Razer is becoming one of the larger gaming peripheral brands, and also gaming computer brands, on the market. With its recent upgrading of the Razer Blade 15, the company has poised itself to dominate the PC gaming market in 2018.
I have long used Razer gaming peripherals for price, quality, and feature set. Razer Synapse, the company’s computer-based controller software for its peripherals, is one of the better programs on the market when it comes to configuring RGB, macro, and other keyboard, mice, and peripheral features. Razer today announced its latest keyboard line, which is the first Opto-Mechanical offering, dubbed the Huntsman and Huntsman Elite.
Both keyboards are Opto-Mechanical, meaning that there are optical light sensors inside each switch. This allows the switch to actuate even faster than normal mechanical keyboards, possibly giving you an edge over competition with a faster response time on your keyboard.
Razer claims that the reset and actuation points are exactly the same, so you can rack up more keypresses in a shorter amount of time. Because of this, you can have a very responsive switch, but keep the clicky feedback that everyone loves. I personally use a Cherry MX Blue keyboard because I love the feel and sound of clicky switches.
Each key features a stabilizer bar on the top of the switch to make sure the keycap remains level and consistent no matter where you hit the button. Since these switches are optical, you’re getting up to twice the normal lifespan on clicks, with up to 100,000,000 keystrokes.
Razer claims that these keys feel similar to its already-existing Razer Green switches, but the Opto-Mechanical switch is up to 30% faster in actuation.
The base Huntsman keyboard features regular Razer Chroma backlighting, but that’s where the frills end. You’ll have standard macro keys, gaming mode, Razer Hypershift, 10-key rollover, and Razer Synapse 3 compatibility here.
The upgraded Huntsman Elite has quite a few extra features. There is 4-sided underglow, a leatherette wrist rest, hybrid on-board memory and cloud storage, and more. There is even a multi-function digital dial that can give you more control than just a regular volume knob.
The Huntsman Elite knows whether or not the wrist rest is plugged in, and can change its RGB backlighting based on whether it is or not.
Razer’s Huntsman is $149.99, while upgrading to the Elite will set you back an extra $50. Both are available from Razer’s website starting today.
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