Somnium VR1 OR Pimax Crystal LIGHT? The BRUTAL TRUTH! HIGH END VS AFFORDABLE | Let's DISCUSS in MSFS
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- Comparing the Pimax Crystal Light to the super high end Somnium VR1 - Is it REALLY worth it? Well in this video, I give you my no BS assessment.. Please note, I've redone this video to include more details...
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Which one would you buy? VR1 or Crystal Light? Maybe something else? Let me know in the comments below! Cheers all. VRFSG
There is such small difference between the 2 that the price gap is not justified at all
I used Pimax headsets for years (5K Super, 8KX, and Crystal). Recently I moved to Bigscreen Beyond, and it is so nice to have a headset which is dead reliable. Pimax headsets are powerful, but they have a well deserved bad reputation for stability, reliability, and customer support for a reason. Periods of intense frustration has always been a part of the Pimax experience.
The Crystal Light tempts me to return to Pimax. The Bigscreen Beyond has a display which is almost as good. Almost. I have pangs of wanting that sweet sweet Crystal display again. But it's like being tempted to return to your alcoholic ex boyfriend who gets drunk and beats you sometimes. He swears he's sworn off the bottle for good this time! Really! Come back!
I don't want to go back. I've been beaten enough.
I'm interested in the Somnium VR1 because it looks like an even more powerful headset, but more importantly minus Pimax's ever-present problems. I am willing to spend a lot more money for a high end headset that actually works correctly day in and day out.
VR1 for MR
I wrote a reply to this about why I would choose the VR1 over the Crystal Light despite the price difference, but it seems to have been deleted. I've noticed that multiple of my posts have been vanishing from VR Flight Sim Guy's videos. So I will take the hint and stop responding.
@@SargonDragon I have experienced the same, but this seems to be a YT problem. This happened to me on other channels as well, where I was assured by the creators that they definitely didn’t delete any comments.
Tbh, the fact that the crystal is even being compared to a headset that is a thousand or more dollars more than it seems like a win for Pimax already
Exactly
Easy pick. Get a Pimax Crystal Light with local dimming & Dmas speakers and RTX 4090 for the price for a VR1 and two base stations almost... So it's a no brainer if you ask me
THIS. We are not in 2021 anymore where there are only 1-2 very very expensive option if you want high PPD Vr...
and dont forget the cost differences of controllers, if you ever want them
I have the Crystal and love it. I was able to try the Somnium at the Flight Sim Expo in Las Vegas and was underwhelmed. I didn't notice a large increase in quality over the Crystal and it was very heavy on the face. My 8-yr old son was able to try the Somnium as well and he told me later that it hurt his nose because it was so heavy.
you have crystal og or light?
@@Little1-1original
Tried PCL at FlightSim Expo in Vegas yesterday and was favorably impressed. The image was very sharp and the field of view excellent. Big however is that me all the users in line before me that I saw had issues with the inside out tracking. At least 4 people in a row asked for multiple image/position resets. I needed two. Lesson is to purchase with the lighthouse option. Also tried the Somnium and don’t feel the two were in the same league. Somnium had minor image tearing and seemed to have over saturated colors.
I'll stick with my hp g2 10900k and 3080ti
Same setup for the last 3 years
Over that period of time DCS has massively improved
Visuals and performance
Very happy with
Msfs has issues , no 2k headset is going to fix melted buildings, cars driving over missing bridges, mountains changing shape, islands popping up out of sea, terrible AI
It reminds me of the FSX days
A money pit trying to chase something that doesn't exist
With my 3 year old setup i get banging performance and visually crystal clear
I can read everything in any cockpit and outside is generally limited to what the developers have put into it
Everytime a new headset comes out its a game changer
The only thing that changes is the bank account
Same pc specs here & now on a quest 3 , zero intention of upgrading anything this year & next , all is fine
Thank you for the comparison. 30-40% sharpness improvement over the Crystal Light as well as sharper than the XR-4 does sound nice. But considering the XR-4 is not running its display panels at its full 55 PPD potential it's not too surprising to hear they look worse. I know you're an MSFS guy but I'm looking forward to seeing a more direct comparison between the VR1 and XR-4 in DCS with both running at their full native resolution.
The point about quality control is important to make. People are already reporting issues with dead pixels and bad lenses with the Crystal Light. Pimax did make a video claiming they're trying to improve. But they've made those promises multiple times before yet still continue to have problems, making me question their sincerity. The same is true with communication. There are also still people reporting problems with terrible support as well. At this point I'll only start believing them depending on how the next headset release goes. It seems the old recommendation about Pimax headsets still holds true. That one should wait until they're available from Amazon and buy from there for a pain-free return/exchange if something is wrong with the headset. Between the shenanigans Pimax has pulled in the past as well as the rocky release of the XR-4 and Aero customers feeling short-changed, I'm sure there are people out there eager for an alternative.
