For anyone using the Quest 3 for wireless PC VR, I'd urge you to buy Virtual Desktop. It will make a big difference to your experience. Check it out here: www.vrdesktop.net/

I agree with your thoughts Steve. I’ve been using Pico 4 which replaced my quest 2 last year. Quest 2 to Pico 4 is a much bigger visual jump than Pico 4 to quest 3 I would say. I do think q2 to q3 is a solid improvement.

you can drop the SteamVR setting to 70% and increase the headset and virtual Desktop using the new sharpening feature of the snap dragon option, max out sharpening, max out graphics card, max out transfer rate. It is very nice in both FPS, decreased lost milliseconds, speed, clarity of the lenses. It's a good budget headset.

First time commenting. I've been watching your videos for nearly a year learning about flight simulators, the software, and the VR headsets. I decided to buy the Quest 3 for my first VR headset with the understanding that I will eventually upgrade in the next three years. Whether this will be for the Quest 4, or a higher value system the future is wide-open. Much of my interest in VR has been a result of your great content. These purchases are expensive so trying to find the best value in a time of innovation can be nerve racking. So thank you for your content. If you wouldn't mind, and I think there are many out there who have waited for this product as the "first purchase" for VR headsets, would you consider doing a video for new users who want a MSFS based PC low end, medium, and high end (with the DOF simulator) set up to help us go from a good entry system that is scalable to a great system? I know you're busy so thank you for reading this message. And, thank you for great content and for getting many of us into the VR world. 💯

I got one and although I have not used as many headsets as you I broadly agree. However to say the G2 is sharper feels a bit misleading (I did have one of these), the centre of the G2 is very sharp but its spot is so very small and quality degrades a lot as soon as you are away from the centre. The Q3 is quite sharp but keeps it edge to edge which feels like a massive difference.

This is the review I was waiting on. I won't be moving to the Q3 from my pico 4 any day soon. I am wedded to inside out tracking, so looking forward to what Pico offers in 2024.

I work in VR so I've purchased the Quest 3 for mixed reality with full expression and body awareness for remote collaboration. The Aero is definitely my flight headset! :)

Cheers Steve for your honest review bought the Quest3 512GB and seems all ok but looks like got to confirm there are no dead pixels. thanks for the tip checking for dead pixels on a white background👍

Thank you for the honest and detailed review

Thank you for you honesty, that's what we need

Would love to see the differences between Air Link and wired Link

Speaking as someone who's very experienced with video encoding, AV1 is optimized mainly for web video. At very high bitrates like those you'd want to use for VR, AV1, HEVC, and even H264 actually become very similar in terms of perceived quality versus bitrate. One thing that does make a huge difference though is encoding parameters, specifically 10-bit color. This greatly alleviates compression artifacts, especially in dark tones. I only have a 3080 so I can only say for sure there's an option for 10-bit HEVC , I don't know if it's available for AV1 (or maybe it's even on by default for that codec). There might be other benefits to AV1, It's still possible for example that a 4090 can encode AV1 with a little less latency than HEVC. I haven't tested that.

I just came from the Quest 2 and Reverb G2 to a Quest 3. I have been using the Quest 2 mostly for wireless PCVR and Reverb G2 for wired sim games like car racing and MSFS2020. Honestly it cannot be understated how amazing the lenses on the Q3 are. I was struggling to find the right sweet spot with both the Q2 and Reverb G2. They never looked perfect and were very sensitive to head position. Now I honestly have edge to edge clarity. That alone is worth the upgrade. I don't think the Q3 is less sharp than the G2 to be honest so I disagree there. Only you decide what is the best for you, but the Quest 3 is an absolute game changer when it comes to optics.

Wonderful open and honest review Steve. I can feel the dissapointment in your voice, it brings back memories of the Reverb G2 getting my head around how both the eyebox and edge to edge clarity could be so bad, but over the coming days and weeks I began to appreciate what the headset was good at. I'm sure it will be the same for the Quest 3, and if the screendoor isn't that noticible once you're immersed in a flight, then I'm sure it will be ok and I'll learn to again use my eyes more naturally around the cockpit which will be nice. My Quest 3 arrives at the weekend, so I'll let you know how I get on! 👌

Spitting the truth. Thanks mate! ❤ Also for being the accidental guinea pig, pointing out the issues in quality control and stark differences between the same product (same as with Quest 2 btw)

Very strange that you can see sceendoor effect on Q3. I got mine yesterday so quick comparison with G2. I notice screendoor on my G2 in bright scenes, but I can't see "the grid" on Q3 when used via USB cable (using meta quest link) and SS to 150% native res in steamvr and 72 hz and 1200 mbit/s bit rate in Meta settings. I'd say the image quality is very close to G2 in the center, but with edge to edge clarity, no godrays and noticably larger FOV (I use modded gasket on G2) it blows G2 out of the water at least for me.

