Meta Quest 3

I have been spending the last few months with the Quest 3. I was severely disappointed by the Valve Index and the Quest 2 when those came out, so I had essentially given up on VR since then. While UEVR peaked my interest in VR again, on its own it wasn't enough for me to consider trying another headset. But as things turned out a side project of mine might benefit from a bit virtual or augmented reality – the idea is sound, so it is worth exploring. Hard to do without a headset though, so here we are.

I am still not a fan of Meta, but their headsets were recommended by people I trust and who also are not necessarily in favour of giving Meta more business or data. So there has to be something about the hardware.

Compared to the Quest 2

There were a few reasons why I returned the Quest 2:

• The display resolution did not feel high enough to be enjoyable for long sessions.
• The controllers did not have the same feel like Valves. Individual finger tracking in Half Life Alyx is so good.
• There simply were not enough games and no personal project, so I had no real incentive to invest in making it a better experience.

The good news with the Quest 3 is the displays are pretty good – at least in VR. Using passthrough for AR is just a horrible pixel show. I can kind of read what is on my screen, but barely and only with some effort. Using the browser in VR is a far better experience (not good enough for a long browsing session), so I assume this is a problem with the cameras.

The controllers have two finger tracking, which is irritating. From what I can tell the Valve controllers still are the standard to measure controllers on in this regard. Seeing only two fingers grip something is actually irritating enough that it is not fun to use. Pressing a button feels more natural.

Hardware and Software

I do not think that the hardware is anything to focus on at this point. Others have reviewed and talked about differences and similarities. So I will focus on the most interesting things to me personally while using it. But I will say that the hardware is really good for the price. I would not spend double to get the Index. The "upgrade" is in my opinion not worth the money, and having to deal with base stations is just annoying.

The Zeiss lenses are great! I did not expect them to make such a big difference as my eyesight is not that bad, but they are worth every cent. Adjusting the pupil distance with the hardware wheel is a bit annoying. But with the on screen display of the distance and any of the 500 iPhone apps to measure the distance between your pupils it is easy enough.

The speakers are decent. They leak sound, so you might want to use a headset if you have people around or if you are playing a game where directional sound is important. But the sound quality is nothing to complain about considering these are built in speakers.

Oculus Link - streaming a game from your PC to the headset - works well with WiFi but the image quality suffers a bit. (No, it is not the WiFi and another "VR router" will not solve the problem.) A 5m long USB-C cable does the trick and with AR passthrough it is easy to plugin while already wearing the headset. But it is not enough to keep the headset charged. It will drain its battery in use, even with a USB-C power delivery port being used (it might be an issue with the cable, yay for USB-C "standards"). There are cables allowing to connect an external power source as well, but I did not have a chance to try one yet.

The headset works well with SteamVR. Exiting a game drops you into the SteamVR experience and not back to AR or the Oculus VR home you can configure, which is a bit annoying.

Overall the onboarding and the software are all good. I do not know how to describe it in any other way. Apps and settings simply do what they are supposed to do. Something I do not take for granted. But some are also very barebones. The video player for example allows you to play, pause and skip 10s ahead or back. That is it. No jump to time, shuffle a playlist or any other features you might take for granted from a video player developed after 1995.

The desktop software is slightly annoying. Not having it auto-start means something might go wrong enough that you will have to reboot your computer. Having it auto-start means you will see the Oculus window on every boot. Meta, just start the system services when launching the app if they are not activated. It is not that hard.

Accessories

I was shopping for work, so I wanted to make sure I got everything that makes the experience as good and comfortable as possible.

I got the Elite Strap, which is a big difference in comfort when wearing the headset for more than an hour. Installing it was unexpectedly hard. Getting the strap that goes over your head in the small latch and bending it around the little plastic piece felt like I will break something. In the end and after watching the video tutorial (twice, because it made it look so much easier than it actually was), I was still successful.

As battery powered devices are usually not charged when you need them I also got the charging dock. Such a good idea, such a flawed design. The controllers work really well. Swap the batteries for the included ones, put them on the dock and you are done. The headset on the other hand has one big problem. Namely the Elite Strap. The strap is too heavy on the back and lifts the headset off the dock. Simply solution? Put a Logitech travel keyboard under it. Or something of similar height if you do not happen to have exactly this keyboard.

Three months in

I am extremely pleased with the hardware and the software and I think the price point is right where it should be for what you get. Sure, you can get better headsets. You can get better controllers. I am not sure you can get better software. But at the given price point the whole package checks out. If you can live with giving Meta some business I think this is the one to go with right now.

Without a major, game-changing upgrade it might even be the one to pick when the new generation is released, which should bring the overall quality and features of the Index down to the current price of the Quest 3.