Whats more, it proves theres no such thing as entry level VR anymore.
Ive used enough of the $500 Meta Quest 3 to know that VR is still limited.
Most people getting into it wont care aboutHorizon Worldsor any of the supposed metaverse features.
Meta Quest 3S© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
So if youve wanted to try VR, why not try it at its cheapest?
The only thing missing is better lenses and FOV.
Pros
Cons
The Quest 3S is easily the best deal youre going to get for VR.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Its hand tracking is equivalent to the Quest 3, and its just as powerful.
The 3S comes with a copy ofBatman: Arkham Shadowsand three months of the Quest+ subscription.
If you have aGame Pass Ultimate subscription, you canstream a few of those gameson a slightly larger screen.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
If you think youll need more, Id advise paying a little extra for the Quest 3 anyway.
Any of those capabilities might bore you.
You may eventually run out of games to play or things to do on your Quest.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
The point is, I didnt notice any real difference in hand-tracking accuracy compared to the Quest 3.
There are some interesting distinctions between the $500 and $300 headsets.
The 3S has a dedicated power button and it lacks the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Otherwise, its using the same default face shield and three-point head strap.
Its very basic, but I found its just comfortable enough for a few hours of use.
The 3S is missing the slider that lets you set spacing between your eyes and the headset.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
To transport it, I stuck it in my backpack and hoped for the best.
The controllers are the exact same TruTouch design from the Quest 3.
Theyre light, comfortable, and do the job.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
The Quest 3 uses fresnel lenses compared to the 3s pancake lenses.
On the 3S, the resolution is limited to 1832 by 1920 per lens with 20 ppd.
You get 97 degrees of horizontal front view compared to the Quest 3s 110 degrees.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Text might be slightly less detailed depending on where youre directly looking.
It makes it harder to read large banks of text, especially anything on the edge of your vision.
The biggest difference between the headsets is the time it takes to get the best view.
It takes a little bit of fiddling with the faceshield and straps before everything looks right.
The lower resolution is especially apparent in passthrough.
All that being said, once I actually got into a game, the difference in lenses became irrelevant.
The Quest 3S uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 chip as the Quest 3.
The best games on Quest already make use of good art style over pixel counts.
Its a creative puzzle game that lets you manipulate the environment in very interesting ways through VR.
Its the same when playing games through Steam Link.
Games that work on the Quest 3 work just as well on the 3S.
If youre trying to save money and still play these games, feel safe in getting the cheaper headset.
Players also had to source their own DisplayPort cable and compatibleBluetooth adapter.
I understand why some players would hesitate to give Meta any money.
Funnily, thats exactly what my brother said… until he saw me playingSUPERHOT VRwith the Quest 3S.
He watched long enough that I took the hint and let him play.
Is it the best introductory equipment for VR?
Whether or not thats a hit against the waffling state of the altered reality market is another question entirely.
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