The lack of refunds outside of Europe along with the amount of money Somnium is upcharging for the options on top of an already expensive base model make me question how serious they are about selling this to consumers. If I'm going to spend 2.5 - 3.5k on a headset, it needs to offer a top level experience with no significant flaws. If this had come out a year or so ago it might have fared better. But knowing the XR-4 exists with 55 PPD and the Crystal Super has been announced, it's tough to justify that hefty price tag for a lesser PPD and awkward form factor. With that said, I wouldn't buy an XR-4 due to the reportedly poor stereo overlap and quality control problems. I'm also not taking Pimax's word on the Crystal Super either. They've had delays on pretty much every headset they've ever released and they don't always deliver what they promise. The Crystal FOV being one of the more infamous examples.
I'm interested to see the final version get reviewed and hear more peoples thoughts on it. Even if they completely address the comfort though, I'm not sure I see a lot of success in the consumer market for this in its current form. They really should consider upgrading the display panels. That would help justify the price at least.
Given modularity and open-source software are selling points for this, it might be doable for somebody to come up with a cheap mod to add their own DIY eye tracking like EyeTrackVR. If they can get dynamic foveated rendering working decently with it that would help sell base models at least. Also a cheap mixed reality mod as an alternative would be nice to have as well. Grabbing a base model VR1 and spending an additional $100-400 adding eye tracking and mixed reality sounds much more palatable than 600-1600 euros.
The operative word about the super being "anounced". Will be interesting to see whether it's RELEASED before or after the 12k😅
@@lurchilurch5507 I saw in a livestream from the Crystal Light roadshow in Germany one of the Pimax representatives said the 12K will follow not long after the Crystal Super. Of course, it being Pimax, that could mean anything. Also yeah, I'd be very surprised if the Crystal Super actually comes out this year.
@@wittyname-sy5je To be honest Pimax promised to solve AMDcompatibility issue and the bad software for the Crystal release and they absolutely delivered what promised.
I don't understand the lack of thrust.
Just wondering, Do you own a pimax headset?
@@Little1-1 I own a Pimax Crystal. I consider it a decent headset after the fixes/improvements from Pimax. And I'm glad there's a cheaper/lighter option being offered with the Crystal Light. But if you don't understand about the lack of trust, I suggest you take some time and research Pimax's history and customer's experience with them. Some noteworthy areas of interest would be the promises not kept and handling around the kickstarter and the customer support horror stories. They've left a number of customers feeling they'd gotten the short end of the stick, some of whom have sworn off the company altogether.
The Crystal has come a long way, but it doesn't exactly excuse the lack of judgement they showed by releasing that headset in the state it was in or in not communicating to customers what was working and what wasn't at the time. It took them a while to get things sorted and not all of the planned features are released yet. They also shipped the first Crystals out with polycarbonate (plastic), not glass lenses that resulted in worse visual quality and neglected to tell the recipients. Then of course there's the FOV which was a straight up lie. And up until a month or two ago you could still find the 125 deg horizontal FOV figure listed under the tech specs section of the Crystal product page on Pimax's website. They never really addressed it outside of giving a lame excuse that they used a different tool for measuring it. This doesn't hold up though as the FOV being rendered for the headset is nowhere near that figure.
The recent little drama around the disappearance of the non-local dimming Crystal Light version from Pimax's website is just another example that they still struggle with communication despite having stated multiple times in the past that they need to and are trying to improve on that. Also in that case, other youtubers were being given the wrong information that the non-local dimming version was a limited run and would no longer be available, according to VoodooDE_VR, so it wasn't just a lack of communication.
I still hope the Crystal Super and 12K will turn out good but I think it's important to be honest about Pimax's reputation and setting realistic expectations.
I was in the middle of my comment when you took down the video yesterday🤣 So I'll say it again - Great comparison video 👍👍 I have the Crystal and a 4090 (5090 soon), and it will most probably be my headset for another 3 years or so. Keep the blue side up, Buddy. Love from Norway ♥♥♥♥♥
The price difference doesn't justify the 30% increase in Clarity and wider fov. How many people can realistically afford this in this economy. The Crystal, with eye tracking, is still way cheaper. I would like to have the one with eye tracking and MR but not at that price. At that price I'm expecting and AVP type headset for gaming with the same FOV which doesn't exist right now. Sad to say that this is probably DOA. I'll give them credit for delivering the hmd that they set out to build cause that is not easy to do.
no way it has 30% better clarify with the same panels, don't fall for that nonsense.
