that it worked well with the suite of the Eyglo/Esimen/Vakdon head straps, including the K5 Elite Strap I reviewed recently. It also worked with the BOBOVR M2 and Jayol Halo Strap, but only if you use the top strap that’s provided, this is so that the VR Power 2 has something to attach to. The lower straps then attach onto the inner velcro of the rear pad before reattaching the rear pad back on afterwards.
I also was able to mount the battery onto the X-Super Home battery mount strap, in two ways. First, I was able to mount it right on the back panel, with the battery holder removed, but it needed an extra strap to secure the bottom of it in place by looping a strap around the battery loops and the cutout holes on the rear of the strap. I also was able to mount it upside down, but I wasn’t able to attach the batteries top strap anywhere, so it would hang loose at the bottom. With an additional strap, I reckon I could have made it more secure.
Out of all the straps I tried, I found the X-Super Home head strap had the most counterbalance impact from the batteries weight. This is because it was able to mount it directly onto the back of the strap rather than it being mounted on the top of your head. For me, I found the battery weight positioned at the top of my head wasn’t as impactful as having the battery at the very back. Only then could I feel more weight was being lifted from the front of the headset.
Overall Impressions
It’s a solid and comfortable battery solution for the Quest and Quest 2 headset, just as long as you don’t mind the extra weight on top of your head. Personally, I wouldn’t want that additional weight for use in fitness apps.
If you are buying this accessory solely for counterbalance, I think you would be better off with a strap like the X-Super Home and a separate battery for the ultimate counterbalance strap. Or look for a way to strap this battery more onto the back of the strap than at the top, which is sadly all that this battery has been designed to do.
Because of this, I wish the permanently attached staps were a little longer, or if the straps were separate and they attached via loopholes. This way you could try different mounting techniques or be able to use longer straps to allow you to get the battery located more on the rear of the head strap.
For me to recommend the VR Power 2, it depends on how long you’ve had your Quest for, how long you play with it, and what head strap you currently have fitted to it. If you’ve owned a Quest for a while you will know the amount of playtime you already get from your Quest battery, and whether a 10,000 mAh battery will greatly enhance that.
If you play for just a couple of hours a week and you’ve yet to buy a head strap, I would personally go for the Oculus Elite Battery Strap. If you already have a favourite strap and you’re looking for extra playtime in each VR session, then this solution will certainly improve that, but at the sacrifice of a lot of extra weight on top, rather than an all-around counterbalance, plus battery, solution.
For me though, I am happy to just have a lightweight, well-balanced head strap with the standard 2-3 hours of playtime between charges. Alternatively, I have yet to see make a battery strap where the battery can be easily removed from a lightweight cradle for optimal portability, where I can choose when to attach the battery to increase the battery life, when I need it.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Intro
0:17 – Brief overview
1:19 – Unboxing
4:27 – Installation
5:46 – Default Soft Strap
6:47 – Oculus Elite Strap
7:00 – Eyglo K5 Strap
7:11 – Jayol Halo Strap
7:16 – BOBOVR M2 Halo Strap
7:31 – X-Super Home Battery Strap
8:33 – Overall impressions
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