MORE reviews will be coming up to this channel as Pimax Crystal is CONTINUOUSLY improving! They will be linked in this video as I make them. If you've found this video useful and are thinking of ordering the next generation Pimax Crystal, you can order it for $20 off (affiliate) HERE: pimax.com/?ref=KRDI8M
When you get to the very high end then you have performance issues to tweek this is not *really* pimax's fault. It's like getting an 8k monitor and wondering why you have to change settings when you obviously will. And it's a bit unrealistic to expect an 'all possible problems for all possible PC configs and all possible games guides' to be produced by pimax either. PC gaming has always needed troubleshooting! Try adding a motion sim rig or full body tracking or haptic vests and VR injection game mods to the mix and the troubleshooting just becomes compounded more and more and more! This is why psvr2 and indeed quest 2 are refreshingly much easier to get into. I think these kinds of issues are a bigger problem for reviewers swapping between headsets but probably not so bad for regular users who only have one headset and one computer and maybe aren't even changing between games rapidly. Admittedly you have to know about steam VR overestimating what supersampling is possible! But I thought you could set this to default to 1.0 or whatever for all games by setting a checkmark? That issue in no man's sky is possibly caused by another X input device taking precedence. Like maybe a HOTAS controller where the stick position is not quite zero centred. There are a few games that I have to unplug my usb HOTAS or steering wheel for, or that device is treated as controller one and I'm just spinning! Or the in game menu just cycles down and down and down!
Great video, super clear! I'm the author of the 3rd party OpenXR tools you mentioned near the end of the video. Thanks for bringing those up for awareness! I'm open to hear your suggestions on ease of use if you have any!
i can only get one toy this year. As someone who spends ALLOT of time in VRC. would i be better of waiting for the bigscrean or possibly another alternative. I can handle the tech requirements but what concerns me is the bulk of the headset. currently using the G2 and the clarity of the crystal is why i have already pre-ordered but the comfort and neck strain (yes Im getting old) has me a bit concerned. whats it like strapping a 1ltr carton of milk to your face?.. oh yeah. great review..
The backwards movement is likely from the stick not being centered setting stick deadzone in steamvr should fix it. Some games have higher stick sensitivity, I experience this with my window motion controller also in some games.
Thank you so much for all the hard work and reporting on this significant headset! I would love to see more through the lens video, like for half life alyx and other titles :)
That’s my main issue with pimax. They seem to release headsets at expensive prices, too frequently, and their software is bunk. They’re leaving it tot he end user to find a way to make it work. I don’t own one for those reasons. Premium price, premium features, sub par software or expectations for you to use other people’s software. On top of that it doesn’t work well all the time after set up. “Yours, IF you can make it work!” Hard pass
Default render resolution is not a bug, it's a feature. To utilize available PPD and at the same time cover whole field of view means rendering at least 150% to accommodate barrel distortion. It's entirely incorrect to state that since your displays are 2880 then steamvr rendering should be 2880, it's simply not true, actually shocking to hear that from a VR reviewer with that size of a channel. If Pimax acknowledges this as a bug then the only reason is available hardware. We've actually seen this before with Reverb G1 vs G2 using the same displays and the same FOV but different render resolution because of the available hardware to the date.
@@mikebravo3527 right, only if they let me sell it afterwards and are OK with my crappy video editing 😁Crystal is too expensive for what it is and I don't need it.
@Fiztex553 In Soviet Russia Vee R's yoouuu haha Hope you get that joke bubs, no beef 🤘 And yeah, seems you can get 90% as good product for 1/3rd ze price
I'd love a brief look at VRAM usage and requirements for some common games while trying to run them using Pimax Crystal. If possible also: -Skyrim VR, or Skyrim (SE) -Forza 4 or 5 Horizon -Mothergunship (not Forge) -Horizon series -Final Fantasy 7 Remake -Kingdom Hearts series (PC) -Hogwarts Legacy -Batman Arkham series, mainly Arkham Knight & Gotham Knights -Saints Row 3rd Remaster -GTAV -Half-Life Alyx, apparently OmniWhatever got really close to 21Gb of Vram usage in their Pimax Crystal review video. Vorpx or Luke Ross, or with whatever if something else is more readily available for adding VR to games. Since obviously SBS through Dolphin Emulator wouldn't even need comparable amounts. Honestly not sure if all have VR or SBS mods yet.
I think your review hits it on the head. These kinds of issues are why, even though I main a Pimax 8KX myself, I virtually never recommend Pimax to anyone I know. I think the fundamental problem is that everyone at the Pimax company appears to be a _HARDCORE VR TECH NERD_. And consequentially, they are completely disconnected from the average user. That shows up in all these silly technical issues that you faced. Issues like the resolution defaulting to a stupidly high value are so quickly and easily remedied by a tech nerd that _they don't even notice it as an issue_. Seriously! The mentality is that users will want to adjust all the myriad of settings to taste anyway, and so it's seen as unimportant or even pointless to have these set to reasonable values out of the box. If Pimax really considered these kinds of issues important, they would have been among the first issues they straightened out rather than being among the last or never being addressed at all. Most of these issues are low hanging fruit. But Pimax doesn't think these issues are important. And _that_ is fundamentally the problem. As you say, it is this more than anything else which keeps them confined to a very niche market share.
With as many subscribers and views as you have, I am surprised you can't afford a 4090 and really see what that headset is capable of. The 4090 has been out a while, go get one =)
Woof, yeah I'm going to HARD pass on that. It's carrying the price tag of a semi premium headset, but has the user experience of a Wish or Temu $99 torture device. Horrible looking controllers, impossibly awful software, problems out of the box. Sounds like pimax will never learn or make something worth buying, oh well.
They should hire a team of software engineers who know what they’re doing. It’ll save them time and money. Can’t justify 1599 right now on something that doesn’t work. Nope
I am confused, you want a headset that is optimized to your hardware in use? That is not how PC hardware works. You decide what you buy, you can not buy an 8K screen and expect games to run on your 3060 without you having to adjust the settings. People are doing this with EVERY headset, nothing concerning about it. Actually a lot of the things to tweak you mention is what you have to do with a G2 for MSFS all the time, making MSFS usable in VR.
For people with RTX3090ti I’ve had problems with my card as well trying to set up mi pimax 8kx. The thing that worked and I have few friends that report the same. If you buy the newer longer cable (6m one I believe, the one with only 1 usb cable) it will work
I don’t like the idea of buying something from a country with concentration camps. Hopefully Valve (US), HTC (Taiwan) or Varjo (Finland) will make a better offering.
This is exactly the reason why VR struggles in the mainstream. I bet, that the Apple product (for consumers) won't have any of those problems. Especially PiMAX... its by far not their first product to lunch. I wonder why they still don't get things straight...
It's unfortunate these high end GPU are having issues with display ports since VR is one of the main reasons to own them. Great review. Hopefully Primax can continue to improve the experience.
hopefully it's only 3090Ti (annoying that I chose that particular GPU when choosing one), other SHOULD work fine but that DP repeater is a good insurance, it does help solve issues related to GPU performance.
I had the same problem with Reverb g2 HP said it was a common problem with all TI cards, something to do with the power/DP set up with all TI cards, they sent me a repeater and it worked. So if u have a TI card, well… be prepared
The problem is pushing more and more watts through the video port to ensure a reliable 4k DisplayPort signal is achieved through a length not typically recommended (> 2 meters). In this situation, VR headset makers should start looking into fiber optics for point-to-point so as to not overburden the graphics card power capabilities. OTOH, fiber optics would add to the overall cost of headsets, so there's always that con to consider.
When it comes to setup complexity for PCVR, Pimax is not alone. Pico 4 has proven to be every bit as challenging as what you reported here for Crystal. Can't handle the heat? Get out of the kitchen.😂
Thank you for taking the time to share your honest review with us. We truly appreciate your feedback and hope that Pimax support will take note of your valuable suggestions to enhance the consumer experience. Once again, thank you for your contribution.
Kind of a brutal review for a pre-release test of a new product. The problems you are talking about are not unique. The landscape is so vast and diverse that it takes time to figure this stuff out. But I agree, for a $1600 headset, the retail version better work better than you imply. A bunch of negative press right out of the gate will condemn this product to oblivion.
