Store Link: pimax.com/crystal/?ref=0GANtO (Affiliate link) $99 off discount: REDKITE99 (limited uses) Phew, this has been a pain to review! I'm now starting to get back into the flow of some videos; I've got the Case 3 on its way, and prep work for the F-4e well underway. There's a few sim-topics i want to chat about too and hope to get Raven One DF back on track, along with starting a B-17 series in the near future as the recent updates have just about got it into a good state now.
Very good review. With regard to the grey fog, it should also be said that this effect actually occurs irl. Here is an example: www.nature-motion.de/wcm/wp-content/uploads/190_0040.jpg
Hi, I love your reviews and have followed them for some time. I have been worried about the hp reverb g2v2 I own, being made redundant by Microsoft update and figured it was time for an update. I have just bought a Pimax crystal secondhand On ebay.( crazy hey ) no one bid so I got it half of new price and it looks like it had very little use.And with the Dmax speakers. 3 hours of trying to get it past error 10500.(Mad panic...Have I bought a lemon!) Then ( Help from the Internet.) I connected the side usb and reseated the cable and all was well. 4 days in and no more problems. I mostly do simulation but enjoy a team shooter like Onward or Pavlov from time to time. But every bodys review of the Crystals controller's tracking made me think, this would be hopeless.........But they have had a recent update and I'm assuming that has made a difference... i thought I would give it a try. in Onward the tracking was far better than the hp reverb G2v2 and had no wandering. The room i tested in had a lot of clutter and a not so powerful light. Aiming was great. and comparable with my old oculus rift S. even with a sniper rifle The predictive software when behind your back is average but very quickly snaps back when in camera range.( I have never tried a meta product so cant compare their tracking) I use a gun stock and inclusion was not an issue. i would be interested in your current view? Have yet to see any Chromatic aberration but may see in future. Flight sims Like dcs MSFS and IL2 are far clearer and surprisingly smooth with eye tracking. My system 10700 i7 and an rtx 3080. i would be interested in what you might replace the crystal with, or will you wait for the next best, great headset sent to you.... for testing. ( How I envy) keep up the great reviews......
Great job with this review. It's more thorough and covers so many things that matter. Things most content creators who specialize in VR only don't even do as a job at covering.
Good review. As an ex pimax owner, I agree with all your points. I sold mine and got myself a quest pro and never looked back. The only advantage pimax has is the higher resolution, and that's it. Quest pro pancake lenses are FANTASTIC, plus the open design of the headset is perfect for flight simmers. Having tried a lot of headsets (quest2 and 3, valve index, pimax and a varjo borrowed from a friend of mine) at 1000 dollars quest pro is the king of virtual flight sims!!
I'm hoping meta does a Quest 3 "Pro" would be nice to have some of the features of the Pro like the eye tracking in a Quest 3. If someone makes an aftermarket eye tracker for the Q3 I'd be happy. The only thing after that, I do wish is they went with higher quality higher res panels.
I mean no, fundamentally, the Quest Pro is a horrendous price to performance ratio, especially due to compression. Good headset, good features, but not worth that much when brought together. It doesn't run at a resolution high enough to take advantage of eye tracking either in DCS. The Quest 3 however is an extremely good general purpose however and I would/have recommend it to anyone who would ask what headset they should buy.
Seeing a lot of videos about the Crystal lately but one thing everyone forgets to mention and emphasis is the bad customer service. Just got mine after they forgot to ship it yet marked it shipped for over a week and it arrived damaged out the box, has bad lenses and non functioning eye tracking and dead audio in one DMAS. Contacted customer service and now 5 days later I still have no response. Just be aware like any company you can get bad ones and have the bad CS headache. Its not my first pimax as I had the 8KX before this but its the second time I have had issues with their products and sometimes it takes months to resolve.
I cannot complain about their customer service. They answer me within hours and so far offered a working solution, im a customer since 8kX and now crystal. Do keep in mind the timezone difference.
@@mich5528 Pimax's customer service is inconsistent. Sometimes you will get immediate and good response. Too often you will not. It's a roll of the dice. And it also depends on whether the issue would require something that costs Pimax money. If you have a defective product that needs RMA, for instance, expect Pimax's customer support to frequently not respond for days or weeks and be unhelpful.
Love how detailed and soothing this review is. I appreciate the deep dive on how eye tracking work with our eyes and the fact that you name the games you use for B-role footage.
I just want to say, this review was perfect! Thanks for to be honest with all the up and downsides. I've had a Reverb G2 for the last few years, but slowly something new had to come along, so after a lot of back and forth between the Crystal and the Quest 3, I decided on the Quest. And I just have to say that once you've set up the Quest properly with Airlink and a Wifi 6 router, wireless gaming is simply unbelievably good. Yes, even in DCS (which I play almost exclusively with it) where you're just sitting down, the freedom it gives you to just stand up and switch to passthrough is simply awesome. The picture quality is also incredibly good. What many people forget when they opt for the Crystal is that if you want to take advantage of the better sharpness of the display, you must have a PC that can run DCS without DLSS on the highest settings, because DLSS also blurs small details and makes them unclear.
Only gonna be bricked if you choose to install the W11 update, and I expect we'll see third party software emulating WMR to take the reins anyway. But this headset is severely overpriced, max I'd wanna pay WITH the headphones is 1000 or less. It's certainly NOT an alternative to the G2.
As a Crystal owner, i find this review very solid and accurate. Headset is surely not the most refined. But in cockpit games i value picture clarity above everything else. And Crystal is good at it.
I appreciate a Detailed and Honest Product Review. This seems like a great VR headset but I think I'll stick with my HP Reverb G2. Like all of the available VR headsets (within the price group) it has some issues like "sweating" but it has a bacteria-free padding (or whatever they call it ?). It's an awesome, all-round headset with excellent resolution (2160 x 2160 panel resolution per eye 4320 x 2160 pixels combined RGB sub-pixels) and while I haven't flown in DCS for a long time, I found that I could have most graphics tweaks pretty much dialed-up with my GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming card. It was awesome and I look forward to doing it again very soon.
Seeing a lot of videos about the Crystal lately but one thing everyone forgets to mention is the bad customer service. Just got mine after they forgot to ship it yet marked it shipped for over a week and it arrived damaged out the box, has bad lenses and non functioning eye tracking and dead audio in one DMAS. Contacted customer service and now 5 days later I still have no response. Just be aware like any company you can get bad ones and have the bad CS headache. Its not my first pimax as I had the 8KX before this but its the second time I have had issues with their products and sometimes it takes months to resolve.
THIS! its the paid reviews. They all come out within a specified time frame. Pimax is *known* for doing shit like this. At least RedKite lays out some honest opinions about the QC garbage. I had to do a chargeback to get my money back from them for the 5k+ shitbox (after going through *FOUR* headsets, before finally getting a Reverb -- now a mostly happy Quest 3 user though.)
Yep, though eye tracking is also an expensive addition! But certainly worth it for these high resolution displays, it'll be mandatory to sustain VR development in the future.
