Pasonomi VR Headset Review: Pros, Cons and Current Status

Product status and source notes

Pasonomi VR headset: status checked 24 September 2026

Still sold? Unconfirmed. We couldn't find a manufacturer page for Pasonomi, and Amazon wouldn't let us check the listing, so we can't confirm current stock or price. Treat it as an old generic phone viewer; the specs in this review come from the original product listing and we couldn't reconfirm them.

Still usable? Partly. It is a passive holder with lenses, so it still works with apps that offer a Cardboard-style split-screen view, such as the Google Cardboard app for Android and iPhone (the iOS version needs iOS 15 or later). YouTube's Cardboard mode works only in the Android app. The 4.7 to 6-inch phone bay is smaller than most current phones: Apple's comparison page lists its current non-folding iPhones at 6.1 to 6.9 inches.

What to consider instead: a Cardboard-compatible viewer sized for your phone for 360-degree video, or a standalone Meta Quest 3S or Quest 3 for full VR. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive this review originally suggested are discontinued, and we treat the Noon VR as discontinued too. See current alternatives.

Things to Consider Before Buying a Virtual Reality Headset

There are several VR headsets out there, and there can be some pretty significant differences between them. So, there are a few things you need to know before you buy.

What’s your budget?

The price of headsets ranges from under $10 for a basic phone viewer to several hundred dollars and more for a standalone or PC headset.

• With the lower price headsets, you are getting just goggles with lenses, and you use your smartphone for computing and your screen.
• Mid-range headsets may have both computing and screen built-in, but the computing is at smartphone levels.
• High-end headsets have high-definition screens and use a computer or gaming console for computing. This allows you to run more advanced applications. Today, standalone headsets such as the Meta Quest 3 also sit in this group without needing a PC.

What kind of smartphone do you have?

If you get a lower-end headset both your content options and your screen resolution are determined by your phone. If you have an older phone, your options will be limited.

If you don’t have a smartphone, you’re out of luck. You’ll need to get at least a mid-range headset…or a new phone.

What do you want to do with your virtual reality headset?

The lower-end and mid-range headsets have fewer app options due to having lower computing power.

Because higher-end headsets use a PC, a gaming console or much faster built-in hardware, they can run more apps with advanced functionality.

High-end and few mid-range headsets also have sensors which give you more options for apps.

Introducing the Pasonomi VR Headset

The Pasonomi Virtual Reality Headset is a lower-end mobile VR headset and quite affordable.

Mobile meaning both that the headset can move around freely (not connected to a pc or console) and that it uses your mobile device for the actual VR content.

The Pasonomi comes with an adjustable three-strap harness system for carefully placing the headset on your head. Each imported 42mm diameter spherical resin lens is tested for quality before installation.

The lens design gives you a wide 70-80 degree field of view.

I quite like the compatibility which the Pasonomi offers as it can be used with iPhones and Android phones. Another useful feature is the removable section present in the faceplate, which allows me to use my camera, while still in the headset.

When you put the headset on, you’ll notice the high quality, soft leather padding which fits comfortably on your face.

Pros

• Affordable headset
• Enables camera usage with the faceplate removable section
• Fits most iPhones and Android phones
• 3-strap, adjustable harness

Cons

• Spherical lenses can sometimes create distortions in images
• Hinged faceplate which may wear out as compared to magnetically attached faceplates
• A small field of view compared to other headsets

View the listing on AmazonPaid link · Historical or unverified listing

Features & Benefits

Certain features of the Pasonomi VR Headset make it stand out from other headsets.  Let’s check them out.

Sleek Design

Where some VR headsets look rather bland or bulky, the Pasonomi headset has a fashionable design that looks pretty cool.

Small Field of View

The field of view for the Pasonomi virtual reality headset is only 70-80 degrees. Other mobile headsets have a field of view of up to 120 degrees which gives a more immersive experience. Then again, those headsets can cost 2-3 times as much.

2 Degrees of Tracking

The headset doesn’t have sensors itself. However, because it uses your smartphone for running apps, it can use your phone’s sensors, which include an accelerometer and a gyroscope. This allows your phone to track tilting and turning if the VR app uses those sensors. You are not able to move around your environment, just pan and tilt.

