My 30-Hour Meta Quest 3 Journey: Is VR Worth It?

TL;DR

The Meta Quest 3 is more than a gaming console—it's a powerful tool for learning skills, 3D design, and immersive media. The future of VR is in productivity and creation. #VentureStep #MetaQuest3 #VR

INTRODUCTION

There are certain technologies that create a true "wow" moment—the kind that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into the future. ¹Virtual reality is one of them, and with devices like the Meta Quest 3, that future feels more accessible than ever. ²It’s the kind of tech that can make you accidentally punch your TV while completely immersed in another world. ³But beyond the initial spectacle, what is it actually like to integrate a device like this into your life? ⁴

In this episode of Venture Step, host Dalton Anderson dives deep into his personal experience after spending over 30 hours with the Meta Quest 3. ⁵He moves past the hype to deliver an honest review, exploring not just the features and games, but the practical pros and cons of owning the headset. ⁶Dalton’s goal is to uncover whether this device is just a toy or a tool with real-world applications for professionals and creators. ⁷⁷

From the nuances of its "4K" display to the surprising fatigue of working in VR, this conversation covers it all. ⁸⁸⁸⁸Dalton shares his excitement for using the headset to learn new skills like 3D design, its potential to revolutionize professional training in fields like healthcare, and why it might just be the best way to watch your favorite movie. ⁹⁹⁹This is a comprehensive look at where virtual and mixed reality stand today and where they're heading tomorrow. ¹⁰¹⁰¹⁰

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Virtual Reality's greatest potential may lie in skill development and professional training, offering more long-term value than gaming alone. ¹¹¹¹
• Mixed Reality (MR) creates powerful user experiences by seamlessly blending digital objects and games with your physical environment. ¹²¹²
• While the Meta Quest 3 can serve as a portable workspace with huge virtual monitors, eye strain currently limits its use for extended work sessions. ^{13131313131313}
• The headset offers an unparalleled media consumption experience, turning any room into a private movie theater with a massive screen. ¹⁴¹⁴
• VR technology is already being deployed in high-stakes fields like surgical training and for social programs like prisoner rehabilitation, demonstrating its versatility. ¹⁵¹⁵

FULL CONVERSATION

Dalton: Welcome to Venture Step Podcasts, where we discuss entrepreneurship, industry trends, and the occasional book review. ¹⁶Today, we are going to be discussing a wow technology, something that you show your grandparents and they're like, hold on, let me sit down. ¹⁷Today, we are going to be talking about Meta's Quest 3 and my experience over 30 hours of using the product, the things I liked and the things I didn't like, and the pros and cons of buying this device. ¹⁸

Dalton: I want to make things quick. ¹⁹I was getting frustrated with how long these things were taking and I don't like those podcast episodes where five minutes in, I'm not even at the topic that I wanted to listen to in the first place. ²⁰So that's why everything has been substantially condensed. ²¹Okay, so we're going to be talking about VR. ²²Where are things going and what are some of the use cases for myself? ²³But before we do that, let's clearly define what is VR and what is MR. ²⁴

What's The Difference Between VR And MR?

Dalton: VR is virtual reality or an immersive reality that is alternate to the one that you're in right now. ²⁵You have to be careful with your surrounding areas because you will be lost and you'll lose track of where you're going. ²⁶You can't see what is going on outside of your virtual reality, which Meta does a great job with the boundaries you set. ²⁷When you are in virtual reality, you set these boundaries in your room or your space. ²⁸It will even remember, "Hey, I'm in my room. Here's the boundary I set up." ²⁹It's pretty smart and it will let you know when you've exited your boundary and the game will pause. ³⁰

MR is mixed reality, which is a reality overlaid on your reality. ³¹

Dalton: I feel like this is really cool, in my opinion. ³²It's very interesting how these games or artifacts interact with the real world. ³³The one game in particular that was really cool was First Encounters, where it 3D scans your room. ³⁴Then a spaceship falls through your ceiling, and aliens start breaking through your walls. ³⁵The enemies, these little alien monster people, they interact with the objects that you scanned in your space. ³⁶ They'll jump on your couch, they'll go behind your plants. It's pretty cool how these enemies interact with your environment. ³⁷

A Closer Look At Meta Quest 3 Features

Dalton: The next thing that we want to discuss is Meta Quest 3 features. ³⁸With the Quest 3, you can do VR, MR, you can stream movies, games, you can even connect to your computer and work. ³⁹You could Bluetooth connect to your keyboard and type things out. ⁴⁰Then you could also have these VR screens set up for your workspace. ⁴¹ You could be interacting with both your workspace that's in your reality and in your virtual or MR workspace. You have these screens set up and the resolution of the screens are very good and they can be huge. ⁴² I do think that there'll be a cool thing to tech out when I travel somewhere. I bring my headset, connect my computer, and instead of bringing these external monitors, I just have my headset. ⁴³

