Pimax Crystal Roadshow Event Berlin +Through-the-lens video!

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Hello everybody,

 

this weekend I went to the Pimax Roadshow Event! ? I know a lot of you wanted to go to this event but couldn’t, so I want to share my experience with you guys!!

Straight away - this headset’s picture was the ABSOLUTE BEST I’ve ever seen. I was critical of them in the past. But THIS!

Clarity, Field of View, Colors, Contrast, Resolution – Fantastic. Aero, Pico, Quest, GO HOME. ?

I was hesitant. These were not just promises. They put an Aero next to their Crystals for A/B comparison. Bold, but effective!

There are a lot of things I liked – and there are also things that absolutely need to see improvements before release.

 

 

Good impressions first:

 

I. Image quality! The Crystal has the same 35PPD sharpness as the Varjo Aero – on a much larger FOV – 140° diagonally. They also have a big binocular overlap – important for the feeling of presence. Also creates a feeling for distance. The horizon is far away!..

II. Colors and constrasts! What I really underestimated was the HDR capability – QLED screens – they are real. Local Backlight Dimming allow the blacks to be true blacks, the whites blindingly bright, the colors pop accurately. Unreal contrast ratios and precise colors. Even in IL-2! This is headset-side and works in any game..

III. Refresh-rates! The Crystals ran on 120Hz and 90Hz. They are working on 144Hz and 160Hz, which are still experimental. These modes also work with motion reprojection, so the PC can run half the framerate but provide a pretty smooth experience.

IV. Lenses! They showed the 35PPD lenses for the wide FOV. What I especially liked was that the FOV was very tall – I could see all the dials in the cockpit down to the stick while looking straight ahead. And I could read the dials easily. Clarity is across 80-90% of the radius of the entire lens.

Link to see what I saw, the first through-the-lens video here!

V. Distortions! I really dislike distortions. Edge distortions on older Pimax headsets, barrell distortions on the Aero to this day. The Crystal had no distortions whatsoever – Pimax finally got rid of them!

VI. Comfort! The facial interface was built narrower than the 8KX, this fits my face without lightbleed from the temples. It’s probably adjusted to our western hors’ish faces as well this time.? The Crystal is very well balanced, due to the battery in the back there is no pressure on the face as with its competitors. Neat: It has an internal battery as well, so you can hot-swap batteries during longer playsessions and everything keeps running.

VII. Smoothness! Tracking was not disturbed by IL-2, MSFS2020 or DCS torturing the computer. It is processed locally on the headset, so movement like turning remains smooth even in complex scenes, while framerate suffers.

 

Now to what absolutely needs improvements:

Note: Given Pimax history with promises and deliveries during start-up days, I saw on the event that Pimax was open and honest about these points. I can respect that!

 

I. The Controller Firmware for power delivery and tracking looks like a work-in-progress. It has to be, they were hooked to power cables, glitched out several times, and Pimax received a new Firmware during the event. Imperfect, but showed their FW is getting focus.

II. While the screens were fantastic, the scene suffered from white-color ghosting when I rotated my head. Sweviver confirmed that they know about it and also mentioned that it is getting tackled by the engineers.

III. The Eye-Tracking wasn’t shown yet, it’s a work-in-progress. They are working together with Tobii Technologies, the market leader in Eye Tracking from Sweden. As such, I couldn’t see Dynamic Foveated Rendering and Auto-IPD Adjustment yet.

IV. We could just see the DisplayPort connection – no WiFi streaming yet. I know YOU guys don’t care about WiFi and really want the DisplayPort anyway! But I love the added freedom, so I really missed this featureset of wireless VR.

V. The 42PPD lenses were ready, but not their distortion profile. Given that they managed to ace the 35PPD lenses without any distortions, I got my hopes up that they can simply achieve the same for the 42PPD lenses. But I was disappointed that they wouldn’t showcase them yet. Maybe in the future! 

Conclusion!

