This may be one of your BEST videos ever Steve (an not just because you mention me in it :) You are Spot ON with your analysis of the impact of that high PPD and its real world affect on simming and what you are likely going to have to do to get decent frame rates with that kind of resolution. I agree with you 100% For anyone out there that doesn't understand what Steve is talking about, just try adjusting your monitor resolution to anything other than its native resolution and see the results. This is what you are going to end up doing in your VR Headset too. Realistically we need DFR (or much more powerful GPUs) before we keep upping the resolution and ppd of these headsets. So well presented my friend!
Cheers mate that really means a lot. I'm glad you've highlighted this point too, it's only too easy to just chase the big resolution numbers without understanding what implications this has on our current hardware limitations. Thankyou for all you do for the community buddy. Keep being you! 🙏❤️
You both forgot: 1. that the Super probably has better lenses, that impacts the image quality a lot 2. That the 5090 is near so that the PPD isn't a problem 3. That it has way more nits and much better local dimming and FoV, all impact the image quality massively.
@@turbohenk702 I didn't forget any of that so lets talk about it. Number 1 better lenses aren't going to impact GPU performance at all, that is all screen resolution. 2 The 5090 might give you enough performance to get the native resolution to where the 4090 is with the CL so still not going to be enough GPU power for a smooth experience. 3. I personally think the local dimming is still going to give you bad blooming and glare... lets do the math, 1000 dimming zones vs. millions of pixels... not even close to having enough to not have those issues IMO. So that is my 2 cents, feel free to disagree.
@GYGOtv 1. I was talking about visual impact, theres more to visuals than GPU performance alone, you did forget about that, now a second time 2. Nonsense, everything that I play with the Pimax Crystal runs at 4xMSAA and 33-35PPD with 90hz/fps locked. A 5090 can play near 50-57PPD if you know how to tweak properly, such high PPDs requires less MSAA. 3. Nonsense too, I have ZERO glare and blooming already with the OG Crystal with the 0.01 in the json tweak. No, it's not about disagreements, it's about knowledge on what visuals in VR create: that is always a combination of panels AND lenses. Not one of the two, its the combo. And its about if you know how to tweak things, local dimming is tweakable and so are VR games, both impact the performance and visuals massively. And don't underestimate the nits and FoV, the VR1 proved the impact of that and the Super also seem to have these two points right. You simply ignored these things in your reply. No hard feelings, I always watch your videos and I always like them, but your comment to me here don't seem to be very thoughtful this time.
I agree with everything in this video except the comment about downscaling. This is just wrong and shows a common misconception as to how the underlying technology works. And it's because people think it works like your monitor example when it doesn't. VR displays are not like monitors. 1:1 resolution has a special attribute on a monitor because it skips an entire post processing step which would otherwise cause a loss of quality. VR headsets can never avoid this step no matter what resolution is configured because of needing to apply the distortion profile. Consequently, there are no special resolutions where quality changes abruptly for VR headsets. The graph is a smooth digressive curve. It's simply the higher rendering resolution you can run, the better (with diminishing returns), regardless of the panel resolution. All else being equal, a higher resolution panel will exhibit higher display quality than a lower resolution panel no matter what input resolution is fed to both of them. Increasing either the input or output resolution makes the scaling and warping post processing step less lossy.
6:50 Correction: Throwing pixels at the problem is, indeed, the most elegant, universal, no-compromise way of solving for anti-aliasing as compared to TAA (expensive, destroyed detail), MSAA (heavy performance penalty, no improvement outside aliasing), DLAA (Nvidia only, motion smearing), FXAA (full screen blur), etc. And if you can turn off anti-aliasing when enabling those more pixels, like the Crystal vs Quest 3, you can achieve a better result for equivalent performance. Now, I certainly think the Crystal Light is into diminishing returns territory in this regard. But there are titles (like PCARS 2) that I could easily see 57ppd replacing the MSAA option for a similar performance hit and everything else improving for free as a consequence. Because even that 7 year old game somehow manages to have high enough quality assets that it can still look cleaner rather than higher clarity blurred textures, even though they aren't MSFS quality. Granted, that would be far less of an edge case if dynamic foveated rendering were more widespread than just DCS. I also don't subscribe to the notion that 'native' lower resolution is an advantage in VR. Headsets don't have a native resolution. There's just a setting where each dev thinks the sweet spot is after distortion. It's never like a monitor where 1 render target pixel = 1 pixel in your headset after distortion. Supersampling always improves the image, and sub-sampling still works. In my experience, pixel density and other metrics (like edge to edge clarity, chromatic aberration, pentile vs RGB) absolutely play a part, but everything being equal (rgb vs rgb and similar lenses), the higher ppd display is always better. Given the same render target, a higher res panel is simply better, and more flexible in allowing you to play with AA as above. How much better? Well, that's where I agree with you. I think we are firmly into diminishing returns. And I also think that other features like comfort, and sometimes even being untethered, probably do matter more at this point. But the amazing thing about the Crystal Super, is that you can still use it when the 6090, 7090, and 8090 come out, and continue to get a progressively better experience. It's just a matter of whether or not it's better *enough* than the Crystal Light to justify twice the price tag. But whatever the answer to that question is (and it's most likely an individual and use-case based one rather than an objective answer), the Crystal Light is probably a Varjo-killer at one quarter the price, even if the Crystal Light ends up still being the better buy.
Yeah, I agree with your analysis. Steve is looking at it simply from a MS Flight Sim angle where performance is a lot worse than in all other VR applications such as gaming and Sim Racing. For me it is worth double the price of the Crystal Light for the smaller form factor, eye tracking and interchangeable optics in themselves, before even considering the massive increase in resolution. I will be pairing mine with a 5090 when I can get my hands on one and expect to be able to run it in my favourite sim at around 4500x4500 pixels or more depending on whether I can turn anti-aliasing totally off. Just how many months will it take for the 5090 to be readily available in the UK and not from a scalper.
@@pondracek spot on reply! I'm also thinking about getting the Super for Automobilista 2. I run now 4xMSAA at roughly 33PPD, with the super 2xMSAAA or even no MSAA would be enough so then you can indeed up the PPD quite significantly and that's with a 4090. And he forgot to name the FoV, 15 more FoV is quite a lot too. And the 5090 is near so yep.. Steve is not completely right this time.
@@arride4590 You are wrong, look at anything you have in your house, and read carefully "Made in china". You know Pico is also from China? AMD has the base also in China. It is not a problem, in fact China is as advanced as USA in terms of technology.
I had an absolute nightmare about a year ago when I needed to return my faulty Pimax Crystal for a replacement unit. Took me about 3 months to finally get a unit delivered and I'll be going elsewhere next time I need a headset for that very reason.
I am going through the same thing. I sent my crystal for replacement and right now it's been almost 14 days with no response. I'm thinking of doing a charge back at this point they don't even respond to emails crazy.
@@chaos00819 Hopefully they respons at some stage but I don't know how they can find it acceptable to not respond to customers in a reasonable timeframe. Every time they asked for photos or asked me to try someting I would respond within a few hours and would be waitng over a week for them to them to reply again. When my current crystal gives up the ghost I'm done with them.. Best of luck getting your issue resolved at some point.
Interesting. I've had no problems with them getting back to me. I would suggest you connect through escalate ( at the bottom of the page) on their last email they sent you, put in your grievance. After Marks vidio, they are trying hard to get thing right!...
@@chaos00819 They dont even respond to my pre sale questions, why would they respond to you when they already took your money. It seems they are mostly a pyramid scheme using new customer money to fulfil previous customer replacements which I feel they purposly sell anyways because they know they have an extra 3-6 months to get you your product which by that time it might be getting old, and they will then try and upsell you to something newer and on and on it goes. It's the worse company support I have seen and if you read and look at peoples experiences you would be crazy to pre-order or even order anything from them. Only way to buy a pimax is through 3rd party resellers who have their own customer service and warranty departments.
And please Steve, when you do your review, keep in mind YOUR headset was handpicked and thoroughly checked. If it’s good, you should still recommend potential buyers might prefer to wait it out a bit to see how it goes for those who can’t wait, or have deep pockets and are willing to take the risk.
I'm also concerned about Pimax support/qc and was looking at the Quest 3 as an option to replace the G2. How are you liking yours? any problems with display compression making things fuzzy?
@@Mellonpopr Also got a Quest 3 recently to replace my Valve Index. It's so nice to use a wireless headset. And compression artifacts due to compressed video transmission is just a theoretical topic. In reality I noticed nothing although I am usually sensitive to compression artifacts. For wireless gaming with SteamVR/PCVR I use the Virtual Desktop app for streaming. Most people said it's better than Meta's AirLink. I also got the BoboVR Pro Super Strap to have an extra battery for longer runtime.
@@Mellonpoprthe ease of use. The full color passthrough which makes interacting with controls easier. The lenses are great. I haven’t seen compression yet. I also do sim Racing, which is also great with the Q3
The chances of myself pre ordering is 0%, after returning 3 crystal lights, seriously the build quality difference between the ones I have received is incredible. Do not get me wrong Pimax if you could improve QC then you would be onto a winner.
Counterpoint: The first batch of Crystal Supers will be immaculate because Pimax wants a good launch where everyone is happy with it so that they rush out to youtube to give a glowing review (ahem... *cough*), and then the NEXT few batches will be all the lemons going out. Also, I will certainly be taking full advantage of the 14 day trial period, and sending it back if it's only working 99.9% flawlessly.
Good points. The big thing missing from current headsets is more FOV. I'd gladly take a 35ppd with > 130 FOV and small form factor over chasing to see has the biggest numbers for bragging/marketing rights. No one has made anything to improve on my 8Kx
There are multiple things that invalidate his point that the crystal light probably looks better at native than a downscaled super,: 1) he's only talking about Flight Sim 2024. Nearly all other games have a MUCH better optimized rendering pipeline. 2) he's only talking about on a 4090, but the 5090 is going to be announced on Jan 6th at CES, and the rumor mill is claiming it's supposedly 50-70% faster than the 4090. 3) Foveated rendering will add one hell of a performance uplift, as will the ability to simply turn off all anti-aliasing because the pixel density is already so high. Besides, for me at least, I find FOV is very important, and sorry but the crystal light's 110 degrees horizontal is not enough to give me a real sense of immersion.
