Razer’s keyboard line is becoming as confusing as the rules of American football, but if we ignore TKL and the 75% versions of each, the Blackwidow line is the flagship for purely mechanical keys, and the Huntsman is for those who want two flavors of optical keys Guys, the Ornata is two versions of the membrane key and then the purely wireless Deathstalker.
We mounted the glove on a Blackwidow V4 Pro, our test version in yellow, which is marketed as smooth and quiet. However, when you hit the keys, it still makes a distinct sound from the keys because you can press them easily. Personally, I prefer the green, tactile one, it’s a bit noisy but has a distinct physical feel. However, the advantage of the green is that the start and reset points are the same, and is easier to start at 45G than the others – so it feels faster, is lubricated with branded lubricant, has a focusing lens under the switch for the light, and Sound-wise it’s dull.
There has to be something new, and this year it’s definitely priced at a whopping £230. What is new is the focus on control and the big picture. Not only is there a solid scroll wheel that can be changed from volume control to whatever you want that day, there are four media buttons, and there are now three extra buttons on the side, a command dial in the upper left corner, and five macro keys.
This may seem a little overwhelming, but the presets are actually easy to get used to, so one of the keys on the side is for the Windows snippet tool, and while you can press the command dial to toggle functions, the first one is ALT+TAB Alternative, so instead of holding down the ALT key and pressing TAB, you turn it. It’s much better than using buttons, which is really nice if you use a feature like this as often as I do. It took me a while, about three weeks, to get used to it.
Like its mice, Razer decided that the keyboard and even the palmrest should have “dark-glow” RGB lighting. It works fine, it’s subdued and doesn’t bother me. The light passes through the keys, the keys are molded as intended, and even if the switch underneath was made to specs of 100 million keystrokes, it shouldn’t make a difference because the keys physically wear out very slowly. However, I would like to point out that I haven’t actually worn out a keyboard in many years.
Today’s neoclassical design retains the exposed stem on the switch, so the whole thing is bathed in more light, but it works. The scroll wheel and macro knob are both grooved, and I find it hard to say anything bad about the design, except that I don’t like the two USB cables, and while having a USB port on the keyboard is a good idea, it shouldn’t be on the back. In my opinion it should be on the left.
Razer’s Synapse software is easy to use – but since it’s often bundled with Cortex, Axon and Central, it quickly becomes an insane amount of MB, a little over 2000 in fact – which is way too much.
There is no doubt that this is a premium keyboard with premium features, a premium price, and premium build quality. But honestly, the basic functionality is no different than something that costs less than half the price, and while Razer’s keys are pretty good, there are other options, and often better ones.
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