Tracking eye module is pure junk, not working properbly, cut in mask to fit it

Pimax Hardware Pimax Discussion
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#1

Dear Forum.

I will ask for a refund of the Eye tracking module after i write this review.
The reasons are many

It simply dosent work properbly.

  1. First of all the installation “quick start” does actual not cover all nessesary steps to make the product work… They forgot to illustrate and write that you have to cut in the thin plastik mask to allow cables though the mask els it wont fit. Such information would have been incredible nice to read on the shop page, dont you think ? . Second i think its incredible stupid by pimax that we need an extension cable out of the 8kx mask all the way arround to attack the usb cable to the lower part of the vr headset… Actual i kind of wonder… where should i attach my hand tracking if there is no empty usb input in the helmet anymore… hmmmmmm junk design could it be that hard to make a usb connector inside the top of the mask for easy plug and play kind of thing… ;-(
    Also the eye tracking glasses mounting system is pure junk… you install two round metal pieced arround your glasses ( on the glass by the way ) and then there are some small magnets or plastik spikes build into the eye tracking module that are supposed to keep it in place… well not really it sit kind of loose and can get loose if you move your head fast… ( the eye tracking not the metal frame ). I sit here and think who came up with such a bad design. ;-(

  2. It is NOT obvious that after you install the eye tracking module that you have to look on the main page of pitool and that a new text below the image of the vr headset need to be pressed to download the software for the product. I am sure many users will not know this. AND it only show IF you have your lighthouse turned on ( in my case ) its not enough to just turn on the headset.
    After you have installed the software then many users get stuck again… They dont know they have to right click a new icon near the clock on the desktop and select calibration.

3). Calibration… Well this is the part that make me really angry. When i put on the VR headset the calibration do not work i just had two black screens with a red dot that dissapear… It took me 1-2 houres to figure out why and this is my solution… The Eye tracking do NOT track my eyes when i have the mask on, but ONLY when i hold the VR headset in my hands 1cm from my face. ( wtf )
When i do this it can track my eyes and I can after several attempts complete the eye tracking calibration.
After this i end up on the test page where there are like 10 circles where you can see your eyes movement and what you are looking at… in my case its lagging allot and eye movement is wrong basicly its not working and totaly worthless.
And by the way there is a firmware avaliable on the forum but NO CODE to unzip or install it.
How incredible stubid is that.!

I have owned the pimax 4k 5k+ and now 8kx and to be honest im so incredible tired of pimax.
Every time there are issues or delays and products not working out of the box and im far from the only one saying this. ( and pimax is actively using sensorship to hide bad reviews ( that is my impression in general about all products ).
Every time i have to read on the forum and read other peoples advice to just get the products working or downloading drivers that have issues and bugs.
Every time talking to the pimax support is a nightmare and every time as a consumer im the one paying the price.
Even when i sometimes ask for a refund i dont get 100% of my money back since pimax take a fee for refunding… come on guys you are the ones that sell faulty products we the consumers want a 100% refund its not fair that we loose money buying “broken” hardware or hardware and software that have bugs and missing features from day one. + shipping costs.
( example my 8kx are missing the loudspeakers they wasent in the box… it turned out pimax have not yet produced them. And the 8kx strap on system is produced with a wrong angle making it fit badly on peoples head ( the rear of the strap on system is to high on the rear of your head… they do offer a metal hindge you can install ( when they send it ) that should allow you to change the angle of the strap on stystem but its still a bit like "really do i AGAIN have to bother with this crap of things not fitting or working out of the box ). AND no matter what if you dont want to use pimax build in loudspeakers or microphone and put on a headset it wont fit since the frame is to big and block them from sitting properbly… its a bad design.
And finaly the build in microphone of the 8kx is terrible. ( but the 8kx lenses are great and tracking is great, and new facial mask is great except the headset fog up all the time ).

All in all i am tired of pimax.!!! hopefully in 2022 other vr headsets will surpass pimax, im finished buying your products.

I have desided to ask for a 100% refund of my eye tracking module since it dosent work + a free new facial mask for the my 8kx that i had to cut 1x2cm out of to actual mount the eye tracking module.
If i am not gona get a 100% refund including shipping cost im gona make a really nice video out my thoughts about pimax though the years. Im sure that gona be entertaining for pimax.
I am also thinking about asking for a refund of the 8kx… Image is great, but the reast of the headset is not good enough for the price asked.! and im missing things that have not even been produced yet… just saying its not good enough.!

10 Likes
#2

Yes. It’s been almost two months since I first bought it, but it gets stuck with calibration.
This product has many problems and should not be purchased.
I don’t care about my $ 100. I threw it away.

4 Likes
#3

It just boggles the mind how these issues keep being a part of every release Pimax makes.
Quality control is just a checklist which hasn’t been checked to be enough checks.

2 Likes
#4

For eyes that are difficult to track the tracking operates much more effectively if you plug the tracker directly to your USB 3.0 port on your PC.

On the microphone it’s probably the highest quality hardware mic included in any headset. Others have reported this as well.

2 Likes
#5

A good mic is only worth something if we can use it. How about a shipping update @PimaxUSA ?

#6

It lags on an 8K-X because the bottom port isn’t USB 3.0 enabled for some reason. To overcome this, you need to purchase a quality USB extension lead and directly connect the Eyetracking module to your PC.

