Razer Huntsman Elite review: Optical switches arrive, but that’s not even the best feature - crossevencline

IDG / Hayden Dingman

At a Glance

Practiced's Rating

Pros

• Opto-Mechanical switch is speedy and clean feeling
• RGB-enabled wrist rest is trashy but cool
• Finally, dedicated media keys on a Razer keyboard

Cons

• Opto-Natural philosophy switch is deafeningly trashy
• Volume wheel is tumid to use without looking
• Radiocarpal joint-rest elucidation requires some USB cables to be plugged in

Our Verdict

Razer's Hunter Elite needs another toss, especially the awkward media keys, but its RGB-enabled wrist rest is attention-getting and the new Opto-Robotlike switch holds hope.

Best Prices Today

Optical switches. I knew they were coming to mainstream keyboards sooner or ulterior. I started seeing them pop at PAX a year or two agone, courtesy of a brand titled—I'm serious—Bloody. (The parent company has the much more ho-hum name A4Tech.) It was only a matter of time.

Turns outgoing Razer is first out the logic gate, with the Huntsman Elite keyboard (MSRP $200) and what it's calling the "Opto-Mechanical" switch. A bit aggrandizing, Eastern Samoa all optical switches are a blend of optical and mechanical parts. But, uh…well, it's Razer. I'd expect nothing less.

And if nerdy discussions nigh switch tech don't answer it for you, an RGB-endabled wrist rest should catch your eye. In earnest. Let's dig into what's certainly Razer's most innovative keyboard in years, though I'll save the verdict for the end.

Eminence: This review is take off of our Charles Herbert Best gaming keyboards roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.

All of the lights

Razer doesn't do brand-new designs ofttimes. I've honestly lost count of how many BlackWidow revisions I've looked at over the years. That makes the Huntsman a novelty of sorts—a happy chance from tradition at the very least.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

But don't expect too much change. In large part, the Huntsman resembles the BlackWidow X, with its exposed metallike backplate and raised keycaps. It's not the BlackWidow X, and the chassis is a different pattern, but "minimalist black rectangle" doesn't lead you a lot to work with. In strange words, the layperson could be forgiven for mistaking the two at a glance.

A few details have changed though, mainly in the top-flop corner block. Connected the BlackWidow, that's where you'd find all the indicator lights. Happening the Huntsman Elite? Ordained media keys. Yes, at last. I've knocked Razer for years now about double-map its media keys to the Function words, and the Huntsman Elite intent eventually fixes the proceeds.

Okay, it's admittedly a little weird: The baseline Huntsman? No media keys still. And on the Hunter Elite? Razer's gone with a circle motif for the media keys, which is unique to say the least. Attention-getting, merely not my ducky design.

Worse, the keys aren't as functional as I'd like. There's inflammation underneath each key, but the actualised controls aren't backlit. It's not that hard to intuit—Bound off Back on the left, Wager/Pause in the middle, Cut Second on the starboard. Still, wherefore not just crystallise them? No idea.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

The mass wheel is the intense offender though. IT's comparable the superannuated wheel on the original iPod. Spin it left hand and the volume decreases, accurate to increase. (And hit the button in the intermediate to mute.) It's not a very ergonomic design, and I've set up information technology particularly hard to run when I can't take my eyes dispatch the screen. Trying to reach all over the keyboard and grab it is a nonstarter. The only reliable way to use the cycle is to execute your hand up the far-right edge of the Hunstman until you find it, then rotate.

It's equitable ill-chosen, and indicates Razer might need a few iterations earlier it catches up with companies look-alike Corsair and Logitech, which have had standalone media keys for long time and years now. Silent, a huge step up from having to hold downwards the Fn key and streeetch to hit F1 to F7.

An interesting side effect: Rather than ram the indicator lights under the media keys, Razer's instead opted to move them underneath the Home block, above the pointer keys. Non the first to act so, but it's slick looking.

The well-nig noteworthy design feature of the Huntsman Elect, however, is the articulatio radiocarpea repose. Namely, the fact that it's RGB-enabled. Information technology looks similar to the wrist rest packaged with the BlackWidow V2, leave out the Huntsman Elite's has a row of pins on the top inch. When connected to the Hunter keyboard, the wrist rest continues a ribbon of light that rings the entire base of the keyboard (as seen below).

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Inarticulate? Maybe. But it's fancy, co-ordinated the same "underglow" aesthetic found on Razer's Hyperflux mousepad and other peripherals. If you're an RGB fan, this is probably the prettiest keyboard you'll watch, besides the Corsair K95 Platinum. The only downside: In order to illuminate both keyboard and wrist rest, you need to plug in some USB cables. Not in truth surprising I guess, but perhaps a pain for those (like myself) who are continual out of USB ports.

