If you’ve been waiting to make the jump to VR, now might be a good time. The Meta Quest 3S is being discounted at major retailers for the holiday season. Over at Best Buy, you can get up to $70 in savings and a free $50 Best Buy e-gift card with select Meta Quest 3S units. The 256GB model is available for $329.99 plus a free $50 e-gift card, while the 128GB model that includes The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is priced at $249 with a free $50 e-gift card.
If you prefer Amazon, the Meta Quest 3S 256GB is $329 there with a $49.01 Amazon credit. Amazon is also including Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is not on the Best Buy listing. From my prior experience with picking up a Meta Quest 3, you’ll have to contact Meta Support anyway to get the game. No promises, but there’s a chance you can still get it with a Best Buy purchase. The standard 128GB model doesn’t seem to have a discount at this time on Amazon.
The Meta Quest 3S is the more affordable of the VR headsets in Meta’s current lineup. It features LCD displays with a 1832 x 1920 resolution per eye and a refresh rate up to 120Hz. The headset is powered by a Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor and offers up to 2.5 hours of battery life. The bigger downside of the Meta Quest 3S compared to the Meta Quest 3 is its use of Fresnel lenses. The more expensive Meta Quest 3 uses pancake lenses, which make it much easier to stay in the sweet spot in VR.
Having used the PlayStation VR2 extensively, which has Fresnel lenses, I found swapping to the Meta Quest 3 to be a noticeable improvement. The pancake lenses are much more comfortable on the eyes and keep the immersion because everything looks sharp and clear. Unfortunately, there aren’t any discounts on the Meta Quest 3 right now.
For $329.99, though, the Meta Quest 3S is a great deal if you’ve been interested in checking out VR. I’m assuming the comfort on the Meta Quest 3S is comparable to the Meta Quest 3, but I’d still recommend a kit from Globular Cluster. I have them for both the PlayStation VR2 and the Meta Quest 3, and they make longer sessions significantly more comfortable.