There are counter points though to invalidate your invalidation of VRFSG's point that the crystal light probably looks better at native than a downscaled super. 😁 1. This channel is about the heavy hitting flight simulators in VR like X-Plane and MSFS. 2. With flight simulators rendering pipelines often give way to CPU utilisation which minimises maximum fps. 3. The RTX-5090 hasn't been released and it likely to cost more, you can't yet comment on something as a positve when it's not yet available. 4. Foveated rendering, Steve took time out to explain the benefits of that as a caveat, you can't now make the same point as a positive and say Steve was wrong! 5. Anti-aliasing technologies like TAA can often get much better results than having nothing selected. I think this could be subjective, it's certainly not an exact science with different software interpretations and I prefer to listen to somebody of experience in the VR flight simming industry.
The 5090 will not be 70% faster than the 4090. Nvidea have no real competition at that level now and don't need to offer such returns. The price might be a high percentage higher, but the performance will likely be the minium they can get away with.
I think the original Crystal should have been a Crystal Light with eye tracking. My issue is A: I want eye tracking B: I want more FOV than the current Crystals. Other issue is if we wait to pre order until we see reviews from you or any other reliable reviewer we will have pushed our shipping date by more than 6 months, possibly a year.
Thank you for finally addressing PIMAX's woeful QA record. We all want them to be successful but at the moment buying their products as a non UA-cam streamer is a lotto.
Doesn't seem to be the case, the youtuber that he mentioned is another guy that got handed a Pimax for free, and during testing it failed.. Go check it out, he finally did get help though but it was almost 8 months later.
IMO, its blatant malicious marketing to not say the ACTUAL full price upfront then to give the option of monthly payments. They specifically chose to be deceptive by saying it 999$ to purchase then to say plus monthly payments, with no option to just pay the full 1600~.
My Reverb G2 died within first 2 months. HP sent someone to my house with a replacement in approx. 1 week. Can any other Manufacturer do this? I want a HP Reverb G3, same specs as Pimax crystal light but with eye tracking.. Simmer can dream
Ironically the amount of whining about the G2 on its release is about the same as I'm seeing with the Crystal now. Seems to happen with every VR set. Makes it hard to choose. I don't have a Crystal yet, but I was VERY happy with the G2 and the service was pretty good. Also it's done me well for years now, if only MS hadn't given up on it. I'm still holding onto the G2 for now.
I pre ordered it, if I’m not happy I will just return it and keep my original Pimax Crystal. I hope truck sims work good with it and I can play around with settings for 14 days.
You realise, of course, that the Varjo XR-4 exists, right? You gonna put your money where your mouth is? Fact is that even with all their problems taken at their most extreme from the detractors, nobody wants to pay 4-5x as much rather than roll the dice.
Completely agree, with the utterly disastrous approach to customer support and attention to detail I simply cannot trust pimax. As an AERO user as long as it continues to work for me I'm happy to wait for Valve.
what Pimax should really do now is manufacture several thousand units and quality check them, and have them ready to ship out, before they announce a launch date. Then actually have some units to send out on a launch date, instead of ppl having to wait months to receive.
4090, Varjo XR-4 user: I have no problem achieving 90+ FPS in IL-2 Sturmovik and in DCS. This headset is far better than lower resolution headsets. I suspect that the Crystal Super will also be good, giving excellent clarity at an affordable price, perhaps using a 4090 as well. So no, I disagree with Steve on this one: we should NOT stop at 35ppd because we “struggle” to achieve higher frame rates. This is simply unfounded. I say this as someone who has an XR-4 and has excellent FPS experiences in both IL-2 and in DCS. I am sure that my MSFS will also run well at 55+ PPD on my 4090. Do not stop the march for higher PPD and a wider field of view, it is definitely the wrong advice.
With lower resolution headsets you have to run antialliasing to get rid of jagged lines which with higher resolution headsets you dont have to. So processing power is pretty close and image is much better when you can get pixel to pixel output right to the display without having to adjust the image before hitting the display.
Sure I get your point but you must realise that beyond 35 PPD it's offering deminishing returns with regards to the performance / clarity ratio and that's if you own an RTX 4090, the current top end card. Also it's widely recongnised MSFS has a more capable graphics engine rendering far more millions of polygons that either DCS World or IL-2 Sturmovik so based on this sim alone, the benefits of going beyond 35 PPD would be much reduced.
It seems nuts to me that people pre-order Pimax headsets given Pimax's history particularly with early release batches. Pimax has never had a new release that wasn't a dumpster fire in its entire history. So watching people rush to pre-order their products is like watching moths heading toward an intense flame that has already incinerated countless of their kind before. If you're set on buying Pimax, at least wait for them to fix the early severe problems they are 100% going to have.
All things u mention I considered already a hundred times over. After testing a crystal (OG) and being very underwhelmed I held out on the light and finally pre ordered a super.. as you said .on paper this headset is the one. I figured rather than wait and missing out on the free dmas and free shipping I'd pay the 999 and see for myself. If its bad.. Il send it back for a full refund. Maybe il lose the shipping cost but at least I will have seen it for myself. Also I play other sims and non have anywhere near the trouble of frames than msfs and 2024 do. So running them whilst not being easy...won't be as hard as this sim... why can't we get Microsoft to do dfr...how can we get them tooo!?
Good choice. We have 10 days to evaluate and return if not satisfied for any reason. Upfront cost is USD999 and not the full price. Sounds good to me, so I pre-ordered.
@@VRFlightSimGuyThe MeganeX 8K superlight actually kind of sounds like what you’re asking for in the video! I rolled the dice on that one to try something else this time.
As at least one other person has mentioned, chances are high that Pimax will send you a very thoroughly tested top-notch unit to review that might not reflect what the 'average' consumer will get.....
@@VRFlightSimGuy Didn't see that vid - interesting! But if I was a company sending review samples out to reviewers I'd triple check them first, so I would have thought companies in general would (not just Pimax)?
Couldn't agree more. Who wouldn't want to buy a Pimax having seen all the quality checked units that have been sent out to content creators? What you don't see is the after sales backup that the company is able (or not able) to provide. Some like Steve are beginning to tell it like it is and set alarm bells ringing.
You and Mark at GYGO are two of the very few channels that dare to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about these VR headsets. I agree with you 100% that we need better support and software not bleeding edge tech that most don't have the hardware to run it on. Thank you for this video.
I'm really concerned by the quality issues at Pimax. They've always had issues, but I'm seeing a LOT more people complaining now, especially around lenses. Thanks for the video Steve. I'll be holding off to see how Pimax QC goes. People, don't buy into the FOMO. If you've already got a headset, enjoy what you've got a little longer.
The quality control issues are not new for Pimax. It's been like this the entire time this company has been around. The reason we're hearing so much more about these problems now is because the low price of the Crystal Light has attracted a much larger audience who have never bought Pimax before and expect a regular product that actually works as advertised out of the box.
Pimax has bad QC and bad Support. A really bad combo when you are investing a lot of money into something. I saw a reddit post where someone to go though 7 different lens sets to finally get good ones on their new Crystal Light.
I disagree on all of those things you mentioned regarding the VR technology. The better the lenses and the more pixels you have, the sharper the image is, that's why Quest 3 is so successful despite awful compression, because it has the best lenses out there. As soon as you turn on the Crystal compared to Quest 3, you can see a more realistic experience due to: 1) More brightness 2) Better blacks 3) More pixels, which make it look like more digital, you see much less SDE. At equal resolutions, the Crystal looks much better than Quest 3. So no, the Crystal Super can't be worse than the Crystal, because it has improved ergonomics, FOV, form factor, lenses and displays. It is an improvement in all areas. I am 100% sure it will deliver a better experience, just like the Varjo Aero was better than the G2 at equal resolutions because of the displays and lenses. I don't know about your experience with Varjo XR4, but it looks like you always complained about Binocular overlap, faulty units, laggy tracking and stuff not related to the displays. Finally, my question is: why MRTV says the MeganeX looks better than all the other headsets despite testing it with a RTX 4070 at non native resolution? Is he being paid or is it just that better displays always look better because... well, they are better?
We’re not all MSFS users… I’m an X-plane 12 & DCS user and have had zero issues with my OG Crystal the last two years now. Your opinions on how these headsets work is most of the time limited to MSFS which is of no value to non MSFS users. I’ve pre-ordered with no regrets. I unlike you don’t have the opportunity to try these headsets without buying them. If it’s not satisfactory, I will return it. Simple.
So, what do you recommend then? I’m on my 5th Quest 3, it’s like a revolving door at my PC for Meta. I’ve even upgraded my PC to the 9800X3D with 64GB DDR5. I was seriously looking at the Pimax; however, after watching his and Marks videos, I’m lost!
Great honest and forthright video. I just got the Pimax Crystal Light and I'm in the 14 day return window and have been considering returning it and wait to get the Super. But what you said is exactly what I was thinking and waiting on the Super might be best.
I don't agree this time Steve. Pimax has a 14 days return policy so if it doesn't work out you can return it, everyone can. So no need to wait for reviews if it isn't good then you return it. Sadly enough Somnium doesn't have that, a worldwide return policy, even not while it has a much higher price point.. but you advice that HMD? And the 5090 will be released at about the same time as the Super, so advising not to buy it for performance issues doesn't make much sense either, since new GPUs are near. The Super probably has improved lenses, improved local dimming, improved FoV, improved overlap, improved CA. You forgot to mention all these things in the video. Why?? It's all important stuff and that return policy.. why not advice people to try it themselves? I don't understand the negativity. Yes quality control issues, that comment is fair and understandable but with a 14 days return policy, which you forgot to name, I don't see the issue.
Have you ever actually tried to get Pimax to honor its return policy? I can tell you it's not easy from my own experience. I wouldn't recommend being overly confident in that "safety net".
@SargonDragon if you pay with PayPal and you use a credit card or you use Klarna. I don't see where it could go wrong. No I haven't tried it yet, my Crystal was so good that I didn't want to return it.
Also a lot of the complaints I have seen have been after having your headset for a few months. So its almost reasonable that you won't ever see a problem in those 14 days. I have even seen people complain the headset failed after the warrenty. Pimax has an over the average failure rate it seems. And its not cheap. And that Super is 1000.
@malkuth1974 quality control is by far the biggest issues of Pimax. That's for sure, so that part I agree with but a short review isn't going to tell if it's reliable in the long term of course. Pimax needs to offer 2-3 years warranty if they want to gain trust from their customers.
