Being one of the lucky few to get my Steam Frame a few weeks ago, I have been using it quite a bit since then. I have been buying some third-party accessories to mitigate some of its weaknesses.

First the obvious one: it is surprisingly light and small, but overall not comfortable enough due to my glasses. To solve that I went ahead and bought prescription lenses from VR Optician (119€ including fast shipping and additional prescription fee).

Then I figured I had better protect it against sunlight because I do not have one of those fancy head mounts nor do I want to pack it in its box between each use. Thus I got an AMVR lens cover that fits quite well (13€).

And finally the battery life situation is… Well it’s bad. I got decent VR legs and can play for hours, but the battery only lasts at most 1h30 when running PCVR at 120Hz. So I got myself a UGREEN Nexode 145W 25000mAh Power Bank (56€), 2 short angled USB-C cables (24€), round magnetic USB-C adapters (16€) and a small fanny pack (10€).

I will also say there has been some trial and error regarding the magnetic adapter. The idea is to protect the headset port in case the cable snags on anything. I wanted to plug it directly in the headset port, but it tends to disconnect when I turn my head. The tradeoff I landed on is : one very short cable plugged in, magnetically coupled with a longer one that goes to the battery. The 240W-rated USB-C cables are also overkill but hey, not that much of a price difference (they are quite thick though and contributed some in my disconnect issue).

So there you have it, 238€ on top of the initial Steam Frame + ergonomic accessories kit purchase (which is a must-have if you ask me), not counting said trial and error.

Update: there are strong arguments in comments against using magnetic adapters. I’ll be ditching that and keeping the 2 cables approach so that there is a straight connection (hopefully weaker than the angled plugs) that can unplug more easily than the battery or headset side if the cable snags on something.

  • Rozz
    21·
    11 hours ago

    I’ve used one with my steam deck for a few years and have had zero problems.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
      162·
      10 hours ago

      Then you haven’t been around metal dust. Which most people won’t be.

      I’m pointing out that magnetic connectors are not a part of the spec, which means the ways they can go wrong is NOT accounted for. And that I have seen what that can lead to.

      Extensions are dangerous because they break the way USB C cables communicate their compatibility. If you extend a length of 100W cable with an 50W extension, the charger can try to push a 100W without knowing there is a section that can’t handle that much.

      Edit: Why would you downvote this? By all means, do whatever. But there is a real risk. Just because it’s been fine for you, is no reason to downplay how careful one should be.