I really was hoping I was immune, but the cracks have appeared

[drowhunter]

So to start off, i’m extremely careful with my HMD and its never been tapped or dropped and has been in perfect condition that I know of until apr 12 2020

i received my 5k+ in feb 2019.

I actually have been super busy lately and haven’t used my Pimax in the last 3 months.

Yesterday i pick up the headset and inspect it, which i don’t normally do (so I can’t confirm when the cracking started exactly)

but I have noticed at least 4 points of cracking.

Man it looks so bad. I was hoping once my X arrived to be able ro sell the 5k+ but this is going to seriously hurt the resale value.

I don’t know if there is a way to fix this myself. But this gamble of upgrading to the X looks like ill be earig the cost od this rubbish housing.

Man I think every black Pimax housing will eventually succumb to these cracks. Its an inevitability.

What’s funny is that Pimax tells us that there’s a limited stock of Rugged Artisans act fast! As if this is some bonus Limited edition.

ALL OF THE ARTISANS SHOULD HAVE THE RUGGED HOUSING!

anyone who bought an Artisan since its release should be able to RMA for free to a rugged housing.

Imagine Sony selling a limited edition “housing that won’t crack” PSVR, get it while you can supply is limited!

I have an OG vive that still looks as pristine as the day it was manufactured. My OG rift is also still perfect.

I find it incredible that we are at a stage where a housing that is resistant to age-related crumbling is sold as a perk on a premium $$ headset.

Well I get it the 5k+,8k, RE and early artisans are basically dev kits.

but guess what my Oculus DK1 still has no cracks.

anyway I’m just ranting a bit here but this surely has cost me some money.

Every move i’ve planned to have the ultimate Pimax Experience has been thwarted by time.

I bought a second hand Vive to hold me over until the BS and controllers arrived with plans to sell it after. Its been so long now that the OG is discontinued and not worth selling now.

I bought index controllers for extra cost because I couldn’t get them in Canada and figured i’d sell em when Pimax released their controllers. By the time that happens it won’t be worth selling.

I planned to sell the 5k+ to recoup the cost of upgrading to the 8kx. But that looks unlikely now.

I must really love FOV a lot to waste all this money for a few degrees, ( That reverb G2 is looking really good right now) but with the 8kX so close I can taste it. It’s best I just wait and see.

I guess time will tell if the Rugged Housing solves the issue or not, but I suspect we won’t find out for a couple of years.

[Possyguset]

Since I got My 5k+ back from RMA, I checked it out for 2-3hrs then put it back in the box, Waiting on the stretched goals, for the comfort kit, Hope when I do take it out of the box again, its not developed any cracks

[drowhunter]

I edited my post above, you will see what I think about your chances of that.

[Fitzy]

I’m in the same boat.

[Thall]

All black casings will/have cracked. I don’t understand how pimax can claim otherwise. It’s a literal 100% sampling of forum users.

Tape it or get the silicon sleeve, it’s all you can do

[drowhunter]

The more I think about it, i’m flabbergasted about the whole Rugged feature.

Why do you think they out of nowhere decided that they were going to sell a rugged artisan?

If you read between the lines they are selling it as a feature , (to entice people to buy) based on the fact that these Artisans wont crack after warrany is up.

Thats INSANE!

Imagine Ford sells cars , and a defect is found where the frame of the car cracks after 2 years and can potentially dangerous. You know what they do? They issue a recall.

The fact that Pimax would sell a “Rugged Edition” of any of their products as a SKU is very damning.

Its an admission of a KNOWN design flaw to offer a product that fixes said desing flaw.

Rather than simply fixing it.

Think of this. Imagine im a purchaser of an Artisan FE(Fragile Edition) , any time before the announcement is made of the Limited Rugged Edition was announced.

Its not a matter of IF your artisan is going to crack, its a matter of WHEN.

Artisan released when, January 2020? which means you have a year of warranty to RMA.

If i was an Artisan customer I would surely want to RMA my device and get Rugged Version.

Pimax should have just issued a recall on all Artisans purchased since release, because THEY KNOW that the are going to crack, they are DESIGNED TO!

man this whole thing has me riled up.

I know its too late for me but , I’ve always felt this way about the RUGGED SKU’s I felt that by introducing it
, it by proxy makes every other SKU the Fragile Editions.

Its really is unacceptable. I don’t have any other HMD that is known to simply crumble over time.

Its like if Kia sold a car with a know defect that after a year the screws could fall out of your car while driving. And rather than fix the issue going forward, they sell a new model of the car calling it , the wont fall apart edition.

[DrWilken]

While I do get Your comparisons with cars (I do that a lot too), You probably won’t get killed by a crack in Your VR headset… At least I hope not…?

[drowhunter]

Lol, I might get killed by my wife when she realizes i put $1000 more dollars towards another product(8kX) that will likely crumble as well.

(Edit) Or and I forgot you’re Mr.Zen. Do you not see this as reason for concern?

[DrWilken]

@drowhunter

…I forgot you’re Mr.Zen. Do you not see this as reason for concern?

Haha…

It seems they’ve gotten it right with the blue housing. Zero reports of issues so far, right?

[Scy0846]

not to hijack the thread but how long did your RMA take?

[drowhunter]

kind of too early to tell right?

[Pimel]

I’m still not doing crack with my 5K+ so not 100% of forum creatures, yet

[BNP]

well only people with issues is posting about them having issues so yeah 100%.

That said my 8k loaner had developed some rather impressive cracks as well that i really only noticed when I inspected it closely before shipping it back.

I think I remember some posts about being able to buy a replacement housing or that they would make them available somehow. If you plan on selling your unit it might be worth it to look into that first?

[what595654]

When you start to read between the lines, you will notice a lot of the things Pimax says/does is flipped to sound positive. Take the shipping failure of the Pimax 8KX.

Some of these shipments have required more time to arrive at the destination than expected so we consulted with our shipping partner (Federal Express) who advised for faster shipments we must provide additional customs documentation.

Either additional customs documentation just became a thing. Plausible COVID, right? Or, someone was screwing up the paperwork (I only say this because someone posted a picture of the description Pimax puts on their boxes, and it was comically bad. But, I forgot the exact words chosen. It’s been probably deleted and banned from the forums already). Or someone did not look into the shipping/paperwork thoroughly. Who knows? But, given Pimax past, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the latter.

[Timo.H1]

I think the Rugged Edition is the same case. Pimax just put a blue rubber paint on it. I think 8kx will tear too. Why? Because Pimax doesn’t lean against it. I think it will happen. Pimax has made empty promises too often. I also get an 8KX. I had done an RMA five times for my 5k Plus. I can’t find any more words. I also don’t think the Pimax delivers the 8KX on time.

[Heliosurge]

Lucky my 203 which has only been used to test 5k+ related updates has cracks with almost 0 use.

[DrWilken]

@drowhunter

too early to tell right?

As far as I remember there were reports of cracks very shortly after the first units were released back in 2018/2019.

The “RE” housing units have been out for a while now, but it’s more like I’m hoping than counting on it…

[Navi_8K]

If people aren’t dropping their headsets what causes the cracks?

Heat?

[DrWilken]

Too much pressure on the joints and/or too weak plastic I would think.

@Heliosurge had some thoughts about it being preventable (if caused by to much pressure) by using a rubber gasket where the two parts are joined together AFAIR.

[Heliosurge]

My 5k+? Storage minimal to no usage. Og 8k is my goto headset.