Pimax today announced the end of pre-orders and the beginning of general sales of the Pimax “8K”, “5K” Plus, and “5K” Business Edition (BE) headsets. With a current waiting period of 81 days until Pimax begins shipping the headsets though, the company seems to be blurring the line between pre-orders and official sales.
Pimax maintains that Kickstarter orders should be entirely shipped by “mid January to mid-late January.” A chart provided by the company shows that they’ve already opened two production lines to fulfill Kickstarter orders, with a third opening in late December to help with the final push.
According to the chart, pre-order delivery is expected to begin somewhere between January 13th and January 27th. Pimax isn’t allowing queue-jumping with general orders though, as it remains steadfast in fulfilling Kickstarter orders first, then pre-orders, then general sales orders.
Currently, the company has quoted an 81-day waiting period for customers looking to order the headset today, requiring prepayment in full. It’s unclear what distinction the company is trying to make as it announces general sales with a lengthy waiting period; anyone could already pre-order all three headsets since late October at the same price.
If you were to hypothetically order today, November 30th, the company estimates they’d ship your headset on February 19th, 2019. The Pimax “8K” site notes that customers will receive their orders “within 90 days.” You can check out Pimax’s store page here.
Quick History & Specs
Here’s some backstory in case you missed all the hubbub about Pimax’s wide FOV headsets:
The Pimax “8K” headset was the result of VR’s most successful Kickstarter campaign, beating out all others, including Oculus, with $4.23 million raised when the campaign concluded in November 2017. It’s primary claims to fame were its impressively wide FOV, high-resolution panels, and incorporation of SteamVR tracking.
The company has weathered its fair share of delays over the course of the 2018, including lens redesigns that set back production of the final version well past the January 2018 estimated delivery date. The inclusion of a Knuckles-style, SteamVR-tracked motion controller was also devised, which the company is selling alongside SteamVR 2.0 base stations for a $300 deposit. No shipping date for the tracking/controller bundle is available at this time.
In a surprise move one month before pre-orders went live, the company shifted their plans to provide Kickstarters with the original “5K” headsets, instead tossing in an improved display in their newly christened “5K” Plus and “5K” Business Edition (BE) headsets, which offer native resolutions of 2,560 × 1,440 pixel count per lens (5,120 × 1,440 total).
Kickstarters then began seeing the first wave of headsets trickle in starting in late September. Now that you’re mostly caught up, here’s the specs:
Pimax “8K” Specs – $900
- Display: CLPL (Customized low persistence liquid)
- Resolution: 3,840 × 2,160 per display (7,680 × 2,160 total)
- Input content: upscaled from 2,560 × 1,440
- Motion to Photon latency: <15ms
- Refresh Rate: 80 Hz, Brainwarp Support
- FOV: ~200 degree diagonal
- Audio: 3.5mm audio jack, integrated microphone
- Output: USB 2.0/3.0, DP 1.4
- Tracking: SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 tracking
- Content: SteamVR and Oculus Home
- Fit: Adjustable headset strap (deluxe headstrap optional), IPD adjustment, VR frame
- Minimum Recommended GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti and AMD equivalent or above
Pimax “5K” Plus – $700
- Display type: CLPL(Customized low persistence liquid)
- Resolution: 2,560 × 1,440 per (5,120 × 1,440 total)
- Input content: delivered at native 2,560 × 1,440
- Motion to Photon latency: <15ms
- Refresh Rate: 90 Hz, Brainwarp Support
- FOV: ~200 degree diagonal
- Audio: 3.5mm audio jack, integrated microphone
- Output: USB 2.0/3.0, DP 1.4
- Tracking: support for SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0 tracking
- Content: SteamVR and Oculus Home
- Fit: Adjustable headset strap (deluxe headstrap optional), IPD adjustment, VR frame
- Minimum Recommended GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and AMD equivalent or above
Pimax “5K” BE, costing $1,000, has the same specs as the “5K” Plus outside of an OLED display, clocked at 85Hz. The Pimax “5K” BE is said to be a limited time offer.