Somnium VR1, the European huge subject of view PC VR headset, has began delivery to US clients, after already delivery in Europe in late 2024.
Alongside the milestone, the corporate is significantly simplifying its lineup by not promoting all however three of the seven fashions it provided to preorder clients, and this consists of not promoting the bottom mannequin. Additional, Somnium can be growing the costs of these remaining three variants later this month.
Who Is Somnium And What Is VR1?
Somnium is a Czech startup beforehand solely centered on its social VR platform Somnium Area. However in late 2021 it introduced the Somnium VR1 headset with a monster spec sheet for the time, in partnership with VRgineers – recognized for its ultra-high finish XTAL headsets for enterprise. Initially Somnium VR1 was pitched as a hybrid headset with standalone capabilities by way of an onboard Snapdragon XR2 chipset, however that concept was ditched in 2022 to concentrate on making it a solely PC VR headset as an alternative.
VR1 makes use of the identical 2880×2880 QD-LCD w/ Mini-LED panels utilized in Pimax Crystal. The shows have 20000:1 distinction by way of native dimming, 100% NTSC colour gamut, and assist 72Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz refresh price, with an “experimental” 144Hz mode obtainable too. The output brightness to your eyes is 210 nits, round double that of Meta Quest 3 and Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.
These shows are paired with giant dual-element aspheric lenses Somnium claims ship a subject of view of round 130° horizontal and 105° vertical. That is wider than some other VR headset available on the market. Pimax “5K” and “8K” had been even wider, however are not in manufacturing and had vital distortion within the periphery.
This concentrate on increasing subject of view is why Somnium VR1 is so cumbersome in an period of far slimmer pancake lens headsets.
Somnium says these 4 canceled variants had been the least in style amongst preorders. And whereas these preorder clients will nonetheless obtain them, new clients will not be capable to purchase them.
The remaining Visionary, Titan, and Final fashions all have eye monitoring, whereas the latter two have hand monitoring too, and Final uniquely has passthrough. However this new lineup brings the entry worth for Somnium VR1 to €2500 – and these costs are set to extend on January 16.
| Eye Monitoring | Hand Monitoring | Passthrough | Worth | |
| ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ||
| ❌ | 👐 | ❌ | ||
| Visionary | 👁️ | ❌ | ❌ | €2500 (for now) |
| Titan | 👁️ | 👐 | ❌ | €2900 (for now) |
| ❌ | 👐 | 📷 | ||
| Final | 👁️ | 👐 | 📷 | €3500 (for now) |
| 👁️ | 👐 | 📷 |
Somnium says these inbound worth will increase are coming as a result of manufacturing has been “much more advanced than initially anticipated”. Particularly, the corporate is experiencing high quality yield points with its shows and lenses, requiring advanced QA and rejecting some element inventory.
As for brand spanking new VR1 orders positioned immediately, Somnium says these will take one to 2 months to ship, and that it’s “making an attempt to speed up manufacturing as quick as we will to fulfill the demand”.
Later this 12 months, it plans to start out promoting spare components for Somnium VR1 to allow self-repairs.
Somnium VR1: Spectacular FOV With An Odd Lens Problem
Somnium VR1 guarantees to be the headset of selection for PC VR fanatics with cash to spend. However does it ship? I just lately went hands-on to search out out.
We went hands-on with Somnium VR1 again in July. It is best to learn our full impressions for the total nuance, however here is how we concluded that report:
Given the pricing, this clearly is not the following mainstream VR headset and even the following Valve Index. However it could possibly be the perfect headset for comparatively rich flight simulator and racing simulator fanatics who’re already used to spending hundreds to get the perfect setup. A local DisplayPort picture delivered to a really huge subject of view with almost 3K decision and eye monitoring is not one thing you may at the moment get from some other firm, at any worth.
Nonetheless, the expertise of VR1’s lenses appears to differ significantly from individual to individual, way over with most different headsets, and it is unclear to what diploma dialing within the configuration can resolve points you would possibly expertise. That makes VR1 a really troublesome headset to advocate. Somnium plans to arrange neighborhood meetups all through each Europe and the US to let potential consumers strive the headset on, so in the event you’re on the fence I might advise attending considered one of these meetups to see how properly VR1 is suited to your individual eyes, not mine.