Thank you so much for this very honest review! It seems that the Crystal is just not ready for a release! I think you have experiences with the Varjo Aero too, would you say the grafik in the Crystal is so much better, that it justifies all the downsides? I mean the Aero is pretty stable what I was reading and viewing in the last couple of months. I preordered the Crystal but last week I had this feeling that I'd be happier with the Aero and I ordered one......
It is very hard to go back to Varjo's FOV after you try Crystal. Also, the local dimming make colors really POP! And it's a big difference compared to Varjo. But Varjo is much lighter and, yes, the stability is important. Hmm... tough question. I'm a sucker for a wide FOV and if you plan on playing stationary games, like a flight sim, then a larger size won't matter that much. Pimax is actively working on improving the performance and fix lots of bugs daily. It is possible that if I make a new review a week from now it will be a completely different one. So I would say stick with your preorder, Pimax work very hard on addressing many of the bugs I communicated with them as well as dozens of beta testers. I did not review a final unit just yet.
@@DiscoVRTetianare you sure it’s the local dimming that’s making the colours pop and not the quantum dots used for much larger colour space? Local dimming should be making image better by increasing the contrast ratio by allowing for deeper localised blacks like OLED (except not as accurately as OLED that has per subpixel level light control).
That's exactly why I sold my 8KX. I don't have the desire or time to spend hours setting up a game to make it work. But some didn't work properly and I had to switch to the Pico 4 / Quest 2. Your video shows really great what to expect and hopefully shakes Pimax up to finally improve the software experience
Crystal's promise was that individual game setup would be much easier than on 8KX. At least that is their goal. I am glad that the initial setup has been improved since i made this video, but individual game performance is still a bit of a hit or miss. We'll see how much has changed in my round 2 review!
Brilliant review, and straight to the point. Pimax needs to do their homework better, as the average user doesn't want to fiddle around forever, to get it working, as it should out of the box !!
It's almost like an average user is not a target to begin with? Which is a shame, soooo much awesomeness this headset can bring to the VR community, if only it was a little bit easier to unlock!
@Disco-VR Hey, thanks for the review! It's seems that it was so frustrating to get set up that it was gonna make you have a baby! Wait you are😊!! Congrats🎉... Im glad to see you found solutions to your issues. Hopefully we won't have those problems when we get ours.
Based on this review and of another more recent review by another enthusiast, I canceled my preorder for one. Too bad their software team is crap compared to their engineering team!
A lot of the issues you had easily related to my Pimax 5K Super. I have a RTX 2070 Super Moble. Games run way better on Meta Quest 2 and 3's third party link cable.
OMG, you made me cringe thinking back the the days of manually configuring dial up modems! I can't confirm this yet since I am still alive, but I suspect I'll die several years early due to all the stress and late nights working as PC tech back in the early days.
Nice and honest Video.I think i am not patient enough to do such stuff.I like the easiness of my Quest Pro which performs super in Wireless and cable without much knowledge.But i wish the Pimax users a fast Setting recovery🙂 and mindblown visuals.
Yeah, don't buy Pimax... Just don't! Their firmware ans software is just garbage. Their controllers are garbage... Their tech support.. Same.. Plua they constantly lie to their customers... Once i got my quest Pro, my 8k has lived in my closet where it belongs.. Well actually... Prob belongs in the garbage. I feel really bad for anyone who buys these pre beta devices. Pimax should stick to ONE headset and actually finish it instead of constantly releasing buggy crap. Glad i got a Quest Pro...
use and loading times of the batteries would be interesting. Also of the controllers. Also the build qualitiy of the buttons and the usb-c connectors. I find that on some of my devices usb-c tends to wear out over time. How long is the warrenty and can they get repaired locally/outside china? When preordering I noticed that warrenty is limited to the first buyer. Is that so? Would make it hard to sell them if you don't like them.
I really believe that PIMAX aim too high. I had the 8kx, eventually sent it back for refund. This headset is having same issues as the 8kx, why dont they learn.
I would love to see the Crystal at its best when running with your 3080. I would think most people own these gpu's and not 4090's that so far all TH-cam Crystal testers are using. More MSFS2020, as well as some modded pc flat to VR games would be interesting to see how fps and visuals stands up in performance compared to the best of the best home pc's that ALL crystal testers are using. Thx.
I thought so! I’ll definitely be testing it more on 3080 to squeeze the most out of its performance. I’m sure it’ll be relevant to more VR gamers than 4090. More reviews are coming!
The Pimax Crystal cannot really be used at its full resolution and pixel depth without a really expensive PCVR system to go with it, a 4090 based PC is really were you would need to be to fill up those displays, it also looks ridiculous and like something from a 1980s VR arcade, Pimax really need to work on the form factor instead of reusing the same outdated form as the previous headsets, the setup issues sound like a nightmare for anyone not PC savvy and so best avoided, hopefully the Quest 3 will bring that much needed bump in resolution and clarity for PCVR but with a far smaller form factor and price.
I had the same problem with the 8KX (turning it off because of where the power button is). The fact that they haven't moved it or (provided a better solution) in the Crystal is very telling of a poor design ethos. It's not rocket science and easily determined to be a problem that needs to be fixed within a few minutes of user testing.
To be fair, the Aircar demo doesn’t work with the G2 controllers either. I haven’t tried it in a while so I’m not sure if it’s fixed at this point, but it’s something to note. Seems like it might be more of an issue on the developer’s side. I think the eye tracking and the DFR would be game changers for a headset like this, and I’d probably only consider it if those features worked well. But with VR as a whole as it currently stands, I wouldn’t expect a plug-and-play experience from any headsets other than perhaps the Quest 2 or Index. I certainly haven’t experienced that with my G2. So I don’t think that would be a major factor in choosing a headset (unless it’s REALLY bad). I would have loved to hear more of your thoughts on the comfort of this headset given how large it is. The trade-off between FOV/display size and comfort is probably the biggest factor I’m considering for my next headset. I love the value proposition of the Bigscreen Beyond, or even something like the Arpara 5k, but I’m just not sure I’d like to give up FOV. I imagine that if I had the Pimax Crystal (or another Pimax or Varjo headset, etc) in front of me and it worked flawlessly, I would absolutely be able to look past the added bulkiness. But I’ll wait until more reviews are in.
Hello dear Tatyana We don't need new VR glasses. We need new and better AAA games. I've played VR for many years, but sometimes there are only boring or bad games. The good games, I've played so many times. I don't want to play the same games over and over again. It's getting boring. I've always ordered the latest and greatest Pimax headset, I own an 8KX. I wanted to buy a Pimax 12K. But it's no longer worth it. Good AAA games are missing. No new AAA games, no FUN. It is sad! My new PC with I9 13900k, RTX 4090, 32gb DDR5 6200mhz, is bored! It's no longer fun to play old stuff, at some point the air is gone. And I don't want to play quest games with the Pimax 8KX either. Sad!
I don't mind paying big bucks for a better headset that could use the power of my 4090. But I don't have the time to troubleshoot anymore. The little free time that I have, I want to play games. That's why I'm sticking with PSVR2 for now, it's the best quality plug and play experience for now. Looking forward for an Index 2.
Exactly what I expected... too many issues for such expensive headset. Happy I just bought a pico 4 and I sell my vive pro 2. The pico is so much lighter and cooler than my pro 2. The crystal would be too heavy for me. Thanks for the review ❤
Same here. The pico 4 is really good at its price. I use it with my 3080ti laptop and 3090 desktop. Seems li,e diminished returns to spend $1,600 on a headset ($1,200 more than Pico 4) and still need to turn down visuals to low-medium for a halfway decent framerate. The Pimax crystal is nice, but it's for high end users with $ to burn
This brought back my Reverb G2 trauma. I was hoping these issues would've been fixed years ago, the Crystal was my last hope for Pimax, I think I'm done expecting them to change. Thanks for the review.
Hello disco thanks for this video. when we run open XR as steam vr environnment does the it means that all games will run as open XR? In this mode it's also possible to run some other app on overlay, wich is not the possible when we use only use pimaXR. One last question, seen that you got both openxr toolkit and pimaxR but on pimax openXR doesn't works or i missed something? (only pimaxxR works)
Looks like it's too bulky and hard to use, despite the image quality. I think it's not worth it for an average consumer at this stage of development. Seeing how other companies are trying to make something lighter, more user friendly and feature-packed, this feels like an overkill.
