Advice Pimax Crystal Light

[ross_impress]

Hello Pimax users,

Is the purchase of Pimax Play (paid) mandatory to use the VR headset?
I’ve read both good and bad reviews about Pimax. According to more professional users, Pimax performs very well when the correct settings are applied.
I’m switching from the Reverb G2 v2 and would love to hear your advice.
I’m new on BMS after 20 years on DCS.
Grtz,
Ross

System: i9-12900, Gigabyte Z 690 gaming, RTX3080-10GB, 64GB-DDR4, 2TB SSD-M2

[rubbra]

@EMTEC46 it’s basically just a “hire purchase” scheme. You can pay the whole lot in one go, no further subscription.

[b0bl00i]

@EMTEC46 It’s a bit of a system hog, if you’re willing to look into alternatives, the quest 3 works good but ofc lacks the sweet FOV.

[rubbra]

@b0bl00i there isn’t much difference in fov between the q3 and pcl.

But yes, the pcl does have a lot more pixels than most other headsets - a lot more than the g2 - so requires a fairly beefy pc to run well. (Though it’s helped by being DisplayPort rather than streamed like the quest).

I run mine on a 4070ti, Ryzen 9 3900x. In BMS 4.37.6 I get comfortable 72fps in flight with FFR enabled at 1.0 resolution. A bit less on the ground. But soooooo sharp compared to the pico I had before and also my son’s quest 3.

[ross_impress]

@b0bl00i I have a Q3 but seems the PCL is much better…

[Xeno]

AFAIK biggest problem with Pimax is customer support. If there’ll be anything wrong with the headset and you’ll have to deal with Pimax directly your experience might be far from stellar. I heard quite a few people got rid of their headsets and went with Quest just for that reason. EU customers might be a bit kore lucky if they buy it from large stores like Amazon. Then you can demand support from seller and let it deal with Pimax crap.

[ross_impress]

@Xeno thank you, I read this also in some forums.

[Blackhawk163]

I’ve had mine since sept of last year and all I can say is I love it. I did need some customer support with regards to the headset strap fraying. Unfortunately for me, it was just before the Chinese New Year, as such I did receive my new head strap, it took forever for it to arrive.

[Salty]

The only issue I see with the light version is no eye tracking. I have the normal crystal and I will never own another headset that does NOT have eye tracking.

[cerberus0351]

Huge VR guy, but take this with a grain of salt.

I have used the Pimax 5k, Pimax 8k, Pimax OG Crystal, Pimax Crystal Light… see theme here?

I have also used the Quest 2, Quest 3 and the Bigscreen Beyond.

You do NOT need to be on the Pimax Play payment plan. What they do is charge you a small price to ship your headset, then once you get it you can pay the entire thing off in full.

You DO need the Pimax Play software no matter what, it’s the translation layer for the hmd itself. Its better now than it used to be, but ultimately it’s still terrible compared to other solutions.

I’ve never had an issue with customer support when it comes to Pimax. I’ve actually had a rather good experience with them the few times I’ve needed them, none of it related to hardware problems with my hmd’s.

Pimax has a great set of lenses, but they headsets are ungodly heavy compared to everything else on the market. On top of that, if you want to do more than flight/racing sim in VR then these headsets have shorter cables than may fit your area and the Pimax controllers are the worst I’ve used. If you want out of their ecosystem they charge you extra for a faceplate to use Valve base stations and knuckles. This should just be the included default faceplate to be honest, but Pimax needs that money!

Coming from a G2 you’ll have a good upgrade experience with any newer headset to be honest. The hardware tech has come a long way. That being said, since it’s a G2 I’m assuming you are not a part of the Valve ecosystem with lighthouses and knuckles. Not that they are needed, but the PCL and OG headsets track much better with them.

Don’t sleep on the Quest 3. I think it’s pound for pound the best headset for the money on the market right now. It isn’t a top of the line headset, but it punches way above the competition at its price point. It’s also wildly more comfortable than the Pimax offerings once you upgrade the head strap and facial interface. The controllers track well and it’s wireless if you like to do more than sim in VR.

I make that recommendation as someone who has the Pimax Crystal Super, Pimax Dream Air and Bigscreen Beyond 2 on pre-order at the moment.

