Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 Keyboard Review

The Razer BlackWidow Chroma V2 ships in a black box, though there is a large and colourful photo of the keyboard visible from the front.

Inside, both a small quick-start guide and a ‘welcome to the Cult of Razer' greeting card are included.

The only other extra is the faux-leather, magnetic wrist rest. More on this on the next page.

Taking our first look at the BlackWidow Chroma V2 (or just ‘V2' from here on), it does look very similar to the original BlackWidow Chroma. That being said, looking closely, the plastic outershell is now slightly textured, whereas the original model has a smooth finish. The font, too, has been tweaked – it is now a bit thinner and less aggressive.

Below we take a closer look at some of the keyboard's features.

Starting at the top of keyboard, volume controls share space with the F-keys. There is also play/pause/skip functionality on the F5-F7 keys.

In the top right-hand corner is a relatively large, glossy panel which is home to 5 LED indicators. These just let you know if caps lock, gaming mode etc are currently active. This panel has been improved over the original BlackWidow model, too, as it is now much clearer and thus easier to tell what is currently active.

At the bottom of the keyboard is a small Razer logo – this is illuminated by RGB LEDs which can be controlled via the Synapse software.

On the right-hand side of the keyboard we find a USB 2.0 pass-through port, as well as a single 3.5mm audio pass-through jack – both are good features to have, but the original model did have both audio and mic jack pass-through ports.

Next, we get a look at the mechanical switches. Razer design and manufacture their own mechanical switches in-house – contrary to popular opinion, these are not just re-badged Kailh switches. They also have an impressive 80m-rated keystroke lifespan, which is actually an improvement from the last-gen 60m-rated switches.

My sample arrived with the tactile and clicky Green switches, while the non-clicky tactile Orange switches are also available. Razer's new Yellow switch – linear and non-tactile – is also an option, but it is only available in keyboards which use the US key layout.

Speaking of switches, included in the box is also a small mechanical switch key chain. It looks just like a keyboard switch with key-cap, and it feels exactly the same, but it doubles as a key chain for all you keyboard aficionados out there.

The last point to mention here is that Razer have also changed the LED housing at the top of the switch – the housing now has a more rectangular shape and this should hopefully disperse the light a bit better.

On the underside of the keyboard we can see that there are four rubber feet to prevent any slipping, while there are also two height-adjustment stands.

Lastly, the braided cable is very thick as it splits off into 3 connectors: 1x USB for the keyboard itself, 1x USB for the pass-through port, and one last connector for the 3.5mm audio jack pass-through.

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