Varjo · 2023 · VR — PC-tethered
Varjo XR-4 Series
The most expensive way to read a cockpit label, and worth it if that is the job.
{{name}} — specification and verdict
The Varjo XR-4 Series is what mixed reality looks like with no budget ceiling: 3840 x 3744 pixels per eye on mini-LED panels with local dimming, a 120 by 105 degree field of view, up to 51 pixels per degree, 200-hertz eye tracking and automatic interpupillary adjustment between 56 and 72 mm. Pass-through comes from dual 20-megapixel cameras with a LiDAR depth sensor, which is why physical cockpit panels and real hands sit convincingly inside the virtual scene. It is a PC-VR headset — a DisplayPort cable to a Windows workstation with a high-end NVIDIA card, 665 g on the face plus the headstrap. Varjo publishes resolution, field of view and IPD publicly but keeps the refresh rate in a gated product book, so the 90 Hz here is marked as coming from the launch specification table.
The series is three variants on one platform, which is why it is one entry here rather than three: the tables would be identical. The standard XR-4 has fixed-focus pass-through at about 33 pixels per degree. The Focal Edition adds gaze-driven autofocus cameras that push pass-through to 51 pixels per degree — the version that matters when the trainee has to read a real instrument through the headset. The Secure Edition is TAA compliant, assembled in Finland and can be configured with no radio components at all, for air-gapped and classified sites. Varjo sells by quotation rather than from a webstore, which closed in October 2025, and has an in-house professional services team for deployment.
This is the right headset for flight decks, vehicle crews and any simulation where the real physical panel in front of the trainee has to stay readable — the sort of work where a single day of the trainee's time costs more than the headset. It is the wrong headset for corporate EHS training: our courses do not run on it, it needs a workstation per seat, and cleaning and passing it between twenty people a day is not what it was built for. If somebody in your organisation is choosing between Varjo and a standalone fleet, they are answering two different questions.
Full specification
Overview
- 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
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2023
- 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.
- Yes
- 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.
- 3840x3744
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- ≈90 Hz*Road to VR, XR-4 launch specification table
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 120° 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.
- ≈665 g*Road to VR, XR-4 launch specification table
Tracking and input
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- inside-out 6DoF (SteamVR base stations optional)
- 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.
- 56–72 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.
- Yes
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.
- Enterprise
- 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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