The headset is a must-have for Flight Simulation players. I think this already. Why? Clarity and sharpness like the Aero - with a larger FOV, true HDR capability (colors and contrasts close to VR OLED screens), foveated rendering, and high refresh-rates. 

High refresh rates for Flight Sims? Needs RTX5090? No. Think out of the box: High refresh rates coupled with motion reprojection. Go 144Hz and let your machine power 72fps. Use Foveated Rendering along with it. Your graphicscard will thank you.

I could also test it on two racing stations. The clarity and sharpness coupled with large FOV for your periphery and high refreshrates allowed for a great sense of speed.

 

For racers: I am certain racers will love that. I did. And I am no racer - "raced" that Bugatti straight into the wall!

For roomscale: Important that Pimax finalize the controllers and eye-tracking. Controllers for obvious reasons, eye-tracking to benefit from unity games (and more) offering dynamic foveated rendering. For roomscale players their best bet is to keep monitoring news on the Crystal with these two in mind - or wait for the Lighthouse faceplate after release.

 

The big question is – pre-order or wait for more reviews?
Looking back on my experience with this company during their startup stages, there were issues with quality control. We all know this. We talked about this. Some disappointed, some angry, some happy. Talked about it to Pimax’ representatives as well. They appeared very proactive in calling out what needs work, that it won’t release before it’s done. They also mentioned how Pimax has tackled quality control issues of the past. One is that the displayed units are already production batches – from the actual production line. They run several small batches of 20 units, test them and look for errors, to then iteratively improve processes. Then re-run more batches. Another is by focussing on one PCVR headset first, and keeping variation low. This also means we’ll have to wait for the 12K for a while – the 12K is still in Prototype-stage at around 75%.

 

-----------------------------------------------

More details on that in this Q&A with Pimax representatives COO Ying Zheng, Martin Lammi (SweViver), and Joshua Son (who knew the headset’s tech inside-out)

 

1) Production – is the first batch getting manufactured, and at what scale?
Yes. The first batch has already been produced on the actual production line and consists of 20 units, but the early batches are not for sale. The first batches are used to find errors during production and optimize the production line.

 

2) What is yet to get solved on the software side?
Bugs with controllers, they still tend to bug out. Controller tracking is difficult and is getting optimized. Only the Quest and Pico managed to achieve fully satisfying inside-out tracking yet, and that’s what Pimax is aspiring for. Another main is the 42PPD lenses distortion profile, which is getting worked on by another team. Pimax works with Tobii Technologies’ Eye-Tracking, and the Firmware is being worked on at the moment. It supports Auto-IPD similar to the Aero and will feature Dynamic Foveated Rendering, which works on the render level and renders the periphery with less pixels to improve performance.

 

3) How does the Crystal benchmark?
With similar resolutions and foveated rendering techniques as the Aero, you can expect it to be comparable. There are built-in features such as fixed foveated rendering and dynamic foveated rendering. The first is a static approach and improves performance, the latter allows developers to focus resources into a certain area and improve performance sharply.
If you have performance headroom, the Crystal will offer 144Hz refresh rate as well, and experimentally 160Hz. During the roadshow, it already runs at 120Hz.

 

4) What are the resolutions and refreshrates?
Using DisplayPort 1.4, the Crystal allows for 2880x2880 native pixels per eye. Supersampling always looks better the higher it is and depends on user PC performance. The refresh rates the Crystal allows for are 90Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, and they are experimenting with 160Hz.

 

5) What kind of store is offered for the standalone applications, and what gets supported?
They are using a VR version of the Pimax store, which has already been developed. However, the PCVR library allows to load other stores’ games and applications as well (for example Meta’s, Steam’s, and locally installed titles).

 

6) Please take through-the-lens photo or video of the Crystal, if it is allowed?
Check the link to the video above if you haven't yet!

 

7) When will independent reviewers get units?
Next month maybe MRTV gets a preview set, which won’t be a consumer release version yet, as it does not include all features. Pimax only wants to present features that fully work this time. Further units, especially those for most YouTubers will get sent out after CES 2023.

