Bigscreen Beyond 2 — 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.
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: 114°, from 33 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: 500 g, from 23 models that publish the figure.
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.
- 2025-03-20
- 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: 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.
- Both eyes
- 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: 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.
- 107 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.
- 109.74° horizontal · 96.99° vertical · 121.83° diagonal
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- 84.33°
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- 23.7 PPD horizontal (computed)
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- 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: not published by the manufacturer
- Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts.
- Yes
- 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 × 49.2 mm
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer
- 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, sold separately)
- 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
- 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.
- Yes
- 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.
- 2
- 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: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- $899
- 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
Average pixel density is our own arithmetic: panel pixels divided by the field of view on the same axis. It is the standard approximation, and it runs lower than a published peak figure because a lens packs pixels denser at the centre.
Who this device is for
Beyond 2 is the enthusiast's PC VR display: 107 g, micro-OLED at 2560x2560 per eye and pancake optics, driven by a PC and tracked by base stations you buy separately. It is a personal instrument for simulation and PC VR, not training hardware — our courses do not run on PC VR, and a custom-fitted headset cannot be shared around a group.
How it differs from its predecessor
Against the original Beyond it is lighter at 107 g, has a wider 108-degree field of view and a far more refined build; the panel resolution is unchanged. Against Beyond 2e, the only difference is eye tracking, which costs about 200 dollars more.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
No eye tracking, no hand tracking, no on-board audio — the audio strap is a separate purchase — and no standalone mode. Base stations are not included, which changes the real price considerably, and our training applications do not run on it. The custom facial interface means the headset fits one person.
Bigscreen Beyond 2 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.
- Cas and Chary XR2025
Weeks of testing rather than a first look, and it does both halves of the job: what makes this headset unlike anything else, and where it still falls short. The clearest picture of the trade-off you are buying into.
Watch on YouTube - Linus Tech Tips2025
A review of the headset together with the audio strap, which matters because the Beyond has no audio of its own and the accessory is effectively part of the product. Blunt about what the setup costs in total.
Watch on YouTube - optimum2025
A focused look at how Bigscreen made the second generation both better and lighter, which is the engineering question this device raises. Good on the optics and on what 107 g feels like after an hour.
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 2 — frequently asked questions
- What does the Bigscreen Beyond 2 actually cost to get running?
- The headset is the start: SteamVR base stations and controllers are sold separately, and the audio strap is another purchase because the headset has no speakers. Budget the whole set rather than the headset price, especially if you are coming from a standalone device that included everything.
- Is the Bigscreen Beyond 2 usable for professional work?
- For simulation and design review on a PC, yes — the clarity and the 107 g are genuinely useful over long sessions. For corporate training it is the wrong tool: no standalone mode, no fleet management, our courses do not run on PC VR, and the custom facial interface fits one person.
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.