Insightful review. Thanks. Seems that many of the criticisms leveled at Pimax in the past are still present. But at least when it works, it sounds amazing. I don't have the patience to make it work. I want pickup and play.
MRTV just released a review and it seems there was no problem at all for him ... I highly doubt his honesty and his review is FAR to be complete for me.
Price and not user friendly means it'll never take off. All I can go by is my PSVR-1, now hooked up to a PS5, thinking of upgrading to PSVR 2. I don't have a PC & Quest d3 doesn't look as good as what I have as a stand alone. The graphics aren't there yet. Maybe Quest 4....
thank you for the brutally honest review. my takeaway is that as usual, pimax is delivering a supercar headset, with a 5-speed manual transmission; Which is great, if you know how, and don't mind the jumping the skill gap of a manual. I'm reminded of my experience with Gentoo linux; finely tuned for max perfomance, with quite a bit of work most of the time. the problem is, Gentoo has something Pimax sorely needs. Pimax needs a handbook; a detailed guide to walk through all the settings that are known needs in getting Pimax headsets up and functional to a "i can forget about the hassle it used to be" level. additionally, the option to save a config, load a config would do wonders, even if the headset/app resets on each reconnection; a one-button solution to return to a selected config. that will do wonders that for user adoption.
About performance, it is not reasonable to ever consider running any of these high end VR headsets on a 3080. It just flat out doesn’t have enough VRAM. The 3090ti absolutely does, and is the only choice here besides a 3090 or 4090. I own a Varjo Aero myself and attempted to run it on a 3080 while my 3090ti was on the way. It just doesn’t work. On the 3090ti I saw the highest VRAM usage I’ve ever seen. 19GB of VRAM called by the game. Even with 24GB of VRAM the game still gave me a pop-up saying I had low VRAM. So yeah, just an unrealistic target to run the Crystal on a 3080 at all. Personally I had no idea the 3090ti had issues with certain headsets before this video, so thanks for that
Thank you for the honesty. Subscribed! Very sad, Pimax enters the arena with *STRONG FRICTION* Was looking forward to buy.. but, now not interested. I’m not going through all, that’s why I was willing to pay top dollar. To *not* go through all that. Let’s see what Meta 3 brings. Pimax, you should know better - has to be *effortless* UX
I agree it is the sharpest, clearest, coolest, and most amazing VR headset on the market, but there is no gpu on the market that can push this headset even close to its limit. Then, what's the point of flashing $1600 down the toilet just to get a clearer image!? By the time next gen GPUs get released, the market will have much better VR headsets and probably for a much lower price. "Pimax is actively working on fixing bugs on the crystal" Good luck with it! Have they fixed the bugs on their previous headsets...))
I just ordered this but a mutual friend, SpiderMonkey, sent me this. So it looks like even with a 3090 and 64GB of DDR5 Ram and an Intel i9 12900KF I won't really be able to run this huh?
This is the same kind of experience I have with my 8kx. Except I'm just not willing to sacrifice so much time to appeasing it each time I want to play DCS. One time it wont find the base stations, the next it doesn't show up at all, another it wants my second monitor disconnected. I always forget the sound until I'm in the game and then remember I have to do another whole ritual to get the sound to work. And then 80% of the time when I exit pitool the whole thing blue screens. So I just use my HP Reverb G2.
I listened to your comments about your experience with the Crystal on the Next Dimension podcast before watching this video. FWIW, I felt your negative experience wasn't treated seriously (at first). Although I like Sebastian and Steve, they were borderline rude, dismissive, and a bit sexist (e.g. Steve insinuating you weren't as tech-savvy). I don't even sub to your channel, but I think you handled yourself well on the podcast. And your honesty and candor regarding your experience with the Crystal is a true service to the podcast audience. Anyway, I found this video after listening to the podcast and just wanted to say that it's the most insightful Pimax Crystal video review I've seen to date (and that includes both Sebastian's & Steve's videos). :)
Very informative review. Looking to replace my VP2, and I'd largely pre-dismissed the Crystal, but this has given me some food for thought. Still leaning towards getting a Aero, but will need to seriously think it through now. And will also keep an eye on your channel. Always cool to find a new VR reviewer.
After trying Crystal's FOV and local dimming, it is very hard to go back to Varjo Aero and their ski-mask view - I wouldn't be able to unsee it. Colors pop a lot more on Crystal and the image in general is even sharper (plus eye tracking will allow foveated rendering - now fixed but in the future also dynamic. It's definitely a better value for money than Aero. Imma keep a close eye on future update sand bug fixes, more review are coming up
@@DiscoVRTetiana I can understand that. Went from a full color gamut IPS monitor to an HDR VPA panel and definitely missed the color representation. The thing that worries me about the Crystal though are the compatibility issues, losing the lighthouse tracking and not having a good timeline of dynamic foveated rendering. I remember having a lot more fun with the Rift CV1 than I did with the Reverb G1 because the start up friction was so much higher. Not an easy trade at all.
@@HarryVoyager The Somnium VR1 is supposed to launch this year. It is basically a Pimax Crystal without the battery, massive housing, and lighthouse tracking.
Hello there! I own a Pimax 8K headset and I'm experiencing some noticeable performance issues. I'm relatively new to VR headsets, and I'm wondering if there's a way to improve the performance, particularly in reducing stuttering. My initial thought is to lower the resolution, but I haven't been able to find a way to do that in the software. Is it even possible to adjust the resolution? I've looked through the software settings but haven't found any options related to resolution adjustments.
I love your honest reviews and the excitement you show doing reviews of VR headsets and games. I recently purchased the Oculus Pro (came from CV1, Rift S, and Quest 2 did try the Reverb G2 but the sweet spot was soooo small it wasn't for me). Anyway I did pre-order the Crystal well before I got the Pro. Question; how do the visuals compare between the Crystal and Pro in real life use and not just the differences in specs? I love a clear image and bright screen but am I really going to see a night and day difference between the two. Thanks for your awesome channel and enjoyment you bring to the VR community!
IDK how pimax is always trying to be cutting edge but they consistently cut corners. Their software is old and clunky just like their ugly Qualcomm reference controllers. Valve figured out VR controllers 6 years ago and meta just revolutionized the Qualcomm standard with their new controllers yet heres pimax with clunky tracking rings.
I appreciate the video but it is also a bit ranting though. True, Pimax promised the extra lenses, the eye and face tracking the other front plates, these kind of things are pretty disappointing. But then… all people running VR stuff know they should stay away from SteamVR, they know they need to go to OpenXR, with the 3rd party tools etc to deal with best performance. It is not a bread toaster you buy around the corner. Not defending Pimax here but boy oh boy…….
The overwhelming conclusion is this. You know up front that it is a simulator. If you want no problems and the real thing go rent a $300 per hour airplane. A simulator and it's related hardware will never be perfect. The same kind of bitching and concerns were going on at Avsim 25 years ago,
Pimax Crystal = Buyer be Ware: I have had so much trouble with the Pimax, having firstly wated 2 moths for delivery when I was assured one month, now the set won’t work properly despite having spent many hours of my own time and almost a full day with a Pimax technician remote and still no results. Further it is plain to see that the product is very cheaply constructed, clips a very week and with continued use this will lead to quick degradation and product failure. Pimax has added a lot of feature into this device, remember if it sounds to good to be true it usually is, lots of things to go wrong.
Nice review detailing the warts and all, thanks. I am curious why a professional VR reviewer is not running the latest GPU though, you really should have an RTX4090 to review the latest headsets on otherwise you are never going to realize the potential of high resolution VR headsets like the Cyrstal. You are behind the technology curve vs your TH-camr peers.
7:05 Wait - you do VR reviews and you do not know that, due to the barrel distortion of the lenses, the actual internal rendering resolution is significantly higher than that of the headset display?
hello miss ! Amazing and complete detailed review which probably needed a lot of work ! i didn't know your channel even if i'm a VR enthousiast for years.1 i pre-ordered pimax Crystal and cancelled it some days ago because i've a 4090 and more interested by pimax 12K which seems to be a Crystal with large FOV. Your review is very useful to me, i was expecting a quality review like yours. Congratulations to have the honesty to say ALL bugs and problems on this headset. i keep stunned for future tests of this headset. Of course, i subscribe to your channel^^
Why in the world would you bother reviewing what you consider a preproduction device? Isnt that like reviewing an automobile before it reaches the end of the assemblyline? I know, you TH-camrs always want to be first reviewing a product, but it paints a rather unfair picture.
