If I ever get a gaming desktop, I'll get every piece of hardware and software I can that supports a VR setup like the Crystal. The right gear makes a HUGE difference.
Yeah it really does. Getting good peripherals is important, because if you're in VR you need enough spare buttons and controls to cover all the assignments you need!
6:58 I started on a Rift-S, then managed to snag a practically unused Reverb G2 for a great price - which I'm still using. That was a pretty huge jump in quality, but I was still blown away when I had the chance to try out the Crystal a few months ago on a buddy's PC. And my thought was exactly what you said: It's as if you're looking at your monitor (1440p in my case). What I said when I first used it is that the picture on the Crystal is kinda like looking at the Reverb's "sweet-spot", only that with the Pimax, the whole display *is* the sweet-spot. Slight caveat: My buddy had just received his set and probably hadn't finished with all the settings in IL-2 ... or rather, he was of the opinion that with his PC (running an RTX 4090) he should simply be able to max out everything in-game and get a smooth result. Which wasn't really the case with IL-2 ... don't remember what sort of FPS he got, but it was well below what I would call "playable". Seeing how I'm getting steady 90 FPS on the Reverb with just an RTX 4070, I'm sure this was probably just a case of fine-tuning. Overall, I'd be very, very tempted by the Pimax ... if it didn't mean an investment of ...what? 3 to 4000 Euros, all in. I very much doubt I could run this thing on my existing 4070.. :D
Thank you very much for the review! Currently upgrading my PC and also looking for vr. Eventhough the crystal is quite expensive I might go for it as a worthwile investment for my flight simming.
About the cable pulling the head. My solution is to press the cable between the waist and the back of the chair, and then pull up a little (not too much, just a little). In this way, as long as your waist is not too far away from the chair, the cable allowance can always allow you to turn your neck freely.
Perfect timing for me. I'm just about to order mine. I've been using a G2 for about 12 months for IL-2 until I bought the Quest 3 which apart from it's battery life is so much better due to it's larger sweet spot. but even with an external battery I can only get around 4 hours life out of it.
Nice, I'm using the 5k I got on outlet for DCS and War Thunder and it seems brand new. Thanks for the DCS graphics settings, I was struggling with that at first.
No worries, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what works for my system so I felt I needed to share what l settings I used to maybe help others not spend as much time as I did on it
Yeah the Varjo Aero was great fun when I tried it. At my mate's place he had that with a motion rig and butt kicker. Super awesome but I have no space in my apartment for that kind of stuff haha
thanks for the video that shows many important aspects, my thoughts are that for a price like this I would only consider an almost 99% issue free product, instead as in other reviews I 'm seeing that are still many things that need to be fixed ..
Reduce or disable oversampling (super sampling). You don't need it thanks to the Crystal's clarity (you'll still read the dials just fine) and you'll gain extra fps. (YMMV)
Great review, thank you! But all the fiddly things needed to get this running and keep it running just turn me off. I came to the PC era where we were still fiddling with IRQ jumpers. Never again. Track IR always works I use the same profile for all my sims and it is not hot, sweaty and heavy. Someday the technology will become just as simple as Track IR.
Thanks Tony, for me coming from a small amount of VR experience getting used to this definitely had a learning curve. Once I had everything sorted out though the experience has become much more streamlined where I can just turn the headset on and start playing, but the hard part is just getting to that point where it's all set up how you like it and that took a long time for me. I'm with you though, by the time VR technology becomes more accessible and cheap enough with excellent all encompassing visuals is when TrackIR will be a backup for the simulations we use.
This looks like a worthy upgrade to my G2, although I wonder how well it will work with a 5800X3D and a 3080 Ti. There are now rumours that there will be 2 new versions of this headset coming out, one of them will have no battery and a reduced price tag. That sounds pretty tempting...
Great review! However, don't expect a spectacular improvement in MSFS after upgrading your CPU: you will be able to configure your settings in higher levels (which is great) but it's difficult to raise the VR FPS above 45 in that sim.
Ok that's good to know. I had no idea how much FPS I could get out of it. I don't feel so bad now haha At least it's smooth enough to be playable which is good.
Thanks for a great review as always. You're getting good FPS with the Crystal in IL-2 with a 4070ti Super and those settings, are you reducing your resolution a fair bit or have you found some VR magic somewhere I'm not aware of I'm wondering 🤔.