Once corrected for barrel distortion, the end result is the native resolution for that headset. That's how I understand it. Sorry if I've ruined your life by saying this 😂
Thank you for this video. I was about to pre-order the super for my first VR helmet. Was nervous about buying it without watching an official hands on review of the product.
Personally Pimax's marketing dept are just a tad "out of control" . by trying to be too clever ... And it waits to be seen if they ( Pimax) can run 2 headsets at once in their arsenal - their track record isnt that hot imho. Yes they will " 'Begin' shipping in Jan 25 " but at what volume . Again track records do lend credence to a very small selected trickle release. Plus Ofc you take into the Chinese New year festivities for 2 weeks from 29th Jan iirc. And bingo the 'unforseen' delay press releases will start to appear just as there is another sales drive.. Call me cynical (and I will not disagree). But there are going to be a lot of disgruntled first time pre order buyers in March I believe. I really, really hope I am proven wrong and history does not repeat this time..
Hi Steve .. so do you think ( your gut feeling ) that the 50ppd 135FOV version would be the better option for DCR and Ii2 .. I don't and won't use MSFS. > I know you have not seen either yet but interested in your thoughts
Downscaled resolution is still nicer through higher PPD. VR headsets are not like monitors, you can run them downscaled, and our brain helps in assembling the picture nicely. Just question how far we want to go to get close of removal of the "cage" (screen door effect) in front of our eyes and how much are we willing to pay for it.
Pimax is the only company trying to push VR forward there will be bumps in the road. But they did wonderful with the Crystal Light and I believe the Crystal Super will be phenomenal
Agreed, Pimax does NOT have the best reputation for Quality Control or Customer Service, that on it's own is a warning and a huge downside to Pimax, dealing with them is a experience in frustration. I do have a Crystal Light (a good one even) and each time I use it, I wonder if this is the day it will fail, that's how much trust I have in the product, I've had countless HMDs in the past and the PCL is the first one I'm almost scared of using due to it's poor quality reputation. It's a amazing HMD visually, the Super is too soon, even the 5090 won't be able to run this thing at it's fullest, I'd actually be surprised if the 5090 would be able to run the PCL at it's full capabilities. The Super sounds amazing spec wise, it's a waste of VR hardware considering the computer hardware required to run it properly doesn't exist yet.
onestly I think that getting last summer a regular (exdemo eturned) crystal insetad of the light once appeared that would not have had eye tracking, was one of the best choices I've ever made!
Excellent video Steve. Excited to see what the Pimax Super brings for the sake of PC VR and hopefully they'll get the quality and comfort right. Could it be my first Pimax, well I'm just going to have to wait for VRFSG's review when it lands in this channel! 😃👍
Took me nearly 3 months to get my refund after only using the crystal light for 2 hours. Offered replacement lenses for a brand new headset was alarm bells on overall quality. Posted back Oct 2nd, refund processed Dec 16th…..prepare for a wait if you’re asking for a refund.
Please push Pimax for an eye tracked version of the Crystal Light. We need eye tracking DFR with quadviews even to bring 35ppd mainstream. There is a chicken and egg game going on here, where DCS World is one of the only to support quadviews. If we got Quadview in MSFS 2024, alongside an eye tracked Crystal Light, it wouldn't just be good for enthusiasts. It would be good for the entire industry as there would be more and more demand for quadviews and eye tracking, and more and more incentive. Often these things are tipping point moments. Anyway, this is a long way of saying, please use your platform to persuade manufactures (including but not limited to Pimax) to introduce eye tracking in their hardware, and developers (including but not limited to Asobo) to implement quadviews. It is frustrating to think that the future of VR is within reach for WAY more people with these two things that are not much of a stretch to ask for, and it could start a domino effect (ie getting quadviews in big simracing titles).
What could be the necessary VRAm to run this headset ? I'm often at around 15 gb of vram on msfs if at native resolution. Only the 5090 got more vram in the next nvidia generation...
Interesting, i guess you do not agree with MRTV that much higher "fill factor" of the high res HMDs like the Super gives a better image than a lower res headset when scaled to the same resolution?
Thank you for the video. You got one new subscriber now 😅 I nearly pre-ordered that Crystal Super. But I hold back now. So I will wait. I also thinking about that Crystal Light. Thank you that you explained that resolution upscale thing. - That makes me thinking, is it still the Crystal Light at the moment for me. Got Amd 7900 XTX Gpu, lot of RAM (just now don't remember) And Amd 5800x3d CPU Hmm..
You can return the Super within 14 days and get full money back, pretty sure that will give you a better idea if it's for you or not. I do have reservations about the 50ppd/135fov version, seems Pimax don't know what the lenses will be made from yet.
Good luck getting the money back. It is not an easy process. It has been several weeks in my case and I am yet to see any cash... And I have had to push them every step of the way.
You must never have experienced what a fight it can be to get Pimax to refund a product. You may have to demand a refund a dozen times or more, answering every "Are you sure? How about if we do X instead...?" message from their customer support and renewing your demand for refund in no uncertain terms over and over again during several weeks like I did. And I've seen several other people describe similar experiences.
I have also read many horror stories, they are what stopped me buying a Crystal over a year ago, but this return policy has only been in effect for CL owners since 21st November so not sure how many of these stories are relevant to the point I am making. Beside for me personally the performance in MSFS is secondary and we all know it has a very primitive VR system, there are other applications more important where I am sure the higher resolution will shine with the highest level GPU. I think for balance people should also watch Jaap's response to Mark's video. No doubt there have been major QC and support issues in the past but the pcvr scene needs Pimax to succeed and the only way they will do that is to improve, something Jaap alludes to.
@@richardhill6985 The problem with Jaap's sincere and heartfelt response is that it's the same thing we've heard from Pimax representatives for years already. 1 year, 2 years, 3 years from now we're going to be having the very same discussions about the very same issues all over again, and Pimax will make the same claims that they're going to change.
I think you will be pleased with the pimax super. I have mine on order and I trust they will deliver an upgrade over the PCL. The lenses are supposed to be better and that alone is huge for me. Also better local dimming and better size and shape.
I got to try the Super 57 PPD optical stack at CES and these are my thoughts from a very limited demo of Moss 2. The colors look great, local dimming is a noticeable improvement, the FOV feels almost identical to the Crystal, the new strap design takes the pressure off of your face and moves it to the forehead, (I would need some real playtime to see if that's a good thing or not.) no noticeable difference in clarity or resolution. Although, they had to run it at around 70% resolution. Lots of distortion around the edges but that will likely be fixed with better distortion profiles before release. If I am being totally honest, you may need the RTX 5090 to really see any improvement over the Crystal with this headset. As it stands for me, it is not worth the upgrade from my current Crystal.
You review headsets too soon when you recieve pre-release sets and draw your conclusions too early. Great to hear you will be more cautious. You should do reviews on products that have been in full production for at least a month.
I didn't fully review the Somnium VR1 until about 3 months later. Also keep in mind unlike any other channels, I document how I live with a VR headset over years 👍
Appreciate your honesty. Hopefully they won’t just pick the filtered headset and send it to you for review and then continue with their horrible quality control for the rest of us. It’s such a shame that pimax is focusing on short-term gains over a long term road to success not only for themselves as a company but also for the VR industry.
man i want to update my OG vive so bad but i feel like nobody has made the right headset for me. I wish steam would release a spiritual successor the index that follows the same features/form factor
One of the 1st (paid for) original crystals in uk , broken cable (offered 50usd , never materialised in my account), 2nd set of lenses , wide or not , never happened , so no for me , too much hassle , looking for next upgrade just wont be pimax
Nailed it! That's why Pimax has temporarily given up on the 12k X. They said in one of their recent videos that there is no GPU that could drive it. Which is what we told them 4 years ago when they "Launched" it. As you say, we need DFR. Let's see what the 5090 brings to the party in Jan, but I don't think it will be enough. Hope I am wrong about that. I am currently running PSVR2 on PS pro and ED on PC. Love Space Dockers! I am getting my overtime in, HOTAS and eye tracking baby. I'm a Space Docker YeeHaw!
I have a Vive Pro 2. I was at 5500 ft flying from Valley to Cosford. I was just passing the Wrekin, 9 nm out and I could see the hangars. Now that's about correct. :-) Ask to land, get permission. Fly over at 3500 ft, circle round and come in on 24. All in a day's "Career Mode".
With all the apparent shenanigans surrounding Pimax issues and what seems to be the inability of Pimax Crystal Light owners to reach some sort of resolve with Pimax I would not order a product from them until it has been distributed and proven itself. It is too easy for companies to deliver a product based on empty promises.
Way to much emphasis on MSFS 2024, I am waiting for that to be a product worth installing. If too many people listen to you regarding Pre-ordering, which is always a gamble regardless of manufacturer, that will damage the prospects for the Crystal Super.
I’m keeping my preorder. Nothing to lose as Pimax has a 14 day no questions asked return window. Getting free DMAS with the preorder and I do think MSFS will have eye tracking capability at some point. Why would Microsoft bother to take on a VR partner if they weren’t planning something?
I have pre-ordered a Pimax Super (10% deposit) Not sure which will come first the 5090 or the Pimax Super. Currently using a Pimax Light and Aero. Fingers crossed
Glad I waited several months before buying my crystal light and after messaging pimax customer service I got good lenses and a working unit the very first try and the dmas speakers really make the crystal light a superb vr headset for a terrific price. Especially with the colors. They’re incredible and with the contrast and local dimming settings it’s very close to Oled. It really is a fantastic Q-led panel on the crystal light
Sorry dude but you are wrong. There IS NO such thing as "native resolution" in VR! It's not a monitor. There will always be things like lense distortion compensation and things like that and therefor you can't drive a VR display with native resolution. Also: if pimax is true: you can save a lot of GPU power by disabling AA (not needed anymore at that resolution). Also 2: even if light and super would look the same resolution wise - you STILL would have better blacks, larger sweetspot and larger FOV in the super. Also 3: and don't forget there are lots of applications that are NOT GPU hungry and can run easily in full resolution on the super - like monitor replacement or virtual Cinema. Bottom line: you are right with "nobody should pre-order" - but because of we don't know wich of the 3 supers is the best - and how is the quality.
