While leading iNFINITE, I've developed a passion for collecting VR headsets.
Have something that's missing? Email me at jan@infinite.cz with your offer.
Headsets are listed in chronological order.
March 2013 Oculus Rift DK1
This headset started it all. Rift Developer Kit was made available to developers and enthusiasts in 2013, thus marking the start of a new era in virtual reality. Aside from that, it was really terrible.
Summer 2013 Oculus HD Prototype
One of the really terrible features of the DK1 was its small resolution. This prototype added a Full HD panel, making it a bit less terrible.
June 2014 Oculus Rift DK2
DK2 introduced positional tracking, which allowed us to move our head in VR. Its low-persistence mode eliminated a lot of motion blur and its higher refresh rate of 75Hz made for smoother viewing. Simply put, made VR a bit better.
September 2014 Oculus Crescent Bay
CB upped Rift's resolution to 1200x1080, refresh rate to 90Hz and added a 360° tracking. CB was the first headset to achieve a convincing feeling of presence in the virtual world.
Spring 2015 HTC Vive Prototype
Made by HTC in cooperation with Valve, HTC Vive offered the exact same resolution and refresh rate as Oculus CB, plus roomscale tracking and motion controllers.
Spring 2015 Razer OSVR HDK
Razer tried to enter VR with it's own Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) initiave and a headset with specs akin to Oculus DK2. It failed to gain traction.
November 2015 Samsung GearVR
Samsung was first to deliver a consumer VR product. GearVR was a VR holder for the Galaxy S and Note phones.
28th March 2016 Oculus Rift CV1
The launch of Oculus CV1 (Consumer Version 1), directly evolved from the Crescent Bay prototype, marked the start of a new era of VR.
5th April 2016 HTC Vive
HTC and Valve's joint effort entered the market just week after Oculus, offering nearly identical specs, but with addition of roomscale tracking and motion controllers.
Spring 2016 Microsoft Hololens
The first AR headset on the market, making 2016 the year of not only VR but AR as well. Hololens was fully self-contained and targeted mainly at business.
June 2016 Razer HDK2
Razer updated it's original HDK to match the specs of Rift and Vive, but in many ways the product was inferior. Still failed to gain traction and was never heard of again.
October 2016 PlayStation VR
Sony joined the party in autumn 2016 with PSVR headset, which would go on to become the most successful headset of the first generation trio.
November 2016 Google Daydream View
Google's answer to GearVR, a premium holder for high-end Android phones with 3DoF controller. Failed to gain traction, discontinued in 2019.
January 2017 Fove 0
First headset with eye-tracking capability available to both professionals and consumers. Having failed to gain traction on its own or get acquired by another company, it slowly faded into obscurity.
Summer 2017 Acer WMR "Dev Edition"
Microsoft's goal with the Windows Mixed Reality platform was to prepare unified specs for a base device which could be produced and improved upon by different manufacturers. This specific piece was made by Acer and is terrible.
November 2017 Samsung Oddysey HMD
Odyssey targeted the WMR platform but added many missing features - such as a microphone, headphones or IPD slider - providing a decent and competitive headset
April 2018 HTC Vive Pro
HTC upgraded it's original Vive by adding new displays so it's resolution matched the one of Samsung Oddysey. Integrated audio and SteamVR tracking 2.0 was also introduces in this iteration of Vive.
May 2018 Oculus Go
Go provided a standalone alternative to GearVR, combining existing software library with numerous technical upgrades.
Summer 2018 Magic Leap One
Eating through more than 2 billion USD in funding, the first AR headset from Magic Leap was mostly just dissapointment and failed to gain traction.
Autumn 2018 Pimax 5K+ / 8K
This Chinese company advertised an impressive 200 degrees diagonal FoV and managed to deliver a solid headset. Definitely a surprise and a pleasant one at that.
May 2019 Oculus Quest
Standalone headset from Oculus which offered positional tracking and tracked controllers, bringing mobile VR up to par with PC VR.
May 2019 Oculus Rift S
New Rift made by Lenovo was an evolution of Rift CV1, offering new optics, better resolution, but at the cost of worse comfort, audio and missing IPD slider.
June 2019 Valve Index
Index took VR to the next level in many ways - delivering new optics, wider FoV, new audio solution, revolutionary controllers and 144Hz refresh rate.
Autumn 2019 HP Reverb
New HP headset for the WMR platform. Its 2Kx2K resolution per eye makes it one of the best headsets in terms of image quality. Its design closely resembles that of Rift CV1
Spring 2020 Vive Cosmos Elite
Variant of Vive Cosmos that uses SteamVR tracking and original Vive controller.
June 2020 StarVR One
Ultra-wide FOV headset StarVR achieved 170deg horizontal FOV, no lens distortion and correct optics calibration. But after 7 years of development, the rest of headset was a bit outdated.
July 2020 Pimax 8KX
Pimax release it's 'native 8K' headset in 2020, offering best picture seen to date, wide FOV with 150deg horizontal and copied Vive Pro headstrap.