Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Keyboard

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Hey guys,

We have received our 2nd batch of this keyboard. The first batch didn't cover the pre-orders so I didnt mention it until we have available stock to order.

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Elite Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ £122.99 inc VAT

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The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate takes you full speed into combat with a full-fledged mechanical key infrastructure delivering crisp, tactile feedback with every actuation. Bringing an entirely different feel and faster keystroke actuation to the table, this revolutionary fully backlit gaming keyboard is rounded off by its additional macro keys and unlimited on-the-fly macro recording. Individually Backlit Keys With 5 Levels of Lighting - never miss a key in the dark with backlit keys that give you the tactical edge, allowing you to launch assaults and flank your foes even under low light conditions.

- Full mechanical keys with 50g actuation force
- Individually backlit keys with 5 levels of lighting
- 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response time
- Programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording
- Gaming mode option for deactivation of the Windows key
- 10 customizable software profiles with on-the-fly switching
- 5 additional macro keys
- Gaming optimized key matrix for minimized ghosting
- Multi-Media Controls
- Braided cable
- Audio-Out / Mic-In Jacks
- USB-Passthrough
- Approx. size in mm: 475(L) x 171(W) x 30(H)
- Weight: 1.5kg

Only £122.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW


Here are a few pics and videos of the keyboard to start, as you can see there are 5 levels on backlighting, including off and pulsing mode.

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The keyboards feels just how a mechanical keyboard should with nice clicking noise and feel, the only niggle I found whilst testing the keyboard in Quake 3 was that the SpaceBar is raised high at the front and slides down towards the rear of the keyboard - feels a little odd to start but after a few minutes I got used to it.

The keyboard have 2 USB cables leading from it - one cable is for keyboard itself and the lighting is powered via the cable, and the second cable is for the build in USB 2.0 hub which is localed of the right side of the keyboard. The keyboard also has 2 audio cables leading from it - this is to connect to your sound card and is used as a passthrough for the keyboard which also has the audio connections for your headset/speakers located on the right side next to the USB port.

The keyboard has 5 macro keys on the right hand side, and are very easy to program and the Razer software is very good and easy to use.

The keyboard has a Fn key (Function) that when you press allows you to control various things with the F1-F12 keys - all the F keys have icons to show you what the controls are. They are various media controls like play, stop, fast forward, rewind, skip etc. F12 and function allows you to cycle through the various lighting modes.
1. Off
2. Low
3. Meduim
4. High
5. Pulse Mod
The levels are lighting are spot on with a good range to select depending on your personal preference. The pulse mode does go completely off and then cycles to full brightness in a smooth motion, I personally feel that the pulse should have not gone off completely but just to a very low setting, but again that is just personal opinion.

Keystrokes
The keys themselves are very good, the mechanical nature of the buttons make the keyboard feel very responsive and you feel connected to it as apposed to just "using" it. The noise made by the keys are quite loud, however that is part fo the mechanical experience and after a while I think you will start to not notice the noise as much, when I game I tend to use my headset which does have noise cancelling ear shells so whilst gaming the noise for me is not a negative at all.

Vs the competition
At home I use a G19 keyboard (used to have a G15 rev1) and at work I used a G110 keyboard, for the actual keyboard and to type/game on then the Black Widow is far superior to any of the Logitech I use. The G19 does have more functionality with the LED screen built into it - however I raraely use it at home anyway.
 
Just took delivery of one of these as an upgrade to my Microsoft/Razer Reclusa (I was sick of hitting the Windows or Media Player keys during games). I don't know what they put inside the BlackWidow but is a seriously heavy piece of kit.

PROS
It is really well made and I am loving the clicky switch action.
The individual LEDs in each key result in a much more uniformed lighting effect.
No pointless hotkeys, jog dials, LCD screens etc.

CONS
The gloss black body is a fingerprint magnet.
The font is a bit angular, the R key in particular is a bit weird, it seems to be the greek character for gamma; Γ
 
Would really like this keyboard, but the price is a little high ;P

probably get the rev2 or the next mechanical one as my lycosa is fine at the moment
 
Just to add to this, I've seen someone on another forum mod one of these with a white paint job and an MX switch change from blue to clear/whites.

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What's good about a mechanical keyboard? I've never looked into it. How does it work differently?

Rubber dome uses a large rubber sheet with domes (you probably know what this is if you've ever taken apart your keyboard to clean it). A mechanical switch keyboard uses individual mechanical switches for each key.

In regards to what is better about them... they'll last for years without the key pressing action deteriorating over time, which is the most common problem with rubber domes after just a few years. If you're using a keyboard a lot to type, you'll end up with deterioration of the membrane occurring much more quickly.

Most keyboards originally were mechanical switch. The most famous being the IBM buckling spring type, which people still laud as the best keyboard ever made. Rubber dome type keyboards came about by companies cheaping out on the production of keyboards.
 
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