The "4K" Resolution Controversy

Dalton: One thing I will point out though, they specify 4K as the resolution. ⁴⁴One thing that I don't like is that it's 4K resolution split between two lenses. ⁴⁵You have a left lens and a right lens, one for both eyes. ⁴⁶ It's 2K in each one and they add them together and say, it's 4K. But it's really 2K. ⁴⁷So it's just a little bit above HD. ⁴⁸I find it very confusing and not very clear. ⁴⁹ I was so confused. Okay, so then why are you saying 4K? It's not 4K. ⁵⁰Don't want to get too caught up on that, but I didn't like that. ⁵¹I thought that that was not cool for sure. ⁵²

The Cons: Eye Strain And Hidden Costs

Dalton: There are some cons. I would say the main con is that your eyes get pretty tired fast. ⁵³And maybe I'm just a boomer and not built for VR headsets, but my eyes get tired after a bit. ⁵⁴

If you're thinking that you're going to be able to take this and work remotely for 10 hours on your VR headset, good luck. Like no shot. That's not happening. ⁵⁵

Dalton: You could probably wear it four hours at max, but it would be pretty uncomfortable. ⁵⁶ Also, your headset doesn't come with a case. So I had to buy a case. ⁵⁷And when you buy the headset that is like 500 bucks, it doesn't come with a case. ⁵⁸ The case is like 50 bucks. So I was like, wait, why doesn't this come with a case? ⁵⁹

If you left it on your table and you've got your window open and the sun is hitting your lenses, it will fry your lenses and basically ruin your headset. ⁶⁰

Dalton: So you don't want that to happen. ⁶¹You want to make sure that the lenses are covered up and protected. ⁶² You just need a case. I was just a bit confused on the thought process there. ⁶³

Why I'm Using VR To Learn New Skills

Dalton: It's a really cool product that has that wow factor. ⁶⁴And so let's get into the stuff that I want to do. ⁶⁵The things I want to do is I want to learn some skills. ⁶⁶I would love to be better at drawing. ⁶⁷I just want to be able to draw something and I see myself as a builder and a builder of things and I like to create stuff. ⁶⁸I would love to be able to make a detailed drawing of something I'm thinking about. ⁶⁹ I'm not very good at it. It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I can't do it well. ⁷⁰And once again, I don't need to be perfect, but I would love to have that in my toolbox. ⁷¹ I don't want to just be a builder of digital things. Why can't I be a builder of physical things? ⁷²And so that is one of my main motivations. ⁷³

From 3D Sketching To Interior Design

Dalton: I want to be better at sketching, drawing, and then there's these 3D design collaboration apps like Campfire. ⁷⁴There's Digital Sketch. ⁷⁵You can use them to create 3D objects and design things collaboratively. ⁷⁶I would love to 3D design something, sketch it out, have a rough idea, then go into the 3D design app, make a 3D version of my sketch, then send it over to a 3D printer and make something like it. ⁷⁷Then you could use a different app. ⁷⁸Meta has an app called Layout that you use to 3D design your room and you can overlay furniture, do different things. ⁷⁹If we wanted to make a built-in bookshelf, how big do we want to have it? ⁸⁰ Like what height would look good? Or the width, like how far do we want it out from the wall? ⁸¹Being able to see it is so nice. ⁸²

An Honest Take On VR Video Games

Dalton: In general, I'm more bullish on learning skills and doing things and building stuff than I am playing the games in VR. ⁸³ I'm not bashing video games. I play video games all the time in my free time. ⁸⁴One of my favorite games ever is Cyberpunk 2077. ⁸⁵But VR video games like Asgard's Wrath 2 or Batman Arkham Shadow, I didn't get that same feeling as I did from Cyberpunk or I did from Skyrim playing that the first time. ⁸⁶

I'm more bullish on learning skills and doing things and building stuff than I am playing the games in VR. ⁸⁷

Dalton: I liked the games, but I never felt that they were overly interesting where I was like, my gosh, I can't wait to get off work or I can't wait to finish all the chores...and play for a couple hours. ⁸⁸I never had those feelings. ⁸⁹I spent a good amount of time trying out those games and never got hooked. ⁹⁰I was more excited about First Encounters, which is that alien game I talked about in the beginning. ⁹¹

