With an epic field of view and lightning-fast refresh rate, the Pimax 5k super looks to be a great choice for VR gaming and in particular Flight Sim and Sim Racing. Boasting many of the same impressive features as the Pimax Vision 8K X at around half the price, this headset could be a wise choice given the difficulties of running the massive resolution of the 8K X.
Pimax VR Headset Comparison Chart
- Dual 4k RGB Panels
- Native 4k Rendering
- 200° Diagonal FOV
- 170° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- 75Hz Refresh Rate in 4k Native Mode
- 120Hz Refresh Rate in Upscale Mode
- Modular Audio Strap Included
Pimax 8K X Review
- Dual 4k RGB Panels
- Upscaled 1440p -> 4k
- 200° Diagonal FOV
- 170° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- Supports Refresh Rate up to 110Hz
- Modular Audio Strap Included
- Dual 2.5k RGB Panels (2560 X 1440 per eye)
- Native 2.5k Rendering
- 200° Diagonal FOV
- 170° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- Supports Refresh Rate up to 180Hz
- Higher refresh rates limit FOV significantly
- Modular Audio Strap Included
- Dual 2.5k RGB Panels (2560 X 1440 per eye)
- Native 2.5k Rendering
- 200° Diagonal FOV
- 170° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- Supports Refresh Rate up to 120Hz
- Modular Audio Strap OPTIONAL EXTRA
- Dual 2.5k OLED Panels (2560 X 1440 per eye)
- Native 2.5k Rendering
- 200° Diagonal FOV
- 170° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- Supports Refresh Rate up to 85Hz
- Modular Audio Strap OPTIONAL EXTRA
- Dual 1700 X 1440 LCD Panels
- Native 1440p Rendering
- 170° Diagonal FOV
- 140° Horizontal
- 115° Vertical
- Supports Refresh Rate up to 120Hz
- Modular Audio Strap OPTIONAL EXTRA
Field Of View
When first wearing the 8K X, and 5k SUPER, we were immediately impressed by the field of view. If you are coming from a headset like the HP Reverb G2 with a horizontal FOV of 98°, you will likely be awestruck by the 170° Horizontal FOV of the Pimax range (excluding Pimax Artisan).
The “Ultra-wide” field of view genuinely adds significant immersion to the VR experience, especially for Sim Racing, as the fast-moving peripheral vision gives an incredible sense of speed to your driving.
Resolution
When we looked at the 8K X we found that even with a very high spec PC we were not able to find a good balance of frame rate and graphics quality while attempting to render dual 4k VR. So at around half the cost of the 8K X and half the resolution, it was interesting to see if the performance boost and lower cost was a worthwhile sacrifice to the extreme resolution.
In our opinion, yes.
While there is some Screen Door Effect due to the lower resolution, it is very minimal. Given we were able to run all major sim titles with much higher graphics settings than with the 8K X while achieving a consistently high frame rate, the introduction of a small amount of Screen Door Effect is in our opinion a worthy sacrifice. Especially when you consider the price compared to the 8K X and 8K Plus headsets. When taking into account the sacrifices needed to run the 8K X smoothly, we were actually able to have the 5K Super providing a very close visual experience at half the cost!
Another important feature is Fixed Foveated Rendering. This feature reduces the rendered resolution of the outside areas of your FOV while maintaining the best possible clarity at full resolution in the centre of your view.
This has a significant impact on performance with very minimal impact on image quality.
For headsets with eye-tracking such as the Varjo Aero which we have looked at previously you are able to utilise Dynamic Foveated Rendering. This enables the section of higher quality image to follow your gaze, increasing its effectiveness.
Pimax has an optional Eye Tracking Module which is compatible with their entire range of VR Headsets, however, it is a significant financial investment. This will unlock Dynamic Foveated Rendering to Pimax users.
Refresh Rate
The possible 180Hz refresh rate of the 5K Super is a big jump up from 120Hz on the 5K + and 8K X (upscaled). This does provide a very smooth experience however with our 3080ti and 12900k processor we were not able to achieve a frame rate in the sim which was able to utilise this without big sacrifices in image quality.
With VR in particular compared to monitors with Adaptive Sync or G-Sync, any variation in your frame rate can lead to strange behaviour on the screens which can give you a headache and detract from immersion.
So with our setup, we ended up preferring to run the headset at 90Hz while maintaining very high graphics settings. This could vary depending on your system and personal preferences.
It is also important to note that when operating above 144Hz, your Field of View will be restricted. At 180Hz it is quite a significant drop in FOV and in our opinion is not worth any benefits might be able to achieve from the higher refresh rate.
Audio
The 5K Super comes as standard with the same MAS Audio Strap as the 8K X and 8K Plus, and you also have the option of upgrading to the DMAS or KDMAS speaker systems. We were not really impressed with any of these options, as they all create quite a lot of spill, and not a particularly full or rich sound. We feel it is a much better option to simply plug in your own earbuds to the stereo jack provided on the headset.
There is a small pinhole microphone on the headsets which is perfectly adequate for voice chat while gaming.
Ergonomics
The Pimax 5K Super has an identical form factor to the 8K X. Both have a solid construction with plenty of adjustments and padding to ensure a secure fit. The headset is quite large compared to some other headsets, and you can feel it pulling down towards your nose, but not to the point where it caused any particular issues for us.
If the front heaviness is a problem for you, there are some third-party counterweights available that balance your headset out quite nicely. We tried the Counter Balance kit from StudioForm Creative which definitely aided in dispursing the weight of the system across your head.
StudioForm Creative have kits available for many different VR headsets. If you’d like to purchase a kit from StudioForm, you can use our affiliate link to help support Boosted Media at no additional cost to you!
Software
The Pitools software is intuitive and easy to use, giving quick access to all necessary features to get your headset set up. However, the installation process became quite frustrating and ended up taking a good 6-7 hours to get the headset running properly. We went through the standard customer support process which was a reasonable experience with good communication, although we are not entirely sure what the cause of our issues was. It seems to be a combination of small software-related incidents with services not initialising correctly rather than any sort of hardware problem. So hopefully we will see some software updates which make the Pimax drivers and software more reliable and easy to install.
Conclusion
For us, the big win with the Pimax headsets is the huge Field of View. The sense of speed and overall immersion is spectacular and something any gamer, particularly sim racers will enjoy.
We found to get the best overall experience we did not utilise the high refresh rates making this selling point somewhat moot. This makes the 5K PLUS a great option as it has the same FOV and resolution without a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. Strangely though, at the time of writing this, the 5K Super is actually listed as a little cheaper than the 5K Plus.
The overall experience was significantly hampered by the difficulties we faced in getting the headset up and running. For anyone looking for a quick plug-and-play VR headset to quickly jump in and have some fun when you have a spare half an hour, this might not be the headset for you at this point in time. But if you can overcome those teething issues, you will definitely have a high-performing VR headset that brings another level of immersion and fun to your gaming experience.
Be sure to watch our entire review video for all the detail on the Pimax 5K Super, and check out our Pimax 8K X review as well.
