Razer Blackwidow Chroma - V1 vs V2

[Jessop]

To all the people that want to know all the differences between V1 and V2 - this is for you

Firstly - I just want to say up front that I have had my V1 for about 2 years and the V2 since Dec 2017 and I've used it almost constantly for about 4 months .

I also have a Corsair K70 Rapidfire RGB  and a K70 Vengence since 2015.

Ok so firstly - the original V1 Blackwidow had many issues with the khail - Razer green switches -

Many people compared them to the cherry MX Blues and the Khails came up short in many ways -

Inconsistent feel and click ( sound ) across the keyboard - many switches failed after a few months and stopped clicking and started to feel like MX Browns

Another big problem with the Khail Greens is that they have quite a bit more key wobble that the Cherry MX Blues

also - the display on the top right for caps lock , scroll lock and num lock was almost hidden under the plastic face-plate and was hardly visible

So to recap - the main issue with the Original Blackwidow Chroma was the key switches -

now onto the V2 -

The Razer Blackwidow V2 was improved in quite a few ways but i've noticed something that I haven't seen in any review so far .- but I'll get to that in a moment

to start off - the display on the top right for caps lock , num lock ... was improved and was given a clear plastic section with clear indicators - Nice .

Also - the font was made slightly smaller and looks better to many people - but to me I think it was a step backwards - here's why

By making the font on the V2 smaller less light is allowed to shine through so the RGB LED's are not as bright as on the V1 -

Secondly - the key caps are a bit different in shape - its hard to explain exactly how buy they are - I've done extensive A/B comparisons and the keycaps on the V1 feel more comfortable over long periods of time -

to someone using a V2 without having used a V1 this may not see apparent but it's there.

Thirdly the key switches were changed from Khail to Greetech - here's the good and the bad.

anyone who has seen my earlier posts about the V2 will see that I praised it and elevated it above the V1 but after 4 months I'm going to backtrack and explain why I find the V1 better to type on and actually prefer the khail key switches over the greetech's.

Overall - the khail's have less key wobble and feel more stable - the V2 has developed really BAD key wobble - I suppose one can get used to it but if you've typed on a well build MX Blue keyboard you will immediately notice the difference - ZERO key wobble on the cherry blues compared to VERY wobbly Greetech ( Razer Greens )

The plus of the greetech switches over the Khail's is that they sound and feel more consistent .

anothe thing I need to mention is I prefer costar stabilizers over the Cherry stabilizers

Finally - the thing I haven't seen anyone else comment on is the following .

if you type on a V1 and V2 side by side you will notice that the V2 almost sounds like its a bit hollow - almost like an empty box with switches mounted onto it . -

If any of you have both a V1 and a V2 please try this out and type side by side and you will immediately notice that typing on the V1 doesn't produce any hollow noise but the V2 does -

I would like to hear from anyone that has opened up a V1 and a V2 to see what the difference in build is -

The weight of the 2 boards is almost the same but there is definitely a difference in build -

NB - as a side note - if the V2 is placed on a rubber mat and isolated from the table surface it seems there's less resonance and hollow sound so it's not all bad -

but I still feel a good Cherry mx blue keyboard will be better overall because of the key wobble issue on the Razer -

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jessop]

Just took Delivery of the Corsair K70 RGB Lux - Cherry MX Blues -

Very impressed with the Blue switches compared to the Razer Greens  ( Greetech + Khail )

The most standout Difference is the Sturdiness and quality of the cherry switches - almost ZERO key wobble -             they on another Level completely to all other makes that I've tried

The Razer switches are not bad - neither are the Khails - it's the Key wobble and inconsistency that lets them down

I would even go as far as to say that I like the Greetechs very much.but the Key wobble is a deal-breaker -

Cherry Tolerance levels are really tight and don't let anything sub bar through the manufacturing process -

The only negative I can say about the K70 Lux RGB is the rattling MX stabilisers on the space-bar -

Compared to the costar on the Razer board the space-bar rattles quite a lot - but its not a deal breaker -

to anyone wanting to know the key difference between cherry and Razer / khail - its all got to do with key wobble -

Cherry comes out on top by a HUGE margin - very sturdy feeling key switches.

another thing is it seems the switches will take a few weeks to break in properly as they feel kinda new and tight - but i'm extremely happy with the K70 lux -

 

 

[Jessop]

3 hours later on my first day using the K70 Lux RGB with the cherry MX Blue switches -

Loving the keyboard overall -

but very disappointed with the MX Stabilizer on the space-bar - Very rattly - Noisy and below the Standard I expect from Corsair - Amazing keyboard let down by a shitty cheap stabilizer system on an otherwise perfect keyboard.

funny enough - my other K70 Rapidfire has a very quiet Space-bar so I'm assuming there's a quality control issue at corsair - .

I wish corsair would move over to Costar or Razer would go back to using cherry MX Switches -

both companies make a great product with one fault -

Razer needs Cherry MX Switches

Corsair Needs costar Stabilizers

 

both keyboards are great - but each have room for improvement

I realize now I HATE the cherry stabilizers but the cherry switches have almost ZERO key wobble compared to the Razer Greens - ( Greetech and Khail )

so the Decision people out there have to make is the following -

Do you put up with a horrible rattling clunky space bar and otherwise great Keyboard with great key switches - OR

Do you go with decent Razer ( Greetech ) key switches with horrible key wobble on the Razer V2 but Great Costar Stabilizers

 

FWIT - I'm going to try and put some foam under the space bar stabilizers to try and counteract the HORRIBLE rattling from the space-bar.

Corsair have really dropped the ball with the QC on the Stabilizers on their K70 RGB line

I'm not too sure how many people have noticed the cheap clunky rattling from their space-bar compared to the quality feeling quiet Razer blackwidow V2 Costar Stabilizers