Got a Pimax Crystal Light today - the good news and the bad news...

[Peedee]

Ok guys, here´s a short first impression of my Pimax Crystal Light that I got today. I ordered on Saturday from a Norwegian webstore and it was in my hands already today, Wednesday. 

Ok, so you know where I am coming from. I already own a Pimax Crystal (the original, with batteries, eye tracking and DMAS headphones) and have been using it for... 14 months or so I think. I have been very happy with it!  My only big issue has been the batteries. Also, it is a bit heavy and wobbly. 

So, why order a Crystal Light? Well, I wanted something less heavy and wobbly, and with no batteries. I am missing out on the eye tracking and therefore also how good DCS can look with Quadviews and eyetracking running... Most games don´t support Quadviews, and in MSFS 2020 and 2024, I have tried with eyetracking, foveated rendering through OpenXR Toolkit and all kinds of combinations ... with my setup in those two flight simulators - I gain at the most 6 fps. Usually between 3-5. For those games, I can easly adjust others settings just a tiny bit down and get those FPS back if needed. 

Now, on to my first impression. First the good news... Oh my oh my! I think I just won in the Pimax lottery when it comes to visuals! No offence Calvin and Pimax, but there have been a few people complaining about the lenses. My lenses look really good. That is my first impression... they look by a noticeble margin better than the lenses in my original Pimax Crystal! My original Crystal has a fair bit of chrommatic abberation, meaning sharp edges has some color fringing along/around them. This reduces clarity of course, and once you notice it, it is a bit.. irritating. My original Crystal was still the sharpest headset I have used (until now) so I stayed with it because I knew it would take some to replace the lenses, and I could also risk getting even worse lenses or headset. Also, after I while, for most of the time I didn´t think about it and enjoyed my headset.

That was until today - and here´s the bad news... when I saw how good my new Pimax Light lenses were then I realized how "bad" my orginal Crystal lenses were. When I sit in a plane and look down on a runway, on the thick white marking lines that goes down the runway, with my old original Pimax Crystal, there´s color fringing along the edges of the lines. Even on the center line. Easy to see, but I forgotten about it for a long time like I said. But now when I see those lines are just pure white all the way like they should, also along the edges, on my new Crystal Light...I will be hard to unsee it on my old vanilla Crystal.

Why the bad news? Well, because my plan is to keep my old eye tracking Crystal and use it for DCS because of Quadviews/eye tracking. And to use new Crystal Light for everything else. I will probably still stick to this plan. So it´s a luxury problem really. I am really happy my new Crystal Light is so sharp and without chromattic abberation!

Ok, when I opened the box with the Crystal light box I noticed that only the left lens had the thin plastic lens protector film over it. The right lens did not have that. I found it eventually on the bottom of the box. Luckily I could not see any scratches on the lens. 

Setting up the Crystal Light was very easy for me since I already have the latest Pimax Play version installed, and I am very familiar with the Pimax Play app. I plugged everything in, and updated the firmware. 

The sound quality was far from what I get from the DMAS I have on my original Crystal, but that was expected. I will find a solution for that.

Another thing - it seemed like the local dimming - or the panels themselves, were better. That is surprising, it is supposed to be the same panels, right? The Crystal and the Crystal Light? I have edited the profile.json file (or whatever it is called) for my original Crystal to get the blackest nights I can when flying. But this Crystal Light, out of the box is better. No idea why. Maybe the lenses come into play again? Not sure how, but maybe good lenses give less light bouncing around reducing contrast.. 

The Crystal Light is way more comfortable to wear than my orginal Crystal. And less wobbly, just like I hoped for. And I am so happy that it doesn´t use batteries. I ordered the version without hand controllers so no I have no idea how the controller tracking is. Head tracking seems good so far. Cant´t say I have noticed any errors.

So, for now, very happy with my new headset. I have only used for a couple of hours. But it seems really good so far!!

Edited November 27, 2024 by Peedee

[scommander2]

Thanks for sharing. 

I wish that you could get Super and sharing a story

[Panzerlang]

I'd see if the lenses are swappable.

Edited November 27, 2024 by Panzerlang

[Calvin.Pimax]

Great! Happy Flying! If you encounter any issues, please don't hesitate to let me know.

[Ghostmaker]

Im looking at upgrading from my HP Reverb G2 to something new, i keep looking at crystal light but im worried ill get a bad ine or it could have an isaue down the line and will have issues due to the poor customer service at pimax. Shame as thats the only thing stopping me ordering one at the minute

[Dangerzone]

23 minutes ago, Ghostmaker said:

Im looking at upgrading from my HP Reverb G2 to something new, i keep looking at crystal light but im worried ill get a bad ine or it could have an isaue down the line and will have issues due to the poor customer service at pimax. Shame as thats the only thing stopping me ordering one at the minute

One option may be - if you live in a country with consumer laws that protect you, and there are official Pimax resellers there, you could purchase from them instead of direct from Pimax. That way, if you get a faulty one - you have the protection of your countries laws to return it instead of relying solely on Pimax. Same with warranty issues - return to store, instead of dealing directly with Pimax?

[Calvin.Pimax]

8 hours ago, Ghostmaker said:

Im looking at upgrading from my HP Reverb G2 to something new, i keep looking at crystal light but im worried ill get a bad ine or it could have an isaue down the line and will have issues due to the poor customer service at pimax. Shame as thats the only thing stopping me ordering one at the minute

Please rest assured about the customer service. I’ve joined the team to help monitor response times and case resolutions. If you’re experiencing any issues with support, feel free to reach out to me here or contact me on Discord (ID: kehweng).

[Ghostmaker]

Im in the Uk, theres a company that apparently supplies Pimax but states any isses you need to contact pimax direct.. 

What happens if you buy one and then a year later it develops issues? As there was a well known youtuber who had issues and was without his vr for a year...

[Panzerlang]

7 hours ago, Ghostmaker said:

Im in the Uk, theres a company that apparently supplies Pimax but states any isses you need to contact pimax direct.. 

What happens if you buy one and then a year later it develops issues? As there was a well known youtuber who had issues and was without his vr for a year...

That's illegal under UK law. The retailer is legally obligated to handle all and any warranty issues for a product they sold.

I used to live in Hailsham. 

[Ghostmaker]

1 hour ago, Panzerlang said:

That's illegal under UK law. The retailer is legally obligated to handle all and any warranty issues for a product they sold.

I used to live in Hailsham. 

I thought it was illegal aswell. This also made me wonder if it was legit site

[Panzerlang]

1 hour ago, Ghostmaker said:

I thought it was illegal aswell. This also made me wonder if it was legit site

I fondly recall a conversation on the phone with a real human at Amazon UK support, who tried to insist my warranty claim had to be made directly to the manufacturer. Within a minute of me citing UK Trading Standards regulations she folded. The item was in my possession around seven months and it failed, sent it back for a full refund (after the convo with support).

I've had numerous similar phone or email interactions with retailers over the years. Some genuinely don't understand the regulations but just as many are trying it on.