Certainly one of the better reviews I've seen. I'm crystal clear that this isn't the headset for me. Mostly because of the issues you have with the controllers and room tracking. Also, I was hoping for more consistent blacks. Not the fog you were seeing from the dark city. I'll make due with the Quest 3 and 5k Super for now and hope for an oled all-in-one gaming solution in the next years.
I seem to frequently get the code 10500, "NOT PLUGGED IN" and have to go through a reattaching nightmare of cables until it recognized both the USB an DP cables attached. I bypassed the included powered junction box and use a powered USB hub, seems to work for now
Had this error code too but also be aware of your video card limitations. My multi monitor setup caused my nvidia card not to send a signal to the Crystal but the error code suggested a USB issue, took me awhile to figure out it was a gpu card problem instead of usb.
Same problem ( 3 hours changing cable connections after buying) But the fix ( not sure which one fixed it ) was a solid connection of the display port ( a real loud click when it seated) and a usbc cable in the side of the headset ( which i don't have to do any more) and no more problems
Nice review. People should really be aware of the monitor limit issue on nVidia cards because that really burned me. It's not even just "disable your third monitor -- for me, I only have two, one ws 4k@120hz and HDR, the other 1440p@120hz. I had to physically unplug the 4k monitor _and_ reduce the resolution of the 1440p monitor to 1600*1024 else the headset would not work. This is too much of a hassle and disabling of my PC whilst simming to be usable. Even worse, the headset typically would crash when those requirements were almost, but not quite met so that's very poor behavior. I could see nested in the logs an nVidia API error suggesing the maximum number of displays was reached. There may be a bug where it was still detecting old monitors not plugged in and/or my CubeSim screens that...I think I had unplugged by then. If I were to fully debug (I'm a software engineer myself) possibly Windows' behavior of remembering monitors that are unplugged was causing an issue and I would delete entries in the registry that stored information on all previous plugged in monitors. To me, that experience felt far too beta and I had to work with customer support to get answers. They told me a firmware update later would fix the problem but I didn't want to stick around with a headset I wouldn't use in the mean time. I also concur from the couple of sessions I managed to try/test out with DCS, the headset generates considerable heat and that is a problem because eyes are a source of further heat and moisture. Essentially it is very possible that your own eyes end up fogging the lenses and then you're dealing with a blurry image for that reason with no solution other than to keep things cool and dry. This is where the Varjo Aero's airflow cooling solution is an absolute win. Honestly, despite Varjo's discontinuing it, all that means it they aren't producing more of them phsycially and they aren't going to go through extended effort to update software. While the stoppage of physical production I'm sure is absolute, I'm sure they would deliver a software update if something substantial comes out in the future that the headset is physically capable of but only needs some driver support. Likely, the underpinnings of the firmware and drivers for all Varjo headsets are similar so if they're doing it for the new ones, they basically have it for the old ones. I would pick up a Varjo Aero at normal price right now if I had a job, and absolutely would call it a steal at less than $750.
The first issue has got nothing to do with the Crystal though, it's a physical limitation of how many pixels your GPU can push and how fast. Remember that the crystal can run up to 5760*2880 at 120Hz which is essentially 2x4K@120Hz screens. I'm not sure why support told you this would be fixed with a firmware update, because it won't, and other high res headsets have the same issue (Varjo Aero, Pimax 8KX).
Thanks for posting this.I found out this nvidia limitation myself, running 4k monitor at 240hz and another at 2.7 at 60k, the cystal will not work and the error code states a USB issue, which was completely wrong…. Took me awhile to find out i had to switch the 4k monitor to 120hz and then the crystal works… its indeed a nvidia limitation. Is this documented somewhere?
The limit on monitors is something which should be part of Pimax's documentation up front. The fact that it's not and that customers only discover about this when they run into it after they've already purchased the product, and that they usually only learn that it's a limitation through digging into forums or a discord server... well, that's typical of the Pimax experience. There's a whole raft of other hidden ins and outs customers need to learn about this product, any particular one of which you may or may not run into.
"I'm sure they would deliver a software update if something substantial comes out in the future that the headset is physically capable of but only needs some driver support." I'm afraid you're just dreaming. When a company EOL's a product, that means nobody at that company will be working on it anymore. They won't even be looking at it, and they won't respond when customers complain when it stops working after some OS update. It would be very unusual for any company to do what you're expecting here.
@@SargonDragon While I agree, no one in the industry is documenting this, I would suggest that you be a little more objective in your Pimax analysis. Varjo has an article that you have to explicitely look for as in you'll never see it 99% of the time before buying. It's also not terribly helpful if you quickly skim through it as it basically says "yes you can use multiple monitors" before saying that actually no you might run into issues.
i must say using the link cable on the quest 3 and good settings in the oculus debug tool,kayak mirage (all settings on max and even supersampled ingame)looked stunning and very close to the pimax crystal but with a far better sweetspot, edge edge clarity the FOV feels larger because of this for me.. i did beta test the crystal and it also did suffer from warping at the sides off the crystal lenses wich makes the vr world unstable. If you got a beefy pc you can get the best out off the quest 3 its a no brainer..And offcourse the amazing wireless cability with virtual desktop is a big bonus too
I would not get this full version PIMAX Crystal VR headset. It just costs too much for my usage and budget. Sounds like it also has its problems. Maybe the newer Crystal Lite headsets will be better, but I will wait for the users and reviewers to do their videos when products are released. Right now I am in no big hurry to buy a new VR headset, I am doing just fine with what I have for SIM racing games and VR. Take care.
Sorry to keep spamming your comment section but it's useful information. The signal issue while Pimax and Nvidia only acknowledges it for the 3090Ti actually applies to everything from the 3070 upwards, for example the youtuber DiscoVR had the same issue with a 3080 (can't remember if it was Ti or non Ti) and there's been people reporting it with 3070's. It seems like it is just a problem with the entire 30 series.
No worries, thanks for the info! I'd talked with Pimax on the topic and the 3090s were all they'd say had the issue. The booster seems like the kind of feature that Pimax should build into their little combination hub that comes with the headset in the future.
Not that it has much value for you now since you're returning it, but just for anyone else who sees the comment while considering this headset. The battery does not seem to be designed to be plugged in/removed by pressing in both of the press tabs and pulling, as much as that seems like it is obviously the way the headset is meant to be put in and removed. It is far easier if you press in one of the tabs on one side, rock that side in, then press in the tab on the other side and rock that in.
Thankfully it's not something you'll need to replace often unless you're doing marathon sessions regularly, i only managed to run it down to 20% once, as a result of recording gameplay followed up by an entire afternoon/evening of review production work afterwards.
Great review I'll stick with my quest 3 for now hopefully Crystal 2 Pimax can bring the size down or big screen Beyond 2 add inside and outside tracking an ability to share the headset, I have to wait for nvidia's new generation video card anyway. Imagine quest 4 OLED Wireless virtual desktop is amazing I don't see a difference between the cable AND IT.