Controls

Unfortunately, the Pasonomi headset does not have any buttons nor does it come with a remote. So, to control your phone, you have to remove it from the headset. You may want to consider getting a separate remote, like this one for an Android or a similar Bluetooth remote for an iPhone.

Audio

There is no built-in speaker system on the Pasonomi VR headset. Instead, it has slots on the sides of the phone cabinet to allow you to connect audio headphones. Since most people have some form of earbud or audio headset, this should work just fine.

This may actually be considered a benefit, too, as some virtual reality headsets with built-in audio have inferior quality audio. With this headset, you can use your high-quality audio headset or earbuds. As a side note, you can also plug your phone into the charger through the slots in the phone cabinet, which is very helpful.

Designed for Comfort

The three-strap adjustable harness is comfortable and takes about 30% of the pressure off your face. The soft leather padding not only feels good on your face, but its breathability keeps your face from getting too hot.

Adjustable Pupil and Object Distance

Using knobs on the side of the headset and a wheel on the top of the headset, you can adjust the placement of the lenses. You can shift the lenses further apart or closer together to fit the distance between your eyes (pupil distance).

The wheel on top adjusts the distance of the lenses from your eyes to give you a sharper image (object distance). These adjustments can allow people with myopia under 600 degree to wear the headset without their glasses, according to the original product listing.

Compatible with Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) apps use your phone’s video camera to display whatever is in front of the camera and then add additional images or information on top of the image. For example, Google Translate can automatically translate foreign signs your phone is videoing. Because the Pasonomi headset has a removable section of the faceplate that allows you to use your camera, you can use it for AR apps in addition to VR.

Fits a Wide Variety of Smartphones

Whether you have an Android phone or an iPhone, you can use the Pasonomi headset. It fits just about any phone with a screen size of 4.7in – 6in.

Low Cost

One of the most exciting features of the Pasonomi VR headset is its price. The Pasonomi isn’t the best VR headset out there, but at its marketed price it offered good bang for your buck.

Software

The Pasonomi virtual reality headset does not come with any software and doesn’t need any installation. Since you are using your phone to run apps, you only need the VR apps themselves on your phone.

Once you remove the headset from the box and attach the phone into the phone cabinet, you can start your VR experience. Note that Google no longer sells its own Cardboard viewers and moved Cardboard to an open-source project, so check that an app still offers a Cardboard or VR mode before relying on it.

What Are People Saying About the Pasonomi Headset?

A list of features and benefits is nice, but how does it work in real life? I searched the web and found hundreds of comments. The vast majority of the comments I found were quite good, think 4-5 star range. You can read them on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Pasonomi-VR-Glasses-Virtual-Smartphone/product-reviews/B0187DR12G/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

Note: those ratings date from when this review was written; we couldn’t check the current listing or its reviews.

Alternatives to the Pasonomi VR Headset

The Pasonomi virtual reality headset is a good headset for its price, but you may be looking for some features that Pasonomi doesn’t offer. Thankfully, there are plenty of other headsets out there from which to choose.

We’ve put together a list of alternatives at varying prices with different features so you can find the headset that works best for you.

Noon VR (discontinued)

Note: as our Noon VR review explains, we treat the Noon VR as discontinued and couldn’t confirm that its companion app still works, so this section is kept for reference only.

The Noon VR headset is slightly more expensive than the Pasonomi and also uses your smartphone. It fits phones 4.7in – 5.7in. The phone is held in place with a strap, allowing for AR compatibility and has an optional, removable faceplate that snaps into place.

It uses eye-sight tap controls and has a field of view of 95 degrees. It has distance focus adjustments, but you cannot change the pupil distance. Noon also offers a free app to store videos and watch other user-created videos.

The big difference between Noon and Pasonomi is that the Noon headset has a control system which allows you to control your phone without taking it out of the phone cabinet. Just focus your sight on what you want to select and tap.

You can check out the Noon VR headset, here.

