Razer Blackwidow Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The MSRP on this keyboard is £129.99, which is a lot, but it’s about on par with what rival brands are doing for the same level of quality and features. However, and this is a BIG however, it’s on sale right now, and it’s just £84.99 on Amazon. Hopefully, as you’re reading this, the reduced price is still available. You can check for US stock here.

Overview

Razer hasn’t changed the format and I think that works in their favour. If you’ve been a fan of their keyboards for many years, their new ones will feel more like a direct replacement. Sure, they’ve made a few tweaks along the way, but not so much that it changes the core experience. There’s a few minor things I would change up, such as a removable USB cable, and maybe have a few lighting profiles already available via Fn-Shift on the keyboard as standard. But other than that, it’s a great keyboard.

Build Quality

Certainly no issues here, the Blackwidow has been a bit of a gold standard of the Razer product range and that’s still very true today. It’s a durable keyboard with a good weigh to it. I think that shows through most of all when you type, as the switches don’t feedback throughout the rest of the keyboard, and they actually sound a little muted for clicky switches, which I like a lot.

Of course, they’ve got their own switches, which are rated at 80 million clicks, not that you’re likely to wear them out, ever. Even 50 million clicks on Cherry switches is a lifetime of clicking and beyond.

Performance

Working and gaming, the Blackwidow is just wonderful to type on. Really responsive and comfortable from start to finish. What’s really important though is the potential it has. Setup is a big deal here, get the macros done, play around with hypershift, reprogram a few buttons and really make it your own. Then you’ve got in-depth RGB features to configure. However, once it’s all set up, you can forget all the complexities of software and do what you do best; play games when you likely should be working.

Should I Buy One?

I do think it’s a great keyboard, but at this price, it’s hard to find a keyboard that isn’t pretty awesome. It’s competitive on features and quality. However, I think it boils down to aesthetics. If you like the classic Razer style, you really can’t go wrong. At least you have RGB these days and not just green LEDs!