Gadgetory

hello good people ever here with Hardwick Canucks and this is razor's top align most expensive gaming keyboard to date it's the razor Huntsman elite let's check this out all right so judging by that b-roll you may or may not have guessed the price tag of the razor Huntsman elite and if you haven't well allow me to spoil it for you guys so this keyboard or this thing right here costs two hundred US dollars take them over to swallow that because that isn't cheap and interestingly enough it competes head-to-head with Corsairs key 95 RGV platinum mechanical gaming keyboard for the same cost and if you're interested in learning more about that keyboard I've actually done a full review on the channel and you can check it out right over here okay so why did razer come out with such an expensive mechanical gaming keyboard in 2018 I mean if you think about it the market is way too saturated at this point that makes it quite difficult to differentiate one keyboard from another unless if you're looking for a specific feature well Razer is launching the Huntsman Elite by focusing on three key areas and that is speed and performance with the help of their newly designed Razer optomechanical switch the second being comfort and aesthetics and the last of course being a little bit of flair with chroma RGB lighting so while I was testing the Razer Huntsman elite gaming keyboard I got another interesting package from Razer in this large Pelican case not exactly sure what use it would have been to me but regardless this is what it is it's another gaming keyboard but this time it's their standard Huntsman keyboard when compared to the elite so the difference between this keyboard and the elite is that it doesn't come with dedicated media playback buttons and it also does not come with a detachable wrist rest with the underglow which we'll talk about later on in the video but rest aside it's basically the same keyboard and it comes with the same or the brand new Razer opto mechanical switch the in price one hundred and fifty dollars versus obviously $200 so let me walk you through my experience testing out the razor Huntsman elite right after message from our sponsor the new OC CTR 200 from Toshiba is a great value SSD if you're considering upgrading a hard drive and get a nice boost in performance with cutting-edge 3d flash memory and ultra reliable controller with built-in power management available in different capacities check it out below first things first the design and run at the bat the Huntsman elite does look like a typical mechanical keyboard there are no signs of aggressive design elements throughout the chassis and I like that it is a full-size keyboard with a numpad and they've tried their best to make it as compact as they can in fact it's about the same size as the Logitech G 513 keyboard that I looked at recently now when you compared this to something like the kii 95 platinum it's obviously a little bit smaller because with Razer you don't get dedicated macro buttons which is disappointing and the top side of the frame is a bit extended on the K 95 because you've got the RGB logo interestingly enough I was not able to spot any Razer branding on the huntsmen elite apart from the subtle and great implementation on the wrist rest which I'll get to shortly on the top right-hand side of the board Razer has included dedicated media playback buttons which is good use of space but to be honest I'm not happy with the button mechanics they feel very cheap when compared to the K 95 platinum and they're not backlit seriously Razer I mean there are subtle LEDs under the keys but they don't shine through the sign to illuminate them it just doesn't make any sense Corsair does a much better job with their playback buttons the volume down on the huntsmen elite lacks definition in terms of scroll steps I went adjusting the volume it doesn't feel consistent and feels like scraping the plastic underneath which might sound odd but again it just doesn't feel right to me now by default the dog can be used to control the volume but razer calls it the multifunction digital dial and it can be customized to another function like switching between apps or zooming into windows or even launch apps of utility focused applications like snipping tool notepad calculator or even task manager remember this has to be done through synapse but I did wish a razor gave us the option to assign third-party applications needless to say this is a cool feature that you might be interested in but personally I still prefer the default volume adjust and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this multifunction dial in the comments down below this keyboard also comes with a wrist rest and it is an expectation of this price point the plush a leather ID material is really comfortable to type with in fact it's very similar to the one found on the g5 13 by Logitech Albion the one on the Razer is just a bit bigger than the g5 13 it's like pillows for your wrists and who doesn't like that and if you're looking for a WOW factor check this out the wrist rest features under glow RGB lining and it syncs up with the lighting on the chassis to give out this cool subtle lighting effect in the night and it looks amazing seriously Razer has always amazed me with chroma lighting on their peripherals the color shift gradient is so smooth and it's quite mesmerizing to use at and during the night now for those of you wondering the wrist rest is detachable