Optical maser beams

Anyhow, on to the optical switch. As I said, Razer calls IT "Opto-Mechanical," meaning information technology's a blend of optical actuation and machinelike feel. And again, this is a bit misleading because…swell, that's true ofevery optical change I've seen, such as A4Tech's LK Libra the Balance switching.

In fact, Razer's Opto-Mechanical switch looks a pile like the LK Libra the Scale, to the point where I'm pretty sure A4Tech is manufacturing Razer's switches—non that Razer's saying. The design is just about exactly the same though, with a U-shaped bit of plastic, a Cherry stem in the center, and a metal anti-sway bar along each key. Given the fact that Razer's Leafy vegetable and Orange switches started as rebranded Kailhs, I wouldn't atomic number 4 surprised if the same sort of deal was struck here, in which case it's doubly funny that Razer is marketing the Opto-Physical science switch as a Brobdingnagian find.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Razer's a globe-spanning brand though, and A4Tech isn't, so here we are.

Regardless, the point of the Opto-Mechanical switch is that the signal is sent at lightspeed—literally. In a standard machinelike switch you depress the key, metal contacts metal-looking, a circle is formed, and the data processor then interprets that circuit as the key dubious.

With optical keyboards, the process is almost exactly the same except instead of metal, the switch uses short. In A4Tech's switches, there's a naiant optical maser underneath each central. A little of plastic sticks up in the middle, and when you depress the key this plastic bit dips low-spirited, the two sides of the beam connect, and the signal is registered.

Razer's design flips this. In the Opto-Natural philosophy switch the optical maser shines unimpeded until you depress the key, at which distributor point there's a break in the connector and this is successively relayed as the proper signal.

In theory it's faster. In praxis? Yeah, I doubt literally anyone on the planet will notice the difference of opinion. We're speaking mere milliseconds here, the difference 'tween a fully metal circle and one that has a laser in information technology for a small stretch.

There are a couple of some other benefits. Optical switches are purportedly more reliable, and also more perdurable. You backside spill a beer on your keyboard and it'll credibly work allay. That sort of overindulge. But these are edge cases for the vast majority of people, and more useful for Razer's marketing people than for you at home.

Ironically it's the boring ol' mechanical portions of the Opto-Mechanical switch which are more primary, as they dictate how information technology actually feels to type on the Huntsman Selected.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

First, have me say: They're loud. Same, really loud. I have a lot of Cherry MX Blue boards lying around because they'rhenium my favorite tack, and they're known to equal the nemesis of roommates/partners/coworkers the world over. The Opto-Mechanical switch is louder.

Not just louder, but higher inclined too. It makes a hollow thunk when pressed, with a sort-of metallic echo connected the way choke. We're non at buckling-reverberate levels of noise, just it's surely enough to get at anyone nearby.

That said, I like the way it feels. Information technology's different, for sure, with the homophonic 45 Gram force requirement every bit the lightweight Cherry MX Red, but a shallow 1.5mm actuation point and the tactile click of a Cherry MX Blue. An odd blend, and non incomparable I think is proper for typing necessarily.

But for gaming? It's damn fast-paced. Like Corsair's Cherry red MX Speed switch, it feels almost equivalent the Opto-Mechanical actuates as soon as I've intellection about pressing the key. We're talking millimeters of difference here, so whether it's actually that much quicker is uncertain. You'atomic number 75 fine jutting with your Cherry MX Vapors or whatever if that's what suits you.

I didn't hate it though, which is more than I can say of a distribute of Cherry knockoffs. I found myself making more errors while typing, same As the MX Speed, but I was besides jiggered how much heavier my standard Blues felt erst I went back. If you want a lightweight exteroception board, the Huntsman Elite might just atomic number 4 the one for you.

Bottom course

Of course, it's also a $200 keyboard. That puts it right ahead there with the aforementioned Barbary pirate K95 Platinum, a keyboard we currently possess listed as our "splurge" keyboard pick—meaning there are a hell of a lot of great mechanical keyboards you could pick up for half the cost. The Huntsman Elite is singular, and even impressive in much small shipway. I love the radiocarpal joint rest, gaudy as it is, and the Opto-Mechanical switch is pleasant if not quite as revolutionary as Razer makes information technology out to be.

The media controls require some other pass-though, and there's non much about the Huntsman Elite that makes it a mustiness-steal. Non at this price, at least. Hopefully, if optical switches catch on, they'll too become more affordable, other it seems smarter to follow plain ol' metal-connected-metal. IT mightiness not be as sexy American Samoa laser beams, but IT's already hard decent convincing people to spend $100 on a keyboard. Doubly that? Ha.

Best Prices Today

Note: When you purchase something after clicking golf links in our articles, we may clear a small commission. Read our consort link policy for more details.

• Computers and Peripherals
• Keyboards

Hayden writes well-nig games for PCWorld and doubles as the resident Zork partisan.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/402251/razer-huntsman-elite-keyboard-review.html

Posted by: crossevencline.blogspot.com

Share this post