My PiMax crystal has been on the shelf in my garage since September. I had similar boot-up problems and the batteries were a mess. Maybe it's better now but more of an alpha product a few months back.
Hey, great review! Have you had a look at the Bigscreen Beyond? Its only 1000$ and functions as an HMD drop in for an Index kit. Its got similar FOV, 32ppd, MicroOLED and is VERY small, weighing about 175g. I'd imagine its better for DCS than the crystal, simply due to comfort, reliability, and screens. Its got no eye tracking yet, but there is a community mod one can do for about 50$ that is beeing considered for an official addon.
It's more targeted at home cinema, and typical VR gaming to my mind. The FOV is the most narrow of all headsets atm, i really don't fancy going back to that myself esp in a flight sim. If anything i wish they'd get just a little wider in general, even over the index/crystal's fov, but perhaps not the insane levels that some of the other Pimax models attempted.
@@RedKiteRender people are actually reporting that it's similar if not better to Quest 2. And because you can move your head so easily, it results in a much more natural experience. Perhaps you can get Bigscreen to send you a review unit? I think I'd be unfair to the beyond to just deem the crystal the best sim headset without a comparison
Furthermore, the beyond would be a game changer when dogfighting in VR. A bit more FOV doesn't remedy the fact that you have 8 times the weight on your head when stretching your neck back.
(In before a pilot tells us their helmet was/is heavier even before adding the Gs!) Certainly I'd like it lighter, i hope the Beyond is the shape of the future, Pimax headsets are pushing the upper limits for size. Far as reviewing Beyond, that'll have to be a maybe, I'd certainly love to try one, but the whole 3d scanned face requirement is a bit of a barrier. I may get in touch with them later in the year when things are a little less busy for me, but ultimately I'd be more interested in a Beyond #2, I really don't want to drop the fov personally. It was a nightmare to dogfight with the HTC Vive, and i don't fancy going through that again, lighter or not.
@@blenderalien "A bit more FOV doesn't remedy the fact that you have 8 times the weight on your head when stretching your neck back." It actually does. When checking your six you turn your eyes, as you cannot actually turn your head that far without losing good hold of the controls unless you're the elastic man or something. Current small FOV headsets do not allow you to do this and so require abnormal (and uncomfortable) amounts of twisting in the seat. A large FOV headset is the only way you'll get close to a "realistic" experience.
I don't get the battery swap complaints, I figured how to do that quickly and easily the first day I had it. What is is more annoying is a software bug that messes up the display that requires you to remove all cables and the battery for a few days to fix.
The physical swap mechanism is just cheap and clunky, which is not what I'd expect for the cost. The battery also inconveniences everyone for no benefit and increases weight/cost. Only those who get the Wireless kit, or want to use the all in one mode will need it. Not run into the issue you've mentioned myself, at most I've had to power the headset off and back on again via holding headset power button to get it recognised.
This company will never overcome their bad reputation for not delivering on promises. How’s that wi gig feature over a year after launch? Form factor is obsolete already
Yeah I had an issue with mine and their support said "We have no idea what this issue is, we're sending it to R&D to find out, but don't worry it's safe and you can use the headset." How can you know it is safe if you have no idea what it was? Sent it back after that.
The Bigscreen beyond is already a much cheaper, more reliable and better looking headset, especially for sims. Form factor is key here, 32ppd vs 35ppd doesn't matter too much, and the only kink here, is that eye tracking must be added through a very promising open source project
@@RedKiteRender When I turned my PC on Pimax play asked me to let it update, when I let it update windows defender fired off a bunch of malware flags related to altering and disabling windows defender itself. Then my PC did some other stuff after that.
Ah yes, i recall. Certainly not a great outcome, hope it was just faulty firmware. On the other side I've heard lots of positives on Crystal lately, from respected peers. Though we shouldn't forget the troubles Jabbers went through with his Pimax years back either!
1:25 Did your headset come with the wire wrapped around the inside and presumably some sort of guide in place? Mine just came with the wire randomly hanging outside of the headset, and that is how a couple of the other reviews I have seen also had it. I never even realised you could set it up the way you have, which seems like it would be neater.
Was setup like that out the box, which is the intended layout to my knowledge. The second clip is with the face shield removed, it's normally covered. It's possible this is a 'mid life' revision?
Would you consider it as your daily or semi-daily device for VR? Have you tested the Q3? Do you think Q3 does the job well enough without needing the Crystal? Thx for ur videos. I like the channel.
I've used, but don't own a Q3 myself. Value for money Q3 all the way, for best of the best of visuals and performance its gotta be the crystal, but it's a steep price. The Q3 is still a pretty great experience, if you've got the muscle in your pc to push the full resolution at a good rate it'll give 80% of the experience. As for my 'daily driver' That's remaining the Index for the moment. Largely because i do more Roomscale VR typically than Sim use. Crystal's niche is simming, so I'd only set it up for flying. Perhaps that'll change with a new pc build late this year, depending on how the VR market is by that point.
@@RedKiteRender Different thoughts considering the Crystal Light? You made a comment about eye tracking / DFR being essential. So interested in your thoughts on value / performance comparison btw Q3 and Crystal Light.
I'm still trying to figure out how to get more than 80 minutes out of one battery on this thing. This is the most disappointing HMD I've had as it is almost perfect for me except the extremely low battery life. It's so, so infuriating that they chose to have a standalone option! What on Earth were they thinking! The 'hot swap' in DCS just refuses to work as well. I purchased a 120 Watt charger and a USB-C to USB-A fast Fiber cable to plug in to the side firmare input to fix this and it still drains in 80 minutes but now it charges when I'm not using it. It's been such a pain trying to fix this over the last week. I have a couple of things I can try today to fix this problem but after that I think I'm done and I'm returning this thing and I will just go back to TrackiR or get another HMD. The power HUB they supplied me with doesn't seem to be giving out any power at all.
Damn. Those quality issues in the beginning of the video are a total bummer. I expected something more premium, even the plastic looks rubbish. Chromatic aberration another down side. Not getting my money for sure. Quest 3 is still the way to go. Let's hope for a new Valve Index in the future.
I really hope Valve show their hand sometime soon, i expect it to still be expensive, may not even be 'as good' as the crystal but the general user experience and quality is frequently higher with Valve. That, and I'd like to see more competition in the market! Pimax have it cornered at the moment.
Were you able to compare it to the Varjo Aero? I have one of those now, and it doesn't appear the Pimax offers enough advantages, if any, to switch. FYI, the best simming VR headset right now is probably the XTAL 3, with it's 180 degree FOV, but it costs $10,000.
I've chatted with a few Varjo Aero users, the build on Aero is better, lenses too i believe, but the (Aero) FOV was quite a bit of a downer specifically to those who'd used both. I certainly wouldn't bother getting a Crystal if you already have an Aero, is a real pity it's no longer for sale, though it wasn't really meant to be a 'consumer' product in the end. As for the XTAL, well, that's not really affordable for sane people, aimed at business too! That price is before import/VAT and such.
