Razer Huntsman Elite

[Jessop]

To anyone thinking about getting the new Razer Huntsman Elite keyboard - here's a quick head's up .

Just a quick background about keyboards that I own and have used over the past few years as a reference point for comparison.

1. Corsair K70 Vengence - Cherry MX Red

2. Corsair K70 RGB Rapidfire - Cherry MX Silver ( Speed )

3. Corsair K70 LUX RGB - Cherry MX Blue

4. Razer Blackwidow Chroma - Gen 1 - Khail Green switches ( Razer Branded )

5. Razer Blackwidow Chroma  V2 - Greetech Green Switches ( Razer Branded )

 

 

Razer Huntsman Elite

 

Pros

1.Excellent build quality - Way better than ANY other mechanical keyboard I've ever used

2.Aluminum top ( Metal )

3.Excellent RGB Lighting

4.Best feeling Mechanical switches I've ever used - Bar None - Goodbye Cherry MX Blues - or any other clicky tactile switch - these opto mechanical switches are off the charts -

5.The switches are light to press - they're advertised as 45g but they feel more like 40g  - very satisfying and very even across THE ENTIRE keyboard - wherever u press the keys feel the same

6.ZERO KEY WOBBLE ON EVERY KEY - yes you heard right - Razer has actually managed to eliminate key wobble - Finally - a mechanical switch with ZERO !!! key wobble - EVERY SINGLE SWITCH has it's own dedicated stabilizer bar.

7.Excellent key caps - IMHO - although people swear by PBT Double shot keycaps - I find they make the keys sluggish on the return after the down-stroke - lighter key caps allow the key to return faster - more responsive

8.Excellent RGB implementation - GREAT Brightness to the LED illumination. - all round illumination - multi Zone including the wrist rest.

9. the space bar has ZERO rattle compare to the Corsair space bars I've used - which ALL have some form of rattle and are noisy and irritating and mushy feeling

10. 100 million keystroke lifespan

11. lazer actuation - ZERO key-chatter - and the click coincides perfectly with actuation

12. - very fast key presses are possible with this switch which surpasses all others I've used

13. no finger fatigue after long gaming sessions compared to Cherry MX switches -

 

Cons

1.some of the keys have a very slight pinging sound due to the spring - but this is very minor compared to other boards on the market -

2.Wrist rest is uncomfortable because although it has nice padding - the metal sides cut into my wrist - I like the design and like the fact that it's also metallic - but in practice I find the the edges cut into my wrist and therefore I've made my own wrist rest and am not using the included one - even though it has lighting etc... I cannot get used to it

3.Another issue with the wrist rest is that its slightly too low  - but that's something I could learn to live with -

4. Synapse 3.0 is still in beta stage and is kinda buggy - but it works and I'm sure will improve

 

Purple Opto-Mechanical key Switches

Razer have included a stabilizer bar on EVERY SINGLE SWITCH which COMPLETELY eliminates key wobble  - which plagues 99% of mechanical switches on every keyboard out there that I've tried.

the key switch design also incorporates a lazer which means there is NO key chatter or double letter actuation when doing fast double taps in gaming applications - this is another huge plus for this switch

the purple switch used in this keyboard is clicky and tactile - kinda like a cherry mx blue but it's silky smooth and less force is necessary to press down- I have a board with Cherry MX blues  and I can honestly say that the purple Razer switch is superior in EVERY way  - buttery smooth - , 45 g as opposed to 60 g ( cherry blue ) and ZERO KEY WOBBLE - and even actuation across the entire keyboard

 

Space Bar

I have to make a special mention regarding the excellent space bar on this keyboard - there is ZERO rattle or wobble associated with this space-bar -

On ALL my Corsair keyboards the space bar rattles and is noisy and also has a mushy feeling - this is in part due to the cherry MX Stabilizer design - but it's mainly due to the fact the QC on the Corsair boards has slipped considerably in the last few years - it's sad that success and popularity causes greed and manufacturers let tolerance levels slip just to make sure demand is met -

the quality that made a name for Corsair keyboards isn't there anymore in my experience - I have 3 corsair keyboards and after using the huntsman I will NEVER go back to the rattling space bar of the Corsair keyboards -

I have to say that I still love the Corsair boards Design but unless they fix the flaws and Rattling components their fan base will go elsewhere where quality is better

 

 

Overall the Razer huntsman Elite  is easily THE BEST  Mechanical keyboard I've ever used - Build Quality , Opto-Mechanical switches , key feel when typing or gaming ,LED lighting - metal top - volume control / mute switch / media controls - NON RATTLING space Bar , even feel across the entire keyboard , light feeling actuation , Longevity ( 100 million lifespan )

all this combines into the most professional looking and feeling keyboard and the switches and typing experience  puts the huntsman into a class of it's own -

Corsair , Ducky, Poker , Wasd.... and any other keyboard Manufacturer that has aspired to " The BEST " title has been dethroned by this keyboard IMHO -

this is easily verified - Just go into a Store that has these in stock and try one out and you'll see - these switches are on another level - and the build quality of Razer has gone up 100 %

FWIT - I live in South Africa and have NO affiliation to Razer in any  form whatsoever  - this mini review is my personal opinion

Also - the keyboard isn't on sale locally yet - but will be in a few weeks time -

I imported it directly from Amazon  USA after reading a few reviews from RandomfrankP and Brainbean and a few others

Anyone that loves mechanical keyboards - you HAVE to check out this new offering from Razer - which has had many skeptics in the past - they have lifted their game and have produced a winner in every way

 

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

You sure put some fucking effort into this, well done  

 

p.s I want this keyboard its just like um its fucking 200 bucks and stuff...

