I was at the Gouda roadshow today and tried the Crystal, two different ones, and the Aero.
Overall, I was blown away with the higher resolution, especially in MSFS. The instrument panel was so crisp, it would be a purchase for me because of that alone.
Unfortunately, the FOV was so restricted, it didn’t feel like a Pimax headset anymore. It felt like a normal VR headset of modern resolution and that I think is too bad, although understandable. If you’re new to Pimax however, the comparison with the large FOV of earlier headsets isn’t part of the experience and I think a lot of people would be happy with it.
The inside-out tracking worked flawlessly, I didn’t even realize it was not basestation tracked until later.
No God-rays, yay. But those never really bothered me before, but getting rid of them absolutely is a step in the right direction.
The headset also didn’t cut into my nose at all, I have a big one and my 8K-X can’t be worn over 45 minutes until it really hurts too much and I need to take it off for some time. This Crystal headset both didn’t have the lenses rest onto my nose plus it was a much better balanced headset too with the counter weight in the back.
There was an issue however when I quickly moved my head from side to side, the headset would move en my nose would push against the senses triggering the IPD adjustment menu to pop up. Seems like something that can be adjusted in software maybe but it stood out for me.
The biggest issue however is one that needs to be fixed or this headset is going to be Pimax 2.0 all over again and that is the apparent focal distance, it’s not correct and therefor resting your eyes puts the image out of focus and your eyes are forced to strain to get a crisp image. I have 20-20 vision and that could be the issue as I heard some people who are near sighted did not need their glasses to see clearly in the headset. Seems to me the lenses are off and this needs to be fixed, it was not a pleasant experience for me and I would not be able to enjoy the headset for this reason alone. But it’s a very important reason.
It’s a real bummer because so many other aspects of the headset are great and a real upgrade to the 8K-X.
I did not get to try the eye-tracking but it being tobii I’m sure that would be excellent.
I also did not see a version with the wider FOV lenses.
Overall conclusion: If the lens focal distance gets fixed, this headset is superb!