Anyone here flying with Pimax 5K+?

Today's launch of the "Valve Index" pre-orders more or less (to me) amounts to the last of the 1.5 gen VR headsets being revealed.

Though it appears that the Valve Index is much better than specs make it sound, I'm thinking for the money I might prefer to add $200 and go to the 5K+. I feel like the huge FOV and nearly invisible screen door effect would add to the experience more than the greatly enhanced sense of "presence" and slightly increased FOV the Index offers.

So now that the 5K+ is in the wild, how about you guys tell us what your experience has been. This is the #1 most important game for my VR decision making.

Don't forget to include performance impact as compared to your previous VR headset as well as your impressions of the visual fidelity, god rays, etc.

There are already some topics about DCS with Pimax in the 'virtual reality' subforum.

I hadn't found anything along the lines of a comprehensive review post 5K+ shipping to KS backers. I'm told things have gotten better with the Pimax over the past month or so as well, but that wasn't specific to DCS.

I hadn't found anything along the lines of a comprehensive review post 5K+ shipping to KS backers. I'm told things have gotten better with the Pimax over the past month or so as well, but that wasn't specific to DCS.

You must wait the RTX 3080TI to use a Pimax in games like DCS or driving simulators. :(

Don't forget Vr optimizes boost 50% is arriving soon,

My experience with Pimax 5k+ has been positive so far.

Very far from being the perfect headset but it has a lot of potential to become a good headset.

I was using the rift before on an older machine.

I built a new computer for the Pimax

It’s an I7 9700k overclocked to 5.1 ghz, 32 gb ddr4 and Rtx 2080ti

With a similar computer if you are willing to compromise on some graphical eye candy you can have a steady 45fps

Hopefully the long awaited DCS performance optimisation will make things better.

Fov... this for me is the real game changer

Sde... much reduced compared with rift but still visible specially looking at the sky

God rays... reduced almost to none compared with the rift.

Image clarity... night and day compared to the rift but you will have to push steam vr Supersampling up and DCS Ipd up as well but the FPS will go down accordingly.

To give you an example i’ve Set Pitools image rendering quality to 2,large Fov, steam Vr SS 100% and DCS IPD 1.5 and the image quality is stunning and crisp but on an empty Nevada mission my FPS can be as low as 25/28

I bought the Pimax on eBay from a backer and when I first received it I could not use it for more than 10 minutes per session due to the very very uncomfortable head strap that comes with it.

I bought a vive deluxe audio strap and 3D printed the parts needed to attach the DAS to the Pimax

I also changed the face cushion to a ticker one (18mm) and now the headset feels much more comfortable and no more pain to my nose.

Talking about distortions, yes they are present to the very edges but to me they are almost unnoticeable and they don’t bother me.

The Pimax is not a plug and play headset, you will have to tinker a lot with it but when fine tuned,it works and it works well.

I hope I was able to Answer at least some of the questions people might have.

I hope I was able to Answer at least some of the questions people might have.

Excellent, thank you! Thank you also to Boedha68 for the link, I did watch it and there was a lot of good info there.

It's really difficult to decide between that awesome Pimax FOV and the super polished high end with only 20 degrees extra FOV for $200 less.

If anyone near NorthEast Pennsylvania has the Pimax 5K+ maybe contact me, I can try the Pimax and you can try my motion sim! :pilotfly:

What's the latest word on when we might get the optimization patch? I haven't followed anything at all over the winter, just getting back into the groove this week.

No timeline on the VR optimization.

According to Wags, optimization for the Caucasus map is finished in closed beta and inbound to the testers. The other maps are WIP and there's no word whether the optimizations will be released staggered per map or for all maps together once finished.

No timeline on the VR optimization.

According to Wags, optimization for the Caucasus map is finished in closed beta and inbound to the testers. The other maps are WIP and there's no word whether the optimizations will be released staggered per map or for all maps together once finished.

Thanks for the update Shadoga. Hopefully when they've got it ready for Caucasus they will release it to us. One map with good frame rate is 100% better than none! @wags

Excellent, thank you! Thank you also to Boedha68 for the link, I did watch it and there was a lot of good info there.

 

It's really difficult to decide between that awesome Pimax FOV and the super polished high end with only 20 degrees extra FOV for $200 less.

 

If anyone near NorthEast Pennsylvania has the Pimax 5K+ maybe contact me, I can try the Pimax and you can try my motion sim! :pilotfly:

 

What's the latest word on when we might get the optimization patch? I haven't followed anything at all over the winter, just getting back into the groove this week.

If you never try the Pimax 5K+'s wide FOV (well, I only tried the middle/Normal), you'll be fine. You don't know what you don't know.

I was perfectly happy with CV1 for a long time. Now, I only use the Pimax.

If you never try the Pimax 5K+'s wide FOV (well, I only tried the middle/Normal), you'll be fine. You don't know what you don't know.

That's what I'm counting on for now! I decided to buy the Valve Index (got my order in first wave/June delivery).

