ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Quest 3S is priced the same as the Quest 2, but it brings marginal improvements.
- The new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset makes everything feel faster (and more realistic).
- Fresnel lenses and the lack of a 3.5mm headphone are the biggest drawbacks at this price point.
more buying choices
Throughout what has been a busy fall season in tech, I’ve been challenging myself to use the Meta Quest 3S for at least an hour every day. Whether it’s punching my stress away in The Thrill of the Fight or sitting front-row of NBA games — albeit, replays from last season — in preparation for opening night, the latest VR headset from Meta has been a bright spot all month long.
Also: Meta’s new $299 Quest 3S is the VR headset most people should buy this holiday season
At $300, the Meta Quest 3S may be one of the easiest gaming consoles — let alone VR headsets — for me to recommend. It’s priced the same as its now four-year-old predecessor, the Quest 2, yet offers significant improvements in performance, capabilities, and user experience. In many ways, it’s identical to its more advanced sibling, the Quest 3. But for $200 less, you’ll also have to settle with the drawbacks, most of which I’ve built a tolerance for with each passing day.
The Quest 3S’s design is very much a hybrid of the Quest 2 and Quest 3; it’s sculpted with hard plastic and fabric, weighs similarly at 514 grams, and comes with a flexible, Y-shaped head strap that hangs on just enough for more expressive movements. It’s a form factor that just…works — and opens up several ways for you to further customize the fit and finish.
Since the default fit is too front-heavy for me, I’ve attached a Kiwi Comfort Head Strap, which has made physical experiences like Supernatural and Eleven Table Tennis much less burdening. The lack of redness on my forehead at the end of my VR sessions is the big tell here.
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