Keep Your VR Headset Lenses Clean And Away From The Sun - A Public Service Announcement
If there’s one thing that can ruin a Virtual Reality headset it is dirty lenses. So in this Public Service Announcement, I’m going to tell you why you should keep your lenses clean and some tips for how to do it.
This advice goes for any pair of VR goggles out there. The Meta Quest 1, 2, 3, and Pro. Both PSVR headsets. The Pico 4. The Valve Index, and any of the other wide range of PCVR only HMDs.
Virtual Reality Is Worse With Dirty Lenses
Do you really want your VR headset lenses to be dirty? Isn’t it obvious that playing VR games, or doing anything in VR would be worse if your VR headset lenses are dirty?
Dirty lenses will make things harder to see in VR because you’ll be looking through a film of grease and dust before you see what your headset is trying to show you and immerse you in. It’s sort of like if someone forced you to wear glasses that were dirty in real life.
Greasy Virtual Reality headset lenses will reduce your immersion, make you squint to see things, and overall make your time in VR less enjoyable.
So let’s talk about some ways to fix this.
Please Clean Your VR Lenses Regularly
Seriously, it just takes a second, and it’s easy! About to put your headset on? Then just pick up a microfiber cloth and give your lenses a quick swabbing.
You don’t have to scrub them or put any elbow grease into it. Actually, you shouldn’t. Be gentle and wipe once or twice for each lens. Fast, easy, clean, and now you will be able to see.
Don’t have a microfiber cloth? Well, I didn’t either when I got my first VR HMD. They’re really cheap on Amazon, a good set meant for cleaning lenses costs about ten dollars before tax and shipping.
Microfiber cloths are a great way to clean your Virtual Reality lenses
Make sure your cleaning cloth isn’t dirty by the way, if there are bits of dirt in the cloth then you’re just going to rub them into the lenses of your VR goggles and scratch them up. The only thing worse than dirty lenses is scratched lenses. You can’t just wipe scratches off.
Maybe you’re concerned that this easy method won’t be good enough, or you just haven’t been able to get the grease off of your lenses. Well then give a lens pen a try. These are meant to clean cameras and other delicate lenses for professional work.
While I don’t use a lens pen some people swear by them and say that if a microfiber cloth won’t get grease or grit off of lenses then a lens pen will.
If microfiber just isn’t cutting it a lens pen could be the answer
What NOT To Do With Your Headset
Here are a lot of common issues I’ve seen on various social media platforms, and I’m just going to address all of them here. Hopefully, this saves a few people’s headsets.
Seriously, they’re at least several hundred dollars apiece and I’d hate to lose mine just because I didn’t know how to take care of it. I’m not trying to be a know-it-all or a jerk here, just trying to help everyone have fun with functioning VR headsets instead of broken ones.
So here are a few quick things never to do.
Never leave your headset in natural sunlight. If the sun hits the lenses it will burn holes into them that will cause permanent spots and basically ruin the entire VR experience if you try and use it. Seriously, sun damaged lenses look really bad. You can take your VR headset outside, but don’t take it off. Really it’s better to never expose your goggles to sunlight at all and keep them indoors. You can also put lens caps on your headset while storing them so they can’t get hit by sunlight or scratched when you’re not using them.
Don’t use liquid cleaning products on your lenses. It’s not going to clean them better and you can easily damage your headset this way. Seriously, it’s not worth even trying.
Don’t leave your headset somewhere that it can be chewed by pets or mishandled by kids. VR headsets are actually kind of fragile, and once your controller doesn’t turn on you’ve got to either get a new pair or send them back to the manufacturer, which will take a long time, a long time that you won’t be able to enjoy VR. A broken headset is even worse, so be gentle with it and don’t let it get chewed or thrown around.
Well, that about covers it for this PSA. Hopefully, this helped you out and your VR headset will remain functional until you want to upgrade it to a better one.
