Lynx R1 — specification and verdict
The R1 puts 1600x1600 pixels per eye across a 90-degree horizontal field of view at 90 Hz, on LCD panels with an RGB-stripe subpixel layout. That is enough for large labels, hazard pictograms and machine outlines, but a trainee will struggle with small print such as a valve tag or a rating plate, and will need to lean in. Ultraleap-based hand tracking runs controller-free, which suits point-and-inspect procedures; the 6DoF Lynx R1 Controller was sold separately, not in the base box. Hardware IPD runs 56 to 76 mm per the manufacturer's own documentation, wider than most, and the flip-up visor lets an instructor check on a trainee without unstrapping the halo. The Snapdragon XR2 with 6 GB of RAM is 2022-class silicon: our courses run, but they run at the bottom of what we support.
There is nothing left to deploy against. The French commercial court placed Lynx into compulsory liquidation on 4 March 2026, requiring the company to cease operations immediately, so there is no vendor MDM, no kiosk mode, no enterprise licensing and no RMA path. Distributors that carried the Enterprise Edition, including Komete XR, list it as sold out. Content still installs as an Android APK over the USB-C port, and the SD card slot plus the 3.5 mm jack help in a shared room, but hygiene consumables are limited to the magnetic foam facial interface, with no official replacement supply. Three hours of battery is workable for a training day only with charging breaks, and there are no spare batteries to buy.
Do not buy the R1 for a training fleet in 2026. Its maker is in liquidation, its software will not be updated again, and a device with no support contract is a liability in a room full of employees. If you already own units, keep running them as a spare pool until they fail, and plan replacements on a currently supported standalone headset.
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: 103°, from 25 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: 180 min, from 26 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: $624, from 36 models that publish the figure.
Controllers and hand tracking
Lynx R1 Controller
6DoF
Not in the box and not Lynx’s own: the R1 leads with Ultraleap hand tracking, and Finch builds the optional controllers. A lit ring read by the headset’s cameras — the arrangement Quest made standard.
Sold separatelyHow it is tracked
Headset cameras
The headset watches markers on the controller, so it loses a hand held behind the back or low at the hip until it comes back into view.
The controller itself
- Controller inputs
- joystick · face button · index trigger · grip button
Other controllers
Specific controllers from another maker
Finch controllers, sold separately
Bare hands
Full hand skeleton
The application receives a jointed hand pose, so a scenario can check what the fingers are doing and draw the hand as it moves.
Hand tracking SDK: Ultraleap
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Lynx
- 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.
- 2020-01-28
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2022
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued in 2026
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- 2026-03-04
- 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.
- Catadioptric (Apple)
- 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.
- 1600x1600
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- 90 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 90° 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.
- Weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- 90° horizontal · 90° vertical
- 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.
- Passthrough: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- 56–76 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.
- 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.
- 500 g
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Rigid halo strap
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Foam facial interface
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Black · Silver
- 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.
- inside-out 6DoF
- 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.
- 2
- 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.
- Yes
- Hand tracking detailHow much of the hand reaches the application: a pinch, or a jointed hand pose a scenario can read.
- Full hand skeleton
- Hands and controllers at onceWhether a controller in one hand and a bare hand in the other work at the same time.
- Hands and controllers at once: not published by the manufacturer
- Hand tracking SDKThe SDK an application reaches the hand tracking through, and any named modes that change how it behaves.
- Ultraleap
- 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.
- 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.
- No
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- Lynx R1 Controller
- 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.
- Headset cameras
- Other controllersWhether the headset works with controllers other than the ones it ships with.
- Specific controllers from another maker — Finch controllers, sold separately
- 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.
- joystick · face button · index trigger · grip button
- 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.
- Basic
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Octa-core Kryo 585
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- Adreno 650
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- 6 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.
- 128 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.
- 180 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.
- Battery capacity (mAh): not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Yes
- 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.
- 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.
- 6
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- 5.0
- 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.
- $849
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Headset only $849 · Headset with controllers $948 · Enterprise Edition $1299
- 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
Only useful to somebody who already has R1 units on the shelf, or to a research group that wants the raw camera access Lynx exposed through its SDK and can live without vendor support. Anybody buying a first fleet, or anybody who needs an invoice, a warranty and device management, should look elsewhere.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Lynx never published a headset-only weight — the 500 g figure includes the halo strap — and there are no dimensions, no charge time, no charger wattage and no brightness figure anywhere. Whether the passthrough is full colour is not stated in any specification we could open, so we left the field empty. VRcompare lists 6 GB of RAM and Android 10 while the Komete XR listing says 8 GB and Android 12; we kept the RAM at 6 GB and dropped the OS version entirely rather than pin an unresolvable disagreement. Since liquidation the manufacturer's own site covers only the unreleased R2, so the R1 product page is gone.
Lynx R1 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.
- Adam Savage’s Tested2021
A hands-on with a prototype, and it places the R1 precisely: the same Qualcomm XR2 processor as a Quest 2, in a headset built around an unusual optical design. That comparison is the fastest way to understand what Lynx was attempting.
Watch on YouTube - Cas and Chary XR2021
First impressions covering the full feature claim: standalone, SteamVR-capable, colour passthrough and hand tracking in one device. Worth watching as the promise against which the shipped hardware was later judged.
Watch on YouTube - SadlyItsBradley2023
A demo of the shipped hardware, from a reviewer who says plainly that crowdfunded headsets are a gamble because you never know what will arrive. That framing is the useful one for a device whose maker later went into liquidation.
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.
Lynx R1 — frequently asked questions
- Is the Lynx R1 still supported after Lynx went into liquidation?
- No. A French commercial court put Lynx into compulsory liquidation on 4 March 2026 and ordered operations to cease immediately, so 4 March 2026 is the practical end of support. Existing headsets keep working, but there will be no firmware updates, no warranty service and no replacement parts, and the manufacturer's site now covers only the R2 that never shipped.
- What was the difference between the $849 Lynx R1 and the $1,299 Enterprise Edition?
- The $849 price was the headset on its own; adding the two 6DoF Lynx R1 Controllers took it to $948. The Enterprise Edition was listed at $1,299 and was the business-facing configuration sold through integrators such as Komete XR, which now shows it as sold out. Neither tier came with any device-management software.
- Can our VR safety courses run on a Lynx R1 headset?
- Technically yes: it is a standalone Android headset with 6DoF inside-out tracking and Ultraleap hand tracking, so our Android courses install and run on it. In practice we do not recommend it, because the Snapdragon XR2 with 6 GB of RAM is at the bottom of our supported range and there is no vendor left to provide fleet management, updates or repairs.
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.
The manufacturer publishes no specification page for this device, so the figures were checked against a third-party database on 2026-08-08. Third-party specification database
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.