After watching this review, this feels like climbing the everest in underwear while my Quest 2 is like laying on a white tropical beach with mojito in my hand. Damn…that set up process🥵
Thanks for answering my request I made previously concerning the setting up and tinkering aspects . It’s unusual to see such a pretty lady know sooo much about stuff like this - not only beautiful but intelligent as well Wow lol 💗😍. Anyways I think it seems like you need a degree to be able to use this lol by the way you make it sound - all the software and individual setings and not just for initial setup but for a lot of games - it certainly is an enthusiasts headset and very off puting for an average user even one that’s used pc vr before like me especially if you have a lower end pc . I think pimax should setup an online course to be able to use there series of headets lol 😂Such a shame . Either they need to improve this aspect or produce some enhanced tutorial software to guide people through the setup process and software that takes into account the individuals system setup and adjust itself accordingly . I doubt that will happen but hopefully a lot of these tweaking issues will be ironed out once it’s available for consumer release but I still suspect it’ll be complicated to use . Another thing that puts me off is that even though the clarity is better the fov is even less than some of the previous pimax headsets and a big selling point for them is the fov . (140 degrees vs 200 is a big downgrade ) . Also the headset does look big and clunky like a prototype out of a sci-fi movie 😆 Then there’s the price point and I doubt the standalone games or experiences are going to be that great on an xr2 unless you don’t mind limited quest 2 style experiences and how many of these will be available and at what quality especially how this processor has to perform well on a headset that has a very high pixel density over a large fov area - they’ve never provided this type of content before and it’s going to take time for a lot of these standalone experiences to become available - or if at least they could port over stuff from say the oculus store that would be a good start or am sure there will be hacks to do this but again that’ll require more tinkering . Also will the headset have to be tethered to play pc content like the quest ? At any rate am definitely going to hold off and see what happens over the next year for this headset before I make a decision to buy. I think a good start for pimax for this headset if they’re not willing to make it more user friendly at least is to lower the price point significantly - I’d say by half . (For me personally I could buy a used pimax 5k plus for around the £300 mark so why should I pay close to £2000 for something with less fov even though better clarity and partly standalone and with a lot of software issues . ) Thanks a lot for the video Paul 💗
the 125 degree fov claim can not possibly be true since the rendered fov reported by openvr is actually 104 degrees horizontal, lower than the 107 degrees rendered by the vive pro.
Honestly though, what is the point reviewing a non-retail version? Who is it going to help? I mean the retail version is what you should be reviewing and that you picked up yourself not sent by the company who could be switching stuff or changing it from the normal version people buy. Stupid.
I’m just looking at this to use as a standalone VR headset for downloading videos I don’t even really game using VR. Does the pimax crystal sport it’s own internet browser??
I'm looking for something plug and play for pcvr. I don't want all the 3rd party hurdles. I play strictly dcs. Is aero. Better option for me or quest pro?
Ok. There are some issues with your analysis, and most of them stem from the fact that you have a pre-production model. You mention that at the beginning, but then sort of forget it and describe your issues as if they will be everyone's. As a beta tester, I found the Crystal worked right out of the box for me, (i9900 and Nvidia 3090) in flight sim, Il2, Half Life Alyx, and DCS. I immediately had performance basically equivalent to that of my 8KX. I did have some issues with the headset losing connection- which brought back memories of my first six months with the 8kx- but that issue was solved with a firmware update and a newer version of the pimax client. I have not used the controllers very much, but I think you are correct that there are issues with them and some games. But I've found that to be true even for my Valve index controllers. It would be nice if all developers coded in compatibility with a variety of controllers, but I've found most of them do the lowest common denominator: Valve, Vive Wands, Oculus etc. Hopefully that will change. I don't understand your issues with frame rate. I'm sure they're real for you, but it puzzles me. I didn't have to do ANY tweaking to get pretty good performance in all the games I've listed, and a little tweaking improved them even more. I really suggest OPENXR for any game that can use it rather than Steam, which itself contributes to the crazy resolution numbers you find in the steam settings. The part that bothers me about your review here- and I know you have no ill will towards Pimax- is that describing all these issues and by labeling the Crystal as a nightmare to setup and use on a daily basis is going to drive off many potential users who would really love the headset, AND provide fuel for the Pimax haters' flames. So... I hope your experience improves- maybe with a newer version. But I surely wish you had held off reviewing until you had a production headset with the latest Firmware. The 8KX really was an 'enthusiast's HMD' at least for the first year as the firmware matured, and I had my share of battles getting it to work. But the Crystal has been- certainly since the last update- literally plug and play for me. In fact, I videoed a restart of the headset in the Pimax client during my video on DCS OpenXR and the crystal. I really do hope you get all the issues sorted out. I like your channel and I hope you eventually get the kind of experience I'm having with my Crystal.
The crazy part is they never learn from reviewers who keep telling them its not user friendly. You'd think they'd learn. Sony is the current leader in the VR Industry, soon to hit 2 million sales of a modern headset.
I just want to put on the headset and click the game button and enjoy. I’m making $1500 a day and simply don’t have time to do hoops for this. I’ll pass.
As an MSFS enthusiast, the technical challenges of setting that sim up are inherent to the sim itself. Since its launch on VR in December 2020 I've had three PC's, five headsets and have spent thousands of hours tweaking it for better performance. That's the life of a VR flight simmer!
I'm in once i dont have to troubleshoot it for days. Regular consumers need it to be plug and play litterally. Until they can give this i'm happy to wait.
it's a shame that underneath all of the jank, this headset really does have a lot of potential but all of the setup challenges are just barriers that a lot of people just aren't willing to jump
Thanks for your review, especially because you give all the solutions you found for the problems you encountered, it is incredibly useful information for those considering buying a Pimax Crystal 👍
MORE reviews will be coming up to this channel as Pimax Crystal is CONTINUOUSLY improving! They will be linked in this video as I make them.
If you've found this video useful and are thinking of ordering the next generation Pimax Crystal, you can order it for $20 off (affiliate) HERE: pimax.com/?ref=KRDI8M
When you get to the very high end then you have performance issues to tweek this is not *really* pimax's fault. It's like getting an 8k monitor and wondering why you have to change settings when you obviously will. And it's a bit unrealistic to expect an 'all possible problems for all possible PC configs and all possible games guides' to be produced by pimax either. PC gaming has always needed troubleshooting!
Try adding a motion sim rig or full body tracking or haptic vests and VR injection game mods to the mix and the troubleshooting just becomes compounded more and more and more!
This is why psvr2 and indeed quest 2 are refreshingly much easier to get into.
I think these kinds of issues are a bigger problem for reviewers swapping between headsets but probably not so bad for regular users who only have one headset and one computer and maybe aren't even changing between games rapidly.
Admittedly you have to know about steam VR overestimating what supersampling is possible! But I thought you could set this to default to 1.0 or whatever for all games by setting a checkmark?
That issue in no man's sky is possibly caused by another X input device taking precedence. Like maybe a HOTAS controller where the stick position is not quite zero centred. There are a few games that I have to unplug my usb HOTAS or steering wheel for, or that device is treated as controller one and I'm just spinning! Or the in game menu just cycles down and down and down!
Great video, super clear! I'm the author of the 3rd party OpenXR tools you mentioned near the end of the video. Thanks for bringing those up for awareness!
I'm open to hear your suggestions on ease of use if you have any!
Thanks so much for commenting and for making this awesome tool! I gave you a big shoutout in my recent video posted today 💪 keep up the great work!
Thank you for maintaining OpenXR !!
Great tool, Must use for DCS MSFS ACC!
Thank you for your excellent and honest review! You made my day!
i can only get one toy this year. As someone who spends ALLOT of time in VRC. would i be better of waiting for the bigscrean or possibly another alternative. I can handle the tech requirements but what concerns me is the bulk of the headset. currently using the G2 and the clarity of the crystal is why i have already pre-ordered but the comfort and neck strain (yes Im getting old) has me a bit concerned. whats it like strapping a 1ltr carton of milk to your face?.. oh yeah. great review..
The backwards movement is likely from the stick not being centered setting stick deadzone in steamvr should fix it. Some games have higher stick sensitivity, I experience this with my window motion controller also in some games.