Having had both side to side, I would agree that it's not worth switching but the Crystal is a better headset for simming imo. The colors are better, noticeably so, the 40° additional vertical FOV and non-truncated lenses in the nose area really makes it more immersive and while clarity is about on par in the center between both headsets, it's better across the FOV for the Crystal. However, one area where some bluriness does occur and is a bummer versus the Aero is in the inner portions of the lenses, which you notice with your left eye when you look far right or with your right eye when you look far left. The overlap (the name of this area where you get stereo vision) is smaller on the aero, which helps this feeling of "it's less blurry in the center with the aero", but I still feel like realistically, it's a bit worse on the Crystal. Basically what I'm trying to say is that in the Crystal you get 10° extra of overlap, which is great, but its blurry which is meh, and it reduces the clarity in the rest of the overlap which is definitely a tradeoff you could question. Comfort wise for simming I honnestly didn't have an issue with either, but the aero could have been a lot better mostly because of the lack of integrated headphones, especially since they will carry the whine of the integrated fan which in this case is a blessing and a curse. I personally use an external fan anyways which worked a lot better to keep me cool. In the end both headsets left a noticeable mark on my face but were confortable enough to wear for hours so, not much more I can say. Software wise, Aero wins because it's integrated better, but if you're using SteamVR with the Crystal, tbh, except for eye tracking calibration which is very convenient on the Aero, it doesn't make much of a practical difference.
It's a debug marker to show the centre of the full resolution rendered mask. It follows your eye's gaze. Needed it to both help align the camera correctly and insure I'm looking at the part of the screen running at full resolution during recording. It's not visible unless you enable it for debug/demonstration purposes.
constant 10500 Connection Error.... 4 days so far of hour long google searches and communication with a below average support desk ... still no joy.... my usb's and display ports work fine on all other externals...
DCS - Ive spent a lot of money on ''Virpil sticks/bases and control panels/Stream Deck/Tablets/Monitors''.............how do i use those if i downgrade to VR?
I use my full hotas/control panels in VR without significant issue. Calling VR a downgrade is more than a little unfair. Yes you won't be able to use anything that can't be used 'blind' Such is the price for replacing your vision.
As long as the panels are in a similar location to where they are in the physical cockpit of your choice your brain will map the difference out. I use 2 MFDs and plan on getting a IPC in the near future and I fly exclusively in VR.
Pimax aren't letting you keep the review unit? That's penny pinching and a half lmao. Do the other companies that give you hardware to review also ask for you to return it? I don't remember you saying it in any of your other reviews, but it is entirely possible that I am simply not remembering.
It's funny, people complain if i do keep the review sample! It's not uncommon on more expensive items to be offered as loan. Far as flightsim hardware goes, I've been given everything to keep in the past, so much so I've given away some of it to free up space in my house! It varies from company to company, or even my personal needs. I'd considered reviewing a sim rig a while back, had an offer, but i simply can't live with one, so giving it back would have been the only option. Ultimately turned it down as I'm already unable to keep up with reviews.
this might not be the to write i bougnt my crystal and a peice broke and pimax support said they will replace it they they gave a fedx tracking tag to mail my broken one to calif. they received it then support said they mailed the replacement found out it was mailed to the wrong address anyway to make it short i now have nothing they will not send me the broken PIMAX IS A RIP OFF dont buy
This thing is WAY overpriced for what you are getting. The Q3 is clearly the one to beat still for the average person that has better things to spend money on than just gaming...
The Q3 is significantly subsidised in price by Facebook, it's probably sold much closer to only breaking even or even loss. They've been flaunting that Facebook money to force their way to the head of the VR field. But you are totally, right, the Q3 is so much cheaper that it's the more practical choice for the majority. Crystal is a high end must have the best kind of thing, I'd certainly liked to have seen it feel more premium for the price.
@@RedKiteRender Exactly. For the price, I'd expect at least all of the features of the Q3 and better build quality on top of that. These super expensive headsets will just ensure that VR dies a quicker death.
The pimax crystal is still mainly a pcvr. Headset due to its resolution and capabilities. I would go for the pimax crystal here since not only does it have eyetracking that can be used for DFR you can also use it in social games for eyetracking functionality including mouth tracking. From what I see the quest 3 focused on its AR implementation which the pimax has not. I would say leaving the overpriced to apples vision pro instead.
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.
Seems pretty poor quality for a 1.5K headset. Sure it has great PPD but no real OLED and issues with the visuals, I personally wouldn't get this headet.
I've been alternating hardware review and other videos of late because I'm simply too busy to do both at once, and CZcams can't replace a job. I've a small backlog of things to review. Next video is Case 3, i hope to get off to a running start with the F-4e once that's ready. So I've been preparing for that. Honestly videos are taking too long to make in general and i need to reconsider my approach to try and speed things along.
I wish they'd gone a little more focused, without the battery, manual ipd and spent some more of that budget to insure the construction was in line with the premium price tag, even if that resulted in a slight increase in price.
@@RedKiteRender The battery is not as straight forward as one might have wanted but for me, except the minor inconvenience I guess from the occasional swap during long game sessions (6h+) (which does not require a game restart if using PimaxXR 0.4.5 or SteamVR), it works fine
I'd love to see a breakdown on budget for the price from Pimax, i suspect that it dried up by the time they got to build quality, rest is fantastic, or unnecessary in my opinion.
So you are providing discount codes from the manufacturer, and you think we should considered this an independent review? Sorry but this fact yougot a relation with the manufacturer makes this video less trustworty, sorry.
I very clearly state a disclosure disclaimer at the start; That I'm loaned the headset, and that there's codes. I'm not pretending or hiding that fact. if you don't trust me, by all means. Ultimately reviewing it at all would be impossible for me without Pimax's cooperation in contacting me. I believe I've remained largely unbiased, esp since I'm not keeping the headset. Having more than pointed out its problems and gone in depth. I could have easily just made a hype piece for far less effort.
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.
Store Link: pimax.com/crystal/?ref=0GANtO (Affiliate link) $99 off discount: REDKITE99 (limited uses)
Phew, this has been a pain to review! I'm now starting to get back into the flow of some videos; I've got the Case 3 on its way, and prep work for the F-4e well underway. There's a few sim-topics i want to chat about too and hope to get Raven One DF back on track, along with starting a B-17 series in the near future as the recent updates have just about got it into a good state now.
Very good review. With regard to the grey fog, it should also be said that this effect actually occurs irl. Here is an example: www.nature-motion.de/wcm/wp-content/uploads/190_0040.jpg
Hi, I love your reviews and have followed them for some time. I have been worried about the hp reverb g2v2 I own, being made redundant by Microsoft update and figured it was time for an update. I have just bought a Pimax crystal secondhand On ebay.( crazy hey ) no one bid so I got it half of new price and it looks like it had very little use.And with the Dmax speakers. 3 hours of trying to get it past error 10500.(Mad panic...Have I bought a lemon!) Then ( Help from the Internet.) I connected the side usb and reseated the cable and all was well. 4 days in and no more problems.