The first objective and honest review on youtube.Respect!👍You saved my 620EU.!

Thanks for the honest review. I bought the Pico 4 based on your recommendations and love it.

It does look really really nice. I agree. Like it more than current aspherical HMDs available.

I upgraded from an Odyssey+ and it's definitely much noticeably better than that, but I'm not as blown away as some reviewers were who had experience with similar headsets. Everyone who says there's no screendoor effect is only kidding themselves, because it is there, but slightly less than the O+. Even still, I'm not disappointed since it's still nice to be able to go wireless or even wired with a much less bulky wire, and the screens are way nicer.

Great vid, thanks! I’ve chosen to upgrade from Q2 to Q3, partly for the novelty of the ‘mixed’ features but mainly because of the pancakes. I couldn’t justify Pico or the heavy hitters because I only have 10th i5 and an RTX3070. Super pleased so far with the Q3 in racing sims but clearly needs sim optimisation to get better results in msfs. Gonna try VDesktop later today as a start point. Thanks again. Nath

Always after the dust settles, the reviews become more realistic. Which is great but I guess there's some options, you can still change within the quest device like I did in my quest 2, so the resolution of my quest 2 is amazing now. extremely great clarity, and fast. Would I upgrade to the quest 3 from the quest 2. Maybe, but when the price comes down. I run 90 mhz, WiFi 6 Virtual Desktop setup, and its super 👌. Love how I can get up out of the plane, an walk around. Great experience with bush planes.

I tried and i must say i also get some mura. I do find it better than the reverb though coz of the lenses. The lensesare truly excellent. These lenses need to be paired with a super high resolution panel

I tried mine last night and it was amazing.

Great first impressions video. Fair comparisons.

Finally a realistic down to earth review! Definitely agree there was a lot of echo hyping going on in most of the review videos so far.

Very useful comparison. Thanks

Finally someone agrees about sde... it was there as soon as i saw the battery charging screen... plus the angled screens which means horizontal lines being dotty. Thanks for honesty. Certainly a step up from q2 for clarity no doubt, that with pass though is enough to justify it for me thankfully. I would also hope increasing bitrate can help with muddy road texture in ACC. Great content.

What bitrate are you using, and why would you use airlink over wired link if you are after maximum quality? Just curious, good input otherwise :)

A lot of these headsets are pretty good now if you can get them dialed in just right. The Pico 4 running Virtual Desktop/Steam and OpenXR Toolkit is quite stunning in DCS if you can run a 4090 to drive all that. An excellent value at $400. G2 and Pico4 and now this Quest 3 are some good options right now under $500

thanks for being honest! after your review i'm sticking with the quest 2 for now. either gunna wait for the quest 4 or save up for a big screen

Great review,Steve. Thanks 👍👍👍

Thanks for the review.

Hey buddy. Brilliant and honest video. Thank you very much and take care. 👍

Thank you for your earnest assessment. I have a Quest Pro and had been curious to try the Quest 3 due to all the hype on the internet with even some suggesting that the Quest 3 was an upgrade from the Quest Pro. I purchased a Quest 3 and the comparison is complicated when it comes to the Quest Pro. Overall, I prefer the Quest Pro's image quality over the Quest 3.

One setting which has transformed the realism on my quest 3 is cubemap reflections. Had it at 64, but bumped it to 256. And holy cow the clouds, the ground, buildings, water waves, buildings look almost true to life. It almost made me cry... I also changed the colour gains in openxr but left the image post processing at default. I also recommend keeping the quest 2 display brightness to 96%.

thanks. Can you clearly see the text on the cockpit when sitting in a normal pilot's position, without moving your head closer to the cockpit?

Getting the pico 4 is like getting a v6 mustang vs v8

Great review, answered my question to stick with my Reverb G2. I'm still waiting for a headset to check all the boxes though. The Reverb's issues are small sweet spot, controllers aren't great, the cable is weak and expensive to replace, WMR reliance. But it checks all my other boxes, image clarity, inside out tracking (I can't stand base stations), no mura, no screen door, works great with most games despite WMR. I'm really holding out for a headset that checks at least all of these positives, better controllers, and edge to edge clarity improvements and I'll be set.