Similarities

• Uses your smartphone
• Has three strap harness
• Compatible with augmented reality
• No built-in audio

Differences

• Eye-sight tap control feature
• Only fits phones up to 5.7in
• Has a 95-degree field of view
• Relatively costlier than the Pasonomi

View the listing on AmazonPaid link · Historical or unverified listing

Oculus Rift (discontinued)

The Oculus Rift is a high-end virtual reality headset. It has a built-in high definition screen, external sensors, and hand-held touch controllers. Your PC runs the apps allowing the Oculus Rift to run some of the best quality VR apps and there are a ton more apps to choose from. Your computer has to meet the requirements though. Oculus’s original recommended specification was:

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics card or better
• 8 GB of RAM or more
• Intel Core i5-4590 or a faster CPU

The external sensors and hand-held touch controllers allow you to move around your virtual environment and use your hands in the virtual world. It has a built-in audio system and comes with six free apps.

The Oculus Rift was one of the best VR headsets on the market. It gave an almost incomparably better experience than Pasonomi, but you had to be willing to pay for that experience. It is no longer sold: production of the original Rift ended in March 2019, and Facebook (now Meta) discontinued its successor, the Rift S, in 2021.

Similarities

• Three strap harness system

Differences

• Uses a PC for apps and has a built-in screen
• Is tethered to your PC (not fully mobile like the Pasonomi)
• Comes with six free apps
• Uses hand-held touch controllers and external sensors
• Can run many more apps and higher quality apps
• Costlier option as compared to Pasonomi

HTC Vive (discontinued)

The HTC Vive is another high-end virtual reality headset. Like the Oculus Rift, it uses your PC to run the apps and has a built-in high definition screen. According to HTC’s support page, the recommended PC has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480 GPU or better (GTX 970 or Radeon R9 290 minimum), an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 CPU or better, 4 GB of RAM or more, and HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer.

It comes with hand-held controllers with haptic feedback and uses two external base stations, so you can use your hands and move freely around your VR environment. HTC’s play-area guide gives a diagonal of up to 5 m, or roughly 3.5 m × 3.5 m (about 11 ft 6 in square).

The HTC Vive was a strong choice for games, 3D videos and other virtual experiences, and one of the best VR headsets you could buy at the time. HTC began retiring the original Vive in September 2019, so it is now only found used.

Discover the HTC Vive here.

Similarities

• Adjustable 3-strap headset

Differences

• Haptic response hand-held touch controllers
• Built-in screen
• Uses your computer instead of your phone to run apps
• Can run more apps and higher quality apps
• Uses external sensors for tracking movement around a room
• Tethered to your PC
• Costlier option as compared to Pasonomi

View the listing on AmazonPaid link · Historical or unverified listing

What to buy instead

• A Cardboard-compatible phone viewer that fits your phone: the cheapest way to watch 360-degree video and try the Google Cardboard app. Check the supported screen size first, because most current phones are larger than 6 inches. Our VR headsets under $50 guide covers this category.
• Meta Quest 3S: a standalone headset with its own screens, processor and controllers, so no phone or PC is needed. Meta lists it from $349.99 as of September 2026, after a price increase in April 2026.
• Meta Quest 3: the higher-end Quest, listed by Meta at $599.99 for the 512 GB model as of September 2026.

Conclusion

If you’ve wanted to jump into the virtual reality world but didn’t think you could afford it, the Pasonomi VR headset was a great option to get you in the game (or video).

Its comfortable design, optical and pupil distance adjustability, and augmented reality compatibility made it a good choice for the budget-minded consumer. Today it only makes sense if you find one cheaply and your phone fits its 4.7 to 6-inch bay; for anything beyond 360-degree video, a standalone headset is the better buy.

You can check the Pasonomi VR Headset listing by clicking here.

Research behind this guide

Check the linked specifications and support documents, or read how we research. Original review experience stays attributed to its author.

View 13 sources

• Google Cardboard (Google AR & VR)
• Google Cardboard app (Apple App Store)
• Watch VR videos and 360 videos (YouTube Help)
• Google Store stops selling Cardboard VR headsets (9to5Google)
• Compare iPhone models (Apple)
• Meta Quest headsets compared (Meta)
• An update on Meta Quest pricing (Meta)
• Facebook to discontinue Rift product line in 2021 (Road to VR)
• Oculus Rift (Wikipedia)
• Oculus Rift CV1 (Wikipedia)
• HTC is retiring the original Vive (UploadVR)
• VIVE system requirements (HTC Vive support)
• Planning your play area (HTC Vive support)

Explore the related guides in VR headsets.