Thank you so much for all the hard work and reporting on this significant headset! I would love to see more through the lens video, like for half life alyx and other titles :)
Will do more through the lens! Thanks for watching 😊
Nice review! just one question. Is it warmer as reverb g2 is?
Where do I get this pimax guide?
That’s my main issue with pimax.
They seem to release headsets at expensive prices, too frequently, and their software is bunk.
They’re leaving it tot he end user to find a way to make it work.
I don’t own one for those reasons.
Premium price, premium features, sub par software or expectations for you to use other people’s software.
On top of that it doesn’t work well all the time after set up.
“Yours, IF you can make it work!”
Hard pass
I should play Aircar again. :) Oh and please no pull hair. :)
Default render resolution is not a bug, it's a feature. To utilize available PPD and at the same time cover whole field of view means rendering at least 150% to accommodate barrel distortion. It's entirely incorrect to state that since your displays are 2880 then steamvr rendering should be 2880, it's simply not true, actually shocking to hear that from a VR reviewer with that size of a channel. If Pimax acknowledges this as a bug then the only reason is available hardware. We've actually seen this before with Reverb G1 vs G2 using the same displays and the same FOV but different render resolution because of the available hardware to the date.
Sounds like they should have sent you one instead hah!
@@mikebravo3527 right, only if they let me sell it afterwards and are OK with my crappy video editing 😁Crystal is too expensive for what it is and I don't need it.
@Fiztex553 In Soviet Russia Vee R's yoouuu haha
Hope you get that joke bubs, no beef 🤘
And yeah, seems you can get 90% as good product for 1/3rd ze price
I'd love a brief look at VRAM usage and requirements for some common games while trying to run them using Pimax Crystal.
If possible also:
-Skyrim VR, or Skyrim (SE)
-Forza 4 or 5 Horizon
-Mothergunship (not Forge)
-Horizon series
-Final Fantasy 7 Remake
-Kingdom Hearts series (PC)
-Hogwarts Legacy
-Batman Arkham series, mainly Arkham Knight & Gotham Knights
-Saints Row 3rd Remaster
-GTAV
-Half-Life Alyx, apparently OmniWhatever got really close to 21Gb of Vram usage in their Pimax Crystal review video.
Vorpx or Luke Ross, or with whatever if something else is more readily available for adding VR to games.
Since obviously SBS through Dolphin Emulator wouldn't even need comparable amounts. Honestly not sure if all have VR or SBS mods yet.
What an excellent review, one of the best I've probably ever seen for any headset. Thanks a lot for the honesty, it is much appreciated.
You're very kind for saying that, thank you so much! Made my day ☺
@@DiscoVRTetiana yep SUPER review, congratulations, really ! You rocks !
This was a really good review, often people get hung up on the specs and forget about user experience
This is not a good review as it didn't mention the sweet spot which is quite small on this headset.
@@dtz1000 well with awesome edge to edge clarity the sweet spot is huge
I think your review hits it on the head. These kinds of issues are why, even though I main a Pimax 8KX myself, I virtually never recommend Pimax to anyone I know. I think the fundamental problem is that everyone at the Pimax company appears to be a _HARDCORE VR TECH NERD_. And consequentially, they are completely disconnected from the average user. That shows up in all these silly technical issues that you faced. Issues like the resolution defaulting to a stupidly high value are so quickly and easily remedied by a tech nerd that _they don't even notice it as an issue_. Seriously! The mentality is that users will want to adjust all the myriad of settings to taste anyway, and so it's seen as unimportant or even pointless to have these set to reasonable values out of the box.
If Pimax really considered these kinds of issues important, they would have been among the first issues they straightened out rather than being among the last or never being addressed at all. Most of these issues are low hanging fruit. But Pimax doesn't think these issues are important. And _that_ is fundamentally the problem.
As you say, it is this more than anything else which keeps them confined to a very niche market share.
With as many subscribers and views as you have, I am surprised you can't afford a 4090 and really see what that headset is capable of. The 4090 has been out a while, go get one =)
It seems like the normal "Pimax", as always
Woof, yeah I'm going to HARD pass on that.
It's carrying the price tag of a semi premium headset, but has the user experience of a Wish or Temu $99 torture device.
Horrible looking controllers, impossibly awful software, problems out of the box. Sounds like pimax will never learn or make something worth buying, oh well.
They should hire a team of software engineers who know what they’re doing. It’ll save them time and money. Can’t justify 1599 right now on something that doesn’t work. Nope
I am confused, you want a headset that is optimized to your hardware in use? That is not how PC hardware works. You decide what you buy, you can not buy an 8K screen and expect games to run on your 3060 without you having to adjust the settings. People are doing this with EVERY headset, nothing concerning about it. Actually a lot of the things to tweak you mention is what you have to do with a G2 for MSFS all the time, making MSFS usable in VR.
For people with RTX3090ti I’ve had problems with my card as well trying to set up mi pimax 8kx. The thing that worked and I have few friends that report the same. If you buy the newer longer cable (6m one I believe, the one with only 1 usb cable) it will work
It affects a bunch of headsets, not just pimax stuff
I'll wait for a version that doesn't count on batteries for a PC VR headset. So dumb.
I don’t like the idea of buying something from a country with concentration camps. Hopefully Valve (US), HTC (Taiwan) or Varjo (Finland) will make a better offering.
This is exactly the reason why VR struggles in the mainstream. I bet, that the Apple product (for consumers) won't have any of those problems.
Especially PiMAX... its by far not their first product to lunch. I wonder why they still don't get things straight...
It's unfortunate these high end GPU are having issues with display ports since VR is one of the main reasons to own them. Great review. Hopefully Primax can continue to improve the experience.
hopefully it's only 3090Ti (annoying that I chose that particular GPU when choosing one), other SHOULD work fine but that DP repeater is a good insurance, it does help solve issues related to GPU performance.
I had the same problem with Reverb g2 HP said it was a common problem with all TI cards, something to do with the power/DP set up with all TI cards, they sent me a repeater and it worked. So if u have a TI card, well… be prepared
The problem is pushing more and more watts through the video port to ensure a reliable 4k DisplayPort signal is achieved through a length not typically recommended (> 2 meters).
In this situation, VR headset makers should start looking into fiber optics for point-to-point so as to not overburden the graphics card power capabilities. OTOH, fiber optics would add to the overall cost of headsets, so there's always that con to consider.
I hope that they can DP2.1 get to work for longer cords. Unfortunately, this only works for short distance connections right now.
When it comes to setup complexity for PCVR, Pimax is not alone. Pico 4 has proven to be every bit as challenging as what you reported here for Crystal. Can't handle the heat? Get out of the kitchen.😂
Thank you for taking the time to share your honest review with us. We truly appreciate your feedback and hope that Pimax support will take note of your valuable suggestions to enhance the consumer experience. Once again, thank you for your contribution.
Kind of a brutal review for a pre-release test of a new product. The problems you are talking about are not unique. The landscape is so vast and diverse that it takes time to figure this stuff out. But I agree, for a $1600 headset, the retail version better work better than you imply. A bunch of negative press right out of the gate will condemn this product to oblivion.
Thank you so much for this very honest review! It seems that the Crystal is just not ready for a release!
I think you have experiences with the Varjo Aero too, would you say the grafik in the Crystal is so much better, that it justifies all the downsides? I mean the Aero is pretty stable what I was reading and viewing in the last couple of months. I preordered the Crystal but last week I had this feeling that I'd be happier with the Aero and I ordered one......
It is very hard to go back to Varjo's FOV after you try Crystal. Also, the local dimming make colors really POP! And it's a big difference compared to Varjo. But Varjo is much lighter and, yes, the stability is important. Hmm... tough question. I'm a sucker for a wide FOV and if you plan on playing stationary games, like a flight sim, then a larger size won't matter that much. Pimax is actively working on improving the performance and fix lots of bugs daily. It is possible that if I make a new review a week from now it will be a completely different one. So I would say stick with your preorder, Pimax work very hard on addressing many of the bugs I communicated with them as well as dozens of beta testers. I did not review a final unit just yet.
