Razer in the gaming world is synonymous to decent material. Today we are reviewing their gamingkeyboard called the Blackwidow Chroma V2.
This is not your typical review. This is more going to be a buyers guide. I will tell you for what purposes this keyboard is perfect and for what not. I will also discuss some problems I encountered that aren’t really the keyboards fault, but maybe you will encounter them too so I will say them anyway. But the downsides I experience can be a huge benefit for other players.
I always have played with a controller. But I have been looking out for a keyboard. So I got my hands on this and even though this is an awesome keyboard, I have some concerns about it.
So the keyboard is delivered in a nice box. There is also a little cutout in the box with a testbutton where you can feel the touch and also see the lights.
The first thing I wanted to do was convert my layout to AZERTY. I could not do this because the keyboard is shaped a bit like a U. It has a little curve. So when I changed my Z and my W, the buttons where not in the right direction. This is not really a problem but just so you know, when you buy QWERTY you better stay that way. The buttons are fairly easy to take out though. The first time you do that it requires a bit of force, but afterwards it is really easy. This is a great advantage because it is a keyboard that is very easy to clean.
But because of that curve, you have an optimal reach over the buttons. It also feels really comfortable.
Another thing I really hated was that the secondary functions of the buttons are not visible. By this I mean that you can see 3, but you can’t see the # symbol. The lights only light up the numbers but not the symbols. This makes the keyboard perfect for gaming but a living hell for typing. But hey Razer is designed for gaming so it depends on what you do with it. Who types at night anyways am I right? *guilty as charged*
When I first saw the keyboard I was surprised by the many connections. You have 2 usb connections and 1 for your headphones. The first usb is for the keyboard itself, the second one for an usb port on the keyboard (where you can connect a mouse for instance) and the audio jack is there because you can also connect headphones to your keyboard. I loved it at first but because my usb ports on my laptop are right next to my audio port, they interfered with each other. I heard a fairly loud noise. Like a screech. The solution was to connect it to another USB port on the other side of my laptop. But I read it was a grounding issue in my laptop. So it is not the keyboards fault but still I thought it would be good to write it.
And now we have the “Razer Synapse” chapter. Synapse is the “driver” program of the keyboard where you can also change the colors and things like that.
I personally really like the program. Even though it takes a little while to get used to. It is a little bit overkill though. When I tried to login, I mistook my password 2 times and I already had to wait 5 minutes. Also the notification that your email is send after you made an account is barely visible.
But the top benefit of this keyboard is that it is comfortable. You get a support bar for your wrists so you can play for hours without really feeling discomfort. Also Razer put in some nice extras in the keyboard. For instance you can go into gaming mode. This disables the windows button, alt + tab or you can just customize it and say which buttons you want to disable.
I also really like chromecast. Chromecast is a function where the computer takes over the color scheme. Games like Overwatch support Chromecast. But the nice part is that when you play Overwatch, in the character screen your keyboard changes colors for every character you choose. For instance when you choose Tracer your keyboard turns orange, when you choose Reaper it turns darkly read. And when you get into the fight, the only buttons that are clearly lit, are the buttons you can use. This is real advantage.
Last thing I wanted to talk about was the button choice. I got a little test module with different kind of buttons. Green, yellow and orange. I had the orange version. The name actually has nothing to do with the color of the buttons. But the buttons have a different feel. The green one clicks when you push it, the orange one has a little bit resistance when you push it. I can’t really explain it. The yellow one just goes down with no feeling to it. I got the orange one and it was quite nice. It just depends on what your preferences are. On the site I read: green: tacile and clicky, orange: tactile and silent and yellow: linear and silent.
But still the normal keyboard effects are really nice. I personally really love the fire effect. It is an affect where the keys are flickering like fire. It is really pretty.
It is a really good gaming keyboard. Razer is made for gamers and makes hardware just for that group. Because of that the keyboard is not suitable for typing. At least if you are planning to type, oh I don’t know reviews, at night in the dark. So in summary: it is a nice comfortable gaming keyboard, it has nice effects and the chromecast function is really nice. There are some problems though, for instance typing is hard because the symbols don’t light up and the Synapse software is a bit hard to work with at times. I do recommend this keyboard though for extensive gaming sessions!
