REVIEW – As I started writing this review, I did the math and realized I’ve been playing virtual reality games for nearly a decade now (starting with the Oculus Rift developer kit 2 in 2014). Even with that early hardware there have been amazing moments that are etched in my memory, like when my cockpit was shooting sparks and smoke in Elite Dangerous and I involuntarily sniffed the air to see what it smelled like. These moments are fleeting though, most of the time I’ve always been pretty aware that I’m in a VR game and not quite fully immersed, though it’s still a lot of fun to play. When the offer to review the Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3 came in, I quickly volunteered to see if vibrating haptics during gameplay would add more immersion or if it would just be a gimmicky buzzing vest.
What is it?
The Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3 is a wearable vest that translates low frequency audio from your games (or music or any other audio) into haptic vibrations that you feel in your chest and back. Think of the tiny buzzing motor in your phone or smartwatch, and then amplify that by a factor of 10 and you have a rough idea of what it’s doing. The Vest 3 is ideal for a VR gaming setup (either with PC VR gaming, Meta Quest VR, or Playstation VR), but it would also work great in a variety of other scenarios where you would want to actually feel your music without resorting to a room-shaking subwoofer.
What’s included?
- Woojer Series 3 Vest
- USB PD charger
- USB-C cable
- 3.5mm headphone cable
Tech specs
Click to expand
- Haptic motors: 6x Osci™ V2 TRX haptic transducers
- Haptic frequency range: 1-250Hz
- Built in headphone amplifier: Texas Instruments analog headphone amplifier
- Headphone output: 138mW into 16ohm headphones
- Microphone support: supports TRRS headphones connector
- Bluetooth: 5.0 Dual (both transmit and receive)
- Aux in: 3.5 mm stereo, supports TRSS (mic)
- USB: USB-C audio-in supported
- BLE for app control future firmware updates
- Battery: Lithium-Ion 14.4V
- Battery charge time: 3 hours with USB-C PD charging (20V only)
- Battery life: Up to 8 hours playtime, depending on haptic level usage
- Weight: 3 lbs / 1.5 kg
- Size: Adjustable straps, one size fits most (~Medium to XXL)
Design and features
The Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3 looks roughly like a traffic safety vest, but thicker. Clasps and buckles combined with adjustable straps mean it can fit many body shapes (they say roughly from size M – XXL). I’m usually wearing men’s XL shirts, and there’s room to go bigger once I have it adjusted for me. I received a white Vest 3 which matches my Meta Quest 3 nicely, while there’s also a black colorway available if you prefer that (it looks like the black one has some nice red accents as well).
A control panel with physical buttons makes adjusting your volume and haptic levels easy while in-game, while LED lights display levels and information while the vest is on. A large power button turns the device on and off, surprisingly. On the underside of this control panel are a pair of 3.5 mm jacks – one to connect to your device (though you can also connect via Bluetooth if preferred), and the other to connect to wired headphones or earbuds. The Vest 3 sports a decent headphone amplifier built-in, I tested both headphones and wired earbuds and the sound is good and loud through both.
Around the back is where I presume the battery is housed, and a USB-C port for charging is located (with a large red sticker pointing it out).
There’s also a USB-C port in front, but this is for audio input only, make sure you only plug the power cable into the back.
Finally, my review unit came with a washable liner to prevent sweaty back odors from getting on the vest (very appreciated).
Assembly, Installation, Setup
First, you’ll want to charge the Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3. A large red sticker warns you where to plug in the charger on the back, and they have warnings in the manual as well to not use other non-PD-20V chargers to charge it. Said manual also has easy to understand setup instructions and a QR code to grab their app. The app is optional for a wired headphone setup, but if you want to use Bluetooth you’ll need it to pair things to and with the vest. I tried to set up the app on my Pixel 9 Pro but it refused to find and connect to the Vest 3, then I tried on an iPhone and that worked:
Above are three screenshots, showing the pairing screen, then the main control interface, and finally the Bluetooth headphones pairing option. You can tweak the haptics to respond differently for different frequencies (like an equalizer for speakers). Volume levels and intensity can be controlled here too. It was easy to tweak things and connect to Bluetooth headphones, though I later switched to wired to reduce the latency while gaming.
Performance
I tried the Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3 out with shooter games, music rhythm games, and the very fun new Batman: Arkham Shadow game on the Meta Quest 3. I had originally planned on capturing some mixed-reality video to go along with this review, but as I was testing out the vest I realized that it’s very hard to visually show what the vest is doing, so I’ll do my best to describe it.
With default settings and haptic intensity to a level 5, I started by simply listening to some music, and the sensation is similar to sitting in a car with an overpowered subwoofer. Each bass drum hit feels like it’s thumping you in a way that you only get otherwise through large powerful speakers. Needless to say, I was excited to try out action and shooter games after that!
In shooting and fighting games, most gunshots and melee blows are accompanied by louder bass sounds. With the Vest 3 on, you feel these shots or blows as a thump in your whole upper body. In some scenarios, I could even feel the direction of the shot/blow when the haptics hit harder on just one side of my body.
I had an absolute blast playing a variety of games, though when I switched to rhythm games like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip that rely on precise timing that goes along with music, I realized the Bluetooth earbuds I was using were definitely a bit behind what my eyes were seeing, which made these types of games much more difficult. I dug up some wired headphones, and the difference was immediate. The sound was better even on old OEM earbuds (the kind you used to get with Samsung phones 5+ years ago) than with my higher end Bluetooth earbuds, and the audio latency was gone. This meant that the haptics and the sound itself was perfectly synced to the onscreen action, and I proceeded to fully enjoy my test sessions.
If you’re playing a game with a music soundtrack going in the background, Woojer recommends turning it down or off to increase the immersion factor. This is good advice, playing Half Life: Alyx was just constant haptic vibration until I turned off the music. What you lose in atmospheric music you gain in physical sensations linked to in-game audio.
What I like about the Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3
- Very strong haptic motors that can be tamed and tuned with the controls and app
- Able to connect to both your gaming device and headphones/earbuds simultaneously via Bluetooth
- Adds a ton of immersion to action, music, and workout games when used with VR
What needs to be improved?
- Even after tuning, Bluetooth headphones aren’t fully in sync in games – you’ll want to go with wired headphones or earbuds for best audio performance
- Wish it supported USB-C audio devices: I have gaming earbuds that use a USB-C connection for very low latency gameplay but these didn’t work with the Vest 3 (USB-C audio in is supported from the gaming device, but not out to other devices).
Final thoughts
As my review period with the Woojer haptic wearable Vest 3 comes to a close, I have already begun 3D printing a hook to hang up the vest for easy access. I will definitely be grabbing it along with my Quest 3 as I play VR games in the future. While it isn’t a silver bullet for perfect VR immersion, I think of it more like adding a high-end subwoofer to your VR setup’s sound system. In some games it really does give you a nice jolt: I nearly screamed out loud when an unexpected zombie in Arizona Sunshine clawed me from behind and I felt the blow when I wasn’t expecting it. I could see this vest being a great add-on for people spending a lot of time in VR shooting/fighting/workout games that want more immersion, or for the college dorm/apartment dweller that misses the thump of subwoofers but doesn’t want to anger every neighbor in every direction while they play games or enjoy other media.
Price: $399.99
Where to buy: Woojer
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Woojer. Woojer did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.