Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Razers original BlackWidow keyboard came out in 2010 and quickly became one of the most popular keyboards on the market. In August of 2014 Razer did a re-release of the BlackWidow in a Chroma edition that became the defacto choice of e-gamers worldwide and still is one of the most coveted keyboards out there. Enter the BlackWidow Chroma V2 and Razer once again listened to its end user base and added major upgrades to the BlackWidow V2.

To list a few differences the BlackWidow Chroma has Razer Green Switches, no dedicated Macro Keys (some models), no USB or Audio pass-through, and had a single braided cord. The Black Widow Chroma V2 corrected those deficiencies and has 5 dedicated Macro Keys, USB and Audio pass-throughs, dual braided cord and most exciting Razer green, yellow and orange switches. Razer produces their own switches and controls the manufacturing process from beginning to end allowing them unprecedented control over quality. The attention to detail shows in the switches 80 million use guarantee where most Cherry MX switches we’ve seen and indeed most switches are rated at 50 million giving Razer switches a 30 million actuation advantage.

Of course, the BlackWidow Chroma V2 is Razer Synapse enabled and Chroma provides a theoretical 16.8 Million colors. Ten key anti-ghosting is pretty standard on the BlackWidows but we have seen unlimited 100% anti-ghosting on other offerings. As usual, the BlackWidow Chroma V2 has per key programmable lighting with a variety of preprogrammed color schemes. Razer’s BlackWidow Chroma V2 also includes on the Fly macro recording a gaming mode option and 1000Hz ultra-polling.

Something new, notice the bottom left-hand corner of the box, there’s a test key with battery. Just pull the orange tab and you can feel the switch tactile feedback and see it lit up and interesting marketing ploy on Razers part.

Specifications

• Razer™ Mechanical Switches with 50g actuation force
• 80 million keystroke life span
• Chroma backlighting with 16.8 million customizable color options
• Razer Synapse enabled
• 10 key roll-over anti-ghosting
• Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording
• 5 additional dedicated macro keys
• Gaming mode option
• Audio-out/mic-in jacks
• USB pass-through
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling
• Braided fiber cable
• Approximate size: 475mm/18.72 in (Width) x 171mm/6.74 in (Height) x 39mm/1.54 in (Depth)
• Approximate weight: 1500g/3.31lbs

System Requirements

• PC or Mac with a free USB port
• Windows® 10 / Windows® 8 / Windows® 7 / Mac OS X (v10.8 – 10.11)
• Internet connection
• 100 MB of hard disk space
• Razer Synapse registration (requiring a valid e-mail), software download, license acceptance, and internet connection needed to activate full features of product and for software updates. After activation, full features are available in optional offline mode.