The new Pimax Sword Controller review

After a long wait for Pimax Promised controller, In March 2022 it‘s finally officially for sale. The name “Sword” refers to “the sword of virtual reality”, and the idea is that the Pimax new controller resembles the hilt of a sword that connects the VR enthusiasts with a more immersive virtual world. Armed with Pimax Sword and Sword Sense, users will feel like a true hero while wielding the blade in sword fights and be able to get interactive and immersive motion controls in virtual reality. 

I only get my controller for a day, don't have much time to go future testing it yet, but here is what I feel so far.

Impression

The Sword controller has a very interesting new design. Its volume is truly bigger than other controllers, mainly because of the hand tracing sensor ring, which was designed at the bottom of the handle,

Comfort

when you put the Sword controller on your hand It's truly looking very unique and feels very comfortable, It's very easy to hold. And quite lighter than Index Knuckles Controller.

From their design description, "The Pimax Sword controller is designed to be adapted to the hand as closely as we could replicate it and this allows users to wield it in natural ways. The Sword uses an advanced texture coating that is both rugged and very comfortable on your hands. We also put a lot of work into the design and angle of the strap, so the controller is both feels natural and won’t slip during intense game action."

I'm pretty enjoying it so far.

Compatibilities

The latest version Sword controller has a big update that can allow Sword not only to support Pimax Headset but also other mainstream HMD in the market, basically like Index Knuckles. For marketing reasons truly it's a very smart choice, can allow more VR users to know Pimax.

Controlling Experience

I only try playing Beat Saber and half-life with it. As I said previously it feels lighter than the Knuckles controller, but the feedback feels very similar to the Knuckles feels great, but when I play half-life, the feeling it's different, I think that's the battle of Joystick and Touchpad.

I guess most people like me don't like the big touchpad subtle manipulation, the touchpad bigger means required your thumb to move more to get the movement complete, so after long playing your hand, especially your thumb will feel the sore, that's why people don't like Vive wand, even Pimax has battle tracking sensors and feedback this part true bothers me.

Battery

The quick-swap battery without the long wait of charging and reconnecting is a big sell point for the Sword controller, which it's kinda cool.

It uses Sony NP-BX1 for spare, Lucky I have, so I can test it, after almost 4 hours of using, the battery is dead,  the swap process basically like switch the battery of remote it's pretty easy, can it reconnect time cost like 5 seconds. 

Conclusion 

So this is just a first impression, with a further test I definitely going to test its response time, comparison with other controllers, etc, but for the moment I already feeling the special of the Sword controller. For a gamer, I am truly happy to see a new cool design coming out, Am I going to recommend purchasing it?  Yes, especially when the index controller is very hard to get hands-on at the moment, it wouldn't disappoint you， although if your hands it's relatively small, the Sword might not suit you, Knuckles is still your best choice.

Currently, Sword Controller sells for $300 

For purchasing the Sword controller just click here or visit Pimax Website.