Comfort is incredibly important! I could not imagine spending the price on a Somnium to have it become uncomfortable after only 20 minutes. Also, VR tech is rapidly advancing. Rationally it makes more sense to find the sweet spot in video, audio, comfort and price because many will probably upgrade their headset within 2-3 years at the rate the tech is changing. Obviously, there are those who have to have the latest and greatest regardless of the price so the Somnium may appeal to them. But for most everyone else, the Crystal is good enough for now. The Pimax Super is just around the corner as well.
It really depends on how much they need to sell... I trhink that there are many people who can afford one. Probably it will never be anywhere close to Pimax sale numbers, but if they priced it right, then they do not need to sell as much as pimax to make money. We will see what happens.
Don't forget though, Steve has the fully maxed out version of the VR1. So it could be a lot heavier than the lower tier variants. That's my hope at least. For example, the mixed reality cameras, not only will they surely add some considerable weight to the headset, but they are also positioned very far from the face mask which means their weight also adds a lot of pitching torque to the headset which will make the feeling of a heavy pressure at the bottom half of the face mask on your face (like the headset wants to roll off your face) instead of a more uniform pressure top to bottom (which gives the sensation of the headset just wanting to slide down your face which is much more comfortable and fixable with headstrap mods).
Probably going to get the pimax super... wider FOV, higher resolution, and the ability to switch between oled.
I'm one of the biggest pimax fanboys out there but is it worth noting that they haven't been honest about their FOV in the past, they said the crystal was 125 horizontal when it was actually 104, so I would assume the super is more like 110 horizontal tbh. That said the super is looking to be the absolute best of the best regardless, just important to temper your expectations against their marketing
Be aware that this is a headset that doesn't actually exist yet. Pimax announcing these future headsets with wild specifications causes people to wait and not buy real headsets from other companies that are actually on the market today. But for instance, Pimax announced the 12K in 2021 to release in 2022. It's 2024 and still no 12K. But it's still always "right around the corner".
As a Crystal owner with access to the $400 discount, I hope Pimax doesn't screw it up. But given their history, I would urge caution about getting too invested in what they claim their next headset will bring. The Crystal had a pretty rocky release, as have other Pimax headsets before it. And as others have pointed out, Pimax has made claims about their headsets in the past and not delivered. It's probably a good idea to wait and see what third parties verify, especially customers before putting money down on it.
I noticed last night in MSFS 2020 in my crystal light that the night looks brighter and i see more lights on the ground with local dimming turned off, but at the same time im not running this headset to it fullest with my 4070 super. Local dimming so far have not seen anything special.... but it is the clearest picture ive ever seen. also the tracking is not that bad either. Dmas are a must, and if you plan on getting Hons vr lenses then you need a thicker face foam or your forehead will touch the top part of lenses. weight is fine. i played for 7 hours last night
Getting the Crystal Light for gaming instead of Flight Simming, so lets pray that massive size won't get in the way. All your coverage on it helped me make my mind.
I don't use the Light for gaming, but I hope it works out
Hey man, great vid!! How do you get rid of the shaking and jitters while streamin vr?
£1000ish after vat vs €1,900 +vat. I think that is main issue.
That also assumes you have base stations already.
@@DrR1pper thought both use camera tracking with the option to use basestaion.
@@DrR1pper And conrollers for that matter...
@@4_am Crystal comes with inside out tracking as standard. Optional faceplate purchasable to work with base stations. VR1 is base station only (just like the Big Screen Beyond) and not included.
@@DrR1pper and a third party audio solution
Thank you for being so candid about your experiences. Id love to see a discusion about the software options between the two. The depth to which you can adjust the Pimax headsets in software is unparalled. Or is it? Does the VR1 allow for say, individual (per-eye) IPD (software) adjustments? It would awesome to have a peek at the VR1 software options
Great video as always! I'd really like to know how the Crystal Light would fare with my 7900XTX?
Thanks Pete :)
I was thinking long and hard and I am going to get VR1 Ultimate... It is costly as hell, but I do think that it is worth it. Compared to buying a car or building a house 3500€ is nothing. And I would rather have something solid and I really like that VR1 is made in my country, basically next to where I live.
Crystal Light is most likely better value option... but you have to pay premium for top products.
Think about it...only FlightSimGuy and Artur telling everybody, who wants to hear it, that the Somnium VR1 is the best Headset on the market.
I would recommand to listen first to other reviewers...
Check feedback from the FS Expo and stop being so paranoid.
Spot on assessment I'd say mate. Thanks for your support.