I kinda like to listen to the VR guy, just because he is given pretty much every VR headset to test and use, and has way more understanding of what to expect than most people. So his word is pretty much gold. I mean I was almost starting to think that he might be fluffing his reviews for he keeps getting the freee headsets.. But this video pretty much proves that he is willing to risk that to protect his viewers. I mean maybe if his page gets big enough he can just dish out the hard cash for these sets to test, and not have any worries of being black listed, and to me PIMAX seems like the type of company to black list you.
By the time the Super will be available, the 5090 will be available as well (probably end of january). When it comes to quality control, I do hope they learned from their mistakes
That's why I am upgrading to 5090. Sweviver said that you don't have to use anti-aliasing with the Super because it is so sharp. I will see what it can do. But if you have 4090...i don't think it's a good idea to run Super and expect to take advantage of its high resolution completely unless you're playing games that are highly optimized like Alyx. In VR, there is no such thing as ENOUGH GPU POWER. If you want the best, then get RTX5090. Otherwise, just hope your game is highly optimize to run in VR.
It's good to hear someone courageous enough for say it. i posses the Pimax Cristal and so far, so good (finger cross) but i read alot of things about the control quality, when you pay something at this price, you should be not concern about the control quality. (this is also true for the pc components from intel, asus, nvidia....). Also 50 PPD when most of the graphic cards struggle with 35ppd its what we need now but a better field of view, i dont say no.
Suggestion noted…and ignored 😂. If the headset is no good, I’ll ship it back. I do not have any concerns about the quality, Pimax has provided a 14 day trial period, where is the risk? The reality is, there isn’t really a competitor to this product as yet so why not give it a whirl if you have the coin to spend? If it’s no good, send it back for a full refund 🤷♂️
@VRFlightSimGuy fair enough, not sure how new their support page is where you can log and monitor tickets, but I had to change my order and they were pretty responsive. That coupled with the video @GYGOtv did the other day with Jaap makes me think Pimax will only improve…either way I am keen to punch my eye holes with some 57ppd goodness 😂
@@VRFlightSimGuy Thats true. If your review of the Pimax Super is a good one and you recommend it, i'll probably go for it. I feel theres no point in getting the Pimax light if theres something a lot better just around the corner. Im like my Quest3 but it looks washed out to me now and flat, so im desperate to upgrade to something better :)
Spot on. I have a simple philosophy which has served me well over the years: NEVER EVER Pre-Order anything. I see guys crying all the time when products (or games) don't live up to marketing hype, or don't even get released.
I replaced my G2 with a Chrytsal Light. The Image Quality, Clarity and Color Depth of the Chrytsal Light are way beyond the G2 …. BUT: The Lenses of the Chrystal are a pain in the ass. Mine have strong distortion and blurriness as many others out there reported too. Already contacted Pimax Support and they immediately offered me replacement lenses, so I really think they have Major quality issues with their lenses. I‘m curious how Long I Need to get some good ones within this Lens repalcement lottery that so many others reported
Sounds like a Pimax on the sky. Unfortunately, their history of overpromessing is catching up to them. I, however, do hope they pull it off. But 💯 agree with your advice.
Chicken and egg problem with DFR. We need hardware that supports it before the software will show up. Quest 4 and Valve Deckard will very likely support DFR via eye tracking so the high resolution is warranted IMO to prepare for that future.
I’m thinking about purchasing a Super, and I’m looking forward to seeing your take on it. Your videos have helped me a lot over the years. Thanks for the work you do.
A few mistakes made here imo. 1) "Don't preorder!" Almost fair but not quite - you didn't mention Pimax Prime which lets you try out the headset for 14 days. I'm not saying that Pimax's quality control hasn't been an issue, but if you are talking about serious risk, you should also talk about aspects that could alleviate it. 2) "I think that full native resolution Crystal Light will look better than a Crystal Super downscaled. I have a lot of experience". For you it may be the case. But you don't seem to be even a little bit interested in other use cases, where 5090 could be powerful enough for Super, for example for watching movies in virtual cinema.
For your second point. A 5090 won't be able to run the Crystal Super at full PPD in MSFS. That's all I care about on this channel. Flight simulation. I couldn't care less about watching movies in such a large headset. I'd rather snuggle up to my wife and enjoy a film. Thx for your comments.
Im interested to see the larger lens & 50ppd . i want 160hz so i might wait for 12k or maybe valves headset see what refresh rates come out cos my crystal is a jack of all trades at the moment great for flight sim and racing sims.
I will tell you what I have already said in my UA-cam channel for the French community. I don’t expect to buy the Crystal Super. The Crystal Light is unable to use its full potential with current graphic cards. Even with an RTX4090. So I recommend to upgrade graphic card before buying the Crystal Super. We are still waiting RTX5090 performance tests but I think the Crystal Light will benefit from this power and we can expect using a render quality at 1.0 or 1.2. And I am sure this will be a huge difference and we will see how excellent this headset is. We don’t need a Crystal Super now. It is too early. Graphic cards are not ready to handle these resolution. Even with eye tracking. I totally agree with you that technology must improve first, form factor, confort, lenses and displays before going further in resolution. What we have with the Crystal Light is already excellent.
11 днів тому
Have you heard the news about Nvidia 5090?? It will run the new vr headset with ease..... so lets not stop development.... I want 8k per eye as soon as possible!! But I agree with you that all the parts of VR really needs to improve!!
Too much of a gamble because of their quality issues and horrendous customer service. I came away unscathed with the crystal OG luckily. Not going to tempt fate again…
I preordered the crystal super. I had many pimax headsets like 5k 8k plus 8kx crystal. All worked. And I want this high resolution, maybe difficult in msfs but I use it only in iracing and I m sure my 4090 can handle it here. And at around the same time when the super is released the 5090 will also be available…. To get a sharp image in crystal you have also to supersample it, almost to the native resolution of the super for the best image. The higher the resolution the less supersample you need. The same years ago where everybody said nothing can run the 8kx but in reality it was not much harder than 5k because it needed less supersampling to look good.
Thank you for your perspective Steve, I am still waiting for my PCL, I ordered it on the 26th of October and has yet to arrive. But hey got a note yesterday that they are sending my DMAS headphones.. 🙄
Same here! Still waiting. And I periodically send them an email asking for a status update and they don’t reply. All I got was an unprompted update where they said strikes were delaying my shipment to end of December. I asked which strikes so I can keep an eye on the news. Never heard back, of course.
@@VRFlightSimGuy sadly yeah, even tried to get a respond through their Reddit group, yet no respond from the actual department. 🫤 So getting near to 7 weeks waiting. 😅 There’s a first for everything!
I have been a PC OG owner since May, and had never a quality problem. Coming from Q3 with 3090 to get PC and 4090 was an enormous game changer. Ultra settings with 90fps in DCS is an awesome experience. I have already order for Super 57 as well and hoping to receive and test 😅n January. However it is also obvious that Pimax priority finances and profitability over the customer satisfaction which is a very risky corporate strategy can potentially shake the business a lot. My best wish is to make the shareholders are aware of, they need to read similar posts and reviews. In case of no change in the way that they treat customers, I can change my Headset, wait for the new once, and never look back again. Pimax is not alone in the competition and they will never be.
I'm planning on getting a 5090 GPU to replace the 7900xtx. I have a 9800x3d CPU so I might go for the Crystal Super to future proof a bit or i may go for the Light to ensure high FPS Natively for best clarity. There are a few features on the Super that would be nice like the eye tracking, dimming and possibly larger sweet spot to name a few but I don't know that they are required. I have a now defunct HP Reverb G2 and I never had a complaint about the clarity, just the sub 100 FPS with MS2024 on the 7900xtx at 100% GPU usage.
I have the OG crystal and was very lucky and still touch wood going fine, i pre ordered the super, way i see it if its having issues etc ill just send back with in the period to get money back because lets face it Sommnium or Varjo massivley expensive so we will see !!!!!!! 😆
This may be one of your BEST videos ever Steve (an not just because you mention me in it :) You are Spot ON with your analysis of the impact of that high PPD and its real world affect on simming and what you are likely going to have to do to get decent frame rates with that kind of resolution. I agree with you 100% For anyone out there that doesn't understand what Steve is talking about, just try adjusting your monitor resolution to anything other than its native resolution and see the results. This is what you are going to end up doing in your VR Headset too. Realistically we need DFR (or much more powerful GPUs) before we keep upping the resolution and ppd of these headsets. So well presented my friend!
Cheers mate that really means a lot. I'm glad you've highlighted this point too, it's only too easy to just chase the big resolution numbers without understanding what implications this has on our current hardware limitations.
Thankyou for all you do for the community buddy. Keep being you! 🙏❤️
You both forgot: 1. that the Super probably has better lenses, that impacts the image quality a lot 2. That the 5090 is near so that the PPD isn't a problem 3. That it has way more nits and much better local dimming and FoV, all impact the image quality massively.
@@turbohenk702 I didn't forget any of that so lets talk about it. Number 1 better lenses aren't going to impact GPU performance at all, that is all screen resolution. 2 The 5090 might give you enough performance to get the native resolution to where the 4090 is with the CL so still not going to be enough GPU power for a smooth experience. 3. I personally think the local dimming is still going to give you bad blooming and glare... lets do the math, 1000 dimming zones vs. millions of pixels... not even close to having enough to not have those issues IMO. So that is my 2 cents, feel free to disagree.
@GYGOtv 1. I was talking about visual impact, theres more to visuals than GPU performance alone, you did forget about that, now a second time 2. Nonsense, everything that I play with the Pimax Crystal runs at 4xMSAA and 33-35PPD with 90hz/fps locked. A 5090 can play near 50-57PPD if you know how to tweak properly, such high PPDs requires less MSAA. 3. Nonsense too, I have ZERO glare and blooming already with the OG Crystal with the 0.01 in the json tweak. No, it's not about disagreements, it's about knowledge on what visuals in VR create: that is always a combination of panels AND lenses. Not one of the two, its the combo. And its about if you know how to tweak things, local dimming is tweakable and so are VR games, both impact the performance and visuals massively. And don't underestimate the nits and FoV, the VR1 proved the impact of that and the Super also seem to have these two points right. You simply ignored these things in your reply. No hard feelings, I always watch your videos and I always like them, but your comment to me here don't seem to be very thoughtful this time.
