Somnium Space · 2024 · VR — PC-tethered
Somnium VR1
Built like a workshop tool: modular, base-station tracked, and adjustable to almost any face.
{{name}} — specification and verdict
Somnium VR1 is the enthusiast headset that behaves like laboratory equipment. QLED panels with a mini-LED backlight and local dimming give 2880 x 2880 per eye across a 130-degree horizontal field of view — the widest here — at 90 Hz, with 120 and 144 Hz modes opened later on the same hardware. The interpupillary range runs from 57 to 76 mm, which is wider than anything else in this comparison and the reason it fits people other headsets simply do not. Tracking is Lighthouse: Valve or HTC base stations, version 1.0 or 2.0, and any Lighthouse controller you already own. The figures here describe the Classic Edition; eye tracking, hand tracking and colour pass-through are factory-fitted modules on the Visionary, Titan and Ultimate editions.
Read this one as a specialist instrument rather than a product. It is PC-VR through and through — base stations to mount, controllers to source separately, a workstation per seat — so our Android courses do not run on it and there is no management layer to speak of. What the modular approach buys is a headset configured for one job: a research group can order eye tracking, a simulator operator can skip it. The 57–76 mm interpupillary range deserves a second mention, because in a shared setting the people a headset cannot fit are the people who get left out of the training, and this is the one device here that reaches both ends of the adult range.
Consider Somnium VR1 when a specific technical requirement rules out everything else — an unusually wide or narrow interpupillary distance, a research setup that needs eye tracking on a PC, a simulator already built around base stations. It is not a training fleet: at three thousand euros and up, with base stations and controllers on top, the money buys a workbench, not a room of headsets. For our courses, as with every PC-VR entry here, the answer is no.
Full specification
Overview
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Somnium Space
- 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.
- 2024
- 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.
- 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: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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.
- 2880x2880
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- 90/120/144 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 130° 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: 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.
- Weight: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
Tracking and input
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- outside-in 6DoF (SteamVR base stations 1.0 or 2.0)
- 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
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- 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.
- IPD adjustment: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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.
- 57–76 mm
- Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts.
- Works with glasses: Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-07-30.
- 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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