So I finally got a mechanical keyboard! And I got it at a decent price! 94 bucks on sale at best buy for a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate edition! I think its rather a good deal for a KB that has decent enough switches and an ok score over all. Would I have liked a WASD Code with the magic DIP Switch? Does the Teo De Nedal shit chocolate?
Yes it does.
So, as a short review that will probably be 8 miles long, here is my summary of the keyboard, its features, how they work for me, and how much of a piece of shit it really is (no I was not excited about getting this, but I had a best buy card because my family won't just give me money, and it worked out to be cheaper than the shitty red switch keyboards and whil the logitech G910+ was 15 bucks cheaper, that shit ain't mechanical its a rubberdome board with a flashlight in it..... anyways....)
Features: USB Passthrough as well as Audio passthorugh, 10 key rollover, anti ghosting (more on both later), Razer Greens (basically MX blues, bit firmer though they will get really light after a year or so of use I assume), Backlighting, "Gsniper" and macro enabler, 3.5 - 4 mm spacing of keys, built in audio control, and a very annoying font. Also you can move the keys around. But its pointless to do so, again, more later.
So my over all thoughts on this board make me regret it but over all happy that I have it. I certainly could have done much worse with the G910+ from Logitech but at the same time my hands don't hurt. And while I do long for the magic of MX Clears and RGB, this will do me nicely. In my opinion, on sale at 80 dollars, this is a good starting board for anyone that wants one. If you want a board that feels nice, has the click, and you work / play at night, this is the board for you. As someone that spends time in a terminal or in docs on my mac this thing will almost never be used for work so a lot of the struggles I have with it will not be largely in the way. However while it is a featured, well well featured compared to a logitech 701+, there are many things that, frankly, piss me off. Lets start with the keys.
If you know how your muscles work you actually do more of a flicking action with a flat slab of a keyboard to push a key than pushing down. This can cause cramps sometimes and is rather annoying. Razer has thereby curved the keys for better comfort and less stress on the user. However if you are a Dvorak user like me this KB is pretty much hell. When you rearrange the keys you will find that rather than the switches being curved, the switch ports in the key caps are curved. What this does is makes the keys be at random angles on the board in other formats and at random heights. This is not OK and definitely not "Ultimate" as it says on the packaging. How can something be ultimate if you can't even rearrange the keys to your specified format like DV or workman? At that as far as I am aware they are not selling keys in other formats either which, I don't blame them for, but this seems like a design oversight that is annoying to a potential customer who might buy multiple items in the future. As well, the key paps are flat, so rather than being able to feel the deviations in the keys and not need to look down I fell like I have to constantly correct myself. This may also have to do with the spacing of the keys, but it is aggravating.
Next, the rollover and anti ghosting. I play CSGO religiously because source is dead and I don't have 1.6 anymore. Now, the way I USED to strafe was rely on the A and E keys to cancel each other out, so hold A to peek then press E to stop and vice versa. However now with this KB I have to bounce in between keys like a cocaine addict which is loud and annoying because if I do my old method the rollover and ghosting features kick on and cancel one or the other keys for like 5 seconds and I have to keep hitting the key until it finally notices and wakes up and I may or may not be dead. NOT GOOD RAZER. This is a large issue for me and I thought the board was dead night 1 of use, or well on its way. But no, its fine. Its just the worst code on the plant is all.
Lastly, the lighting. I like it, but Synapse needs more. I like the reactive effect but when I type I have to keep looking down to correct where my hands go so I need the backlight. If I go to chat in a game I was expecting a feature to be able to exist where when I hit ENTER the KB goes to static lighting until I am done and then goes back to reactive. Near as I can tell this is not a feature. So, I have to be bothered to hit the FN key on one side of the board and a number, which isn't awful, but its cumbersome and I feel like a built in macro would make that all work. Now, maybe there is something in the macro side of synapse that I can set up for that but I still have to hold FN and hit a button! Cumbersome slow and bullshit!
Now, as there are some issues I have that bother me incredibly, it is still a solid board that is well lit and hase nice keys. I know that the key was pressed because it is loud and even if the keys are weird, at least the home row FGHJ keys aren't differently socketed (COUGH COUGH LOGITECH) so that rearranging dosn't take a dremel to achieve. All in all the travel is ok, software is ok, feel is varied, over all I don't think its worth 128-150 USD without other switch options, but 80 - 90 dollars on sale I would call it great. I don't like to jack off on the park bench about KB sounds, how many grams of push you need, its all bullshit to me and rather stupid. What matters to me is customization to fit my needs and I feel razer has so much more to improve on than Linus actually has any bearing on in his 2014 video. MUCH improvement.
Get on it razer. If its By gamers, For gamers, then you guys really don't get the point in my opinion.