Razer has entered the low-profile mechanical keyboard area with a bang with the Deathstalker V2 Professional and we’ve one in for assessment. Low-profile is a small, however ever-growing section of the mechanical keyboard market, and one which already has some strong merchandise. Logitech has its personal low-profile entry and might be credited for bringing the sub-genre into the limelight. The Logitech G915 landed about two years in the past and was praised for high quality (although hammered for worth). Since then, there have been a wide range of opponents which have put out low-profile mechanical keyboards, each wired and wi-fi.
Corsair and Cooler Grasp, together with smaller firms like Nuphy and Keychron have all thrown hats into the low-profile area. Undeniably, there are fairly a number of top quality low-profile mechanical keyboards to select from in 2022. So, how does the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional stack up?
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Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional specs and construct high quality
Right here’s a fast rundown of the specs for the Razer V2 Professional:
Characteristic | Description | ||
Chassis | Aluminum and plastic, matte black end | ||
Type-factor | Full measurement and TKL | ||
Keyswitches | Razer™ Low-Profile Optical Switches (Linear) | ||
Backlight | Individually lit and per-key programmable | ||
LED shade | RGB 16.8 million colours | ||
Keycaps | ABS keycaps w/ anti-wear coating | ||
Different keycaps | No | ||
Connectivity | 2.4GHz wi-fi, Bluetooth 5.1, Kind-C wired | ||
Matrix | N-key rollover | ||
Onboard profiles | As much as 5 | ||
Media keys | Sure – single multi-function | ||
Profile key | Sure | ||
Brightness key | Sure | ||
Home windows lock perform | Sure | ||
Software program help | Sure – Synapse | ||
Cable | 6.5ft / 2m | ||
Dimensions | 71.2 x 5.5 x 1 in / 437 x 139 x 21mm | ||
Weight | 1.7 lbs / 775g |
Right away you’ll discover the distinctive construct high quality of the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional. It’s a mix of aluminum and plastic put collectively very nicely. There’s no flex, and nearly no key rattle, even when shaking the board vigorously. Positioned on the correct facet is a quantity wheel (extra of a log actually) that’s used to regulate sound ranges by default. The standard of the wheel is up there with probably the most premium audio gadgets we’ve encountered. Fabricated from aluminum, it’s ridged and has a terrific really feel to the contact. It’s stepped, and feels easy and managed after every notch. With out overstating issues, it’s a pleasure to make use of. Subsequent to the quantity wheel is the multi-function button. It’s product of metallic as nicely and has a really satisfying click on to it.
The important thing caps really feel implausible as nicely. The coating feels supple and easy whereas not being slippery. It’s onerous to know the way this coating will maintain up over time, and price stating that the board has ABS keycaps that are usually extra liable to put on than PBT. As to the texture of the keys and stabilizers, there may be little rattle or wobble. The stabilizers on this are top-notch as nicely. The area bar strikes as one strong piece when pressed, which is strictly what we might need out of it. After our month of testing, the board held up nicely with no indicators of wear and tear or beauty injury.
Two extra issues Razer doesn’t notice within the specs are that you may elevate the board top and that the polling fee response interval for keystrokes is the usual 1,000Hz (1ms).
Key switches
The important thing switches on the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional that we obtained for assessment have been the Razer Linear Optical Switches. In immediately’s market, optical switches are premium tech that make the most of a laser to register keystrokes with minimal debounce. This implies faster and extra exact keystroke recognition. Pair this with a linear swap, which is already a sooner extra responsive swap, and also you’re able to damage somebody’s day.
A priority we’ve had with linear switches prior to now is unintentional key presses. With many linear switches, Cherry MX Reds specifically, heavier-handed players have been identified to make unintentional keypresses. This solely occurred in a number of cases with the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional, these usually got here right down to consumer error extra so than the rest.