and it connects to the shaft C via proprietary pogo pins for power in fact the Razer had to use a separate USB cable to just power the keyboard and the underglow at first I thought that this cable was for a USB pass-through port but that's not the case here speaking of USB pass supports there are none to be found on the huntsmen elite which is unacceptable for a two hundred dollar gaming keyboard now coming back to the Pogo pin connectors located at the bottom of the chassis and of course the wrist rest razor is actually working or they're planning on working with third-party vendors to create other accessories like a wireless phone charging dock or perhaps a tablet that could just connect your keyboard again I'm not exactly sure where they're taking this approach with but personally I'm a little bit skeptic about that because the fact that you might have to attach or if you're looking to attach accessories underneath the chassis would obviously result in clearance issues with your wrist or your hands and of course reaching those keys because you want to be able to get your you the most important thing when you're gaming is just having a comfortable space to game on and if you start adding accessories especially you know in the middle of your hands then it just doesn't make any sense it might be a concerning factor for some of you but again I'm more curious to see what they're going to be coming up with in the future if they do the cable is non durable it's super thick and abraded it was actually a little bit difficult for me to brown on my desk it kind of feels similar to the Corsair k95 platinum RGB mechanical keyboard so don't expect you know removal cable coming out this keyboard because obviously there's a lot of bandwidth to drive the chroma lighting on the keyboard and of course getting that information passed back and forth between the controller and so yeah that's something to keep note of the build quality on the huntsmen elite is really good they've used a matte black aluminum frame on top of hard plastic materials it's pretty durable for long-term use and the body itself is quite heavy and I noticed that right away after switching from my G pro Tek L keyboard now this isn't something to be worried about because the keyboard by itself is going to be stationary at your desk for the most part so I don't see this as a problem okay so let's talk about razors new optomechanical switch the technology behind the switch design is pretty interesting they've essentially harnessed optical light instead of traditional metallic contacts to make keystrokes actuate so a light beam passes through the switch stem and when a key is pressed the corresponding signal is being sent to the computer at that instant this yields in 45 grams of actuation force and an actuation point at 1.5 millimeters not put this in perspective the Cherry MX speed switches requires the same amount of force but it actually it's at just one point two millimeters so it's 0.3 millimeters faster than the Razer opto switches and they're linear too with the razor's new offering you're getting a satisfying tactile click kind of like MX blue switches but expect a faster typing experience that them so if you're someone who owns a mechanical keyboard with cherry MX blue switches and if you're looking for something a little bit more faster without compromising on that tactile feedback the clicky feel if you get then the Razer optomechanical switches should be a great option to look into simply because you still get that tactile feedback and they're a lot lighter to actuate when compared to MX blue that's for sure Oh another cool advantage is that the keystrokes or they're actually lot more durable so razor claims that these things can these new switches can last a hundred million keystrokes compared to 50 million on the Cherry MX and offerings so that could be taken as admitted as an advantage for long term use but again that's something to be tested over time now having tested the key 95 RGB platinum here in the studio I can still watch for the fact that the MX beat switches are by far the fastest switches ever made if you're someone who is looking for a keyboard with the fastest possible switch with all the exclusive features that you need like dedicated keys and stuff like that then looking into MX speed on the K 95 is obviously your best bet because they're fast I don't think you can find anything I mean the Optus which is come there were nowhere closer to the experience when you're using the K 95 platinum or mxp switches in general razer also claims that the new optomechanical switch can save up to 20 milliseconds of delay for each keystroke due to the optical light that it uses to actuate now I can scientifically test that but in real world use it just performs like a standard mechanical keyboard I was pretty quick at getting used to these switches and the tactile feedback is certainly satisfying here's a quick sound test okay so gaming on the huntsmen elite was good I was certainly not mind blown by the performance of these new switches I like I mentioned before they feel very similar to Cherry MX blue offerings with the exception of requiring less force to actually so finger fatigue shouldn't be a problem over long-term use I was easily able to not get through my gameplay and overall it was a pleasant experience Razer synapse actually recognizes certain titles and eliminates the lost keys depending on the type of play it just helps