Blackwidow Ultimate 2014 Review

Heyo

It's GL1TCH3D here with a review of the new Razer Blackwidow 2014 with the new "Razer Green" switches. The version I got is the regular version with the loud clicking and tactile feel.

Background of myself:
I'm an enthusiast of many different hobbies. Most people know me for my enthusiasm of audio products around here. Though lately I've been in the keyboard scene a lot more. I purchased an end-game keyboard last year and just yesterday I ordered an end-game custom korean keyboard from one of the most famous keyboard designers for keyboard enthusiasts, GoN.
I've tried switch testers, I've designed my own layouts for a 40% keyboard I own.
I've owned lots of different mechanical keyboards in many formats (Full sized, tenkeyless, 60% and 40%).

My favorite switches ended up being modified cherry mx clear or topre 45g.

Info on the Razer keyboard:
Uses modified "green" Khailh switches (a knockoff brand of cherry mx switches. Meant to feel a lot like mx Blues)
Feels inbetween a 45g and 50g switch. Tactile and clicky.
Keycaps are made of ABS* (Need to verify)
Uses Costar stabilizers
Plate mounted.


Build quality of the overall keyboard:
Build quality feels alright. The keyboard itself has a decent weight. Though my 40% keyboard is literally twice the weight. The matte rubber finish of the case is a nice touch.
Backlighting is consistent EXCEPT on the J key I got which was misformed when they made it so light doesn't pass through a part of the keycap.
The stabilizer on the spacebar was put backwards and the wire wasn't formed properly.

Overall it felt like there was no quality control when building otherwise they would have easily caught and replaced the stabilizer and J key.

5/10

Keycaps: The keycaps were horrendous. They felt awful to type on because they were sticky and that makes it difficult to touch type.
I swapped out the original keycap set with a set of doubleshot ABS Ragnarok keycaps I had on the side.

1/10

Key switches:
The switches are extremely wobbly. The switches are inconsistent in feel (they don't all feel the same.). Some have more click to them, others have a ping sound, some sound muted and some feel harder to press. A lot of the time they actually get stuck.

1/10

keyboard layout:
The size of the keys on the bottom row of keys is weird and didn't accommodate my keys very well (the replacement set I had lying around)
Furthermore, the F1-12 keys are shifted ever so slightly to the right. Where I used to strike for F2, I'm now hitting F1. When I'm playing smite, this mistake could cost me a kill.

I also still don't understand why they're producing them with numpads as I doubt most gamers even use the numpad.

Besides that and the macro keys (which I don't care for) everything is standard.

4/10


Overall:

Between the really poorly executed fake cherry mx switches generally being horrible, the inflated price (they're asking more than the average middle end cherry mx keyboard) and really awful keycaps, I would definitely not recommend this to ANYBODY as I believe there are much better options.

Corsair and Logitech to appeal to the gamers more as well as Ducky, Keyed Up Labs (KUL) and Filco to appeal more to the keyboard enthusiasts in the same price range as the Razer Blackwidow.

Final score:
2.25/10