@@Lurchie007 I have actually heard basically everything that anyone who tried VR1 said... And that is what made me interested in VR1. Basically a strap seems to be biggest problem right now and that I can modify myself to make better comfort.
Yes and but house or car have value vr1 its just overpriced. Arthur its a legit scammer , probably will drop the project in few months. VR1 was looking reasonoble when crystal og had problems and cost 1600 euro but now it just make no sense. They charge you 600-700 euro without taxes for eye tracking and PSVR2 have it + oled for 495 euro without taxes for the whole headset. This cant be justify with component's cost or research bcs the salaries in Shendjen or Tokiyo for skill people are much high then in Chech Republik
Hi Steve .
Thank you so much with this excellent vidéo .
Please you can calculate a day the Fov Horizontal :
-Pimax Crystal light
-Varjo XR-4
-Somnium VR-1 please .
Bye bye 👋
Aplushhss /Laurent 🇫🇷🇫🇷👍🏻
I have to take back what I've said about the Somnium VR1 after discovering that it has no return policy for US customers. Previously I thought Somnium was positioning itself as a premium brand. But apparently its just (much) more expensive while offering subpar product support. Even Pimax has better support policies.
This is a problem in itself, but the way Artur talks about it is a red flag for the company in general. He's very proud of his product but doesn't appear to actually care about his customers. At least not the ones in the US. He sneers at them for expecting what he deridingly calls "no reason returns". Even though every other VR headset on the US market offers this except the VR1.
He claims that Somnium stands firmly behind its product, but that claim is incongruous with having subpar product support policies.
"Product does not meet expectations" is a real reason, by the way. Especially for a product which is typically purchased sight unseen without any ability to try one out first.
Consequently right now my choice between Somnium VR1 and Pimax Crystal Light would be Crystal Light. Not because of price, but because I actually have more faith in Pimax's support of their product. Despite what a low bar that is.
Interesting comparison is going to be Somnium VR1 vs Crystal Super
Thanks Steve for your honest opinion as always. I am really getting tempted to get a Pimax product now (of course, if I get lucky and do not end up with one of them "dodgy ones" 😂). I had a lot of hopes for the VR1 but after their first price announcement, I decided to get the Q3 and upgrade to RTX 4090 (which was still cheaper than the basic VR1).. Now enjoying non-sim games and untethered VR. Will wait for the *Crystal Super* (perhaps there will be *Aero 2* by then).. it would be future-proof to some extent with 4k resolution and amazing for DCS :D
Thanks mate much appreciated. Congrats on the 4090 and Quest 3, that's still a great combo!
@@VRFlightSimGuy Thanks buddy :D.. I actually took your advice in to consideration when done this following your Q3 review. Huge upgrade from the Inex ;) and the pancake lenses are epic as you said.. the clarity is great, but I think local dimming would be key in flight sim
Interesting video. I watched for the Somnium VR-1 bits; I made up my mind that I would never purchase anything from Pimax. I expect it won't be too long before I can 3d print brackets to move my Reverb G2 speakers from my Aero over to the VR-1.
I want to say again that I have RTX 4016 to 16GB , Oculus 2 and I'm happy.
I know this is MSFS based review, but the lack of eye tracking is a deal breaker for anybody that is going to make this investment and play DCS.
Why is this such a common sentiment? I fly DCS with a Reverb G2 and have no issues. Why is no eye-tracking a "deal-breaker" for folks?
@@AdamLindgrenComposer well, resolution is not the same. to get same fps as in your G2, you need to use pimax at 60-70% resolution. with eye-tracking DFR can use it at 100% and get even better FPS than G2.
@@bogdanpanait2009 But you can still use Quadviews with the Crystal Light in DCS and get great framerates, as seen in @tallymouse video
People are just being snobs. You can do FFR without eye tracking.
Value is in the eye of the beholder, but 2.5x the crystal light price is hard pressed to justify eye tracking, and you *could* just get the normal Pimax Crystal if you insist.
@@AdamLindgrenComposer Because getting the added performance of eye-tracking in DCS is like having a system from the future. You can add 600 euros for eye-tracking and it will still save you in hardware cost down the line as it's like you have a 5090 or 6090 already. What you have no issues with and what other have no issues with is not necessarily the same. People are happy with a lot of things when they have never testet anything better. With and without eye-tracking when you are in the high resolution area is an insane difference. Hard to explain without seeing it. But there are also people where eye-tracking is not working optimal for them, and they find it annoying. For them it won't give them the added benefit, but for me, it's like sitting on 6090 with the (4090). I don't think the 5090 will catch up to 4090 + eye-tracking in DCS. But it's very few titles that have as good eye-tracking performance wise as DCS right now, so if you play mostly other things, it's not as important.