Aero currently has 20% off 👀
@@SURG3NT15%
@@DiscoVRTetianare you sure it’s the local dimming that’s making the colours pop and not the quantum dots used for much larger colour space? Local dimming should be making image better by increasing the contrast ratio by allowing for deeper localised blacks like OLED (except not as accurately as OLED that has per subpixel level light control).
How many of these issues have now been resolved?
That's exactly why I sold my 8KX. I don't have the desire or time to spend hours setting up a game to make it work. But some didn't work properly and I had to switch to the Pico 4 / Quest 2. Your video shows really great what to expect and hopefully shakes Pimax up to finally improve the software experience
Sure.....sure you did.....
@@FreeOpenTruth 💯
Crystal's promise was that individual game setup would be much easier than on 8KX. At least that is their goal. I am glad that the initial setup has been improved since i made this video, but individual game performance is still a bit of a hit or miss. We'll see how much has changed in my round 2 review!
@@FreeOpenTruth what's so unbelievable about that story?
@@mandasity - Had 8KX but sold it....🤣🤣🤣
Brilliant review, and straight to the point. Pimax needs to do their homework better, as the average user doesn't want to fiddle around forever, to get it working, as it should out of the box !!
It's almost like an average user is not a target to begin with? Which is a shame, soooo much awesomeness this headset can bring to the VR community, if only it was a little bit easier to unlock!
Agreed, sounds like typical pimax product. I wont be upgrading my Aero for that.
Too much fiddling, i usually end up not using it. I might just cancell the preorder since i hate getting frustrate
@Disco-VR Hey, thanks for the review! It's seems that it was so frustrating to get set up that it was gonna make you have a baby! Wait you are😊!! Congrats🎉... Im glad to see you found solutions to your issues. Hopefully we won't have those problems when we get ours.
@@ji3200 Don't do it.
Based on this review and of another more recent review by another enthusiast, I canceled my preorder for one. Too bad their software team is crap compared to their engineering team!
Did you try increasing the dead zone for No Mans sky creeping backward?
A lot of the issues you had easily related to my Pimax 5K Super. I have a RTX 2070 Super Moble. Games run way better on Meta Quest 2 and 3's third party link cable.
All of these issues are exactly why I want VR on consoles, like PSVR2, instead of PC. I'm not trying to mess with drivers like I had to in the 90s!
OMG, you made me cringe thinking back the the days of manually configuring dial up modems! I can't confirm this yet since I am still alive, but I suspect I'll die several years early due to all the stress and late nights working as PC tech back in the early days.
Good review. Thank you.
I would like to see you test the Pimax Crystal running DCS World open beta multi thread .
Will give it a go!
VR Flight Sim Guy did that recently.
Nice and honest Video.I think i am not patient enough to do such stuff.I like the easiness of my Quest Pro which performs super in Wireless and cable without much knowledge.But i wish the Pimax users a fast Setting recovery🙂 and mindblown visuals.
I completely understand, this level of complexity is definitely not for everyone. You gotta work to get those jaw-dropping visuals!
Yeah, don't buy Pimax... Just don't! Their firmware ans software is just garbage. Their controllers are garbage... Their tech support.. Same.. Plua they constantly lie to their customers... Once i got my quest Pro, my 8k has lived in my closet where it belongs.. Well actually... Prob belongs in the garbage. I feel really bad for anyone who buys these pre beta devices. Pimax should stick to ONE headset and actually finish it instead of constantly releasing buggy crap. Glad i got a Quest Pro...
use and loading times of the batteries would be interesting. Also of the controllers. Also the build qualitiy of the buttons and the usb-c connectors. I find that on some of my devices usb-c tends to wear out over time.
How long is the warrenty and can they get repaired locally/outside china? When preordering I noticed that warrenty is limited to the first buyer. Is that so? Would make it hard to sell them if you don't like them.
I really believe that PIMAX aim too high. I had the 8kx, eventually sent it back for refund. This headset is having same issues as the 8kx, why dont they learn.
It's definitely a complex headset. I wish they took more effort to make it more accessible for VR newbies
@Disco-VR absolutely it is disappointing because I want them to be great but they let us down on the basics like setup.
I would love to see the Crystal at its best when running with your 3080. I would think most people own these gpu's and not 4090's that so far all TH-cam Crystal testers are using. More MSFS2020, as well as some modded pc flat to VR games would be interesting to see how fps and visuals stands up in performance compared to the best of the best home pc's that ALL crystal testers are using. Thx.
I thought so! I’ll definitely be testing it more on 3080 to squeeze the most out of its performance. I’m sure it’ll be relevant to more VR gamers than 4090. More reviews are coming!
@@DiscoVRTetiana You ROCK! Wait Wait I mean you Diso.
The Pimax Crystal cannot really be used at its full resolution and pixel depth without a really expensive PCVR system to go with it, a 4090 based PC is really were you would need to be to fill up those displays, it also looks ridiculous and like something from a 1980s VR arcade, Pimax really need to work on the form factor instead of reusing the same outdated form as the previous headsets, the setup issues sound like a nightmare for anyone not PC savvy and so best avoided, hopefully the Quest 3 will bring that much needed bump in resolution and clarity for PCVR but with a far smaller form factor and price.
Good thing I have a 4090 and a 7950x :)
I had the same problem with the 8KX (turning it off because of where the power button is). The fact that they haven't moved it or (provided a better solution) in the Crystal is very telling of a poor design ethos. It's not rocket science and easily determined to be a problem that needs to be fixed within a few minutes of user testing.
To be fair, the Aircar demo doesn’t work with the G2 controllers either. I haven’t tried it in a while so I’m not sure if it’s fixed at this point, but it’s something to note. Seems like it might be more of an issue on the developer’s side.
I think the eye tracking and the DFR would be game changers for a headset like this, and I’d probably only consider it if those features worked well. But with VR as a whole as it currently stands, I wouldn’t expect a plug-and-play experience from any headsets other than perhaps the Quest 2 or Index. I certainly haven’t experienced that with my G2. So I don’t think that would be a major factor in choosing a headset (unless it’s REALLY bad).
I would have loved to hear more of your thoughts on the comfort of this headset given how large it is. The trade-off between FOV/display size and comfort is probably the biggest factor I’m considering for my next headset. I love the value proposition of the Bigscreen Beyond, or even something like the Arpara 5k, but I’m just not sure I’d like to give up FOV. I imagine that if I had the Pimax Crystal (or another Pimax or Varjo headset, etc) in front of me and it worked flawlessly, I would absolutely be able to look past the added bulkiness. But I’ll wait until more reviews are in.
Hello dear Tatyana
We don't need new VR glasses. We need new and better AAA games.
I've played VR for many years, but sometimes there are only boring or bad games. The good games, I've played so many times. I don't want to play the same games over and over again. It's getting boring.
I've always ordered the latest and greatest Pimax headset, I own an 8KX.
I wanted to buy a Pimax 12K. But it's no longer worth it. Good AAA games are missing. No new AAA games, no FUN.
It is sad!
My new PC with I9 13900k, RTX 4090, 32gb DDR5 6200mhz, is bored!
It's no longer fun to play old stuff, at some point the air is gone.
And I don't want to play quest games with the Pimax 8KX either.
Sad!
I don't mind paying big bucks for a better headset that could use the power of my 4090. But I don't have the time to troubleshoot anymore. The little free time that I have, I want to play games. That's why I'm sticking with PSVR2 for now, it's the best quality plug and play experience for now. Looking forward for an Index 2.
I know this was such a tough video for you to make and decide to release. You did good! Thank you
Exactly what I expected... too many issues for such expensive headset. Happy I just bought a pico 4 and I sell my vive pro 2. The pico is so much lighter and cooler than my pro 2. The crystal would be too heavy for me.
Thanks for the review ❤
Same here. The pico 4 is really good at its price. I use it with my 3080ti laptop and 3090 desktop. Seems li,e diminished returns to spend $1,600 on a headset ($1,200 more than Pico 4) and still need to turn down visuals to low-medium for a halfway decent framerate. The Pimax crystal is nice, but it's for high end users with $ to burn
@@Valkron11 “but it’s for high end users with $ to burn” says you with a 3090 in your PC and 3080 Ti in your laptop. 😂
@@DrR1pper Don't forget my 3tb RoG Ally. Can't play everything on my Steamdeck 🤓
@@Valkron11 hahaha. How do you rate the Ally vs. the Steamdeck?
