Apparel/Design
Have to say I am not the guy who needs a super slick design for a hmd. It have to work and when I am wearing said hmd I don’t care how I look like. So the design is ok and it has some sort of 80s touch with the blue led front. For me the overall look is appealing. But this is always personal preferences.
Wearing Experience
The first time…just terrible. The facepad is way to thin and the lenses (if ipd is around 63 and smaler) presses on the nose bridge that its really hurting. Fortunately this isn’t an issue for me since I have an ipd of around 66. The strap bundled with the hmd is way to big for small heads like mine and the Pimax was very lose on my head making quick turns impossible. With the deluxe audio strap (+ custom 20mm foam) and the 3d adapters wearing the hmd is nearly perfect. Hope the official deluxe strap will be better then the bundled one later on.
Image Quality
I have the HTC Vive and PSVR in comparsion and oh boy is the image quality much more improved on the Pimax 5k+. Seeing my favourite vr games this sharp was just great. The sde doesn’t bother me at all and to be honest during gameplay I doesn’t even notice them. And yes since it has lcd panels the black isn’t that great but NOT that bad as some might say. And with the newes beta of the PiTool and the ability to adjust brightness and contrast it is even better with the image quality. The only thing that bothers me are the backlights of the lcd displays which are a handicap in horror games where it is pitch black. It’s a bit distracting but not that much that I would go back to my Vive.
Distortions? Minimal on the edges. I play with fov on normal since my pc isn’t the best. As said with the sde above during playing I doesn’t notice them only if I force myself to look at them. So distortions are expected but no dealbreaker for me.
FOV: Oh…my…f… god! I will never ever go back to a FOV lower than 150°. This is just a game changer and it’s putting you even more into the game. Discribing bigger fov is like discribing vr to someone who never played vr: it’s impossible. You have to experience it by yourself. Since this is my 2nd pimax (first one had cracks in the case so I got a replacement) I had to switch back to my vive during the waiting time for my replacement. It was horrible. Looking through my vive again was like looking through two empty toiletpaper rolls.
Overall I am very pleased with my Pimax 5k+. But you have to accept that getting this thing running and doing what you want can be a hassle. A real hassle. For the kickstarter price I say “Yes, must buy”…as for the retail price only if you are a real vr enthusiast and not afraid of fiddling around a lot.