I was this >< close to pulling the trigger, but not so much now. I find SDE quite distracting and other KZfaqrs say it is gone with the Q3, so thank you for calling that out.

Not sure why…. But DCS is night and day when compared to FS2020 in terms of graphics clarity while in VR. Something is not implemented correctly in FS2020. I’d recommend you take a second look at the Quest 3 using DCS as your source.

im going from the quest 2 so im thnking this is going to be a big upgrade for me

I got best results when i put the straps so it doesn't wrap the back of your head but more the top of your dome where you would put a yamaka. helps position the lenses with your eyes. Use Link cable to desktop. Also in the oculus desktop app you must change the resolution from 75 htz to 90 htz and up the resolution to really get rid of that screen door you call it.

Any chance hand tracking with quest3 MSFS?

Thanks for the review but also not something applicable for most of us who still run more modest graphics such as 3070 for example. I expect a decent improvement over my G2 in such configuration. Also the passthrough seems like a real advantage when doing flight sim... Being able to check phone and other screen information during a vr flight seems way easier that way.... Time will tell. Should receive my q3 128 later today.

One difference in perception amongst reviewers is going to be whether or not their personal IPD was within the Quest 2's settings of 58mm, 63mm, or 68mm. Given that Quest 3 now supports full variable IPD, users that have an IPD that previously fell between the Quest 2 presets should benefit more than those that matched the Quest 2 presets exactly.

Can you use mixed reality to put your home cockpit into the sim...and see it whilst flying? That's what I would get it for..

I use a Pico 4 mainly for PCVR. The ability of the Q3 to use the AV1 codec has me curious. How does AV1 compare to HEVC in terms of latency/image quality in VD?

Got mine yesterday, launch day and did some initial and quick testing. I enjoy it, but as you noticed I feel some of the hype was overblown. Example, I like the color pass through camera, it's better than the B&W smudge vision of the Q2. But it's not like looking through glass. I sure couldn't read my phone as others said they could? Overall, I'd right now call this a Quest 2.5. (I do love the slim design!) I'm glad I have it, I'll keep playing with it. I might feel better as I really test it on updated games that take advantage of the new added power. That will be over a few months. I'm probably missing some subtle improvements and once I sit down and swap between my Q2 and Q3 maybe I'll appreciate it much more. Plus, I want to see some good mixed reality games. Thank for your first impressions here. I feel you were completely spot on and fair with your thoughts.

It feels like you're not making use of the Quest 3's higher decoding limit for h.265 than the Pico 4's. The XR2 Gen 2 features a massive increase of 33% in encoding power, meaning there ought to be noticeably less compression artifacts for any given resolution. Also, are you using AV1-10bit encoding?

Spot-on review which exactly what I was waiting for (not that I would ever buy a FB product). There are a lot of Facebook fans and people who were given the headset for free, so I would take their review with a pinch of salt. Not sure who it is meant for other than mainstream VR users who don't have a PC. It is almost a console version of VR *or* a mobile phone on 3D spacial steroids . This is by no means a next-gen VR (more of a shy upgrade from its predecessor). Most features other than pancake lenses are last-gen from LCD panels, lack of foveated rendering, and inferior insideout tracking..Heck, even the resolution 100px shy off the HP Reverb G2's *update* Wait what?! I just heard the last bit of the review (no display port).. Pico 5 will crush this without any doubt

Watched some reviews, and have not seen anything negative about this set so far. Im not even a big vr user but i'd consider getting one, my rift S is well due an upgrade. :)

Hi guys I was wondering what the easiest way to watch my gopro .360 files on a quest to re-experience my videos in VR?

Just got my Q3 today, and I haven't tried it with virtual desktop yet, as I'm still using my G2V2 for that (just got a new cable for it since the old one sems to have a break in it after I rolled my chair over for the gazillonth time.. managing my cables a bit better now! I mainly bought the Q3 to play whatever games come out for it which tickle my fancy, and just for the general upgrade from Quest 2. I also have Pico 4 which I also love, It does have a duller scren though, I feel, or maybe it's the pancake lenses it uses that makes things look duller. Pico 4 also still has more glare than Q3, which has virtually none. Pico 4 still looks awesome, but I thik the Q3 really has the edge with the brigtness/contrast and the lack of glare. And of course Q3 has the new gen 2 chip which allows for more detailed 3d graphics. I just played Red Matter 2 and Hubris, and they look awesome.. quite unbelievable for a standalone headset really. The mixed reality stuff is really something too.. you just have to experience that. My main gripe is with the comfort. I guess a proper strap was too much of an ask with all the upgrades that are in there already, and all the peripherals are where they seem to make their money. I noticed that I have to pay 50 euros for two little handstraps that attach to your controllers.. that's insane.. lol. Better wait for the third party stuff then :) Anyway can't wait to see what else is coming out for the Q3. It may be able to run a little flight sim itself! Didn't xplane run on mobile gear as well? This may be something for them to tap into! We'll see!