 

? When will it be available in Europe, and what distribution channels will get used?
The initial consumer batches will be distributed to the reservations in the Pimax webstore and get shipped directly from Shanghai to the customers. The other main channel for distribution are Amazon FBAs. It will become available after the Chinese New Year Holidays in 2023 at the earliest. No fixed release date yet.

 

9) Are there different Crystal packages getting sold, e.g. without controllers or without battery?
The options should be streamlined, so far focus is on one main package at 1599,- which will contain the Crystal Headset, 2 sets of lenses (35PPD and 42PPD), 2 controllers, at least 1 battery. The pre-order package includes some extras.

 

10) Will there be a more affordable vision-only version of a headset (no wifi, battery, chip, etc.)?
Pimax focuses on one version at the moment, which is the Crystal.

 

11) Why no DP 2.0 or 2.1?
It would not fit the current market – even the RTX 4090 uses DP 1.4 and no DP 2.0. They can achieve the same fidelity using DSC on DP 1.4, similar to Varjo and others.

 

12) When will the Lighthouse and Mixed Reality faceplates come?
The Lighthouse faceplate will come later, after release. They first want to focus and nail down the current Crystal. The Mixed Reality version with the passthrough feature will come later in 2023, a couple of months after release.

 

13) What about the 12K, when will it get released, will it feature DP 2.0?
The 12K will get into production and towards release only after the Crystal (and the Portal) are fully completed. It is currently still in the development stage, it is at approxamitely 75%. As mentioned before on DP 2.0, it would not make much sense in the environment of this year and the next to limit to customers who can field DP 2.0 ports which may just be 4090Ti and AMD users. Instead, the 12K will feature two DP1.4 ports, so RTX4080 and RTX4090 will run it as well.

 

Thanks for the questions and interest to @chiliwili69@SCG_Redcloud111@dburne @=DW=_Broadway@dolki@Otterman@simfan2015@Dagwoodyt@DBCOOPER011@chilli40

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Now if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask!!!

 

Best regards

Fenris ?

 

There are also more details available found here (Link to .PDF)

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by SCG_Fenris_Wolf

[Broadway]

Quick read, all looks v positive, thanks for taking the time to review and comprehensively answer the questions asked

Edited November 23, 2022 by =DW=_Broadway

[DBCOOPER011]

Thanks for the information! good enough for me to do a pre-order...

[kissTheSky]

Thanks for sharing. 

[Varibraun]

Thank you spending the time on this very detailed overview @SCG_Fenris_Wolf. 

 

Last week I decided to commit the $30 refundable reserve fee, so I am glad at least your initial impressions are generally positive (especially since we all know you are detail focused and not easily impressed).  Fingers crossed that Pimax is in fact committed to improving their reputation with this Crystal release.

[Chilli_40]

Thank you so much for that in-depth review scg_Fenris_Wolf! 

[Voyager]

Can it fit fill glasses under it?

 

Does it need a separate headset?

 

Did we have an idea on pricing? 

[Broadway]

Pricing already announced , USD1599, to include extra 42ppd lenses, controllers and at least on battery. Although shipping and tax will add 20-25% to this . Glasses depends on size,  a better solution would be additional VR prescription lenses as give protection and provides a more integrated solution , maybe not available on day 1 as suppliers have to customize to headset.  Not sure what you mean by separate  headset, it should provide all you need to play flighsims  at that price, but additional faceplates are meant to be in development, including possibly a pass through camera version (although not mentioned recently and in IMO not so important , but a nice to have for some) 

[simfan2015]

Thank you so much Fenris for your expert and detailed "work of art".

But still a while till we will be able to experience this marvel for ourselves,

 nevertheless it surely seems worth the wait !

[chiliwili69]

HEY!! what a wonderfull and detailed review! Thank you for making this for us!

I also was very skeptical with Pimax but this impresions make me really doubt about pre-ordering. At the end, VR is very personal and the best way is to try the device.

Everything I am looking for is there (image, FOV!, edge-to-edge clarity, comfort, etc).

