Hands on: Meta Quest 3S review – an affordable mixed-reality headset that everyone might want

Two-minute Meta Quest 3 preview

There may be no better argument for affordable yet reasonably performant mixed and virtual reality than the new Meta Quest 3S. it strips away a handful of features from the Quest 3 that most users might not notice to achieve a pocket-friendly price point, and it may soon occupy a spot near the top of our best VR headset list.

After chasing the high-end with the now-discontinued Meta Quest Pro, and then leapfrogging that headset with a more affordable Meta Quest 3 (which included a better chip and higher display resolution) Meta pulled has back just a bit on resolution, image quality, and depth-sensing, to deliver its most compelling combination of value and performance yet in the Meta Quest 3S. 

There may be a lesson here for Apple, which has been chasing the high-end with the $3,499 / £3,499 Apple Vision Pro, a headset that has the highest imaginable specs, and includes powerful hand and face tracking. However, while Apple hasn’t shared much about sales, it’s clear that it has not enjoyed iPhone-level adoption.

With the $299.99 / £289.99 Quest 3S, Meta is now focused on the middle, a sizeable segment of potential users that has yet to adopt VR and mixed reality at scale. Coming in at hundreds less than the $499.99 / £469.99 Quest 3 is not without sacrifice. The Quest 3S has a lower per-eye solution, at 1832 x 1920 per eye, matching that of the now-discontinued Quest 2. The Quest 3 by contrast offers a 4K display with 2064 x 2208 per eye. Plus it has a pancake display design, which is slimmer and less bulky than the Quest 3S’s fresnel lens.

Like the Quest 3 and Quest 2 before it, the Quest 3S isn’t trying to be Vision Pro or even a Quest Pro. It’s a glasses-friendly headset that can track your hands, and ships with controllers for maximum compatibility with games and apps that have not been remade for gesture control.

That fact that the Quest 3S works with glasses is a big deal for many users, including me. There’s no need for special lens inserts (which also add cost); the headset can adjust to fit your head and the glasses you wear every day.

Despite the price and some sub-pro specs, the Quest 3S is also a mixed-reality headset with image passthrough capabilities that match those of the Quest 3: 4MP RGB, 18ppd. There’s no hardware depth sensor, though, which means some of the headset’s recognition of your environment may be lacking.

Meta is pitching the Quest 3S as no less than a do-it-all mixed reality headset, supporting console-level gaming, productivity (look at all those floating browser windows!), exercise, entertainment, and virtual gathering places in the form of Horizon Worlds.

How good is the Meta Quest 3S? I took it for a quick spin, and below you can read my hands-on first impressions – the TLDR version is that this is the well-fitting, easy-to-use, glitch-free performing VR and mixed reality headset that you probably want.

Meta Quest 3S: Specs

Meta Quest 3S: Price and availability

Meta unveiled the Quest 3S at its September 25 Meta Connect event. There are two Meta Quest 3S models, and the only difference between them is the amount of on-board storage. The 128GB headset costs $299.99 / £289.99, and the 256GB model costs $399.99 / £379.99. Pre-orders are open now, with shipping from October 15.

Meta Quest 3S: Design

• Good looks
• Decent, lightweight feel
• Nicely adjustable straps
• Excellent remotes

The hallmark of good VR headset design is when you need a minimum of guidance to get it on your head and find a good fit. In this regard, the Meta Quest 3S largely succeeds.

In my hands, it felt relatively lightweight. At 514 grams (just a bit over a pound) it’s just a gram lighter than the Meta Quest 3. It comes with a Y strap that supports the Quest 3S over the top and across the back of your head. I found the strap-adjustment system fairly obvious. There’s a pair of plastic strap guides that you push together or pull apart to adjust the tightness of the strap that goes around your head. The top strap uses velcro. As is the case with Apple’s Vision Pro, this top strap is critical to comfort; otherwise, the weight of the headgear rests on your face.

Meta has redesigned the face cushions for added comfort. It felt pretty good, but I still found myself sweating underneath the soft foam, although to be fair the demo room was pretty warm.

Button placement is also good. There’s a home button on the headset (in case you opt not to use the included remotes) and a volume rocker that I found with a little guidance.

Meta appears to be taking a relatively cavalier attitude when it comes to the fit. The Meta reps just let me slip the headset on over my glasses and make fit adjustments. We never talked about adjusting pupillary distance or focus and, to be honest, none of that seemed to matter.

They handed me the two controllers, which look a bit like white versions of my Meta Quest Pro (RIP) remotes, but without the magnets to hold them together. The remotes, which include safety straps, were comfortable to hold, and my thumbs found the buttons, though I could also see them in passthrough mode.

The Quest 3S is also an able hand-tracker, and you can choose to use the headset without the remote, although not all games and experiences will support it. In any case, I didn’t get to try it out during my demo.

Meta Quest 3S: Software and apps

• Multi-purpose
• Mixed reality puts windows all around you
• Gaming FTW

As soon as I put on the headset and it woke from sleep mode I could see a slightly grainy, full-color version of my environment. Also floating in front of me were three screens, for music, applications, and the web browser. I could hold down the Oculus button on the right-hand controller to reset the viewport so all the windows were directly in front of me – this is exactly how it worked with previous Quest headsets.

