One of the things that really struck me coming from the Reverb G2 was that the hand controllers are a lot less cumbersome without the halo rings, and the range of motion where they still are properly tracked vs where you are looking is a lot greater. VTOL-VR became so much better with the Quest 3 because I no longer needed to look in the general direction of the throttle to move it.
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The Q3 struck me as a generational leap over the Reverb G2. I’ve gone 100% wireless with VD, as for my system it’s smoother than using the cable, and being untethered even when sitting/flight simming is amazing; checking six and stuff without any cables is just awesome. The tracking is far better, and the Meta infastructure works really well; it’s a mature product as opposed to WMR.
I got one of those big battery packs, stick it in my pocket and use a USB-C to connect if if my session will be longer than an hour or two. Basically can play for far longer than I ever would (4+ hours) on a charge at that point.
I’m probably the only individual on the planet that found the Q3 to be comfortable in stock form, so I haven’t invested in any different straps or headgear. I can see how it might be improved, but haven’t had any discomfort yet, and enjoy it folding up compactly to fit into the travel case I got for it.
Standalone games are more impressive than I expected, and Ghosts of Tabor or Into the Radius work nearly equally well on standalone vs PC. If you buy on the Meta store you get access to both versions, which is worthwhile to me as I’ll take the Q3 on the road sometimes without the PC/WiFi router infastructure to support linked play. I wish there was a Q3 standalone version of VTOL VR as that would be incredible, and the graphics should allow it to run well, theoretically.
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I agree…one of my biggest wants for this headset…
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@BeachAV8R I don’t think XP12 is significantly more demanding than XP11*. Like with XP11, with XP12 I use the Oculus Diagnostic Tool to lock FPS at 30 and have found this to stabilize the sim in heavy areas like JFK. I also think you’d enjoy the VSKYLABS SR-71. Finally, the stock Robinson R-22 in XP-12 is the most accurately modeled flying machine of any in any sim that I have also flown in life.
*@NEVO would disagree. He struggled with XP12. Sorta like me with MSFS. I find it unplayable in VR. It’s not a slideshow, it’s thumbing through an old photo album! Yet, @PaulRix and others have no issues at all. The vagaries of VR I guess. YRMV!
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This sums up my take on the Q3 really well. Glad to see you’ve got one, I know you’ll enjoy it. Check out some of the other VR experiences beyond flight sims too, many of them are really incredible gaming experiences, even more once ‘untethered’. I could never imagine playing something like Lone Echo with a corded set, glad I didn’t try it until I was a Q3 owner.
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Wow. I have a pool table in my house…!! This mixed reality stuff is stupidly fun. No tethers…and the tricks it plays on your head. I mean…I’m walking AROUND a pool table that doesn’t exist because I’m worried I’ll bump into it. The first time I took a shot I actually tried to lean on it. 
Good grief…if I have a beer I’ll probably try to put it down on the edge while I’m shooting. Then I fired up a single player game against the computer and some dude was in my room with me. Creepy AF. And I guess you can play with real players too. The scary social aspects of this is hilarious and scary… It looks so good too! The table…the sounds…the reflections on the balls. I’m just…blown away by it to be honest.
And now it’s 3AM. I need a mixed reality bed apparently.
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We need to test this!
Go to a pool hall and superimpose the virtual pool table onto the real one and set the balls up so they match and start playing… If the balls behave the same way, we’ve proven that…
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I’m looking forward to the Aliens game that is due to release on the Quest 3 here soon. I’m also tempted to get the Quest 3 Homeworld game.
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Sorry to post a fb video link here, but it’s not available elswhere…
This is a SAAB SK 60 cockpit using mixed reality and a Quest3.
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It really isn’t hard to imagine the practical applications of mixed reality once the form factor gets down to something really useful (as in…the size of eyeglasses). A mixed reality cockpit with all of the actual cockpit controls visible using the pass-through…but outside of the window a toggleable MR world. So you are IFR down to WOXOF and you are going to shoot an instrument approach…but you hit the button and you get basically a VFR view from the cockpit. Even better than the synthetic vision of our instrument panels. Point to an airport…a little box pops up with frequencies and information. Other traffic would be displayed. All in realtime as you move your head around. It’ll happen.
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We could all be flying our airplanes remotely from our sim pits by then though! 
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I think there is no rush. I still enjoy my XP11 install.
and as @smokinhole mentioned I am not that happy about the XP12 performance. at this point multi-threading is the only way forward imo.
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agree here.
despite me being really excited about this tech I am somehow struggling to convince myself that VR is the way. I am still the big-screen fan.
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… but having big-screen directly on the nose can be convenient though …
That surprises me with you being a Helicopter pilot. Of all the flying contraptions we simulate, helicopters benefit the most from VR IMHO. Of course, I am not a helicopter pilot, so I could be wrong (it happened once ).
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I agree. Not to talk anyone out of their opinion on it…but the spatial accuracy of VR was first demonstrated to me a few years back when I first got my OG Rift and fired up DCS for that first time. The ability to place the Ka-50 exactly where I wanted just seemed so intuitive in VR. The same thing in VTOL VR…it just has a precision of movement I’ve never found in 2D. BUT…I will say the resolution in 2D is just quite a bit better. When you take off the headset and look at how crisp a monitor is…it is pretty different.
I think what has most impressed me about the Q3 so far is that it has made me rethinking how gimmicky I thought mixed reality was. I’m starting to see the utility of it for sure. It all has to do with the quality of the pass-through…and the rather thoughtful ease of use that Meta provides (like the ease of mapping a room). It is a big leap over WMR in terms of both hardware and software.
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I like being able to give the headset a double tap to enter pass through mode, reach across to my side table to grab my drink, take a sip and put it back on it’s coaster, and then double tap back into the sim.
Have you tried Half Life Alyx yet with the Q3? Being untethered is a complete game changer.
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Definitely been one of my favorite features too…
So I just plugged the headset into my computer using my new Iniu link cable. Am I correct in saying that when the headset is using the hardwire link…you are brought into a different environment than when you are using WiFi? Because I was. I was also prompted to install the Oculus software on my PC and it asked me to make Oculus the default XR Runtime. After doing so, it looks like I can’t open SteamVR (?). So I might have to set it back. A little confused on how the wired setting should be.