The issues you mention are just for things that don´t botter me too much (don´t use controllers, wifi thing, 42ppd lenses with less FOV), the only thing could be the white ghosting.

 

Is the battery needed if connected with the 3in1 DP cable?

 

I understand then that you tested it without Basestations, right? So they are not needed.

 

It is also a pitty that there is not a native 72Hz or 80Hz mode, to load CPU less. The motion reprojection techniques in my experience always introduce glitches. But 90Hz is OK.

 

BTW, did you pre-order then?

 

Some more videos about it:

 

 

and more:

 

 

[Charlo-VR]

In addition to chiliwili’s questions:

 

- Could I use either flavor of VRNeckSafer with the Crystal?

 

- Is there a built-in audio solution?

 

I’m used to the above and inside-out tracking of my G2, so at that price I don’t to lose those features I currently enjoy

[Otterman]

 

Thanks for a very detailed update.

What hardware were they using for this, was any mention made of AMD support?

Think this is going on my ideal future spec list. Currently have G2, 9900K, 3080 ti.

For DCS, MSFS, IL2 really need to upgrade the processor first but then may be a while to get the funds for stage 2 and 3. If the crystal worked OK with the 3080ti would probably get more fun with the Pimax even if I have to turn down a lot of settings. Hopefully games will start to use multi core soon anyway. Also do ACC, AMS2 which are less CPU demanding and the crystal should hopefully be OK with these with existing hardware.

[dburne]

I wonder are they developing Pimax Crystal alongside Pimax Portal "Frontier" or will one come before the other...

[SCG_motoadve]

No matter how nice of a headset Pimax makes, I will never again order anything from this company.

[Otterman]

I am hoping that over the past couple of years Pimax have improved in quality control, software and customer care. Will certainly not be an early adopter.

[Dagwoodyt]

Hopefully there will be more road show videos. Overall it is a discouraging situation. Without any input from Valve it seems there is no worthy successor to the Index' ease of use and dependability for Display Port users.

[Voyager]

12 hours ago, =DW=_Broadway said:

Pricing already announced , USD1599, to include extra 42ppd lenses, controllers and at least on battery. Although shipping and tax will add 20-25% to this . Glasses depends on size,  a better solution would be additional VR prescription lenses as give protection and provides a more integrated solution , maybe not available on day 1 as suppliers have to customize to headset.  Not sure what you mean by separate  headset, it should provide all you need to play flighsims  at that price, but additional faceplates are meant to be in development, including possibly a pass through camera version (although not mentioned recently and in IMO not so important , but a nice to have for some) 

 

Meant a separate audio headset. I.e. does it have sound and an integrated microphone. 

 

Glasses vs prescription lenses is tricky. I've got about 9 diopters of correction with another 3 diopters of astigmatism, so I really cannot see without my glasses. As in my glasses themselves are not resolvable at arms length without them. So I tend to prefer to wear them, rather than take them off and try to find them when I take the headset off. Not like I could slide the headset up and actually see anything anyways. 

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Hey, regarding the questions:

 

11 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Is the battery needed if connected with the 3in1 DP cable?

 

I understand then that you tested it without Basestations, right? So they are not needed.

 

It is also a pitty that there is not a native 72Hz or 80Hz mode, to load CPU less. The motion reprojection techniques in my experience always introduce glitches. But 90Hz is OK.

 

It seemed that the battery was plugged in when connected, but whether this is a requirement is not clear yet. We should find out! ?

 

Yes, I tested without Basestations. The HMD tracking was already rock solid. There was a large glassy window front, many reflective surfaces, and sunlight.

 

That is correct. But what is also interesting is that motion reprojection seems to produce less visible artifacts the higher the refresh rate, which is logical: Temporally it gets more precise with higher refresh rates.

 

7 hours ago, Charlo-VR said:

In addition to chiliwili’s questions:

 

- Could I use either flavor of VRNeckSafer with the Crystal?

 

- Is there a built-in audio solution?

