Slopey
Volunteer Moderator
Hey all,
The Pimax 5k+ dropped through the mail a week+ ago, but I've not had time to test it until now. I'll echo the other posters below, in that it is a bit of a mixed bag - several pros, many cons depending on your VR experience.
I currently have the Rift (and DK1/2), Vive, and an Oculus Go. I've been driving the Pimax with the Vive base stations for tracking, and the PC is an i5 OC'd to 4Ghz with a 1080.
The Good:
The FOV is amazing. It's *way* better than any other HMD I've ever owned, and is quite simply fantastic. It's almost to the point where it extends beyond the point of my vision, but not quite. There's also definate distortion at the edges of the view, but in normal usage where your focus is you don't tend to notice it that much, but it is definately there.
SDE is very very low - way way better than the Rift and miles ahead of the Vive. It's slightly better than the Oculus Go also.
Haloing (the shine you get on the fresnel lenses) is also very low - way better than Rift/Vive.
In general, the detail and visuals are amazing - definitely the best experience visually of all the units I own.
The Bad:
Straps - same configuration as the Vive, uncomfy as hell and no matter how I've tried so far, I can't get it to sit on my head comfortably or securely.
Weight - it's heavy - Vive heavy, and with the Vive style straps, that just tends to pull the straps up the back of your head, and the HMD drops down - difficult to get positioned correctly.
Cable - better than the Vive, whose cable is a multicore monstrosity, but still worse than the Rift. Has a noticable weight, and "drags" the unit when you're wearing it - it's quite annoying. Also, the video connection is DP rather than HDMI, which I found irritating as I drive my main monitor off DP so had to swap everything around, and I won't be driving it from the Razer Blade without HDMI - will need a converter.
Headphones - as per the Vive - no built in headphones, which is just a monumental pain in the rear end. Oculus has this nailed in both the Rift and the Go.
Tracking - using the Vive lighthouses, it's very very sensitive to blockages - just trying to adjust the IPD, and putting your hand on the side of the unit while you try to move the little wheel, results in a loss of tracking and a grey screen, which is a pain when you're trying to judge if you're making the visuals better or worse.
Glasses - wear glasses? No chance. Not as bad as the Rift, but worse than the Vive. The Go is good as it ships with a spacer - I'm going to order one of the amazon face cushions and try that.
Nose - because a) it's heavy, and b) the straps suck, it tends to end up resting on your nose. This would be fine, however the edges of the lenses are hard plastic, and have no cushioning - it REALLY needs pads on the lens edges. If you move your head side to side, the lenses cut into your nose on each side as you move (as the unit lags due to inertia as it's weighty), and it's quite uncomfortable (i.e. hurts). I need to get pads on the lense sides as the first thing I do because it's not a nice experience currently.
So - in a nutshell:
Visuals - best in class, way way better than the Vive, better than the Rift, better than the Go, and the FOV is industry leading and a WOW factor.
Ergonomically - it's heavy and uncomfortable, with sharp lens edges, and no built in headphones - comfort wise worse than the Vive (although the cable is slightly better), but way worse than the Rift (both comfort and cable).
I kickstarted mine, with no lighthouses, so got it for $499. On the site, they're $999 - I wouldn't pay that to be honest - the Rift is way way better value if you want to get into VR or for a simple setup.
For me so far, nothing beats the Rift for convenience and comfort - you can pull it on/off, has simple setup with the sensors, is very comfortable, and built in audio - it's my go-to HMD. The Pimax will replace the Vive as my "experience" HMD most likely - the visuals are oustanding, but it's uncomfortable, and still needs the lighthouses, which is frankly a PITA compared with getting the Rift going for a short VR session.
But the field of view - it is truly amazing....
The Pimax 5k+ dropped through the mail a week+ ago, but I've not had time to test it until now. I'll echo the other posters below, in that it is a bit of a mixed bag - several pros, many cons depending on your VR experience.
I currently have the Rift (and DK1/2), Vive, and an Oculus Go. I've been driving the Pimax with the Vive base stations for tracking, and the PC is an i5 OC'd to 4Ghz with a 1080.
The Good:
The FOV is amazing. It's *way* better than any other HMD I've ever owned, and is quite simply fantastic. It's almost to the point where it extends beyond the point of my vision, but not quite. There's also definate distortion at the edges of the view, but in normal usage where your focus is you don't tend to notice it that much, but it is definately there.
SDE is very very low - way way better than the Rift and miles ahead of the Vive. It's slightly better than the Oculus Go also.
Haloing (the shine you get on the fresnel lenses) is also very low - way better than Rift/Vive.
In general, the detail and visuals are amazing - definitely the best experience visually of all the units I own.
The Bad:
Straps - same configuration as the Vive, uncomfy as hell and no matter how I've tried so far, I can't get it to sit on my head comfortably or securely.
Weight - it's heavy - Vive heavy, and with the Vive style straps, that just tends to pull the straps up the back of your head, and the HMD drops down - difficult to get positioned correctly.
Cable - better than the Vive, whose cable is a multicore monstrosity, but still worse than the Rift. Has a noticable weight, and "drags" the unit when you're wearing it - it's quite annoying. Also, the video connection is DP rather than HDMI, which I found irritating as I drive my main monitor off DP so had to swap everything around, and I won't be driving it from the Razer Blade without HDMI - will need a converter.
Headphones - as per the Vive - no built in headphones, which is just a monumental pain in the rear end. Oculus has this nailed in both the Rift and the Go.
Tracking - using the Vive lighthouses, it's very very sensitive to blockages - just trying to adjust the IPD, and putting your hand on the side of the unit while you try to move the little wheel, results in a loss of tracking and a grey screen, which is a pain when you're trying to judge if you're making the visuals better or worse.
Glasses - wear glasses? No chance. Not as bad as the Rift, but worse than the Vive. The Go is good as it ships with a spacer - I'm going to order one of the amazon face cushions and try that.
Nose - because a) it's heavy, and b) the straps suck, it tends to end up resting on your nose. This would be fine, however the edges of the lenses are hard plastic, and have no cushioning - it REALLY needs pads on the lens edges. If you move your head side to side, the lenses cut into your nose on each side as you move (as the unit lags due to inertia as it's weighty), and it's quite uncomfortable (i.e. hurts). I need to get pads on the lense sides as the first thing I do because it's not a nice experience currently.
So - in a nutshell:
Visuals - best in class, way way better than the Vive, better than the Rift, better than the Go, and the FOV is industry leading and a WOW factor.
Ergonomically - it's heavy and uncomfortable, with sharp lens edges, and no built in headphones - comfort wise worse than the Vive (although the cable is slightly better), but way worse than the Rift (both comfort and cable).
I kickstarted mine, with no lighthouses, so got it for $499. On the site, they're $999 - I wouldn't pay that to be honest - the Rift is way way better value if you want to get into VR or for a simple setup.
For me so far, nothing beats the Rift for convenience and comfort - you can pull it on/off, has simple setup with the sensors, is very comfortable, and built in audio - it's my go-to HMD. The Pimax will replace the Vive as my "experience" HMD most likely - the visuals are oustanding, but it's uncomfortable, and still needs the lighthouses, which is frankly a PITA compared with getting the Rift going for a short VR session.
But the field of view - it is truly amazing....
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