Razer Tartarus Pro Gaming Keypad

I was really hoping I could enjoy using this, but I just can't. I have a different game pad like this, but figured if I enjoyed the Razer one, I'd keep it at home and bring my other one to my work office once we're back to working in person. Maybe my keyboard use is weird for gaming or I'm simply used to/looking for something else than this offers, but I felt like using the Tartarus actually hindered my gameplay more than it did help. I really like having my hand well off to the left of my setup to keep my body from being super cramped up, so I've been playing around with game pads so I can keep my typing keyboard front-and-center, but use the game pad for actual gameplay. Let's break down the pros and cons, because it does have some positive features, but for me, the cons significantly outweigh the pros, especially for the price. (assuming Apex gameplay, here's the button bindings I remember since I only used it for a few days before I unplugged it and stopped using it (doing this by Column, not Row, so buttons 01, 06, 11, 16 will be first, etc) 01: Tab (hypershift: Esc) 06: disabled 11: L-Shift 16: L-Ctrl 02: 1 (I think) 07: I swapped between "Q" and "Disabled" 12: A 17: Z 03: Disabled 08: W 13: S 18: X 04: 3 09: E (Hypershift: T) 14: D 19: Either ("C" or "V") or "Disabled", but I think I made this "V" 05: 5 10: R (Hypsershift T) 15: disabled (I think) (Hypershift F, I think) Scroll wheel: normal scroll wheel actions Profile Switch Button: Hypershift D-pad Up: M D-pad Left: Q D-pad Down: B or Disabled, but I think Disabled D-pad Right: Disabled (I think) 20: Space And bindings on my mouse that I needed so I could not use my full keyboard: V (melee) B (change weapon fire mode) G Pros: - Firstly, I, personally, really loved the way it felt under my hand. I've got larger hands, so the shape and overall positioning of the d-pad and wrist rest were absolutely lovely - Secondly, it connects with Razer synapse 3. Considering my main keyboard is the Blackwidow Chroma v2, I thought having a game pad that would match my color setup and be able to interact between each other would be great (since only other Razer products can do things like change the profile or preset) - Thirdly, it genuinely felt like it had fairly solid construction relatively on-par with the Blackwidow Chroma v2 and the Sabertooth 360 controller I have. - Fourthly, for specifically the d-pad, the placement was SO comfy for me. I know my first point mentioned it, but specifically the d-pad was just perfectly placed, and felt quite easy to manipulate and click without necessarily accidentally clicking an incorrect direction and unfortunately, that's about where the pros end for me. Cons: - Firstly, the overall design. outside of my body enjoying the wrist rest placement and the d-pad placement, everything else feels horribly misplaced to me. The "space bar" is super difficult to click, so difficult in fact, that it was often painful to use. (since the "natural" placement of my hand was around the d-pad or on the button above the d-pad, I would often bump the d-pad trying to hit space to jump in Apex, and considering where my hand rested, the travel distance just to *touch* the space bar let alone click it was way too far to be comfortable). - Secondly, the actual keyboard keys. they're all the same size. I knew this when purchasing and didn't feel like it would be that big of a deal, considering it was hopeful the ergonomics would be comfy enough to get over it. but unfortunately, for me it was not. all the keys feel exactly the same. This wouldn't be as bad if the raised portion of the key (like on "F" and "J" of a normal keyboard) was in a different position, but my "neutral/resting" position for gaming on a keyboard is with my fingers on L-Shift, A, W, D, and Space, so moving my middle finger down to make sure I was 'centered' just wasn't going to cut it. this meant I was often not properly re-centering myself if I did a reach to hit a specific button, or had to pull my hand off the game pad for a moment. normally this would be a minor inconvenience, but mid fire fight for a PvP game cranks this up to a major issue - Thirdly, and going along with point 2, is trying to hit other keys in between movement. Running to cover and trying to equip a grenade? not bad if you bind grenades to the d-pad or a mouse. but the location of the buttons means that you have 1 column of keys on each side of your 3 movement key columns. so sure, you can bind "F" to "G" (positionally speaking on Tartarus), but then you have to put "F" somewhere else, too. not to mention that quick movements mid fight, especially when trying to do things like jump, would often cause me to tap the button next to "D", which meant I was accidentally pinging "enemy here" constantly. I ended up needing to turn off 1/4 to 1/5 of the keys for Apex just so I wouldn't accidentally bump half of them. (or bind the same key multiple times in Hypershift so I could have full functionality but not bump things on accident) - Fourthly, and this is one of the most disappointing points, the D-Pad does NOT work well as a joystick at ALL. in Synapse 3, it clearly supports both 4 and 8 direction inputs (separately, which was actually really cool), and considering normal PC M&K gameplay is, for all intents and purposes, 4-8 direction movement anyway, I didn't think this would be a big deal. I was very wrong. 4th Con sub-cons (yes, they're that major): - 4a: at first test, the d-pad genuinely does "work" to move your character in the 8 main directions. but other than that, it's basically unusable (for me, at least). both fast and slow movements in the Apex Firing Range had my game pad slipping and sliding a small but noticeable amount on my desk, so at least for me, without "bolting" down the Tartarus, I knew that wouldn't be a solid option for me - 4b: the drivers.... OH MY GOD the drivers. I've been using various console controllers for YEARS on PC. MS official 360 controller (wired) and PS4 official DualShock 4 on Mac, MS official 360 controller (Wired), PS4 official DualShock 4, Razer Sabertooth 360 controller, Xbox One Elite (v1) controller (wired, Windows 10 only), and the Steam Controller on Windows 7 and 10 with no issues. Windows 7 needed some 3rd party apps to get the PS4 controller to work like a 360 controller, but Windows 10 didn't seem to need it, and I liked the controllers I had enough that I didn't care anyway. But as soon as I started using the Tartarus, then tried playing games with a controller again (specifically, Godfall in the Epic store) I had issue after issue. I tend to default to my Sabertooth since I don't play my actual 360 really at all anymore, but still like the controller, but my PC refused to recognize it as Player 1. Same issue with the XB1 Elite. I think I spent a solid 2+ hours playing around with updates, drivers, and google searches to get things to work. only to realize that the Tartarus is recognized as a keyboard, an Xbox controller, AND a generic controller.... 3 separate instances in Windows 10. and every time I tried to disable it or unlink it, it would just come right back. Finally I just unplugged it, told Win10 to "forget" the device, restarted, and suddenly my controllers worked again... considering I've been playing mostly games like Godfall, where I feel more comfy with a controller than the mouse and keyboard, I haven't plugged the Tartarus back in since. and the few times I have played Apex or Realm Royale, I just plugged in my other game pad, cause I knew at least that one would work. TL;DR:/Summary: I find the only real Pros to this game pad are the build quality, which despite the plastic feels fairly solid and secure, and the color customization via Synapse 3. In actual in-game use, however, I felt that I was often held back by the design and overall limitations of the game pad rather than helped by the ergonomics I felt were (mostly) comfy. I feel this game pad would be great for everyday/office use to have a large set of macros and shortcuts at your disposal at any time, but I would definitely not suggest this to someone who wants it for gaming. I would, however, suggest, the Redragon K585 DITI for gaming. It has more buttons than the Tartarus, the shape is also fairly ergonomic (and allows for more personalized ergonomics with extra rests, etc IMO), the buttons have dedicated letters on them (even tho they're remappable) which helps for quick glances, I can "center" my WASD hand with the L-Shift key, since it's a full-sized key (and can often tell fairly quickly which key I'm about to press since things like Tab and Ctrl are all full sized, and T is pleasantly sized larger than the other keys). My biggest gripe with the Redragon, which I was hoping the Tartarus would help with (aside from being otherwise just as nice to use), is the lighting. there's really no customization outside of things like "wave" or "shift" (it would be nice to at least have it just stay at a specific color, which you unfortunately can't do). Final advice: I'll be returning my Tartarus this week; save your money or get a different brand game pad.