differentiate your primary keys with the rest ok so I do want to spend some time and talk about Razer synapse 3 software that comes with this new keyboard or just any Razer peripherals first and foremost I really hate the fact that you're supposed to create an account and be connected online in order to create this whole initial set of process and the fact that you need to be connected online just to access controls is a bit weird it's so I mean it doesn't make any sense in the first place again it's a sloppy job by the software team by Razer I'm not sure why they require users to create an account with synapse I mean I get the fact that you can get to sync your staff across all these devices but give us an offline mode I mean give us the give users the option at the very beginning of the setup screen where you can choose to either use online or offline because I certainly wasn't able to find that with synapse so that's a little bit unfortunate next up the UI it's definitely improved in terms of visuals over these years but unfortunately I had difficult time customizing lighting and macros on the huntsmen elite a with my main pc lighting would stop functioning at times synapse would crash if I change in effect the keyboard wouldn't do anything it was pretty frustrating but thankfully everything just worked fine after I plugged the keyboard into a notebook again this could just be my PC but I just wanted to bring it up navigating through synapse is fairly straightforward the user is greeted with a physical view of the keyboard along with different modules like being able to integrate Phillips hue lining once you click on the keyboard you do have the option to reprogram each key and also customize the multifunction dial that I talked about earlier the lighting tab allows you to cycle between eight different lighting effects including breathing fire reactive ripple spectrum cycling star light static and wave which is my personal favorite you can also just a brightness by either turning it off or dimming it to a minimum setting here but that can also be done within the keyboard through the function keys speaking of which you have the G key that disables the Windows key and on-the-fly macro recordings as well then there's chromis studio which is a custom lighting effects control space that allows the user to create their own lighting effects and explore their creativity with RGB lighting do note that if you have other razer gaming peripherals like a mouse or set of speakers with chroma synapse will automatically detect those devices and you can sync lighting across those devices as well which is pretty cool join the wireless club with Corsairs new dark core Mouse play the way you want with nine programmable buttons aligned in the comfortable shape and fantastic sensor you can trust and crazy-good wireless performance plus qi wireless charging built-in focus on the game the dark core will do the rest so to conclude the huntsmen elite by razer is an odd entry in 2018 in my opinion for one you can get a lot more for $200 with a k95 RGB platinum because there are a few things that I find lack lasting or just that I find doesn't make any sense on Hunt's belly or the fact that they haven't included for one dedicated programmable buttons I'm fine that missing on this keyboard I mean for $200 at this expectation a USB pass-through port they decided to not include one on the huntsmen and he dedicated media playback buttons kind of feel cheap it's like you have you know a Ferrari of a keyboard but then you kind of have like a Prius on our Prius maybe like a Civic attached to it I'm not sure if that made a good analogy but I hope you get the point so that's something that I found to be really odd with the hunt smelly it's certainly a good keyboard for Razer enthusiasts out there if you're looking for something a little bit more innovative if you're looking to try out new switches the new Optima chemical switch is certainly interesting because it gives you that tactile feedback without having to actuate or put a lot of force into it compared to MX blues definitely not as fast as MX beats which is but I'm sure that you'll have a great time gaming on these new switches the lighting is of course fantastic you cannot go wrong with chroma lighting of course the detachable wrist rest features RGB lighting that's next level when it comes to lighting on a keyboard speaking of the wrist rest it is super comfortable to stank with I mean this plush leather red material is again that's this is exactly what wrist rests were supposed to made in first place but I'm glad that companies like wasteful he's trying to approach wrist rest with this material we first saw that with large 6513 keyboard again a fantastic keyboard for the price at $150 so if you're looking for something you know within those lines then again you have the option within the Logitech G 513 keyboard the regular razor huntsmen keyboard that also cause the same price but you don't get a wrist rest so that's a little bit behind and of course you have this $200 expensive elite huntsmen keyboard so I'd love to hear your thoughts on razors new huntsmen elite keyboard what do you guys think about it is it worth $200 are you disappointed with the fact that razor's forgot to included a USB pass report or dedicated macro buttons or things like then I'd love to hear your thoughts again I mean bar with Harvard Canucks thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next one you