Who else is buying the blackwidow chroma?

[farhanorakzai]

Corsair has lost my business by making me wait so long for rgb

[TheSLSAMG]

Yeah, when the Corsair option has real MX switches, metal construction and a lower price, no.

 

So, the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Chroma. $179.99, Kailhua Green (Cherry MX Blue equivalent), RGB color system, plastic chassis with metal midplate.

 

Now, the Corsair K70 RGB. Expected MSRP of $169.99, Cherry MX Blue, Red or Brown, RGB color system, metal chassis with metal midplate.

 

Problem #1: The price.

 

Kailhua switches were made as an alternative to Cherry MX switches after Cherry's patent expired. We all know this at this point. As is true with this, Kailhua keyboards tend to be cheaper than Cherry MX keyboards. Evidence is found of this in the Thermaltake Poseidon and Poseidon Z. The first mistake Razer made was that they never dropped the price when they went from MX to Kailh. The price on the BlackWidow Ultimate, the keyboard currently in question, stayed in the US at $139.99 after the transition to new switches. And the Chroma costs $180. The K70 RGB, which unarguably has better build materials and possibly better build quality, costs $10 less. Both companies clearly put plenty of R&D into these keyboards, but either Razer is wasting a lot of money or they are more greedy, and knowing Razer I will sway towards greed.

 

Problem #2: The quality/consistency of Kailhua switches.

 

Put aside Razer's marketing set "extensive testing procedures". That's not the worry now. The worry is of real world testing. I own a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013, the MX Blue model. My cousin owns a ThermalTake Poseidon Z, the Kailhua Blue equivalent, which he let me borrow for a day. A friend of mine also let me borrow his BlackWidow Ultimate 2014 (Razer Green) for a day. I tried the three keyboards, swapping through them in two hour intervals so I could see what was up. The MX Blue model felt as expected, with little variance of the feel of the key switches. The Kailh keyboards though felt quite different. Going from MX Blue to Razer Green/Kailh Blue made a significant enough difference to where I could notice in a blind test. Feeling the Kailh Blue/Razer Green, there is a huge issue with consistency. One key will feel entirely different from another. They just feel too different to where I can't like them. My friend and my cousin didn't care much, but were suprised at the typing difference on the three keyboards.

 

Problem #3: Lack of switch choice.

 

This is a simple one. Razer only offer MX Blue and MX Brown equivalent. Corsair offer MX Blue, Red and Brown. There really isn't much past this. People like different switches, Corsair offer variety.

 

From http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/196650-razer-blackwidow-ultimate-chroma/?p=2671346

 

The Corsair option will come soon, give them some time. Developing a new tech from the ground up is difficult, and anyone from Corsair can tell you this.

 

It's hilarious that Corsair have lost your business for taking too long, when in reality Razer should for trying to take more money for inferior technology.

[elecxonica]

It's interesting, but I'm not a big fan of most of razer's stuff. Also, I'd only really use it to set it to dark blue, which my current Ducky does for like $30 or so less.

[lbrwnie]

I would if this list price wasn't $300 in Australia!!!!

[KitsuneJin]

Never heard of it before this. It looks nice, but not for me mostly because I want an g710+.

[farhanorakzai]

Yeah, when the Corsair option has real MX switches, metal construction and a lower price, no.

 

So, the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Chroma. $179.99, Kailhua Green (Cherry MX Blue equivalent), RGB color system, plastic chassis with metal midplate.

 

Now, the Corsair K70 RGB. Expected MSRP of $169.99, Cherry MX Blue, Red or Brown, RGB color system, metal chassis with metal midplate.

 

Problem #1: The price.

 

Kailhua switches were made as an alternative to Cherry MX switches after Cherry's patent expired. We all know this at this point. As is true with this, Kailhua keyboards tend to be cheaper than Cherry MX keyboards. Evidence is found of this in the Thermaltake Poseidon and Poseidon Z. The first mistake Razer made was that they never dropped the price when they went from MX to Kailh. The price on the BlackWidow Ultimate, the keyboard currently in question, stayed in the US at $139.99 after the transition to new switches. And the Chroma costs $180. The K70 RGB, which unarguably has better build materials and possibly better build quality, costs $10 less. Both companies clearly put plenty of R&D into these keyboards, but either Razer is wasting a lot of money or they are more greedy, and knowing Razer I will sway towards greed.

 

Problem #2: The quality/consistency of Kailhua switches.

 

Put aside Razer's marketing set "extensive testing procedures". That's not the worry now. The worry is of real world testing. I own a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013, the MX Blue model. My cousin owns a ThermalTake Poseidon Z, the Kailhua Blue equivalent, which he let me borrow for a day. A friend of mine also let me borrow his BlackWidow Ultimate 2014 (Razer Green) for a day. I tried the three keyboards, swapping through them in two hour intervals so I could see what was up. The MX Blue model felt as expected, with little variance of the feel of the key switches. The Kailh keyboards though felt quite different. Going from MX Blue to Razer Green/Kailh Blue made a significant enough difference to where I could notice in a blind test. Feeling the Kailh Blue/Razer Green, there is a huge issue with consistency. One key will feel entirely different from another. They just feel too different to where I can't like them. My friend and my cousin didn't care much, but were suprised at the typing difference on the three keyboards.

 

Problem #3: Lack of switch choice.

 

This is a simple one. Razer only offer MX Blue and MX Brown equivalent. Corsair offer MX Blue, Red and Brown. There really isn't much past this. People like different switches, Corsair offer variety.

 

From http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/196650-razer-blackwidow-ultimate-chroma/?p=2671346

 

The Corsair option will come soon, give them some time. Developing a new tech from the ground up is difficult, and anyone from Corsair can tell you this.

 

It's hilarious that Corsair have lost your business for taking too long, when in reality Razer should for trying to take more money for inferior technology.

I didn't think there was that big of a differance between cherry and kailh, but if kailh is that bad, then I guess it's not worth it

[Silent_R493]

I might.   I couldn't tell the difference from MX blue from razer green beyond the actuation point on the razer switch being higher.  

 

Although I'm now more interested in hunting down a MX Clear board then waiting for a RGB one to release.   Probably get a CODE from WASD.

[404]

I might.   I couldn't tell the difference from MX blue from razer green beyond the actuation point on the razer switch being higher.  

 

Although I'm now more interested in hunting down a MX Clear board then waiting for a RGB one to release.   Probably get a CODE from WASD.

You can get a set of Clears and mod your board if you are willing to wait. I'm going to do an Ergo Clear mod for my RGB (red/brown spring clear stem).

The only question I have is if opening the switch will damage any of the Lens' inside the switch.

http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_list&c=43

Mouser sells them. And also if you Message WASD Keyboards, they can usually hook you up.

You can probably find the switches at a better price, but you will probably have to dig through Geekhack. Some of their users also sell cherry switches.

 

I didn't think there was that big of a differance between cherry and kailh, but if kailh is that bad, then I guess it's not worth it

Also Corsair has invested a lot more time and research into their board. Atop of that, Corsairs board has its own Digital Signage Processor. I'm guessing Razer will do all of it's Processing through Synapse; which is bad for two reasons.

 

1. Synapse

2. Razer already uses about 110Mb with just a mouse (Synapse [60,000] + Razer Core [50,000] Naga 2014) with a full size 16.8  Mil color keyboard id guess that number would skyrocket. They aren't advertising any internal computing power or onboard memory, so it will tax your system. Albeit it probably won't be a lot, but it shouldn't be like that at all, especially for a keyboard of that price.