It is extremely difficult for me to justify paying over $2000 for a VR1 that is completely lacking good off-ear audio.
I am concerned about the FOV of the Crystal Light though. FOV has always been one of the things I expect to improve from one HMD to the next, but if it is truly smaller than Index from 2019, then the visual clarity improvement would always be hampered by the tube vision I'd constantly feel.
I know you think this is an amazing time for VR, but with every headset lacking something significant, I can't really agree. We really should have better options.
same here ... FOV is literally everything for me.
@@RigidAudio I didn't realise how much FOV meant to me also until I got the Quest 3. The FOV and edge to edge clarity of it really got me to keep it despite the non display port.
@@DrR1pper I was once using the Meta Quest Pro, which was pretty phenomal, also in terms of clarity and FOV. It also was running really really well over USB-C (3). But i think i will now save my money for the VR-1 and also have a look at the news Sony PVSR2 due to OLED!
The Crystal Light has a higher vertical FOV than the Somnium VR1.
@@dtz1000 true but I thought the Crystal vertical FOV to horizontal FOV ratio was too low actually when I tried it. It felt like it would have been much better having a little less vertical FOV and giving it to the horizontal FOV. It's like looking at a 16:10 monitor vs a 16:9 monitor. The 16:10 aspect ratio just feels wrong now. Heck, I use 21:9 monitors now and 16:9 looks wrong too.
I was hoping it would come with Index-like speakers. I hate earbuds and my regular headphones will fall off if i play active games and might not even fit correctly with the strap in the way. I would probably buy the somnium ultimate if it came with speakers.
I hope companies keep making good pcvr headsets for a price people can afford. We need tethered headsets to buy rather than the valve index.
For me, the Crystal is total no-go unfortunately as I get terrible eye strain/fatigue with it whilst sim racing for more than 30 minutes (and I need a headset I can wear for 3 hours straight) due to the 1m focal distance lenses on the Crystal. When sim racing, my eyes are always looking way ahead in the far distance and so the lenses in my eyes are set to focus far away and this causes a huge disparity with the 1m focal distance of the Crystal. Every other VR headset (which all use around 2m focal distance) are a complete non issue for me in 3+ hour sim racing sessions. I get why Pimax went with the 1m focal distance as it allows for amazing focal clarity with virtual objects very close to your face. Makes for an amazing VR experience looking at objects in the near to medium distance range but terrible for non-stop far distance viewing.
My last hope is the Somnium VR1 and I'm hoping they're using the industry standard of around 2 meters for the focal distance but I can't find or get any information about this out of Artur no matter how many times i've tried. Then there's the potential issue of weight for such long term continuous use I'm worried for as well. I've been trying to find information on the weight differences of the various versions so I can make a better guess of the limit of which version I should go for. For example, I'm wondering how much additional weight the eye tracking adds over the most basic version. I do have a 4090 though and so I'm wondering if I shouldn't even bother considering the eye tracking version so I can avoid the potential weight issue it might cause. Some clarity on these questions would be so greatly appreciated.
They have already said the focal distance for VR1 will be slightly less than the Aero, which is 0,85 m, so no luck there.
You want to use it for 3 hours, then comfort is a major point, and a front heavy VR headset might not give you the comfort you are seaking. I find Aero pretty comfy, but even that one I had to mod to use it comfortably for more than an hour. I wouldn't mind a VR1 either, but price and comfort is also relevant for me. If you are not using games that benefit a lot from eye-tracking you could go without. GPU's and system will only get better and better over time. Not sure if eye-tracking will have much different on the weight though. Handtracking and MX at the edge of the headset might be what makes a bigger impact both en weight and the weight distribution (front heavy). People also have very difference tolerances for different things. You might tolerate worse weight distribution better than bad lenses for example, and VR1 might be perfect. But it's hard to know without trying it, and it's expensive to order it without knowing. It might work out fantastic, and it might not..
@@svartization8437 oh damn! Where did you hear them say this? Also, I had no idea the Aero was pretty much the same in focal distance as the Crystal. Damn, damn, damn. I'm completely sh*t out of luck then, lol. I was soooo looking forward to the potential of a Crystal that would work for me. No high end PCVR for me then. 😥
@@DrR1pper Somebody asked on the VR1 discord, and it was answered by Artur himself.
