So first impressions of the Quest 3 from my initial setup and some light gameplay last night. First off…I’m comparing to my previous headset lineage:
OG Rift
Odyssey +
Reverb G2 Gen 1
Reverb G2 Gen 2
I’ve been very happy with the Reverb G2 - the only reason I’m “upgrading” is the lure of the pancake lenses with edge to edge clarity. That center sweet spot on the Reverb is wide enough…but I was curious what the Quest 3’s lenses look like. I took a risk on Facebook Marketplace last night after watching listings for the past couple of weeks. I found a Q3 128GB listed for $375 nearby - offered $300 and we settled on $325. I have to admit…this was my first FB Marketplace exchange that I was a little nervous about. The listing profile seemed a bit sketchy…but we agreed to meet at a Chik-Fil-A equidistant to us…a very public place and worst case I’d get some chicken strips and a milkshake. I always go into this Marketplace exchanges paranoid. I empty my wallet of everything except the cash, I park in an area where I can see all approaches to the car, I leave the cash in the car until I have evaluated the product. And I usually hire a reliable nearby parking lot attendant to keep an eye on things from afar…
Yeah.
Anyway. Exchange went perfect. I was buying a very lightly used Quest 3 and it came with the upgraded BoboVR M3 Pro headstrap/battery combo. When they guys said it was spotless I was skeptical…but he brought it charged and I was amazed…he was right…I’ll be the thing had only been used a handful of times (he indicated he had bought a Pico 4 instead. The Q3 was in a factory reset condition. I turned it on and checked the lenses for scratches and dead pixels. It was perfect. Perfect transaction. I took off my body armor and went home.
Actual photo of my new (used) Quest 3…
I was pretty excited. I unhooked my Reverb G2 and started the process of trying to figure out this Quest 3. I do not yet have a cable to hook it directly to the PC - I have one on the way…based on some reviews the INIU Oculus Link cable (capable of charging) seemed to be a good value/performance choice. 99% of my VR stuff is seated flight sims…so a cable is probably a good idea. BUT…more on that later.
First up…the fit and feel. I did not get to try the headset on without the BOBOVR strap and battery…so I have no idea how the original strap was…but I can imagine that the BOVOVR strap is much more plush…and the slight weight of the battery on the back probably balances the headset nicely. I tried it on and it was very comfortable and remained so for the next couple of hours. The face padding is fabric cushion and probably isn’t quite as comfortable as my old Odyssey + gel pad…that headset really sealed to my face well…but wasn’t as comfortable in balance as the Q3.
I turned on the unit and was met with the META VR setup process. I think I had read a mini-review by @smokinhole some time ago about his initial Quest experience and he said something along the lines of “the Oculus/Meta/Quest environment just works” or something to that effect (sorry if I butchered that). I couldn’t agree more. While I didn’t have many issues with WMR with my O+ and Reverbs…the Meta user interface, tutorials, and hand holding are just a really well thought out and pleasant experience. I was suitably impressed.
Since I was using the headset untethered…I was immediately impressed with the visual quality of the video pass-through. Most of the setup process happens in a mixed-reality space with windows hovering in your periphery and a tutorial helping you come to grips with the hand controllers and…kind of fun…using just your hands and fingers. It is pretty damn cool.
This is definitely the first headset where I could see actually just keeping it on sometimes when moving through the house to check on the status of cooking or answering a text on my phone. It isn’t perfectly clear…and there is a little bit of…I don’t know how to describe it…swimming of the image…but it is very, very good. And the pancake lenses are superb…you can move your eyes instead of your head and clarity is consistent. I could not detect any screen door effect.
I was really impressed with the playspace “guardian” mapping of the room. It feels very futuristic…well…I guess it is. It is pretty phenomenal. After a brief tutorial on how to do things like grabbing windows and pulling up setup menus the headset was essentially set up. I connected to my WiFi router during that process and the headset and hand controllers did some kind of auto-updating. Very hands free.
My home network is a stock Spectrum internet modem with a WiFi router. It is a WiFi 6E Router which I don’t know anything about…but probably should explore. I don’t know what speed it is set on. The documentation says it is capable of 2.4, 5, and 6GHz frequencies. My understanding is that the Quest 3 likes a robust WiFi speed to reduce compression. I guess it is worth mentioning I’m also still just running an RTX 2080 Ti…no real plans to upgrade that unless a money fairy comes along.
I knew from some previous reading that Virtual Desktop seems to be the go-to software for connecting to the PC from the Quest. So I did purchase that. It works great and is chock full of features that I’ll have to figure out. One thing I’m still a little fuzzy on is settings within Virtual Desktop AND Steam VR. I don’t know if they are multipliers or additive or exclusive. That was always something that also confused me with WMR and things like DCS World. Set pixel density to this…then Steam VR to this because X * Y = ZZZZ pixels divided by the square root of the square of your airspeed or something.
I ended up setting Steam VR to 2496 x 2592 (100%) - I don’t know if this is correct… And in Virtual Desktop I think I picked 72 Hz and like High quality or something…not Ultra or God or whatever that setting is. I need to play with it…
Whatever the case - the first game I opened was, of course, the best flight simulation ever made (I’ll stand by that statement) - VTOL VR. I haven’t really played VTOL VR since that major update that was made a few months back (probably many months back) that added clouds and the up-front controller for radio frequencies. I only just hopped in the AV-42C to get some initial impressions. Even over WiFi the performance was amazing and the visuals better than anything I’ve seen in any headset. The edge to edge clarity is legit. I don’t know how to keep the headset screens from turning off when I take the headset off…I was hoping to get some through the lens shots but couldn’t figure that out.
Anyway…not lens shots…but from the gameplay…VTOL VR continues to amaze me. And now I (we) have a custom Mudspike livery set that I paid a dude to make for us…
The hand controllers are superb…hand tracking seemed superb. It is nice not having the huge stargate portals flailing about that are part of the WMR design. It was REALLY nice not being tethered to my computer - I was able to sit on my bed and play…definitely more of a nifty feature than I had imagined.
Next I loaded up DCS. I did not mess with any of my graphics settings that I had set for my Reverb…but I’m sure some tweaking will be in order (again…this pixel density stuff…no idea…). I went to my old flame…the Ka-50 (version 3) and loaded up another terrain that I have never used…the Marianas one. I was plopped in a cold start in a grassy field. Gosh it was beautiful. The clarity of the Q3 is really, really good. I got a hiccup or two of stutter here and there…it seemed to go away as textures loaded I think. I had never used the Marianas map so there might have been some building going on or something…no idea…but it settled out after awhile. I’ll try to grab some FPS readings from OVR on my next session. I flew around in the Ka-50…beautiful with the grass and trees. Fantastic. I did a circuit of the island then came around and landed. God I love VR. From the Commodore 64 days this feels…so futuristic. After parking my Black Shark I loaded up Syria or PG or something with the long neglected JF-17. I keep forgetting how awesome that module is. I had to use a hot start since I don’t know a thing about it. Did a circuit in it…absolutely lovely. I did not notice any artifacting or anything over WiFi…no idea if I’m not seeing it or if I’m just marveling at the new lenses. I’m literally 3 feet from my WiFi router…so maybe that helps. Tonight I’ll walk around the house and see what the limitations are. I’m not sure what the advantage of the cable will be…other than continuous charging I guess?
Gotta run…more impressions later. So far I am absolutely floored by the value in $325. Probably my best headset purchase to date if everything holds true.
