It's... complicated. It works, but there's a near-certain chance you'll eventually burn the display through the lenses if you do it wrong. It's the same reason you shouldn't leave any VR headset laying beside a window without a cover.
The tracking is fine, but you'll probably end up re-buying a headset on a monthly basis if doing it.
FWIW, I fly FPV and am aware of this issue but haven’t had a problem with it.
I probably average about 4-6 hours per week outdoors in sunlight with my Skyzone 04X. It has dual OLED screens and a very similar (if smaller) form factor to my Quest 2.
I’d say it’s more a “be aware of this and be careful” problem than a “you’re going to break it once a month” problem.
To be fair, FPV equipment has always been made largely for outdoor use, hasn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if they found some way to mitigate it.
The Q2 without a non-OEM facial interface isn't exactly tuned as well for outdoor conditions (then again, Facebook just put out a new one) as most FPV hardware is.
By the way, do you know the vendor of the panels in Skyzone hardware? I've been wanting to try some out from a certain vendor for ages, but I can never tell what they're in, just that they're occasionally used in FPV gear that's always discontinued by the time I find out about it. Microdisplays are such a worse market than standard displays (like what's in the Quest 2); it's a real headache.
> To be fair, FPV equipment has always been made largely for outdoor use, hasn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if they found some way to mitigate it.
To my knowledge, they have nothing to them that would mitigate damage from sunlight - and I can’t think of any way to do that, given how the lenses work. Certainly it’s a common thing that is warned against in forums and other online venues.
> By the way, do you know the vendor of the panels in Skyzone hardware?
Sorry, I don’t off the top of my head. I don’t think they’re terribly easy to disassemble to that point, either. I wouldn’t mind popping them open to check for you… but I have ~$600 in my set at the moment, so I don’t want to void the warranty on a whim :).
You might send an email to the folks at Fat Shark, though. You can often get their older goggles, like the HD3, used on Facebook for ~$200.
I am always amazed that people tend to make this into such a big problem. I've used Quest in the sunlight, you just have to be aware of it and remove it carefully, if possible while in shade. With the passthrough or just moving the headset slightly above your eyes you can do this very easily and safely.
Ah. So the issue is catching stray sunlight through one of the lenses and having it focus onto / burn the display? If that's avoided, are there other issues to worry about?
Some users have reported that the tracking cameras have gotten white dots in them from sun exposure, but the units that I've seen generally have a few dots in the periphery straight from the factory, so I think they're just not noticing until after. You rarely use the passthrough view, anyway, so it isn't a huge deal, generally.
Other than that, I can't really think of anything off the top of my head. I know someone who uses one on a trampoline in the heat of the summer to cheat in a video game; Q2s are surprisingly durable little things.
