Bigscreen Beyond — specification and verdict
The Bigscreen Beyond is the lightest headset in this comparison by a wide margin: 127 grams, because it is custom-built to a scan of the buyer's face and strips out everything not essential. It uses micro-OLED panels at 2,560 x 2,560 per eye with 60, 90 and 120 Hz, and tracks through external SteamVR base stations. There is no passthrough, no eye tracking, no controllers in the box and no onboard chip — it is a pure PC-VR display, and its IPD is fixed at manufacture to your own measurements.
The custom fit is exactly what makes it wrong for a shared fleet: each unit is moulded to one person's face, so it cannot be handed around a training room the way a Quest can. It also needs a gaming PC, base stations and your own 6DoF controllers, and our courses do not run on SteamVR. It ships internationally, Poland included, to enthusiasts and simulator builders.
Not a training headset for us, and not really trying to be: the Beyond is a personal, PC-tethered enthusiast device whose whole point is a bespoke, ultra-light fit for one owner. For a company training many people on shared hardware, a standalone Quest or PICO is the right answer; the Beyond is what a single VR enthusiast buys for themselves.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the VR — PC-tethered devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 110°, from 39 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: 500 g, from 26 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: $899, from 45 models that publish the figure.
Controllers and hand tracking
Controller
6DoF
Sold separatelyHow it is tracked
Base stations (Lighthouse)
Base stations sweep the room with lasers. Coverage comes from where the boxes are mounted rather than from what the headset can see — occlusion stops being a problem, and the boxes are a second purchase.
Other controllers
Any SteamVR (Lighthouse) controller
Index Controller · HTC Vive controller
Bare hands
No hand tracking — a controller is the only way in.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Bigscreen
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- VR — PC-tethered
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- PC-powered VR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2023-02-13
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2023
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: not published by the manufacturer
- PanelThe screen type. micro-OLED gives deeper blacks and higher contrast; LCD is brighter and cheaper.
- micro-OLED
- OpticsThe lenses in front of the panel. Pancake stays sharp closer to the edges than older Fresnel, which decides how much a trainee has to aim their head to read something.
- Pancake lenses
- Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue.
- Eyes covered: not published by the manufacturer
- Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable.
- 2560x2560
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- 60/90/120 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 102°
- Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves.
- Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- Brightness: not published by the manufacturer
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- 127 g
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see.
- 97.53° horizontal · 88.55° vertical · 112.16° diagonal
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- 79.6°
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- Average pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- 32 PPD
- Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile.
- Subpixel layout: not published by the manufacturer
- Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance.
- Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer
- PassthroughWhat the front cameras give you: colour, grayscale, or nothing.
- None
- Passthrough camerasResolution, density and frame rate of that camera feed.
- Passthrough cameras: not published by the manufacturer
- IPD adjustmentMatching lens spacing to the eyes. Motorised is fastest when one headset passes between people.
- None
- IPD rangeHow far the lenses travel to match eye spacing. A narrow range excludes part of any group of adults, which matters when one headset is shared.
- 55–72 mm
- Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts.
- Works with glasses: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Lens inserts available
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- 143.1 × 52.4 × 24 mm
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- 155 g
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Soft strap
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Plastic · foam facial interface
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Black
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- No
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- outside-in 6DoF (SteamVR base stations)
- Base stationsWhether boxes have to be mounted on the walls before it works.
- Required
- Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is.
- Tracking cameras: not published by the manufacturer
- Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier.
- Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras.
- Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- No
- Eye trackingThe headset knows where the trainee is looking. Enables sharper rendering where they look, and attention analytics.
- No
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- No
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- None
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- Controller model: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- 6DoF
- Controller tracking methodWhat establishes where the controller is. It decides whether the controller keeps working behind your back or down at your hip — “6DoF” on its own does not say.
- Base stations (Lighthouse)
- Other controllersWhether the headset works with controllers other than the ones it ships with.
- Any SteamVR (Lighthouse) controller — Index Controller · HTC Vive controller
- Finger tracking on the controllerWhether the controller senses individual fingers, and how.
- Finger tracking on the controller: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller inputsButtons, sticks and triggers the controller offers.