Appreciate it! I always feel a bit out of my depth doing reviews so I try to keep it simple and what I'd want to see. Regarding the resolution, I use 1.0 in the Pimax software but in Steam VR I set the resolution to around 60% since that matches the resolution of the VR screen. That helps me get normal FPS in Il-2.
Ok fair enough, thanks for the reply. Yes I must have spent almost as much time tweaking settings as actually playing games. But then I was once told that's the bonus game. In some ways it is (for me at least).
No worries, I was using numbers off Pimax's site as I don't know how I would measure it myself. At any rate it definitely felt wider than what I would see in a G2 when looking around.
Why the hell that every time you guys put out an update it screws something else up? I tell you what, I am going on You Tube on every site and explain to people how much a pain is the ass this headset is. From having to restart your computer just to turn in on. Now the Eye tracking justs stops working which means I have to recalibrate, which means leaving game and restarting computer, now my batteries are only lasting an hour. Oh and the little bracket that holds your head strap to the headset will break it's a cheap little piece of plastic, It's like putting a Fiat motor in a Roll Royce, The Fix? Take a hacksaw blade and cut a slit in the actual headset. This is not me folks. I have had this headset since day one. You want to make me happy? Send me a new one. I will not send you this one until I have a new one in hand because I do not trust you, I never did get my free lens you promised when I was one of the first 500.
If I ever get a gaming desktop, I'll get every piece of hardware and software I can that supports a VR setup like the Crystal. The right gear makes a HUGE difference.
Yeah it really does. Getting good peripherals is important, because if you're in VR you need enough spare buttons and controls to cover all the assignments you need!
@@RequiemsACTL Especially as a backup to the controllers. The batteries might die at the worst possible moment.
Thank you for a very good review with some helpful tips along the way. I am running a Crystal on a 4090 and absolutely love it moving from a G2.
Thanks :-) I just couldn't do simulator VR in the G2, but after going to the Pimax the difference is dramatic.
6:58 I started on a Rift-S, then managed to snag a practically unused Reverb G2 for a great price - which I'm still using. That was a pretty huge jump in quality, but I was still blown away when I had the chance to try out the Crystal a few months ago on a buddy's PC. And my thought was exactly what you said: It's as if you're looking at your monitor (1440p in my case). What I said when I first used it is that the picture on the Crystal is kinda like looking at the Reverb's "sweet-spot", only that with the Pimax, the whole display *is* the sweet-spot.
Slight caveat: My buddy had just received his set and probably hadn't finished with all the settings in IL-2 ... or rather, he was of the opinion that with his PC (running an RTX 4090) he should simply be able to max out everything in-game and get a smooth result. Which wasn't really the case with IL-2 ... don't remember what sort of FPS he got, but it was well below what I would call "playable". Seeing how I'm getting steady 90 FPS on the Reverb with just an RTX 4070, I'm sure this was probably just a case of fine-tuning.
Overall, I'd be very, very tempted by the Pimax ... if it didn't mean an investment of ...what? 3 to 4000 Euros, all in. I very much doubt I could run this thing on my existing 4070.. :D
Thank you very much for the review! Currently upgrading my PC and also looking for vr. Eventhough the crystal is quite expensive I might go for it as a worthwile investment for my flight simming.
Thanks for this review. I'll will continue to wait for my from flat to VR swap.
Thorough review! Thank you
Very good review. Thank you
About the cable pulling the head. My solution is to press the cable between the waist and the back of the chair, and then pull up a little (not too much, just a little). In this way, as long as your waist is not too far away from the chair, the cable allowance can always allow you to turn your neck freely.
Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try next time I fly!
Perfect timing for me. I'm just about to order mine. I've been using a G2 for about 12 months for IL-2 until I bought the Quest 3 which apart from it's battery life is so much better due to it's larger sweet spot. but even with an external battery I can only get around 4 hours life out of it.
I had G2, now Q3 unfortunately Q3 is not good enough for me.
Once you get past the set up and tweaking I'm sure you will enjoy it
Nice, I'm using the 5k I got on outlet for DCS and War Thunder and it seems brand new. Thanks for the DCS graphics settings, I was struggling with that at first.
No worries, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what works for my system so I felt I needed to share what l settings I used to maybe help others not spend as much time as I did on it
I'm holding my breath for crystal light.