I agree with everything in this video except the comment about downscaling. This is just wrong and shows a common misconception as to how the underlying technology works. And it's because people think it works like your monitor example when it doesn't.
VR displays are not like monitors. 1:1 resolution has a special attribute on a monitor because it skips an entire post processing step which would otherwise cause a loss of quality. VR headsets can never avoid this step no matter what resolution is configured because of needing to apply the distortion profile. Consequently, there are no special resolutions where quality changes abruptly for VR headsets. The graph is a smooth digressive curve. It's simply the higher rendering resolution you can run, the better (with diminishing returns), regardless of the panel resolution.
All else being equal, a higher resolution panel will exhibit higher display quality than a lower resolution panel no matter what input resolution is fed to both of them. Increasing either the input or output resolution makes the scaling and warping post processing step less lossy.
6:50 Correction: Throwing pixels at the problem is, indeed, the most elegant, universal, no-compromise way of solving for anti-aliasing as compared to TAA (expensive, destroyed detail), MSAA (heavy performance penalty, no improvement outside aliasing), DLAA (Nvidia only, motion smearing), FXAA (full screen blur), etc. And if you can turn off anti-aliasing when enabling those more pixels, like the Crystal vs Quest 3, you can achieve a better result for equivalent performance.
Now, I certainly think the Crystal Light is into diminishing returns territory in this regard. But there are titles (like PCARS 2) that I could easily see 57ppd replacing the MSAA option for a similar performance hit and everything else improving for free as a consequence. Because even that 7 year old game somehow manages to have high enough quality assets that it can still look cleaner rather than higher clarity blurred textures, even though they aren't MSFS quality.
Granted, that would be far less of an edge case if dynamic foveated rendering were more widespread than just DCS.
I also don't subscribe to the notion that 'native' lower resolution is an advantage in VR. Headsets don't have a native resolution. There's just a setting where each dev thinks the sweet spot is after distortion. It's never like a monitor where 1 render target pixel = 1 pixel in your headset after distortion.
Supersampling always improves the image, and sub-sampling still works. In my experience, pixel density and other metrics (like edge to edge clarity, chromatic aberration, pentile vs RGB) absolutely play a part, but everything being equal (rgb vs rgb and similar lenses), the higher ppd display is always better. Given the same render target, a higher res panel is simply better, and more flexible in allowing you to play with AA as above.
How much better? Well, that's where I agree with you. I think we are firmly into diminishing returns. And I also think that other features like comfort, and sometimes even being untethered, probably do matter more at this point.
But the amazing thing about the Crystal Super, is that you can still use it when the 6090, 7090, and 8090 come out, and continue to get a progressively better experience.
It's just a matter of whether or not it's better *enough* than the Crystal Light to justify twice the price tag.
But whatever the answer to that question is (and it's most likely an individual and use-case based one rather than an objective answer), the Crystal Light is probably a Varjo-killer at one quarter the price, even if the Crystal Light ends up still being the better buy.
Yeah, I agree with your analysis. Steve is looking at it simply from a MS Flight Sim angle where performance is a lot worse than in all other VR applications such as gaming and Sim Racing. For me it is worth double the price of the Crystal Light for the smaller form factor, eye tracking and interchangeable optics in themselves, before even considering the massive increase in resolution. I will be pairing mine with a 5090 when I can get my hands on one and expect to be able to run it in my favourite sim at around 4500x4500 pixels or more depending on whether I can turn anti-aliasing totally off. Just how many months will it take for the 5090 to be readily available in the UK and not from a scalper.
@@pondracek spot on reply! I'm also thinking about getting the Super for Automobilista 2. I run now 4xMSAA at roughly 33PPD, with the super 2xMSAAA or even no MSAA would be enough so then you can indeed up the PPD quite significantly and that's with a 4090. And he forgot to name the FoV, 15 more FoV is quite a lot too. And the 5090 is near so yep.. Steve is not completely right this time.
Yup. 💯
This is a chinese product. Smart people dont expecting good thing about Chinese product.
@@arride4590 You are wrong, look at anything you have in your house, and read carefully "Made in china". You know Pico is also from China? AMD has the base also in China. It is not a problem, in fact China is as advanced as USA in terms of technology.
I had an absolute nightmare about a year ago when I needed to return my faulty Pimax Crystal for a replacement unit. Took me about 3 months to finally get a unit delivered and I'll be going elsewhere next time I need a headset for that very reason.
I am going through the same thing. I sent my crystal for replacement and right now it's been almost 14 days with no response. I'm thinking of doing a charge back at this point they don't even respond to emails crazy.
@@chaos00819 Do it sooner rather than later... They will shrug it off until you can't.
@@chaos00819 Hopefully they respons at some stage but I don't know how they can find it acceptable to not respond to customers in a reasonable timeframe. Every time they asked for photos or asked me to try someting I would respond within a few hours and would be waitng over a week for them to them to reply again. When my current crystal gives up the ghost I'm done with them.. Best of luck getting your issue resolved at some point.
Interesting. I've had no problems with them getting back to me. I would suggest you connect through escalate ( at the bottom of the page) on their last email they sent you, put in your grievance.
After Marks vidio, they are trying hard to get thing right!...
@@chaos00819 They dont even respond to my pre sale questions, why would they respond to you when they already took your money. It seems they are mostly a pyramid scheme using new customer money to fulfil previous customer replacements which I feel they purposly sell anyways because they know they have an extra 3-6 months to get you your product which by that time it might be getting old, and they will then try and upsell you to something newer and on and on it goes. It's the worse company support I have seen and if you read and look at peoples experiences you would be crazy to pre-order or even order anything from them. Only way to buy a pimax is through 3rd party resellers who have their own customer service and warranty departments.
And please Steve, when you do your review, keep in mind YOUR headset was handpicked and thoroughly checked. If it’s good, you should still recommend potential buyers might prefer to wait it out a bit to see how it goes for those who can’t wait, or have deep pockets and are willing to take the risk.
The problems at Pimax made me buy a Quest 3 to replace my G2
I'm also concerned about Pimax support/qc and was looking at the Quest 3 as an option to replace the G2. How are you liking yours? any problems with display compression making things fuzzy?
@@Mellonpopr Also got a Quest 3 recently to replace my Valve Index. It's so nice to use a wireless headset. And compression artifacts due to compressed video transmission is just a theoretical topic. In reality I noticed nothing although I am usually sensitive to compression artifacts. For wireless gaming with SteamVR/PCVR I use the Virtual Desktop app for streaming. Most people said it's better than Meta's AirLink.
I also got the BoboVR Pro Super Strap to have an extra battery for longer runtime.
@@Mellonpoprthe ease of use. The full color passthrough which makes interacting with controls easier. The lenses are great. I haven’t seen compression yet. I also do sim Racing, which is also great with the Q3
Having problems with Pimax support is an easy fix: become a content creator with at least 30,000 followers.
How much better than the G2 in terms of clarity would you rate it ?
The chances of myself pre ordering is 0%, after returning 3 crystal lights, seriously the build quality difference between the ones I have received is incredible. Do not get me wrong Pimax if you could improve QC then you would be onto a winner.
Counterpoint: The first batch of Crystal Supers will be immaculate because Pimax wants a good launch where everyone is happy with it so that they rush out to youtube to give a glowing review (ahem... *cough*), and then the NEXT few batches will be all the lemons going out.
Also, I will certainly be taking full advantage of the 14 day trial period, and sending it back if it's only working 99.9% flawlessly.
Good points. The big thing missing from current headsets is more FOV. I'd gladly take a 35ppd with > 130 FOV and small form factor over chasing to see has the biggest numbers for bragging/marketing rights. No one has made anything to improve on my 8Kx
I'd buy that headset in a heartbeat
There are multiple things that invalidate his point that the crystal light probably looks better at native than a downscaled super,: 1) he's only talking about Flight Sim 2024. Nearly all other games have a MUCH better optimized rendering pipeline. 2) he's only talking about on a 4090, but the 5090 is going to be announced on Jan 6th at CES, and the rumor mill is claiming it's supposedly 50-70% faster than the 4090. 3) Foveated rendering will add one hell of a performance uplift, as will the ability to simply turn off all anti-aliasing because the pixel density is already so high. Besides, for me at least, I find FOV is very important, and sorry but the crystal light's 110 degrees horizontal is not enough to give me a real sense of immersion.
There are counter points though to invalidate your invalidation of VRFSG's point that the crystal light probably looks better at native than a downscaled super. 😁
1. This channel is about the heavy hitting flight simulators in VR like X-Plane and MSFS.
2. With flight simulators rendering pipelines often give way to CPU utilisation which minimises maximum fps.
3. The RTX-5090 hasn't been released and it likely to cost more, you can't yet comment on something as a positve when it's not yet available.
4. Foveated rendering, Steve took time out to explain the benefits of that as a caveat, you can't now make the same point as a positive and say Steve was wrong!
5. Anti-aliasing technologies like TAA can often get much better results than having nothing selected. I think this could be subjective, it's certainly not an exact science with different software interpretations and I prefer to listen to somebody of experience in the VR flight simming industry.
The 5090 will not be 70% faster than the 4090. Nvidea have no real competition at that level now and don't need to offer such returns. The price might be a high percentage higher, but the performance will likely be the minium they can get away with.
I think the original Crystal should have been a Crystal Light with eye tracking. My issue is A: I want eye tracking B: I want more FOV than the current Crystals. Other issue is if we wait to pre order until we see reviews from you or any other reliable reviewer we will have pushed our shipping date by more than 6 months, possibly a year.
Thank you for finally addressing PIMAX's woeful QA record. We all want them to be successful but at the moment buying their products as a non UA-cam streamer is a lotto.
Doesn't seem to be the case, the youtuber that he mentioned is another guy that got handed a Pimax for free, and during testing it failed.. Go check it out, he finally did get help though but it was almost 8 months later.
IMO, its blatant malicious marketing to not say the ACTUAL full price upfront then to give the option of monthly payments. They specifically chose to be deceptive by saying it 999$ to purchase then to say plus monthly payments, with no option to just pay the full 1600~.
My Reverb G2 died within first 2 months. HP sent someone to my house with a replacement in approx. 1 week. Can any other Manufacturer do this?
