Meta Quest 3S Shakes up VR lineup - Here's why it's a problem!

[@MyTechGearGaming]

⭐Meta Direct PURCHASE LINKS*⭐ (Use these links & get $30 Free!) #QuestAffiliate 🛒 Quest 3S: bit.ly/3TDrUmX 🛒 Quest 3: bit.ly/3TuCjS6 ⭐Amazon PURCHASE LINKS*⭐ 🛒 Quest 3S: amzn.to/3N0vvYB 🛒 Quest 3: amzn.to/3zGuTnW *I get a small commission if you purchase via these links. It costs you nothing extra but it's a great way to show your support for this channel. Thanks! 😊

[@JorgTheElder]

You are over complicating it. For some people, $300 vs $500 is the difference between having a Quest, and not having a Quest at all.

[@RADERFPV]

Very true

[@Mark-ns3jo]

Some people here are acting like Fresnel lenses are going to make people hate VR like the mobile ones, but everyone has been using them for years. I've not tried Pancake lenses, and I have no doubt they are better, but fresnel lenses are still acceptable.

[@Jawi43]

True

[@MatkaBoskaKrystaliczna]

​@@Mark-ns3jo if you haven't tried pancake lenses then the comment is pointless and you don't know what you're talking about... try them and then comment... try them once and you won't come back

[@Mark-ns3jo]

​@@MatkaBoskaKrystaliczna WHAT? It's not pointless, many of us still use frensel lenses and enjoy VR like we always have. I look forward to trying them but they aren't completely necessary. I have no intent on upgrading from my Quest 2 right now, and I'm glad there is a cheaper option for new users as the Quest 3's price tag is a lot higher than any of Oculus/Meta's other headsets (not including the Pro).

[@timmorgan6234]

In the end, this is about getting enough of the higher powered chip sets out there to induce companies to make better games that aren't held back by the last generation headsets. They have to get the higher performance chipset into headsets that the people that would have bought a Quest 2 will buy. I'm all for it. I've got a Quest 1, a Quest 2 and a Quest 3. I'll be buying the 3s to replace my Quest 2 for a second headset so I can play locally with friends that don't have a VR headset. Hell, I'd pre-order a Quest 4 today if it was an option. Not a fan of Meta, I deleted my Facebook account years ago, but these are really great VR headsets and I agree with their strategy.

[@toututu2993]

$300 = best budget $400 = worst value $500 = best value

[@gamethecupdog]

2:15 I only really care about light gaming and PCVR streaming, so the removal of the 128GB Q3 is pretty disappointing.

[@steffendetrick]

To say you can only fit 3 to 5 games on a base model Quest 3s really isn’t true. Less than 10% of Quest game are 20 to 30 GB the other 95% are about 5 GB- 10 GB. Your cherry picking numbers here. Most people are gonna play one maybe 2 AAA titles at a time and unfortunately we don’t get that many AAA titles which is honestly the bigger problem with VR in general more so than a headset with 128 GB. You also have to factor in the price of a new head strap with battery and one or two games, So what looks to be $400 actually ends up being about $600 when it’s all said and done.

[@MyTechGearGaming]

Yes you’ll be able to fit more games on if they take up less space. Problem is that as soon as someone gets a headset and asks which games to play everyone will say assassins creed, asgards wrath 2 and Batman Arkham shadow, and now that’s over half your storage gone already. Swapping games around is a deal breaker for some, not for others. I’d definitely recommend upgrading the headstrap and facial interface.

[@Eagledocstew]

As a person who hates Fresnel lenses and the rigid IPD, I thought I would never get the Quest 3S. But, in order to have another headset for someone else who wants to play I thought about getting the cheaper Quest 3-but with the 3S, I could use my Quest 2 Reloptix lenses and not have to buy a 2nd pair, the headstraps I already have fit the the 3S, and I could use the controllers to place accessories that negate the silicone covers. So instead of buying all new accessories, I can just have a cheaper 2nd Quest that can come in handy

[@steveholt]

I had the same thoughts on a 2nd headset. But I noticed that the price for a used 128 Q3 was the same as the 256 Q3s. I got one from facebook marketplace and its basically almost new, and I also had a spare bobo halo and interface from GC F3. Worked out great 🎉

[@dtz1000]

I managed to buy a second hand Quest 3 for the same price as a new Quest 3S. It's much better than a Quest 3S.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

As a 10 year old being raised by a single mom on a tight budget.

