Epson Moverio BT-45CS — specification and verdict
The BT-45CS is the turnkey member of Epson's Moverio line: a see-through headset with Epson's own Si-OLED panels covering both eyes at 34 degrees, an 8 MP camera, an IP52 rating and helmet mounting, sold together with an Android controller so nothing else has to be supplied. Both eyes matter here — most industrial glasses put a panel in front of one.
The controller is an ordinary Android device, so an ordinary application package installs on it and the headset is its display. That makes a work-instruction or remote-support application realistic here. Epson publishes no device-management offering, so a fleet would lean on a third-party MDM running on the controller.
The one to look at when the job needs a proper stereoscopic image in front of both eyes rather than a notification panel in the corner of one — inspection, guided assembly, drone piloting. It has no spatial tracking, so it shows content, it does not anchor it to a machine.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the AR — industrial devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 24°, from 13 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: 190 g, from 14 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.
- Epson
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- AR — industrial
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- AR with a compute puck
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- Announced: not published by the manufacturer
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2022
- 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
- DisplayHow the image is produced. "No display" is a real answer in this category, not a gap.
- Micro-OLED, both eyes
- 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.
- 1920x1080
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- 60 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 34°
- 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.
- 550 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Fits over glasses
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- 290 × 200 × 57 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.
- Head strap: not published by the manufacturer
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Materials: not published by the manufacturer
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Colours: not published by the manufacturer
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- Haptics in the headset: not published by the manufacturer
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- None
- 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
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- Body tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- Controllers included: 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.
- Controller tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer
- Where it computesWhether the device computes on its own or depends on a phone, PC or belt-worn puck.
- Driven by a belt-worn puck
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Qualcomm SXR1130
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Snapdragon XR1, 2.52 GHz octa-core
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- GPU: not published by the manufacturer
- 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 (Epson controller) 10
- StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages.
- Storage: not published by the manufacturer
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- SD card slot: not published by the manufacturer
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- Battery: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- 3400 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
- Third-party appsHow a third party's application reaches the device: an ordinary Android package, a vendor-only SDK, or not at all.
- Ordinary Android app (APK)
- 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.
- Suitable for training: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Business tier: not published by the manufacturer
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- IP52
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- USB Type-C (DisplayPort Alt Mode) · microSD · 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- 5 (802.11ac)
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- 5.0
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Over a cable (DisplayPort Alternate Mode)
- 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.
- 2
- CameraA camera is what makes a remote expert call and photo documentation possible.
- Yes
- 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
Who this device is for
The BT-45CS is one of the few binocular see-through devices in the industrial class: a 34-degree field of view through both eyes, driven by a wired Android controller you keep in a pocket. It suits remote mentoring and field service where a technician needs a proper picture rather than a glance-at display.
How it differs from its predecessor
Against the monocular devices here — RealWear, Vuzix, Iristick — this is the one that gives you two eyes and a wider field of view, at the cost of a tethered controller and IP52, which is the lowest protection rating in this group. Against Magic Leap 2 it is far cheaper and does not do spatial anchoring at all.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
No motion tracking of any kind, IP52 protection that rules out wet and dusty sites, and a tethered controller that adds a cable to a working environment. There is no vendor device management in our data and our applications do not run on it. Epson publishes no display brightness for the glasses, and because the headset itself carries no battery there is no runtime figure either - only the controller's 3,400 mAh cell.
Epson Moverio BT-45CS — frequently asked questions
- Why does the Epson Moverio use a separate controller?
- The Android computing and the battery sit in a wired handheld unit, which keeps the glasses light and the electronics out of the way — the same idea as Magic Leap's compute puck. It is also the trade-off: there is a cable running from the glasses to your pocket.
- Is a binocular display better for remote assistance than a monocular one?
- For anything you have to read or examine, yes — two eyes and 34 degrees is a picture rather than a glance. For a worker moving around a plant with gloves on, a monocular display that stays out of the way is often the safer choice, which is why both classes exist.
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 2026-08-04. 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.