Razer revamps BlackWidow with new yellow mechanical switches

Back in early 2016, I had the opportunity to review the excellent Razer Black Widow Chroma keyboard and I came away very impressed with the company's own Green mechanical switches with their tactile feel and clicky sound. However, mechanical switch preference can vary, not everyone likes tactile or clicky keys, which is why this week, Razer has launched the Black Widow V2, adding a wrist rest to the board while offering an all new Razer Yellow switches.

Razer had used two switch designs up to this point- Green and Orange, which are essentially the same as Cherry MX Blues or Browns. Both are tactile switches but greens are clicky and orange switches remove that while maintaining tactile feedback. Razer's new yellow switch is closer to a Cherry MX Red, it is a linear switch, making no noise and providing no tactile feedback. These switches are often preferred by gamers for their quicker actuation/response time and low noise output.

As always, all three of Razer's switch options are rated for an 80 million keystroke lifespan, which is higher than Cherry's 50 million key strokes. However, there is more to the BlackWidow Chroma V2 than new switches.

This is a full sized keyboard, offering you a row of macros, a full keyboard and a numpad. There is a USB and audio pass through port on the back and as with most high-end keyboards these days, this one supports RGB lighting through the Chroma system. While past Razer keyboards have come without a wrist rest, it seems that the success of Corsair's own RGB keyboards has caused this to change. Going forward, the BlackWidow Chroma will come with a wrist rest.

The Green Switch version of this keyboard is already available. However, the Orange and Yellow options won't be available until the 30th of January. You can find the BlackWidow Chroma V2 on the Razer store for $170.

KitGuru Says: I swapped back and forth between my Cherry Brown Corsair K70 and my Razer Green BlackWidow quite a bit last year. Both are excellent keyboards, though the Razer does tend to spend more time on my desk these days. Are any of you currently in need of a new keyboard?

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