Well I just ordered the Index, but not for any of the reasons above, I am going to use it for when we have friends round, as I cannot guarantee that anyone else will get a good experience with the Pimax when it is adjusted to My face, and the easy of use on the index will save me messing about with setting. I HOPE 
3 Likes
I bought an Index headset alone and I am enjoying it. I think its perceived resolution / effective resolution is the same as 5K+. The reason why people think Index is a bit sharper than 5K+ is that Index has better optics so it appears to have better clarity. 5K+ also has slightly bigger SDE. The FOV of Index is slightly smaller than the small mode of 5K+, but itās still significantly bigger than Vive, Oculus, and Samsung Odyssey. Index has much more clean and consistent view across the whole FOV, which is a big plus compared with 5K+. The image of Index is so nice and comfortable that I am willing to sacrifice some FOV for it. I feel I can wear Index for as long as I like, but 1 hour will be the limit for 5K+.
So Index has become my active headset for now, and maybe until 8K X comes out. I have more and more strong belief that FOV is not everything. 110 degree is indeed not enough for 2019, but 130 degree is another matter. With superior optics and clear image across the view, it can beat a headset of much larger FOV but less consistent image. I wish 8K X could learn from the lesson of 5K+ and 8K.
11 Likes
i guess they will learn more from the optics of vrgineers and star vr, both seemed to be able to nail it
Well it always struck me that Pimax was just guessing the lenses when trying to make them for the HMD, as they had quite a few guesses 
1 Like
I think I found the problemā¦ The Index is very sensible with height adjustmentā¦ First you dont notice it because the sweet spot seems to be fineā¦
After fiddling around I figured out that I need to wear the Index slighly higher and then everything seems to be fineā¦
So after all that and many A/B comparisions I call tell
-
I notice the FOV difference but it does not bother me
-
Changing from Index and doing A/B visual comparision the Pimax seems like ādistortion cityā
,but I get relatively fast used to them -
Pimax world scale seems to be bigger like zoomed inā¦
-
The glare on the Index is a bit disturbing also in games and text can produce ghosting when moving the head
1 Like
So Iāve only been playing a couple of hours with the index yet, so Iām a bit reluctant to post too much yet but in general I can agree to most of what has been said here.
First thing that struck me when connecting everything was that the cable seemed really good, itās long but not so heavy as the HP Reverbās cable. Also the build quality has been mentioned several times and itās indeed premium quality. Setup process is a breeze indeed, just connect it and it works.
But when I first saw the SteamVR room, I was like āhmmm okā. I did feel a bit disappointed. I think my expectations were too high somehow, I guess I was expecting a significant step up in terms of sharpness and SDE, from the Vive Pro/Pimax 5k+. Well it IS a step up, but itās not most definitely not a day/night difference like between the Vive Pro/5k+ and Odyssey+. Itās of course a step back from my beloved odyssey+ in terms of SDE, which of course I knew it would be, but it still felt somewhat disappointing to have to deal with SDE again, even though itās of course a refined, small SDE. Like said, it IS a step up from Vive Pro/5k+, the SDE is slightly more refined, the pixel pattern is slightly less in your face but itās only a very small step in my opinion (I think thatās what most said here too).
Also I quickly realized that part of the āhmm okā feeling was caused by the glare. Even in the SteamVR room I most of the time see this sort of āglimmerā, that I feel is slightly immersion breaking. In games I tend to forget about it, unless itās black on white, like the Unreal Engine logo, in these scenarioās itās actually BAD, really bad. Like said, in games I tend to forget about it, but itās actually a bit worse than I had hoped for.
Then the Index controllers ā¦ Iām, for now, not a fan. Again, this really might change after more time with them and itās probably also because youāll have to get used to it. But I did find that the finger tracking isnāt as perfect as I hoped it would be (itās a hit/miss between my index and middle finger for example) and some games just dont seem to work well with them.
