Crystal & Pimax findings

[hsth]

Crystal & Pimax findings.

 

These are my thoughts about the Crystal as a VR device and Pimax as the producer.

 Crystal.

The visuals are outstanding. The picture is clear, vibrant in color and sharp. The lenses being made in glass is a plus that can’t be praised enough.

Just hoping that the new wide fov lenses will also be made the same.

 The Pimax Play software works good. Easy to install and use. But lacks a manual that explains in detail what all the options do. And the button to start the sim should also have a key attached to it so one can start the sim without having to take the Crystal off.

 To solve the battery discharge I used a cable form the headset to the usb hub that came with the Crystal. That did not work but instead created another problem.

On the headset Pimax has used android software. When the extra cable was connected to the hub (remember you cannot switch a port on this hub) Windows installed a driver for this android system and now I can see the headset as another drive with all its directories and software.

And this caused a problem at my system cold start boot. The bios reported ‘no keyboard detected’ but continued the startup. The problem here is that you cannot enter the bios anymore because no keyboard keys work anymore.

I sort of worked around this by using a usb power supply that is plugged into mains and therefore not connected to my system anymore.

 Once the software has all the options like eye-tracking included it will have no contender on today’s VR market.

 All the above makes it even more shameful that the design team has made such a big mistake. They clearly did not use various skull models when designing the Crystal.

For example, in this article Types of Human Skull Shapes | Sciencing it explains the global differences. Me being West European the shape of the Crystal certainly wasn’t designed with this in mind. Also me having a pronounced supraorbital ridge (Brow ridge - Wikipedia) makes the Crystal even uncomfortable to wear.

All this was completely avoidable had this simple fact been considered.

 Can it be solved? That depends on a) whether Pimax admits this and b) is willing/capable.

In my opinion, making it possible to rotate the front more degrees forward could release the pressure on the forehead and spread the pressure more evenly over the face.

 

Despite this really annoying problem I’ll keep trying to make the most of it as the visuals make it impossible for me to go back to the Valve Index I used before.

  

Pimax.

Let me begin to say that I do not know what the recent climate problems has had on the company and it’s employees. I just hope that everyone is OK and doing well.

 The contacts I have had with all employees has been very good. Everybody was super friendly.

 But, the fact that none of my tickets were solved is an indication that Pimax has an organizational problem. Different employees asked the same questions and promised solutions but nothing has happened.

If Pimax has a helpdesk problem (not enough people?) than it should explain this on the website. Explaining things in a clear and honest way is the only way to avoid negative experiences and comments. Not replying gives a very negative feeling.

 The financial system is a mess. I pre-paid and paid for the Crystal with my credit card. And got notice from the bank that the money had been transferred to Pimax*VR Paris FRA.

 On several request for employees I’ve sent emails and pictures showing all the data. Still, my orders are still not shown as paid on your website.

 Not good. Because I cannot sign into offers like for the wider fov lenses because I do not have a ‘valid’ order number.

 And what about product warranty policies? Do they apply to my Crystal if the order is still booked as ‘failed’?

  

Conclusion.

 Pimax has a winner in its hand if:

-          they can solve the design mistake,

-          they can solve the helpdesk problems,

-          they can solve their financial systems problems.

[Mr_sukebe]

Your experiences appear to have been a common theme since Pimax made it to the market, and are the reason that I ended up with an alternative solution.

Have to say that I’m still surprised that after a number of years that they’ve yet to really learn and implement genuine customer service 

[jaapgrolleman]

Hey Hsth, Jaap from Pimax here. Thank you for your kind words and yeah our customer support is a bit overwhelmed at the moment, a lot of people have received their Crystal and they're also helping sort out stuff that is not directly related to Pimax (e.g. GPU drivers or other PC settings). Not sure if I can use this forum as help/support from Pimax but if you DM me your ticket number (I don't need any other personal data), I'll make sure it's pushed through and sorted. 

Not sure how to prove I'm really at Pimax HQ in Shanghai: https://imgur.com/a/jhvTES4

[MBot]

Please allow me add some of my own recent experiences. I got the Crystal about a week ago. Unfortunately I must say I am pretty disappointed. Yes when it works, it provides very impressive clarity. But unfortunately I encountered quite a few problems.

1. With the provided USB-hub, just starting the headset was a huge problem with constant connection failures. Each time this required multiple unplugging and re-plugging of the connections to eventually get the headset to be recognized by the Pimax software and start-up.

