Yet another Pimax headset… make of it what you will.
It’s a Display Port model with eye tracking though, so looks interesting, not as wide a FOV as the upcoming Pimax Super QLED version. How bright the image will be with pancake lenses and OLEDs remains to be seen. I really like the small form factor.
Pimax Dream Air
From their website:
In the box: Headset with two controllers + 5M DP cable.
Superior Visuals: 102° FOV(H) on 27 million pixels: 3840 x 3552 pixels per eye at 90 Hz refresh rate, on micro-OLED panels.
Comfortable Fit: Headset weighs less than 200 grams, with a fully self-adjusting strap.
Full-featured PCVR: With the DisplayPort interface for visually uncompressed images from the PC.
Advanced Interaction:
Eye-tracking for auto-IPD and Dynamic Foveated Rendering
6DoF Tracking: Inside-out tracking by default, Lighthouse compatible.
I’m thinking that maybe they should get the stuff they already announced out (in good working order) before asking for people to purchase new products. But that’s me.
I preordered a Super OLED with pancake lens several months ago (au$2 for a reserved spot) but now I’ll probably wait for the Dream Air release later next year since it has the same optical stack, plus inside out and Lighthouse compatibility.
Their new preorder deal costs you quite a few $'s up front so I doubt I’ll do that. Like the PCL (that I returned because of lens distortion) I’ll probably wait until it’s available from my local Amazon store (much easier to return with a 30 day window).
Still looks very promising and overall looks a bit better overall than the upcoming MeganeX. Time will tell I guess. Cheers.
At this stage, this is nothing more than a marketing fever dream. An attempt to prevent people ordering the Meganex 8k, which is going for almost the exact same niche.
No way they are delivering this in May with the listed features and the stated cost!
Pimax never ceases to amaze, shock, and amuse!
It’s highly questionable and quite concerning that they are taking full payment for this thing months in advance when it currently only exists as a CAD file and a 3D print.
Pimax marketing people continually shoot themselves in the foot with stunts like this. Then again, they may also be short of cash. Who knows?
The only positive is that they possibly have a pancake lens prototype working, along with access to the micro-OLED panels, which they are developing for the Pimax Super. Speaking of which, that’s yet another “do everything” design, with its swap out lens/panel box design.
Still, I hope things work out, as right now there are precious few display port PC VR headsets to choose from and none of them are easily affordable.
They also started accepting the orders/payments for the wireless module for Crystal OG (delivery to selected counties only) with “initial batch available in April”, but 2 caveats here:
How small the batch will be?
If they will break the Pimax tradition and will actually start shipping on time?
The module will add little to no value for simming and other seated experiences, for room scale gaming the module price is comparable to the complete Quest 3 set.
However would be nice to play HLA untethered…
On the topic of micro-OLED panels using pancake lenses, a quick Google on them turned up a video of VR Flight Sim Guy (yeah, I know) having a first impression of the MeganeX.
As I suspected, the brightness is indeed not good, given that OLEDs by their nature do not have the high NITS of QLED designs, coupled with the fact that pancake lenses have very poor light transmission, due to semi-silvered reflective elements and the use of multiple polarisation, which leads to most of the light being absorbed, so that only about 12% of the original light emitted by the panel gets through.
As much as I would love to have an OLED headset (and my experience with the Pico 4 showed that pancake lenses have a lot to offer, at least with brighter LED panels) if I were considering something like the Pimax Super, it would be with the larger QLED panels, together with aspheric lenses and the wider FOV.
Sure, i wasn’t trying to give the impression that I think you are promoting it
Just my perception/opinion of the announcement.
More PCVR pancake is of course a good thing, very curious how they’ll turn out though. If they’re as bad as Bigscreen pancakes (reportedly) are, they may as well not bother. Meta is the bar. Apparently Meganex is getting very close to that, but not quite there either.
HP Reverb G2 are “only” 2160 x 2160 pixels without the real 100% resolution…, and are “perfect”, almost not screen saw teeth all the time, and more the problem how the Game/Sim works with those pixels with the AA etc. (other Games are a real dream in VR in that VR HMD), and we struggling and striving with outer softwares, tricks etc. to have a medium/decent result (Ram 6000Hz 62GB, 4090-9800X3D 100% TAA 60Hz), but, ho!, hey!, we need and have to buy a no 2160x2160, we need a 3840x3552 pixels x2, hahaha, great!, thanks for show me the path and enlighten!, that is what I need! hahaha, and all VR problems solved.
In my country the most sold VR HMD in black Friday was the PSVR2 (2000x2040 x2), more than Quest3 etc., ask to yourself why. I have my decision with the PSVR2 if no other VR HMD pop out during I can maintain my HP G2.
And I am talking of MSFS 2020, better not to mention VR MSFS 2024 results, with those pixel resolutions hahaha.
You know that Pimax has a track record of premature announcements and failed promises, for example Crystal ecosystem elements:
WideFoV lenses (the customers who preorderd Crystal were promised 2 sets of lenses) - no availability date even announced
wireless module - there is another promise - availability starting in April but only selected countries and only a first small (how small?) batch - I even ordered and paid for one yesterday, Pimax gladly collected my money, without any date of delivery guaranteed (no idea if I will be served by the first batch).
Looks really cool, but I’ve been burned by Pimax before and will not trust them with my money again until “regular” people (not youtubers/reviewers) start reporting receiving good working headsets after the first order without having to do 3-5 RMA’s. I really hope it will happen cause their products are awesome…if/when they work.
Good news now is that Pimax is now offering a $1 reservation fee for the Dream Air. While it probably won’t get you a unit as early as if you actually preorder, I think it’s a lot more palatable than paying a lot of $'s +5 months before it’s scheduled to be shipped.
I bought a reserved spot (au$2) for a Super OLED with pancake lens a few months ago but now I’ll probably hold off until I see how the Dream Air pans out. The much better form factor is a big selling point, for me anyway.
I have a pimax crystal and still waiting for wide view lenses! Nothing. I think the developers at Pimax have ADHD. They get things about 80-90% and then drop it and move on to something else. There is never any items like accessories available always out of stock.
I put a deposit down for a Super but now I want my money back because their focus is going to be on the Dream air now that they have some cash from suckers like me.
