The Varjo Aero virtual reality headset provides an industry-leading immersive experience for small businesses, professionals as well as the upper crust VR enthusiasts capable of splurging on its $2,000 virtual reality headset.

Varjo’s new virtual reality headset unveiled yesterday targets professionals, small businesses and well-heeled buyers willing to cough out $2,000 for a high-end mixed reality headset. This is the headset to go for if you are looking for highly realistic 3D imagery thanks to its monstrous 2880 x 2720 resolution per eye. However, at $1,990, the Varjo Aero is still cheaper than the company’s other pricey high-end headsets that cost as much as $5,500 and which are used by many Fortune 500 companies.

Varjo Aero
Varjo Aero

For roughly $2,000, Varjo Aero buyers will get a new headset with a high-end visual fidelity as well as seamless images with wide viewing angles, thanks to the 115-degree field of view (FOV). The headset has been designed for enterprise buyers but it should also work for virtual reality aficionados willing to cough out that amount for a high-fidelity VR experience.

The new Varjo Aero, along with the company’s recently announced Varjo Reality Cloud platform, represent a major step towards the realization of a true-to-life metaverse for all according to Varjo founder and CTO Urho Konttori.

The Varjo Aero will not have any subscription fee in contrast to its previous headsets that have a hefty annual software subscription fee.

According to Konttori, the new Varjo Aero VR headset will meet the demand for leading-edge and high-fidelity virtual reality experience for professionals and VR enthusiasts including creators, aviators, and racing simulation enthusiasts. The Varjo Aero is geared at not just enterprises and professionals but also avid VR enthusiasts willing to splurge $2,000 on a headset for the best quality experience. The Varjo boss describes the Aero as the best VR headset “that anyone can get.” Konttori says that the Aero device, along with the company’s Reality Cloud platform will significantly advance the company’s mission towards the realization of a “true-to-life metaverse accessible for all.”

The Varjo Reality Cloud allows users to wear a VR headset and scan a room, enabling other remote users to connect to the imagery through the cloud and visualize it as if they are also in the same room with the same user doing the scanning.

Varjo Aero Has High-End Visuals

Images released by the company show the headset has better resolution than the similarly highly end but consumer-focused VR headsets like the Valve Index and the HP Reverb G2 headsets. The Aero headset allows you to easily tap into the benefits of the metaverse according to founder and CTO Konttori.

The Varjo Aero headset features advanced ergonomics and the weight has been considerably reduced compared to the company’s erstwhile models. In fact, this is Varjo’s lightest headset to date.

The Varjo Aero has professional-grade mini-LED displays as well as contrast levels, color tuning, along with crystal clear aspheric variable resolution lenses.

Comparison of the Varjo Aero to the HP Reverb G2 on Microsoft Flight Simulator
Comparison of the Varjo Aero (left) to the HP Reverb G2 on Microsoft Flight Simulator

The power of the new Varjo Aero headset can best be seen in graphics-heavy immersive experiences such as the Microsoft Flight Simulator as the headset allows you to get a high quality of graphics as well as authentic immersion. The Aero offers the leading visual fidelity in the market and should prove popular with Microsoft Flight Simulator aviators looking for authentic immersion.

Varjo Aero back image
Varjo Aero back image

The Varjo Aero also features built-in eye tracking capability for interactions, analytics as well as for foveated rendering which further helps minimize compute requirements while giving users crystal-clear resolutions.

The Varjo Aero also has lower PC hardware requirements which can permit scalable deployments along with numerous multi-use experiences such as in racing and flight simulations. It is also applicable in enterprise training scenarios and in design and creative use-cases. The Varjo Aero can also be deployed in immersive experiences such as museums, showrooms, and virtual arcades.

The headset is capable of ushering a generational leap in the visual quality for the high-end virtual reality applications such as in architectural storytelling, advanced training simulations or in automotive design.

Varjo Aero Factors in Supply-Chain Scarcity

Varjo’s previous virtual reality headsets needed the Nvidia GeForce 3080 graphics cards but these cards are in short supply. However, the new Aero headset has been engineered for the lower-end GeForce 2060 cards, according to the company.

According to Konttori, the decision was driven by the current supply issues for the highest GPUs in the market. The use of the more affordable and accessible GPUs have, therefore, enabled Varjo to expand in the corporate space.

The Varjo Aero also integrates the recently launched Varjo Reality Cloud service and will provide full support for virtual collaboration with an early access to Varjo’s VR teleportation software. Support for other functionality such as content streaming from the cloud will be rolled out in steps as the Varjo Reality Cloud becomes more generally available.

The Varjo Aero leverages Display Stream Compression as part of the Nvidia VRWorks software development kit as well as Nvidia GPUs in rendering high quality frames within a very short time. Varjo’s metaverse will be a major gamechanger for businesses and in our everyday lives, according to Nvidia’s director for VR business development Lisa Bell-Cabrera. Bell-Cabrera says that Nvidia’s new work with Varjo on the photorealistic virtual simulations and collaboration will bring things closer to a fully-fledged virtual teleportation.

The Varjo Aero is a lower-barrier-to-entry but high-spec hardware option and heralds the company’s next step in driving easy access to a photorealistic metaverse that is accessible for everyone. The headset will be shipping at the end of this year and can be ordered directly from Varjo website.

Varjo Aero Specifications

The Varjo Aero features dual mini-LED LCD displays that have industry leading resolution of 2880 x 2720 pixels per eye. It has a brightness of 150 nits as well as a refresh rate of 90Hz.

The headset is also built with custom-made variable resolution aspheric lenses that have 35 pixels per degree at peak fidelity. The Aero also has edge-to-edge clarity that’s free of ghost rays and reflections.

The Varjo Aero features a horizontal field of view (FOV) of 115 degrees and a diagonal field of view of 134 degrees. It has an interpupillary distance (IPD) of 57mm to 73mm.

The headset also comes equipped with an audio jack and in-ear headphones, complete with mic in-box. The Varjo Aero weighs 487 grams with the headband weighing 230 grams.

The Varjo Aero also ships with a headset adapter plus a USB cable. The Aero headset connects through a DisplayPort and a USB-A 3.0. It leverages SteamVR 2.0/1.0 for positional tracking. It also has eye tracking capabilities.

The Varjo Aero is 300 grams lighter than the company’s high-end virtual reality headset, the Varjo XR-3. The Aero is also more comfortable.  Its brightness is twice that of the company’s previous headsets, even though it is slightly cheaper. The Varjo XR-3 retails at $5,495 while the Varjo VR-3 retails at $3,195.

The Aero has a higher spec when it comes to brightness and according to the company, it has a very high brightness level compared to those of the other headsets out there. The headset’s specs check out if you are looking for high visual fidelity, eye-tracking, variable resolutions and other features that you’d normally find in the high-spec headsets. It is a professional headset through and through but one that still targets the VR enthusiast market. The pricing suggests the company is definitely not on a race to the bottom.

https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Varjo-Aero-Headset-600x338.jpghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Varjo-Aero-Headset-150x90.jpgSam OchanjiHardwareTechnologyVirtual Reality NewsVR HeadsetsThe Varjo Aero virtual reality headset provides an industry-leading immersive experience for small businesses, professionals as well as the upper crust VR enthusiasts capable of splurging on its $2,000 virtual reality headset. Varjo's new virtual reality headset unveiled yesterday targets professionals, small businesses and well-heeled buyers willing to cough out...VR, Oculus Rift, and Metaverse News - Cryptocurrency, Adult, Sex, Porn, XXX