Meta Quest 3 512GB— Breakthrough Mixed Reality Headset — Powerful Performance

I owned the original Oculus Rift and upgraded to the Meta Quest 3. It was a big leap forward for me.— TRACKING —Gone are the days when you had to have fixed sensors in your room with a fixed play area. Now, you can bring this anywhere and play wirelessly, with or without a computer. Just the fact that I don't need sensors is a win. The tech packed into this can detect your surrounding environments quickly and easily. It even tracks your hands and you can navigate with just your hands using gestures similar to an iPad/iPhone.— SCREEN —The screen is a big improvement over previous generations, including Meta's Pro model. The colors are vibrant, the sharpness is perfect, and getting your head in the sweet spot is much easier. I advise using an app to measure your eye distance (like Eye Measure), and then you can adjust the lenses to suit your exact eye distance for optimum viewing comfort.— STORAGE —I got the 512GB because I was torn about their pricing model. I didn't want to underdo it so I spent the extra money so I had more space, even if I didn't know if I would need it. Frankly, 256GB would've been perfect for me personally at the moment.— WIRELESS PLAY —The games runs off the headset—if you buy games from the Meta Quest store. They do run more expensive and the sales are okay when they're there. If you have been buying VR games on Steam, you can run them wirelessly with SteamVR as long as your computer's graphics card is compatible. You can also physically connect a USB-C cable to a computer to play your games.— GAMES —Games feel like an elevated Nintendo 64 at the moment. The tech is there, we just need higher-quality textures and more AAA games when the masses start pouring in. Most games seem to have a stylized polygonal quality to them, and few games are going for a realistic look. Currently, I would say the quality of games is good enough for where the technology is at the moment in terms of the processing power that's in the headset at this price point.One of the great things is Asgard's Wrath II is included free with purchase and this is one of those games that takes full advantage of this headset's capabilities. You also get a 6-month free trial of Quest , which is two pre-selected curated games per month for as long as you're a member; you lose those games when you cancel, but if you subscribe again your library will be there.— APPS —Besides games, you can use different apps with this. I use Virtual Desktop to access my 3D movie files on my computer, plus other media I have. I can also access my SteamVR games this way as well. Then there are media consumption apps like Amazon and Netflix. Explore and you'll find useful things to install.— MIXED REALITY —This is part of the future of gaming, baby. Having a big play space at home combined with a mixed reality game is one of the most fun experiences to have. This is also similar tech in Apple's Vision Pro. There are a couple of free games included, and I can't wait to see what the future holds in this growing game category.— BATTERY —The battery lasts on average about two hours. For me, that's great because I generally get a little dizzy before that period so the headset will die before I get fully nauseous. VR dizziness is a real thing and I advise that if you start feeling some type of way, to stop sooner rather than later. I would build up your brain's tolerance to VR slowly. If you get dizzy, start timing how long it takes. Take a day off and try to add 10 minutes or so in the next session, until you can go longer.If you are one of the lucky few who are not affected by dizziness, you can plug this into a wall while playing and it will charge while you play. In theory, you could play non-stop with the right cable and charger.— SUMMARY —If you haven't gotten into VR yet, try it out in the stores. If you like it, then definitely get the Meta Quest 3. If you're unsure, you could wait for a price drop hopefully around Christmas of 2024.

