Razer Huntsman V2 review: no need for speed

Razer’s latest keyboard, the Huntsman V2, is all about speed. It is equipped with optical mechanical switches that can theoretically register key presses much faster than their traditional mechanical counterparts. Then, its 8,000Hz polling rate means it can report that keystroke to your PC almost instantly.

So yes, it’s theoretically very fast, arguably faster than most people will notice. But that speed doesn’t come at the expense of other important parts of a modern mechanical keyboard. There’s support for RGB lighting, software for customizing keys and keyboard lighting effects, and, in the case of the full-size model, a volume wheel and dedicated media controls. But Razer has also made choices with Linear Switches in particular, which means the Huntsman V2 might not appeal to all gamers.

The new Huntsman V2 is available at four different price points depending on whether you want a numeric keypad and love your clickable or linear switches. The keyless model starts at $ 149.99 with clicky switches, or $ 159.99 with a linear, while the full-size model is $ 189.99 or $ 199.99. It’s relatively expensive by standard mechanical keyboard standards, which means the Huntsman V2 has a lot to prove.

I tested two of the variants for this review, a Razer Huntsman V2 with clicky switches and a Razer Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless (aka TKL) with linear switches, both with a UK layout (US is also available). The latter comes without a numeric keypad, volume wheel or multimedia keys. But the basic features of both keyboards are the same, including their switching options, polling rate, and construction, so it makes sense to talk about them as a pair.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Razer’s crisp green and black gamer aesthetic, but I was pleasantly surprised at how understated the Huntsman V2 keyboards were under their rainbow-colored RGB lighting, which is easily visible. disabled in their settings. The TKL and full size models are both black and their keys use a nice neutral font for their lettering. Only the TKL model actually has a visible Razer branding, and even then it’s limited to a letter subtly printed above the arrow keys. On the full-size model, that space is taken up by LED lights for things like caps lock.

This space-saving design means that both keyboards are relatively compact given their layouts. There’s no big front here as you’ll see on Corsair’s keyboards: the footprint of the two Huntsman V2s is just a bit larger than the keyboard layouts they contain. Razer includes a wrist rest with both planks – a soft faux leather pad – which increases their footprint a bit, but I think it’s a nice addition. The USB cable is removable on the TKL and uses a standard Type-C connector at the end of the keyboard. It’s strangely (and boring) fixed in place on the full-size model.

The keycaps are made from relatively thin PBT plastic and use a double-stroke design for their lettering, which allows their backlight to shine and should prove durable over time. All the keys here are standard sizes, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding aftermarket keycaps if you want.

The exception to this otherwise understated look is the RGB lighting on the keyboards, which by default runs through a kaleidoscopic rainbow of colors. I much prefer an all-white color scheme, and it was just a matter of customizing it using Razer’s Synapse software. Using this software implies agreeing to Razer’s Terms of Service, but you can use it in guest mode if you prefer not to create a Razer account. Like other Razer products, this light can sync with various compatible games if desired. Its software also remaps keyboard keys, and for the most part, it will remember those changes if you plug it into another computer, although there are exceptions like the lighting profile.

Neither of the keyboards feel flimsy with little to no flex, but they lack the weight and weight of keyboards like the Keychron Q1. I think it only matters if you want a heavy keyboard for the sake of having a heavy keyboard.

Razer’s main selling point for the Huntsman V2 line, and its big upgrade over its predecessor, is its 8,000kHz polling rate, which means the keyboard checks for keystrokes and keystrokes. returns to your computer 8,000 times per second. It’s eight times faster than the original Huntsman and most other keyboards.

We’ve seen other keyboards offer poll rates as high as Corsair’s K70 RGB TKL, but Razer’s Hunstman has a few theoretical advantages. First of all, while Corsair’s recent keyboard reports via USB at 8000Hz, it actually only checks internally for keystrokes at 4000Hz. In contrast, Razer tells me that the entire Huntsman stack V2 is 8000Hz, which should give it a little edge in terms of responsiveness.

But more importantly, the Huntsman V2, like the Huntsman before it, uses optical mechanical switches. This means they use a small beam of light to sense when a key has been pressed, rather than using metal contacts like with Cherry’s traditional MX switch design. This fixes an issue with mechanical switches where contacts can “bounce” together before making final contact. This is something that only happens for a fraction of a second, but it does mean that traditional mechanical keyboards suffer from a “debounce delay” while they determine if a key press has actually occurred. Optical switches do not have this problem. So in the case of the Huntsman V2, you should be able to flip a switch and have it report back to your machine with almost no latency, according to Razer.

That’s the theory, but while I wish I could say I feel the difference, I struggled to notice it in practice. I played about 10 hours of Death loop on the Huntsman V2 with my more or less stable 90 fps frame rate and struggled to notice any latency improvements compared to my usual Filco Majestouch 2 keyboard at 1000Hz. This is not to say that there was no objective difference in latency. Film myself pressing the space bar Monitoring slow motion at 240 fps with playing at 100 fps showed that the Huntsman V2 indeed has a faster response time. It just wasn’t sharp enough to make me feel in practice.

That said, these results will vary a lot depending on the types of games you play and the frame rates they run on your machine. So if you like playing esports titles on a 240Hz or even 360Hz monitor and have faster reflexes, that might make more of a difference. But, for me, the difference was negligible. For most people, I don’t think the 8,000Hz refresh rate makes a sufficient difference to warrant recommending the Huntsman V2 over a competitor with similar specs.

This is where I would normally quickly outline a keyboard’s switching options and tell you to follow your heart: whether it’s for slick linear switches, bumpy tactile keys, or clickable … clickable switches. But it’s not that simple with the Huntsman V2, which is available with either clicky or linear switch options.

Yes, the two switches largely share the same fundamentals. They’re both optical, obviously, and both have sway bars built into each switch, which Razer says is aimed at reducing the number of moving parts. But the linear switches have been specifically updated from the original Huntsman and now have a built-in ‘silicon sound damper’.

This means that the two types of switches are drastically different, much more than you would expect when comparing clickable and linear options on another keyboard. And I don’t think the changes Razer made with its second-gen linear optical switches are necessarily an improvement.

This is because this silicone sound damper has a major impact on the feel of linear switches. This is similar to the effect you would get by installing rubber O-rings on a normal mechanical switch, only built into their design with no ability to remove them. Yes, it does make the keyboard quieter, but it’s at the expense of that crispness that I’d say is part of the fundamental appeal of mechanical keyboards in the first place. You feel like you’re typing on a membrane keyboard, with the enhanced responsiveness and durability of a mechanical keyboard.

Clicky switches are better, but I still don’t think the typing experience is great. While it’s not as smooth as the background feel of the linear switches, there’s still a slight mushy feel here, and the keyboard stabilizers (the mechanisms under the long keys that keep them from wobbling) have a bit of a squeeze. clicking for them. If you want a nice, crisp and clean typing experience, this isn’t it.

On paper, it’s hard to beat the Huntsman V2 or the Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless. They’re responsive with quick queries and optical switches, well supported by Razer software, and have designs that should work well on virtually any desktop. Each also has its own quality of life features, like a volume wheel on the full-size model and a detachable USB-C cable on the TKL version.

But I think the responsiveness improvement is marginal at best and only really relevant if you’re playing an esports-focused title at higher refresh rates. Then, when it comes to the overall typing experience of the Huntsman V2, it just can’t match other similarly priced keyboards available elsewhere. It’s a very functional keyboard, but it fails to match that functionality with quality.

Photography by Jon Porter / The Verge