Razer a nice hair cutting device, a device us men use every day to remove our unwanted stubble, then wonder a few hours later why we even bothered, as it already started to grow back. The name Razer is not just a tool for shaving, it’s also well known in the gaming industry, and if you know how to spell, it’s Razor for the face, not Razer; did I catch you out then? Bet some of you from the very start were saying, what a dick, he cannot spell for shit?
So let’s take a look at the new Razer Blackwidow Keyboard, not to be confused as a venomous spider or Natasha Romanova, even though if I was unwrapping Natasha, Damn that would be a triumphant achievement and I would differently be standing to attention.
Today though we are taking a look at Razer’s latest incarnation of the world’s best mechanical gaming keyboard, the Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2. When it comes to Razer, everything shines quality but there is also that premium you pay to own one of their products, they don’t come cheap, for me, though, after many years of PC Gaming, Razer is one of my No1 owned products and currently all my peripherals are Razer. From the Razer Man O’ War Headset, Razer Firefly Mouse Mat and the Razer Naga Hex V2 Mouse, all of them are stunning, to use and own.
Why Razer? Just from the first time you see one of their products on the shelf in your local gaming store or electronic superstore, you are instantly drawn in, vibrant green on black, stands out a mile, and they always, always showcase their peripheral on the front in all its glory, same can be said for the Blackwidow v2. Just have a look at the images below;
From the very start, the start Razer wants you to know exactly what you are buying, its main core features and finally it’s award-winning Razer Mechanical Switches.
Razer Green, Razer Orange and Razer Yellow, let’s take a look at what each switch offers and what switch you feel is suitable for you.
| Razer™ Green | Razer™ Orange | Razer™ Yellow | |
| Type | Tactile & Clicky | Tactile & Silent | Linear & Silent |
| Actuation Force | 50 G | 45 G | 45 G |
| Travel Distance | 4.0 mm | 4.0 mm | 3.5 mm |
| Actuation Point | 1.9 mm | 1.9 mm | 1.2 mm |
| Actuation vs Reset Point | 0.4 mm | 0.05 mm | 0.0 mm |
Want to hear each one? check out the videos below;
For this version I have, the Razer Orange Switch, Tactile and Silent. Silent it is not, as you can hear from the videos, you can clearly hear the switch, but it is much quieter than the Razer Green Switch and much quieter than the standard popular Red Switch.
Still got issue with the switches, have a read of this below;
RAZER GREEN SWITCH
The Razer™ Green Mechanical Switch features a tactile bump and distinctive click sound along with optimised actuation and reset points for best in class gaming and typing performance. The keys have been designed to reset itself and fire again at almost half the distance of standard mechanical switches, ensuring you never miss a key in every game.
The keys have been designed to reset itself and fire again at almost half the distance of standard mechanical switches, ensuring you never miss a key in every game.
RAZER ORANGE SWITCH
The Razer™ Orange Mechanical Switch gives the same tactile bump and feedback as the Razer™ Green Switch but without the click; allowing a more silent gaming experience with the same swift actuation performance.
The optimised actuation and reset points ensure you’re ready for the next key press in half the time compared to standard mechanical switches.
RAZER YELLOW SWITCH
The Razer™ Yellow Mechanical Switch is a linear switch that has been designed with a reduced travel distance of just 3.5mm and ultra-fast actuation of only 1.2mm, which is ideal for fast paced games.
The keys do not produce a tactile bump or click making it silent and were made with the specific purpose of rapid-fire actuations to meet the demands of fast-paced FPS and MOBA games.
That’s enough about Switches I reckon, you should have a good idea, which Switches best suits your playstyle with all the information available.
I love the bling on my peripherals now, RGB Lighting to be exact, not bedazzled rubbish, that your youngest child loves to put on everything that is not theirs. 16.8 million different colours, that is what Chroma Lighting offers on these Razer Gaming Peripherals, is that enough? hell yeah, I got to 50 and I gave up counting. They are vibrant and beautiful, the best time to see these products in all its glory, would under low light, so turn the lights off and enjoy the ambience.
When Chroma lighting is turned on, every keycap on your new keyboard will showcase lighting around it and through the clear etched out letters, number and icons, the keyboard has some of the best lighting I have seen in a long time.
There is also another feature when it comes to owning a Razer peripheral of late, Chroma lighting, you can link them all together and have a mini disco, so for me, the colour wave starts on the Keyboard and ends on the another peripheral, so the wave just carries on, from one ends on another.
Since owning the Razer Ornata, and having the nice wrist rest as well, I really wanted this to be better, as the Razer Ornata wrist rest was good but the magnet that allows it to grip to the keyboard was not so great, and let the keyboard down to a degree. So when this one arrived I was hoping for an improvement, and I was not let down the wrist rest magnet has been improved and grips the keyboard very well, not to mention there is plenty of sponge to rest your rests on during those hard gaming sessions or for me, writing up articles and other items for Invision.
Macro’s love or hate?
I have used macros for one game ‘World of warcraft’, they made launching spells a lot quicker and essentially more convenient, within raids it was almost essential, as big guilds, with high expectations, you had to have macros to perform up to the standard and speed, which was expected of you. In PVP it gave you the edge over other plays that were just clicking the icons on the screen or buttons on the keyboard. The Razer Blackwidow V2 comes equipt with 5 dedicated macros keys more than enough for any avid gamer. and easy to setup and use thanks to Razer Synapse Software.
If five keys are not enough, don’t worry the whole keyboard can be reprogrammed to your liking with on the fly recording, something I have never used, but I know many gamers have and love.
Gaming Mode?
What is this function I asked myself, well when activated it deactivates the Windows key, as well as the Alt+Tab and Alt+F4, this stops you from accidently dropping the game to your desktop during the heat of battle?
Nice little Addition
Something I have seen on other keyboards and I like it on this one as well, a USB Passthrough and 3.5mm Audio Jack, it is what I would expect from a keyboard which takes up 2 x USB ports on my system, but the 3.5mm audio jack is great for anyone that uses headphones and struggle to get their cable to the back of their PC, without resorting to an extension cable. Of course, some systems have 3.5mm audio jacks on the front, if this is not the case and your headphone cable is a pain in the arse, this is a perfect addition well received. The 3.5mm jack can also be used as a Microphone in port as well, impressive I must say.
You will be happy to note, that Razer still uses Braided cords for all their products including this one, which to me is a no brainer, no tangles and look good.
Smudges
The Razer Ornata is a great keyboard, but damn, it would show all my smudges after just one day of use, this keyboard, though, under the same conditions, after 5 days now, the Blackwidow still does not show any smudges from use, this is awesome, as I was constantly cleaning my Ornata each and every day.
The Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 Keyboard is a full-size mechanical gaming keyboard for all games and I can not find a single issue with this product, it’s effective, fast, efficient, flawless, crafted to perfection, this is a keyboard all gamers should own.
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