It's kinda the same way, not in FOV but reviewers are saying the sense of presence is far beyond that of any other HMD due to the super fast display etc. It seems it's one of those things you just have to see for yourself before you can understand the difference. I spoke privately with a guy I really respect who got to try the Index prototype (as well as Pimax 5K+) and he said that the impression he got was the image quality in the Index was quite a bit clearer overall vs. Pimax (albeit over a much smaller FOV).

I went this route not because I think I'd rather have that than the super wide FOV, but for practical reasons. Having to use Pimax software layer really worries me with my already super complex and fiddly setup. Also performance. The Index should look great at the same settings I've been running on Or. Vive (been supersampling).

It's going to be super hard to wait until mainstream HMD's get up to super high FOV. :(

I on the other hand cannot recommend the Pimax at all.

Yes the fov is great.

But the software us a pita.

The comfort is horrendous.

The company's support system is hardly existing at all and their production line so lacking in QA I almost don't think I have heard of a unit without production flaws.

My first unit was completely dead, and it took them four months and a butt load of back and forth emails to get it replaced.

I have seriously switched back to my oc rift just so I can enjoy flying again.

The unit is not ready to be considered consumer grade.

I have pre ordered a rift s because the index isn't available in my country.

And the only recommendation I can give for pimax is to stay away.

I on the other hand cannot recommend the Pimax at all.

Yes the fov is great.

 

But the software us a pita.

The comfort is horrendous.

The company's support system is hardly existing at all and their production line so lacking in QA I almost don't think I have heard of a unit without production flaws.

 

My first unit was completely dead, and it took them four months and a butt load of back and forth emails to get it replaced.

 

I have seriously switched back to my oc rift just so I can enjoy flying again.

 

The unit is not ready to be considered consumer grade.

 

I have pre ordered a rift s because the index isn't available in my country.

 

And the only recommendation I can give for pimax is to stay away.

You are not alone sir, in my thorough investigation the past two days I found a lot of people with similar stories. Some people swear by it, some say to keep away. The thing I was most worried about is the software, but there are other things to be concerned about as well. I'm currently 100% confident I made the right call in ordering Index.

I hold off buying "NOW". First to see reviews on rift s, valve index and what to think about Vive cosmos (OLED screens), HP reverb 2160 x 2160 pro eye. There is much to come in the next months. And just as me, you want the best product for a good price. A assume you buy a headset for a least 3 years and not 3 months. :D

Vr optimizations.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3869786&postcount=2333

I hold off buying "NOW". First to see reviews on rift s, valve index and what to think about Vive cosmos (OLED screens), HP reverb 2160 x 2160 pro eye. There is much to come in the next months. And just as me, you want the best product for a good price. A assume you buy a headset for a least 3 years and not 3 months. :D

 

 

Vr optimizations.

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3869786&postcount=2333

Problem for me, VR is triggering some insane, autistic bullshit for me.

So I got to catch them all....

As for OLED, really isn't that great for VR.

The pimax 5k's black levels are more than ok actually, and the CV1 and most Oled hmd's never actually go full black either, Think the Odyssey does, unless you do a registery hack that disables the pre-driving of the displays, and that really only works if you got really lucky with the panels in your device, and more often than not leaves horrible smearing in contrast areas.

Also all the small OLED panels uses the pentile sub pixel structure meaning they skip every other red and blue subpixel making an lcd pane,l of the same resolution already seem like is at least 25% sharper.

On top of this OLED has a lot of problems in terms of Mura noise, and general uniformity, and they degrade a lot faster than LCD's.

Honestly only thing that worries me about the 'S' is the lower refresh rate.

Problem for me, VR is triggering some insane, autistic bullshit for me.

So I got to catch them all....

 

As for OLED, really isn't that great for VR.

The pimax 5k's black levels are more than ok actually, and the CV1 and most Oled hmd's never actually go full black either, Think the Odyssey does, unless you do a registery hack that disables the pre-driving of the displays, and that really only works if you got really lucky with the panels in your device, and more often than not leaves horrible smearing in contrast areas.

 

Also all the small OLED panels uses the pentile sub pixel structure meaning they skip every other red and blue subpixel making an lcd pane,l of the same resolution already seem like is at least 25% sharper.

 

On top of this OLED has a lot of problems in terms of Mura noise, and general uniformity, and they degrade a lot faster than LCD's.

 

Honestly only thing that worries me about the 'S' is the lower refresh rate.

Which according to people who tried it is unnoticeable

Which according to people who tried it is unnoticeable

Yeah that's what I would think as well.

Well I have had the opportunity to spend the day fubnling around with the 5k.

And surprisingly, progress.

Might be it took the system a night's rest for things to kick in right

But I was getting fairly smooth framerates, even with re-projection artefacts, before it has only been double vision.

Now the Pimax is starting to show some promise, it might not be a complete paper weight either.

Now I'm not quite doing a me-a culpa either.

Dealing with pimax, well I needed to restock on ibuprofen doing that.

And you need to find, just the right settings for each game and sim.

Both in the Pitool software, then in steamvr, then in game.

