Shiftall Announces MeganeX Mark II & Index-Like SteamVR Controllers

Shiftall announced and opened preorders for an upgraded MeganeX Mark II, as well as Index-like GripVR controllers.

Shiftall was formerly a subsidiary of Panasonic, an effort to commercialize the ultra-compact VR goggles prototype it first showed almost six years ago. While MeganeX headsets still use Panasonic-designed pancake lenses, last year Panasonic sold Shiftall off to another Japanese company.

MeganeX Mark II

Preorders for the current Shiftall MeganeX headset opened around a year ago, priced at $1900, and despite our concerns, the headset started shipping outside Japan around April.

That makes it the only released tethered PC-only VR headset with 4K micro-OLED displays, delivering a lossless image with ultra high resolution and OLED’s signature near-infinite contrast and deep blacks.

According to Shiftall, the Mark II has improved “comfort, stability, and reliability” over the original. Here are the specific changes:

• The cable port has been moved to the front of the headset, from the top, and has been “reinforced for greater durability”. Further the headset’s input voltage has been increased from 5V to 9V, which Shiftall says allows for longer cables, up to 5 meters.
• The angle and position of the SteamVR Tracking photodiodes have been “fine-tuned”, which Shiftall says improves tracking when looking down.
• The onboard chip has been upgraded, and the firmware rewritten, which Shiftall says reduces the headset startup time by more than 5x and improves connection stability with the PC.
• The expansion USB port on the bottom has been upgraded to 5V/2.1A output, which Shiftall says enables connecting multiple peripherals via a USB hub, such as earphones and a facial tracker.
• The diopter setting for each lens includes a zero mark, making it easier to set it to 0 for people with good eyesight.
• The “material and shape” of the face pad around the nose area have been redesigned so that no sharp plastic edges push against the skin of people with high nose bridges.
• The internal heat dissipation structure has been improved, which Shiftall says allows the internal cooling fan to run quieter.

Other than these changes, the MeganeX Mark II is essentially the same as the Mark I. It’s still a $1900 tethered PC VR headset with 3552×3840 micro-OLED panels that requires SteamVR Tracking base stations for positional tracking and doesn’t include eye tracking.

While the headset still comes with its signature unique soft strap with a forehead pad that supports flip-up by default, Shiftall has also made a $99 Hard Strap, that it says should start shipping by the end of this month.

You can preorder MeganeX Mark II in the US, EU, UK, Japan, and South Korea, and Shiftall claims it will ship in late December, at the very end of this year.

GripVR Controllers

Shiftall also opened preorders for GripVR, a pair of SteamVR Tracking controllers with a somewhat similar design to the Valve Index Controllers.

The idea here is that since the Index Controllers are no longer available to buy in many regions (Valve has already ended production) Shiftall wants to ensure that MeganeX buyers new to the SteamVR Tracking ecosystem still have the ability to obtain VR controllers other than just HTC Vive wands.

The Shiftall GripVR controllers feature similar hand straps that allow you to let go of them when not holding a virtual object, but they lack touchpads and the handle has a grip trigger rather than finger sensing. GripVR does have finger sensing on the trigger, AB/XY buttons, joystick, and thumb rest, though.

Essentially, GripVR has the same control elements as Quest Touch controllers – which is what the majority of SteamVR users have, and thus what VR developers tend to design for.

GripVR is available to preorder for $400, and Shiftall claims it will ship in late December, as with the MeganeX Mark II.