Pimax Crystal: Review with Comparison to Varjo Aero

We had an issue with the previous upload and thus we had to delete the old video and upload this one. Sorry for any inconvenience to those who already posted comments, the change couldn't be avoided. Thanks to GT GT for making us aware of the issue. Hope you enjoy the review.

Hi there. A very detailed review. Are you going to buy Bigsreen with OLED screens?

I picked up the strap with 100g weight, much better than stock comfort. Strap kinda interferes with cable adapter, did you get yours under it somehow?

An Aero 2 with aspheric lenses and OLED, with bigger FOV and audio would be ideal

Somnium vr1 will be almost perfect hmd 🙂

I really just want a stand-alone VR headset that isn't owned by Facebook. Is this the one, or is this only worth it for PC VR gaming?

Good review. I have tried three crystal units now and I think like text for instance is too blurry. It's too much chromatic abbreviation. Do you or don't you see this? Apparently not everyone is bother by this. It bothers the hell out of me😕

What are your thoughts on the aero vs crystal on frame rate with MSFS. As of now i have MSFS and the aero software set to use motion prediction at 45 fps and works really really well. From what i've seen with the crystal the frame rate might get to 45 but without motion prediction (as of now), so to me that sounds like the old look out the left tilt the wing in the crystal would result in blurry ground views unlike now with the Aero?

Bought the Pimax Crystal. Fantastic device. Recent updates make it even better. Auto IPD, eye tracking for better frame rates, etc. Don't get the Varjo. You miss out on controllers, audio and FOV. They're also coming out with a wider field of view lens, wireless wifi module and more. Weight is the only element where the Varjo is ahead. Crystal is also cheaper...

The Bigscreen Beyond has OLED panels but with Pancake lenses. I'd be interested in your opinion of the experience if you have a chance to demo one.

Probably your eyelash touching on the vr lense with 11mm face foam is because Honsvr lense is installed far away from Crystal vr lense and that is why i hate magnetic style vr lense

My biggest issues so far are comfort (I think i fixed it to where it is "acceptable"), distortion and I think chromatic aberration (its noticable in some games and not in others). I might just return this for a Beyond...

Have you looked in to the bigscreen beyond?
Would love to see your review on it

@GYGOtv You do know the DMAS is NOT included as Standard with the Crystal and will be something extra you'll need to purchase if you haven't pre-ordered or got some review unit.
At least this was the latest situation from PIMAX.

Thanks for the clear review. Had issues with dead pixels on the Aero, where I returned 2 headsets. Can you maybe talk a little bit about your experience with chromatic abberation, distortion in the corners of the eyes with the Crystal? Does that higher vertical FOV also help with seeing more of the instruments on knee-level in the pit? Cheers

I'd like to see if pimax can pull off standalone. I have doubts they will be able to send that high resolution over wifi and have the frames consistent

Also owning both I have to say the increased FOV alone is worth the upgrade to the Crystal…also as a simracer I’ll take the Crystal all day over the Aero! Now we need an Aero 2 to compete 😊

If you haven't, edit the pimax app file to 0.01 for local dimming to fix it. It'll make all the differnce in the world.

Do you know if the Apple Vision Pro with it’s micro-oped screens feature aspheric lenses? At this point I don’t think it will be Steam compatible so maybe a moot point even if I could afford it.

As always, absolutely love the in depth, detailed & relatable information! Thank you very much for the video and can't wait for your next VR HMD review 😉

Want to give folks a heads up with the Aero. I highly suggest getting "smart plug outlets" for the headset so you can put the HMD on an auto off timer and have a very convenient way to turn on/off the HMD. I have my three 2.0 base stations and Varjo Aero on smart outlets, that I got on Black Friday for like $20, that I turn on/off with a button on my iPhone. Also have my Varjo on a timer that if I do forget to turn it off, it will turn off so it doesn't get left on.

Also, want to let folks know my IPD and FOV with the Varjo Aero using the two largest FOV test applications. Both measure 65 IPD and the FOV measures 108-110 horizontal (wider than my Valve Index) and 78-80 vertical. It's a true 16:9 resolution. The diagonal FOV is also larger than my Index. Would I like a larger vertical FOV, of course but it has never caused an issue in the 200ish VR titles I own. Also note that I don't do flying sims like our friend here at @Get Your Game On but I am a variety VR user that plays anything and everything.

