Pimax Crystal Review

[SIA_Stahl]

My experience with Pimax Crystal...

Where to start? When it worked the views were fantastic, great FPS, clear and concise views of cockpit and lettering inside cockpit !

This is were it ends. As much as the unit costs it should be much better on the software plug and play side and being recognized by the OS...

Running DCS with PimaxXR, OpenXR Toolkit, Quad-Views-Foveated and Quadviews Companion. All components worked flawless and setup was straight forward. Updated the software on the Pimax Crystal headset to the latest firmware and the Pimax Play software was updated to latest version.

System:
Processor    12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600KF   3.70 GHz
Installed RAM    64.0 GB

Windows 10 Home.

GPU: NVidea GeForce RTX 3080
 

 

Just gonna state the obvious in my opinion, the Pimax Cystal suffers from some very frustrating issues:

1. The battery life is completely unacceptable, even using a USB power hub with the system running you get about 2 hours before the battery low warning comes up. When you attempt a hot swap the headset disconnects and will not connect without a machine reboot (more below on this issue).

2. Anytime the headset disconnects, using Pimax Play to restart the service or restart the headset will not make the headset be recognized by the machine or OS.

3. It will give you a message to unplug the USB and re insert USB, as well as the GPU graphics card connection. This results in the message looping back the 'restart service' within Pimax Play. At which time the Pimax Play software advises; "Reboot Machine"

4. Rebooting machine does not guarantee a successful connection as on one occasion I rebooted 4 times before it established a connection with the headset.

I really wanted to make this headset work and was completely in awe of the clarity of the headset...

However it has many issues that make this more of a Beta headset than an established VR headset for daily use.

Unfortunately I am in the process of refund and return for the unit as it needs to be more refined. With this being one of many headsets that I have owned, the Pimax Crystal visuals are hands down the best. For everything else? The issues this headset has with plug and play and OS recognition make it absolutely a "not recommend" to purchase.

Here is one example in a period of a single day; Rebooted 10 times for a total of 4 connections. During that period I got about 4.5 hours of DCS play... This is why I am returning the unit and placing it as a "not recommend" VR headset.

 

 

[Peedee]

1 hour ago, SIA_Stahl said:

My experience with Pimax Crystal...

Where to start? When it worked the views were fantastic, great FPS, clear and concise views of cockpit and lettering inside cockpit !

This is were it ends. As much as the unit costs it should be much better on the software plug and play side and being recognized by the OS...

Running DCS with PimaxXR, OpenXR Toolkit, Quad-Views-Foveated and Quadviews Companion. All components worked flawless and setup was straight forward. Updated the software on the Pimax Crystal headset to the latest firmware and the Pimax Play software was updated to latest version.

System:
Processor    12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600KF   3.70 GHz
Installed RAM    64.0 GB

Windows 10 Home.

GPU: NVidea GeForce RTX 3080
 

 

Just gonna state the obvious in my opinion, the Pimax Cystal suffers from some very frustrating issues:

No. The issues are between your PC and Crystal.

The Crystal works perfectly on my PC and so many others. 

Agree on the battery life though. Should have been better. 

 

[SIA_Stahl]

On 10/21/2023 at 12:47 PM, Peedee said:

No. The issues are between your PC and Crystal.

The Crystal works perfectly on my PC and so many others. 

Agree on the battery life though. Should have been better. 

 

So why does it work until battery goes low? You are quick to state issues are between my PC and Crystal and "Works fine on my PC". Has nothing to do with my review, nor changes how it operates on my machine.

Edited November 4, 2023 by SIA_Stahl

[j9murphy]

I don't have connection issues either. I plug my USB directly into the back of my computer and hold down the power button on the hmd until I see the power light come on, works every time.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

[SIA_Stahl]

On 10/21/2023 at 7:42 PM, j9murphy said:

I don't have connection issues either. I plug my USB directly into the back of my computer and hold down the power button on the hmd until I see the power light come on, works every time.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 

Congratulations. Have a great day.

Edited November 4, 2023 by SIA_Stahl

[ackattacker]

22 hours ago, SIA_Stahl said:

Congratulations. Still does not change the review nor brings any constructive advice to the table. Have a great day.

You have titled your post as a review, not as your subjective experience. You believe these issues are important enough that other people should not buy the headset ("do not recommend"). While I don't discount your experiences, I think it is important to note that some of your difficulties are not generally experienced by other Pimax users, myself included. This is useful information for other people reading this thread who may believe your words that the Crystal is "beta" and buggy. To me, it sounds like you have a USB issue. It may be the headset is defective, or it may be the USB hub is defective, or cables, or ports, or who knows. But the fact that other people don't have the same issue, means that whatever the issue is; is not inherent in the design of the headset.

Edited October 30, 2023 by ackattacker

[MichaelJWP15]

Just to add to this, I have never had any USB connection issues, or indeed battery life issues with my Pimax Crystal headset. My main downside issues for it would be the heavy weight and size of the device. Those are well known though.

Obviously the OP has experienced these annoying USB connection issues, but it's hard to debug these things, even in person, never mind an online forum.

[zaelu]

Before you return the Pimax Crystal if you can open it up and see if the panels are really using that huge space inside the shoe box that it is. I suspect the whole Crystal headset is just a joke coming from that radio shack of a brand Pimax has always be. Nobody had the guts to take one appart. Everybody kind of knows the truth but is afraid of looking at it.

[j9murphy]

the panels in the crystal do not take up that entire space.  The size of the headset was selected based on the upcoming pimax 12k so they didnt have to design/build separate headsets.

