Guess what, @-VR- pipestein, you brought me into this)
So, i want to add my general thoughts to that review of a pimax 5K XR.
TLDR: If you are a newcomer - buy Rift S, its great. Pimax is for a crazy sim enthusiast, who willing to deal with its software, non-existent consumer support and ready to spend a LOT of cash.
First off, Rift S is a great all-around HMD, i strongly recommend it to any VR newcomer, taking into account its pros and cons:
I was eager to see what a wide FOV HMD can be like, so i got 5K plus. Let me start with cons:
So, you are looking at a hidden upgrade costs of like more than $1000 to make pimax as good as Index in terms of functionality, comfort and usability. So why you should prefer pimax over rift s or index?
Main selling point of Pimax is hi res (which is not so high if you keep in mind PPI ratio) and FOV. Yes, large FOV is a gamechanger, maybe not so prominent in elite (it just makes ED more immersive and comfortable), large FOV really shines in IL-2 and racing sims, it gives you much better situational awareness than conventional HMDs. Keep in mind that outer edges of FOV have distortion, but generally you can see much more stuff ( when looking straight ahead in ASP X cabin you can see lights on both sides of pillars (picrelated, edges of a "normal" fov ends right around those lights).
When bumping up steamvr SS you can get razor-sharp res, on par with my 2k 32' monitor (maybe even better, i dunno), but of course my GPU cant handle that. Even on settings like - pimax: 1.25 , steamvr: auto, ED:SS1.00-HMDQ1.25 text is clear and sharp (except that small dark font in comm panel).
Performance is a little bit worse then Rift and i truly miss ASW. I got 9700kf, 16gb 3200mhz and 2070super. Im getting about the same res with more GPU load on Pimax, which is expected. Oculus ASW helps a lot - you can bump up HMDQ to get clear and readable panels, and when on a planets or busy stations it just drops to ASW to maintain decent framerate. This is not the case with Pimax. You will want to set at least 1.25 HMDQ, but 2070 is struggling to maintain normal latency. Exceeding "11 ms" latency is somewhat more tolerably then it was with Rift, and i dont wanna puke right away. But planets surfaces can raise latency up to 16-18 which is gonna hurt. Also, when approaching 10-11 ms moving objects will jitter.
Edit: actually Pitool has something like ASW which called "Smart Smoothening", and it works. Probably a bit better then ASW, because brings a little less distortion.
144Hzoption probably can be a fake. I tried it in IL-2, and it requires latency around 5-7 ms, which my GPU cant deliver. So i cant comment on that. Tried that agian and its awesome, even head movement is much sharper. By the way difference between 80 and 90Hz is probably neglectable. My next monitor or HMD will definately be 144Hz.
Comfort is really bad. Thats it, you really gonna need some better gasket and head strap. Headsed itself is lightweight, so i suppose with good head mounting it will be ok.
Native tracking as you might expect is 3dof only . It tends (all the time) to "drift" and lose zero, so you should get lighthouses too. While 3dof is acceptable in ED, IL-2 needs 6dof (lean to gauge cluster and croshair, to move to the sides to observe landing strip, etc.)
So, should you buy it? Probably no, cus it is too expencive for what it is, and you will need 2080Ti to get smooth image with proper res. But if you already have something like OG Vive, and have lighthouses and DAS, Pimax will be a great step forward, without a need to pay much for upgrades. Also you can consider buying 8KX (not 8K+) which have 4k per eye panels and 4k signal, comes with a "comfort kit gasket" and upgraded, more durable plastic shell. This beast should be totally "future-proof", if pimax could built it right.
So, i want to add my general thoughts to that review of a pimax 5K XR.
TLDR: If you are a newcomer - buy Rift S, its great. Pimax is for a crazy sim enthusiast, who willing to deal with its software, non-existent consumer support and ready to spend a LOT of cash.
First off, Rift S is a great all-around HMD, i strongly recommend it to any VR newcomer, taking into account its pros and cons:
- decent pricing,
- great controllers and tracking.
