Razer BlackWidow V4 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

I’ve had three previous Razer keyboards because they and Corsair are consistently top tier for their target audience, and that is GAMERS. For years, keyboard enthusiasts who are enthusiasts first bash on Razer keyboards for not being good enthusiast keyboards. That’s never been the point. Until now. Historically, I’ve never been willing to compromise my very low latency and response time in exchange for something as subjective as “thock”, but I was curious about custom boards because they can continually be reinvented to your liking. Sounded fun. My Huntsman Mini with linear optical switches was my go to for gaming because it had decent response time, and allowed me to retain most of my mouse mat for FPS. My Pro Type Ultra was actually faster than most keyboards on the market, and on par with Razer, Corsair’s best (1.5ms latency), but it didn’t get much use except for Excel and work because of its size. This keyboard brings the arrow, function keys back while not taking much more space than my 60% board. The perfect size for many users, unless you need a 10 key pad. It’s blistering fast, highly customizable in RGB, Key Mapping, Macros. It’s comfortable to use for work and play. I strongly disagree with the people complaining about the wrist rest. It’s a dense, plush foam. I can’t imagine disliking it unless I was a constantly sweating person. But even still, I don’t make much use of it. The keyboard feels just fine without the wrist rest, unlike my previous keyboards. As far as custom keyboards go, this is new to me. I can’t comment on customizing the board yet, because I was so pleasantly surprised with the orange tactile keys in both feel and sound that I wasn’t missing my silent linear keys whatsoever. The typing sound is pleasant, and did immediately remind me of the tone that I’ve often seen shared from keyboard enthusiasts on YouTube. Even as a novice, I know Razer keyboards have some keys with scratchy or hollow sounding notes, and that is indeed the case with the space bar and Enter key. As others have noted, you can fix this with CUSTOMIZING the board with different stabilizers and lube. I think the Razer haters / keyboard enthusiasts will still hate this. They’ll say it’s much more expensive than their Keychron or other custom boards. They’re missing the point, as they always have with Razer. Razer is a gaming brand first. Keychron has been a keyboard brand first. So if you’re weighing a gaming keyboard against that, yeah it’ll seem overpriced. If you’re a gamer that doesn’t want to compromise on gaming performance but would like to customize it over your course of ownership, or you’d like to be able to easily repair it upon switch failure, you can’t go wrong with this. The criticism for Razer’s switch prices is also misguided. The point of a custom keyboard is you aren’t forced into one brand’s switches. Three pin and five pins from most brands will work just fine. Is it a premium price? Of course it is. Razer has always been that way. But if you’re a Razer / gaming enthusiast, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. As far as criticism goes, I’ve already noted the larger keys would’ve benefitted from different stabilizers and more lube. The criticism I saw another reviewer put against Home and End being tied to a Fn subset is valid, but I’m not returning mine over it. Razer could easily address it with Synapse updates. The side under glow is too understated in my opinion. Could’ve used more LEDs or wider lens for more light diffusion. It’s a great, but expensive keyboard for any hardcore gamer looking to dabble in custom keyboards. If you’re not a Razer fan, or if you’re a casual gamer, or a keyboard enthusiast, I’d suggest considering other options before this, purely from a price standpoint.