Razer’s linear switches are surprisingly good to make use of, not only for gaming, however for writing as nicely. The actuation could be very easy, smooth nearly, however nonetheless exact and responsive. There was no fatigue in anyway after lengthy gaming and writing classes.
Performance
One of many essential promoting factors of the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional is it’s low-latency wi-fi functionality. Right here is the place issues get a little bit dicey. When it labored, it labored flawlessly. You’d by no means know that it was wi-fi for the way responsive it was, which we predict ought to be anticipated in 2022. Nevertheless, we encountered some issues the place the keyboard would sporadically unpair in testing.
This didn’t appear to correlate with any port it was plugged in, or with the motive force model. Nevertheless, it stopped and by no means acted up once more after reconnecting the keyboard a number of occasions. It’s onerous to say what brought on this or what made it cease, as there have been no firmware or software program updates utilized throughout this time. We have been tempted to not embrace this and write it off as a random prevalence, however it continued for lengthy sufficient and was annoying sufficient to be price mentioning.
For multimedia performance, there may be clearly the quantity wheel, but in addition a single multi-function media button. This can be utilized to pause and play media you might have in your PC. One press performs or pauses, two presses skips to the subsequent observe, and three reverts to the final observe. The “subsequent” and “final” capabilities work for video playlists as nicely. We felt this labored tremendous and was simple to get used to. Anybody with a pair of wi-fi earbuds ought to be acquainted with the idea.
In wi-fi mode, the battery life was greater than sufficient. Rated at 40 hours of steady use, we have been by no means involved with working out of juice in the course of an Apex Legends match. Nevertheless, because of the restrict of quarter-hour earlier than the board goes to sleep we discovered that it required charging each three days or so. In comparison with a direct competitor just like the Logitech G915 that would take weeks to so long as a month between prices, it’s noticeable. Granted, this gained’t influence you throughout a gaming session, at full cost, however it’s one thing you’ll must sustain with if you happen to don’t like enjoying with the cable related.
Razer Synapse
The largest weak point of the Razer Deathstalker Professional V2 is the Razer Synapse software program help. Many journalists and customers alike have complained about Razer’s software program. And it hasn’t gotten any higher. It’s clunky to make use of, buggy, and a (subjectively) ugly consumer interface. So far as the settings for the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional, it has a full RGB lighting controller with individually illuminated keys, customized macros, sleep time settings (the period of time the keyboard stays inactive earlier than going to sleep), in addition to establishing totally different profiles that may be saved domestically in your keyboard.
A few of these options work tremendous, others much less so. RGB management works on par with the highest opponents. A number of totally different lighting profiles and results, per-key lighting management, and Razer Chroma integration imply that you may make the board glow nevertheless you need.
For some purpose, Razer made the minimal time increment setting earlier than your keyboard goes to sleep be a full quarter-hour, which is a reasonably lengthy period of time. By comparability, the Logitech G915 goes as little as one minute. This can be a nonsensical choice, particularly if you take into accounts that the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional already has a shorter battery life than competing keyboards attributable to its optical sensors. Tempering this with a extra aggressive sleep timer would have been good.
As well as, the time it takes from an preliminary key press to when the keyboard wakes and registers your keystrokes is noticeable. The Logitech G915 has a close to immediate wake time by comparability. It could be good to see Razer take into account these components for future software program updates and successive keyboards.
Remaining ideas
The Razer Deathstalker V2 is a implausible entry into the low-profile mechanical gaming keyboard market. Whereas it’s held again by some software program points, the general expertise is hard to beat. The largest subject most individuals can have with the keyboard isn’t the construct high quality, the switches, and even the software program, nevertheless. It’s the worth. Coming in at $249.99 USD for the total sized mannequin and $219.99 USD for the TKL mannequin, it’s a steep asking worth for the typical PC gamer. Nevertheless, we predict it’s definitely worth the worth when you’ve got the cash and are available in the market for a brand new low-profile mechanical gaming keyboard.