A quick look back to 2016. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (not my best decision) and got the VR headset for “free” with it. It was really just the head mount that you inserted the smartphone into as the actual VR device. If I remember correctly, you controlled everything with buttons on the head mount, so no proper controllers. It wasn’t great, which is why I spent a maximum of one hour in VR. It just wasn’t immersive.

Almost nine years later, VR has become more affordable, but also more powerful. Though only Meta and PICO (ByteDance) offer serious devices for a reasonable price in euros. You probably pay the difference with your data. Valve, HTC, and others aren’t in the 500-600 euro range like the Meta Quest 3 or the PICO 4 Ultra, but well over 1,000 euros. In return, both Meta’s and Pico’s headsets are portable, unlike the competition. You don’t have to run them on a PC; you can also install VR applications directly onto the devices and escape reality anywhere with the built-in battery. But you can also run them on a PC, at least according to the product description.

But let’s get to the Meta Quest 3. Amazon wanted 550 euros for it. For decent PC VR, however, you also need a USB-C cable that ideally allows for power delivery. That also ended up in my shopping cart. The VR headset is nicely packaged and quickly unboxed. I have to admit, I didn’t even look for a manual. I pulled the tabs from the controllers, put on the headset, and started the setup. Until you have to set up the Wi-Fi. You’re supposed to either generate a barcode on your smartphone and scan it with the headset, or enter the network password through the headset. So, headset off again, install the smartphone app, and generate a QR code. Headset back on and hold the smartphone in front of it. You immediately notice that the built-in cameras are not good. The image is pixelated, noisy, and distorted. So bad that the QR code on the smartphone isn’t recognized, no matter how I hold it. So my girlfriend has to read the 32-character password to me. To type, you aim at the keys with the controllers and confirm with the trigger. This works surprisingly well, even if it’s not ideal for a password. The connection is established, the setup is simple, explains the basics, and sets up the room. And just like that, you’re in the main menu, a simple dock like on macOS.

I select YouTube and want to log in. To do this, I’m supposed to go to a specific address on another device where I’m already logged in. Memorize the address and take the headset off again. Once that was done, I watched my first VR videos. A flight over islands and perspectives from Paris. As good as the interface looks and as much as you can tell the resolution is high, the YouTube videos are poorly resolved. The VR videos were pixelated, but still quite fun, I have to admit. The next stop was my PC. I wanted to play Elite: Dangerous in VR. That was the main reason for the purchase. I connected the cable to the Quest 3 and the PC, and nothing happened. I first have to install the Quest Link application on both devices. Then open the Link on the headset, and I’m in a new interface. Of course, not without taking off the headset first to confirm the connection on the PC. Finding Elite: Dangerous wasn’t hard, and soon I was right in the middle of my spaceship. It was impressive. I really felt like the pilot. Let’s go! If I can find my joysticks. And the right buttons. Where was I going again? Ah, I saved that on the PC. Somehow, I had to take the headset off for something every five minutes.

With such a bulky device, that’s annoying. Once it’s on, it fits quite well. At least without glasses. But every time you take it off, you have to loosen it and push it up or put it down completely. The headset automatically goes into power-saving mode when you do this. This is actually useful, but it then freezes the connection to the PC. When putting it back on, it was a game of chance whether everything would run smoothly again. Elite: Dangerous would often freeze or start to flicker. The solution was to close the game and then reconnect the headset. Unfortunately, I couldn’t activate the cameras in PCVR mode. I also couldn’t get overlays to work reliably. Besides, they look okay on the PC, but are just plain ugly in VR. But especially as a beginner, an overlay or a quick internet search is helpful. So, headset off again.

But I didn’t want to give up yet. I spent a few days adjusting the settings and at least got rid of the flickering. I also tested space combat and have to say, I’ve never had so much fun with it. A fight against other spaceships in virtual reality with head tracking was simply impressive. I think I was much better, too. Unfortunately, always with the fear that the connection would drop or the image would freeze with an hourglass. The sound continued, but the image didn’t. And that was even though the PC wasn’t at its limit. Maybe a problem with the cable, I have no idea. But Elite: Dangerous was awesome when it worked. But what else can this thing do? Roller coasters, which are fun and gave me motion sickness. Meta Horizons, the virtual world from Meta so grandly promised by Mark Zuckerberg, was empty, ugly, and boring. I was gone after five minutes and tried VRChat instead. More people, but probably mostly kids. At least, a kid wanted to explain to me how to play a tower defense game. Graphically, that wasn’t convincing either. I was interested in Beat Saber, but I didn’t want to spend another 30 euros.

I tinkered around for a few more days. The VR apps on the Quest are sometimes really good, but not outstanding. Elite just wouldn’t run reliably. And I had to constantly take the headset off. My girlfriend wanted something, I wanted to look something up, where’s my glass now…? On top of that, the image was blurry without my glasses. But wearing glasses under the headset wasn’t comfortable. And the field of view is restricted; you see the border around the displays and the sides of the housing. Maybe my field of view is still too good, but since some light always gets through, I see the fabric, and that’s distracting. Even though I’m as close as possible. Sure, you mostly ignore it at some point, but you notice it again and again. Just like the reflections in the lenses. Depending on the content being displayed, especially in Elite, there were reflections in the lenses. You can ignore it, but it’s not great.

So, it wasn’t with a heavy heart that I packed up the Meta Quest 3 after a week and sent it back to Amazon. Yes, VR has come a long way since 2016. Yes, the immersion is impressive, even if it’s marred by reflections and a limited field of view. But the pure VR applications couldn’t grab me, and PCVR was unreliable for me, despite the cable. The immersion also has a crucial disadvantage, perhaps just for me. You are completely cut off. You are in the headset. As soon as something is needed or happens outside, you take it off and put it back on. Over and over again.

So yes, the device is a neat toy and technically impressive. In my opinion, however, it’s still many steps away from being a mass-market product for long-term use. When I consider the price of 550 euros, it’s simply too expensive. For that price, I can get a PlayStation 5. In addition, but this is a personal thing, the immersion is too inconvenient for me, as switching between real and virtual reality is often necessary and annoying every time. Let’s see what VR will look like in 2035, but right now, it’s not worth the money for me.