When it comes to PC gear and accessories, Razer is easily one of the most recognizable brands in the market today. A big reason for this recognition isn’t just because of the quality of their products, but how Razer names and markets them too. Mice are snakes, keyboards are arachnids and headsets are named after mythical sea creatures. It’s no surprise with such cool names on hand that beginners in the pc market flock to the DeathAdder mouse and the coveted Blackwidow keyboard as their first pieces of gear. Without further ado, it’s time to introduce the Blackwidow Chroma V2, the latest iteration of Razer’s most popular mechanical keyboard.
Where the original Blackwidow and all of its variants so far have catered to users who enjoy the quality of a $130-170 keyboard, this time Razer has created the Chroma V2 to be the most extravagant and feature rich product they can muster for a hefty price tag of $230 CAD. While that price certainly is intimidating for anyone on a reasonable budget, users who picks up this product are sure to be immensely satisfied.
Starting off with SKU choice, the Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 comes in three key switch variants, green, orange and yellow. Green switches are for users who love the tactile and clicky response of cherry mx blues. Orange switches match up perfectly to my personal favourite switch, the cherry mx browns. Lastly, yellow switches are identical to the performance of mx red switches, delivering a satisfying linear and silent typing experience. It’s rare for an enthusiast product like this to have multiple variants, but I’m glad that users have the choice.
It wouldn’t be a Chroma product if the Blackwidow V2 didn’t spew out the 16.8 million colour spectrum we have come to love from RGB products. While the range of effects and colours are nothing new to any RGB expert, I love how Razer’s boards illuminate. Because of how traditional cherry mx switches are made, the illumination on many keyboards can come out subdued or lacking in brightness, but Razer boards don’t have this issue. Each house-made key is bright and powerful, giving the user the ability to discern even the slightest difference in shades. The Razer Synapse software is also a great control centre for all of Razer’s compatible products, giving me the ability to easily set up multiple profiles, effects and lights to cater to the game I was playing at the time.
All of this sounds great, but some readers may be thinking this doesn’t add up to a board worth $230 yet, so let’s talk about the build and features. Coming in at a weighty 3.31 lbs, the Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 is built to take all levels of abuse and punishment a user could throw at it. While the original Blackwidow displayed its metal plate in full glory, the Chroma V2 replaces the top cover with a smudge resistant hard plastic cover. While I despise every wrist rest packaged in mechanical keyboards due to their uncomfortable plastic construction, Razer actually included ergonomic soft padding this time around, something I hope becomes an industry standard. As with all enthusiast boards of this price range, a total of five programmable macro keys have been included to do with as the user desires. The cherry on top is the USB passthrough on board the Chroma V2, allowing any user to plug in their USB mouse directly into the board instead of their computer.
The Blackwidow Chroma V2 is the definition of a complete package when it comes to mechanical keyboards. Hefty price tag aside this is high quality product that delivers a high quality experience to the users that decide to purchase it. The only negative I could imagine is that due to its large size, no one is taking this to a LAN where players are starved for space as it is. But as the ideal daily driver at home, this mechanical keyboard is amazing and will satisfy any user for years to come.
