Razer BlackWidow Expert Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with 10 Key Rollover

It’s a nice solid keyboard, but I had to return the first one I bought because the space bar came completely off (how just the space bar came off when it was inside perfect, untouched packaging I do not know). I couldn’t get it back on, so I had to get another one. That one came with the left control busted off. I managed to reattach it, but it still has a tendency to launch itself without warning from the keyboard like a tiny black plastic rocket.It is EXTREMELY loud. If you type on this thing, everyone in the house will know. I had a smaller version of this earlier and managed to destroy it completely with under an ounce of spilled beverage. so keep that in mind, too.

First mechanical keyboard. Over it’s lifespan I’ve found it’s not my thing. Some pros, and some cons.On the downside, it was very noisy compared to other keyboards. Definitely my biggest complaint. I didn’t try any key noise damper rubber bands, so that may have helped. I PC game a lot, and didn’t notice a noticeable difference in performance. This keyboard lasted about 23 months of heavy use before a few keys started to stop working. Never had a keyboard stop working on me without spilling water or something on it until this one.On the plus side, the programmable keys were nice. I didn’t use them very often as most games I played I was fine with the in game options. It was very useful for making macros of multiple key presses if desired. I think they could have made the program to bind keys a little more general user friendly. This could be a turn off for non PC friendly people just getting into it. I like the options to play/pause music and adjust volume built into key functions, but disliked having to press the function key in addition to another key for this to work. I’m guessing this could be changed through the programmable keys, but I preferred other keyboards I’ve used in the past that had extra additional buttons just for music/audio options with no other purposes. The additional USB plug in and audio plug in on keyboard were nice.Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with this purchase.

I bought one of these back in September(green switches, minus the back-lit keys). The main purpose for the purchase was for a responsive keyboard with some kind of feedback(tactile and/or audible), which I found lacking for most keyboards built for gaming. A secondary purpose was for that keyboard to also function well for just typing. I have heard a lot of good things about mechanical keyboards, but one of their main drawbacks is parts expenses for the switches these types of keyboards are made with. There are few mechanical keyboards that are both affordable, and fewer that are full-sized. Which brings us to the BlackWidow.As far as gaming is concerned, this keyboard rocks. The switches are very responsive, and the tactile feel of the key press, as well as the audible “click”, really helps me fine tune my finger coordination and precision. That may sound weird, but I can’t stress enough how important accurate key strokes are in twitch gaming situations, to say nothing of Starcraft or MOBAs, where APM is a noticeable factor. You don’t want to waste key strokes.I have noticed something weird about it. I’m not even sure where the problem is in the design, but transitioning across the keyboard right-to-left feels…off. I constantly overshoot the left side of the keyboard, and end up offset by…maybe one key? When transitioning across the keyboard like that, I’m not feeling for the F key, I’m feeling for the shift key, because my fingers are trying to land on WASD, no ASDF. It may be the way the keys oriented in a kind of “bend” towards the center(which feels very different from lots of membrane keyboards), or the featureless shift key, or even the set of macro keys that may be positioned a little too close to the end of the key set proper. I would say it’s just me, but a friend of mine bought the same keyboard, and reported having a similar problem with it. It doesn’t really detract from the keyboard’s usefulness, but it’s definitely inconvenient at times.As for being a typist’s keyboard, I’d say it performs above average, but it hardly excels at the task. The way the keys are sloped, and how high they’re raised just doesn’t make it overly comfortable. Of course, for all I know, that’s a necessity for mechanical switches. But, if nothing else, it’s probably too loud for heavy typing. A keyboard with silent switches, and tactile feedback, would probably work better.The BlackWidow offers other useful features than I quite like, such as a USB, headphone and microphone port. I’m not sure why there aren’t more keyboards with these simple conveniences built-in, cause it just makes sense. The thing feels really sturdy, and has a mesh-wrapped, thick cable, which is fantastic in my book. Most devices have such flimsy cables attached. The Razer Synapse software is actually quite useful, beyond what it can do for the keyboard. I would recommend a Razer product on the software alone. The worst I could say about the keyboard is the logo’s back light is WAY too bright, and I couldn’t imagine having any of the keys being back-lit. It’d probably blind me.It really is a good keyboard, and I recommended it to another friend, who is loving the heck out of it. If you’ve got the money, it seems to be as good a start as any.

I’m reviewing this as a keyboard for typists (not for gamers). Hopefully sometime I’ll have time to play games, but at the moment typing fast for work is what pays the bills. When I first used this keyboard I didn’t like it. I was making a ton of typing errors. I also had problems with the extra row of 5 function keys on the left side of the keyboard. I use the Ctrl key a lot (for cut, copy, past, etc) and I kept pressing the M5 function key instead of the Ctrl key. I almost threw the thing in the trash because of this issue. Then I got the idea of covering up the M1 through M5 function keys with a folded business card taped to the keyboard. Problem solved!I learned how to type on IBM Selectric typewriters back in the day and then on IBM PC’s. I loved the old IBM keyboards and have been unimpressed with the mushy keyboards of late. This keyboard rocks and is equal to or better than the old IBM keyboards. I can rip on this thing. However, it did take a good 3 to 4 weeks to get comfortable with it (not sure why). It’s noisy but I love the audible and tactile feedback. My wife commented the other day that it sounded like a buzz saw and that she’s never seen anyone type that fast.My only complaints are the unnecessary M1-M5 function keys on the left side of the keyboard, the illuminated green serpent heads at the bottom of the keyboard (not into serpents) and the fact that all of the keys with double characters have been reversed. Otherwise, thumbs up as a keyboard for typists.

I like the keys and the overall look and feel of the keyboard. But, I have some pretty major functionality issues! First off, the spacebar behaves strangely very often putting double spaces all over a sentence. Next, when you hold down the space-bar to say continue jumping in a video game, you must balance the bar between the actuation point and bottoming out. If you bottom out the spacebar it stops holding it down?!?!?! Is this common for mechanical keyboards????? I have never had this issue with membrane keyboards. Also, if you try to use the built-in keyboard USB plug to charge a device, you will find the battery on the device either not charge or actually start draining even though it says charging!!!! I checked the USB that the keyboard was plugged into and it charges fine…. Must be a current-limiting resistor in the keyboard…. I would only use it for a jump drive.