A very good and balanced review of the headset 👍👏

Thanks for the review. Quick question if i may, I upgraded from Q2 to the Q3 i have the steam version of msfs i dont use steam VR. Should i be using steam Vr , will it be better than quest link?

I’ve just switched from the pico 4 to this. I also agree that there isn’t much difference however edge to edge clarity is better. The pico 4 is still very good. I didn’t think there was much difference with the FOV tbh. I am however happier with the quest store and of course the mixed reality. So it’s a personal thing but for me I’m happy overall with the quest 3. I’ve not noticed any screen door effect so far either. I had the reverb g2 before the pico 4 and although brilliant I still prefer this due to the tiny sweet spot. I preferred my pico 4 over that too. Tbh I’d be happy with any of the 3 but I think the quest 3 is a better all round headset.

I have a physical simpit and I'm wondering if you can set up fixed portals into the real world for access to controllers and additional screens.

Thanks for clear feedbacks… My g2 was broken, I’m without any vr headset.. with your comments : I dont know if I should by the quest 3 or still going back to the g2 😣 I was expecting a good improvement compare of the g2 in the middle range ..

This is really an honest review of Quest 3. I am especially interested in the Mount Otemanu in your video. It's so beautiful. Is it built-in scenery, or a commercial addon?

Will the link cable make a difference? Perhaps you can try that as well.

Saving up for Quest 3

Thanks for the great impressions! I bought my Reverb G2 at your recommend, and now I'm going to pass on the Q3 for the same reason.

If PC is connected to router via Ethernet, and I if I connect the Quest 3 or Pico 4 to WiFi, will it work with MSFS? I am used to use quest 2 with USB 3.0 cable. I heard Pico software is not as good as quest for PC connectivity. what are your thoughts? I need minimal lag between PC and Headset! Thanks

Ty for the honesty we needed. I wish big screen had a better fov. My dream headset is oled plus the resolution, sweet spot, and fov needed for full immersion. In terms of settings and config, would you recommend steam and virtual desktop over openxr for the Quest2? I’ve got a 3080 and started on Vd but airline and openxr replaced that for me. Especially with the ability to do overlays without a performance hit.

I'm mind blowing with the clarity of the Q3, it is super sharp around 90% of my fov is crystal clear, compared to the pico 4 that give me 50% fov of sharp image, for me the q3 is the true winner, the only thing q3 is worst than pico 4 is the original head strap out the box. Q3 is a true next gen Vr experience

Thanks for the review. Is there anything else at the same price point that you would recommend? I was set on a used Reverb G2 but with the phasing out of windows mixed reality, I feel like the Quest 3 is the solid option.

Love my quest3. Works perfect for me in MSFS. and better than the warping mess that is the Pico4 !!... I dont see any screen door on the Q3 and its just the right clarity. Any clearer or sharper then it will look too digital and fake. Just saying. :)

Im mean is it over hypered or just different biology and people using it for different things? Like I almost never notice screen door effect on my Rift CV1 out of the stock void while aperantly otgher people see it so nbad it makes them sick... So m I over hyping the rift CV1 by saying what I expernice?

Thank you for this objective review.

I have a whole fleet of headsets...(kind of sad really) and have settled into the Aero and Crystal for all of my PCVR needs, though I am of course waiting eagerly for my Bigscreen Beyond to arrive. The plan is to get the Quest 3 strictly for Standalone use for exercise games and to take on the road when I'm travelling. Here's the thing...I hear rumor there is a WiFi 6 module in development for the Beyond, and if that's true - that will change everything! (please be true!). I know there is a WiFi module coming for the Crystal but having the form factor of the Beyond for wireless play would be something of a dream come true.

How about comparing it to Big Screen Beyond? Witybthe different tilted displays, FOV, resolution, Hz etc. What do you prefer. I know one is much more expensive, but if you find them equally good. Then I guess Quest 3 would be a better purchase.

