I’m not going to get into a lot of detail here as there are a lot of other impressions out there in the wild. I will update this as I get to test more things, but I am leaving on vacation soon. I will edit this as I explore more.
First off here are my specs: 1080ti / i7 6700k / 16 GB RAM / Vive
Packaging: Really nice and professional, exactly what you would expect from a high end consumer device.
Setup: It was a bit cumbersome, but once I got the tracking working by deleting the lighthouse folder everything worked well.
Clarity: Massive upgrade from the Vive. For me it was also a large upgrade from my friends HP WMR headset as well. Now this could be because the WMR was always blurry to me because of the lack of manual IPD adjustment.
SDE: It is there for sure, but it really is hardly noticeable, I mean compared to the Vive it is night and day.
Clarity and FOV: Obviously the biggest selling feature of the Pimax. The first time I put on the headset , it made me say whoa! Then I realized that it was still in the default “Normal” FOV… Clarity was also really good but there were some issues that I will cover below.
Comfort: Better than what I was expecting. Adjustments are a pain, but that is because of the style of headstrap. Unfortunately the FrankenPimax DAS mod doesn’t really work any more. The have added some plastic pieces to the side clamps, probably in case it breaks. This Makes the DAS larger in a sense where even when it was at it’s smallest setting it still wiggled a lot on my head and was not secure enough. I have a pretty big head, so I imagine unless you have a watermelon for a head, it is not going to work for you.
Black Levels: Seemed OK to me, but I can’t say for sure without sitting down in front of Elite. I will have to come back to this.
Software: I like the interface and everything to PiTools, Everything seems easy and straight forward. I think the biggest thing that will need to be added in the future is application profiles and the ability to share them. There is just so much tinkering right now between the app/steam/game where it is a bit of a pain.
Distortion: At first I noticed it in peripheral, but after a short time I didn’t really notice it at all unless I was looking for it. However, there are some other distortions that I did notice anything between the eyes and close to you is blurry. It’s like there is something wrong with the distortion profile or the binocular overlap in that area. Also looking straight down it warps the world slightly(Skyrim), it was like I was constantly standing on top of a very small hill. Weird…
Overall: I am pretty happy with the headset, there is no way I would be going back to the Vive. That being said there are definitely still some issues that need to be addressed but overall I am impressed.
happy for u! But make sure to check up your correct IPD by visiting an optician. It really is important with wide fov headsets. The issue mentioned sounds indeed like u have the wrong IPD set. Going from wrong IPD to correct can really make a huge difference in overall experience, eye relief and immersion.