The Meta Quest 3 has been out of the deals limelight for some time now, but that's all changed this week. The original 512GB headset is now available with a free $50 gift card in the US (and some hefty savings in the UK), making for a compelling offer on the full Batman Arkham Shadow bundle.
Both Best Buy and Amazon are including free credit with the $499.99 headset, though I'd stick with the former for this one. You can nab $50 worth of Amazon credit instead, but the site states that you'll be waiting 30 days after shipping for your cash and it's only redeemable on items sold by Amazon itself. That strips out a surprising number of gadgets and gizmos, whereas Best Buy will allow you to spend your $50 on anything on the site.
UK shoppers are also getting in on the action, with a return to a record-low £469 sale price (was £619) at Very matching last year's Black Friday discount.
Should you buy the 512GB Meta Quest 3?
There's an elephant in the room here, and it's much cheaper than the 512GB model. The newer Meta Quest 3S launched late last year, at $299.99 / £289.99 - a considerable shift downwards from the original 512GB model's $499.99 / £619. We rated the classic headset highly in our Meta Quest 3 review on launch, but whether you opt for the pricier model comes down to two key differences between the two.
The first is obvious; storage. The Meta Quest 3S only comes with up to 256GB of storage (though that $299.99 / £289.99 MSRP relates to the 128GB model), whereas you're getting double that with this offer. If you're going to be playing hefty games and storing larger media files on your headset, it's well worth going above that limit. You'll need to have a lot of games to warrant the leap based on storage alone, though. Considering most Meta games only clock in at a few gigabytes there's already a good amount of space for an expansive library in the cheaper models.
The second difference is one that will likely have more sway for those looking for the best VR experience possible. The Meta Quest 3S can squeeze into its lower price tag by replacing the original's pancake lenses with cheaper fresnel lenses. It essentially means a lower quality viewing experience, reducing your area of focus, dropping clarity (and, separately, per-eye resolution), and introducing more chance of artifacts (annoying visual glitches in the picture). This was the biggest downgrade we noticed when we reviewed the Quest 3S.
If you plan on using your headset for a considerable amount of time, outside of casual gaming and the odd VR YouTube video, this difference in lenses is enough to push you towards the Quest 3. You are still getting the same core virtual and mixed reality experience with the 3S, though, so if you're just dipping your toe into these waters there's plenty of cash to be saved with the cheaper model.
We're also rounding up all the best Meta Quest accessories and the best PSVR 2 bundles for more offers. Or, to keep a close eye on similar discounts, check out the latest Meta Quest deals on the web.
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