UnbrokenTaco
I saw this video a while back that explained Nintendo's behaviour and strategy. It's a bit long and not a direct answer to your question but I found it pretty interesting.
Both games feature a magnet as the main character. Took me a little bit of watching to realise that he was showing footage of his game and not Mind Over Magnet
I don't have experience with the quest 3 so I can't tell you for sure, I've just seen people complain about it.
The Vive Pro uses fresnel lenses and comparatively is quite a bulky headset and is really showing it's age. The Vive Pro 2, I have not tried it but the wireless adaptor can't stream native resolution. Additionally it is still a very bulky headset. The wireless adaptor for these headsets is pretty expensive too. It's also a bit fiddly with batteries and stuff though it worked for me. I'd be willing to bet it's be out of your price range based on your post. The industry seems to have just decided that wifi streaming is the way to go for wireless, particularly over wifi 6 or 6e.
Talking about more things I don't have experience with, you could try checking out things like Pimax but they're also expensive and possibly fiddly.
In my opinion, there is no perfect option for VR at the moment and there aren't a lot of options at the low end. Quest 3 seems like a good all rounder. PSVR2 is an alternative with few pros (including if you have a ps5) and a few cons (such as being bulky and I have seen some discussions on which has a better picture).
I really just want to see what Valve does.
Personally, I would rather get wireless working if I had a Quest 3 for PC VR because it's a nice trade off for the compression. I've seen quite a few comments complaining about the lack of display port on Quest 3 due to the compressed video but I don't know if that's a vocal minority or not.
I used to have a wireless Vive Pro and I do miss the wireless a bit.
I don't think Valve will go as premium this time. I think they've learned their lesson. I think the reason the Index costs so much is simply the lighthouse tech. Look at how much the base stations cost and how much the vive tracking pucks cost. Based on leaks/speculation (so, grain of salt) their current prototypes are using camera based tracking - which in theory, tells me they're price sensitive
Haha oops.I definitely meant to type "virtual desktop" and not "cordial desktop".
/Facepalm
As far as I'm aware, your options for mid tier are Quest 3 or PSVR2 with the PC adaptor.
I haven't used either.
Quest 3 - if you buy a wifi 6 router that's dedicated to quest 3 streaming, you can supposedly do passable wireless using either the Steam app or Cordial Desktop on Quest. As the other commenter said, you might want to consider a third party headstrap.
PSVR2 - No wireless option but there's a cable (display port or HDMI - I'm not sure which) you plugin to your PC so the picture won't have artifacting etc. Unfortunately eye tracking isn't supported on PC. Also you won't get the passthrough stuff you were asking about.
Pico 4 - I dunno much about. It has a display port connector and can also do wireless but no idea what it's like or if it's still considered an option. Also, if you're avoiding Meta, I'm not sure byte dance is any better. I don't know what the future holds for their vr plans
Then I think we start going up in price.
There is supposed to be some Android VR headsets announced this year (like from Samsung) and there's also the possibility of whatever Valve is doing with deckard at the end of the year (but that's all rumour, leaks and speculation).
Personally, I'd really love to see what Valve are doing but maybe that's just my copium
Your post inspired me to share a video about some wacky CES products.
I think I committed a few cardinal sins because it did not go well. Haha
Yep, that's the joke that this AI summary doesn't capture too well. Pretty funny, given your comment - though I guess the humour is a little deadpan.
Yeah there is some nightmare fuel out there about online baby monitors:
https://www.wired.com/story/kalay-iot-bug-video-feeds/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/stranger-hacks-baby-monitor-tells-child-i-love-you-n1090046
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/man-hacks-baby-monitor-screams-at-child/rmex6rkxo
I would like to second Prey. It is very cheap during a sale.
It's currently on sale on epic store if you don't mind that/already have heroic launcher or similar on the steam deck.
https://gg.deals/game/prey/