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So you’re interested in buying one of Meta’s standalone VR headsets. But Quest 3S and Quest 3 look very similar, so which one should you buy? Read on for our no-nonsense recommendation.

Let’s make this real easy:

If you’ve never owned a VR headset before (Google Cardboard and Gear VR don’t count in this case): Buy Quest 3S.

Why: Not everybody who buys a VR headset continues to use it for the long term. Many people don’t find something that keeps them coming back, and within six months their headset is sitting in a drawer somewhere. Quest 3S is the most affordable option to find out if you’re someone who will use VR for the long term. It looks a bit worse visually than Quest 3, but has the same power so it plays all the same games and will be supported for just as long.

If you’ve previously owned a PC VR, PSVR, or Quest 2 headset: Buy Quest 3

Why: If you already know you like VR and use it regularly, you’re going to appreciate the sharper image, slightly wider field-of-view, larger sweet spot, and increased storage size of Quest 3 compared to Quest 3S. Especially if you’re coming from Quest 2, Quest 3S isn’t going to look that much better because it has the same screen and same lenses, which means it isn’t going to feel like as much of an upgrade.

If you want to dig into more detail, check out our full specs comparison of Quest 2, Quest 3S, and Quest 3 here.

That’s it. That’s the whole article.