If all you want is a Meta Quest 2 with the additional pass-through and software upgrades for Meta Quest 3, then Quest 3S is the easiest and most affordable option you can get. Additionally, it proves that there is no longer such a thing as “beginner level” virtual reality. That’s it. It doesn’t have the best displays, but for gaming – which is the reason you would buy one of these headsets – you don’t need more than that, especially if you have a decently powerful computer at hand.
I’ve used enough Meta Quest 3 at $500 to know that virtual reality is still limited. Most people getting into it won’t care about Horizon Worlds or any of the supposed metaverse features. Passthrough is great for some applications, but I know that many like me won’t feel comfortable watching YouTube for hours through an app that still has glitches or Prime Video with a headset strapped to your head. This applies to every virtual reality headset you can get, from the latest Meta devices to the $3500 Apple Vision Pro. So, if you want to experience virtual reality, why not try it at a lower cost?
Meta Quest 3S
Quest 3S does everything Quest 3 can, and it costs $200 less. The only thing missing is the better lenses and field of view.
Pros
- Excellent hand tracking and strong passthrough
- Games run smoothly whether local or streamed from Steam
- Extremely competitive price so you can’t get a headset like this for $300
Cons
- The headset is still not the most comfortable out of the box
- Fresnel lenses show less detail around the edges of the screen
Quest 3S is the best deal you’ll get for virtual reality. Its hand tracking equals that of Quest 3, and it is just as powerful. The passthrough may not look as clean as Quest 3, but in reality, it doesn’t look worse when you’re in a game. 3S comes with a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadows and three months of Quest+ subscription. I don’t know if there are two free games worth the hassle per month, but it’s a great way to quickly expand your library and finally play the excellent game Rage Scorcher 2.
After that, if you have a computer capable of running some virtual reality games, you can get the Steam Link app and delve into all the high-demand games that you can’t get on Quest, like Half-Life: Alex. If you have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you can stream a few of these games on a slightly larger screen. Then you can use an HDMI link to display your computer or MacBook on a larger screen.
The big question for anyone looking at 3S is whether to choose 128GB vs. 256GB for $400. A game like Rage Scorcher 2 takes up about 33GB, making it one of the largest games you can get. Unless you plan on playing multiple games simultaneously, it might be good to stick with the smaller version, especially if you’re just a casual gamer. Quest 3 now starts at $500 for 512GB of storage, which is more than what was offered last year at the same price. If you think you’ll need more, I recommend paying a little extra for Quest 3 anyway.
Any of these capabilities could hook you. You may eventually run out of games to play or things to do on your mission. Then you go back to the shelf until Meta adds a new exciting feature or someone else finally creates the virtual reality game you care about, but at least it’s worth $300 for the virtual reality experience. For this reason, the latest Meta headsets are easily the best headsets you can buy now, as long as you don’t demand the most beautiful or most powerful headsets.
Quest 3S Review: Design and Comfort
Quest 3S resembles Quest 3 except for the arrangement of external sensors. While Quest 3 has a depth sensor – making it visually a step further for hand tracking – 3S has a low-light sensor that captures the gloom. Technically, 3S is better for low-light hand tracking, as first pointed out by UploadVR, although you shouldn’t use Quest in the dark anyway. The important point is that I didn’t notice any real difference in hand tracking accuracy compared to the task 3.
There are some interesting differences between the $500 and $300 headsets. Device 3S has a dedicated power button and lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. Besides that, it uses the same default face shield and triple-point head strap. It’s very basic, but I found it comfortable enough for a few hours of use. Balding people like us may start feeling a tingling sensation in the back of our skulls after a while, but it’s light enough to last without too much annoyance due to the battery life of up to two and a half hours.
Device 3S lacks the IPD slider that allows you to adjust the distance between your eyes and the headset. Instead, as in Quest 2, you need to choose from three IPD settings to make the screen look its best. It’s worse and less reliable than the Quest 3 setup, although I managed to find my preferred setting.
Quest’s cheaper model is compatible with all accessories from last year, although my review unit didn’t include anything like the Elite Strap or even the carrying case. Quest 3S comes with a glasses spacer if you wear glasses, and Gizmodo had an additional breathable face shield (not my teacup due to excessive light bleed). For transportation, I put it in my bag and wished for the best. After several journeys, I didn’t notice any issues with the lenses, sensors, or plastic breakage, but if you plan to take it on the road, it’s best to look for a kind of source.