I mostly do simulation but enjoy a team shooter like Onward or Pavlov from time to time. But every bodys review of the Crystals controller's tracking made me think, this would be hopeless.........But they have had a recent update and I'm assuming that has made a difference... i thought I would give it a try. in Onward the tracking was far better than the hp reverb G2v2 and had no wandering. The room i tested in had a lot of clutter and a not so powerful light. Aiming was great. and comparable with my old oculus rift S. even with a sniper rifle The predictive software when behind your back is average but very quickly snaps back when in camera range.( I have never tried a meta product so cant compare their tracking) I use a gun stock and inclusion was not an issue. i would be interested in your current view? Have yet to see any Chromatic aberration but may see in future.
Flight sims Like dcs MSFS and IL2 are far clearer and surprisingly smooth with eye tracking. My system 10700 i7 and an rtx 3080. i would be interested in what you might replace the crystal with, or will you wait for the next best, great headset sent to you.... for testing. ( How I envy) keep up the great reviews......
Great job with this review. It's more thorough and covers so many things that matter. Things most content creators who specialize in VR only don't even do as a job at covering.
Thanks! It was a royal pain putting it all together!
Good review. As an ex pimax owner, I agree with all your points. I sold mine and got myself a quest pro and never looked back. The only advantage pimax has is the higher resolution, and that's it. Quest pro pancake lenses are FANTASTIC, plus the open design of the headset is perfect for flight simmers. Having tried a lot of headsets (quest2 and 3, valve index, pimax and a varjo borrowed from a friend of mine) at 1000 dollars quest pro is the king of virtual flight sims!!
I'm hoping meta does a Quest 3 "Pro" would be nice to have some of the features of the Pro like the eye tracking in a Quest 3. If someone makes an aftermarket eye tracker for the Q3 I'd be happy. The only thing after that, I do wish is they went with higher quality higher res panels.
I mean no, fundamentally, the Quest Pro is a horrendous price to performance ratio, especially due to compression. Good headset, good features, but not worth that much when brought together. It doesn't run at a resolution high enough to take advantage of eye tracking either in DCS.
The Quest 3 however is an extremely good general purpose however and I would/have recommend it to anyone who would ask what headset they should buy.
Pico4 is way cheaper than Quest Pro and has 35% higher resolution. Quest pro resolution is quite low.
Seeing a lot of videos about the Crystal lately but one thing everyone forgets to mention and emphasis is the bad customer service. Just got mine after they forgot to ship it yet marked it shipped for over a week and it arrived damaged out the box, has bad lenses and non functioning eye tracking and dead audio in one DMAS. Contacted customer service and now 5 days later I still have no response. Just be aware like any company you can get bad ones and have the bad CS headache. Its not my first pimax as I had the 8KX before this but its the second time I have had issues with their products and sometimes it takes months to resolve.
I cannot complain about their customer service. They answer me within hours and so far offered a working solution, im a customer since 8kX and now crystal. Do keep in mind the timezone difference.
@@mich5528 Pimax's customer service is inconsistent. Sometimes you will get immediate and good response. Too often you will not. It's a roll of the dice. And it also depends on whether the issue would require something that costs Pimax money. If you have a defective product that needs RMA, for instance, expect Pimax's customer support to frequently not respond for days or weeks and be unhelpful.
what all games can you use it on? i wanted to use it on "no limits 2" roller coaster sim but idk if it is compatible?
Love how detailed and soothing this review is. I appreciate the deep dive on how eye tracking work with our eyes and the fact that you name the games you use for B-role footage.
I just want to say, this review was perfect! Thanks for to be honest with all the up and downsides.
I've had a Reverb G2 for the last few years, but slowly something new had to come along, so after a lot of back and forth between the Crystal and the Quest 3, I decided on the Quest. And I just have to say that once you've set up the Quest properly with Airlink and a Wifi 6 router, wireless gaming is simply unbelievably good. Yes, even in DCS (which I play almost exclusively with it) where you're just sitting down, the freedom it gives you to just stand up and switch to passthrough is simply awesome. The picture quality is also incredibly good. What many people forget when they opt for the Crystal is that if you want to take advantage of the better sharpness of the display, you must have a PC that can run DCS without DLSS on the highest settings, because DLSS also blurs small details and makes them unclear.
Thanks for the deep dive. Seeing as the G2 is going to be bricked in the not-so-near future, it looks like this might be the alternative.
something that cost 3 times as much is hardly an alternative
Only gonna be bricked if you choose to install the W11 update, and I expect we'll see third party software emulating WMR to take the reins anyway. But this headset is severely overpriced, max I'd wanna pay WITH the headphones is 1000 or less. It's certainly NOT an alternative to the G2.
As a Crystal owner, i find this review very solid and accurate.
Headset is surely not the most refined. But in cockpit games i value picture clarity above everything else. And Crystal is good at it.
I appreciate a Detailed and Honest Product Review.
This seems like a great VR headset but I think I'll stick with my HP Reverb G2. Like all of the available VR headsets (within the price group) it has some issues like "sweating" but it has a bacteria-free padding (or whatever they call it ?). It's an awesome, all-round headset with excellent resolution (2160 x 2160 panel resolution per eye 4320 x 2160 pixels combined RGB sub-pixels) and while I haven't flown in DCS for a long time, I found that I could have most graphics tweaks pretty much dialed-up with my GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming card. It was awesome and I look forward to doing it again very soon.
Seeing a lot of videos about the Crystal lately but one thing everyone forgets to mention is the bad customer service. Just got mine after they forgot to ship it yet marked it shipped for over a week and it arrived damaged out the box, has bad lenses and non functioning eye tracking and dead audio in one DMAS. Contacted customer service and now 5 days later I still have no response. Just be aware like any company you can get bad ones and have the bad CS headache. Its not my first pimax as I had the 8KX before this but its the second time I have had issues with their products and sometimes it takes months to resolve.
THIS! its the paid reviews. They all come out within a specified time frame. Pimax is *known* for doing shit like this. At least RedKite lays out some honest opinions about the QC garbage. I had to do a chargeback to get my money back from them for the 5k+ shitbox (after going through *FOUR* headsets, before finally getting a Reverb -- now a mostly happy Quest 3 user though.)
Foveated rendering with eye tracking is game changing - really wished they managed to get there with the quest 3 and pico 4
Yep, though eye tracking is also an expensive addition! But certainly worth it for these high resolution displays, it'll be mandatory to sustain VR development in the future.
lol, game changer in 2026, when it is properly supported
just got it absolutely outstanding headset, worth the price. Perform
Certainly one of the better reviews I've seen. I'm crystal clear that this isn't the headset for me. Mostly because of the issues you have with the controllers and room tracking. Also, I was hoping for more consistent blacks. Not the fog you were seeing from the dark city. I'll make due with the Quest 3 and 5k Super for now and hope for an oled all-in-one gaming solution in the next years.
