Hi all
A bit of background before I start. I was a very early kickstarter for the PiMax 8K plus a package of extras and have had my 8K headset since Dec 2018. Before that I had the Rift CV1 and the step up from CV1 to 8K, whilst not as big as from 2D flat screen to VR, is still stark and especially the wider Field of View which is like going from binoculars to a full faced crash helmet. Since getting the 8K, Mrs Teatime has used the Rift, but due to its limited FoV, god (awful) rays and screen door effect and being monocular she used it a few times and then needed something better to really play Elite comfortably.
So some time at the back end of last year PiMax, who are admittedly having some growing pains, made a series of offers to backers and 4K owners to get what I would call their next (or fixed) generation headsets and "trade-in" the other package items we were still waiting for. As I fly Elite Dangerous exclusively in VR I didn't really need the full package stuff, so put the money down on an 8K+ which is basically the 8K improved i.e. its two 4K panels with an upscaled image (there is also an 8KX, which is native 4K per eye through the whole render pipeline from game to eye). The 8K+ is going on Mrs Teatime's rig, which is my Threadripper/2070 Super powered production rig and I'll continue to use the 8K on my simpit rig.
This will be a comparison of the 8K primarily to the 8K+ and is mostly for a production version that does not have the rigid strap that is due "soon" and the software side (PiTool) is still in beta, but being iterated on (Coronavirus permitting):
Packaging - looks more professional with its magnetic clasps, carry handle and with enough EVA foam pieces inside to protect the HMD during shipping.
Headset build/quality - feels slightly heavier than my 8K, but not weighed to be sure. It also feels more robust and I like the “rubberised coating” it has as the 8K was a bit slippery sometimes
Comfort - Strap - so I know we’ll be getting the rigid mount at some point, so this won’t be the “normal” customer experience, but the cloth strap is worse than the 8K’s. The top strap is too short to allow the triple joint at the back to sit low enough on the back of your skull, so the HMD tends to droop forward. I'll update this once the rigid strap/band arrives.
Comfort - HMD/Facial Interface - very much improved over the 8K - if you can get the cloth strap holding it right then the new face foam is like wearing a full face crash helmet where it touches. The nose flaps (which block light bleed from below) I think I will remove - they’re OK, but are a little intrusive. Oh and glasses fit inside really well (my wife needs them, but I fly without despite needing glasses normally).
Software - I acted like a new customer here, as the 8K+ is going on my Threadripper machine, so installed Steam, then SteamVR then the PiTool off of the web site - v xxx.249 iirc. That was OK and as its using the same lighthouses as the 8K , the setup picked them up and everything came to life much more easily than the 8K experience.
I left settings completely alone apart from disabling Smart Smoothing and enabling Parallel Projections and hopped into Elite Dangerous, which just picked it up instead of the Rift that was on this machine. So the setup process is very much improved from the 8K, which took a bit of fiddling and working out the order of things.
Screens/Lenses - much improved imho - better colours/blacks (not a huge amount, but noticeable), I also couldn’t make out any SDE very easily and by that I mean you have to get the scene in a very high contrast situation and specifically look around at the view to pick it out here and there, there are zero ghosting or god rays and the clarity probably due to the previous improvements, seems much better i.e. there is no text I can't read. However, with the software version straight from PiMax's web site, I was seeing a kind of swimming/distortion effect at the edges of each side and it appears I think outside the zone of binocular overlap. Best I can describe it as is like looking like a kind of rippling water effect and it doesn’t always occur, which makes me think its a distortion profile thing in software i.e. fixable (see UPDATE below).
Tweaking - I will try and tweak the experience by installing different software versions to see if the distortion goes away and also see if I can improve an already improved view compared to my 8K. UPDATE - see below, but I will try some resolution tweaking just to see how far I can improve things even further, but the experience is already way better than the 8K and just miles/generations ahead of the CV1.
Conclusion - unless the distortion is related to my install and is not software, this needs fixing asap before new purchaser’s wonder why the experience isn’t as good as other PiMax 8/5K users have described it in the past (i.e. its currently retrograde). UPDATE: I have used the latest xxx.254 PiTool now in anger and despite some others having crash issues, I have had none, so I'm calling that fixed (for now). The rigid headstrap can’t come fast enough. I can understand the need to get the products shipped, but this cloth headstrap is worse than the previous 8K version and the general market won’t be as forgiving. UPDATE: I have since designed and 3D printed an extension bracket for the HMD that has solved the issues with the strap, but the rigid version is still badly needed and "proper production units" should come with this, so take the observation for what it is.
TL-DR - once the rigid headstrap is shipping with the unit and the distortion is patched out (for all) I would recommend this product to others and especially for those on FoV headsets lower than 120 degs. The price is way more competitive than the XTal, which I think is the only HMD that exceeds the specs, but its not that cheap compared to the mainstream headsets out there. If the price is too rich, then PiMax are offering other HMDs that do upscaling for much cheaper price points as their panels are lower resolution, but still retain the wide FoV, which I think is the PiMax USP.
P.S: Mrs Teatime is very happy coming from the Rift, with the FoV, clarity and other improvements and wing and multicrew session will be much improved now, even though I'm now probably going to have to build another pit rig rather than the desktop version she uses currently.