One end plugs into the eye tracking module at the side and the other into a USB 3.0 or above blue/red port on your PC.

I haven’t got any further than this myself as I don’t have any instructions what to do next.

I can’t see my screen in VR well as the thin face foam + Eyetracking seems to have pushed my eyes too close to the screen and squashes my nose, so when I turn the focus adjust wheel on the headset, I still cannot see in focus.

Also I can see the black housing of the Eyetracking module which is distracting as it appears as a black line down the centre of your vision.

Unfortunately Pimax sent me Eyetracking with a minor coating defect on one lens meaning I won’t be able to sell it online, so ultimately it was a waste of money.

I imagine what will happen with the 8K-X refresh, is in 2022 there will be Graphics Cards with DP 2.0 support meaning 4K/144 Hz native support and of course, built in Eyetracking. Hopefully that will be a more pleasant and better value experience than the current setup.

If I cannot see the screen after removing Eyetracking and hopefully oneday getting a thick face foam in the Kickstarter ‘backer box’ I’ll sell my 8K-X which will be disappointing as I haven’t played a single game and built a new PC especially for it.

There are far worse things to worry about in life than a VR headset, I think it’s just the 3 year wait for 8K-X got my hopes up too much. The image quality is superb though, with no SDE and it blows the older 8K screen quality away so I can see, on balance, why many people love their headsets and I’m pleased they’re enjoying the experience.

3 Likes
#7

I have the 8K X and when i use obs on the mic, it sounded good but when i tested it out in games like Vrchat. My friends said my volume is really low. I even max the volume in the game itself, but it still not good enough and I dont know what else i could do to make it so its not very low.

1 Like
#8

You could try turning up the gain on your mic in the Windows settings.
https://help.tandem.chat/en/articles/3162968-how-to-boost-mic-volume-on-windows

#9

There is a top USB on all their previous headsets. Unfortunately, they had to remove it on the 8K-X because they couldn’t fit it on the PCB due to all the other changes they had to make.

I partially disagree with you on that. The magnet design was a good idea that could have been better implemented with stronger magnets. It was also intended to allow the eye tracker to be quickly added and removed. If you decided that you wanted to permanently attach the eye tracker they included an adhesive strip that you could use instead.

#10

This problem was also on the pimax 5kplus,i told them many times… pitool NEEDS a mic boost option…

2 Likes
#11

No this was the marketing talk, not the intention. They knew the magnets didn’t stick well so they had to provide adhesive tape too but needed a shiny story. Like with every aspect of the headset, it’s great talk but barely met specs.

4 Likes
#12

I must have missed something? I installed the ET module Yesterday and there was adhesive (3M) tape on the backside of the magnet frame to secure it against the lenses on the headset.

To me it seems to be needed as the frame doesn’t stay put without it.

The actual module then clips into small pins on the magnet frame and stays there unless You push it too much (like move the IPD wheel to far or something like that).

It seems to work OK for me with my average IPD of 64 but I’m sure it will be problematic for high IPD users as the cables that go to each of the eye trackers will be pulling them sideways if that makes sense… :wink:

3 Likes
#13

The precarious fit of the eye tracking module parts could probably have been significantly mitigated, if the hole left where the usb connector was, had been fitted with a plug that holds the “hub” securely in place… hmm, thinking about it, that might be a decent weekend 3D printing project…

Speaking of the microphone - mine stopped working at some point – Windows lists it, but proclaims there is no “jack info”. Anybody else?

1 Like
#15

How do I refund this pre ordered eye tracking module? Ive been regretting the purchase for weeks now even with the $100 backer discount.
I do not want to put it on my 8kx for many reasons.
Do I just hit the refund button on backer store?

3 Likes
#16

Replying to myself… If anybody care to have that little adapter, which does help quite a bit, you should be able to download the stl here:

http://www.jojon.net/Pimax8kX_blind_plug_for_top_USB_port.rar

3 Likes
#17

I’ve been wondering this myself. I am full of regret. I havent even been able to use it yet and there are zero reports of ANYONE being happy with it.

The entire product was falsely advertised from the moment sweviver demoed it

  • From the supplied usb cable being to slow even for usb2

  • to the new cable required to plug directly into pc for best performance

  • to the way the device needs to be mangled to get it to fit. I just cant bring myself to doing this to my 8kX for something that seems like it will bring more cons than pros

I’ve already cut up my 5k+ to fit the eye tracking in and all it did was add an infrared eyeball heater to the device.

I am sorely disappointed in the eye tracking

5 Likes
#18

Yes I totally agree with everything you have said.
Also for me with a 61 ipd & lens already resting on my nose it would have been a bad idea to add more plastic in that area.
Luckily I managed to get mine refunded after a bit of back & forth discussion having to ask a few times.
It took about 3 weeks for the refund but I’m so glad.

Imo this eye tracking is a dodgy alpha/beta version which is not ready for consumers.
Maybe a gen 2/3 or built in version might live up to the hype this version was given

#19

Also agree here,i put everything back in the box… its unusable…

2 Likes
#20

So glad I cancelled this and got refunded before it shipped. It seems useless in its current state unfortunately. Just the fact that you need to run an extra USB cable to your computer for it to function was reason enough to cancel it.

3 Likes
#21

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