Razer Keyboards

[George Powell]

Does anyone have any experience with Razer keyboards? I am in need of a new keyboard and they look quite tempting but are quite expensive.

 

[gneGne]

I only played around with it a bit in a shop. The keys felt really nice, but I wouldn't pay that much for a keyboard. They get dirty and you want a new one.

 

[Eureka]

From what I've seen about it I don't think it's worth it. Get the Saitek Eclipse (I or II, your choice) if you want something like that.

Or if you have the money, find a G11/G15 from Logitech.

Norm

 

[imported_wicka]

You missed it, a couple weeks ago BB had the G15 for like $60 (which is ~$40 cheaper than normal). I still wouldn't spend $100 on a keyboard. Ever.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: wicka
You missed it, a couple weeks ago BB had the G15 for like $60 (which is ~$40 cheaper than normal). I still wouldn't spend $100 on a keyboard. Ever.

I'm cringing at the thought of spending over $30 for a keyboard. I'm still happily using a Dell QuietKey and very very satisfied. I love this keyboard's action.

 

[QueBert]

I'm about to buy the Tarantula, $99 bucks sucks (too much) but I've read about 10 reviews of it, and almost all loved it. Most of them ended up getting rid of their g15's and Eclipse II's to switch to it. I love my Razer mouse, and I wouldn't trade my Razer sound card for ANYTHING it blows the Creative I had out of the water.

they charge too much for everything but they make great products.

 

[DeathscytheHELL]

Out of curiosity, How did this turn out.
I want to buy the Tarantula or the G15, haven't checked on the Saitek
By the technical specifications it gets my choice, especially if the Battlelight comes out.
But if you spent the money on this one, let us know how it is.

I love my Razer Diamondback Mouse.

And am looking for a keyboard to replace my Ideazon Zboard
I want the Macro feature, and was hoping for lighting features, whether backlighting or the Battlelight.

I like the idea of the antighosting and the cable management
And the big backspace

 

[Canai]

Saitek Eclipse II :thumbsup:

The Razer keyboard is not backlit, so keep that in mind too.

 

[almach1]

I've gone through about two mice and 3 keyboards in 6 years. I'm about to get a new keyboard cause my HP PS2 board's multimedia buttons don't work in vista. i finally spent more than 10 bucks 2yrs ago for my mx518, i think i might spend the extra dough on a nice keyboard also.

i want this one when it comes out.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=093

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: DeathscytheHELL
Out of curiosity, How did this turn out.
I want to buy the Tarantula or the G15, haven't checked on the Saitek
By the technical specifications it gets my choice, especially if the Battlelight comes out.
But if you spent the money on this one, let us know how it is.

I love my Razer Diamondback Mouse.

And am looking for a keyboard to replace my Ideazon Zboard
I want the Macro feature, and was hoping for lighting features, whether backlighting or the Battlelight.

I like the idea of the antighosting and the cable management
And the big backspace

Best keyboard out there period, I went from a diNovo which I love with all my heart, but the Tarantula is almost perfect, it's not backlit, but I can touch type in the dark so I don't mind. Would be cool if it was though. I love the onboard memory I play sometimes at a Lan Cafe and it stores my key layout so I can take my tarantula with me hook it up and be right into Counter Strike without having to remap a damn thing.

I bought my GF a Eclipse II, and it's wonderful but I wouldn't trade my Tarantula for the world, the only thing I could see myself replacing it with would be the Tarantula II when it comes out.

They have a new white model that has an Ipod dock on it, looks pretty sweet.

 

[DeathscytheHELL]

Sweet, I can get matching KB and Mouse...
So, have they actually released the Battlelight yet?

Because the packaging of the retail versions make it sound like the BattleLight comes with the Keyboard, but on some reviews it says "sold seperately"

 

[QueBert]

the battlelight isn't out yet, as far as I know there's no release date for it, just "coming soon" the connector at the top is just a mini USB so it's possible you could find a USB light and use it for lighting. I use a keyboard tray so as cool as I find the battlelight I don't think there's any way I could use it.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: almach1
I've gone through about two mice and 3 keyboards in 6 years. I'm about to get a new keyboard cause my HP PS2 board's multimedia buttons don't work in vista. i finally spent more than 10 bucks 2yrs ago for my mx518, i think i might spend the extra dough on a nice keyboard also.

i want this one when it comes out.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/productdetails.aspx?pid=093

That looks pretty cool... I have a Habu and love it, so if it's something along those lines it might be worth a look.

