It's still one of the best tethered headsets even considering it's 2 years old already. Other ones have disadvantages in many areas (like tracking) still.

I'm waiting for some company to release a decent hybrid standalone + tethered headset (that can compete with Oculus Quest at least on the hardware specs), but most companies are only interested in selling very expensive devices for enterprise

is there any indication of a valve index 2 coming? given that facebook is a no-go for me, that makes the index the most appealing VR option for me. but it would suck to buy soon and have the next iteration come out right after I buy

I own an Index and would highly recommend it. Even if something was on the horizon. It's fantastic.

With that said I vaguely remember seeing a patent for a wireless index 2 recently. Can't remember where though so I may be wrong.

My completely uninformed opinion would be after the deck is launched and all it's kinks ironed out they'll probably work on an index 2

From the internet, there doesn't seem to be any rumours about index2.

Having tried both, my preference is definitely for the Index. The controllers alone are a substantial step up, not to mention the graphics, tracking, and pretty much everything else.

The Quest is nice because it's cheaper and self-contained, but that's about all it has going for it.

What makes it "not even comparable"?

The Q2 is good, and certainly a better value, but I'm not sure I'd say "not even comparable".

Quest 2 requires Facebook so it's not even in the running.