I seem to frequently get the code 10500, "NOT PLUGGED IN" and have to go through a reattaching nightmare of cables until it recognized both the USB an DP cables attached. I bypassed the included powered junction box and use a powered USB hub, seems to work for now
Had this error code too but also be aware of your video card limitations. My multi monitor setup caused my nvidia card not to send a signal to the Crystal but the error code suggested a USB issue, took me awhile to figure out it was a gpu card problem instead of usb.
Same problem ( 3 hours changing cable connections after buying) But the fix ( not sure which one fixed it ) was a solid connection of the display port ( a real loud click when it seated) and a usbc cable in the side of the headset ( which i don't have to do any more) and no more problems
People keep saying VR is ready...after trying Valve Index myself in 2022 and seeing how little things have progressed since then, I don't think it is.
Nice review. People should really be aware of the monitor limit issue on nVidia cards because that really burned me. It's not even just "disable your third monitor -- for me, I only have two, one ws 4k@120hz and HDR, the other 1440p@120hz. I had to physically unplug the 4k monitor _and_ reduce the resolution of the 1440p monitor to 1600*1024 else the headset would not work. This is too much of a hassle and disabling of my PC whilst simming to be usable. Even worse, the headset typically would crash when those requirements were almost, but not quite met so that's very poor behavior. I could see nested in the logs an nVidia API error suggesing the maximum number of displays was reached. There may be a bug where it was still detecting old monitors not plugged in and/or my CubeSim screens that...I think I had unplugged by then. If I were to fully debug (I'm a software engineer myself) possibly Windows' behavior of remembering monitors that are unplugged was causing an issue and I would delete entries in the registry that stored information on all previous plugged in monitors.
To me, that experience felt far too beta and I had to work with customer support to get answers. They told me a firmware update later would fix the problem but I didn't want to stick around with a headset I wouldn't use in the mean time.
I also concur from the couple of sessions I managed to try/test out with DCS, the headset generates considerable heat and that is a problem because eyes are a source of further heat and moisture. Essentially it is very possible that your own eyes end up fogging the lenses and then you're dealing with a blurry image for that reason with no solution other than to keep things cool and dry. This is where the Varjo Aero's airflow cooling solution is an absolute win. Honestly, despite Varjo's discontinuing it, all that means it they aren't producing more of them phsycially and they aren't going to go through extended effort to update software. While the stoppage of physical production I'm sure is absolute, I'm sure they would deliver a software update if something substantial comes out in the future that the headset is physically capable of but only needs some driver support. Likely, the underpinnings of the firmware and drivers for all Varjo headsets are similar so if they're doing it for the new ones, they basically have it for the old ones. I would pick up a Varjo Aero at normal price right now if I had a job, and absolutely would call it a steal at less than $750.
The first issue has got nothing to do with the Crystal though, it's a physical limitation of how many pixels your GPU can push and how fast. Remember that the crystal can run up to 5760*2880 at 120Hz which is essentially 2x4K@120Hz screens. I'm not sure why support told you this would be fixed with a firmware update, because it won't, and other high res headsets have the same issue (Varjo Aero, Pimax 8KX).
Thanks for posting this.I found out this nvidia limitation myself, running 4k monitor at 240hz and another at 2.7 at 60k, the cystal will not work and the error code states a USB issue, which was completely wrong…. Took me awhile to find out i had to switch the 4k monitor to 120hz and then the crystal works… its indeed a nvidia limitation.
Is this documented somewhere?
The limit on monitors is something which should be part of Pimax's documentation up front. The fact that it's not and that customers only discover about this when they run into it after they've already purchased the product, and that they usually only learn that it's a limitation through digging into forums or a discord server... well, that's typical of the Pimax experience.
There's a whole raft of other hidden ins and outs customers need to learn about this product, any particular one of which you may or may not run into.
"I'm sure they would deliver a software update if something substantial comes out in the future that the headset is physically capable of but only needs some driver support." I'm afraid you're just dreaming. When a company EOL's a product, that means nobody at that company will be working on it anymore. They won't even be looking at it, and they won't respond when customers complain when it stops working after some OS update. It would be very unusual for any company to do what you're expecting here.
@@SargonDragon While I agree, no one in the industry is documenting this, I would suggest that you be a little more objective in your Pimax analysis. Varjo has an article that you have to explicitely look for as in you'll never see it 99% of the time before buying. It's also not terribly helpful if you quickly skim through it as it basically says "yes you can use multiple monitors" before saying that actually no you might run into issues.
i must say using the link cable on the quest 3 and good settings in the oculus debug tool,kayak mirage (all settings on max and even supersampled ingame)looked stunning and very close to the pimax crystal but with a far better sweetspot, edge edge clarity the FOV feels larger because of this for me.. i did beta test the crystal and it also did suffer from warping at the sides off the crystal lenses wich makes the vr world unstable. If you got a beefy pc you can get the best out off the quest 3 its a no brainer..And offcourse the amazing wireless cability with virtual desktop is a big bonus too
I would not get this full version PIMAX Crystal VR headset. It just costs too much for my usage and budget. Sounds like it also has its problems.
Maybe the newer Crystal Lite headsets will be better, but I will wait for the users and reviewers to do their videos when products are released.
Right now I am in no big hurry to buy a new VR headset, I am doing just fine with what I have for SIM racing games and VR.
Take care.
Sorry to keep spamming your comment section but it's useful information. The signal issue while Pimax and Nvidia only acknowledges it for the 3090Ti actually applies to everything from the 3070 upwards, for example the youtuber DiscoVR had the same issue with a 3080 (can't remember if it was Ti or non Ti) and there's been people reporting it with 3070's.
It seems like it is just a problem with the entire 30 series.
No worries, thanks for the info! I'd talked with Pimax on the topic and the 3090s were all they'd say had the issue. The booster seems like the kind of feature that Pimax should build into their little combination hub that comes with the headset in the future.
Not that it has much value for you now since you're returning it, but just for anyone else who sees the comment while considering this headset. The battery does not seem to be designed to be plugged in/removed by pressing in both of the press tabs and pulling, as much as that seems like it is obviously the way the headset is meant to be put in and removed. It is far easier if you press in one of the tabs on one side, rock that side in, then press in the tab on the other side and rock that in.
Thankfully it's not something you'll need to replace often unless you're doing marathon sessions regularly, i only managed to run it down to 20% once, as a result of recording gameplay followed up by an entire afternoon/evening of review production work afterwards.
Great review I'll stick with my quest 3 for now hopefully Crystal 2 Pimax can bring the size down or big screen Beyond 2 add inside and outside tracking an ability to share the headset, I have to wait for nvidia's new generation video card anyway. Imagine quest 4 OLED Wireless virtual desktop is amazing I don't see a difference between the cable AND IT.
My PiMax crystal has been on the shelf in my garage since September. I had similar boot-up problems and the batteries were a mess. Maybe it's better now but more of an alpha product a few months back.
Pimax will always be an alpha product. They're absolute shit at *actually* supporting the products they put out.
Real question is do i wait for the somnium vr1 now that it's within 2 months of release
I will use my G2 until there comes a hi rez oled set. I hate the gray black at night.
