If you'd have told me five or ten years ago that we'd have decent VR gaming for under $300 I'd have scoffed, and yet here we are, with the Quest 3S costing less than $300. In fact, it's less than $300 for this 128 GB version even at MSRP, but with it now being $269 at Best Buy and Amazon it's at its lowest ever price and definitively under that $300 threshold (rather than just by $1, as it is at MSRP).
All of that would matter naught if it didn't also offer a great VR gaming experience, but it does. The long and short of it is that it's the best budget VR headset on the market right now.
The Meta Quest 3S essentially a mix between a Quest 3—this being the best overall VR headset—and the older Quest 2. It has the optics of the latter but all the processing might of the former, making for a great quality of life improvement without having to drop an extra $200+ on the Quest 3.
You're getting Meta's whole shabang, here, too, love it or hate it. That means inside-out tracking for a standalone gaming experience or the ability to connect to PC via Wi-Fi or USB-C instead, but it also means having to have a Meta (though not necessarily a Facebook) account and also being limited to games on the Meta store in standalone mode. But you can't expect much more for a headset in standalone mode.
On the game front it's worth mentioning that this deal also has you set up with 3 months of Meta Horizon+ for free, which is a service like Game Pass that gives you access to Meta store games. After that, it's a monthly or yearly subscription, though—or, of course, you can buy the games outright.
Another thing worth noting is that this is the 128 GB version. This amount of storage should be enough for most purposes, but if you want to keep a larger library of games installed for standalone play, it might be worth considering the 256 GB version which is $349 at Amazon. Although the closer you push towards $500 the more it's worth just dropping the extra on the Quest 3. And factor in that you might want to get an aftermarket strap for it, too.
For my money, it's all about the 128 GB version with this discount. Being able to enter into the VR gaming market for well under $300 is no joke when the experience on offer is so good. It might not have the latest pancake lenses, but I've used the Quest 2 which shares the same optics and can confirm it still offers a great VR experience. Combine that with the newer chip for smoother gaming and it's a very solid offering. Well worth a look if you're looking to get into VR gaming.
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