So, I started with the original Oculus Developer Kit 1, then on to 2, then the consumer Rift, Rift S, Quest 2, and temporarily had a Quest Pro (a great piece of tech, but too expensive..returned in 1 week). We've come a long way with Quest 3....- The clarity of the new "pancake" lenses are a marvel after dealing for years with the now primitive, Fresnel lenses. No more having to reposition the flipping headset around, over and over just to find that one tiny spot of clarity while their outer area remains blurry. These flat pancake lenses are just super clear all around, from edge to edge.- The resolution bump from the Q2 is another nice welcome. The blacks are not jet black like you would find on an OLED screen (like the PlayStation VR2), but that would bring the cost up. When you're playing games or experiences, you won't even be thinking about it. Would you rather have fresnel lenses like PS2VR? I don't think so. In addition to these new features, the fieild of view has widened on Quest 3, another upgrade that makes a difference.- The sound is beefier and louder. No more tin can alley like the Q2, and the fantastic spatial sound adds more to the immersion. I went back and played some older games, finding sounds that I've never quite heard on Quest 2, which really surprised me. The haptics are also very much improved over the Q2, though not as potent as I would have liked. The Pro controllers are more advanced in this department, as is the PSVR2.- The controller wrap around rings over the hands are a thing of the past, and good riddance. These controllers feel great, and track without a hitch. I'm super glad that they are sticking to regular AAA batteries for the controllers. They last a sick amount of time, as opposed to the Quest Pro controllers which are rechargeable. Some people prefer that style, but I prefer having to simply replace batteries and continue playing, rather than waiting for yet another device to recharge Plus, I remember getting overheating warnings with the Pro Controllers, and they never felt warm. If you didn't put the controllers down for a bit, the warning would not go away. There's a number of complaints about this odd issue in the Oculus forums. Not sure if they fixed this by now, but I do remember the Oculus mods being dumbfounded by this ordeal.The Mixed Reality / PassthroughAs someone who's been around the tech industry for over 35 years, this is a new level of entertainment. Mixed Reality puts virtual objects right in your real space. Imagine sitting on your couch, viewing your entire room, while watching a spaceship break through your ceiling and land on your couch. Following that, you'll view in amazement as alien fuzzballs start breaking apart the walls to your surroundings, trying to get in, while revealing a complete alien landscape as you race to catch those critters with the supplied blaster as they pop in and land on your floor, and furniture! You have to see it to believe it. You're still in your room, but now all the walls have been blown out. This all works convincingly thanks to the new room scanning feature, which is something right out of the Matrix. You simply walk and look around your room(s) as it automatically detects walls and obstacles during setup.How about playing a dungeon crawling board game ON YOUR ACTUAL TABLE, or break into a sweat as zombies smash through your doorways, and climb in from the windows. If that's too much, then why not set up a giant TV screen that would dwarf the real TV in your room. Dozens of games and apps already have been updated to support mixed reality, so there's already many things to try out. Every day seems to bring more.The beauty of Mixed Reality is that you're not fully engulfed in Virtual Reality. You're still seeing all of your real world, but the virtual stuff comes to you! This is a wonderful way to introduce newcomers to VR who may not feel comfortable completely cut off from their surroundings. So, now you can exercise with a virtual trainer, box against a computer opponent in your own living room, or explore your house which can be haunted with ghosts. All this can be done without worrying about kicking your dog, watching if your baby wanders away or smashing your skull into a real TV set. One other advantage, it cuts down the possibility of motion sickness which can be a problem for certain people. The one big complaint about mixed reality - the passthrough is kind of fuzzy, so your real world has kind of a grainy film over it, and when combined with the stunning virtual objects, there's a stark difference. Good lighting helps the situation, but ultimately, it becomes a non-issue because once your play area is combined with the virtual world, you won't even be much concerned about the quality; your room becomes the backdrop as your eyes are mainly focused on the virtual parts, leaving the whole mix to be quite convincing, and for this price point, to have this feature? Are you kidding me? It's amazing!Of course, you can alway play in total virtual reality, because that's still the popular choice for hardcore VR enthusiasts. Speaking of which, I've seen many comments on various forums where VR veterans were knocking mixed reality, saying things like "who wants this? I don't need mixed reality, I will only play in complete Virtual". After a few days, I already saw a change of heart. Now it's, "oh wow, I never thought I'd get into this, now I want more!". Yeah, mixed reality is here to stay and grow.The comfortWell, here's where I personally find a negative. The default strap provided with the Meta Quest 3 is similar to the strap on the Quest 2, however, this has a bit more stability, with its adjustable Y-shaped back. It's one of those things, you try on, and think - oh, this isn't bad at all, only to find shortly after, either your forehead, cheeks or both feel a bit too much pressure. It's not as bad as the Quest 2, as the Quest 3, doesn't protrude as much, due to its new design, but it's no way good for long play sessions. I simply purchased a 3rd Party Elite-style strap on Amazon.. so mission accomplished there as it's a very comfortable, halo-style ($37.00) which is the way to go.Battery life ...is still short - around two hours, though some complained it's even shorter. I tend to use an ultra-long C cable plugged into an Anker power supply and I can go all day, and only take it off if I'm playing something like Beat Saber, or anything else that requires a lot of crazy hand movements.PCVRLike its predecessor, the Q3 will work with your PC Oculus and Steam VR games, providing you have a powerful PC. With the new resolution, wider FOV and lenses, PCVR games look better than ever!Overall - I absolutely love the Quest 3, even my spouse who had no interest in VR was amazed by the mixed reality and now wants one as well.