Hey, great review! Have you had a look at the Bigscreen Beyond? Its only 1000$ and functions as an HMD drop in for an Index kit. Its got similar FOV, 32ppd, MicroOLED and is VERY small, weighing about 175g. I'd imagine its better for DCS than the crystal, simply due to comfort, reliability, and screens. Its got no eye tracking yet, but there is a community mod one can do for about 50$ that is beeing considered for an official addon.
It's more targeted at home cinema, and typical VR gaming to my mind. The FOV is the most narrow of all headsets atm, i really don't fancy going back to that myself esp in a flight sim. If anything i wish they'd get just a little wider in general, even over the index/crystal's fov, but perhaps not the insane levels that some of the other Pimax models attempted.
@@RedKiteRender people are actually reporting that it's similar if not better to Quest 2. And because you can move your head so easily, it results in a much more natural experience. Perhaps you can get Bigscreen to send you a review unit? I think I'd be unfair to the beyond to just deem the crystal the best sim headset without a comparison
Furthermore, the beyond would be a game changer when dogfighting in VR. A bit more FOV doesn't remedy the fact that you have 8 times the weight on your head when stretching your neck back.
(In before a pilot tells us their helmet was/is heavier even before adding the Gs!) Certainly I'd like it lighter, i hope the Beyond is the shape of the future, Pimax headsets are pushing the upper limits for size.
Far as reviewing Beyond, that'll have to be a maybe, I'd certainly love to try one, but the whole 3d scanned face requirement is a bit of a barrier. I may get in touch with them later in the year when things are a little less busy for me, but ultimately I'd be more interested in a Beyond #2, I really don't want to drop the fov personally. It was a nightmare to dogfight with the HTC Vive, and i don't fancy going through that again, lighter or not.
@@blenderalien "A bit more FOV doesn't remedy the fact that you have 8 times the weight on your head when stretching your neck back."
It actually does. When checking your six you turn your eyes, as you cannot actually turn your head that far without losing good hold of the controls unless you're the elastic man or something. Current small FOV headsets do not allow you to do this and so require abnormal (and uncomfortable) amounts of twisting in the seat. A large FOV headset is the only way you'll get close to a "realistic" experience.
I don't get the battery swap complaints, I figured how to do that quickly and easily the first day I had it. What is is more annoying is a software bug that messes up the display that requires you to remove all cables and the battery for a few days to fix.
The physical swap mechanism is just cheap and clunky, which is not what I'd expect for the cost.
The battery also inconveniences everyone for no benefit and increases weight/cost. Only those who get the Wireless kit, or want to use the all in one mode will need it.
Not run into the issue you've mentioned myself, at most I've had to power the headset off and back on again via holding headset power button to get it recognised.
This company will never overcome their bad reputation for not delivering on promises. How’s that wi gig feature over a year after launch? Form factor is obsolete already
Yeah I had an issue with mine and their support said "We have no idea what this issue is, we're sending it to R&D to find out, but don't worry it's safe and you can use the headset."
How can you know it is safe if you have no idea what it was? Sent it back after that.
The Bigscreen beyond is already a much cheaper, more reliable and better looking headset, especially for sims. Form factor is key here, 32ppd vs 35ppd doesn't matter too much, and the only kink here, is that eye tracking must be added through a very promising open source project
@jimmydesouza4375 Well, that's awful, what was going wrong with it?
@@RedKiteRender When I turned my PC on Pimax play asked me to let it update, when I let it update windows defender fired off a bunch of malware flags related to altering and disabling windows defender itself. Then my PC did some other stuff after that.
Ah yes, i recall. Certainly not a great outcome, hope it was just faulty firmware. On the other side I've heard lots of positives on Crystal lately, from respected peers. Though we shouldn't forget the troubles Jabbers went through with his Pimax years back either!
Did you set up the Crystal as a “second monitor “?
The Crystal does not act as a monitor, its requires a displayport connection to your graphics card, but only ever displays VR programs.
1:25 Did your headset come with the wire wrapped around the inside and presumably some sort of guide in place? Mine just came with the wire randomly hanging outside of the headset, and that is how a couple of the other reviews I have seen also had it. I never even realised you could set it up the way you have, which seems like it would be neater.
Was setup like that out the box, which is the intended layout to my knowledge. The second clip is with the face shield removed, it's normally covered. It's possible this is a 'mid life' revision?
I just recently bought mine, and the wire was routed as shown, FWIW.
Would you consider it as your daily or semi-daily device for VR? Have you tested the Q3? Do you think Q3 does the job well enough without needing the Crystal? Thx for ur videos. I like the channel.
I've used, but don't own a Q3 myself. Value for money Q3 all the way, for best of the best of visuals and performance its gotta be the crystal, but it's a steep price. The Q3 is still a pretty great experience, if you've got the muscle in your pc to push the full resolution at a good rate it'll give 80% of the experience.
As for my 'daily driver' That's remaining the Index for the moment. Largely because i do more Roomscale VR typically than Sim use. Crystal's niche is simming, so I'd only set it up for flying.
Perhaps that'll change with a new pc build late this year, depending on how the VR market is by that point.
@@RedKiteRender Different thoughts considering the Crystal Light? You made a comment about eye tracking / DFR being essential. So interested in your thoughts on value / performance comparison btw Q3 and Crystal Light.
I'm still trying to figure out how to get more than 80 minutes out of one battery on this thing.
This is the most disappointing HMD I've had as it is almost perfect for me except the extremely low battery life. It's so, so infuriating that they chose to have a standalone option! What on Earth were they thinking! The 'hot swap' in DCS just refuses to work as well.
I purchased a 120 Watt charger and a USB-C to USB-A fast Fiber cable to plug in to the side firmare input to fix this and it still drains in 80 minutes but now it charges when I'm not using it.
It's been such a pain trying to fix this over the last week.
I have a couple of things I can try today to fix this problem but after that I think I'm done and I'm returning this thing and I will just go back to TrackiR or get another HMD.
The power HUB they supplied me with doesn't seem to be giving out any power at all.
Damn. Those quality issues in the beginning of the video are a total bummer. I expected something more premium, even the plastic looks rubbish. Chromatic aberration another down side. Not getting my money for sure. Quest 3 is still the way to go. Let's hope for a new Valve Index in the future.
I really hope Valve show their hand sometime soon, i expect it to still be expensive, may not even be 'as good' as the crystal but the general user experience and quality is frequently higher with Valve. That, and I'd like to see more competition in the market! Pimax have it cornered at the moment.
I’m running a single monitor set up.
Were you able to compare it to the Varjo Aero? I have one of those now, and it doesn't appear the Pimax offers enough advantages, if any, to switch.
FYI, the best simming VR headset right now is probably the XTAL 3, with it's 180 degree FOV, but it costs $10,000.
I've chatted with a few Varjo Aero users, the build on Aero is better, lenses too i believe, but the (Aero) FOV was quite a bit of a downer specifically to those who'd used both. I certainly wouldn't bother getting a Crystal if you already have an Aero, is a real pity it's no longer for sale, though it wasn't really meant to be a 'consumer' product in the end.
