Razer Tarantula Keyboard Review

Name: Razer Tarantula Keyboard
Brand: Razer

Frederik S

on Feb 4th, 2007,

in Keyboards.

Manufacturer: Razer

(24 Comments) »

Durability

The keyboard seems very well built and has a really nice finish. All of the keys seem to be quite durable even though they can be swapped. One of the main areas of concern for any keyboard is the coating used on the keys, the Tarantula has standard keys with letters printed on top. This is good because if you take i.e. the G15, the black coating used on the transparent keys tends to wear off, of course the downside to having standard keys is that you can't get them back lighted.

The 10 keys with backlight are constructed similarly to that of the G15's main keys, and therefore suffer the same durability faults. When compared to the G15's back lighted keys the coating that Razer uses seems harder - whether the keys are more durable is hard for me to comment on because I haven't used the keyboard for such a long time.

The glossy finish of the Tarantula is sort of fragile and does get scratched rather easily, same goes for the mat coated wrist support. The problem with top coating is quite common and I think that the stuff Razer uses is a bit more durable than the matte coating that Logitech uses on their G15 keyboard.

Value & Conclusion

The Razer Tarantula costs $129.99 at the Razer Store, you can buy it directly from Razer here Razer

Performance
Design
Extra special keys
Drivers
Build quality

Expensive
Gloss finish easy to scratch
Macro length is limited

I must say that I was really impressed with the Tarantula, the sleek design and a nice feature set. When it comes to performance this keyboard won't let you down, I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I have grown quite fond of the short traveling length keys that are medium high.
The only thing that I dislike about this keyboard besides from the easily scratchable gloss surface is the price, coming in at $129.99 it's really expensive compared to other high end keyboards on the market today. Even when taking into account the many great features and performance of the keyboard you have to be a hardcore gamer in order for the keyboard to be worth that amount of money.
The general build quality of the keyboard is really good and it feels quite sturdy. Even the key release system is quite durable, I tried changing the same key 10 times in a row and I couldn't find any damages to the internal connectors, this is largely because of the ingenious way Razer has build the key mechanism.
Overall I'm impressed with the features and standard of the Tarantula, but it's really expensive compared to other similar high-end keyboards. In order to appreciate this keyboard's features you have to be a hardcore gamer.