A bit of background before I start. I was a very early kickstarter for the PiMax 8K plus a package of extras and have had my 8K headset since Dec 2018. Before that I had the Rift CV1 and the step up from CV1 to 8K, whilst not as big as from 2D flat screen to VR, is still stark and especially the wider Field of View which is like going from binoculars to a full faced crash helmet. Since getting the 8K, Mrs Teatime has used the Rift, but due to its limited FoV, god (awful) rays and screen door effect and being monocular she used it a few times and then needed something better to really play Elite comfortably.
So some time at the back end of last year PiMax, who are admittedly having some growing pains, made a series of offers to backers and 4K owners to get what I would call their next (or fixed) generation headsets and "trade-in" the other package items we were still waiting for. As I fly Elite Dangerous exclusively in VR I didn't really need the full package stuff, so put the money down on an 8K+ which is basically the 8K improved i.e. its two 4K panels with an upscaled image (there is also an 8KX, which is native 4K per eye through the whole render pipeline from game to eye). The 8K+ is going on Mrs Teatime's rig, which is my Threadripper/2070 Super powered production rig and I'll continue to use the 8K on my simpit rig.
This will be a comparison of the 8K primarily to the 8K+ and is mostly for a production version that does not have the rigid strap that is due "soon" and the software side (PiTool) is still in beta, but being iterated on (Coronavirus permitting):
Packaging - looks more professional with its magnetic clasps, carry handle and with enough EVA foam pieces inside to protect the HMD during shipping.
Headset build/quality - feels slightly heavier than my 8K, but not weighed to be sure. It also feels more robust and I like the “rubberised coating” it has as the 8K was a bit slippery sometimes
Comfort - Strap - so I know we’ll be getting the rigid mount at some point, so this won’t be the “normal” customer experience, but the cloth strap is worse than the 8K’s. The top strap is too short to allow the triple joint at the back to sit low enough on the back of your skull, so the HMD tends to droop forward. I'll update this once the rigid strap/band arrives.
Comfort - HMD/Facial Interface - very much improved over the 8K - if you can get the cloth strap holding it right then the new face foam is like wearing a full face crash helmet where it touches. The nose flaps (which block light bleed from below) I think I will remove - they’re OK, but are a little intrusive. Oh and glasses fit inside really well (my wife needs them, but I fly without despite needing glasses normally).
Software - I acted like a new customer here, as the 8K+ is going on my Threadripper machine, so installed Steam, then SteamVR then the PiTool off of the web site - v xxx.249 iirc. That was OK and as its using the same lighthouses as the 8K , the setup picked them up and everything came to life much more easily than the 8K experience.
I left settings completely alone apart from disabling Smart Smoothing and enabling Parallel Projections and hopped into Elite Dangerous, which just picked it up instead of the Rift that was on this machine. So the setup process is very much improved from the 8K, which took a bit of fiddling and working out the order of things.
Screens/Lenses - much improved imho - better colours/blacks (not a huge amount, but noticeable), I also couldn’t make out any SDE very easily and by that I mean you have to get the scene in a very high contrast situation and specifically look around at the view to pick it out here and there, there are zero ghosting or god rays and the clarity probably due to the previous improvements, seems much better i.e. there is no text I can't read. However, with the software version straight from PiMax's web site, I was seeing a kind of swimming/distortion effect at the edges of each side and it appears I think outside the zone of binocular overlap. Best I can describe it as is like looking like a kind of rippling water effect and it doesn’t always occur, which makes me think its a distortion profile thing in software i.e. fixable (see UPDATE below).
Tweaking - I will try and tweak the experience by installing different software versions to see if the distortion goes away and also see if I can improve an already improved view compared to my 8K. UPDATE - see below, but I will try some resolution tweaking just to see how far I can improve things even further, but the experience is already way better than the 8K and just miles/generations ahead of the CV1.
Conclusion - unless the distortion is related to my install and is not software, this needs fixing asap before new purchaser’s wonder why the experience isn’t as good as other PiMax 8/5K users have described it in the past (i.e. its currently retrograde). UPDATE: I have used the latest xxx.254 PiTool now in anger and despite some others having crash issues, I have had none, so I'm calling that fixed (for now). The rigid headstrap can’t come fast enough. I can understand the need to get the products shipped, but this cloth headstrap is worse than the previous 8K version and the general market won’t be as forgiving. UPDATE: I have since designed and 3D printed an extension bracket for the HMD that has solved the issues with the strap, but the rigid version is still badly needed and "proper production units" should come with this, so take the observation for what it is.
TL-DR - once the rigid headstrap is shipping with the unit and the distortion is patched out (for all) I would recommend this product to others and especially for those on FoV headsets lower than 120 degs. The price is way more competitive than the XTal, which I think is the only HMD that exceeds the specs, but its not that cheap compared to the mainstream headsets out there. If the price is too rich, then PiMax are offering other HMDs that do upscaling for much cheaper price points as their panels are lower resolution, but still retain the wide FoV, which I think is the PiMax USP.
P.S: Mrs Teatime is very happy coming from the Rift, with the FoV, clarity and other improvements and wing and multicrew session will be much improved now, even though I'm now probably going to have to build another pit rig rather than the desktop version she uses currently.
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