I've been playing a lot with my Quest3 in the last months and coming back to DCS and my Crystal (normal version), I have to say: the sweet spot with clarity, as well as the chromatic aberration are really annoying. But most noticeable is the fact, that the Crystal is more of like looking through a helmet; you can see the edges of the HMD. It's not like the Vive 1, where it would look like through a paper roll, but it is still very bothering (this does go away after some time though; like the brain just tuning the edges out)
I wonder, if I'm not interested in the audio, will I get a noticeable performance boost by disabling audio over HDMI? Curious how it will perform with 4070ti and 13th gen i5.
Does the somnium have any sort of motion reprojection/smoothing with msfs? (crystal full does and it works well, but only with client 1.14 atm)
You can supersample Pimax light, so, at least it will look like the stock VR1, or even better may be?
Pimax crystal should be the same RES as the crystal OG. if this is the case 120-130% will do.
It does for me in the OG. and it looks amazing.
Steve, how does the binocular overlap compare between the two headsets? I don't think you mentioned this in your videos but I'm not sure.
Great point. Both are excellent
So I’ve ordered Steve on the back of this video, you mention that you find the crystal hot, does the VR-1 have active cooling like the Aero ?
It does but it's not as effective as the Aero, especially due to the way you position in tighter on your face. Thnans for watching!
The price is more than double for the VR1 for the lowest cost version of it over the Crystal Light.
If I were going to pick one, I would clearly pick the one with the wider field of view.
How does the crystal light compare to the Varjo Aero? Should you upgrade?
Better than an Aero.
You confused me yesterday, started the video came back a bit later and it was gone :D
Apologies. I wasn't happy with what I said and wanted to do some more tests with the VR1 👍
..and overnight, between the first and today's video from FlightSimGuy, the Crystal suddenly lost a lot of image sharpness and image quality compared to the VR1...and that in the video from Artur's exclusive reviewer. Strange, right?
@@Lurchie007 I'm guessing he tested the VR1 at its full native resolution rather than the 80% he was using before so he got a better impression of the full potential the headset has visually speaking. It seems like an important thing to include even if current top end graphics hardware struggles with it in MSFS. The headset is still incredibly expensive. But for those with deep pockets I'm sure they appreciate getting an idea of where it stands in the top end headsets visually speaking.
Same Displays, same LD-Panels...can't be so much better.
@@Lurchie007 You're leaving out a key component of the visual stack. One that Pimax themselves claims is responsible for the improved visuals of the Crystal, and by extension the Crystal Light. The lenses. Switching from fresnel to glass aspheric lenses helped greatly improve the sharpness and edge to edge clarity of the picture. The design and manufacturing precision of those lenses can make a big difference in the visual quality.
Take the Quest 3 and Bigscreen Beyond for example. Two headsets with pancake lenses. The bigscreen beyond has higher resolution panels and they're OLED on top of that. If all you're doing is comparing them by their display panels you would assume the bigscreen beyond is the one to buy. But many Bigscreen Beyond owners have returned their headsets due to poor edge to edge clarity and issues with glare. For the Quest 3, one of the main things people rave about it, aside from the price, is how it has some of the clearest lenses on the market. Now I'm not saying the Quest 3 is a better headset than the Bigscreen Beyond, I'm just talking about the lenses and how they impact the experience.
During the first several months after its release, the Crystal experienced delays in shipping out headsets. The reason stated by Pimax was how difficult it was to manufacture the glass lenses. Some people had to return their headsets due to issues with chromatic aberration, presumably due to the lenses not being within the tolerances needed. Pimax recently admitted they still need to work on improving their QA. Lenses with looser tolerances could result in a bit of blurriness and slight chromatic aberration resulting in poor image quality. Also some people have remarked that they had difficulty focusing with the Crystal due to the unusually short focal distance of the lenses (1 meter).
Then there's the dual stacked lenses that Somnium is using. By adding a second lens, this allows them to provide better magnification to achieve the bigger FOV. A second lens can also provide some distortion correction as well which requires less warping of the image being rendered. The XR-4 also uses dual stacked aspheric lenses and multiple reviewers have commented that the edge to edge clarity is phenomenal, when they receive ones that are not defective.
Now whether Somnium can deliver consistently on the lenses remains to be seen. They start shipping out in July so we'll start finding out soon.
Binocular overlap not mentioned
Good point, although both are great :)
Well Pimax Light bought 2 of my friends and they preffer Quest 3.
Somnium is too expensive.
Whoever will make a PCVR headset, eye-tracking, pancake lens, local dimming, built in tracking at 1200-1500 euro tax included, win the VR race. Basically, Pimax only need to add eye-tracking to the light model. Pancake lens, maybe for a future model.
I want OLED instead of local dimming.
Interesting. What do you mean by Nvidia image sharpening? Is this something specail that cannot be used easily by other companies/games/users?