The FOV difference of the PCL vs the Quest 3 is so minimal that I wouldn’t even include it in a discussion. The Q3 has edge-to-edge clear lenses and honestly is the best headset if you want to do a mixed reality sim pit where you can see some of your flight gear while in VR.

You also need a less beefy computer to run the Quest 3, and you can keep it wireless using an application called Virtual Desktop. The Pimax cable is heavy, and you will notice it during long sessions. It also needs to be plugged into a full on power outlet to work. So 1 DisplayPort, 1 usb and 1 power outlet.

I don’t think the Pimax offerings are worth the cost, but they do have absolutely amazing lenses if you can get past the weight and the pc requirements to get things going the way you want them to. But unless you’re a VR enthusiast I don’t think the Pimax offerings are $500-700 better than what you get with the Quest 3.

[dawgboy]

@cerberus0351 said in Advice Pimax Crystal Light:

I make that recommendation as someone who has the Pimax Crystal Super, Pimax Dream Air and Bigscreen Beyond 2 on pre-order at the moment.

I also have the Pimax Super 57PPD on pre-order. I’m confused as to what I’m going to get as included accessories, but I’ve had it on backorder since last year. Have you figured that out? I’m about to ask them for details, but I wanted to check here first. TIA for this and the rundown here.

[dawgboy]

@dawgboy said in Advice Pimax Crystal Light:

@cerberus0351

I also have the Pimax Super 57PPD on pre-order. I’m confused as to what I’m going to get as included accessories, but I’ve had it on backorder since last year. Have you figured that out? I’m about to ask them for details, but I wanted to check here first. TIA for this and the rundown here.

I ordered last Oct, 2024.

PIMAX answer: free shipping, comfort top-strap, and DMAS are all included; DMAS is the Deluxe Modular Audio Strap. It includes high-fidelity earphones for enhanced audio in VR.

[Archer]

@dawgboy I just received my address confirmation email from Pimax for the Super… Let’s see. I just hope I don’t need a 5090 to run it.

[Arty]

@Archer Yes dad it needs a 5090… as your Son (remember? u have one…) needs your old not needed from you anymore VR and VGA…
hope it comes soon m8 and enjoy it…

[Archer]

@Archer On my way to buy a 5090 for over 3400$ shame on me son

[Arty]

@Archer As long as u give freely previous ones to your son there is no shame dad… on the contrary I would encourage u to expand and on other hw categories… mobo’s cpu ram etc… lol

[dawgboy]

@Archer
@cerberus0351

Are you on Win11? If so, what software modules do you need installed to run BMS, such as the specific OpenXR, etc.? I’m trying to stay away from Steam.

I just fired up my new rig with NV 5090 GPU and AMD 9950X3D CPU. I’m running Win11 Pro…and awaiting my Crystal Super.

Thanks in advance.

[Archer]

@Arty Motherboard and CPU already switched to AMD 9800x3d

[Archer]

@dawgboy BMS is a mixed bag for me. Yes I am on Win11 23H2 and everything is running great. You don’t need to install OpenXR. Just tell the Pimax play to set as Open XR runtime and you are set. No other software is needed.

I tested both 9800 and 9950 on my Gigabyte X870E AORUS Master and I was getting the same FPS in BMS/ DCS and other games on 4K and same results in VR.

[rubbra]

Just for clarity, because it confuses many people - referring to the line above, “you don’t need to install OpenXR”, which is true, but also possibly misleading because there isn’t a thing called OpenXR that you can install.

OpenXR is an API. A defined programming standard for VR. You don’t install it.

What you do have to have is an application that understands those OpenXR api calls and turns them into something your headset understands. An OpenXR runtime.

Pimax - it’s PimaxXR or SteamVR or PimaxOpenXR.
Quest - Oculus, SteamVR, or VDXR
etc

Note that SteamVR is just an application not an API and is able to be an OpenXR runtime. This gets really confusing because people talk about SteamVR or OpenXR, which is not technically/pedantically correct. OpenVR is the correct name for it. SteamVR is simply a runtime for it - other things could implement it too. (Opencomposite for one)

So, for a Pimax headset, you need:

• PimaxPlay (cos this is how the headset connects)
• An OpenXR runtime - PimaxXR is built in to pimaxPlay, I’d use that.