- good lenses,
- acceptable res LCD screen with pretty good colors,
- plug-and-play software,
- good GPU utilisation and ASW which seamlessly reduces GPU load in certain circumstances,
- decent comfort and easy to use "halo strap",
- subpar build quality and materials,
- poor audio,
- closed ecosystem,
- bugged software with no updates.
I was eager to see what a wide FOV HMD can be like, so i got 5K plus. Let me start with cons:
- it is freaking expensive! I’m in east europe, where hi-tech gadgets is so hard to obtain. Sometimes it requires pretty risky schemes with increased costs. So, the HMD alone was like $940 (overall cost with taxes and shipping), about the same money you can buy Index FULL KIT in US or EU (thanks Valve for not shipping to Eastern Europe).
- you get totally nothing in the box for that huge sticker price. You still need at least one vive or steamvr 2.0 base station, which gonna go like $200 each, and steamvr compatible controllers (terrible vive wand or pricey and scarce knuckles) thats like $300-500 more. There is no Pimax controllers available yet, despite they are bragging about it for more than two years. Decent and cheap 1st gen Oculus touch is not compatible with steam tracking, as it uses proprietary trackers, how cool is that,
FacebookOculus? - terrible materials, weak plastic shell (Pimax says: Get our rubber case for only $25!)
- no audio at all, you get 3.5 jack and mic, that's all) Mic is actually better then on rift,
- pathetic and uncomfortable head strap (Pimax says: Get our DAS for only $299!)
So, you are looking at a hidden upgrade costs of like more than $1000 to make pimax as good as Index in terms of functionality, comfort and usability. So why you should prefer pimax over rift s or index?
Main selling point of Pimax is hi res (which is not so high if you keep in mind PPI ratio) and FOV. Yes, large FOV is a gamechanger, maybe not so prominent in elite (it just makes ED more immersive and comfortable), large FOV really shines in IL-2 and racing sims, it gives you much better situational awareness than conventional HMDs. Keep in mind that outer edges of FOV have distortion, but generally you can see much more stuff ( when looking straight ahead in ASP X cabin you can see lights on both sides of pillars (picrelated, edges of a "normal" fov ends right around those lights).
When bumping up steamvr SS you can get razor-sharp res, on par with my 2k 32' monitor (maybe even better, i dunno), but of course my GPU cant handle that. Even on settings like - pimax: 1.25 , steamvr: auto, ED:SS1.00-HMDQ1.25 text is clear and sharp (except that small dark font in comm panel).
Performance is a little bit worse then Rift and i truly miss ASW. I got 9700kf, 16gb 3200mhz and 2070super. Im getting about the same res with more GPU load on Pimax, which is expected. Oculus ASW helps a lot - you can bump up HMDQ to get clear and readable panels, and when on a planets or busy stations it just drops to ASW to maintain decent framerate. This is not the case with Pimax. You will want to set at least 1.25 HMDQ, but 2070 is struggling to maintain normal latency. Exceeding "11 ms" latency is somewhat more tolerably then it was with Rift, and i dont wanna puke right away. But planets surfaces can raise latency up to 16-18 which is gonna hurt. Also, when approaching 10-11 ms moving objects will jitter.
Edit: actually Pitool has something like ASW which called "Smart Smoothening", and it works. Probably a bit better then ASW, because brings a little less distortion.
144Hz
Comfort is really bad. Thats it, you really gonna need some better gasket and head strap. Headsed itself is lightweight, so i suppose with good head mounting it will be ok.
Native tracking as you might expect is 3dof only . It tends (all the time) to "drift" and lose zero, so you should get lighthouses too. While 3dof is acceptable in ED, IL-2 needs 6dof (lean to gauge cluster and croshair, to move to the sides to observe landing strip, etc.)
So, should you buy it? Probably no, cus it is too expencive for what it is, and you will need 2080Ti to get smooth image with proper res. But if you already have something like OG Vive, and have lighthouses and DAS, Pimax will be a great step forward, without a need to pay much for upgrades. Also you can consider buying 8KX (not 8K+) which have 4k per eye panels and 4k signal, comes with a "comfort kit gasket" and upgraded, more durable plastic shell. This beast should be totally "future-proof", if pimax could built it right.
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