FREEBIE ALERT: As of Dec. 10, the Meta Quest 3S (256GB) includes a free $30 Best Buy e-gift card.
Tech retailers gave away oodles of free gift cards and credits with the purchase of Meta's new Quest 3S VR headset over Cyber Weekend. The best offers have long expired this far into December — see: a $100 Amazon voucher — but one store still has the spirit: At the time of writing, the Quest 3S with 256GB of storage ($399.99) comes with a free $30 gift card via Best Buy.
The gift card will be sent via email after the order is fulfilled. Same-day pickup and next-day shipping were both available for last-minute gift hunters when we last checked.
This deal tacks further savings onto the Quest 3S, which is sold as part of a bundle that includes a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow and three months of the Meta Quest+ gaming subscription service. Altogether, the 256GB version is a $473.95 value even before you factor in the gift card freebie.
The Quest 3S is available with less storage (128GB) for $299.99, but the base model does not currently have a gift card attached to it — at Best Buy or elsewhere.
An October 2024 release, the Quest 3S is a Mashable Choice Award winner and our favorite VR headset for beginners. It "made me feel like Tony Stark without needing his billionaire bank account," wrote former Tech Editor Kim Gedeon, who gave it a 4.6/5 rating in her review. She dinged it a few points for its imprecise IPD adjustment wheel, its delicate straps, and its could-be-crisper displays, but was otherwise impressed by its fit and performance. Its wireless design, ergonomic controllers, and huge game library were high points.
Gedeon found 128GB of storage to be plenty in her testing, but noted that "if you plan to take a lot of photos and videos (perhaps you're a VR streamer), you'd be better off with the 256GB variant."
