Pimax folks, I had a chance to try the Crystal at the FlightSim Expo in Houston. Pleasure to Meet Both Michael and Josh. One of the biggest selling points for me was your auto IPD. It nailed my 58.5 IPD instantly!
However, As I and another Pimaxian said in our interview with Josh, the Crystal is too dang hot!
I was told by Josh and Michael, that the internal cooling fan for the CPU stuff was turned down way low, due to noise. About 20%. Crank that sucker up please!
I would be willing to bet anyone using the crystal would rather have a cool VR headset on their face, with the fan running full blast! They/We can always adjust the volume of our audio to compensate.
Compromise, add a control in the Experience app for the individual user to adjust the fan speed themselves. PLEASE!
I did purchase the Crystal, but I was also assured by Josh and Michael that our concerns of HEAT would be relayed to the team. Thank You for Listening.
David
Hi siglr, yes that was my biggest complaint on the Crystal. The IPD nailed mine perfectly. For once I had a great focused view, MSFS 2020 looked awesome to me, compared to my 8KX + I could never get my IPD tweaked properly.
However, that said, if Pimax doesn’t do something about the fan speed and cool this headset down, I will probably be sending it back. It’s a simple solution, hope they listen. hence Josh making the video at FSExpo…
David
The internal cooling fan (as in blowing onto your face) of the Pico 4 and Aero are amazing, wish it was standard tbh. That said, I have gotten used to using no facial interface at all with the Quest Pro and am tempted to see if I can make a headpad to do the same with the crystal. Personally I don’t find it distracting at all after a minute or two, I know it’s impossible for some people though (although another option is a dark room using an IR light so you can track but in the darkness so no light bleed because no light to bleed in!
For reference, someone made a mod for the pico 4 to emulate the Quest Pro’s “floating off your face” style:
When I get my crystal back, I will try emulate that (at least for the summer months as VR is nearly unplayable at times due to the heat, especially with a bhaptics vest lol).
It might not be a mod that works well with a traditional headset form factor and with the weight of the crystal (might need the slimmer form offered by pancake lenses). Will be interesting to try though!
Another option would be to give us a choice of fan speed before shipping our Crystal
In my case, turn that fan to max!
I would really like to keep and enjoy my Crystal.
However, if I hear nothing has been done ref the fan and cooling, when my Crystal is set to ship, I’ll cancel
my order then. Some folks can be a little more sensitive to heat than others…I am one of them I guess.
Doesn’t matter how good your Pimax is in image, if it’s hot, you won’ t wear it very long. Defeats the purpose.
I truly hope your management listens on this one.
Thank You
David
It would be nice to see this as an option I would also tune it up a bit - but @dwbarnett its not hoter for my perception than the older 8K’s/5K’s are and they still work. Also I belive this is just a software option - so changing this can be done with a simple update of software - your Crystal Hardware wont change.
Just to chime in for those of you that already have a Crystal: are the fans exposed to the OS for tools such as Argus Monitor, SpeedFan etc.? If so, you should be able to control them directly until such an option is developed for whatever the Pimax sw is called by now.
Hi, in my case, my 8kx has been sitting on the shelf for over a year.
Due to 2 main issues. I could never dial in my rather small IPD, Crystal nailed it. 58.5
The heat on my face, was too uncomfortable to wear for a significant period.
Talking to the Pimax reps at FSExpo, they said thecengineers had reduced the fan output to 25% for concern of noise. My damn computer fans make more noise when I’m doing simulator stuff. How did I remedy that issue…yep you guessed it, turned up my speakers volume.
Same thing I will do, if Pimax either cranks up my fn before shipping, or allows us to adjust through whatever.
To each their own. But for me, the heat is a big distraction, so much so, I have asked Pimax to cancel my order on the Crystal, until at such time they can cool it down. They adjusted it down, they can adjust it up too.
Enjoy your headset. I hope to do the same.
Best,
David
Considering the reports of green spots appearing on headset displays after longer use - I got them after only about 2h on my brand new Crystal, delivered just two days ago, Pimax will most likely have to increase fan speed anyway. I’m pretty sure those spots are a result of screen overheating, although I’m not 100% sure of course… I have Pico4 and love its fan - yes, it can be heard a bit, but it’s not an issue.