Varjo VR-2 Pro — specification and verdict
The Pro is the VR-2 with the one omission put back. Where the base model has no hand tracking at all, the Pro carries an integrated Ultraleap sensor - two wide-angle infrared cameras and their LEDs - so a trainee can reach for something without a controller in hand. The rest follows from that: a 250 gram counterweight to balance the extra hardware, a 10 metre optical cable instead of five, and a thousand dollars more on the price. The bionic display, the automatic IPD, the 100 Hz eye tracking and the SteamVR base-station dependency are identical to the VR-2, which is why the two records look so alike and why copying figures between them is the standard mistake.
The subscription is higher here and it is not optional: Varjo attached a Software and Support service of 995 euro a year to every VR-2 Pro, minimum one year, worded as added to the price of all purchases. That puts real entry at roughly 6,990 euro per seat before base stations and controllers, neither of which is in the box - Varjo recommends four base stations for room-scale work. Lead time was longer than the base model at six to eight weeks, and shipping covered 35 countries for business use only. Support has since stopped moving: Varjo Base 3.7.2 is the last release it recommends for this generation, with no dated end-of-life notice.
Historical, like the base VR-2 - a SteamVR headset our Android courses never ran on. Where the Pro is genuinely more interesting is that it is the earliest device in this catalogue combining human-eye-resolution optics with controller-free hand input, which is the combination a hands-on training scenario actually wants. It arrived at 5,995 dollars plus a 995 euro annual fee and needed base stations, so it answered the question at a price nobody could scale. If that combination is what you need today, look at the XR-4 line.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the VR — PC-tethered devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: 110°, from 39 models that publish the figure.
Median for this class: $899, from 45 models that publish the figure.
Controllers and hand tracking
Controller
6DoF
Sold separatelyHow it is tracked
Base stations (Lighthouse)
Base stations sweep the room with lasers. Coverage comes from where the boxes are mounted rather than from what the headset can see — occlusion stops being a problem, and the boxes are a second purchase.
Other controllers
Any SteamVR (Lighthouse) controller
Index Controller · HTC Vive controller
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.
- Varjo
- 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
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2019-10-15
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2019
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1440x1600
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- 60/90 Hz
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 87°
- 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.
- 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
- PassthroughWhat the front cameras give you: colour, grayscale, or nothing.
- None
- 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.
- 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: 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.
- Headband
- 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.
- outside-in 6DoF (SteamVR base stations, four recommended, sold separately)
- Base stationsWhether boxes have to be mounted on the walls before it works.
- Required
- 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.
- 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.
- Yes
- 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.
- No
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- Controller model: 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.
- 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.
- Base stations (Lighthouse)
- Other controllersWhether the headset works with controllers other than the ones it ships with.
- Any SteamVR (Lighthouse) controller — Index Controller · HTC Vive controller
- 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.
- Controller inputs: not published by the manufacturer
- 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
- 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.
- 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".
- FCC 2AROD-001 · CE 2014/53/EU · RoHS 2011/65/EU
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- USB Type-C · DisplayPort 1.2
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Headphone jack
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Microphone: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- $5995
- 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
The same simulation and design-review teams as the VR-2, plus anyone whose scenario needed bare hands rather than controllers. Today only relevant to owners deciding whether to keep a unit running, and to anyone tracing when hand tracking first met high-resolution optics.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Varjo published no dimensions, no IPD range in millimetres and no microphone for this model either, in the product pages, the Quick Guide or the Safety PDF. There is no dated end-of-support notice - only a recommendation to stay on Varjo Base 3.7.2 - because Varjo issued dated end-of-life only for the Gen 3 line, which does not carry over. One oddity worth recording: Varjo's own safety documents give the VR-2 Pro the same FCC ID as the base VR-2, 2AROD-001, despite the extra hand-tracking hardware. That is what the maker published, so that is what we carry.
Varjo VR-2 Pro — frequently asked questions
- What exactly separates the Varjo VR-2 Pro from the VR-2?
- Four things, and Varjo lists all four. Integrated Ultraleap hand tracking, which the base VR-2 does not have at all. A 250 gram counterweight, so the strapped weight is 855 grams against 605 for the headset alone. A ten metre optical cable instead of five. And a thousand dollars on the price, 5,995 against 4,995, plus a subscription 200 euro a year higher. The displays, optics, eye tracking and IPD mechanism are identical, which is why so many sources mix the two up.
- Was the Varjo subscription really compulsory?
- Yes, and Varjo said so on the product page rather than in the small print: the Software and Support service will be added to the price of all VR-2 Pro purchases, at 995 euro, offered for a minimum of one year. It was not a support option you could decline. For a buyer that means the sticker price understates the first year by a fifth, and it is the single most useful thing to know about this generation that no aggregator carries.
Compare this device
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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 2026-08-17. Manufacturer's specification
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