This brought back my Reverb G2 trauma. I was hoping these issues would've been fixed years ago, the Crystal was my last hope for Pimax, I think I'm done expecting them to change. Thanks for the review.
What is the best vr headset for pc ?
@@gurugamer8632 It depends on what you want, there isn't a 'best' headset, but there are many great ones.
Hello disco thanks for this video. when we run open XR as steam vr environnment does the it means that all games will run as open XR? In this mode it's also possible to run some other app on overlay, wich is not the possible when we use only use pimaXR.
One last question, seen that you got both openxr toolkit and pimaxR but on pimax openXR doesn't works or i missed something? (only pimaxxR works)
Looks like it's too bulky and hard to use, despite the image quality. I think it's not worth it for an average consumer at this stage of development. Seeing how other companies are trying to make something lighter, more user friendly and feature-packed, this feels like an overkill.
Insightful review. Thanks. Seems that many of the criticisms leveled at Pimax in the past are still present. But at least when it works, it sounds amazing. I don't have the patience to make it work. I want pickup and play.
MRTV just released a review and it seems there was no problem at all for him ... I highly doubt his honesty and his review is FAR to be complete for me.
Price and not user friendly means it'll never take off. All I can go by is my PSVR-1, now hooked up to a PS5, thinking of upgrading to PSVR 2. I don't have a PC & Quest d3 doesn't look as good as what I have as a stand alone. The graphics aren't there yet. Maybe Quest 4....
thank you for the brutally honest review. my takeaway is that as usual, pimax is delivering a supercar headset, with a 5-speed manual transmission; Which is great, if you know how, and don't mind the jumping the skill gap of a manual. I'm reminded of my experience with Gentoo linux; finely tuned for max perfomance, with quite a bit of work most of the time. the problem is, Gentoo has something Pimax sorely needs. Pimax needs a handbook; a detailed guide to walk through all the settings that are known needs in getting Pimax headsets up and functional to a "i can forget about the hassle it used to be" level. additionally, the option to save a config, load a config would do wonders, even if the headset/app resets on each reconnection; a one-button solution to return to a selected config. that will do wonders that for user adoption.
That’s such a cool analogy about supercars! I might use it in one of my next videos! 😜
i love the thumnail.. it explained everything so well , i can even decide not to buy it even before watching😂
About performance, it is not reasonable to ever consider running any of these high end VR headsets on a 3080. It just flat out doesn’t have enough VRAM. The 3090ti absolutely does, and is the only choice here besides a 3090 or 4090. I own a Varjo Aero myself and attempted to run it on a 3080 while my 3090ti was on the way. It just doesn’t work. On the 3090ti I saw the highest VRAM usage I’ve ever seen. 19GB of VRAM called by the game. Even with 24GB of VRAM the game still gave me a pop-up saying I had low VRAM. So yeah, just an unrealistic target to run the Crystal on a 3080 at all. Personally I had no idea the 3090ti had issues with certain headsets before this video, so thanks for that
Thank you for the honesty. Subscribed!
Very sad, Pimax enters the arena with *STRONG FRICTION*
Was looking forward to buy.. but, now not interested.
I’m not going through all, that’s why I was willing to pay top dollar. To *not* go through all that.
Let’s see what Meta 3 brings.
Pimax, you should know better - has to be *effortless* UX
year later, and i want to say, the backwards slide was likely due to steam VR bugs, its patched out now but it was a pain with the reverb
I agree it is the sharpest, clearest, coolest, and most amazing VR headset on the market, but there is no gpu on the market that can push this headset even close to its limit. Then, what's the point of flashing $1600 down the toilet just to get a clearer image!? By the time next gen GPUs get released, the market will have much better VR headsets and probably for a much lower price.
"Pimax is actively working on fixing bugs on the crystal" Good luck with it! Have they fixed the bugs on their previous headsets...))
I just ordered this but a mutual friend, SpiderMonkey, sent me this. So it looks like even with a 3090 and 64GB of DDR5 Ram and an Intel i9 12900KF I won't really be able to run this huh?
You mentioned a DP 1.4 repeater they provided, would you be able to share that? Just in case it helps with my current one.
It should be a lot easier to jump in and play.
This is the same kind of experience I have with my 8kx. Except I'm just not willing to sacrifice so much time to appeasing it each time I want to play DCS. One time it wont find the base stations, the next it doesn't show up at all, another it wants my second monitor disconnected. I always forget the sound until I'm in the game and then remember I have to do another whole ritual to get the sound to work. And then 80% of the time when I exit pitool the whole thing blue screens. So I just use my HP Reverb G2.
Can I not use the battery if I am not using controllers or inside out tracking? I have base stations and index controllers.
I listened to your comments about your experience with the Crystal on the Next Dimension podcast before watching this video. FWIW, I felt your negative experience wasn't treated seriously (at first). Although I like Sebastian and Steve, they were borderline rude, dismissive, and a bit sexist (e.g. Steve insinuating you weren't as tech-savvy). I don't even sub to your channel, but I think you handled yourself well on the podcast. And your honesty and candor regarding your experience with the Crystal is a true service to the podcast audience. Anyway, I found this video after listening to the podcast and just wanted to say that it's the most insightful Pimax Crystal video review I've seen to date (and that includes both Sebastian's & Steve's videos). :)
Very informative review. Looking to replace my VP2, and I'd largely pre-dismissed the Crystal, but this has given me some food for thought.
Still leaning towards getting a Aero, but will need to seriously think it through now. And will also keep an eye on your channel. Always cool to find a new VR reviewer.
After trying Crystal's FOV and local dimming, it is very hard to go back to Varjo Aero and their ski-mask view - I wouldn't be able to unsee it. Colors pop a lot more on Crystal and the image in general is even sharper (plus eye tracking will allow foveated rendering - now fixed but in the future also dynamic. It's definitely a better value for money than Aero. Imma keep a close eye on future update sand bug fixes, more review are coming up
@@DiscoVRTetiana I can understand that. Went from a full color gamut IPS monitor to an HDR VPA panel and definitely missed the color representation.
The thing that worries me about the Crystal though are the compatibility issues, losing the lighthouse tracking and not having a good timeline of dynamic foveated rendering.
I remember having a lot more fun with the Rift CV1 than I did with the Reverb G1 because the start up friction was so much higher.
Not an easy trade at all.
@@HarryVoyager The Somnium VR1 is supposed to launch this year. It is basically a Pimax Crystal without the battery, massive housing, and lighthouse tracking.
Hello there! I own a Pimax 8K headset and I'm experiencing some noticeable performance issues. I'm relatively new to VR headsets, and I'm wondering if there's a way to improve the performance, particularly in reducing stuttering. My initial thought is to lower the resolution, but I haven't been able to find a way to do that in the software. Is it even possible to adjust the resolution? I've looked through the software settings but haven't found any options related to resolution adjustments.
I love your honest reviews and the excitement you show doing reviews of VR headsets and games. I recently purchased the Oculus Pro (came from CV1, Rift S, and Quest 2 did try the Reverb G2 but the sweet spot was soooo small it wasn't for me). Anyway I did pre-order the Crystal well before I got the Pro. Question; how do the visuals compare between the Crystal and Pro in real life use and not just the differences in specs? I love a clear image and bright screen but am I really going to see a night and day difference between the two. Thanks for your awesome channel and enjoyment you bring to the VR community!
GREAT VIDEO!!! in italy i don't find that DP 1.4 repeater ..could you suggets another ?? really tanks!!
IDK how pimax is always trying to be cutting edge but they consistently cut corners. Their software is old and clunky just like their ugly Qualcomm reference controllers. Valve figured out VR controllers 6 years ago and meta just revolutionized the Qualcomm standard with their new controllers yet heres pimax with clunky tracking rings.
I appreciate the video but it is also a bit ranting though.
True, Pimax promised the extra lenses, the eye and face tracking the other front plates, these kind of things are pretty disappointing.
But then… all people running VR stuff know they should stay away from SteamVR, they know they need to go to OpenXR, with the 3rd party tools etc to deal with best performance. It is not a bread toaster you buy around the corner.
Not defending Pimax here but boy oh boy…….
