Once upon a time I wrote for a platform specific games mag—and, if you can believe it, I'm not actually dating myself that much. Anyway, the point of such an admission is only to say I've noodled with virtual reality before, outside of the immersive party goggles available on PC. Unfortunately, despite being impressed by the PlayStation VR2, I could simply never justify the expense.
Another $400 on top of an already $700 console? Forget about it! Gaming is already an extremely expensive hobby and I wasn't hurting for reasons to part myself from my hard-earned money…until I clapped eyes upon a particular Meta Quest 3S bundle. For only $270 at Amazon, you get the 128 GB model of what remains our budget pick for the best VR headset, plus Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three month Trial of Meta Quest+ thrown in for free to sweeten the deal.
Now, if you've already got a Meta Quest 3 (no S), then you can keep on scrolling—but if, like me, you've been looking for your first virtual reality headset at a somewhat reasonable price, this bundle is too compelling to ignore. Our Jacob rated the headset highly in his Meta Quest 3S review; whether you plan to play with the headset tethered or as a standalone device, the 128 GB is generally a good pick—especially as VR games don't tend to be massive downloads, with Batman: Arkham Shadow itself only being about 19 GB.
You could put down $100 bucks more for the 256 GB model from Amazon, but it's not as good value for money. For one thing, that's far from the best price we've seen this year for this model with more onboard storage. For another, you'd be better off scraping a few more dollars together to pick up the Meta Quest 3 instead.
So, if it's not the all-singing, all-dancing VR headset that, according to our James, has yet to be bested by any similarly priced competitors, what's the 3S got going for it? Well, to start with, the 3S enjoys the power of the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, meaning it can play games the older Meta Quest 2 would struggle to, like—you guessed it—Batman: Arkham Shadow. There's more to play with than just grumpy old bats though, as our best VR games list can attest. This more powerful chip keeps a lid on vom-inducing latency issues, delivering a responsive experience both in and out of games.
Now, one thing to note is that the 3S is still rocking fresnel lenses, like the 2 before it. That makes for a bulkier profile, but not masses more weight compared to the slimmer 3 and its pancake lenses; at worst, there are a few grams difference between each model. The fresnel lenses aren't massively lacking in image quality compared to the pancake lenses, but there is a definite blurriness around the edges of the frame on the Meta Quest 3S. It's not usually game breaking, but the image quality is simply much crisper on the more expensive Quest 3 headset.
In an attempt to shear down both the form factor and the price, the 3S also only comes with onboard speakers. These are by no means of terrible quality, but I personally feel a bit more secure with a sound source more directly attached to my ear—evidently, I've been spoiled by the PS VR2 and the surprisingly decent quality of its included ear buds. Still, even without bundle earbuds or headphones, this is a cracking deal at a cracking price.
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