Pimax · 2025 · VR — PC-tethered
Pimax Dream Air
170 grams of 4K-per-eye micro-OLED, with a headstrap that tightens itself.
{{name}} — specification and verdict
Dream Air is Pimax aiming at the ultralight class instead of the widest-field-of-view one. Sony micro-OLED panels give 3840 x 3552 per eye behind a three-layer ConcaveView pancake stack, and the whole headset weighs about 170 grams. Interpupillary distance adjusts automatically, eye tracking runs at 120 Hz to drive dynamic foveated rendering, and the headstrap tightens itself — a mechanism no other headset here has. It is uncompressed DisplayPort to a Windows PC; Pimax's own pages state resolution, weight and optics but never a refresh rate, so the 90 Hz shown here is marked as coming from the launch specifications.
Two configurations ship from the same page and the difference is the whole tracking story. The SLAM edition, described by this table, has four cameras on the headset, bundled 6DoF controllers, hand tracking and pass-through, and needs nothing mounted on a wall. The Lighthouse edition drops all four of those and expects SteamVR base stations and controllers you already own — cheaper only if you have them. Either way this is a PC headset with a minimum of an RTX 2080 behind it, no fleet management and no Android, so our courses do not run on it.
This is the headset to look at if somebody in your organisation wants micro-OLED clarity without the neck strain of a Crystal Super, and already runs simulation on a workstation. Take the SLAM edition unless base stations are already on the wall. For shared safety training it is the wrong category entirely — one seat, one PC, no management, no way to install what we publish.
Full specification
Overview
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Pimax
- 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.
- No
- 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.
- 3840x3552
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- ≈90 Hz*Road to VR, Dream Air announcement specifications
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- Field of view: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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.
- 170 g
Tracking and input
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- inside-out 6DoF (SLAM edition; Lighthouse edition uses SteamVR base stations)
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- Yes
- Eye trackingThe headset knows where the trainee is looking. Enables sharper rendering where they look, and attention analytics.
- Yes
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- Yes
- 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.
- Motorised
- 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.
- Price today: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
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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