One more thing I'd like to add is that Varjo has released an "Optical Enhancement" Beta that makes any previous red/blue shift/chromatic aberration no longer there and it enhances the clarity quite a bit. I never had a problem with the red/blue shift but did notice it at times when looking for it, and it has made the Varjo Aero feel like a brand new HMD. It really does drastically improve the clarity and sharpness of the HMD. That also goes to show that even after nearly 3 years after it releasing, Varjo is still improving the Aero and their HMD's which is another reason why I love the Varjo Aero. You wont find customer support or software that is better in VR.

I could go on and on about the Varjo Aero so if anybody has questions or concerns, I'm more than happy to answer or offer help. But for my wants and needs the Varjo Aero has been nearly flawless. It's been my daily HMD for over 10 months & spend 4-6 hours straight using the HMD each time without issues. Another big thank you to GYGO for his honesty as he was a major reason for me getting the Aero and another major reason why I'm holding off on the Crystal. Cheers!

Just used your affiliated link to HONSVR lenses - excellent service- thankyou for setting up the link.

Dear Get Your Game on,

Can you recomend this Pimax Crystal headset just for room scale VR? Shooter - Skyrim VR , Fallout VR Hubris , Hellsplit Arena ect..
I have a Reverb G2 and i can handle the room scale VR but i would like to get a better picture quality.

Thanks this answer in advance,

Thanks for the review. Quite fair. I definitely hear you on the blooming. Ever since going from my OG Vive with OLED to other headsets like the Index and Vive Pro 2, I missed the black blacks I remembered. With that said, after initially being a bit dismayed the first time I saw the blooming you discuss (and the video you show of it is very representative), I've come to feel that regardless, the headset is still a massive improvement overall--though it may depend on exactly what you play.

First, for virtually every title I play that occurs in normal lighting, the contrast is very OLED-like, and better than that, bright. It's just really, really good. This also seems to apply to many titles that mix stark blacks with bright areas in which I might have expected the blooming. For example in VPX Launcher (a VR menu system for Visual Pinball), the pinball machines are hosted against a black background and there is no blooming. I was also amazed in Apollo 11 HD VR, how even in extreme mode with bright landscapes and spacecraft against stark black backgrounds there is almost a complete absence of blooming. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that some titles are simply prone to it, like MSFS at night, where the blooming at the extreme local dimming setting is awful. But in those cases, turning down the backlighting to the middle setting (or more optimized custom setting), will fix it to a degree that is still better than any other headset I've owned (though I don't have an Aero, so I can't compare with that), but at the expense of some contrast.

So basically, since I personally don't do MSFS at night very much, and because the titles I play tend to benefit strongly from the the QLED brightness/contrast the vast majority of the time, I end-up not being convinced that I'd actually prefer an OLED *overall*. I'm also thinking that there is also some optimization both by Pimax and by developers testing their new software with headsets like the Crystal that will bring future improvement. So I guess if you do a lot of night flying in simulators, I can easily see why an OLED would be nicer; but speaking more generally, I'm not as sure.

I was waiting for you to make this comparison i bought the aero on your advice , love the headset but for me certain things were annoying like binocular overlap , was considering getting thr crystal but only for the black levels because i watch alot of cinema apps like virtual desktop and bigscreen but what you describe on the crystal sounds like it would be awful in a cinema setting. Thanks for the upload

Dear Get your game on,

Bionocular overlap is good in this eadset ? You can see the 3d effect very well right? Because in the past i have one pimax 5k plusand the a3 effect was very poor because of this lack of bionocular overlap. Thanks this answer in advance.

Excellent review, thanks!

I'm a big dogfighting fan, so I was a bit worried about the mass of the crystal. Do you find the other pros of the crystal outweigh the increased mass? Does the increased mass ever cause problems in a close in "knife fight"? I'm concerned that whipping my head around to keep track of a bandit heading from one side (from 5 to 7, or over/under me) to the other will cause the headset to slip. What's your experience?

