You might also want to do what Varjo has been showcasing, e.g. show a flight sim like MSFS for the exteriors of the plane, but your own physical cockpit you built at home as passthru so you can find your switches and levers.
The downside is with Crystal that you wouldn’t be able to utilize the MR and Lighthouse sleeves at the same time - but then again, for a seated sim you don’t need tracking at Lighthouse quality anyhow.
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There is Reality Blender on Steam. @Ludiks did make his own passthrough camera module and there is also the old Zed mini as well.
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Really think PIMAX should have this included in their HMD as default feature.
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Hi,
Below are my first impressions with the Crystal. Pimax Support also asked me to give them some feedback.
Here is what they asked:
- Overall, how would you rate your experience with Crystal (rate from 1-10)?
- What do you think of Crystal’s visual quality and FOV?
- Is that difficult to setup the device for the initial use? How does the headset/controller tracking perform?
- What do you think of the weight of Crystal?
- How does the battery perform?
And below is my reply. Please note that these are my personal thoughts about the Crystal after having it for only a few hours.
As promised, here is my feedback on the Crystal, which has arrived a day earlier than scheduled. 
Kudos to FedEx !
-
My overall experience with the Crystal is very limited. I only received it 5 hours ago and have played with it for about two and a half hours after setting it up. For the ease of setup, I would give it an 8. The reason for this is that there is no detailed manual with the package. I had to search for a video on the internet to find out how to set up the USB Power Hub.
-
As for the visual quality the Crystal is the best I have ever experienced. The clarity is truly outstanding! Bravo! Coming from the Pimax 8kx, which I have used mainly in Normal FOV, and lately in Small FOV to prepare myself for the Crystal’s smaller FOV. However I was a bit shocked on how much smaller the Crystal FOV felt. It seemed almost like Potato FOV of the 8kx. But I am sure that I will have to get used to it. It would be nice to have wider FOV lenses once they become available.
BTW, there was only one set of lenses in the package, no second set as promised by Pimax. Will Pimax send me the second set free of charge in order to keep their promise? Really don’t want to have to pay for the extra shipping and any VAT or customs taxes. -
For the setup, please see my comment at step 1. I did not try the controllers since I do not use any when playing Flight Simulation games in a seated position. I have my own joystick, yoke, throttles and rudder pedals for that.
-
The weight of the package did surprise me a little, but the balance of the headset is so good, that I cannot complain. Maybe if I play for prolonged periods, I may think differently.
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It is too early to judge the battery performance. However after just over two hours of play, the battery indicator had only two green bars left. My biggest concern is the life of the batteries themselves. After how many charge cycles will the batteries die and not hold a full charge? How long will Pimax be able to furnish replacement batteries and at what cost?
Really wish that there was a light version of the Crystal for previous Pimax owners who play in the seated position, without the need for the Qualcomm XR2 chip and therefore no batteries. Those previous Pimax owners already have a lighthouse setup for tracking.
Hope this helps you and Pimax to make the best decisions for the future.
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Thank you for sharing your early impressions have added your post to
Collection!
Sounds good. The Crystal once fully developed (ie everything working) will be a great vr headset imo. Although i’m not buying right now, i’m definitely keeping my reservation for a possible purchase.
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Once your number is called, don’t you have x amount of time in order for you to fully purchase it or you’ll lose your reservation spot?
I think some may have asjed for a delay completion on their order. Ie 2weeks.
i’ve just checked the email pimax sent me, there’s no mention about losing your reservation spot if you don’t order within a certain amount of time. obviously if people further down the queue pay up before me i’ll get a crystal later than them but i would expect to receive a crystal around 3 weeks after payment irrespective.
it looks like pimax are really ploughing through the pre-orders, i’ve seen on reddit someone who reserved a crystal in feb being asked for full payment. at a guess i think i wouldn’t pay up for atleast another 6 months, there might not be any queue by then anyway.
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I now think that besides a maturing of promised features, an additional lens with greater FoV, and an established Color Passthru AR functionality, I think I can THEN get on board.
Of course, controller tracking improvements and hand tracking improvements are very welcome.
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Pretty bad experience so far. Only one monitor plugged into my RTX 4090, plus the Crystal, plus the USB hub they gave me. No matter what I do when I turn on the Crystal (have to hold the power button down for like 8 seconds), Pimax logo comes up, I get a few seconds of grey screen, three dots flash then the headset turns off. Always says “disconnected” in up-to-date Pimax software.
Not sure if this is of any help, but I had headsets from different brands that had the USB cable not correctly plugged in at the headset end, even my PSVR2 arrived like that. So make sure that at the headset’s end, the cable is correctly pressed in. Not sure if it’s even detachable with the Crystal but with a lot of headsets this is the case. Logo showing up and then it saying it’s disconnected surely sounds it might be a cable problem.
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Check the battery level and make sure that’s connected properly. Try the other battery.
Try without the HUB.
Make sure the HMD is in PC mode and not AIO on the switch.
Last thing anyone wants is a DOA.
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not sure if its the same issue but i couldnt get it to boot up for a whole day when i first got it luckily stumbled upon this so in power option,advanced power settings in the usb setting i disabled “selective usb suspend” and that made it work normaly,stays on every single time since then.
not sure if you got the same thing but worth a try.
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I had the same issue when my Index’s USB was still plugged in. Even with that headset’s DisplayPort unplugged, it was preventing the Crystal from connecting. I also had similar issues when trying to use a DP extension with it.
One other thing that can help is the “guidance” button in the Pimax software. That will at least let you verify if the issue is with power/usb (it won’t let you get past that step) or if it’s the DisplayPort connection.
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I figured out what the problem was. Pimax software download for Crystal takes you to version “1.11” but since I have a 4090, I needed a “hidden” version “1.12”. I think the majority of people paying $1,600 for a VR headset will have a 4090 so Pimax needs to fix this.
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Hi,
Here is how I start and stop the Crystal.
To start, I first boot up my computer.
Next I launch the Pimax Client.
Then I press and hold the power button on the Crystal for about 8 to 10 seconds until the LEDs illuminate blue.
In the Pimax Client the headset symbol should now indicate that the Crystal is on.
To get the Crystal to track, I just move the headset until the blue LED turns green. It is now ready to use.
To turn off the Crystal, I proceed as follows.
Shut down the Pimax Client.
Then power down the computer.
Once the computer is fully shut down, press and hold the power button until the LEÐs go out on the Crystal.
Let go of the button immediately after the LEDs are out, otherwise the headset will try to start again.
Verify that the LEDs remain off. If they come on again after a while, then you have pressed the power button too long and the headset has restarted.
If necessary, repeat the last steps above until the LEDs remain off.
Hope this helps.
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My Crystal goes black after the Pimax logo(PC Mode). Even though it’s connected with controllers. I’m even able to play the game but without an image. USB selective suspend is disabled. Any ideas? I tried to restart, reconnect etc, and bypassed the extension. Nothing helps.
Hehe, the ‘pimax dance’ 
We all have our own versions of the dance to get pimax equipment working
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