 

I’m used to the above and inside-out tracking of my G2, so at that price I don’t to lose those features I currently enjoy

I believe so. If it works in the 8KX or 5K+, why not here. I didn't need it though. The combination of good FOV and clarity to the edges allowed me to turn my head around and properly see what was at the back.

 

Yes, there is a built-in audio solution similar to what we know from the Index / Reverb G2. Some guys on the forums mentioned that the Crystal has a new audio chipset to drive them better than the 8KX. We should find this out as well! ?

[chiliwili69]

Thanks Fenris, BTW, did you then pre-order?

 

I was thinking also about pre-order.

On the positive side I see:

- Resolution and quality image (2880x2880 for that FOV should be great)

- DP cable (no compressions or whatever)

- Color and contrast

- No basestation need

- built-in audio solution

 

On the negative side:

- FOV (I can not go back to a FOV of G2/Q2, I need something like Pico4 or Index or better)

- No native 72 or 80Hz modes, for low CPU demand.

- Pimax devices look and feel bulky in general. Higher rotational inertia. I like the compactness of the Pico4 and pancake lenses.

- Pimax and PiTools previous reputation

- No option to buy it without controllers (like the Index)

- No option to buy it without battery (although perhaps all future PCVR devices will be standalone and will have a battery)

 

For the moment I have decided to not pre-order. Let´s see first how it evolves along first half of 2023.

[simfan2015]

3 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Pimax devices look and feel bulky in general.

Indeed. For professional use this may not be a problem (depending).

FWIW. The reason I, personally, waited for an HMD like the "PICO 4 to arrive" was the bulkiness of all previous headsets.

 

[slikslik]

Thank you very much for your review SCG Fenris Wolf.  I have a concern with the smaller FOV and how it looks in IL 2.  Can you tell me if there is a binocular effect with the FOV?  Does it look like you're wearing a scuba mask with that FOV?  I play race and flight sims only, and FOV is everything to me.  I have the 8kx right now, but if I buy the Crystal, I lose out on the upgrade deal like the 12K.  At well over $2000.00cdn, I want to make sure I do the right thing.  Know what I mean?   Thanks again my friend   take care...Eddie.    

[dburne]

 

[dburne]

 

[chiliwili69]

On 11/24/2022 at 11:21 PM, dburne said:

 

At minute 52 they mention IL-2 as a tittle that will need some extra work from IL-2 to support foveated rendering.

I like SweVier guy. He is an excellent marketing guy!

 

On minute 1h:11 they also mention the battery thing. The final version will not need battery since it is connected to PC. On the roadshow they have to connect the batery because the cable was not the right one.

 

At minute 1h:28 Seb said that in his opinion the FOV is like Index!  What!!  This is interesting then.

Edited November 26, 2022 by chiliwili69

[dburne]

Eye tracking along with foveated rendering is certainly a nice thing in a VR headset as I have had it since getting my Aero in Jan, but if it does not get support from game developers it is not much good for anything more than "oh that is neat"... the auto IPD adjustment on the Aero is kinda cool, but once you know and your IPD is set no need for it anymore either.

[kissTheSky]

13 minutes ago, dburne said:

Eye tracking along with foveated rendering is certainly a nice thing in a VR headset as I have had it since getting my Aero in Jan, but if it does not get support from game developers it is not much good for anything more than "oh that is neat"... the auto IPD adjustment on the Aero is kinda cool, but once you know and your IPD is set no need for it anymore either.

I haven’t run IL-2 for more than 45 minutes since last February*, so I didn’t look at making OpenXR work with IL-2, but people have been successfully using dynamic foveated rendering with Aero with OpenXR Toolkit on other games.  
 

It might be worth trying to use OpenXR runtime with SteamVR so you can run OpenXR Toolkit as well.

 

*  I started it just to test Normandy release two nights ago and I was shocked how bad IL-2 looked and ran compared to my driving sim, which has native OpenXR support ?

[chiliwili69]

Hey guys!, that Crystal looks way better than my Index!!

Should I pre-order?????