I want a HP Reverb G3, same specs as Pimax crystal light but with eye tracking.. Simmer can dream
Ironically the amount of whining about the G2 on its release is about the same as I'm seeing with the Crystal now. Seems to happen with every VR set. Makes it hard to choose. I don't have a Crystal yet, but I was VERY happy with the G2 and the service was pretty good. Also it's done me well for years now, if only MS hadn't given up on it. I'm still holding onto the G2 for now.
I pre ordered it, if I’m not happy I will just return it and keep my original Pimax Crystal. I hope truck sims work good with it and I can play around with settings for 14 days.
Same here
If this was made by Varjo, they’d already have my money - but….
You realise, of course, that the Varjo XR-4 exists, right?
You gonna put your money where your mouth is?
Fact is that even with all their problems taken at their most extreme from the detractors, nobody wants to pay 4-5x as much rather than roll the dice.
Completely agree, with the utterly disastrous approach to customer support and attention to detail I simply cannot trust pimax.
As an AERO user as long as it continues to work for me I'm happy to wait for Valve.
what Pimax should really do now is manufacture several thousand units and quality check them, and have them ready to ship out, before they announce a launch date. Then actually have some units to send out on a launch date, instead of ppl having to wait months to receive.
4090, Varjo XR-4 user: I have no problem achieving 90+ FPS in IL-2 Sturmovik and in DCS. This headset is far better than lower resolution headsets. I suspect that the Crystal Super will also be good, giving excellent clarity at an affordable price, perhaps using a 4090 as well. So no, I disagree with Steve on this one: we should NOT stop at 35ppd because we “struggle” to achieve higher frame rates. This is simply unfounded. I say this as someone who has an XR-4 and has excellent FPS experiences in both IL-2 and in DCS. I am sure that my MSFS will also run well at 55+ PPD on my 4090. Do not stop the march for higher PPD and a wider field of view, it is definitely the wrong advice.
I trust this assessment
With lower resolution headsets you have to run antialliasing to get rid of jagged lines which with higher resolution headsets you dont have to. So processing power is pretty close and image is much better when you can get pixel to pixel output right to the display without having to adjust the image before hitting the display.
Sure I get your point but you must realise that beyond 35 PPD it's offering deminishing returns with regards to the performance / clarity ratio and that's if you own an RTX 4090, the current top end card. Also it's widely recongnised MSFS has a more capable graphics engine rendering far more millions of polygons that either DCS World or IL-2 Sturmovik so based on this sim alone, the benefits of going beyond 35 PPD would be much reduced.
It seems nuts to me that people pre-order Pimax headsets given Pimax's history particularly with early release batches. Pimax has never had a new release that wasn't a dumpster fire in its entire history. So watching people rush to pre-order their products is like watching moths heading toward an intense flame that has already incinerated countless of their kind before.
If you're set on buying Pimax, at least wait for them to fix the early severe problems they are 100% going to have.
All things u mention I considered already a hundred times over. After testing a crystal (OG) and being very underwhelmed I held out on the light and finally pre ordered a super.. as you said .on paper this headset is the one.
I figured rather than wait and missing out on the free dmas and free shipping I'd pay the 999 and see for myself. If its bad.. Il send it back for a full refund. Maybe il lose the shipping cost but at least I will have seen it for myself.
Also I play other sims and non have anywhere near the trouble of frames than msfs and 2024 do. So running them whilst not being easy...won't be as hard as this sim... why can't we get Microsoft to do dfr...how can we get them tooo!?
I preordered and will return it if not to my satisfaction. I’ll let you know how it is
Good choice. We have 10 days to evaluate and return if not satisfied for any reason. Upfront cost is USD999 and not the full price. Sounds good to me, so I pre-ordered.
I have also ordered. It will be returned if not good enough. They better stand by their word and not be stubborn if I decide to do so.
Hurry up with your Megane X thoughts please!
😁😁
@@VRFlightSimGuyThe MeganeX 8K superlight actually kind of sounds like what you’re asking for in the video! I rolled the dice on that one to try something else this time.
As at least one other person has mentioned, chances are high that Pimax will send you a very thoroughly tested top-notch unit to review that might not reflect what the 'average' consumer will get.....
If that was the case. Why did I complain about my first Crystal Light with bad warping?
@@VRFlightSimGuy Didn't see that vid - interesting! But if I was a company sending review samples out to reviewers I'd triple check them first, so I would have thought companies in general would (not just Pimax)?
Customer Service is very important indeed. Bad customer service is a dealbreaker.
I saw this video Steve. Thanks for your honesty and sharing this video. Too many cheer-leaders in the vr space.....and not enough candid honesty!
Thanks Greg much appreciated 🙂
Couldn't agree more. Who wouldn't want to buy a Pimax having seen all the quality checked units that have been sent out to content creators? What you don't see is the after sales backup that the company is able (or not able) to provide.
Some like Steve are beginning to tell it like it is and set alarm bells ringing.
You and Mark at GYGO are two of the very few channels that dare to share the good, the bad, and the ugly about these VR headsets. I agree with you 100% that we need better support and software not bleeding edge tech that most don't have the hardware to run it on. Thank you for this video.
Means a lot thankyou!
I'm really concerned by the quality issues at Pimax. They've always had issues, but I'm seeing a LOT more people complaining now, especially around lenses. Thanks for the video Steve. I'll be holding off to see how Pimax QC goes. People, don't buy into the FOMO. If you've already got a headset, enjoy what you've got a little longer.
The quality control issues are not new for Pimax. It's been like this the entire time this company has been around. The reason we're hearing so much more about these problems now is because the low price of the Crystal Light has attracted a much larger audience who have never bought Pimax before and expect a regular product that actually works as advertised out of the box.
Pimax has bad QC and bad Support. A really bad combo when you are investing a lot of money into something. I saw a reddit post where someone to go though 7 different lens sets to finally get good ones on their new Crystal Light.
I disagree on all of those things you mentioned regarding the VR technology. The better the lenses and the more pixels you have, the sharper the image is, that's why Quest 3 is so successful despite awful compression, because it has the best lenses out there.
As soon as you turn on the Crystal compared to Quest 3, you can see a more realistic experience due to:
1) More brightness
2) Better blacks
3) More pixels, which make it look like more digital, you see much less SDE.
At equal resolutions, the Crystal looks much better than Quest 3.
So no, the Crystal Super can't be worse than the Crystal, because it has improved ergonomics, FOV, form factor, lenses and displays. It is an improvement in all areas.
I am 100% sure it will deliver a better experience, just like the Varjo Aero was better than the G2 at equal resolutions because of the displays and lenses.
I don't know about your experience with Varjo XR4, but it looks like you always complained about Binocular overlap, faulty units, laggy tracking and stuff not related to the displays.
Finally, my question is: why MRTV says the MeganeX looks better than all the other headsets despite testing it with a RTX 4070 at non native resolution? Is he being paid or is it just that better displays always look better because... well, they are better?
Never trust MRTV, he lies and create false narratives about Pimax payment subscription being a paper waste, which is not true.
MRTV guy is a clown. In his eyes every headset is amazing and wonderful.
We’re not all MSFS users… I’m an X-plane 12 & DCS user and have had zero issues with my OG Crystal the last two years now. Your opinions on how these headsets work is most of the time limited to MSFS which is of no value to non MSFS users. I’ve pre-ordered with no regrets. I unlike you don’t have the opportunity to try these headsets without buying them. If it’s not satisfactory, I will return it. Simple.
This. I have no respect for the MSFS experience, and I'm tired of pretending I do.
So, what do you recommend then? I’m on my 5th Quest 3, it’s like a revolving door at my PC for Meta. I’ve even upgraded my PC to the 9800X3D with 64GB DDR5. I was seriously looking at the Pimax; however, after watching his and Marks videos, I’m lost!
Great honest and forthright video. I just got the Pimax Crystal Light and I'm in the 14 day return window and have been considering returning it and wait to get the Super. But what you said is exactly what I was thinking and waiting on the Super might be best.
With early previews, You are 100 percent correct.
I don't agree this time Steve. Pimax has a 14 days return policy so if it doesn't work out you can return it, everyone can. So no need to wait for reviews if it isn't good then you return it. Sadly enough Somnium doesn't have that, a worldwide return policy, even not while it has a much higher price point.. but you advice that HMD? And the 5090 will be released at about the same time as the Super, so advising not to buy it for performance issues doesn't make much sense either, since new GPUs are near. The Super probably has improved lenses, improved local dimming, improved FoV, improved overlap, improved CA. You forgot to mention all these things in the video. Why?? It's all important stuff and that return policy.. why not advice people to try it themselves? I don't understand the negativity. Yes quality control issues, that comment is fair and understandable but with a 14 days return policy, which you forgot to name, I don't see the issue.
Have you ever actually tried to get Pimax to honor its return policy? I can tell you it's not easy from my own experience. I wouldn't recommend being overly confident in that "safety net".
@SargonDragon if you pay with PayPal and you use a credit card or you use Klarna. I don't see where it could go wrong. No I haven't tried it yet, my Crystal was so good that I didn't want to return it.
Somnium shill that’s why
Also a lot of the complaints I have seen have been after having your headset for a few months. So its almost reasonable that you won't ever see a problem in those 14 days. I have even seen people complain the headset failed after the warrenty. Pimax has an over the average failure rate it seems. And its not cheap. And that Super is 1000.
@malkuth1974 quality control is by far the biggest issues of Pimax. That's for sure, so that part I agree with but a short review isn't going to tell if it's reliable in the long term of course. Pimax needs to offer 2-3 years warranty if they want to gain trust from their customers.
OMG There is NO ANY "native" HMD VR resolution due to lenses. What a shame for VR channel to say it
Once corrected for barrel distortion, the end result is the native resolution for that headset. That's how I understand it. Sorry if I've ruined your life by saying this 😂
Thank you for this video. I was about to pre-order the super for my first VR helmet. Was nervous about buying it without watching an official hands on review of the product.
No worries at all. For your first VR headset, consider a Quest 3.
@VRFlightSimGuy I'm running it off my pc, I don't want the lag of wifi when I'm sim racing
Personally Pimax's marketing dept are just a tad "out of control" . by trying to be too clever ... And it waits to be seen if they ( Pimax) can run 2 headsets at once in their arsenal - their track record isnt that hot imho.