[Jessop]

On 8/29/2018 at 6:46 AM, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

You sure put some fucking effort into this, well done  

 

p.s I want this keyboard its just like um its fucking 200 bucks and stuff...

I have to admit - I put a lot of effort into this review because i feel after all the negative stuff in the keyboard community regarding the older Razer QC issues over the past few year s - Razer has gone the extra mile and put a lot of research into creating an exceptional product -

I truly am unbiased in what I've said in my review -

I own 3 Corsair Boards - with Red's , silver and blues - and I love them - but the space bars on all 3 boards Rattle and feel loose and mushy compared to the huntsman -

there is something else that I found on the Corsair K70 Lux RGB with the Cherry MX blues which bothers me - but I only noticed it after using the huntsman -

the long keys on the K70 Lux with the blues - the keys with the stabilizer bars are not easy to bottom out - they work just fine and actuate with no problem but it requires a lot of force to bottom them out -

This is due to the fact that the Cherry Stabilizers were not installed correctly or there's a QC tolerance problem - The stabilizers on ALL the long keys required a hard forceful hit to get them to bottom out -

I myself like feeling the keys hit the bottom lightly when I type -

I can honestly say that after a few hours on the Razer huntsman elite - there's no going back to a corsair board anytime soon - Unless corsair fixes the QC issues -

Like I said in my review -

anyone that enjoys Mechanical Keyboards - Even Razer Haters - you MUST check out the Huntsman Elite - it really is something special

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

I have a custom bolt modded ibm model m with new pbt keycaps and they work really well I love that keyboard so much, prior to my modding and buying of that keyboard I had a cherry mx blue poker 2 keyboard I really liked the layout and the compactness of the keyboard but to me it was just really plasticy and cheap and I just felt like a poor man ( first world problems right? ) so I outed for a classic model m because its been getting a lotta hype ( this was during the time linus released the video about the keyboard ) and me being a keyboard enthusiast clicked on the video because I mean for fucks sake, I spend more money on my keyboard and mouse and speakers then I spend on my pc. I bought one for myself and I love it. This is probably impossible but possibly the best keyboard known to man would be a logitech g19 with buckling spring switches. Its a membrane keyboard and I had one WAY back then I loved it, so many macros, logitech program for rgb and stuff, a fucking lcd screen, layout was perfect, dedicated media controls with a slider thingy, better io then my phone. Its just fucking awesome.

 

Back in 2006 when I used linux for everything ( now I use win xp and linux because I want to game a little bit more using dx 9 ) I had a g19 and I made a post on how to run “X” which is a really cool program on it if you want to see the post I made its really cool so I would check it out 

 

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Running_X_on_a_Logitech_G19_LCD

 

U can use it has a second display but I find that mind boggling and just unnecessary, you can get it cheap now for 60 bucks but when I got it it cost 400, You can do quite a bit of things on this keyboard.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

I’ve bought so many keyboards I might eventually go in debt! I think I’ll stick with the keyboard I currently have despite I have so many feelings for that razer huntsman elite!  ( i’ve tried it in person ).  

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

p.s 

 

the link i gave you to the website I edited it in 2015 because I noticed an error and it was absolutely imminent to fix that despicable error! But originally I made it in 2010 ( 1 year after the launch of the keyboard and the year I got the keyboard )

[Jessop]

9 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

I’ve bought so many keyboards I might eventually go in debt! I think I’ll stick with the keyboard I currently have despite I have so many feelings for that razer huntsman elite!  ( I’ve tried it in person ).  

I know the feeling -

but I can honestly say the huntsman elite is " THE BEST " Keyboard I've ever used overall.

My only gripe is the Wrist rest is kinda uncomfortable because of the way i lay my hands when playing but most people will be more than happy with the wrist rest.

The  most standout features of the huntsman elite are - ZERO key wobble - Quiet - non rattling space bar - Excellent Build quality and aluminum top plate

 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Some pics if you don't mind?

[Jessop]

https://www.pcmag.com/review/362019/razer-huntsman-elite

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=razer+huntsman+elite+review&qft=+filterui%3avideoage-lt10080&view=detail&mid=FB49EB0D6DCDA1E92764FB49EB0D6DCDA1E92764&&FORM=VRDGAR

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

I know that guy, he’s underrated sadly, don’t watch him very often though unless I want a review or some cool accessories. My favorite channels would be; 8-bit guy, LGR, 8-bit keys.