Navigating The Social World of Meta Horizons

Dalton: Meta Horizons is sick. ⁹²It's just that there's a lot of little kids. ⁹³ So many little kids. It's not very relaxing, I would say. ⁹⁴I'm pretty sure that there's something you can do in your settings where you can age restrict the people you play with, but I didn't do that. ⁹⁵So I was playing with all these little kids and they're loud and yelling and screaming. ⁹⁶Didn't like that as much. ⁹⁷⁹⁷The socialization factor is cool if you're socializing with your age group and can find them. ⁹⁸In VR, there's a Meta employee per horizon world and a horizon world has a max of 32 players. ⁹⁹So they probably have thousands of employees that are just admins of these horizon worlds and help you navigate the metaverse. ¹⁰⁰

The Ultimate Private Theater For Movies And Sports

Dalton: Another thing that I didn't touch on that I actually love is using VR to watch movies or sports. ¹⁰¹I have Amazon Prime and Peacock downloaded on my VR headset and the feeling that you can get from just pulling up your favorite sports team, throwing that video in theater mode and just letting it go for the whole game is really something. ^102102102102You've got to think about a theater and your favorite team or your favorite show. ¹⁰³The screen is massive. ¹⁰⁴It's legitimately, I don't know, a seven-foot by 10-foot screen that I have in my room when I put it in theater mode. ¹⁰⁵It's huge. ¹⁰⁶My other TV is maybe 50-something inches. ¹⁰⁷Then you've got this seven-foot by 10-foot screen, I mean, it's night and day. ¹⁰⁸It's not even close to the same experience. ¹⁰⁹

The Untapped Potential: Education, Healthcare, and Rehabilitation

Dalton: I would like to learn how to do 3D design, music... and there's some educational stuff. ^110110110I saw some apps related to public speaking, and there's another app called Engage where you can go to company seminars or networking events. ¹¹¹You can learn from historical figures and ask them questions and go to their classes. ¹¹²

There's just a whole world out there that you can explore and dream up or build that is available in VR and in mixed reality. ¹¹³

Dalton: Then there's healthcare, where you can have practice surgeries and things could go wrong in your VR surgery. ¹¹⁴You could have these practice surgeries that are way more realistic. ¹¹⁵You're way more prepared for scenarios that when things aren't going right, you know how to react. ¹¹⁶

Until you get into those scenarios, you never really know. And the closest that you can get to that scenario, the better. 117

Dalton: Another application of VR is that certain states have contracted with and use VR headsets to help rehabilitate their prisoners. ¹¹⁸Before they go back into society, they will use VR. ¹¹⁹Okay, here's how you use a smartphone or this is how you shop at a grocery store now that has self-checkout. ¹²⁰If you were in prison for 20 years, the world has substantially changed. ¹²¹So certain states have used VR to rehabilitate their long time prisoners before they get released and it's to help them not have as much anxiety when they are out of prison. ¹²²

Final Verdict: Who Is The Meta Quest 3 Really For?

Dalton: Personally, I like the VR headset for learning new skills. ¹²³I plan on learning how to do 3D design and getting better at art. ¹²⁴And then watching sports games and movies or your show. ¹²⁵I didn't necessarily like the games. ¹²⁶I don't like doing fitness on my VR headset. ¹²⁷I'd rather go run, no headphones, out in the sun where it's brutal. ¹²⁸I do like the skills and the consumption of content. ¹²⁹Speaking of content, the UI and UX on the Instagram app is phenomenal in VR. ¹³⁰

If I were an Instagram freak and loved Instagram, I might just buy a headset just so I could use Instagram. It was so nice. ¹³¹

Dalton: Overall, I think VR is an awesome technology. ¹³²The things that need to be done to make this happen, all the compute and the power and the tracking in such a small lightweight device is incredible. ¹³³I personally like the idea of using this to interact and become more comfortable in things that you are potentially insecure about or that you need to touch up on before your big presentation or you want to learn a new skill. ¹³⁴That's where I think the real power for VR is. ¹³⁵And that's what I'm going to lean into. ¹³⁶

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Meta Quest 3
• First Encounters (Game)
• Campfire (App)
• Digital Sketch (App)
• Layout (App)
• Overwatch 2 (Game)
• Baldur's Gate (Game)
• Starfield (Game)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (Game)
• Asgard's Wrath 2 (Game)
• Batman: Arkham Shadow (Game)
• Skyrim (Game)
• Meta Horizons
• Engage (App)
• CoTracker 3 (Paper/Technology)
• Amazon Prime
• Peacock
• The Boys (Show)
• Instagram

INDEX OF CONCEPTS

Dalton Anderson, Meta Quest 3, Virtual Reality, VR, Mixed Reality, MR, First Encounters, 4K Resolution, Campfire, Digital Sketch, Layout, Overwatch 2, Baldur's Gate, Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, Asgard's Wrath 2, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Skyrim, Meta Horizons, Engage, CoTracker 3, Healthcare training, Prisoner rehabilitation, Amazon Prime, Peacock, The Boys, Instagram, Theater Mode