Nice review, I fly DCS using a Varjo Aero. I could never go back to a monitor. I am considering going for a motion rig =)
Yeah the Varjo Aero was great fun when I tried it. At my mate's place he had that with a motion rig and butt kicker. Super awesome but I have no space in my apartment for that kind of stuff haha
thanks for the video that shows many important aspects, my thoughts are that for a price like this I would only consider an almost 99% issue free product, instead as in other reviews I 'm seeing that are still many things that need to be fixed ..
Reduce or disable oversampling (super sampling). You don't need it thanks to the Crystal's clarity (you'll still read the dials just fine) and you'll gain extra fps. (YMMV)
Build quality is lacking but the resolution is incredible.
Great review, thank you! But all the fiddly things needed to get this running and keep it running just turn me off. I came to the PC era where we were still fiddling with IRQ jumpers. Never again. Track IR always works I use the same profile for all my sims and it is not hot, sweaty and heavy. Someday the technology will become just as simple as Track IR.
Thanks Tony, for me coming from a small amount of VR experience getting used to this definitely had a learning curve. Once I had everything sorted out though the experience has become much more streamlined where I can just turn the headset on and start playing, but the hard part is just getting to that point where it's all set up how you like it and that took a long time for me. I'm with you though, by the time VR technology becomes more accessible and cheap enough with excellent all encompassing visuals is when TrackIR will be a backup for the simulations we use.
This looks like a worthy upgrade to my G2, although I wonder how well it will work with a 5800X3D and a 3080 Ti.
There are now rumours that there will be 2 new versions of this headset coming out, one of them will have no battery and a reduced price tag. That sounds pretty tempting...
Your 3080ti is a step up from my 3070, and I still ran DCS and Il-2 with playable FPS using it before I upgraded so I'd expect you to be fine
Less than half the price is the new Crystal Light. Worthy consideration!
Great review! However, don't expect a spectacular improvement in MSFS after upgrading your CPU: you will be able to configure your settings in higher levels (which is great) but it's difficult to raise the VR FPS above 45 in that sim.
Ok that's good to know. I had no idea how much FPS I could get out of it. I don't feel so bad now haha
At least it's smooth enough to be playable which is good.
Best CPU for MSFS is Ryzen 7800x3D , like dozen fps more than i9 14900k
Thanks for a great review as always. You're getting good FPS with the Crystal in IL-2 with a 4070ti Super and those settings, are you reducing your resolution a fair bit or have you found some VR magic somewhere I'm not aware of I'm wondering 🤔.
Appreciate it! I always feel a bit out of my depth doing reviews so I try to keep it simple and what I'd want to see. Regarding the resolution, I use 1.0 in the Pimax software but in Steam VR I set the resolution to around 60% since that matches the resolution of the VR screen. That helps me get normal FPS in Il-2.
Ok fair enough, thanks for the reply. Yes I must have spent almost as much time tweaking settings as actually playing games. But then I was once told that's the bonus game. In some ways it is (for me at least).
The Crystal Light just got released, at £600 without local dimming, and £850 with local dimming. Is the local dimming worth it in your opinion?
The local dimming is nice, but I'm not sure if I would miss it too much. It adds a little bit extra to the overall image.
125 degrees hFOV is fake advertising by Pimax. The real value is 103.
No worries, I was using numbers off Pimax's site as I don't know how I would measure it myself. At any rate it definitely felt wider than what I would see in a G2 when looking around.
is there any hand tracking?
Yes there is a hand tracking addon
great video, the plug in you talk about is not available anymore.
Yeah I noticed that too after I already had the video ready, hopefully one day it can be implemented as it was quite a nice enhancement!
*promo sm*
Why the hell that every time you guys put out an update it screws something else up? I tell you what, I am going on You Tube on every site and explain to people how much a pain is the ass this headset is. From having to restart your computer just to turn in on. Now the Eye tracking justs stops working which means I have to recalibrate, which means leaving game and restarting computer, now my batteries are only lasting an hour. Oh and the little bracket that holds your head strap to the headset will break it's a cheap little piece of plastic, It's like putting a Fiat motor in a Roll Royce, The Fix? Take a hacksaw blade and cut a slit in the actual headset. This is not me folks. I have had this headset since day one. You want to make me happy? Send me a new one. I will not send you this one until I have a new one in hand because I do not trust you, I never did get my free lens you promised when I was one of the first 500.