[@ChrisJones-sw9il]

Agreed

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

@@ChrisJones-sw9il it's cheaper than a game boy.... it's portable, it's cool, it can be multi player, and you can be a wizard with a talking skull and turn your bedroom into a space ship.

[@ChrisJones-sw9il]

@@michaelbrownlee9497 yeah man I agree 100….. nothing can beat it for the price!!

[@andrebillups4079]

You’d want the system with more memory because it last longer and you won’t need to upgrade again in another 3 years

[@storymode5327]

@@andrebillups4079 $

[@michaelzupkus392]

Never owned a vr before, so I'm very hesitant to drop 550$ (with tax) on something I'm not sure i would like... so my 3s is coming next week in the mail, and if it's good I'll buy the premium quest 4 next time 👍

[@MyTechGearGaming]

Sounds like a great plan! 😊

[@geertgietman]

Exactly what I’m doing too

[@MatkaBoskaKrystaliczna]

you can always buy it and you don't like it, you return it and get your money back... it's better to pay extra for pancake lenses than buy fresnel from a previous era

[@geertgietman]

@@MatkaBoskaKrystaliczna im trying to buy something to keep it, not to return it either way. Even if I don’t really like it I will still keep it because you never know

[@cuffia5189]

I am buying the 3s this christmas and then when a new meta vr comes out I'm buying the quest 3 becouse the price will be lower. I'm kinda broke btw

[@iNeverAskedForThis]

They're selling at a loss because they can make the money back by selling cables for a 100 bucks. Among other accessories.

[@tigerclaw4537]

It’s been about 3 weeks now since I upgraded from my Q2 to the Q3. Already I’m finding myself using the Q3 for much longer periods of time because of the improved resolution and lens clarity. If anyone can afford spending $299 for the Q3S, do yourself a favor and spend $200 more and get the Q3. I wouldn’t say this if the Q3S had the same resolution as the Q3, but it doesn’t. It’s the same resolution as the Q2 and my Q2 always left me wishing for sharper and more clear images. This isn’t to say that the Q3 is perfect. It’s not. It also has room for improvement in the clarity department, but you will find yourself enjoying the experience far better. To sum this all up…. $200 dollars more for improved lenses, max storage space and better resolution. That’s a boatload of improvement for such a small price.

[@PiggyGaming566]

thank you, i was planning on getting the quest 3s because i thought it would be a better resolution than quest 2 but after seeing your comment and actually searching it up, im just going to spend a bit more money and get the quest 3!

[@tigerclaw4537]

@@PiggyGaming566 Trust me, you will be glad you did brother.... Enjoy it!

[@jodroboxes]

@@PiggyGaming566 Good choice!

[@zacthegamer6145]

@@PiggyGaming566He’s wrong, games will be running in higher graphical settings and resolution. Neither Q2 or Q3 runs games at their respective native resolutions. I just got Q3 (512 GB) today and got a fully pimped Q2, I didn’t find the difference that much in terms of clarity, was heating up substantially more and had to pump brightness way up due to pancake lenses. Battery life suffers too. Q3S is a perfect entry level headset.

[@Solidluv3]

I like how it’s so simple for certain people to throw around $500 and then wonder why other people can’t just throw around $500

[@nsbd90now]

Yeah, I took this moment to upgrade from 2 to the 3 which arrives next week. The 64 gig in the Quest 2 got annoying rather quickly. The 3S seems like a good idea as a first headset, an extra one for guests, or for kids. Don't forget to include in the cost accessories. You're gonna want at least a replacement head strap.

[@viperjay1]

Yes omg stupid 64 gig version. I remember talking on the Reddit ( about 2 years ago) someone said that 64gig will be enough for most games.

[@timothylewis2527]

I think it makes sense for Meta. From what I understand, they actually sell their headsets at a financial loss and the original Quest 3 costs them much more than the Quest 3S. They're only selling the Quest 3 until the stock runs out. I literally had the $499 Quest 3 in my shopping cart at the Walmart website and the stock ran out. Then it came back at a higher price! 😂

[@inceptional]

I honest just don't think the Quest 3S is a good enough version of VR for where we're at now and feels like a step back that's only going to poison the well imo. I would rather they had only the Quest 3 and simply kept trying to find ways to make it cheaper and cheaper. And, in the future, I really think they should stick with two core models of Quest again, which is the "Quest 3" equivalent that most people can afford that they keep trying to make cheaper and cheaper, and the one that's like something pushing at the absolute limits of the tech for the people who are willing to shell out thousands for such things. And, sure, they can have a couple of different memory versions of that cheaper "Quest 3", but that's about as complex as it should be imo.

