Pimax and me- the tribulations of a beta tester- hooked on flight sims. The good, the bad, and the irritating.

[Finnster]

Pimax and Me. My rollercoaster affair with the Crystal.

I guess I should start at the beginning. Once upon a time there was an old fart named Dave, (call sign, 'finn') who had an Oculus Rift. He liked the concept, but found the execution not quite up to the task for flight sims like DCS. The field of view was too small, the clarity and resolution too low, and the screen door effect? A cat could hang on it. BUT- it offered a tantalizing glimpse into what could be an amazing future. One magical day he noticed that HP had announced a next generation headset called the G2 that promised to fix a lot of his issues with VR and air combat. (or even just air tourism in VR). So he went to the web page to pre-order, only to find that... it was not available to pre-order for low life Canadians. Sigh. IF it had been available, the old finn would never have started looking for an alternative. He found one in a brand new headset on the cusp of release called the Pimax 8KX. The specs looked great. So... he pre-ordered that one. Thus started a two year journey to explore new worlds... er muck about with a somewhat cranky but amazing headset in VR. 
    So, that's the background. I am that old finn. Older now. Wiser. Cynical? no not really. But definitely wiser. The 8kx blew my socks off, but it was definitely not an easy bit of kit to tune in. The initial setup was simple, but getting the image quality and clarity to where it should have been was a journey that took me to Reddit, to the Pimax community page and to Pimax tech support. With help from all corners, I eventually got it sorted to the point where it was very nearly exactly what I hoped for in Flight simulation. It took a year for the software and firmware to really mature, but after that the 8KX was problem free for me and a daily driver in fs2020, Il2 and of course, DCS. Still, I'd been keeping notes on things that I felt could have been done better and things that would improve the product.  When Pimax asked community members to submit a wish list of features for the next Gen headsets, I was ready. I had been fairly vocal in the forum about the pros and the cons of the 8kx, and I took an evening to write up my wish list.  As it turned out, many of the things I wished for were designed into the Crystal (and the 12k which is yet to come.) 
At the top of my list was user experience. I strongly argued that the 8KX was far too tricky for novice users and that had to be job one on the improvement list.  I asked for auto IPD, Higher resolution and clarity, plug and play setup simplicity, a pass through mode (to allow simmes to see their keyboards when needed) and a slew of other things.  Discussions in the forum went on for some time. In the meantime I'd setup a youtube channel to share my VR hobby. It grew at a glacial rate. It's still quite a small channel, but has grown a lot in the last three months. Why?
Enter the Crystal. Pimax asked for volunteers to beta test the Crystal and I put my name down. 15 of us would be chosen from Europe and North America. The catch was that the headsets, while offered to us at a slight discount and with DMAS, would not be free. We would have to pay full price, basically, but were guaranteed a replacement of the beta (preproduction) headset with a final version at the end of testing. 
I was taken aback to be chosen. It meant I had to dip into my savings... gulp. But I took a deep breath and signed the NDA. Which, by the way, was only in effect for about the first month or two of testing. 
The Good, the Bad, and the Frustrating. 
Initial impressions
The Good: 1.The day the Crystal arrived, I was delighted to find that for me, the setup was truly plug and play. This turned out not to be the case for everyone, certianly, but it was a good start for me. 
2. The clarity of the headset was remarkable- astonishing really. And despite its weight I was able to play in it for a couple of hours at a time easily. 
3. It came with a pair of controllers. I put them aside for later, as the only game I had that would use them was half life Alyx, and I thought I'd test first in the programs I knew. 
4. Inside out tracking worked flawlessly for me from the start for flight simming.  (not so much for other genres- see the 'bad' section. 
5. I opted not to use the dmas option, instead testing the 'stock' audio speakers.  In the first iteration of firmware and software, the sound was excellent, even in them. 
6. Pimax Beta reps and tech support. This has been outstanding. Communication has been good, and Pimax's techs are top notch. 
The Bad:
1. The hand controllers had issues, and the inside out tracking really didn't work well with them. We expected this, and we knew going in that the hand controllers would be a work in progress. 
2. Only one set of lenses- and the beta testers got PLASTIC ones. This was irritating, but in fairness, I must say that the plastic lenses proved to be very nearly as good as the glass ones that Pimax sent me a month or so later. (Like many of the first buyers, Pimax, facing a shortage of the glass lenses, supplied the plastic versions with a promise to update them later. 
3. The Dang battery. At the start of testing, we expected to see 3 hours plus of play time on a single battery. I got around two hours.  Hot swapping also proved a bit of a challenge. 
4. Missing features. Again, we knew this going in, but Eye tracking, stand alone, and wireless were all still in development. I felt that was ok for beta testers, but I was bothered by the fact that our testing period would overlap the beginning of the Crystal's retail sales.  I could see no good coming from this, and wished that Pimax would allow us to beta test every element, sign off on them and then start selling the Crystal. But that was not in the cards. The problem, as I see it, is that Pimax really is a visionary company. If a man's reach should exceed his grasp, then Pimax honours that by constantly reaching just a little higher and a little farther out to the cutting edge. And that's an edge that's hard to cling too. Development issues and delays served to fuel internet hate anew for Pimax. It was sad, but predictable. 
5. Disturbing reports from other youtubers (reviewers, some of whom I respected greatly) reported issues with their Crystal review units. Set up problems galore. At first, I thought it had to be a few exceptions and mostly user error, but the instances kept cropping up. It became clear that quality assurance needed some upgrading.
The Irritating:
1.  Battery life. I spent dozens of hours testing alternative means of getting additional power to prolong battery life. I tried portable phone chargers -basically large batteries- and finally settled on a usb power hub that could supply additional power to the right side usb-c port on the headset. This essentially ended the problem for me. But there was concern that using that side port as a charge port might overcharge the battery. Still it worked, and worked well until pimax provided a better solution.  The power USB hub that the Crystal plugged into, and which then provided a connection to the pc and extra power via a USB-B port.  With this in place I started to see battery life of around 6-8 hours with the battery charging in place overnight.