The overwhelming conclusion is this. You know up front that it is a simulator. If you want no problems and the real thing go rent a $300 per hour airplane. A simulator and it's related hardware will never be perfect. The same kind of bitching and concerns were going on at Avsim 25 years ago,
Pimax Crystal = Buyer be Ware: I have had so much trouble with the Pimax, having firstly wated 2 moths for delivery when I was assured one month, now the set won’t work properly despite having spent many hours of my own time and almost a full day with a Pimax technician remote and still no results. Further it is plain to see that the product is very cheaply constructed, clips a very week and with continued use this will lead to quick degradation and product failure. Pimax has added a lot of feature into this device, remember if it sounds to good to be true it usually is, lots of things to go wrong.
Nice review detailing the warts and all, thanks. I am curious why a professional VR reviewer is not running the latest GPU though, you really should have an RTX4090 to review the latest headsets on otherwise you are never going to realize the potential of high resolution VR headsets like the Cyrstal. You are behind the technology curve vs your TH-camr peers.
7:05 Wait - you do VR reviews and you do not know that, due to the barrel distortion of the lenses, the actual internal rendering resolution is significantly higher than that of the headset display?
hello miss ! Amazing and complete detailed review which probably needed a lot of work ! i didn't know your channel even if i'm a VR enthousiast for years.1 i pre-ordered pimax Crystal and cancelled it some days ago because i've a 4090 and more interested by pimax 12K which seems to be a Crystal with large FOV. Your review is very useful to me, i was expecting a quality review like yours. Congratulations to have the honesty to say ALL bugs and problems on this headset. i keep stunned for future tests of this headset. Of course, i subscribe to your channel^^
Pimax 12k doesn't use the crystal panels, the crystal is a separate line
Why in the world would you bother reviewing what you consider a preproduction device? Isnt that like reviewing an automobile before it reaches the end of the assemblyline? I know, you TH-camrs always want to be first reviewing a product, but it paints a rather unfair picture.
After watching this review, this feels like climbing the everest in underwear while my Quest 2 is like laying on a white tropical beach with mojito in my hand.
Damn…that set up process🥵
You've got a new sub! Great content, thank you!
Thanks for answering my request I made previously concerning the setting up and tinkering aspects . It’s unusual to see such a pretty lady know sooo much about stuff like this - not only beautiful but intelligent as well Wow lol 💗😍.
Anyways I think it seems like you need a degree to be able to use this lol by the way you make it sound - all the software and individual setings and not just for initial setup but for a lot of games - it certainly is an enthusiasts headset and very off puting for an average user even one that’s used pc vr before like me especially if you have a lower end pc . I think pimax should setup an online course to be able to use there series of headets lol 😂Such a shame . Either they need to improve this aspect or produce some enhanced tutorial software to guide people through the setup process and software that takes into account the individuals system setup and adjust itself accordingly . I doubt that will happen but hopefully a lot of these tweaking issues will be ironed out once it’s available for consumer release but I still suspect it’ll be complicated to use .
Another thing that puts me off is that even though the clarity is better the fov is even less than some of the previous pimax headsets and a big selling point for them is the fov . (140 degrees vs 200 is a big downgrade ) . Also the headset does look big and clunky like a prototype out of a sci-fi movie 😆
Then there’s the price point and I doubt the standalone games or experiences are going to be that great on an xr2 unless you don’t mind limited quest 2 style experiences and how many of these will be available and at what quality especially how this processor has to perform well on a headset that has a very high pixel density over a large fov area - they’ve never provided this type of content before and it’s going to take time for a lot of these standalone experiences to become available - or if at least they could port over stuff from say the oculus store that would be a good start or am sure there will be hacks to do this but again that’ll require more tinkering .
Also will the headset have to be tethered to play pc content like the quest ?
At any rate am definitely going to hold off and see what happens over the next year for this headset before I make a decision to buy.
I think a good start for pimax for this headset if they’re not willing to make it more user friendly at least is to lower the price point significantly - I’d say by half . (For me personally I could buy a used pimax 5k plus for around the £300 mark so why should I pay close to £2000 for something with less fov even though better clarity and partly standalone and with a lot of software issues . )
Thanks a lot for the video
Paul 💗
the 125 degree fov claim can not possibly be true since the rendered fov reported by openvr is actually 104 degrees horizontal, lower than the 107 degrees rendered by the vive pro.
Honestly though, what is the point reviewing a non-retail version? Who is it going to help? I mean the retail version is what you should be reviewing and that you picked up yourself not sent by the company who could be switching stuff or changing it from the normal version people buy. Stupid.
I’m just looking at this to use as a standalone VR headset for downloading videos I don’t even really game using VR. Does the pimax crystal sport it’s own internet browser??
Splendid review summing up what it REALLY feels like. This totally reminds me of my 8Kx experience.
I'm looking for something plug and play for pcvr. I don't want all the 3rd party hurdles. I play strictly dcs. Is aero. Better option for me or quest pro?
Ok. There are some issues with your analysis, and most of them stem from the fact that you have a pre-production model. You mention that at the beginning, but then sort of forget it and describe your issues as if they will be everyone's. As a beta tester, I found the Crystal worked right out of the box for me, (i9900 and Nvidia 3090) in flight sim, Il2, Half Life Alyx, and DCS. I immediately had performance basically equivalent to that of my 8KX. I did have some issues with the headset losing connection- which brought back memories of my first six months with the 8kx- but that issue was solved with a firmware update and a newer version of the pimax client. I have not used the controllers very much, but I think you are correct that there are issues with them and some games. But I've found that to be true even for my Valve index controllers. It would be nice if all developers coded in compatibility with a variety of controllers, but I've found most of them do the lowest common denominator: Valve, Vive Wands, Oculus etc. Hopefully that will change.
I don't understand your issues with frame rate. I'm sure they're real for you, but it puzzles me. I didn't have to do ANY tweaking to get pretty good performance in all the games I've listed, and a little tweaking improved them even more. I really suggest OPENXR for any game that can use it rather than Steam, which itself contributes to the crazy resolution numbers you find in the steam settings.
The part that bothers me about your review here- and I know you have no ill will towards Pimax- is that describing all these issues and by labeling the Crystal as a nightmare to setup and use on a daily basis is going to drive off many potential users who would really love the headset, AND provide fuel for the Pimax haters' flames.
So... I hope your experience improves- maybe with a newer version. But I surely wish you had held off reviewing until you had a production headset with the latest Firmware. The 8KX really was an 'enthusiast's HMD' at least for the first year as the firmware matured, and I had my share of battles getting it to work. But the Crystal has been- certainly since the last update- literally plug and play for me. In fact, I videoed a restart of the headset in the Pimax client during my video on DCS OpenXR and the crystal.
I really do hope you get all the issues sorted out. I like your channel and I hope you eventually get the kind of experience I'm having with my Crystal.
The crazy part is they never learn from reviewers who keep telling them its not user friendly. You'd think they'd learn. Sony is the current leader in the VR Industry, soon to hit 2 million sales of a modern headset.
I just want to put on the headset and click the game button and enjoy. I’m making $1500 a day and simply don’t have time to do hoops for this. I’ll pass.
I dont understand how Pimax still has so much issues this many years down the line. It is not like they are new in the VR space anymore.
DCS will be the hardest one to optimize due to their inability to change graphics settings without reloading the level
As an MSFS enthusiast, the technical challenges of setting that sim up are inherent to the sim itself. Since its launch on VR in December 2020 I've had three PC's, five headsets and have spent thousands of hours tweaking it for better performance. That's the life of a VR flight simmer!
Thats the life of a microsoft user!
Thats extensible for other software of them starting with windows :P
3090 4k at modern aaa titles requires tweaking. You're surprised that 12k gaming requires tweaking?
Thank god i got a 4090 but i am still half worried. I hope valve show there next headset befor my crystal ships
I'm in once i dont have to troubleshoot it for days. Regular consumers need it to be plug and play litterally. Until they can give this i'm happy to wait.
it's a shame that underneath all of the jank, this headset really does have a lot of potential
but all of the setup challenges are just barriers that a lot of people just aren't willing to jump
funny how some have no problems and others have many problems. I wonder if it has to do with the bridging pre-production to production models?
Thanks for your review, especially because you give all the solutions you found for the problems you encountered, it is incredibly useful information for those considering buying a Pimax Crystal 👍
I wish to know If I can play "the forest VR" with Crystal with no problems 🤔 and in high details?
Yeah I’m gonna cancel my pre order and wait for the Quest 3.. plus they took forever even currently