Question about IPD readings to my fellow Pimax-owners, Support wont answer

Hello everyone,

first of all I want to say that I have an absolutly positiv “overall” impression of the Pimax 5k+, I got as someone who PreOrdered. Also I have a some sort of positiv experience with the Pimax Support since they are trying to help me in some way.

What I dont get from Pimax Support is a simple answer to a specific question I asked them. So I am going to ask you (the forum) and hope you can help me!

The main issue I have with the Pimax is about the IPD. I have an IPD of 60 (30 / 30) which should be just fine to use the Pimax. So in fact when I set the Pimax IPD to 60 I can use the Headset in an “ok” way but it is noticable, that the sweetspot is not on point and the center of the lenses is not aligned with the center of my eyes - this causes a non crisp picture, that is a little blured. My eyes feel definitely better with my Windows Mixed Realty Headset.

So what I basicly did is - I measured the distance between the sweetspot of both lenses by my self. The result I got is 67,5 mm while the headset is set to minium Distance of 60 mm, the reading even shows 59,8 mm (see attached picture).

My questions are now:

  • Is the way I measured the distance manually a legit way to do it?
  • Did i something wrong while measuring?
  • Is the measureing of 67,5 mm acutally intended and somehow correct / corresponding with my IPD 60mm?
  • Could you (fellow Pimax-Owner) try to measure your lenses when you set your Pimax to 60 mm? What is your result?
  • Is something wrong with my headset or is the measurement I got intended and perfectly fine / within specification?

I would be glad if someone could help me with this specific problem.

Best Regards

Yeah. It is a common problem, that Pimax’s software read IPD does not correspond with the actually distance between the lenses. You measured correctly. As to how to fix it, I don’t know.

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Even more common problem, that Pimax won’t answer customer’s request.

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Well, they do respond, also fast. But not to that specific question… I would not say that I am unsatisfied with the support, more like irritated im getting ignored on this specific question…

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There is currently a whole debate going on about “Pimax IPD” vs “Real IPD”.
https://community.openmr.ai/t/some-thoughts-on-the-ipd-discrepancy/14754?u=davebobman

If you have any more questions you can look here:
https://community.openmr.ai/t/table-of-contents-wiki-ih/10851

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I think this is a really bad thing, if i was a preorder i would certainly return it if can not use it or if something is not as advertised (sucks to be a backer…).
Imagine if half preorders/orders does that…
i understand this is a very complicated situation for Pimax but also unacceptable for us who suffer from eye strain.
The radio silence just reminds me a sentence i used in one of my first posts, was something like …We are nobody to them.
For info ipd 61 and same issue

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Hi sorry to hear your having ipd difficulties I really feel that the face cushion has a big impact on distortion, sweet spot and ipd I have had some success with different thickness of cushions. Ordering Vive cushions from AliExpress. They are very reasonable (£3-4) and available in many styles and thicknesses. Pimax have a range coming out but until then it’s definitely worth a try.

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The pimax is the only choice for wide FOV it’s not perfect but no other headset can touch the immersion. Try adjusting the strap and trying different cushions till you find the right one for you.

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Yes it’s normal, the sweetspot of pimax is not the real sweetspot, people which are able to get both eyes clear are getting bad distortions.

Do you also got a wrong world scale? For me everything is about 20% bigger than in other headsets.

I have to be honest in 3 years of owning the vive and now having this pimax for a few months I’ve never actually known my real IPD, just dial it in until it feels right:)

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I do exactly the same I choose something detailed to look at and adjust till it looks sharp.
:grinning::+1:

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There’s also a near field IPD image on the FAQ of this forum, which I always struggle to find after I closed upper tab and don’t know how to bring it back :smiley:

I have to admit there’s something strange about image in Pimax - it reminds me of half a year when I used vorpx with CV1, until my game got native VR support. However, image is also the clearest of all the headsets I experienced, so even if something is off, image clarity (big sweet spot), but most of all, High FOV, trumps it all to me personally. I noticed that I get fatigue if I try and analyze and overanalyze the image from all angles etc. If I just relax eyes and enjoy, it is not perfect but it is good tradeoff, compared to low FOV binoculars.

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I’ve reposted my thoughts from a different thread.

Here’s the thing: When I set my 8K IPD to my “real” IPD, things are a (very little) bit fuzzy straight ahead, but there is no distortion and I can play for 4+ hours at a stretch with no eye strain. When I put the lenses closer together, yes, the straight ahead image is crisp, but I see some distortion and quickly get eyestrain. My IPD is 63 mm and I’m only using the 14 mm face cushion which came with my headset.

I think trying to get crystal-clear vision straight ahead is a false goal and that the engineers who designed the headset maximized the “total area which is (mostly) in focus”. (That is, the center of the Fresnel lenses should NOT be directly in front of your pupils.) Have you actually set the IPD to match your eyes and played for a while? For me, the experience is surprisingly good, even though there is a tiny bit of fuzziness.

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I am totally experiencing same thing, however even at my correct IPD settings still there is much more tension on my eyes. I tried several facepads and IPD settings, so far could not find any workaround on this.

The Problem I have got with setting the Headset to 60mm IPD, which I have is that I got some sort of godrays on the left side.

For example when I am in Steam Loading Screen you can see a white square on the ground which is your playing area. If I look straight forward I see square shaped godrays (only left eye) coming up from the ground which is irritating.

The other thing is. If I am playing “The Wave VR” I go to the Show “AKTUAL” where geometric forms are displayed and changing forms. When I look for example on the outer (white) line of a geometric cube in this room the line only appears to be sharp (and white) on the right eye. On the left eye the line is splitted into blue / green / red. If I then move the headset a bit left the opposite is happening - left eye clear white line, right eye blue / green / red splitted.

The fresnel lens artefacts are never going to go away entirely, nor will the leaking light through the bits of LCD screen you look at at an oblique angle, toward the edges, but to achieve the best you can, you will need to match the correctly dialled-in IPD with the distance from your eyes to the lenses. This comprises how much foam padding you have, and shifting the headset sideways to account for any face asymmetry (left eye not being exactly the same distance and height from the bridge of your nose, as the right one) - both given by the shape of your face.

When your are correctly placed, in the sweet spot of the lenses, you should have a perfectly clear image, with just about zero distortion in the view, and no chromatic abberations, in the right eye, when looking ten degrees to right, and in the left eye when looking ten degrees to the left.

Risa’s thread explains all this.

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Have you tried tickening the facepad on one of the sides? It could be the angle of your eyes to the hmd is not right. This fixed it for me