Meta (formerly known as Oculus) released their third wireless Virtual Reality headset, the Meta Quest 3, on October 10th, 2023. This headset is the direct successor to the Oculus Quest 2, which was released back in 2020.

The Quest 3 has 2 different versions available for purchase, one with 128 Gigabytes of storage and the other with 512 Gigabytes of storage.

The 512 GB version comes with 6 Months of Meta Quest+. Quest+ is a monthly subscription that gives the user access to two free games every month that will stay in the user’s library as long as they are subscribed to the service.

The 128 GB version of the headset costs 499.99 before tax, and the 512 GB version will cost you 649.99 before tax. This large price is the main reason why someone might still buy a Quest 2 over a Quest 3.

To keep sales up on their other headsets, Meta has permanently reduced the Quest 2’s price to 249.99. The lowered price on the Quest 2 makes it more appealing to someone just starting to get into VR, as it offers a high-quality VR experience for half the price of the Quest 3.

The headset also being able to run without the need for a PC makes it a lot easier to try out. While the best headsets do require a PC to run, the steep price of a high-quality headset and an expensive VR headset is not within most people’s budget.

These setups can usually cost between 1,500 and 3,000 dollars, depending on how much money someone is willing to spend.

Although it is not as good as a PC VR setup, the Quest 3 is by far the closest any native VR headset has ever gotten.

The headset also comes with a free game, “Asgard’s Wrath 2”. The game would normally cost the user 59.99 to buy the game, and the game has around 60 hours of gameplay. This adds extra value to the headset, but this offer is only available for a limited time.

An upgrade that the Quest 3 has over the Quest 2 is that the 3 is 40% slimmer than the 2, making it look like less of a brick on the user’s head. Despite this noticeable difference in size, the Quest 3 is only slightly less heavy than the Quest 2 due to how much more technology is packed into the headset.

During Meta’s advertising campaign for the Quest 3, the feature that they advertised the most was the new Mixed Reality feature. This feature was supposed to be huge, as it would allow the user to interact with virtual objects and play VR games in their real-life room.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, described the mixed reality as “being able to blend the physical and digital worlds together.” Although this is true, there are a lot of flaws to this mixed reality.
The cameras used to create mixed reality make the real world look warped, making it difficult to perform real-life tasks in it.

Despite all the advertisements the mixed reality platform received, it may be the most disappointing feature on the headset. The first issue consumers had was that there was close to no mixed reality content to try out when the headset was released. While there are some cool games, there is nowhere near enough mixed reality content to truly judge if it is something that makes the headset worth buying.

The mixed reality also drains the headset’s battery life fast, which is a major issue when trying to play a mixed reality game for an extended period.

Although Mark Zuckerberg called the Quest 3 “The most powerful headset we’ve ever shipped,” the biggest complaint about the headset so far has been the battery life. The Quest 3 only has around 2 to 3 and a half hours of battery life, depending on the game being played.

Although this issue could be solved by simply buying a battery pack headset, the elite strap with the battery pack will cost the user another 149.99.

There have also been reports of some user’s charging ports melting, stopping them from charging their headset. Although this is a big flaw with the headset, this has only happened to a small percentage of users, and shouldn’t be the reason anyone doesn’t buy the headset.

Overall, if you already own a Quest 2, there is no reason to switch to a Quest 3 yet. If you are just getting into VR and you can afford it, I would recommend getting the Quest 3, as the headset will be supported for longer. Trying to start with the Quest 2 will eventually cost more money because the Quest 2 will not be supported and will receive new games for much longer. This would force any user who wants to play these new games to buy a new headset shortly after buying a Quest 2.