The controllers use the same TruTouch design found in Quest 3. They are light, comfortable, and get the job done. I wish the sticks had a slightly heavier weight, but they fit in the hands and lack most of the rings you find on the PlayStation VR2 controllers.
Quest 3S Review: Performance and Gameplay
The main differences between Quest 3 and 3S are the lenses and field of view. Quest 3 uses Fresnel lenses compared to the three-pie lenses. 3 has a resolution of 2065 x 2208 per eye, which Meta insists is equivalent to 4K, plus 25 pages in the day. In 3S Camera, the resolution is limited to 1832 x 1920 per lens at 20 pages a day. In any case, it’s the same screen found in Quest 2, just translated to the Quest 3 structure.
You get 97 degrees of horizontal front view compared to 110 degrees in Quest 3. If you use them both in rapid succession, you may realize a slight visual difference between the devices. The text may be slightly less detailed depending on where you’re looking directly. You’ll start to see distortion at a closer angle on the edges of the Quest 3S display compared to the 3 display. This makes it difficult to read large blocks of text, especially anything at the edge of your field of view.
The biggest difference in headsets is the time it takes to get the best display. It requires a bit of tinkering with the face shield and straps before everything looks okay. The low resolution is particularly noticeable in the pass-through. Watching YouTube videos may seem more distracting than if you were watching them on a basic flat LCD screen, although they look better on Quest 3. The Quest pass-through always looks too warm regardless of the Meta headset you’re using, but in 3S, I noticed more rough edges on the windows, especially if you noticed them from an angle.
However, once the game has started, the difference in lenses becomes irrelevant. Quest 3S uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 chip as Quest 3. Games designed for Quest may contain more artifacts than you’re used to on more powerful platforms, but they look good on the $300 headset, essentially matching when playing them on the older brother 3S at $500.
The best games on Quest already benefit from the good pixel setup. As mentioned before, if you accept the beta version of Quest+ for three months, you can play Rage Scorcher 2, a fun and engaging role-playing game set in an open world that benefits from fantastic virtual reality character design and detailed graphics. While I can’t speak to the amount of free games you’ll get in the Meta subscription, one of this month’s free games is Down the Rabbit Hole. It’s a creative puzzle game that allows you to manipulate the environment in interesting ways through virtual reality.
It’s the same when playing games through Steam Link. I played my stuck version of Superhot VR, and I didn’t have any real issues with the slightly limited field of view as I tried and failed to dodge bullets while covering groups of red-colored people.
I haven’t had the chance to play Batman: Arkham Shadows yet after a brief demo, but while I don’t know what my rating of the game is, I haven’t noticed any visual flaws in the 3S version that would spoil the experience. Games running on Quest 3 also run on 3S. If you’re trying to save money and keep playing these games, feel safe when buying the cheaper headset. If you think you might want to watch movies in virtual reality (it’s not as fun as it sounds, regardless of how much you spend), you might want to look at the $500 headset.
Quest 3S Review: Verdict
When Sony introduced the VR2 adapter for the PC, I had many friends who messaged me asking if it was worth buying just to try out some PC virtual reality games they were eager to play. VR2 sales, valued at $550, skyrocketed, but many players ran into a wall of software compatibility issues. Players also needed to get their DisplayPort cable and compatible Bluetooth adapter. It was a SNAFU, but it proved that there are people looking for a cheap way to play virtual reality games they bought on a whim from Steam sales three years ago.
I understand why some players hesitate to give Meta any money. Then again, 3S is the fastest and cheapest way to play Half-Life: Alex (as long as you have a capable computer). It’s funny that’s exactly what my brother said… until he saw me playing Superhot VR with Quest 3S. He watched long enough that I took the hint and let him play. And of course, he had a blast. Very, very fun; a blast you can finish within a few hours. It’s the kind of game you’ve seen your friend playing for a while, then give up the idea that it’s out of your reach.
I don’t know if the cheap Quest 3S game will attract more people to enter the virtual reality world, as Meta hopes it will. However, the $300 headset takes all the improvements introduced on Quest 3 over the past year and puts them in a cheaper package that sacrifices only a little for the $200 price difference. Is it the best introductory virtual reality headset? Definitely. More than that, unless you really want the best screen quality, the best headset you can buy for its price and time frame. Whether this is a blow against the fluctuating state of the evolving virtual reality market is a whole other question.