 

[EddieTheHead]

My friend has the Tarantula. It works great, but its too expensive. the side keys are lit though and the cheap plastic on top amkes it look cheesy. the g15 should be a god choice, and newegg has the saitek eclipe for 35 bucks if you ahev the code...PM me if youw ant it

 

[Crizza]

Tarantulas are $70 at CompUSA now if you have one of the closing stores near you.

 

[almach1]

i know a couple of people with the g15 and the paint was coming off the keys after 3 months on both of them.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: DeathscytheHELL
Out of curiosity, How did this turn out.
I want to buy the Tarantula or the G15, haven't checked on the Saitek
By the technical specifications it gets my choice, especially if the Battlelight comes out.
But if you spent the money on this one, let us know how it is.

I love my Razer Diamondback Mouse.

And am looking for a keyboard to replace my Ideazon Zboard
I want the Macro feature, and was hoping for lighting features, whether backlighting or the Battlelight.

I like the idea of the antighosting and the cable management
And the big backspace

Best keyboard out there period, I went from a diNovo which I love with all my heart, but the Tarantula is almost perfect, it's not backlit, but I can touch type in the dark so I don't mind. Would be cool if it was though. I love the onboard memory I play sometimes at a Lan Cafe and it stores my key layout so I can take my tarantula with me hook it up and be right into Counter Strike without having to remap a damn thing.

I bought my GF a Eclipse II, and it's wonderful but I wouldn't trade my Tarantula for the world, the only thing I could see myself replacing it with would be the Tarantula II when it comes out.

They have a new white model that has an Ipod dock on it, looks pretty sweet.

I completely agree, love my Tarantula. Hard to beat completely remapping the keys.

onboard memory can store 5 keymap profiles without drivers

And with the drivers you can have a shift state and remap each key to act as up to 3 keys pressed at once (eg. Crtl + K could be remapped to the P key) - so you could setup a complex set of remapped keys but then shift back to standard qwerty layout should you need to type. Up to 100 profiles and profile autoswitching dependent on launched .exes - you can make useful profiles for apps other than games

Then there's the 10 macro keys...

There's also the anti-ghosting and improved key response (although these selling points probably aren't as tangible to the average user)

Really the G15 is the only keyboard I've used that comes close to being as good a "gaming" keyboard. The Saiteks are only backlit for all I know, and as far as I'm concerned that's just awesome looking bling, not anything incredibly useful or defining feature (in terms of gaming).

 

[Captante]

I have a Tarantula that I tried on my main gaming PC & although I like it, its now doing duty on one of my backup machines ... I ended up replacing it with a Saitek Eclipse II which I like much better & which also costs much less.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I just picked up the Tarantula last week at 40% off at a CompUsa closing near me.

So far I love it...and I don't even really have a need for the key mapping features...the headphone jack on the keyboard is quite useful, the key stroke is perfect for gaming, the ergonomics are just right.

Granted, $100 is steep for a gaming keyboard, but I like it better than the Saitek and Logitech offerings...and at $60, I couldn't pass on it.

 

[DeathscytheHELL]

I hated this keyboard after buying it.

Technically it was sound.
I could press keys like mad, and never missed a keystroke.
The macro keys were kinda hard to use, but did what they were supposed to

it was the fundamental things in the keyboard that I should have taken a closer look at.

Notice the palm rest.
I like having the option of a palmrest or not (usually not)
or at least a highly slanted palmrest.
On this keyboard, its a permanent part of the keyboard and relatively straight out from the keyboard, uncomfortable to me

Also, take a look at how they slid the arrow keys so they are closer to, and slid under the shift key...threw me through a loop for several days.
but it's how close the Delete/home/page up key set is only the basic 6 button set, instead of 9, and how close they are to the enter key and the number pad that messed me up for several weeks.

While being able to take every key off and rearrange it is something to do for fun, I found that the seperation space, caused 2 keys to start acting up after only a short period of time...the "f" key liked to double type "ff" and the "w" key stopped depressing half the time.
taking the key off and blowing out the spot didn't work. So whats the point if you can't fix a problem.

Another thing that bugged me, when I connected my External HDD to the USB, it popped up with the "This connection would be faster if you used a USB2.0 connection"
It says 2.0 on the box, but I wonder if it really is.