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by chiliwili69

[kissTheSky]

?. I hope my G2 stays functional another year or so until either Aero 2 and/or HMDs like Crystal are on the market for more affordable prices. 

[dburne]

2 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Hey guys!, that Crystal looks way better than my Index!!

Should I pre-order?????

 

 

 

No offense intended but you have had and returned better image quality headsets than the Index.

What about this one makes you think it is the one? Plus I am sure you know as well as I that the Index does not look as bad as is being shown in the above image.

 

I will admit to heavy bias against Pimax though - for me just a personal thing. I will never purchase anything from that company. But it is good someone still pushes PC-VR for the enthusiast. The more that do the better for us all. I am hoping Varjo sticks with the consumer market after the Aero.

Edited November 26, 2022 by dburne

[kissTheSky]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

 

No offense intended but you have had and returned better image quality headsets than the Index.

What about this one makes you think it is the one? Plus I am sure you know as well as I that the Index does not look as bad as is being shown in the above image.

 

I will admit to heavy bias against Pimax though - for me just a personal thing. I will never purchase anything from that company. But it is good someone still pushes PC-VR for the enthusiast. The more that do the better for us all. I am hoping Varjo sticks with the consumer market after the Aero.

I am not biased, but have a strong negative impression of the company. But like you said, the more companies in the space, the better for us. I jus wish HP didn’t give up on the Reverb series. 
 

I still dream of a device with PiMax 8kx FOV, Aero’s active IPD tracking and cooling and G2’s price hitting the market. 

[Broadway]

I think the crystal has set a specification  of what to expect in the coming generation of headsets. I use a reverb G2 and have done for nearly 2 years, i fly most days and would love to upgrade at some point in 2023 although the G2 still makes me smile.

 

there are clearly issues with the reputation of Pimax, maybe they have or are addressing these issues, maybe not, we can only wait and see.  Also the Crystal is not yet ready , so i m afraid we will all need to wait to see what it really offers 

 

with CES in a few months it would be great to see what HP, Valve etc have to announce. Maybe an “Aero 2” in 2023 as well .  In Q1 i will decide which way to go , although willing to wait till Q3 for any product. 

[chiliwili69]

11 hours ago, dburne said:

No offense intended but you have had and returned better image quality headsets than the Index.

What about this one makes you think it is the one? Plus I am sure you know as well as I that the Index does not look as bad as is being shown in the above image.

The images above are zoomed to the pixel level, I also do that for my comparisons.

 

But, in fact, I have been interested in all new headset and bought some one then based on paper specs, just to see if they were for me:

 

July-2019: Index-Pimax5K: Winner Index.

Sep-2019: Index-Reverb G1: Winner Index.

Dec-2020: Index-Reverb G2: Winner Index.

June-2021: Index-VivePro2: Winner Index.

Nov-2022: Index-Pico4: Winner Index.

 

I didn´t tried the 8KX because I don´t like those pimax lenses with very very large FOV (waste pixel in periferia, add distorsions).

I didn´t tried the Aero because the vertical FOV is smaller.

 

On paper, all of the above have better resolutions than Index, but later, when I tried them there are other key aspects like percieved FOV, level of presence, edge-to-edge clarity, comfort, performance and other details.

When considering all aspectsI surprinsingly have been keeping the Index but it doesn´t mean the Index the perfect, it is a 3.5 year old headset.

 

If Valve would just produce an Index v2 identical to Index but with just a 2800x2800 resolution and pancake lenses with same FOV, then it will be perfect.

I am not interested in the Standalone funtionalities, or companies just making Standalone headsets with no DP cable.

Ideally for the Crystal I will remove bateries, charger and all XR and wifi chips. But the good thing is that you have DP cable! So I will follow this device closely.

 

So, between all this companies (Valve, Pimax, HTC, Varjo, Sommnium, ...) I can stay well apart from companies not interested in PCVR.

 

 

[dburne]

49 minutes ago, chiliwili69 said:

The images above are zoomed to the pixel level, I also do that for my comparisons.