It is Somnims in house implementation
Are there many VR1s in the wild so that we can determine quality and a support versus Pimax?
Hence why I said, "I am hoping" based upon my experiences with it so far over the last few months.
This is a case of a company with a bad reputation (Pimax) vs a company with no prior track record (Somnium). I definitely want to see the results of both products having had fly time with regular users before I will come to any conclusions.
Visuals on movie aren't through the lens right?
If I were a flight sim enthusiast or pilot, or pilot in training, I would buy the VR1, no question. If I were a gamer, and you are willing to bet on Pimax, the Crystal is the option out of the two HMDs... VR1 is just so much headset, it's not for games, it's a precision tool.
If the VR1 came out a year ago I likely would have bought the VR1, it just came out way too late and at the wrong time.
XR-4 price hike? The Varjo website has it still at $3990...
Check my Varjo Discord
@@VRFlightSimGuyHow much is it for those of us without Discord?
@@VRFlightSimGuy Woah! Ok so $4,000 was actually a deal! LOL. Thats insane. Guess I am glad I already have one!
I am thinking VR-1 base model...not that many games use eye tracking right now and if that is an issue I have the XR-4 with eye tracking for that :) .... that price increase though dang!
@@damiengvideos4337 ikr!
Well only one of them have speakers, so its a no brainer. VR-1 will require you wearing another audio headset ontop of the VR headset haha.
Tough video to make Steve. Imo you cannot compare these headsets but I see why u tried.. xr4 vs vr1 would be interesting.. soley as an on looker because they are so un affordable currently it's almost irrelevant. I do see the importance of them though. The crystal makes the standard totally obsolete as no one is buying that for standalone gaming right??? Eye tracking surely isn't worth paying the 500 plus £s for?!?!
Cheers mate for watching and for your thoughts
If you talk about image quality, ffs try to film through the headset lense. There is absolutely no other way to show people how it actually looks.
I have in MANY of my videos
Pimax Crystal Light no Linux Support.
This is the only factor preventing buying it for me
It's kinda crazy to me that Pimax, which have been doing VR Headsets for a good while now and Somnium which are doing a VR Headset software for the first time have reached the same level of reliableness now
Good point!
@@VRFlightSimGuy Not to mention all the customization and tweaking you can do in the Somnium app, for example being able to do custom warping profiles
The claim that they have the same level of reliability is unproven yet. That's an anecdotal comment from VRFlightSimGuy who represents a sample size of 1.
We haven't heard much about bugs with the Crystal Light because this headset has only just released and barely been out in the wild yet. But we are already starting to hear about some problems. And historically, Pimax has had a very bad track record on this mark.
If the Crystal Light is suddenly a very reliable headset, that would represent a sharp change from Pimax's previous offerings. I think its premature to determine that. Let's see how it holds up as it gets some actual fly time with customers first.
@@SargonDragon That is a fair point tho... but so far it looks promising... also haven't noticed any complaints form other reviewers who tested the headset in an earlier state
@@maximilianf.4236 We didn't hear much about problems with the original Crystal from reviewers either. And yet that launch was a total mess with lots of issues, and there are still several unaddressed severe bugs which Crystal customers face even a year later.
Reviewers just aren't a good source for this for a number of reasons.
Base station not inculded, come on!! XD
You don't need Base Stations if you get the Crystal Light version with the controllers it is inside out tracking like on the Quest! I went with the version with Face Plate because, I already own the Base Stations and Controllers from previous headsets. It is a legit upgrade. I am very happy with it. Best visuals I personally have ever seen. Out of the 14 VR Headsets I have try'd.
@@WOojerVest3andQuest3onMe I was talking about VR1 of course.
@gaarax80583 Aww, Sorry!
I didn't think anyone actually wanted one of those...lol
That is definitely for people on another budget than me.
I am happy with the Pimax Crystal Light. I thought that it was expensive. 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Controllers also not included...
Many customers are already going to have basestations from their previous headset. The type of customer who buys a VR1 is generally going to have the best gear that was previously available already.
And for customers that do need to buy basestations, they'd be better off buying them direct from Valve anyway. Somnium would just be reselling them.
Is the VR1 made in China ?
No
The VR1 is designed and manufactured in the Czech Republic.
We know the Pimax headsets are made in China.
This is part of the cause for the price difference, along with the additional QC being done on every VR1.
The only two things keeping me from buying VR1 ASAP rather than considering Pimax for the first time ever is its high price and complete lack of audio, never mind quality off-ear audio.
The panels are the same and are made in China probably (could be an other Asian country) and it's the most important part of the HMD. Most chips on it are also made in Taiwan/China. So not everything is from CZ, only the end assambly (and a few plastic components, who knows?) is done in CZ.