Great review! I've been using a Pimax 8KX for flight sim, and decided to order both the Aero and Crystal to see for myself. I had heard and read about the Aero's severely cropped VFOV, so I ordered an open box one thinking I would hate it and could more easily return it. It arrived today and I really like it a lot! Even coming from the 8KX, which is the king of FOV, I really don't mind the cropped view, it's not nearly as bad as everyone says it is. And I just really love the general aesthetic and comfort of the Aero. The 8KX was awful to wear, and the Crystal is even worse, requiring loads of aftermarket straps to be comfortable. I dunno, I'm seriously loving the Aero and am wondering if I should cancel my Crystal order before it ships out, as returning it back to China won't be easy or cheap. I get that the Crystal has better visuals, but I feel like the Aero is good enough for my needs, even though it's hands down worse in visuals and FOV, and doesn't have local dimming. But I just feel happier supporting a company which isn't Pimax, as their customer service is awful. And who knows, the Aero may finally get local dimming some day. Could I please ask if you have you ever emailed Varjo to ask if they're still working on bringing local dimming to the Aero or they gave up on it as a feature?

Nice..my Crystal arrives soon..I do already have the studio pads for comfort 👍☺️

I noticed, even on Pimax's own website that the Aero gets way better fps, like on average 10-15 more fps.

Great review my friend I love My crystal I also ordered the balance kit and it is great. The headset is no longer heavy on my head lol. I’m also waiting for the new larger FOV lenses that are glass and you will get a discount if you pre-ordered your headset instead of paying $129 you will pay $69. It’s an option to get the original 42 PPD or upgrade to the larger FOV lenses that are made of glass. Oh, I wanted to ask you to turn the power on and off on the Crystal are you holding the power switch until the light blue light comes on, right? Thanks for the review mark I really enjoyed it and I’m glad you fix some of your issues so you can enjoy the headset.

Sorry, nonsense. I’ve had both the Aero and the Crystal, and I simrace 95% of the time. The Aero is SO claustrophobic that it’s a non-starter. I have overlays looking up and had to WAY move my head to see them. Also, I couldn’t see my mirrors without cranking my head around. I don’t have to do either of these in the Crystal.

I was impressed with the overall visual quality of the Pimax Crystal, but there is a defect on my display that required me to open a support ticket. My experience dealing with Pimax customer support has been absolutely abysmal. They do not speak english and are using translators and are otherwise completely incompetent. Its an issue with the display/lens and at one point they offered to replace my right controller!? Very frustrating for a $1500 piece of kit.

Mines on the way, I'm a sim racer and now feeling potentially high buyers remorse. :(

How can the horizontal field of view be the same and yet the vertical field of view be double when both are using effectively the same resolution (only 3-4% more vertical on Crystal)?

Another great video with lots of details. Any thoughts on a video of the Witmotion device and how to set it up with the DOF H6? Thanks Mark.

Great to hear your thoughts on this. the Aero really is awesome and was ahead of its time, hope I can try one some day.

I started in VR about 11 months ago with a G2. I loved it and upgraded from 3080 to 4090 so I could run it at high res and framerates in MSFS and DCS. Then in March I switched to a Pico4 even though I'm in the US, because I was absolutely desperate to get away from the G2's awful lenses. Pico has been great as a stopgap device, have spent some money upgrading other aspects of my sim-pit but at the end of this year I will buy a high end hmd.

The Somnium VR1 is #1 on my list but at this point my main worry is getting an order fulfilled on one, as I fear they may be overwhelmed by demand and it may take a long time to get one.

You said one of these days one of these VR headset manufacturers will figure out how to put an OLED screen behind aspheric lenses. My only experience with that combination was with the first Playstation VR and if I'm not mistaken, the first Gear VR. Back then it was low res so of course there were jaggies but agreeing with you, they need to go back to that.

You made the battery animation yourself? Or someone else did? Neat.
So just clarifying -- when plugged in, the battery will be (nearly) unlimited?
Yes your through the lens shows what you mean -- looks like lenses fogged. Yes, that would probably not look cool. Good job for you to keep pushing the issue.
Is the SIDE to SIDE fov pretty good? I read somewhere the Crystal fov is not much wider than HP G2. That doesn't sound so impressive. I find G2 fov rather bad, like binoculars.

Great video as always. Appreciate the effort. I am lucky enough to have both and agree with your summary.

Just got mine. And it left China only 3 days ago. Tomorrow I hook in up to a new PC with a 4090 in it. One should read the L.A. Times Article about the VR dynasty forming over there where Pimax is located. It's moving towards becoming the VR capital of the world. This thing was no accident.

Great review, very comprehensive. I want to pull the trigger on this one for my sim setup, been waiting for something to come along that has the clarity and fov of this!

Oh yeah!!!! • Mine is arriving next week!!!

I can’t sleep!!!