I'm going to pick one up used just like I did with my quest 2 when the kids who get them for Christmas get board with it.

my quest 3 is darker in the corners, do you have that as well? and indeed, aliasing problems and screendooreffect. The facial interface is painfull

Hi thanks for the review, i have a question using the Quest 3 wiyh usb-c cable the image quality will increase? Thanks

I like mine, but for flight sim I use my crystal personally. I have this for everything except sim racing and flight sims.

My Rift S died about a year ago and I was waiting for a quest 3...but I decided to just buy another Rift S on ebay. Having already used one for a long period, I already know I will like it, and there is no telling if I'd actually like the Quest 3 or not.

It's worth comparing the Quest 3 and Bigscreen Beyond because a lot of fanboys are latching on to the glare problem and saying the Quest 3 is better because of the lenses.

Hah, my impressions were exactly the same bit by bit, including phone pairing issues! I thought it would be an easy choice to switch from the Pico4 but now that I've tested it, I think I'll return it and keep the Pico. They made a horrible choice with tilting the displays and now the subpixel array sticks out and I can't unsee it. Even better VD bitrates don't compensate for it, Pico just looks better. Big diff in FoV and sound though.

Will the quest 3 work on Microsoft Store version instead of steam? I have the Microsoft store version. I will be using as a PC VR plugged in with a USB C.

So If I don’t own VR glasses what do I go for ? Pico 4 or quest 3 ? Thank you

i have basestations and index, should i use this for pcvr? or buy beyond

What's it like flying at night? how good are the blacks? Are seeing a grey screen door effect?

I got the quest3 for Christmas. Now, I don’t really have a comparison being new to VR. Use mine with DCS and am thrilled to death with it. Would like you to try it in DCS and get your impressions, and any tweaking tips

Thank you for this review! Would it be possible to have a msfs review using 4070 and the vr link cable?

What about controller tracking/passthrough in VR? Does that work out of the box?

Are you not connected with cable?

Hoping this might get to you. I have a 4090 and a reverb g2 v2. I like using pcvr. The quest 3 i just got and have been wondering about in game rendering on msfs vs steam vr. I have steam vr set to 200% and in game set to native on the quest. Seems to be the best so far. Any input on the differences between the resolutions? Thank you Ed

Can you use the handtracking and MR in MSFS and DCS? As you really should be able to if not Meta really dropped the ball...

The biggest question for me is: Is it worth it to change my Reverb G2 as I have a RTX3080? Or the Varjo Aero is a better option? But more expensive... But the Pico 4 can also be a cheaper alternative but in a PC VR use, I know that I would have to downgrade graphics as it is not a PC VR native headset.. What do you recommend? Thanks in advance.

Heres another thing people are acting like it doesn't have. I tried hand tracking in alot of games its pinpoint hand tracking i tested hand tracking even in vrchat all day yesterday i can move my character without any controllers that and its full finger tracking pinpoint accuracy i was very impressed on the hand tracking its leagues better then the quest 2 and even quest pro which people are not talking about

I would have preferred you tested with the link cable. basing the test over VD/airlink, wifi, even wifi 6 has instability.

Thanks for the review, looks like it still to early to go back to VR. Let's see what the future brings.

Only thing I want to know! How is it in flight sim?

Can you still use the quest 2 link cables with a quest 3?

Does anyone know where I can find a visual picture of the limits of USB C vs. DisplayPort on VR headsets? I hear there is encoding and decoding via USB C which can lead to visual issues but I don’t know what they look like. I am going to test a Quest 3 next week and have a Big Screen Beyond coming at the end of the year so I would like to compare.

Hello. I've got an issue, unable to use meta yoke, what's going on. I checked on command menu and i have "?".

So I use the index and controllers and for some reason when I hit evaluation button it keeps auto completing for me I don’t want it to do this why is it doing that

how is it comparing with quest pro in terms of dcs ? I have a pro and still deciding if i should get the quest 3

Thank you so much for this review because up to it, I was thinking I was going crazy. Yesterday I tried a Quest 3 demo at Best Buy (a recorded mix of AR and floating 2D window games including AW2). I agree with you on everything you said especially as a Reverb G2 and Crystal user. I was surprised to see a screen door on Quest 3 that is nearly invisible on the G2, which is a shame given its resolution. Since it was a standalone demo, I wondered if the screen door is not there in PCVR, but is sounds like it is still there. However, I also agree Quest 3 is an upgrade over Quest 2. I will probably pick up Quest 3 for my Try My Tech demo, travel, and when I need wireless, but otherwise I agree that The Crystal is in a different class altogether.