Bigscreen · 2025 · VR — PC-tethered
Bigscreen Beyond 2
107 grams on the face, and every other compromise follows from that one number.
{{name}} — specification and verdict
Bigscreen Beyond 2 is the lightest production VR headset there is: 107 grams for the headset itself, against 515 for a Quest 3. Inside are two micro-OLED panels at 2560 x 2560 per eye behind a new pancake optic, 75 or 90 Hz, a 500,000:1 contrast ratio and a field of view Bigscreen quotes as 116 degrees diagonal — 108 horizontal, which is the figure this table uses. The second generation adds per-eye interpupillary adjustment, set with a supplied tool, which is what finally makes one of these shareable between people. There are no cameras, no battery and no radios: it is a display, a fibre-optic cable and a link box, and everything else is your PC's job.
This is a PC-VR headset in the strictest sense in this comparison. It runs on SteamVR and needs base stations, which are not included, and controllers, which are also not included — budget for both. Our Android-based courses do not run on it, so for our training it is out regardless of how good the panels are. What it does exceptionally is long sessions: the weight it does not have is weight your neck never carries, which is why sim racers and flight-sim users pick it for three-hour stints. The default face cushion is moulded from a 3D scan of one person's face, though Bigscreen now sells a Universal-Fit cushion, and cushions and straps come off without tools.
Buy it if one named person spends hundreds of hours a year in a simulator and comfort over time is the whole game. Do not buy it for a training room: no cameras means no mixed reality, no controllers or base stations in the box means a longer bill, and a cushion moulded to one face is the opposite of a device that gets passed around. If eye tracking matters to you, the 2e is the same headset with sensors added.
Full specification
Overview
- 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
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2025
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- On sale
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Company rollout
- 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.
- Yes
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- Certifications: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Platform and performance
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Processor: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- Memory: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- Battery: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Display and optics
- 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: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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.
- 75/90 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 108° horizontal
- 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: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- Brightness: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- 107 g
Tracking and input
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- outside-in 6DoF (SteamVR base stations, sold separately)
- 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
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- 6DoF
Fit and comfort
- IPD adjustmentMatching lens spacing to the eyes. Motorised is fastest when one headset passes between people.
- Manual
- 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.
- IPD range: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts.
- Yes
- Colour passthroughShows the real room in colour through the cameras — the prerequisite for any mixed-reality exercise.
- No
Connectivity and audio
- ConnectivityHow it connects to a phone, a PC or a network.
- Connectivity: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Audio: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Microphone: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Price
- 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.
- Launch price: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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.
- $899
Rated from reviews
- Comfort (from reviews)How it wears over a full session. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers, not from our own testing.
- Comfort (from reviews): Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- Edge clarity (from reviews)Sharpness away from the centre of the lens. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers.
- Edge clarity (from reviews): Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- Tracking reliability (from reviews)How tracking holds up in poor light and fast movement. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers.
- Tracking reliability (from reviews): Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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): Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Compare this device
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30. Manufacturer's specification
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