[@viperjay1]

Yes, I don't understand why they made the Quest 3s, when all those resources could of gone to the future Quest tech.

[@Badbigboy123]

@@viperjay1it probably didn’t take much resources considering that all the technology in it has already been developed for previous versions

[@araffaelegmw]

I think their pricing structure is very smart and a clever way to pay a little more and improve your storage and device as you step up. Personally I see the low £289/$299 entry model the sweet spot as it’s affordable especially as your getting a AAA game included. Also note when these have been out a while second hand models will be even cheaper increasing their reach even further.

[@araffaelegmw]

Making a quest 3 with less storage for the same price as quest 3s isn’t good business but using parts from both a quest 2 and quest 3 into a new device is smart and brings quest to a far bigger audience

[@dan_kitty_vr5107]

before they anounced these, i was saying they should should just go with 2 models, a $299 256gb q3s and a 512gb $499 q3..they will limit impulse app/game sales with limiting peoples storage space.. also haveing too many versions makes it more confusing for new consumers

[@robbieburns3564]

You're 100% correct. This was my first "huh, wha?" when I saw the lineup. The 3s also has that terrible mesh facial interface and a smaller battery as well as the lower resolution, pancake, depth sensor, slimmer size and IPD. The 3s is a significant "cut corners" version of the 3. Pancake lenses and res are amazing and worth the update alone. The only lineup that makes sense (now anyway) is a 256 3s for $299 and a 512 3 for $499. Metas lineup is ridiculous at the moment.

[@MyTechGearGaming]

The mesh facial interface is an extra that you have to pay for! The smaller battery lasts longer on the 3S than the larger battery on the 3 as the 3S doesn’t consume as much power. Yes, the 3S is a ‘cut corners 3. I mentioned in another video that the 3S is essentially the brains of the Quest 3 but with poorer eyesight! 😀

[@giraffebean]

@@MyTechGearGaming eyesight has never been a problem for me playing games. ive been fine with the quest 2's resolution since i got it, it seems useless to buy what seems like the same product for $200 more

[@JPWestmas]

300 verses 500 for a headset that is slightly better in every way? It does seem odd. Sometimes $200 is a big jump for some people I suppose.

[@aspieantics9817]

i can see the controversy behind the 3S - but for folks like me who dont plan on owning many games and also own a quest 1, this headset defo hits the sweetspot for me tbh

[@MyTechGearGaming]

The jump up from the original quest would be pretty big with games that make the most of the better hardware.

[@HeavyMetalBluegrass]

I think Meta is hoping with the price drop of the 3 it will entice current Quest 2 users to consider upgrading while at the same time catching the Christmas rush of parents who may be tempted by the lower entry level of the 3s.

[@MyTechGearGaming]

That’s a good point. Is there anyone reading this that has a quest 2? Are you going to upgrade? If so, which one are you going to get? Or do you think you’ll stick with the 2?

[@sidney1234usc]

Brought up some great points and we need answers to those questions. So with that being said since they did make the quest 3S why couldn't they at least get rid of the three-point IPD settings and allow us to have the same flexibility as the quest 3? Like if they wanted to keep the fresnel lenses that would have been fine but allowed me well allow people to more accurately set their IPD settings.

[@MyTechGearGaming]

It’s most likely a cost issue. It could also be a technical limitation with the fixed IPD settings as the 3S has a single LCD screen for both eyes whereas the Quest 3 has one for each eye. Who knows. I think if you’ve never tried VR before you’ll still be happy with a 3S.

[@sidney1234usc]

@@MyTechGearGaming Yeah I can see that being an issue but frankly I think they just repurposed the quest 2 to save on cost. My Pico 4 is my favorite headset I just hate the fact that it doesn't have a library like Meta

[@ilikestuff8218]

if you look at the complaints of people about Batman Arkham Shadow, the biggest one is that it's $500, the regular consumer for some reason still finds it expensive but of course given the choice Meta wants people to buy Quest 3 over the 3S but that's just not possible for most people so they have to make the $300 Quest 3S. what you see today is a compromise.

[@ilikestuff8218]

I'm guessing they can't lower the price of Quest 3 anymore. $500 is the lowest they can go.

