Pimax 5K/8K arriving to backers

[horizone]

UPDATE 25 oct:

They have now consolidated all the reviews into a category on the Pimax Forums so I guess I don't really have to update this post so much. You can find it here.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/c/reviews

I might still try to collect Elite specific review quotes and stuff here below and from other sources.

OP:

The 5K/8K Pimax HMD have started to arrive to backers. I collected some links to some impressions concerning Elite Dangerous here. I don't have my own yet for maybe a month though (Backer ~750). Quotes randomly selected. Read the entire threads for an unopinionated view of course. If you find other impressions of Pimax 5K/8K with Elite online let me know and I can put links here. Good to have them in one place! Goal is to keep all links Elite specific!


Youtuber Backers Reviews

Sweviver about Elite Dangerous Through the Lens Comparisons
Sweviver about Elite Dangerous Performance

NY Backer Meetup 25th October

MildlyConfused (8K/5K+ comparison) at New York Meetup on Pimax forum

...at one point I cranked the rendering resolution up on the 8K and it made text as clear as the 5K+ was.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-ny-meetup-impressions-10-25-ben/9666

LA Backer Meetup 23rd October

Hargert (8K/5K+ comparison) at Los Angeles Meetup on Pimax forum

I will be choosing the 8K as an Elite player and I like the hud lines to not show pixels and just look like solid lines. The SDE bothers me more than the sharpness.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/la-backer-meetup-impression/9557

What595654 (8K/5K+ comparison) at Los Angeles Meetup on reddit

Overall, if you want the most compelling headset released so far, the Pimax 5k+ is where it's at. My Rift along with all my other headsets are going to be collecting dust.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/comm...and_8k_impressions/?utm_source=reddit-android

Michaelnyden (8K/5K+ comparison) Los Angeles Meetup on Pimax forum

My first impression of the 8K was the resolution/clarity wasn't a huge leap over the vive. SDE was clearly better but still noticeable.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/just-got-back-from-pimax-los-angeles-backer-meetup/9522

justniz (8K/5K+ comparison) Los Angeles Meetup on Pimax Reddit

The only place where I found the 5k+ was worse than the 8K was with Eliteangerous, specifically just the colours looked pretty bad, but even there, its extra sharpness is directly useful in actual game-play which more than makes up for its cosmetically poor colour reproduction.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/comments/9qwk4q/la_meetup_conclusions_5k_or_8k_choice_i_finally/

Backers (now owners)

Chucksta (8K) on the Pimax Forums

ED + the 5K+/8K FoV = FRACKING AWESOMENESS TO THE G MAX!

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-have-actually-started-shipping-and-stopped-again/9114/330

Chucksta (8K) in Heliosurges thread on the Pimax Forums

Just went back into ED, and damn that is awesome. Text all easily readable, and the ED universe looks great 

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/8k-arrived-oct-17-2018-heliosurge/9412/49

UnholyBeardedOne (8K) on the Pimax Forums

I just had a quick look through the HMD at the HUD and its way better than the Rift.
Everything is readable without having to move closer or turn your head at a funny angle to read.
None of the blurry look that the Rift has.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/8k-headset-delivered-the-other-day/9279/107

Spamenigma (5K+) on the Pimax Forums

For example I've just had to pick my jaw up after briefly playing ED..

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-5k-received-setup-experience-spamenigma/9402/92

With the Pimax 5K+ so far I do feel I will actually play ED in VR without a feeling of missing out on the looks. Its just so much clearer! and the higher FOV is a nice bonus to the immersion :slight_smile:

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-5k-received-setup-experience-spamenigma/9402/194

Oysta1109 from the Pimax Forums translates some chinese guys (5K+) first impressions

for the first time in VR can see the text in such clarity ever. SteamVR SS 100%, PiTool 1.5 and InGame SS 2.0, I can only describe it as STUNNING

Original Link (Chinese) Oysta1109 post (Translation)

er_garry (8K) from the Pimax Forums

...then change to Elite :wink: The results were te same, amazing experience and easy launched from the PiTool. But this time, the differences from the 4K are more noticeable, at least in the Text. The 8K was less clarity than the 4K, but the text is still readable without any problems :wink:

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/pimax-8k-received-backer-69/9499/7

Skyrimer (8K) om Pimax forums

Is it more immersive than Vive? And that's a big yes, the sum of all the small factors and most of all the bigger fov adds a lot to the immersion, and in the end that's what matters.

http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/backer-72-8k-day-one-review/9513

 

[Globusdiablo]

Sounds promising.

 

[willisit]

Excellent. Thank you for collating that. I'm in the 2000s so I have a while to wait myself but I'm really excited (if I get a sensor with it.. else it'll be gathering dust)

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Excellent. Thank you for collating that. I'm in the 2000s so I have a while to wait myself but I'm really excited (if I get a sensor with it.. else it'll be gathering dust)

I'm around 1300 and was hopeful for November, but I think it will likely be December now. Gives me more time to get a GPU update and a vive light box.

 

[CylonSurfer]

Sounds promising.

Looking forward to an indepth review but a little miffed as to why there hasn't been one yet...

 

[mazi]

about the blacks of the 5k+

Just adding a quote from spamenigma about the blacks

Blacks are acceptable. Large patches of black in the HMD will look very dark grey, but when there is other brighter detail around it contrasts against the blacks enough to make them appear black. ED space isn't exactly black anyway, sort of ultra dark blue , some parts of the cockpit actually look even darker (black).

A bad through the lens pic here:





Just to say in reality it looks better than that pic

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Just adding a quote from spamenigma about the blacks

If it looks better then that, then I will be fine with the 5K+.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

yeah I can't any longer see a reason to get the 8k.

