ClassVR Premium — specification and verdict
The Premium drives an LCD panel split into 1280x1440 per eye on a Snapdragon XR1 Gen 1 with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, expandable by microSD. Tracking is rotational only: a trainee can look around a 360 photo or video and read large labels, but cannot step towards a machine, crouch to a valve, or reach out and grab anything. The bundled ClassVR Wired Hand Controller is 3DoF as well, with a trigger, face buttons and a thumbstick, so interaction is pointing and selecting rather than handling. A front camera drives colour see-through and the marker-based AR mode. For safety training that means it works as a guided viewer for 360 material and quizzes, and not as a place where somebody rehearses a procedure with their hands.
Every headset talks to the ClassVR Portal over the school's Wi-Fi, which is where content is pushed, firmware rolled out and devices rebooted or reset in bulk; ClassVR states devices are locked down so students only see the curated content and internet access is restricted. That is genuine fleet management, but it is a closed one: the portal is the only supported way in, and there is no open Android sideloading route for our courses. Avantis sells into education through resellers in sets of 4, 8 and 30, usually with a portal licence attached, so the headset price is never the whole cost. Battery is quoted at four hours from a 4000 mAh cell, enough for a teaching day of short sessions but not for continuous shift-length use, and the foam facial interface has to be wiped between users.
Do not buy this for occupational safety training. It is a 3DoF viewer on first-generation XR1 silicon inside a closed education platform, so our courses cannot be installed on it at all, and no configuration changes that. It earns its place in a school running the ClassVR curriculum; for hands-on EHS work, buy a 6DoF Android standalone instead.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the VR — standalone devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 180 min, from 26 models that publish the figure.
Controllers and hand tracking
ClassVR Wired Hand Controller
3DoF
Wired on purpose: ClassVR builds for a cupboard of headsets handed round a classroom, where a cable is one less thing to lose, pair or charge. Rotation only, with a trigger, buttons and a stick.
In the boxHow it is tracked
Rotation only (IMU)
The controller knows which way it points but not where it is: it aims like a laser pointer and cannot reach into the scene.
The controller itself
- Controller inputs
- index trigger · face buttons · thumbstick
Other controllers
This headset’s own controllers only
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.
- Avantis (ClassVR)
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- VR — standalone
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- Standalone VR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2020-10-14
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2020
- 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.
- LCD
- 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.
- Optics: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- 1280x1440
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- Refresh rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- Field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Weight: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Rendered field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- Binocular overlap: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- 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.
- RGB stripe · 3 subpixels per pixel
- 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.
- Colour
- 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.
- IPD adjustment: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Works with glasses: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Vision correction: not published by the manufacturer
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- White
- 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.
- 3DoF rotational only, no positional tracking
- Base stationsWhether boxes have to be mounted on the walls before it works.
- Not needed
- 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.
- Yes
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- ClassVR Wired Hand Controller
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- 3DoF
- 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.
- Rotation only (IMU)
- Other controllersWhether the headset works with controllers other than the ones it ships with.
- This headset’s own controllers only
- 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.
- index trigger · face buttons · thumbstick
- 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
- PerformanceHow much the headset can run — sharper scenes, more objects, smoother mixed reality. Higher is better.
- Dated — we no longer recommend it
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Gen 1
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Octa-core Kryo (2 x 2.52 GHz, 6 x 1.7 GHz)
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- Adreno 615 @ 780 MHz
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- 4 GB
- PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak.
- Android
- StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages.
- 64 GB
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- Yes
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- 240 min
- Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw.
- Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two.
- 4000 mAh
- Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it.
- Charge time: not published by the manufacturer
- ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above.
- Charger: not published by the manufacturer
- External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head.
- External battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with.
- Charging case: not published by the manufacturer
- Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station.
- Hot-swap battery: 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.
- Yes
- Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts.
- Yes
- Swappable facial interfaceRemovable, wipeable face padding. A consumable, and the difference between shared use and complaints.
- Swappable facial interface: not published by the manufacturer
- 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 · headphone jack
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi
- 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.
- Video from a computer: not published by the manufacturer
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Built-in speakers · Headphone jack
- 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.
- Enterprise
- 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.
- 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
Schools already invested in the ClassVR Portal and its lesson library, where a teacher wants to push the same 360 scene to thirty headsets at once and keep every device locked to that content. It is not a device for an EHS team, an integrator, or anyone who needs to install their own application.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Avantis publishes almost nothing numeric: no field of view, no weight, no dimensions, no charging time, no IPD range, no certification list and no public price. The name is also unstable — the same 64 GB SKU now sits on the manufacturer's site as the Standard model next to Xplorer and Xcelerate, while resellers still list it as Premium, and VRcompare still records 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage against the 4 GB and 64 GB the maker's own comparison table now shows. No end-of-support date is published anywhere.
ClassVR Premium 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.
- Bluum2022
A chaptered getting-started guide from an education supplier: charging, powering on, the home screen, the cursor and selection. Unglamorous, and the closest thing to an honest answer to how much teacher training a classroom set needs.
Watch on YouTube - Aktiv Undervisning2022
A Danish look at the Premium headset together with its hand controllers — the controllers being what separates this model from the base ClassVR. Language aside, seeing them handled answers what the specification row does not.
Watch on YouTube - SWWC Technology Integration2023
A walkthrough of the management portal by a school district's own technology team — a customer rather than a seller. For a classroom deployment the portal is the product, and this is the only independent account of it.
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.
ClassVR Premium — frequently asked questions
- Is the ClassVR Premium the same headset as the ClassVR Standard?
- Yes. After Avantis launched Xplorer and Xcelerate in August 2025, the 64 GB Premium was rebadged as the Standard model and it still occupies the same product URL. Resellers continue to ship it under the Premium name and part codes, so a quote for either name should describe the same Snapdragon XR1 Gen 1 headset with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage.
- Can I install my own VR training app on a ClassVR Premium?
- No. The headset is administered entirely through the ClassVR Portal, which pushes curated content and firmware and keeps the device locked so students see nothing else. There is no supported route for loading a third-party Android VR course onto it, which is why our training applications do not run on this headset.
- Does the ClassVR Premium have 6DoF positional tracking?
- No. Tracking is rotational only, and the bundled wired hand controller is 3DoF as well, so a user can look around a scene but not walk into it or reach for an object. Within the ClassVR range, the six-degrees-of-freedom option is the newer Xcelerate with its four-camera tracking system, not this model.
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 2026-08-08. 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.