The Quest
I won't spend a long time here, because I didn't own this device for a very long time. I bought a Quest off Amazon in 2020 for $400 for the 256 GB version. A number of people I knew had purchased a device during the pandemic and I thought that made sense. Peloton was flying high at the time, and I looked at it in terms of shares, and thought "4 shares for this is well worth the cost." I then proceeded to buy a bunch of apps, usually in the $0 to $15 range. After about a year, the Quest 2 was announced and I thought it was time to get rid of Quest which I sold to a coworker at the time for $200. They got a good deal, and I had $200 towards my next device.
The Quest Continues
So for $300 (or was it $400?) I picked up a Quest 2 256 GB. This device is and remains one of the most unique, interesting, and satisfying devices I have owned, even though I don't get to play with it very much. I had Xbox devices for decades, a Wii, a PS 3, and a PS 4, but this device did something none of them could do - take me away. The immersion was great. I got a huge headache at first, and of course plenty of nausea and overheating, even still today depending on the game, but overall, it's fine. I cannot recommend this device enough. But I ended up selling the device for $200, which I used towards...
Meta Quest 3
They released another one! Although this one was well into the $500 range, it is worth every penny if you can afford it. Multiple full-color passthrough cameras. Much lighter and more balanced than the Quest 3. And while I opted for the smaller storage option, I can easily swap applications in and out as needed. My son likes it too, although it's not made for kids under 12 or so, I let him play Colorspace, a full immersion VR coloring book app, and he enjoys that very much. The rest of this article will be about the top three apps I absolutely recommend you purchase should you decide to pick up a Quest 3. None of them are free, but there are lots of very useful free apps as well, just not in my top three.
Wander
When people ask me what my favorite Quest app is, I don't even hesitate, it's Wander. If you had to describe Wander in 5 words, it would be: first person google street view. You have a map of the world, you can go anywhere Google Street View data has been uploaded, and jump into that spot, at the center of the sphere. Inside places, outside places, random places, roads, highways, basements, drones, all sorts of views. During the pandemic, I can honestly say that this device was critical to my survival. Facing an unknown number of weeks, months, or years of lockdown, no guarantee of a cure or vaccine for Covid, the ability to explore, even in VR, was so...necessary.
Immersed
The promise of things like SpaceTop is that you can have massive screen realestate anytime, anywhere. The problem with a device like that, or one that tethers to your phone, is that you can't really be productive if you don't have all your productivity apps with you. Immersed runs on my Mac (and probably Windows and Linux) and creates a kind of virtual monitor set. It costs $150 a year, but I think you can get one virtual monitor for free. The subscription allows you to have five completely disconnected monitors from your main display. Plus shared whiteboards with other users and a host of other features (like carving passthrough windows into your immersion environment). So now you can have a 13" laptop, but have 150 inches of desktop space as soon as you put on your headset.
Resist
No game proves the value of VR more than Resist. You could try web-guy, a free WebXR game, for a taste. But for a full story, great graphics, and some insane gameplay, Resist is a great choice. Spiderman and Ironman and Swarm are other possible choices, but generally Resist is lower priced. Be warned, you will probably get very motion sick the first few times and it takes a while to get used to it. You will definitely feel some kind of way and might need frequent breaks until you train your body (really your mind) to accept this. Once you do, it's incredible.
Honorable Mention: Beat Saber
Decent (insanely large library of) music? Check. Straightforward mechanics that are easy to learn and difficult to master? Check. Crazy youtube videos of people beating levels on extreme difficulty that looks almost like a choregraphed dance? Check. You basically hold two light sabers and have to slash and stab boxes as they fly towards you in VR. If you needed an app to close your watch rings, this is going to do a great job. Sure, you could do those virtual boxing games or VR fitness trainers, but this provides something a little extra and it is very fun to play.