 

[Sweet&Dandy]

Am leaning towards the 5k myself now

 

[horizone]

It seems most who have tried both liked the 5K+ better.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

I'm in the 4500+.
I'll get my snorkel.

 

[Strife]

Am leaning towards the 5k myself now

When I read this yesterday, I was thinking the same.
Now the pre-order page is up and the price difference between 5k+ and 8k is $200, I'm wondering why and is the 5k+ and $100 voucher really the way to go.... thoughts anyone?

 

[TorTorden_VR]

When I read this yesterday, I was thinking the same.
Now the pre-order page is up and the price difference between 5k+ and 8k is $200, I'm wondering why and is the 5k+ and $100 voucher really the way to go.... thoughts anyone?

well I don't care much about voucher or not.
But the 8k sounds by most who have tested both to have far more pronounced SDE and chromatic aberration than the 5k+ on top of being less sharp.

So as far I'm concerned the 8k offers nothing but a less desirable experience across the board.
Can't find any reason to say yes to that.

 

[mazi]

Just as expected - you can use the GTX1060/RX580 range of GPUs with the Pimax8k/5k when using the small FoV setting.
Here is the thread of Ludx

SECOND EDIT :

After some hard time to get this work correctly, I had great moments yesterday.
I figured out that large FoV was some kind of bugged, despite Pitool settings and SteamVRSS I cant get something else that a blurry image and/or gliched display (wrong eyes displayed, and tracking crazy..).

But with small and normal FoV, man this was really better, Pitool settings was according to Steam and image was much MUCH better.
Like I wish I woud have seen this the first day.
Played DCS and Project cars (PE), both were really good, was able to actually see further that 20m away.
In Arizona SunShine, for a 10/15m away zombie, I was like "Ok you, I shoot you in the left rotten eye
No need to say that in "small" (yes "" because its really not that small actually) FoV I have no problem running games, except Fallout 4 of course

Dont ask me FPS, Iam just enjoying it,
I found out that with larger FoV you get sick easier if game shutter, like in the 4k for instance, so they run smooth or I really dont like it and wasnt used to this one he 4k when I had it with my previous, old GPU.

Think Iam happy with it

Running on a 1060Gtx6 btw ^^
With a I-7 7700k@4.2 and 16go Ram
On a MSI Z720 ProGamingCarbon motherboard.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

No surprise you get nauseous with large fov on a 1060.
The fps on that would have been around 12.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

well I don't care much about voucher or not.
But the 8k sounds by most who have tested both to have far more pronounced SDE and chromatic aberration than the 5k+ on top of being less sharp.

So as far I'm concerned the 8k offers nothing but a less desirable experience across the board.
Can't find any reason to say yes to that.

From my understanding there is no more chormatic aberration on the 8k then there is on the 5K+. I have seen no mention of it from the testers or the backers.
The 8k does have less SDE, but what it does is different and maybe more noticeable to some people then the 5k, but anyway it is substantially less then the rift and vive for both.

The 8K has better colours and blacks especially for ED. The 5K+ is brighter.

Now if they can match the colour and blacks of the 8K on the 5K+ even if it is not as bright I may go for that. At the moment I cannot decide between the two, they both have their pros and cons.

 

[TorTorden_VR]

From my understanding there is no more chormatic aberration on the 8k then there is on the 5K+. I have seen no mention of it from the testers or the backers.
The 8k does have less SDE, but what it does is different and maybe more noticeable to some people then the 5k, but anyway it is substantially less then the rift and vive for both.

The 8K has better colours and blacks especially for ED. The 5K+ is brighter.

Now if they can match the colour and blacks of the 8K on the 5K+ even if it is not as bright I may go for that. At the moment I cannot decide between the two, they both have their pros and cons.

Comments from the L.A. meet up said otherwise.
basically SDE and chromatic aberration was apparently significantly more pronounced on the 8k there than the 5k+.

https://youtu.be/RrJIloCWti8

That could be a unit per unit thing.
But you would think Pimax had checked if the 8k they brought was a lemon.

 

[willisit]

Comments from the L.A. meet up said otherwise.
basically SDE and chromatic aberration was apparently significantly more pronounced on the 8k there than the 5k+.

https://youtu.be/RrJIloCWti8

That could be a unit per unit thing.
But you would think Pimax had checked if the 8k they brought was a lemon.

Interesting but he speaks of seeing SDE in Elite on the 8k. I've seen vids/through the lense stuff and opinion on the Pimax forums and no one is talking about SDE, especially in Elite. Fuzzy text, yes... and I've read and seen that recent driver updates have helped hugely - and those won't be ready (v1.x) until next year.

So it's probably a little early to discount the 8k entirely - but it stands to reason that a native to native 5k (with RGB I think over Pentile) is going to have advantages, and if you have the horsepower, supersampling the hell out of the 8k will give you a better image... IF you can drive it.

It's all very confusing. I do not look forward to making the (wrong) choice...

 

[erbse-1]

The 8K has better colours and blacks especially for ED. The 5K+ is brighter.

According to swevivers measurements, the 8k (150 lux) is brighter than the 5k+ (145 lux). Possibly the 5k+ looks brighter in some scenes because of the cooler color temperature.


@ 52:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcZ0CXP0qgU

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Comments from the L.A. meet up said otherwise.
basically SDE and chromatic aberration was apparently significantly more pronounced on the 8k there than the 5k+.

https://youtu.be/RrJIloCWti8

That could be a unit per unit thing.
But you would think Pimax had checked if the 8k they brought was a lemon.

Thats the first I have heard about the chromatic abberation. No one else has mentioned it yet. Maybe they didn't have the HMD properly seated on their head oand/or the IPD was off.