Without the Battlelight.. this keyboard only has one cool feature, and that's the key response time.

I guess I will have to try the g15

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: DeathscytheHELL
Without the Battlelight.. this keyboard only has one cool feature, and that's the key response time.

I like the reprogrammable keys and the fact that it has internal memory in it capable of storing 5 of the ~100 profiles so that it will work on any computer even without drivers...but 'cool' is opinion and it might not be yours but certainly not everyones. I could care less about lit up keys, so backlighting/front lighting is all gimmick to me (if I really needed it I could easily position my own little LED lamp to do it) but I don't even play in the dark because its horrible for your eyes.

Although you're right in general about the expansion dock, so far it is completely useless for the Tarantula. The nearly identical Razer Pro|Type keyboard comes with an iPod dock. You can't swap it out for anything else but at least it is something, the Tarantula still has nothing and it has been out for the better part of a year.

 

[QueBert]

the dock is just a USB mini connector you can technically connect anything you want to it. I don't need a light as I can type without looking, and the battledock camera seems like a gimmick. I'm not really sad Razer's never released it. Not really sure what else you could want to put there.

 

[TexasCoyote]

Finally something on these forums I can comment on!

Prior to this keyboard, I used logitech almost exclusively. I grew disenchanted with them during the long wait for 64 bit drivers that actually worked so I started looking elsewhere. I also realized that I was buying a new logitech every 18 months or so trying get a keyboard that worked better for me. A good friend of mine had a Saitek that was good except for ghosting issues. Try as I could I could not find a Saitek that did not ghost on the numpad so I bit the bullet and shelled out for a Razer.

I've had a Tarantula for several months now. It pleases me greatly with only a few caveats. Updating the drivers and especially the firmware can be a bit trying. The USB cables will need to be plugged into the same port that it was originally installed on. This wasn't as annoying as the *reason* that I was updating the firmware: the keyboard usually didn't work outside of the OS so BIOS and boot option selection was a pain. Razer's tech support was very helpful and responsive throughout the whole process even though I had a system-specific problem that fell outside the knowledge base. Everyone I dealt with actually seemed quite knowledgeable and they certainly weren't reading from a script. Once I got the issue resolved they were very interested in discerning just what the incompatibility was and how to fix it for others.

As for operation and performance, using this keyboard makes me want to use it more. It's comfortable, responsive, and reliable. I actually like the fixed wrist rest as it provides much better support than the snap-on supports I've used on other boards. There was a bit of a learning curve to the key layout, but I adjusted quickly and now I find myself wishing the other keyboards I use were more like it. Actually, writing this post at work on this Dell is filling me with a profound sense of longing.

So far I haven't had any real problems with cleanliness. Yes, it has glossy surfaces that will show fingerprints, but that same glossy surface is pretty easy to clean.

I'm keeping this thing until it breaks. If it does I'll make a post about it, but don't think it'll happen.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: QueBert
the dock is just a USB mini connector you can technically connect anything you want to it. I don't need a light as I can type without looking, and the battledock camera seems like a gimmick. I'm not really sad Razer's never released it. Not really sure what else you could want to put there.

Well as of now its an extra, unusable feature that we paid for. I agree that I'm not really interested in either of the options they mentioned (battlelight/eye) but it just isn't good for Razer not to live up to it. Heck, there was talk back before the keyboard was even released of having a small screen to perform functions similar to that on the G15. Granted even I consider such a screen mostly a gimmick, but with Razer they could possibly make it somewhat useful by properly syncing their keyboard and mice together so that such a screen could display mouse diagnostics such as the current DPI, driver and windows sensitivities (move the on-the-fly sensitivity meter from your primary monitor to one on the keyboard), button configuration, profile...heck, if they could even make the drivers so that you could switch mouse profiles with remapped keys on the Tarantula...

 

[QueBert]

you can use it man, just hook something with a mini usb cable to it, sure it won't "dock" nicely. I probably will end up buying the Battlelight addon when they release it. I know Razer is slooooooow to get a product to market, but I can't imagine it's hard to make a LIGHT, there's nothing else to it! I've seen picture so I'm assuming it's already done, unless of course the pictures were mockups. Where the hell is it! I don't always trust razer picture, as the first pictures I saw of the keyboard all the keys were backlit hehehe.

I'm with you on the screen idea! If Razer does it knowing them it will be color, another dock I'd buy.