Yes they will " 'Begin' shipping in Jan 25 " but at what volume . Again track records do lend credence to a very small selected trickle release. Plus Ofc you take into the Chinese New year festivities for 2 weeks from 29th Jan iirc. And bingo the 'unforseen' delay press releases will start to appear just as there is another sales drive..
Call me cynical (and I will not disagree). But there are going to be a lot of disgruntled first time pre order buyers in March I believe. I really, really hope I am proven wrong and history does not repeat this time..
Hi Steve .. so do you think ( your gut feeling ) that the 50ppd 135FOV version would be the better option for DCR and Ii2 .. I don't and won't use MSFS. > I know you have not seen either yet but interested in your thoughts
don't you forget to take into account the soonly coming 5090 gpus, to overcome the power needs for55ppd?
Zero chance for that.
Downscaled resolution is still nicer through higher PPD. VR headsets are not like monitors, you can run them downscaled, and our brain helps in assembling the picture nicely. Just question how far we want to go to get close of removal of the "cage" (screen door effect) in front of our eyes and how much are we willing to pay for it.
Pimax is the only company trying to push VR forward there will be bumps in the road. But they did wonderful with the Crystal Light and I believe the Crystal Super will be phenomenal
Agreed, Pimax does NOT have the best reputation for Quality Control or Customer Service, that on it's own is a warning and a huge downside to Pimax, dealing with them is a experience in frustration. I do have a Crystal Light (a good one even) and each time I use it, I wonder if this is the day it will fail, that's how much trust I have in the product, I've had countless HMDs in the past and the PCL is the first one I'm almost scared of using due to it's poor quality reputation.
It's a amazing HMD visually, the Super is too soon, even the 5090 won't be able to run this thing at it's fullest, I'd actually be surprised if the 5090 would be able to run the PCL at it's full capabilities.
The Super sounds amazing spec wise, it's a waste of VR hardware considering the computer hardware required to run it properly doesn't exist yet.
Well I ordered it so I’m hoping the best!
The fact that you need to say that. you should be worried. Good luck
Lens QC issues are actually fixed now (even for Crystal Light). They moved to a better supplier, and the complaints are slowing down now.
much respect - thank you for your honest feedback.
My pleasure 😊😊
onestly I think that getting last summer a regular (exdemo
eturned) crystal insetad of the light once appeared that would not have had eye tracking, was one of the best choices I've ever made!
Excellent video Steve. Excited to see what the Pimax Super brings for the sake of PC VR and hopefully they'll get the quality and comfort right. Could it be my first Pimax, well I'm just going to have to wait for VRFSG's review when it lands in this channel! 😃👍
Bless you man thankyou so much
5:16 I was just adding a comment about the load on a PC and you said it! You are ABSOLUTELY correct, Steve.
Great minds think alike 😅 Cheers Pat
You just want it first Steve!
Lol maybe not after this video. But it needs to be said.
I really want the industry to focus on fov. Resolution is great now. I just want to actually feel like I'm not staring down toilet rolls.
Someone let me know when msfs 2024 is sorted out. In the meantime I'll be back on 2020.
A reinstall fixed my 2024. I have been using it successfully since.
Took me nearly 3 months to get my refund after only using the crystal light for 2 hours. Offered replacement lenses for a brand new headset was alarm bells on overall quality. Posted back Oct 2nd, refund processed Dec 16th…..prepare for a wait if you’re asking for a refund.
Please push Pimax for an eye tracked version of the Crystal Light. We need eye tracking DFR with quadviews even to bring 35ppd mainstream. There is a chicken and egg game going on here, where DCS World is one of the only to support quadviews. If we got Quadview in MSFS 2024, alongside an eye tracked Crystal Light, it wouldn't just be good for enthusiasts. It would be good for the entire industry as there would be more and more demand for quadviews and eye tracking, and more and more incentive. Often these things are tipping point moments.
Anyway, this is a long way of saying, please use your platform to persuade manufactures (including but not limited to Pimax) to introduce eye tracking in their hardware, and developers (including but not limited to Asobo) to implement quadviews. It is frustrating to think that the future of VR is within reach for WAY more people with these two things that are not much of a stretch to ask for, and it could start a domino effect (ie getting quadviews in big simracing titles).
Not going to happen. Get a Super which significantly beats the Crystal light in every area.
Thanks for the video!
You're welcome!
What could be the necessary VRAm to run this headset ? I'm often at around 15 gb of vram on msfs if at native resolution. Only the 5090 got more vram in the next nvidia generation...
Looking forward to the full review
Interesting, i guess you do not agree with MRTV that much higher "fill factor" of the high res HMDs like the Super gives a better image than a lower res headset when scaled to the same resolution?
No I don't. Because I've already tested it with the XR-4 and Somnium VR1. For me, the sharpness looks worse.
Thank you for the video.
You got one new subscriber now 😅
I nearly pre-ordered that Crystal Super. But I hold back now. So I will wait.
I also thinking about that Crystal Light.
Thank you that you explained that resolution upscale thing.
- That makes me thinking, is it still the Crystal Light at the moment for me.
Got Amd 7900 XTX Gpu, lot of RAM (just now don't remember)
And Amd 5800x3d CPU
Hmm..
Thanks for the sub! :)
I would have preordered... Well, if Pimax wasn't Pimax.
You can return the Super within 14 days and get full money back, pretty sure that will give you a better idea if it's for you or not.
I do have reservations about the 50ppd/135fov version, seems Pimax don't know what the lenses will be made from yet.
Good luck getting the money back. It is not an easy process. It has been several weeks in my case and I am yet to see any cash... And I have had to push them every step of the way.
You must never have experienced what a fight it can be to get Pimax to refund a product. You may have to demand a refund a dozen times or more, answering every "Are you sure? How about if we do X instead...?" message from their customer support and renewing your demand for refund in no uncertain terms over and over again during several weeks like I did. And I've seen several other people describe similar experiences.
I'm aware, but I've heard horror stories about this recently. Like above 👆
I have also read many horror stories, they are what stopped me buying a Crystal over a year ago, but this return policy has only been in effect for CL owners since 21st November so not sure how many of these stories are relevant to the point I am making. Beside for me personally the performance in MSFS is secondary and we all know it has a very primitive VR system, there are other applications more important where I am sure the higher resolution will shine with the highest level GPU.
I think for balance people should also watch Jaap's response to Mark's video. No doubt there have been major QC and support issues in the past but the pcvr scene needs Pimax to succeed and the only way they will do that is to improve, something Jaap alludes to.
@@richardhill6985 The problem with Jaap's sincere and heartfelt response is that it's the same thing we've heard from Pimax representatives for years already. 1 year, 2 years, 3 years from now we're going to be having the very same discussions about the very same issues all over again, and Pimax will make the same claims that they're going to change.
In fact, don't pre-order anything anywhere. Always wait for the reviews.
NEVER EVER EVER PREORDER FROM PIMAX (speaking from personal experience).
I just wondering what Graphics card will be able to run it at anywhere near max settings. 6090?
I think you will be pleased with the pimax super. I have mine on order and I trust they will deliver an upgrade over the PCL. The lenses are supposed to be better and that alone is huge for me. Also better local dimming and better size and shape.
spending that much money on a modualr headset is mental illness.
@ thanks for the kind words
I got to try the Super 57 PPD optical stack at CES and these are my thoughts from a very limited demo of Moss 2. The colors look great, local dimming is a noticeable improvement, the FOV feels almost identical to the Crystal, the new strap design takes the pressure off of your face and moves it to the forehead, (I would need some real playtime to see if that's a good thing or not.) no noticeable difference in clarity or resolution. Although, they had to run it at around 70% resolution. Lots of distortion around the edges but that will likely be fixed with better distortion profiles before release. If I am being totally honest, you may need the RTX 5090 to really see any improvement over the Crystal with this headset. As it stands for me, it is not worth the upgrade from my current Crystal.
You review headsets too soon when you recieve pre-release sets and draw your conclusions too early. Great to hear you will be more cautious. You should do reviews on products that have been in full production for at least a month.
I didn't fully review the Somnium VR1 until about 3 months later. Also keep in mind unlike any other channels, I document how I live with a VR headset over years 👍
Appreciate your honesty. Hopefully they won’t just pick the filtered headset and send it to you for review and then continue with their horrible quality control for the rest of us. It’s such a shame that pimax is focusing on short-term gains over a long term road to success not only for themselves as a company but also for the VR industry.
man i want to update my OG vive so bad but i feel like nobody has made the right headset for me. I wish steam would release a spiritual successor the index that follows the same features/form factor
One of the 1st (paid for) original crystals in uk , broken cable (offered 50usd , never materialised in my account), 2nd set of lenses , wide or not , never happened , so no for me , too much hassle , looking for next upgrade just wont be pimax
What about somnium vr1 😃 ?
Nailed it! That's why Pimax has temporarily given up on the 12k X. They said in one of their recent videos that there is no GPU that could drive it. Which is what we told them 4 years ago when they "Launched" it. As you say, we need DFR. Let's see what the 5090 brings to the party in Jan, but I don't think it will be enough. Hope I am wrong about that. I am currently running PSVR2 on PS pro and ED on PC. Love Space Dockers! I am getting my overtime in, HOTAS and eye tracking baby. I'm a Space Docker YeeHaw!
I have a Vive Pro 2.
I was at 5500 ft flying from Valley to Cosford. I was just passing the Wrekin, 9 nm out and I could see the hangars.
Now that's about correct. :-)
Ask to land, get permission. Fly over at 3500 ft, circle round and come in on 24.
All in a day's "Career Mode".
With all the apparent shenanigans surrounding Pimax issues and what seems to be the inability of Pimax Crystal Light owners to reach some sort of resolve with Pimax I would not order a product from them until it has been distributed and proven itself. It is too easy for companies to deliver a product based on empty promises.
Way to much emphasis on MSFS 2024, I am waiting for that to be a product worth installing. If too many people listen to you regarding Pre-ordering, which is always a gamble regardless of manufacturer, that will damage the prospects for the Crystal Super.
I’m keeping my preorder. Nothing to lose as Pimax has a 14 day no questions asked return window. Getting free DMAS with the preorder and I do think MSFS will have eye tracking capability at some point. Why would Microsoft bother to take on a VR partner if they weren’t planning something?
