Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery Review: Comfortable but overpriced
UPDATEThe technical issue has been resolved. The Elite Strap works as intended with the current batches. Meta replaces defective Elite Straps with a battery free of charge.
I tested the overpriced Quest 3 Elite Strap with battery. It was flawed from the start.
The idea is great: a comfortable head strap with a battery attached to the back of the head that doubles the battery life of the Quest 3. That's what the Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery promises.
Currently, however, I can only advise against buying this outrageously expensive accessory for the Quest 3.
Here are my reasons.
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Quest 3 Elite Strap with battery: The Concept
The Elite Strap for the Quest 3 is the same as the Elite Strap for the Quest 2, the only difference is that the Quest 2 Elite Strap does not fit the Quest 3 because of the mount.
The big advantage of the Elite Strap is the rear part of the head strap, which consists of a wide, soft and oval rubber ring, which thanks to its elasticity adapts perfectly to different shapes of heads. For me, this design is one of the most comfortable ever made for VR headsets.
Quest 3 with Elite Strap with battery. | Image: Meta
The Elite Strap with Battery adds a 2,330 mAh battery that roughly doubles the Quest 3's standard run time of about two hours. A short USB-C cable connects the extra battery to the Quest 3.
Once connected, I get a message in the Quest 3 about the extended battery life, and a “cap” over the battery indicator in the Quest 3 menu shows the extra battery. When I hover the Touch-Plus controller over the battery, it shows the remaining capacity for Quest 3 and the extra battery.
So much for the theory.
Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery: How it works (not!)
In practice, this did not work from the start. Although the message about the additional battery was displayed, the indicator was missing and after two hours I got the message that I should charge the Quest 3.
After charging the Elite Strap battery and the Quest 3 separately (not via the charging dock), it suddenly worked. I enjoyed a good four hours of play time, at least a few times.
But then it stopped. Now, when I connect the Elite Strap with the battery, I get the message that the extra battery life is available, but there is no indicator and no charging.
Even after several charging attempts, the problem persists: The battery is not working anymore.
My colleague Josef has the same issue, and Reddit and the Meta forums are full of similar reports. In a Twitter/X survey, RoadToVR found that 43 percent of respondents had issues with this accessory.
Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery: Return or not?
Some users replaced the Elite Strap with the battery several times before it finally worked. Meta seems to be aware of the problem, but we have not yet received a response to our inquiry via their German agency. However, Meta support responded to RoadToVR as follows:
“While we typically offer RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) for defective units, replacing the strap may not necessarily resolve the problem. We are aware of the emerging issue where the Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery is not recognized by the headset or fails to charge. Our engineering team is actively working on finding a solution for this issue. Once they have identified a resolution, we will contact you with an update.”
So you can either wait for such an update, if a solution is found, or ask for your money back, which should be easy via Amazon — after all, this thing is broken. If the hardware has a significant issue and a revised version is released, you can also exchange it under the legal warranty.
An Alternative to the Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery
I switched to the regular (also overpriced) Elite Strap (Amazon) and extend the life of my Quest 3 battery with a power bank. I wear it in a sports belt (Amazon) on my back and connect it to the XR headset using the Quest 3's USB-C charging cable.
The cable can be placed between the oval rubber ring and the white plastic frame of the Elite Strap, so the cable runs along the back without being noticeable or annoying.
With this simple and inexpensive set-up, the battery life of the Quest 3 can be increased enormously without sacrificing comfort. | Picture: MIXED
My power bank has a capacity of 20,000 mAH (Amazon Germany) and an output of 65W via USB-C (significantly more than the 17.9W of the Elite Strap battery). Because of the high output, the Quest 3 charges faster than it can be drained by using it. The power bank provides at least 6 hours of additional playtime (I have not yet tested the full runtime) — significantly more than the Elite Strap battery offers.
I highly recommend you to try it with a similar power bank (65W output is not needed, though): It's much cheaper, the effort is only slightly higher (putting on the belt, connecting the cable), and you can also use the power bank for other purposes.
There are also third-party head straps available, but we haven't tested any yet, so we can't recommend any at this time.
Buy Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery
The Elite Strap with battery is currently not available in the Meta Quest Store or on Amazon.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
