Windows Mixed Reality (reference headsets) — specification and verdict
Windows Mixed Reality was Microsoft's attempt to make PC VR a Windows feature: one reference design, shipped by Acer (AH101), Asus (HC102), Dell (Visor), Fujitsu (FMVHDS1), HP (VR1000), Lenovo (Explorer), Medion (Erazer X1000) and Samsung (HMD Odyssey). Most of them share the same foundation — 1440 x 1440 LCD per eye at 90 Hz, dropping to 60 Hz on minimum-specification PCs — with inside-out tracking that needed no sensors on the wall, which in 2017 was the platform's real advantage over the Vive and the Rift. Samsung's models were the exception, with AMOLED panels at 1440 x 1600. They get one record between them because the only fact that matters now applies to all of them equally: Windows 11 version 24H2 removed the runtime, so the hardware no longer runs at all — not in SteamVR, not anywhere.
There is nothing here to deploy. A Windows Mixed Reality headset on a current Windows install does not start at all, and the only machine that can still drive one is pinned to Windows 11 version 23H2, which Microsoft supports for this purpose only through November 2026. Holding a training PC on an unsupported Windows release to keep a 2017 headset alive is not a trade any IT department should accept. If a storeroom has a stack of these, they are e-waste rather than spare capacity — and the replacement is a standalone fleet, because our courses never ran on PC VR in the first place, so the migration loses nothing except the wall-mounted PCs.
Do not buy one at any price, and that includes the very tempting second-hand listings. This is the clearest case in the catalogue of hardware ended by software: the panels and the tracking still work, and the operating system does not. If what appealed was the setup-free inside-out tracking WMR pioneered, that idea survived in standalone headsets — look at the Quest 3 or the PICO 4 Ultra Enterprise instead.
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.
Controllers and hand tracking
Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers
6DoF
Microsoft's answer to base stations: the headset's own sensors watch the LED halo, and nothing goes on the walls. Two AA cells each, a touchpad and a thumbstick as separate inputs, and — the honest caveat — once it leaves the headset's view for long enough the system body-locks it to you and estimates where it is.
In the boxHow 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.
Other controllers
Specific controllers from another maker
Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers (Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, ASUS)
Bare hands
No hand tracking — a controller is the only way in.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Microsoft and OEM partners
- 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.
- Announced: not published by the manufacturer
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2017
- 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.
- 2026-11-30
- 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: 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.
- ≈1440x1440*Road to VR — Acer AH101 review
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- ≈60/90 Hz*Road to VR — Acer AH101 review
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- 95° 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- IPD adjustment: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Head strap: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- inside-out 6DoF, no external sensors
- 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.
- 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.
- No
- 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.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Yes
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers
- 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 — Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers (Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, ASUS)
- 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.
- 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.
- Ports: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Audio: not published by the manufacturer
- 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.
- Entry level
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- Launch price: not published by the manufacturer
- 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
This page is for whoever found a Dell Visor, Lenovo Explorer or Acer AH101 in a storeroom, or is looking at one in a classified ad, and needs to know whether it can be made to work. The answer is no, and learning that before buying a display adapter for it is the point of the page.
How it differs from its predecessor
The Samsung Odyssey+ has its own page here; this record is the rest of the family. The Odyssey+ brought an AMOLED panel with an anti-screen-door layer and Samsung's own audio, while the other rebrands were the same LCD reference design in different shells. Both share the fatal dependency: a Windows runtime that no longer exists.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Nobody publishes a single specification for this whole family, so the figures here describe the reference unit. Microsoft's own developer-kit announcement states a 95 degree horizontal field of view, and Acer's launch release repeats it. No weight is recorded, because a shell weight belongs to one OEM rather than to the family: Acer states 1.34 lbs for its own unit and Samsung's AMOLED model is heavier. IPD adjustment differed by OEM, with Samsung's models carrying a hardware slider while most of the rest were fixed, and no vendor published an IPD range. Nobody published a to-eye brightness figure, and the lens type is named only in Road to VR's review, never by Microsoft or the OEMs. No launch price is recorded either: Microsoft announced 299 dollars for the Acer developer kit without controllers and 329 for HP, while Acer's consumer bundle with the controllers this record counts as included cost 399.99. Microsoft gives the end of Steam support as a month, November 2026, and not as a date, so the support row here is the last day of that month. The resolution and refresh figures come from Road to VR's review of the Acer unit rather than from any manufacturer, and are marked as such.
Windows Mixed Reality (reference headsets) 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.
- Tyriel Wood - VR Tech2018
A full review written from the perspective of somebody already using a Vive and a Rift, which is the comparison that decided whether WMR was worth buying at the time. Pros and cons are separated rather than blended into a score.
Watch on YouTube - The Verge2017
The first look from IFA 2017, when the whole point of the platform was that several manufacturers would build to one Microsoft reference. Useful for understanding why these headsets are catalogued as one entry rather than six.
Watch on YouTube - Nebbed2026
Where the platform stands now that Microsoft has removed support, tested on hardware you can still find cheaply. If you are considering a second-hand WMR headset, this is the video that says what still runs.
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.
Windows Mixed Reality (reference headsets) — frequently asked questions
- Do Windows Mixed Reality headsets still work in 2026?
- Only on a PC still running Windows 11 version 23H2. Microsoft removed Windows Mixed Reality in version 24H2, and after November 2026 even the 23H2 route stops receiving security updates, bug fixes and support. There is no way to run one of these on a current Windows install, and SteamVR cannot bring it back — the Steam support was itself a Windows component.
- Which headsets were Windows Mixed Reality headsets?
- Acer AH101, Asus HC102, Dell Visor, Fujitsu FMVHDS1, HP VR1000, Lenovo Explorer, Medion Erazer X1000 and Samsung HMD Odyssey, followed by the Samsung Odyssey+ and HP's Reverb line, which have their own pages here. All of them plugged into the same Windows runtime, which is why they stopped working together on one Windows update rather than one at a time.
- Is a second-hand Dell Visor worth buying for VR training?
- No. It costs almost nothing because it does almost nothing: the runtime it needs was deleted from Windows, and our Android-based training courses never ran on PC VR to begin with. One standalone headset does more for a training programme than a shelf of these, and it needs no PC per seat.
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.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-08-10. Manufacturer's specification
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.