Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard

(Review) - When it comes to gaming, Razer is on the forefront, taking care of enthusiasts with amazing products. The company shines again with its newly announced Razer Tarantula gaming keyboard for gamers. This keyboard has it all, from custom profiles to stability and custom keys. But that’s not all, however.

The Tarantula has a rock solid exterior with great stability and durability, meaning when you game, the Tarantula doesn’t move around, thanks to its 2-pound+ weight and solid rubber feet. As is the case with a number of gaming keyboards, it’s certainly larger than an average keyboard. Obviously the reason for that are the bonus keys that are exclusive to gaming. The Tarantula also has a glossy exterior that makes it look very sharp compared to Logitech’s G15 gaming keyboard.

We are just getting started, though. While the foundation of the Tarantula is great, Razer has made a number of changes to make it even more exciting. One of these exciting features includes 10 programmable macro keys - 5 on each end. These dedicated gaming keys have icons on them, such as a knife or a rifle icon, to make it easy to remember their functions. What you can also do is replace these keys with any one of the standard ones on the keyboard with the included key-popping tool. And of course, the ability to map out various profiles (up to 100) is another excellent feature for the gamers reading this. The Tarantula has 32KB of onboard memory that will allow the keyboard to remember all the profiles right on the keyboard. That will allow you to take the keyboard anywhere you go and still have your profiles in the keyboard. How amazing can it get?

Then there’s blue backlighting for the 10 Hotkeys, three standard indicators on the top right and a striking Razer logo that brightly lights up at the bottom. Razer has also implemented its Battledock, which is a modular docking station for connecting additional Razer accessories directly to the keyboard to enhance your gaming experience, such as a webcam. The Razer BattleEye, the company’s webcam, and Battlelight, an illumination light, will certainly come in handy for this. Not to mention, the two USB ports and microphone and headphone jacks on the side are pretty extraordinary additions as well.

From a performance standpoint, the keys were crisp and the response time was great. The profile settings, key mapping and onboard profile storage worked exceptionally well as well. Needless to say, the Tarantula is quite close to perfection, except for one minor setback that we noticed. We can’t quite grasp the lack of backlighting for the rest of the keys. Razer is retailing an illumination light for the keyboard, but it wouldn’t need to do that, from a consumer’s perspective, if it had already integrated this in the keyboard. For those late night sessions, be sure to keep the lights on.

For the steep price of $99, though you can find it for as low as $74.62, Razer’s Tarantula is an outstanding gaming keyboard that will wow the gamer in you.

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