Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery Review: Too Expensive and Broken

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.

For now, however, I can only advise against buying this outrageously expensive accessory for Quest 3.

Here are my reasons.

Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery: The Concept

The Elite Strap for Quest 3 is the same as the Elite Strap for Quest 2, the only difference is that the Quest 2 Elite Strap does not fit the Quest 3 due to 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. To me, this design is one of the most comfortable ever made for a VR headset.

Quest 3 with Elite Strap with battery. | Image: Meta

The Elite Strap with Battery adds a 2,330mAh battery that roughly doubles the Quest 3’s standard runtime of around two hours. A short USB-C cable connects the extra battery to the Quest 3.

Once connected, I get a message in 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 move the Touch-Plus control over the battery, it shows the remaining capacity of the 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 extra battery was displayed, the indicator was missing and after two hours I received the message to 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 four hours of playtime, at least a few times.

But then it stopped. Now, when I connect the Elite strap to 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 no longer works.

My colleague Josef has the same problem, and the Reddit and Meta forums are full of similar reports. In a Twitter/X survey, RoadToVR found that 43 percent of respondents had problems 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 yet to receive 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 issue. We are aware of the recent issue where the Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with battery is not recognized by the headset or cannot be charged . Our engineering team is actively working to find a solution to this issue. Once they have identified a solution, 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 problem and a revised version is released, you can also replace 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 extended 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 that the cable runs along the back without being noticeable or annoying.

With this simple and inexpensive setup, the battery life of the Quest 3 can be increased enormously without sacrificing comfort. | Image: MIXED

My power bank has a capacity of 20,000 mAh (Amazon Germany) and an output power of 65W via USB-C (significantly more than the 17.9W of the Elite Strap battery). Due to the high power, the Quest 3 charges faster than it can be drained by using it. The power bank provides at least 6 hours of extra play time (I have yet to test the full run time) — significantly more than what the Elite Strap battery offers.

I strongly recommend that you try it with a similar power bank (65W output is not needed though): It is 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, 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 supplier. For you, the price does not change.