I’ve used a number of different VR and mixed-reality headsets, and found the gestures for moving, resizing, and opening applications pretty obvious.

Unlike the Vision Pro, the Quest 3S does not track my vision, so I needed to point at whatever I wanted to move or grab; I couldn’t just look and something would light up. Still, for $299.99, no one should be expecting eye tracking.

I was told that I could open multiple web browsers and place them all around the room, but I got stuck at one point and could not seem to move my browser window out of my field of view; it just kept snapping back into place. This apparently related to the positioning and visibility of the menu bar. There may be a bit of a learning curve for more advanced mixed-reality window placement.

I summoned a virtual keyboard, but instead of typing I selected the microphone icon and said “TechRadar”, selected enter, and our homepage loaded. It, like everything I saw in a window, looked very sharp. The Meta Quest 3S lacks the Quest 3’s 4K dual displays, but it still delivers HD-quality content to each eye via a fresnel lens (the Quest 3 has slimmer pancake displays).

I also opened the music app and played some smooth jazz. The dual, open-ear speakers deliver crisp, loud, spatial audio that I enjoyed listening to.

After closing TechRadar.com (you, of course, should always keep it open), I opened a canned Dolby Atmos demo and then, using some of the browser settings, switched to Theater mode, which popped the video out of the browser window. When I selected the dimming option, I could turn down the passthrough video until it fell into darkness. I also grabbed a little curve on the lower-left side of the window and made the screen massive. Now it was as if I was in a cavernous movie theater. It’s an effect I’ve seen done somewhat more dramatically on the Vision Pro, but it’s still quite effective here.

Game on

I spent the most time, though, inside Batman: Arkham Shadow, an excellent Batman first-person action and puzzle game that looks fantastic on the headset. Unlike my mixed-reality experiences, this is immersive and interactive. so, yes, I stood up to play.

I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve played this kind of game on a VR headset, so some of the movement made me a bit dizzy. I needed a minute to get my sea legs under me, and to remind myself that I could turn my head around to look, and didn’t always need to use the almost too-smooth remote to look around.

Soon I was walking through an abandoned factory space in search of opponents. I learned how to grab climb, fly with my cape, throw a batarang, and use a grappling gun. One of the coolest moments was when I was looking around and noticed my full Batman shadow on the ground. Ii could barely hold back from whispering earnestly, “I’m Batman”.

I spent way too much time playing, but eventually got stuck. For this, I blame myself, not the game or Quest 3S. I would’ve kept going, but the headset warned me I was low on power. It’s rated for a maximum of 2.5 hours of play, but your mileage will vary based on activity.

In this case, though, many others had been through similar demos before me, and the Quest 3S was just exhausted.

My brief hands-on was just a glimpse of what’s possible with the Meta Quest 3. It’s a home for gaming (it’ll ship bundled with not just the Batman game but a 3-month Quest Plus gaming membership). It’s a health and fitness wearable with support for workout games like Supernatural (that’ll get a sweat on) and Le Mills XR Bodycombat. There are also more chill-friendly health apps, like Headspace XR.

It’s an entertainment platform, with apps like Peacock and Youtube VR (you can watch Netflix, but only in a browser) and there’s now a Travel Mode, so you can use it and watch content while on an airplane.

This being Meta, it’s also a social tool. I didn’t get to try it out, but the Quest 3S supports Horizon Worlds, a social media platform where you can meet up with fellow Quest headset wearers and chat, play, and generally engage. 

Put another way, there’s a lot to explore both inside and out on this mixed-reality headset.

Meta Quest 3S: Performace

• Powerful new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset
• Average battery life of two hours and 30 minutes

Even in my all-too-short demo, I could see that the headset was ready to handle all these activities. That’s largely due to the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 chipset backed by 8GB of RAM – that’s the exact same chip you’ll find in the pricier Meta Quest 3. One area where Meta did skimp a bit is on base storage. You get just 128GB, where the Quest 3 starts with 512GB. If you want 256GB on the Quest 3S you’ll pay $399 / £379.99.

That’s what is key here: Meta has made few noticeable concessions to bring the price of its Quest line down to affordability for the masses. I know, $299.99 isn’t cheap, but it does look like an incredible bargain next to the Vision Pro and now-defunct Quest Pro. And if you’re comparing it to the $499.99 Quest 3 with its higher-resolution displays and slightly better hardware-based 3D object tracking, it still looks quite good.

I’m pretty sure that Meta has a very popular gift on its hands for Christmas and the holiday season.

Should you preorder the Meta Quest 3S?

The Meta Quest 3S is a near-perfect blend of mixed-reality value and performance. It’s not breaking any new ground in terms of AR/VR innovation, but it will easily meet or exceed expectations for image quality, control, fit, fun, and even utility. 

Even though the world’s attention has turned to AI, there is still a solid market for VR, especially among gamers. A $299.99 mixed-reality headset that does console-style gaming and so much more is just what the doctor ordered, and what I believe you’ll be ordering just in time for the holidays.

Also consider

• First previewed September 2024