Is your Quest 3 Elite Battery strap even working? Because Meta has paused shipments due to faulty units

Update from December 15:

The original story from November 29 follows bellow:

The Quest 3 may be one of the best VR headsets around, but it's strap certainly isn’t among the best out there. A lot of online users have shared their grievances regarding the headsetrap that Meta’s latest headset comes with, us included.

And I’m certainly not afraid to ask the tough questions, so here I go: since Meta has a history of offering various accessories for its VR headsets, could the Quest 3’s strap have been made to suck intentionally? I mean, we’ve got a whopping two variants of the better Elite Strap on offer, after all.

Well, actually no. It’s only one now, at least for the time being. See, one of the models offered enhanced comfort levels, but the other came with a built-in battery pack too, to allow you to enjoy the Quest 3 in standalone mode for a bit longer.

But as it turns out, a lot of those units aren’t charging to begin with. Oops?



So, my little conspiracy theories aside, a lot of people enjoy Meta’s Elite Strap solutions. This accessory was available for the Quest 2, but since the same model isn’t compatible with the Quest 3 — because, of course it isn’t — Meta had to go and make two new ones.

But they do the same thing, essentially: distribute the headset’s weight more evenly, so that you can enjoy extra comfort. And why we couldn’t have had that from the get go, honestly: I do not know. Anyway!

If you were planning on getting the one that can give your Quest 3 a bit more juice, for yourself or a loved one, as a gift for this Christmas season, then you may want to start considering other options, because Meta has halted sales for the Elite Strap with Battery — and yes, that sounds weird, but it's the actual name of the thing — as of now.

Why? Well, because numerous users are reporting that the battery isn’t getting charged. So it’s basically not doing half of the things that it’s advertised to be doing. A great little side-effect in exchange for a nifty $130, right?

The important thing is that Meta has done the right thing and informed its retail business partners of the issue, so even if you’d like to risk it and get one: you shouldn’t be able to do that, even in person. So if someone is trying to sell you one of these: stay vigilant! 

But what about the lucky peeps who already have a faulty unit on their hands? Well, Meta must really be feeling the holiday spirit, because it’s replacing those on a case-by-case basis. So if you’re among the proud owners of a faulty Elite Strap with a battery, go ahead and reach out to Meta’s support team here.

Alright then! Remember when I said that Meta has a history of making accessories for its Quest line of headsets? Well, the company also has a history of large quantities of those turning out to be faulty.

Who knows? Maybe next time, Meta will decide to invest the same cash into improving the default heastrap of its headsets instead of spending it on faulty accessories.

Or on eye-tracking. That works too.