 

But, in fact, I have been interested in all new headset and bought some one then based on paper specs, just to see if they were for me:

 

July-2019: Index-Pimax5K: Winner Index.

Sep-2019: Index-Reverb G1: Winner Index.

Dec-2020: Index-Reverb G2: Winner Index.

June-2021: Index-VivePro2: Winner Index.

Nov-2022: Index-Pico4: Winner Index.

 

 

Yes I was aware of the above and is why I was asking what about the Crystal leads you to believe it will be different for you. Index is a really good solid headset that only requires Steam VR but as you mentioned it is now pretty dated. I have the Index, the Reverb G2, the Vive Pro 2, and now Aero..

 For me I was much happier with the Reverb G2 then the Vive Pro 2 over the Index.

[Varibraun]

18 hours ago, chiliwili69 said:

Hey guys!, that Crystal looks way better than my Index!!

Should I pre-order?????

 

I didn't see any downside to their $30 reservation system, so I pulled that trigger a couple of weeks ago.  Easy to change your mind after you are in line if something better (or with a better company reputation - i.e. the mythical "Deckard") pops up, or if you just have second thoughts. 

 

Despite the comment in the Reddit thread below, I learned the scarcity lesson the hard way with the 3080, and I ended up missing that whole generation.  So at this point, I am jumping in early instead of waiting, with the view that I can always return or resell (much as you have done over the past couple of years comparing to your Index).  That philosophy landed my new 13900/4090 system for a full $1000 cheaper than I could actually build it for today and I am for the first time ever for me enjoying 90FPS.

 

Anyway, here is the Reddit discussion regarding how the Crystal Reservation works: 

 

[Dagwoodyt]

Seems odd that Pimax is starting a Crystal pre-order when the headset seems no where near ready for prime time and they seem to be investing substantially in their marketing campaign. Hopefully their hardware development funding is not being compromised. Supply chain issues may still affect product availability timelines.  ?

Edited November 27, 2022 by Dagwoodyt

[dburne]

1 hour ago, Dagwoodyt said:

Seems odd that Pimax is starting a Crystal pre-order when the headset seems no where near ready for prime time and they seem to be investing substantially in their marketing campaign. Hopefully their hardware development funding is not being compromised. Supply chain issues may still affect product availability timelines.  ?

 

Yeah also not to mention the other product that is being developed at same time apparently with the 4 in 1 device they refer to as Pimax Portal.

[Dagwoodyt]

If I knew that Pimax currently holds a massive market base I would be somewhat reassured. OTOH if they are trying to scratch out a substantial market presence after many years' effort, that's another situation entirely. So where are they? ?

[DBCOOPER011]

6 hours ago, Dagwoodyt said:

If I knew that Pimax currently holds a massive market base I would be somewhat reassured. OTOH if they are trying to scratch out a substantial market presence after many years' effort, that's another situation entirely. So where are they? ?

 

I guess the same could be said for Varjo, and it turned out pretty good from what I have read. Nobody will know until they release and reviews come out...

[Dagwoodyt]

30 minutes ago, DBCOOPER011 said:

 

I guess the same could be said for Varjo, and it turned out pretty good from what I have read. Nobody will know until they release and reviews come out...

Varjo didn't have Pimax' reputational baggage. Maybe Varjo also asked $30.00 reservations for their headsets though. I don't recall ?

[DBCOOPER011]

1 hour ago, Dagwoodyt said:

Varjo didn't have Pimax' reputational baggage. Maybe Varjo also asked $30.00 reservations for their headsets though. I don't recall ?

 

I'm not a fanboy or have a HMD from either. I'm not saying anything good or bad about the product until it's released. It just has pretty good specs at the moment from what I have seen, and the preliminary review by SCG Fenris Wolf look promising. That would be a win for the VR community if true.

 

It would be improper to say anything either way until its either on your head, or somebody else's head that you trust a decent review from. You don't have to pay the $30.00 reservation fee..

Edited November 28, 2022 by DBCOOPER011