- Controller inputs: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller hapticsVibration feedback in the hand.
- Controller haptics: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller powerDisposable cells or a built-in rechargeable — a fleet question.
- Controller power: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller weightOne controller, as the vendor weighs it.
- Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer
- Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today.
- No
- Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management.
- No
- Kiosk mode / MDMVendor tooling to enrol devices, push an app and lock the headset to it. Practically required above ten devices.
- No
- Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts.
- No
- Swappable facial interfaceRemovable, wipeable face padding. A consumable, and the difference between shared use and complaints.
- No
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- Certifications: not published by the manufacturer
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- USB Type-C
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi: not published by the manufacturer
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- Bluetooth: not published by the manufacturer
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Over a cable
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Audio: not published by the manufacturer
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Yes
- MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not.
- Microphones: not published by the manufacturer
- Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale.
- Premium
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- $999
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer
- Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer.
- Price today: not published by the manufacturer
- Comfort (from reviews)How it wears over a full session. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers, not from our own testing.
- Comfort (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer
- Edge clarity (from reviews)Sharpness away from the centre of the lens. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers.
- Edge clarity (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer
- Tracking reliability (from reviews)How tracking holds up in poor light and fast movement. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers.
- Tracking reliability (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer
- Hand tracking quality (from reviews)How usable controller-free hand tracking is in a training scenario. Scored from agreement between reviewers.
- Hand tracking quality (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer
Who this device is for
The original Bigscreen Beyond is the headset that proved a PC VR display could weigh 127 g: micro-OLED panels, pancake lenses and a facial interface moulded to a scan of your own face. That last part is also why it is a personal instrument rather than fleet hardware — a headset shaped for one person cannot be handed to the next trainee.
How it differs from its predecessor
Against Beyond 2 the panel resolution is the same 2560x2560, and what the newer model adds is a wider field of view, a lighter body and a much less painful ownership experience. The original also has no eye tracking, which the 2e variant now offers.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Discontinued, with no eye tracking, no hand tracking, no audio of its own and a hard dependency on SteamVR base stations. There is no standalone mode and our applications do not run on PC VR. The custom facial interface, which is the reason it fits so well, is also the reason it cannot be shared.
Bigscreen Beyond in independent reviews
Reviews we consider worth your time, each with a note on what the reviewer actually tested and why it matters for a training rollout. We do not own this hardware, so the tests are theirs — the reading of them is ours.
- Linus Tech Tips2023
The launch review that put this headset on the map, and it opens by ruling out the alternatives one by one — PSVR2, Index, Quest 3 — which is a clearer statement of who the Beyond is for than any spec sheet manages.
Watch on YouTube - ThisKory2024
A year of ownership rather than a launch impression — the only kind of review that catches what a custom-moulded facial interface and a tiny tethered headset are like to live with. Worth more than the first-week coverage if you are buying a fleet.
Watch on YouTube - Naysy2023
An early look at a prototype supplied by the maker, which the reviewer discloses along with an affiliate link. Read it as the optimistic end of the range and set it against the year-later review above.
Watch on YouTube
Nothing is sent to YouTube until you press play. Once you do, Google receives your IP address and device data and may process them outside the EEA — see our privacy policy for the details.
Bigscreen Beyond — frequently asked questions
- Why was the Bigscreen Beyond custom-made for each buyer?
- The facial interface is moulded from a face scan the buyer submits, which is how the headset gets down to 127 g without light leaking in. It also means the headset fits one person: a shared or resold unit needs a new interface, which is a purchase of its own.
- Can the Bigscreen Beyond still be bought?
- Not new — Bigscreen replaced it with the Beyond 2 and 2e, and the original's product page has moved. For anyone owning one, it continues to work with SteamVR base stations exactly as before; for a new purchase, the current models are lighter and wider.
Compare this device
Consider these too
The nearest devices in the same class, ranked by availability and launch price — not by our opinion of them.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30. Manufacturer's specification
Product and company names used here are the trademarks of their respective owners and appear only to identify the hardware being compared. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of these manufacturers. Illustrations are our own.