And changing anything will likely mean shutting everything down, re-starting services, rebooting the hmd, and things can be wonky so you this might need to be repeated a couple of times.

Want to switch to another game.

Well here we go again.

The chief settings I had for my most recent was setting the hmd to normal fov, approximately 140 degrees and the hmd to 72hz.

This allowed re-projection to kick on and run at 36fps.

Still not as smooth as the rift but still, actually playable at a solid res bump and a much wider fov .

...

 

Vr optimizations.

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3869786&postcount=2333

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3892426&postcount=37

Hey all,

almost everything relevant has been said.

But after all it's nothing else than a very subjective point of view and not that much a technical side.

I've been a Rift users for many years thinking that the Rift (in matters of reliability and stabilty) was hard to humble on DCS. That went well unless I had my hands on the Pimax 5K.

But when it comes down to immersion and impression, the Pimax is just not beaten (yet). Trip, you mentioned you were using a motion plattform. So I guess you are really into it. And here's the point: Together with your motion system the Pimax 5Ks large FOV is just a BOOST!!! The immersion is just impressive! Not having to turn your head during a close formation to snap a view on your neighbour, peeking at him on your peripherical view is just so close to realism!

To be honest: It is a love/hate relationship that I have to my Pimax 5K. It took quite some time to figure out the best settings in all aspects to receive a satisfactional result... Time consuming, backdrafts,... But once working with a good result: AWESOME!

We had the Pimax 5K running on my Huey Sim on a trade fair last month for almost 10hrs daily and had no issues at all (well, after struggeling with the correct settings (again)) and it was absolutely reliable and we had a steady 39-46 FPS (!).

So unless you really want to spent 5000,- (+) on another excellent professional HMD, the Pimax is definitely the thing to go with, especially when you are into immersion and experience.

One little remark: In my opinion the bitching on Pimax distorts the faccts! It is just like in real life: People like to complain in open forums but rarely and more seldom you will read something when someone is really satisfied with a product and service.

I'm looking forward to you experience report with your new HMD which is not a bad choice at all.

Cheers

As a data point, I am really satisfied with my Pimax 8K.

However, for people who really don't like tinkering, then maybe something else that is more 'plug and play' is a better fit.

My full review:

https://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/updated-with-new-5k-impressions-pimax-8k-review-through-the-lens-videos-and-comparison-images/18570

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3892426&postcount=37

THAT is some very good news !

Well when after a year and half of "we are really close to release guys just have to figure issue x out first, then our factory will pump 5000 out in a day".

Then people do get their units with an almost comical level of QA issues followed by an unresponsive support team.

Mine was fully dead as mentioned on arrival, and it took them four months to get me my replacement, and to get any traction on my ticket I had to accost them publicly on their forums just to get it looked at.

It goes against my sense to do so, but that seemed to have been the way to catch the attention of someone who can do something, cause it worked.

That was the first three weeks, the next two months was spent trying to suss out how to get my unit shipped back and another three weeks to get the replacememt to me, and from some tales I'm hearing I'm feeling lucky it did.

Yeah the unit is ambitious and has promise.

But it's taking a fair bit of coaxing to get that out and Pimax as a business isn't helping themselves much.

The terrain optimisation holds promise, that could make the 1080ti a viable option for the 5k and dcs.

Another 10fps could be a huge boon at this point.

And I was hoping to get another year out of my 1080ti.

That is one thing I have absolutely loved with my Rift.

Ever since plugging it in on Jan 15th 2017 I have not had to mess around with it or tinker with it, dang thing just works great each and every time. Use it almost daily. Never even had any tracking issues.

Hoping the Rift S will be a similar experience.

That is one thing I have absolutely loved with my Rift.

Ever since plugging it in on Jan 15th 2017 I have not had to mess around with it or tinker with it, dang thing just works great each and every time. Use it almost daily. Never even had any tracking issues.

 

Hoping the Rift S will be a similar experience.

Yep . Precisely why i'm not interested in a WMR headset , regardless of its virtues . I hate spending more time looking for or repairing a tool than i do using it , and feel much the same way about simming .

The Rift just works , and adds no further maintenance burdens to the already considerable load of various updates/drivers breaking things .

I hold off buying "NOW". First to see reviews on rift s, valve index and what to think about Vive cosmos (OLED screens), HP reverb 2160 x 2160 pro eye. There is much to come in the next months. And just as me, you want the best product for a good price. A assume you buy a headset for a least 3 years and not 3 months. :D

 

 

Vr optimizations.

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3869786&postcount=2333

That's a logical path, but forget about Rift S! It's a true Facebook VR headset, made for the masses to be as easy to use as possible at the lowest cost. No physical IPD adjustment? Are you kidding? I read that means about 30 percent of Americans will have eye strain and/or trouble with seeing double in that thing. I'm one of them (IPD 67), I know because I had these issues myself with DK2 and DK1, and I see what happens when I set the IPD to where it is permanently stuck on the Rift S. With DK2 I actually purchased a set of 3D printed adapters to move the lenses a few mm apart to help with the issue so I'm not talking about a tiny little complaint here.