[@viperjay1]

$300 is still expensive, making it $250 or $200 is a good deal. I know it wouldn't be for Meta but for the Consumer. I keep getting annoyed when people say $300 is a good deal or "cheap"

[@MyTechGearGaming]

@viperjay1 it’s cheap in relation to other tech. If you want mobile gaming you need a decent smart phone, or get a Nintendo switch, or a steam deck, all of which are a lot more expensive than the $299 Meta is asking for the 3S. So it’s cheap considering what you’re getting for the price.

[@Blix8]

I think Meta absolutely doesnt care which version of the Quest you buy, because they are not making any money on you on the hardware anyway. But I really hoped they had learned their lesson with the Q2 low user retention rate. When Q3 came out, with the pancake lenses and upgraded everyting, basically Quest Pro S, I was thinking they got it and are making it better so people want it, before making it cheap. But here comes the Q3S, basically a relaunched Q2 in 2024.. Oh well.

[@SargonDragon]

You have noticed that the pricing structure for Quest has nothing to do with cost of manufacture. Meta sells Quest below cost so the pricing is more or less arbitrarily whatever they want it to be. This is why there's such an enormous gap in price between Quest and any other headset. Competitors can't compete with a giant company which is simply willing to lose (a lot of) money. There's this assumption that it's like the console model where Meta offers hardware as a loss leader and expects to make its profit on software instead. But that was something that came out of very well established software support for consoles. Meta doesn't have that. Meta's motivation is to kick competitors out of the space and establish an Apple-like monopoly. Their focus is on getting as many new users as possible. They don't much care about existing users or making the experience better. They just want numbers. Big numbers. Meta is losing billions of dollars on buying control of the VR industry while it's small in order to be in control with no real competitors when VR gets big. That's the intended payoff. Their artificial pricing makes a lot more sense when you look at it with that context.

[@viperjay1]

I agree with you, but no matter which model you get, at one point you will still need to remove games to play others. Yes the 500gig will let you install more software but over time as the games get bigger. You will still need to do the game swap process . I am feeling the pain now I have the old 65gig Quest. Yes the Quest3 is better but the problem for me is I lost my job in 2022, and the Quest3s is all I can afford, probably be my last birthday gift. BTW I saw some where that Quest 4 is coming out in 2026.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

@@viperjay1 you need a windfall, a good stroke of luck....cut some grass, trim a hedge...get the 3 with 512.....it's only 200, have a garage sale, sell lemonade, go to a work placement agency. You can do it.

[@dtz1000]

Buy a second hand Quest 3 instead. I managed to find one for less than the cost of a new 3S.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

@@dtz1000 the new one beside being flawless and getting a box opening rush, comes with batman.

[@Devilkiller247]

Ya just use games optimiser apk and change the resolution to 4k win win

[@johnflores4427]

This reminds of the apple iphone pricing model

[@cugal1613]

I think I am annoyed….I bought my Q3 about a month ago……bah!

[@MyTechGearGaming]

Doh! I bought my Quest 3 at full price too.

[@tomc1380]

Pretty simple answer = If all you can afford and/or willing to spend on a VR headset is $299 then the Q3s/128Gb is the way to go. If you can easily afford to spend $499 then go for the Q3/512Gb. Really not all that hard, lol!

[@eb7027]

It is not about "afford" . It is about using the full potential of the device. The device is about immersion; not having the pancake lenses kills that immersion. The the things that were removed from the quest 3 to make a cheap quest 3s are not worth it. Games are now huge( so you will run out of space on the lower capacity devices. You lose the headphone jack also so you cannot use your own headphones. The quest 3s should have been called the quest 2 special edition (as it is not anywhere near the quest 3 with all the things that have been taken out)

[@tomc1380]

@@eb7027 I don’t disagree that the Q3/512Gb is the overall best choice. However, the Q3’s/128Gb is more affordable so might still be a good option for some VR newbies who can’t afford more than $299.

[@JAHDUBProductions]

​@tomc1380 I agree. I'm going to buy a 3s for a friend. They never had a headset before so they won't be mad that it's not a 3. They won't trip on the "downsides". I think they will appreciate a free VR headset. If they love it, they can upgrade.

[@dtz1000]

The simple answer is to buy a second hand Quest 3 128gb for about the same price as a new 3S.

[@MyTechGearGaming]

@eb7027 you can still use your own headphones. You’ll just need to use a USB-C adapter in order to use them now.