2. I could somewhat solve this by using my own powered USB-hub (the Pimax provided one is apparently very low quality). The headset now starts up pretty reliably but the connection problem still exists sometimes. Just yesterday I had the Crystal spontanously disconnect while playing DCS.

3. Even with either the Pimax provided or my own powered USB-hub, the headset empties it's batteries in 2-3 hours of playing DCS. It just seems as if the powered USB-hub is not charging the battery at all. This is a show-stopper for me, as this will not cover the duration of my regular multi-player sessions. Hotswapping the batteries is no option, as this will crash DCS. Other makeshift solutions with extra cables is not what I am looking forward to either. This is a premium product I paid $1700 for, which I expected to use for the next several years. I am not interested in having a makeshift solution for years. These are things which just need to work for a product of this price.

4. I have noticable chromatic abberation starting about 1/3 away from the center of the screen. When looking straight ahead in DCS and glancing down at the instruments with just my eyes, I can see a green copy of the white instrument needles about 1/2 needle width above. Unfortunately this greatly takes away from the otherwise great visuals. I saw quite a few reports online about chromatic abberation problems while others apparently do not have it. I wonder if this is a quaility issue in the manufacturing.

5. The headset is heavy and bulky (which I knew beforehand). Unfortunately it is also quite uncomfortable to wear.

 

I haven't contacted the Pimax support yet as I am dreading the process ("yes I have connected the cables, yes I have updated the firmware... "). But I guess I will have to do it soon in order to deposit any potential warranty claims. Franky I have serious doubts that support will be able to do a lot about my issues. Looking online all of them seem to be very common without any real solutions. Frankly at this point I am already regretting the purchase and would really just like to have my money back. This is not a $1700 experience.

Edited August 30, 2023 by MBot

[dburne]

IMHO making a PC-VR headset that is reliant on a battery that can not easily be charged or sustain a charge whilst playing is an incredibly stupid mistake. And from what I understand not easily swapped out.

That would certainly be a deal breaker for me as well, as I do usually several hours a day.

[MAXsenna]

IMHO making a PC-VR headset that is reliant on a battery that can not easily be charged or sustain a charge whilst playing is an incredibly stupid mistake. And from what I understand not easily swapped out.
That would certainly be a deal breaker for me as well, as I do usually several hours a day.

Imagine if you couldn't use your laptop or cellphone when charging... Just sayin'...

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[MAXsenna]

Hey Hsth, Jaap from Pimax here. Thank you for your kind words and yeah our customer support is a bit overwhelmed at the moment, a lot of people have received their Crystal and they're also helping sort out stuff that is not directly related to Pimax (e.g. GPU drivers or other PC settings). Not sure if I can use this forum as help/support from Pimax but if you DM me your ticket number (I don't need any other personal data), I'll make sure it's pushed through and sorted. 
Not sure how to prove I'm really at Pimax HQ in Shanghai: https://imgur.com/a/jhvTES4

Well, if Pimax want to be active on this forum, which would be nice. You can always ask the moderators for your own sub forum. Not sure be here

https://forum.dcs.world/forum/70-input-devices/

Or under VR.

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[jaapgrolleman]

8 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Well, if Pimax want to be active on this forum, which would be nice. You can always ask the moderators for your own sub forum. Not sure be here

https://forum.dcs.world/forum/70-input-devices/

Or under VR.

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Under VR would make more sense? And yes happy to be here! To learn more but also to hear if people are stuck with our customer support so we can push things.

(Also not going to hide that I work at Pimax and super biased about the Crystal etc.)

[MAXsenna]

Under VR would make more sense? And yes happy to be here! To learn more but also to hear if people are stuck with our customer support so we can push things.
(Also not going to hide that I work at Pimax and super biased about the Crystal etc.)

To my knowledge, you're the first VR company to show any presence here. That's pretty cool in my book. Especially if you can give info/insight/support for your products!

Welcome! !

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[MBot]

New development. At first the life of both batteries seems to have gone down to about 2 hours worth of DCS (with powered USB-hub connected). Now the headset has developed a new trick. When one battery was getting low, the headset started to constantly dim and shut down. I just changed the battery and also with the other (which is about 3/4 full at the moment) the headset keeps fading to black and shut down. Extremely disappointing!

I have already opened a support ticket at Pimax. One thing more to add to the list...