Good interview!  Bottom line, lots of solid improvements since the roadshow. Hardware is complete. First few hundred re-order Crystal's to ship around Jan 22, 2023.

 

SadlyItsBradley adds his two cents on Pimax Crystal at CES. Apparently it's not ready.

 

More from CES... 

 

An interesting new video on Pimax Crystal eyetracking...

And some news: shipping Beta testers outside of China will begin next week. Shipping to the first "few hundred" preorders expected to start at the beginning of April.

Edited March 10, 20233 yr by odourboy

90 fps in VR on a 4090/i13900K without VR toolkit etc, all settings @ Ultra? I don't believe him without seeing the fps:

 

11 hours ago, turbomax said:

90 fps in VR on a 4090/i13900K without VR toolkit etc, all settings @ Ultra?

In fairness, while he suggested 90 was possible with a rig like his, earlier in the video he only claimed to be seeing 60 to 70 fps. Still, if only it were true, I'd take it!

 

EVERY VR HEADSET COMING OUT IN 2023 - RANKED!

 

The Quest 3

 

Edited March 10, 20233 yr by turbomax

Frankly, nothing on the horizon is really turning my crank. It's either too expensive, too flaky or too limited.

agree, that's why I posted it. we were both thinking  the Pimax Crystal is the holy grail, but I think it is still too early and lots of changes and movement in this market. as long as the technology improves steadily and fresnel lenses getting replaced by those aspheric optical lenses I am quite optimistic and will keep my HP Reverb 2 for the next foreseeable future.

This (pre) review was the final straw. Many usability flaws, absolute requirement for a battery pack even when PCVR and Pimax gaslighting on the FOV big time... I'm out. I requested a refund of my preorder deposit (I doubt I'll ever see it, but it was only $30, so no biggy)

 

But he did say the visual quality and sweet spot were excellent. I might consider it when it's readily available (no pre-orders), provided nothing else better by then. The battery thing is annoying, but I'm willing to swallow it for image quality. 

I worry more about software. Does Pimax still require its own software to work in windows?

6 hours ago, FlyIce said:

might consider it when it's readily available (no pre-orders),

me too, and with the obligatory 2-week free return policy, no questions asked.

On 3/10/2023 at 5:46 PM, turbomax said:

will keep my HP Reverb 2 for the next foreseeable future.

I have nothing go fall back on. With the Crystal looking a bit like a slow motion train wreck, I'm left sitting on my thumbs. I spent a small fortune to get an up-to-date system capable of a solid VR experience.

Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger on a Pico 4 as an inexpensive and hopefully decent quality introduction to VR while I wait for the next big thing. At under $400 USD, it's almost disposable. 

2 hours ago, odourboy said:

a Pico 4 as an inexpensive and hopefully decent quality introduction to VR while I wait for the next big thing.

that is exactly what I would have done if I didn't have a HP Reverb already. with $ 400 you can't go wrong and could still sell it if the new non-Pimax products launch later this and next year. at least Pimax are putting some pressure on overpriced Varjo and others since their optics are obviously very impressive nevertheless.