The good that struck me right away: tracking is flawless, there is no distortion, and I really like the brightness/colours/contrast, MUCH, much better than the 5k+ here.
Will do much more testing/gaming this weekend of course. For now, my first impression after a couple of hours, is that for gaming it IS probably the best HMD that I own. But is it worth the money if you already have a Vive Pro/5k+ and/or Odssey+ ? Iām not sure yet about that, my first impression would probably be a ānoā, but again, itās very well possible that I change that opinion after more time with the HMD.
9 Likes
Maybe but you must compare with what is availability now is it better then the vive or WMR controlers that is the questionā¦
Well my first impression was: Iām going back to the Vive wands 
But as many times with new tech, youāll have to give it some more time, so I will do that and maybe I will start to like them, itās very well possible.
2 Likes
You donāt find that just not having to constantly grab the controler is a plus in itself?
It is, Iāve just been playing Arizona sunshine for a while and indeed, itās very nice to be able to keep your left hand totally relaxed when you donāt need it. Also the HMD is really starting to grow on me already. While the SDE definitely is not the best there is (EASILY beaten by the HP Reverb and the odyssey+), the sharpness is actually a very significant step up from all exisiting headsets (apart from the Reverb of course). Also the sense of depth is the best in class. Even in XXX-rated videoās (who nobody here watches of course, LOL) this is very well noticeable, something that I really didnāt expect, it really adds to the feeling of immersion. Itās REALLY nice to have an undistorted, very stable VR world with good sense of depth. Iām starting to agree with Valve that his is actually the very most important factor in VR. So yeah, Iām starting to think that this HMD actually IS a good step-up from the Pimax 5k+, unless you are of course very attached to the FoV. I just had the most fun session ever with Arizona Sunshine (still one of my fav games) so that certainly means something to me
3 Likes
and color, contrast , black level are they really better vs the 5K+? or itās just the sharpness that give this impression?
Blacks, colors, contrast and sharpness all definitely are better on the Index. Itās still LCD of course but for a LCD itās actually pretty good
1 Like
Ok, thatās surprising to hear, given I find the Index almost depressingly dim. 
Anyway: You can tweak brightness and whitepoint somewhat by editing:
<your_steamapps_location>\common\SteamVR\resources\settings\default.vrsettings
"steamvr": {
"hmdDisplayColorGainB": 1,
"hmdDisplayColorGainG": 1,
"hmdDisplayColorGainR": 1
}
Iāve got all three at 1.5 for some extra brightness, but guess youāll want to attenuate them somewhat instead.
4 Likes
It often takes time to get used to new controllwr designs. Some are seemingly familar it seems intuitive step forward. But when the controller us less familar it takes time for to create a new muscle memory pattern.
1 Like
Keep in mind not sure if sj has fired up the 5k+ to experiment with neq video settings. But out of box is what you want to compare before saying - However pimax offers more video adjustment settings to improve video.
Yes excellente question, @Sjef when did last try your 5k+? With the new brightness tweak and after that Colors ajustement my 5k+ is definitely more enjoyable then my first out of the box experience
1 Like
Yeah I tweaked it, but never got it to what Iād consider nice. One game where this is extremely obvious is Titan Slayer II, this games look so extremely dull on the pimax 5k+ that thereās no fun in playing it. On the Index it looks awesome.
4 Likes
How is the fov compared to a vive? Big jump or barely noticeable?
1 Like
I wouldnāt say itās a big jump, itās slightly lower FoV than the Pimax small FoV mode. I havenāt done A/B with my Vive Pro though
1 Like
Itās pretty much identical to an optimally fitted original Vive. Itās just that that optimal fitting is easier to get to for more people, and, assuming you get there, the periphery is much less blurry.
Thatās not really why I threw in a post here and now, though; I just wanted to mention that somebody made a teardown:
Apparently it has a diffuser sheet, for better and for worse. :7
6 Likes