As for the XTAL, well, that's not really affordable for sane people, aimed at business too! That price is before import/VAT and such.
Having had both side to side, I would agree that it's not worth switching but the Crystal is a better headset for simming imo. The colors are better, noticeably so, the 40° additional vertical FOV and non-truncated lenses in the nose area really makes it more immersive and while clarity is about on par in the center between both headsets, it's better across the FOV for the Crystal.
However, one area where some bluriness does occur and is a bummer versus the Aero is in the inner portions of the lenses, which you notice with your left eye when you look far right or with your right eye when you look far left. The overlap (the name of this area where you get stereo vision) is smaller on the aero, which helps this feeling of "it's less blurry in the center with the aero", but I still feel like realistically, it's a bit worse on the Crystal.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that in the Crystal you get 10° extra of overlap, which is great, but its blurry which is meh, and it reduces the clarity in the rest of the overlap which is definitely a tradeoff you could question.
Comfort wise for simming I honnestly didn't have an issue with either, but the aero could have been a lot better mostly because of the lack of integrated headphones, especially since they will carry the whine of the integrated fan which in this case is a blessing and a curse. I personally use an external fan anyways which worked a lot better to keep me cool. In the end both headsets left a noticeable mark on my face but were confortable enough to wear for hours so, not much more I can say.
Software wise, Aero wins because it's integrated better, but if you're using SteamVR with the Crystal, tbh, except for eye tracking calibration which is very convenient on the Aero, it doesn't make much of a practical difference.
Great review. What is that pink square floating around all the time? Is it there all the time ?
It's a debug marker to show the centre of the full resolution rendered mask. It follows your eye's gaze. Needed it to both help align the camera correctly and insure I'm looking at the part of the screen running at full resolution during recording. It's not visible unless you enable it for debug/demonstration purposes.
@@RedKiteRender OK. Thanks for the reply.
constant 10500 Connection Error.... 4 days so far of hour long google searches and communication with a below average support desk ... still no joy.... my usb's and display ports work fine on all other externals...
What’s the class C USB port on the headset used for?
Firmware updates
DCS - Ive spent a lot of money on ''Virpil sticks/bases and control panels/Stream Deck/Tablets/Monitors''.............how do i use those if i downgrade to VR?
I use my full hotas/control panels in VR without significant issue. Calling VR a downgrade is more than a little unfair.
Yes you won't be able to use anything that can't be used 'blind' Such is the price for replacing your vision.
As long as the panels are in a similar location to where they are in the physical cockpit of your choice your brain will map the difference out. I use 2 MFDs and plan on getting a IPC in the near future and I fly exclusively in VR.
I'll get somnium vr1 instead
You sound a lot like cary elwes.
Pimax aren't letting you keep the review unit? That's penny pinching and a half lmao. Do the other companies that give you hardware to review also ask for you to return it? I don't remember you saying it in any of your other reviews, but it is entirely possible that I am simply not remembering.
It's funny, people complain if i do keep the review sample! It's not uncommon on more expensive items to be offered as loan. Far as flightsim hardware goes, I've been given everything to keep in the past, so much so I've given away some of it to free up space in my house!
It varies from company to company, or even my personal needs. I'd considered reviewing a sim rig a while back, had an offer, but i simply can't live with one, so giving it back would have been the only option. Ultimately turned it down as I'm already unable to keep up with reviews.
Bottom line: it's for high-end simmers and tinkerers only.
this might not be the to write
i bougnt my crystal and a peice broke and pimax support said they will replace it they they gave a fedx tracking tag to mail my broken one to calif. they received it then support said they mailed the replacement found out it was mailed to the wrong address anyway to make it short i now have nothing they will not send me the broken PIMAX IS A RIP OFF dont buy
This thing is WAY overpriced for what you are getting. The Q3 is clearly the one to beat still for the average person that has better things to spend money on than just gaming...
The Q3 is significantly subsidised in price by Facebook, it's probably sold much closer to only breaking even or even loss. They've been flaunting that Facebook money to force their way to the head of the VR field.
But you are totally, right, the Q3 is so much cheaper that it's the more practical choice for the majority. Crystal is a high end must have the best kind of thing, I'd certainly liked to have seen it feel more premium for the price.
You obviously don’t own one. I own both.
@thedrewh10 Uh, yah, it is obvious. What gave it away? 🤔🙄
@@RedKiteRender Exactly. For the price, I'd expect at least all of the features of the Q3 and better build quality on top of that. These super expensive headsets will just ensure that VR dies a quicker death.
The pimax crystal is still mainly a pcvr. Headset due to its resolution and capabilities. I would go for the pimax crystal here since not only does it have eyetracking that can be used for DFR you can also use it in social games for eyetracking functionality including mouth tracking. From what I see the quest 3 focused on its AR implementation which the pimax has not.
I would say leaving the overpriced to apples vision pro instead.
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.
Seems pretty poor quality for a 1.5K headset. Sure it has great PPD but no real OLED and issues with the visuals, I personally wouldn't get this headet.
Over priced crap is all I see!
Why is It the only time you ever upload now is when you reviewing something. Is this a tech review channel now?
I've been alternating hardware review and other videos of late because I'm simply too busy to do both at once, and CZcams can't replace a job. I've a small backlog of things to review.
Next video is Case 3, i hope to get off to a running start with the F-4e once that's ready. So I've been preparing for that. Honestly videos are taking too long to make in general and i need to reconsider my approach to try and speed things along.
With all it's flaws it just can't justify its asking price.
I wish they'd gone a little more focused, without the battery, manual ipd and spent some more of that budget to insure the construction was in line with the premium price tag, even if that resulted in a slight increase in price.
@@RedKiteRender The battery is not as straight forward as one might have wanted but for me, except the minor inconvenience I guess from the occasional swap during long game sessions (6h+) (which does not require a game restart if using PimaxXR 0.4.5 or SteamVR), it works fine
This thing doesn’t look like it’s worth the asking price, the build quality is also less than the price point would suggest.
I'd love to see a breakdown on budget for the price from Pimax, i suspect that it dried up by the time they got to build quality, rest is fantastic, or unnecessary in my opinion.
No 144hz No 160hz test mode not as advertised 👎
So you are providing discount codes from the manufacturer, and you think we should considered this an independent review? Sorry but this fact yougot a relation with the manufacturer makes this video less trustworty, sorry.
I very clearly state a disclosure disclaimer at the start; That I'm loaned the headset, and that there's codes. I'm not pretending or hiding that fact. if you don't trust me, by all means.
Ultimately reviewing it at all would be impossible for me without Pimax's cooperation in contacting me.
I believe I've remained largely unbiased, esp since I'm not keeping the headset. Having more than pointed out its problems and gone in depth. I could have easily just made a hype piece for far less effort.
Then you better not trust 98% of reviews since most get their product for free for review or at least get a loan for a while.
@@tattoodude8946 i dont
this video is too technical, you should have dumbed it down.
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.