I have pre-ordered a Pimax Super (10% deposit) Not sure which will come first the 5090 or the Pimax Super. Currently using a Pimax Light and Aero. Fingers crossed
Glad I waited several months before buying my crystal light and after messaging pimax customer service I got good lenses and a working unit the very first try and the dmas speakers really make the crystal light a superb vr headset for a terrific price. Especially with the colors. They’re incredible and with the contrast and local dimming settings it’s very close to Oled. It really is a fantastic Q-led panel on the crystal light
Completely agree. GPU's need to catch up to these upcoming headsets.
Sorry dude but you are wrong. There IS NO such thing as "native resolution" in VR! It's not a monitor. There will always be things like lense distortion compensation and things like that and therefor you can't drive a VR display with native resolution.
Also: if pimax is true: you can save a lot of GPU power by disabling AA (not needed anymore at that resolution).
Also 2: even if light and super would look the same resolution wise - you STILL would have better blacks, larger sweetspot and larger FOV in the super.
Also 3: and don't forget there are lots of applications that are NOT GPU hungry and can run easily in full resolution on the super - like monitor replacement or virtual Cinema.
Bottom line: you are right with "nobody should pre-order" - but because of we don't know wich of the 3 supers is the best - and how is the quality.
Thx for your comment. No need to apologise. Having different opinions makes the world go round 👍
I kinda like to listen to the VR guy, just because he is given pretty much every VR headset to test and use, and has way more understanding of what to expect than most people. So his word is pretty much gold. I mean I was almost starting to think that he might be fluffing his reviews for he keeps getting the freee headsets.. But this video pretty much proves that he is willing to risk that to protect his viewers. I mean maybe if his page gets big enough he can just dish out the hard cash for these sets to test, and not have any worries of being black listed, and to me PIMAX seems like the type of company to black list you.
@SenorSchnitz Very true about native res
VERY good video, Steve. Lots of great points here IMO. And I'll wait, no worries 🙂 Love from Norway ♥♥♥♥♥
🙏🙏❤️❤️😊😊
By the time the Super will be available, the 5090 will be available as well (probably end of january). When it comes to quality control, I do hope they learned from their mistakes
That's why I am upgrading to 5090. Sweviver said that you don't have to use anti-aliasing with the Super because it is so sharp. I will see what it can do. But if you have 4090...i don't think it's a good idea to run Super and expect to take advantage of its high resolution completely unless you're playing games that are highly optimized like Alyx. In VR, there is no such thing as ENOUGH GPU POWER. If you want the best, then get RTX5090. Otherwise, just hope your game is highly optimize to run in VR.
It's good to hear someone courageous enough for say it. i posses the Pimax Cristal and so far, so good (finger cross) but i read alot of things about the control quality, when you pay something at this price, you should be not concern about the control quality. (this is also true for the pc components from intel, asus, nvidia....). Also 50 PPD when most of the graphic cards struggle with 35ppd its what we need now but a better field of view, i dont say no.
Suggestion noted…and ignored 😂. If the headset is no good, I’ll ship it back. I do not have any concerns about the quality, Pimax has provided a 14 day trial period, where is the risk? The reality is, there isn’t really a competitor to this product as yet so why not give it a whirl if you have the coin to spend? If it’s no good, send it back for a full refund 🤷♂️
I've been told of some horror stories about the return process. But I'm just voicing my concerns. I want the to succeed. I really do.
@VRFlightSimGuy fair enough, not sure how new their support page is where you can log and monitor tickets, but I had to change my order and they were pretty responsive. That coupled with the video @GYGOtv did the other day with Jaap makes me think Pimax will only improve…either way I am keen to punch my eye holes with some 57ppd goodness 😂
Too late….but apparently you can send back for full refund 2 weeks after you receive it if not happy 🤷🏻♂️
I'm aware, but I've heard horror stories about this recently.
Im holding out for what Valve have to offer.
Tricky when we don't know if or when this Deckard thing is going to surface. But if it does. It will be special.
@@VRFlightSimGuy Thats true. If your review of the Pimax Super is a good one and you recommend it, i'll probably go for it. I feel theres no point in getting the Pimax light if theres something a lot better just around the corner. Im like my Quest3 but it looks washed out to me now and flat, so im desperate to upgrade to something better :)
Spot on. I have a simple philosophy which has served me well over the years: NEVER EVER Pre-Order anything. I see guys crying all the time when products (or games) don't live up to marketing hype, or don't even get released.
I replaced my G2 with a Chrytsal Light. The Image Quality, Clarity and Color Depth of the Chrytsal Light are way beyond the G2 …. BUT: The Lenses of the Chrystal are a pain in the ass. Mine have strong distortion and blurriness as many others out there reported too. Already contacted Pimax Support and they immediately offered me replacement lenses, so I really think they have Major quality issues with their lenses. I‘m curious how Long I Need to get some good ones within this Lens repalcement lottery that so many others reported
Sorry to hear that. I really hope you get a replacement ASAP.
Sounds like a Pimax on the sky. Unfortunately, their history of overpromessing is catching up to them. I, however, do hope they pull it off. But 💯 agree with your advice.
Chicken and egg problem with DFR. We need hardware that supports it before the software will show up. Quest 4 and Valve Deckard will very likely support DFR via eye tracking so the high resolution is warranted IMO to prepare for that future.
I mean, the prices on these VR's are insane ... gonna have to wait for now.
Quest 3 is a great headset and doesn't cost too much. Especially for what you get.
@@VRFlightSimGuy yeah but its also 700 ish euro, for a bit more you have the pimax light?
I’m thinking about purchasing a Super, and I’m looking forward to seeing your take on it. Your videos have helped me a lot over the years. Thanks for the work you do.
Much appreciated thankyou
A few mistakes made here imo.
1) "Don't preorder!" Almost fair but not quite - you didn't mention Pimax Prime which lets you try out the headset for 14 days. I'm not saying that Pimax's quality control hasn't been an issue, but if you are talking about serious risk, you should also talk about aspects that could alleviate it.
2) "I think that full native resolution Crystal Light will look better than a Crystal Super downscaled. I have a lot of experience". For you it may be the case. But you don't seem to be even a little bit interested in other use cases, where 5090 could be powerful enough for Super, for example for watching movies in virtual cinema.
For your second point. A 5090 won't be able to run the Crystal Super at full PPD in MSFS. That's all I care about on this channel. Flight simulation. I couldn't care less about watching movies in such a large headset. I'd rather snuggle up to my wife and enjoy a film. Thx for your comments.
Im interested to see the larger lens & 50ppd . i want 160hz so i might wait for 12k or maybe valves headset see what refresh rates come out cos my crystal is a jack of all trades at the moment great for flight sim and racing sims.
I will tell you what I have already said in my UA-cam channel for the French community.
I don’t expect to buy the Crystal Super.
The Crystal Light is unable to use its full potential with current graphic cards. Even with an RTX4090. So I recommend to upgrade graphic card before buying the Crystal Super. We are still waiting RTX5090 performance tests but I think the Crystal Light will benefit from this power and we can expect using a render quality at 1.0 or 1.2. And I am sure this will be a huge difference and we will see how excellent this headset is. We don’t need a Crystal Super now. It is too early. Graphic cards are not ready to handle these resolution. Even with eye tracking.
I totally agree with you that technology must improve first, form factor, confort, lenses and displays before going further in resolution. What we have with the Crystal Light is already excellent.
Have you heard the news about Nvidia 5090?? It will run the new vr headset with ease..... so lets not stop development.... I want 8k per eye as soon as possible!! But I agree with you that all the parts of VR really needs to improve!!
Too much of a gamble because of their quality issues and horrendous customer service. I came away unscathed with the crystal OG luckily. Not going to tempt fate again…
I preordered the crystal super. I had many pimax headsets like 5k 8k plus 8kx crystal. All worked. And I want this high resolution, maybe difficult in msfs but I use it only in iracing and I m sure my 4090 can handle it here. And at around the same time when the super is released the 5090 will also be available…. To get a sharp image in crystal you have also to supersample it, almost to the native resolution of the super for the best image. The higher the resolution the less supersample you need. The same years ago where everybody said nothing can run the 8kx but in reality it was not much harder than 5k because it needed less supersampling to look good.
Thank you for your perspective Steve, I am still waiting for my PCL, I ordered it on the 26th of October and has yet to arrive. But hey got a note yesterday that they are sending my DMAS headphones.. 🙄
Seriously? Bloody hell
Same here! Still waiting. And I periodically send them an email asking for a status update and they don’t reply. All I got was an unprompted update where they said strikes were delaying my shipment to end of December. I asked which strikes so I can keep an eye on the news. Never heard back, of course.
@@VRFlightSimGuy sadly yeah, even tried to get a respond through their Reddit group, yet no respond from the actual department. 🫤 So getting near to 7 weeks waiting. 😅 There’s a first for everything!
@@ThorNjord that sucks Thor! Had my hopes up for a Christmas present, but hey I can put my headphones on and pretend! 😅
@@Falle24 Still have not been able to place an order for the headphones. So I'll pretend with absolutely nothing on my head!
I have been a PC OG owner since May, and had never a quality problem. Coming from Q3 with 3090 to get PC and 4090 was an enormous game changer. Ultra settings with 90fps in DCS is an awesome experience. I have already order for Super 57 as well and hoping to receive and test 😅n January. However it is also obvious that Pimax priority finances and profitability over the customer satisfaction which is a very risky corporate strategy can potentially shake the business a lot. My best wish is to make the shareholders are aware of, they need to read similar posts and reviews. In case of no change in the way that they treat customers, I can change my Headset, wait for the new once, and never look back again. Pimax is not alone in the competition and they will never be.
I'm planning on getting a 5090 GPU to replace the 7900xtx. I have a 9800x3d CPU so I might go for the Crystal Super to future proof a bit or i may go for the Light to ensure high FPS Natively for best clarity. There are a few features on the Super that would be nice like the eye tracking, dimming and possibly larger sweet spot to name a few but I don't know that they are required. I have a now defunct HP Reverb G2 and I never had a complaint about the clarity, just the sub 100 FPS with MS2024 on the 7900xtx at 100% GPU usage.
Good advice 👍
I have the OG crystal and was very lucky and still touch wood going fine, i pre ordered the super, way i see it if its having issues etc ill just send back with in the period to get money back because lets face it Sommnium or Varjo massivley expensive so we will see !!!!!!! 😆
I'm still waiting for dfr for my crystal... So i won't but the super until asobo implement it. 😢