If you have followed this forum for the past year or two you will likely be all to familiar with these issues; eye strain for long and/or short periods of use. While some users of the 8K and 5K+ have or have not experienced this, I had this issue on both my 5K+ and my 8K, most of the time I would just push through the eye strain or limit my playing sessions to a half hour. I have owned many VR HMD’s and never had to stop using any of them because issues due to eye strain, especially after I dialed in my correct IPD.
Im very curious if the 8K+ or 8KX and even the Artisan or 5K Super will be plagued with these eye strain issues. If you own the 5K+ and or 8K you might have had these issues as well. If you dont remember these problems I will refresh everyone’s memory…
Just do a search here on the forum for “eye strain” and you will come up with about 20 or more hits on this forum alone, one of the threads has over 800 replys regarding this issue.
I have mentioned this issue here in threads and even tagged Pimax employees but got no response. Since some users at the Pimax demo meet ups may not notice it until you have been playing for a half hour or so, Im worried no one “yet” has mentioned it or noticed it yet since the Pimax demo booths generally the users only wear the headset for 5 minutes or so at a time.
Pimax was very aware if this issue as some have filed service tickets, and also Pimax employees have responded in the “eye strain” threads here in this forum so it is was a known issue. There was an update to Pitool to allow some fine tuning of the IPD but even after trying to make those software adjustments and reading thread after thread to make the eye strain go away, I was never able to remedy the issue…
So has this issue been corrected with the new Vision series 8KX/8K+ headsets???
This is very worrisome for me and Im assuming many others are weary of purchasing any new Pimax headsets for fear of eye strain. Im hoping some new 8K+ owners can respond here and share their experience.
800 reply’s with like 15 people participating. Since that all started we added horizontal and vertical IPD adjustments in addition to Pitool, selectable FOV, refresh rates and new lens profiles many times.
Further the team has logged countless hours with the X and not only is it more natural (because of the comfort kit and MAS) but the visual quality is improved dramatically. The one tester who said strain was an issue said the comfort kit somehow cleared it up for him. I also think the new panels are easier to correct for and we have a great deal more experience at this point.
I really hope its been corrected Kevin. I had the Comfort kit, Vive DAS, different face foam thicknesses ,made necessary software adjustments but did not help.
$1000 is quite a chunk of change to spend then to only find Im one of 15, as you say, with the issue.
Like trying to get your car insurance adjuster to pay up when your making a claim! Im not gonna play his game. Ill take the high road, besides anyone clicking on that post know its more than 15, must be a democrat hehe
Four questions please regarding developing eye strain by not choosing the correct IPD.
Do the 2020 Pimax Vision headsets now have two thumb wheels to manually adjust IPD? (I ask, as I noticed Pimax Kevin said there is both horizontal + vertical IPD adjustment). I wondered how you adjust these? Maybe they’re linked together?
Why do people want to know their IPD from an optician measuring them? Don’t people just put on a VR headset, turn the IPD thumbwheel until the image turns from blurred to clear and once you see perfectly, this becomes your IPD to write down?
Will the forthcoming Pimax ‘Eye tracking module’ automatically choose your IPD, so you don’t have to do this manually, e.g. turn the thumb wheel to see in focus?
When we adjust IPD is this effectively an alternative for a focus thumb wheel (distance), like with a Samsung Gear VR that lacks IPD? If not, why doesn’t Pimax have both IPD and Zoom adjustment?
I’m sure for new user it will still have eye strain issues.
There is absolutely an adjustment period for people who have not experienced canted lens VR previously.
The significant difference that people have mentioned is the smaller amount of edge distortion in these models which Pimax claim is due to improvements and this will no doubt help as the distortion is one of the contributing factors in the eye strain.
Edge distortion can be reduced in the 5k+ as well so hopefully Pimax address this in future software updates because the edge distortion is mostly a software issue that can also mostly be dialled out with the IPD offset but unfortunately this is not suitable for continued use and will most likely increase eye strain.
Another significant factor is visual clarity.
Eye strain will be an issue when we find it difficult to see, when our eyes line up differently in VR compared to real life and when what we see in each eye is different especially compared to how we see in real life. The new headsets improve the visual quality so that will reduce eye strain and the edge distortion reduction will improve the parity in what each eye sees so the main issue left is eye alignment.
Since getting the 5k+ it has had a negative impact on my vision and I’ve written posts at the beginning about my issues. But as I adapted I have been able to bring my IPD in the Pimax back to match my actual IPD and what I have found in the process is the actual final number I am best off using does depend on where I am focussing in VR, if I am mostly looking at closer objects a slightly lower number is better but when I am looking to the horizon my actual IPD leaves me feeling more comfortable after my VR session. Short distance VR activities do seem to cause me more eye strain in general.