Stage 2 Active testing period. 
As we rolled on, we saw progress in bursts in the firmware and software.  One issue would be fixed,  (sound delay) but another would be introduced (horrible sound quality). Again, this is part of the beta process, and each iteration has given us more to test and report on.  Eye tracking ( I was delayed testing this, because my beta headset's tracking hardware was faulty- Pimax RMA'D the headset as quicly as one can expect, but it still put me a month behind in testing it. Audio- when that last fix arrived- about the same time my new Crystal did (with dmas installed)the sound was magnificent. The hand controllers were replaced with better units (at no charge) Pimax sent us the power hubs, (free to all purchasers as well) and kept upgrading the firmware. For most of us, hand tracking improved tremendously. It's still not as good as base station tracked conrollers, but it's very good. And most recently, Stand alone mode appeared in the update and it seems to work very well indeed. It's not my kind of gaming, but in my brief testing so far, it's looking pretty good. Soon, we hope to test the base station face plate. (only slightly- ok WEEKS- later than Pimax's 'influencer Youtubers' who are already raving about it. 
Next month should see all the features working and unlocked for all users. At that point, I guess my beta testing work will be mostly done. I'm going to miss it. The tester's discord proved a pretty lively but safe place for discussion- with strong opinions and the occasionally venting moment. I learned a lot from the other beta testers- most of whom are far smarter than I. And it's been a roller coaster ride. Finding bugs, reporting bugs, getting tech support. I'm still filing reports on things that I think could be made easier for the user, but for the most part, given good quality assurance in the pre-shipping phase, I think Pimax has given us the best headset possible at that price for flight and driving sims. That it can be used for stand alone games and first person shooters is a bonus- but I think most buyers will want it first and foremost for simulation. My final great hope is that Pimax has learned from the mistakes they made launching the Crystal. I hope we see the 12k in reviwers hands only after each unit shipped has  been thoroughly tested and quality checked. Pimax promised a lot with the Crystal, and now, they are delivering. I don't argue that it should have been ready sooner. I argue that it should have been held back until ready. But of course, I'm not a share holder, nor a board member or even employee of Pimax. I have no idea how they work or what kind of internal and external pressures they've dealt with along the way. I have been alternately disappointed (quality control) and delighted (tech support- supplying solutions like the power hub at no charge to the customer). I'd really like to not have those ups and downs next time around. For Pimax's sake, as much as anyone's. They do not deserve the hate they get on the internet, but they have definitely earned a bit of skepticism.  
For me, VR flight, especially in the Pimax Crystal has been soul saving. Some years back, following heart problems and surgery, I had to give up real life flying. For a long time, I couldn't even bear to fly in simulation as it was such a pale imitation of the real thing. Then VR came along. The oculus Rift fueled my imagination, but Pimax has fulfilled it. Nearly. I'm still looking towards the 12K. The resolution and clarity of the Crystal with almost human fields of view? That's for me. 
Still the Crystal's clarity and sound have made me shelve my 8KX. As good as it is, the Crystal is better.  The resolution, the colurs, the blacks (flying at night) combine to make flight in the Crystal nothing short of astonishing. When I'm side slipping into final (usually because I screwed up the approach) I can almost feel the motion in my body. This is as close as I can get to real flight. But it's not likely as close as VR will bring us to it. I wonder what the next five years will bring? 
Look for me in VR down the road. I'll be the old fat guy with the silly grin on his face and some as yet unimagined headset on his Charley brown head. 
 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Finnster
sentence unclear.

[jaapgrolleman]

Been following your YouTube account now for a while and feel like I'm reading this post in your voice!

[Nedum]

@Finnster Thank you for your report. It was a good read.

[Finnster]

Thanks for the comments guys- I'd love to have more DCS guys check out my channel. Truthfully, I spend more time on Fs2020, but Man, I LOVE DCS.  It's the best all around combat sim, period.

[Lange_666]

3 hours ago, Finnster said:

I'd love to have more DCS guys check out my channel.

Why not put a link in here or in a signature so people who read your posts can directly "surf" to your Youtube channel instead of going to the Tube manually and then search for your channel. Life can be easy sometimes you know...