[zaelu]

And they asked 1200$ for it with a straight face... 

[Peedee]

6 hours ago, zaelu said:

And they asked 1200$ for it with a straight face... 

I paid a whole lot more, with import taxes and shipping to my country. So glad I did  It’s an incredible upgrade from my other headsets. Absolutely love it, use it almost every day and never had any issues.  

Edited October 31, 2023 by Peedee

[bomber]

My experience——- Yes, image great, dfr fantastic. Wonderful to fly in dcs. ( had a g2 which was good). Software good. Set up no problems.

Need apache strap( I believe pimax are going to change the head strap). I need thicker face foam due to px lenses. Audio ok but dmas recommended.

yes battery a pain in the a***.   Make sure they are fully discharged a couple of times in early use. With a power hub mine seem to be lasting much better now than in the beginning. Stiffness of battery mechanism eases with time.

So I was prepared to fiddle when I purchased so I’m not surprised by my experience. It must be said that more testing and thought at pimax would make the whole thing much better. 

[SIA_Stahl]

On 10/31/2023 at 8:56 AM, zaelu said:

Before you return the Pimax Crystal if you can open it up and see if the panels are really using that huge space inside the shoe box that it is. I suspect the whole Crystal headset is just a joke coming from that radio shack of a brand Pimax has always be. Nobody had the guts to take one appart. Everybody kind of knows the truth but is afraid of looking at it.

You may want to buy your own at this point. Bad enough that I have to shell out a 'restock' fee.

Feel confident that the fee for 'not intended use of device' would be no refund...

Edited November 4, 2023 by SIA_Stahl

[SIA_Stahl]

On 10/30/2023 at 10:15 AM, ackattacker said:

To me, it sounds like you have a USB issue. It may be the headset is defective, or it may be the USB hub is defective, or cables, or ports, or who knows. But the fact that other people don't have the same issue, means that whatever the issue is; is not inherent in the design of the headset.

 

Many other people do  have issues with USB connections and this headset. Please do not believe me, do an online search for this subject. Since you have no issues with connection, this only leads me to a conclusion that you have not done such a search and the premise of your reply is without knowledge of extensively researched USB issues.

( If you would have had these connections issues, you would have seen the substantial number of requests for help with the USB connections and the Pimax Crystal. )

Writing that 'others' have no issues does not change my review nor does it change how the Pimax works with my OS and machine.

The whole "Works on my PC", is leading me to conclude; There may be individuals here that are practicing self justification of a very expensive device.

It does not change the sub standard interaction with the windows 'Plug and Play' IRQ machine connections and that the Pimax Play software is lacking in connections/interfacing with the OS device manager.

The Pimax Play software should be able to interface with the windows plug and play (IRQ machine interface) with any standard single USB connection. The simple fact that they have two USB, one for power the other for bi directional communication is not a good thing... This is nothing more than a cheap fix to power a battery solution that should not be an issue with the headset. Why didn't Pimax just use a USB-C connection if you know the battery is a weak point? You can get a lot more power and bi directional communication (data transfer) thru a single USB-C than a 3.2, 3.0, or 2.0 USB connection.

Edited November 4, 2023 by SIA_Stahl

[SIA_Stahl]

5 hours ago, bomber said:

So I was prepared to fiddle when I purchased so I’m not surprised by my experience. It must be said that more testing and thought at pimax would make the whole thing much better. 

I personally did not want to fiddle with a device.

What if we all had to fiddle with a cell phone each time we made a call? For the price point this should not be an issue with this headset.

Great headset, bad implementation. The Pimax Play software should be able to interface with the windows plug and play (IRQ machine interface) with any standard single USB connection. The simple fact that they have two USB, one for power the other for bi directional communication is not a good thing... This is nothing more than a cheap fix to power a battery solution that should not be an issue with the headset. Why didn't Pimax just use a USB-C connection if you know the battery is a weak point? You can get a lot more power and bi directional communication thru a USB-C than a 3.2 USB.

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by SIA_Stahl

[eFirehawk]

5 hours ago, SIA_Stahl said:

Many other people do  have issues with USB connections and this headset. Please do not believe me, do an online search for this subject. Since you have no issues with connection, this only leads me to a conclusion that you have not done such a search and the premise of your reply is without knowledge of extensively researched USB issues.

( If you would have had these connections issues, you would have seen the substantial number of requests for help with the USB connections and the Pimax Crystal. )

Writing that 'others' have no issues does not change my review nor does it change how the Pimax works with my OS and machine.

The whole "Works on my PC", is leading me to conclude; There may be individuals here that are practicing self justification of a very expensive device.

It does not change the sub standard interaction with the windows 'Plug and Play' IRQ machine connections and that the Pimax Play software is lacking in connections/interfacing with the OS device manager.

The Pimax Play software should be able to interface with the windows plug and play (IRQ machine interface) with any standard single USB connection. The simple fact that they have two USB, one for power the other for bi directional communication is not a good thing... This is nothing more than a cheap fix to power a battery solution that should not be an issue with the headset. Why didn't Pimax just use a USB-C connection if you know the battery is a weak point? You can get a lot more power and bi directional communication (data transfer) thru a single USB-C than a 3.2, 3.0, or 2.0 USB connection.

 

I agree. I got a Crystal and it's super temperamental with the USB ports. It only works with one certain combination of ports using the supplied hub. In theory it should have work in many other ways too, like plugging straight behind the mobo, etc.