Pimax reveals a new lineup of VR headsets, the most affordable of which coming in at under $500.
When Pimax announced its state-of-the-art VR headset back in 2017, users were blown away by the 200-degree FOV, 8K resolution, and custom knuckle motion controllers. As a result, the Pimax 8K also came with a whopping $1,200 price tag, which put the high powered VR headset out of reach for most average consumers.
Just yesterday at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, the VR company announced a new lineup of Pimax headsets that includes everything from the top of the line $1,200 model called the 8K X, as well as an entry-level PC VR headset called the Pimax Artisan, priced at a more affordable $449.
In total, Pimax revealed a whopping SIX VR headsets, each of which designed to satisfy a different type of user.
The Pimax Artisan comes at a really great time for VR. Both the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest were very popular gifts during the recent holiday shopping season, and the $449 price point puts the Pimax Artisan in direct competition with these standalone devices.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the $449 price tag only gets you the VR headset, which means you’ll have to fork over additional cash for controllers and base stations, and unlike the tetherless Quest, you will need to connect your Artisan to a PC running at least a GTX 1050 Ti or an AMD equivalent.
On the flip side, the Pimax Artisan does promise better visuals and more power than that offered by the Quest. The Artisan features two 1700 x 1440 LCD panels plus RGB strip matric panels and refresh rates of up to 120Hz. The Quest, on the other hand, features 1440 x 1600 OLED panels with a refresh rate of 72Hz. The Artisan also boasts a generous 180-degree field of view, offering a much more immersive visual experience when compared to the Quest’s 100-degree FOV.
For Pimax, offering multiple levels of VR headsets means they can get their hardware into the hands of everyone from first-time users to long-time veterans looking to upgrade or expand upon their current VR setup. Whether they be eSports gamers, corporate trainers, researchers using VR for medical use, or even government agencies exploring scenario training, Pimax hopes this new lineup of hardware has a little something for everyone.
In order to push VR technology forward and continue motivating developers, offering multiple hardware options is essential, something Robin Weng, founder of Pimax is extremely adamant about.
“We are blessed with a hardcore and supportive VR community, together with whom we learn lessons and push the industry to the next VR Era,” said Weng in an official press release. “We are looking forward to more excellent content created on this platform and are calling for more industry personnel and VR enthusiasts to make this journey together. Only together can we achieve great things.”
I should mention that Pimax launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 with the hopes of raising $200,000. When all was said and done, they ended up raising over $4 million in just 45 days with a total of 5,946 backers. While those are no doubt some impressive numbers, a closer look at the companies Kickstarter comment page reveals that some of those backers are still waiting on hardware, which obviously isn’t sitting well with investors. But perhaps, now that the company is in full production of a new lineup of headsets, many of these issues will soon be addressed.
If you happen to be at CES, you can stop over and check out the Pimix Artisan headset along with the entire VR lineup at LVCC, South Hall 1, booth number 21520. Just be careful to not step on that little Charmin robot running around the CES show floor carrying toilet paper.
Feature Image Credit: Pimax