Save your money and buy primax crystal light. Forget about eye tracking. In 2 years Companies like AMD and Nvidia are making GPUs better and faster. The new thing is going to be eye tracking comes with lag and this new GPU takes away the use of eye tracking for you to kill you enemies much faster. Remember this line you would hear it again.
You know, you might have just convinced me to buy the base VR1. While waiting for my reservation I've been debating the eye tracking add-on, but I'm not currently using the ET in my Aero. And gpus will only get faster like you say. Might be a complete non issue for an iRacing user like me. Hmmm
@@paulriccobene and you just convinced me to buy the base VR1 instead of the eye tracking add-on. 😂
@@DrR1pper LMAO. We can put that $600 straight towards a 5090. :)
@@paulriccobene 😂
Performance on VR1 is a benefit - looking better at 80% res VS Crystal at 100% res = more FPS. Add to that eye tracking in something like DCS and the VR1 may cost more, but the performance would be substantially better with equal or higher IQ. That's a big deal!
On the other hand, the VR1 front heavy weight may be a deal breaker. The only way to really balance out a front heavy headset is add even more weight to the back as a counter balance. This will not feel good on the neck for long flight sim sessions.
The high cost of the VR1 means for many it would make more sense to get a 5090 + Crystal Light rather than a 4090 + VR1. Of course, Flight Simming still will not even be close to hitting the ceiling even with a 5090 + VR1 w/ET so that would be viable route as well.
The bummers here come down to fine details:
The VR1 weight & balance, even though the design decisions make sense, is going to take it off the table for some people. The cost of their ET module is also far too high (and frankly given the low cost of the parts and high resolution of the panel, I wish they would have just included it in the vanilla 1899 model and made the only add-ons hand tracking & MR).
The Crystal Light is *almost* the perfect headset for this generation, for some it just needs an eye tracking edition. Even a 5090 will struggle to drive the headset as well as many would like, and quadviews in DCS world is game changing. Of course, MSFS lacks that and so it may already be perfect for games w/out quadviews... however I think all of us are hoping that in the next 12 months quadviews implementations will become more common. If MSFS 2024 adds quadviews next year for example, many Crystal Light owners will suddenly sorely miss eye tracking support!
EIther way, it would be hard for me to justify the Somnium VR1 over a Crystal Light simply due to the ET module pricing and the weight & balance. Seems what I really want is a Crystal Light + Eye Tracking! (And pending Crystal Light + 5090 benchmarks in DCS World, maybe I could do without ET for another couple years if I need to).
No the VR1 has actually worse performance because much more pixels needs to be rendered at 100%. So it has a WAY higher required rendering resolution(20-30% more pixels). At ~80% the VR1 requires about the same amount of GPU power as the Crystal at 100% resolution.
@@turbohenk702 did you mean to say "Crystal" for the first part?
@@DrR1pper No, the VR1 needs way more pixels to render the same 35PPD because of the higher FoV. I can barely run the Crystal at 35PPD with my 4090 so the VR1 needs surely a 5090 to render 35PPD above. If you want 35PPD (and I do want that, it became a minimum for me) then you need to wait for the 5090 otherwise you cannot run it higher than Crystal FoV @ 90hz with proper MSAA/graphics.
@@turbohenk702 hmm, you make a good point about the claimed same 35 ppd and yet it having a wider FOV whilst using the same panels. That shouldn't make any sense actually. But didn't steve say that it was looking in terms of clarity and performing better in terms of frame rate for the VR1 with 80% of display resolution than 100% on the Crystal? (which again doesn't make sense though if it does).
@@turbohenk702 True and good clarification. But remember that's only if you leave the FOV on VR1 at full. If you match FOV to the Crystal Light, and then run at 80% with better image quality still, the VR1 will look & run better at same FOV.
Still, I think your point is critical: the VR1 is so much more expensive than the Crystal Light. To get most of the benefit of the VR1, you're going to need beefy hardware and eye tracking module if you want the high FOV (since high FOV and ET go hand in hand, ET allows the peripheral to render at lower res which matters even more with high FOV,). Which makes the VR1 w/ET about 3x more than the Crystal Light, not even counting base stations.
It looks like a great headset, but by the time hardware and software can really take advantage of it, it would be cheaper to buy the Crystal Light and then in 1-2 years buy a similar specced headset to the VR1.
I wish they would not have been so aggressive on their module pricing. The VR market needs strong competition but Somnium's price is going to limit them to a niche of a niche... 600 euro upcharge for ET is almost the cost of the Crystal Light. SMH.
Of course pimax, nobody want a europe startup product without any clear after sales support