But a few days ago when I was experimenting to discover the edge distortion remedy, that experiment has caused me severe eye strain and my eye sight still has not recovered and I think part of that is also because I have continued the experiment running a negative offset with a high manual IPD to achieve my actual IPD. This experiment puts my eyes in front of a different part of the lens. The visual quality is reduced in this area and the setting needs some fine tuning perhaps but it is difficult to know because my eyes have not had the chance to fully recover. I’m also struggling because an update to something (pitool I think) has change the brightness in VR and now when I’m looking at anything with white light the glare is terrible. It makes web browsing in VR uncomfortable and difficult and I’m now seeing the glare bounce off the rings in the lens. It’s just a terrible experience so I need to work out what is causing that also.
Everything you have stated above should NOT be an issue with a $1000 headset, this should have been addressed and fixed instead of pushing out Artisan, Deluxe, Super etc etc…
Im glad PimaxUSA responded but his credibility diminishes when he states crap like “800 reply’s with like 15 people participating”
tldr
If you know how to adjust your Pimax headset IPD, and can center your eyes to the sweet spot, then you can expect much less eyestrain/soreness from the 8kX. Based on what was seen from NYC roadshow participants.
From CES and the roadshow, with so many people trying the headsets, including myself, I can say the Pimax Vision 8kX will not be ‘plagued’ by eye strain issues. Most users reported no discernable SDE at all, even with only 1.25x Total SR on some of the demos. All reported that text, instruments, and the like, were clearly readable on this headset.
Myself, having over 1k hours in VR, I definitely experienced much less eyestrain and head soreness in the 8kX.
However, at the NYC roadshow some people did spend more time adjusting IPD, a few could not read the finest text on DCS Kneeboard startup checklist demo, and a very few still had difficulty reading the DCS Hornet AMPCD text with the map turned on.
All persons who had such minor difficulties with the demo that I was helping with, either stated no experience with Pimax headsets, very obviously did not, or in very few cases, had an unusual head shape, IPD, etc.
I think the problem is that there is more possibility to get a sweet spot in a pimax then on other hmds But some positions and configurations might cause more eye strain.
For me it’s minimal. But I also want to mention that I also had issues with other Hmds like the odyssey - never was that super comfortable HMD mentioned so often for me and the sweet spot was hard to hit and easy to lose again. Not sure if that’s just me or is often forgotten. Actually while needing more tweeking the pimax is my most comfortable HMD ever and I can play 3hours without much problems and less trouble then any other HMD I owned (never had a vive though) . I hope the new stuff if the vision series makes it near zero problems
It’s a tough question. There’s many who don’t notice or adapt and these are more likely the people upgrading and thus can’t help us who get terrible eyestrain to know if it’s better.
Then you get those who are just defensive and won’t have a serious discussion about it.
And you get people who confuse what it really is and think things like ipd, distance from lenses, SDE or panel clarity have something to do with it, when those of us who have it can easily dismiss these as contributors.
So it’s difficult to trust the replies of people who have tried the new hmds who haven’t experienced terrible eyestrain in their 5k+/8k.
I would think our eyestrain is due to 1 of 2 possibilities and I don’t know which it is. Firstly, that the either or both of the lens and canting is causing some of us terrible eyestrain. Or poor quality hmds that are assembled with faults cause our eyestrain. If it’s the first, we’re still going to get terrible eyestrain in the newer hmds, if it’s the second we may have a chance of not getting it…if we don’t get poor QC again.
Couldnt have put it better myself. Very true. Just have to weed through the replys, business as usual on the internet. We have a lot of great people here on the Pimax forums and Im glad we get the responses… SDE, readable text, has nothing to do with the eye strain some experienced on the previous models
I had previously never owned a VR headset. I had worn earlier-model headsets, but not a Pimax with its wide FOV. The first time I used my 8K, in Elite D, I had no noticeable distortion. I played for over an hour without any eyestrain whatsoever.
I may be a rare lucky case or maybe the distortion is easy for some people to mentally compensate for, perhaps because they are used to wearing glasses (or some other factor).
I noticed that with all the headset Ive owned or tried, it was the OLED panel style (Odyssey) that always had the small sweet spot, the LCD’s are more forgiving so its not just you. My Odyssey+ also is not that comfortable for more than 30 minutes use but that has to do with head attachment gear
It could be possible that the eye strain was caused by excessive blue light. Try wearing computer glasses that filter out blue light with your Pimax headsets and let us know if you still experience eye strain.
24 frequent posters vs your low ball of 15. And that doesn’t include the non frequent posters.
Im not gonna play his game. Ill take the high road, besides anyone clicking on that post know its more than 15, must be a democrat hehe
We have a lot of great people here on the Pimax forums and Im glad we get the responses… SDE, readable text, has nothing to do with the eye strain some experienced on the previous models