Razer BlackWidow Stealth Edition Expert Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

This should probably be a five-star review but a couple of the features I presume other people want ding it down a star for me personally. For starters, this thing is quiet. Originally I had purchased a nice MX Cherry Blue keyboard, which was a joy to type on, but the clacking was too loud for my open office environment - it was even too loud for me when I was working alone, with noise-cancelling headphones on. It wasn't even so much the volume as it was the pitch. It's got such a high pitch click that it was really distracting and almost went out the window. Instead, it went back to Amazon and I got the Razer BlackWidow instead. Much better choice for an office environment. It's smooth to type on (much better than the mushy keyboard we've become accustom to) and has a nice feel to it. I wish it had a wrist comfort thing, but it's ok... I don't even use them anyway, I just like to know they are there I guess.The only reason I'm taking off one star... well, I guess there are two related reasons... as I bought this to be a typing keyboard for work, and not a gaming keyboard, I feel like it's the tiniest bit compact and more importantly, I hate the macro buttons on the left. I realize these are features gamers desire so it's tough to knock it for that, but I didn't realize how I anchor my fingers on a keyboard with my left pinky starting on the Shift button at the far left edge of a normal keyboard. Now that's a row of macros, so it's incredible how many more typos I have - consistently hitting Caps Lock instead of the A key as an example, because I'm off to the left by one column. I'm getting used to it after a few weeks of use, and my typos are way down, but I can't think of a use for those keys and would generally prefer a slightly larger keyboard for my desk.That said, the quiet operation is well worth the trade-off. And if you want this for quiet gaming, I imagine it's perfect. Thumbs up.

This keyboard is PHENOMENAL. I cannot say anymore. I recently purchased this keyboard as I felt like gaming was becoming more and more a part of my daily routine. I looked up which keyboards would be best to game on and learned that mechanical keyboards were considered the best. After investing some time looking at many different keyboards, I stumbled across the Razer brand. I must say, this quality is amazing. I've heard some bad things about the quality of Razer keyboards, but have no run into any of the issues for the while I've had this keyboard.Now to get into the details.The finish on this keyboard is great. I was never one for the glossy finish as I've always seen it as a finger-print magnet and hated cleaning them as they'd get dirty soon after. The black-matte that this keyboard comes in look great. There is one glossy part on this keyboard, and that is where the Razer symbol is. However, it does not bother me on bit as I never touch it so it has yet to get dirty to the point where I have had to get a rag and clean it. Also, the symbol itself looks great with the green LED on the black-matte finish.Talking about the LEDs, this keyboard is not back-lit. However, the indicators in the top right corner look amazing. If you don't have anything on, then it looks like a completely vacant part of the keyboard. However, pressing the number lock or caps lock key, then suddenly a small, green, light seems to appear out of no where informing you that you just enabled that certain key. This was a great cosmetic addition the keyboard.The keys themselves feel great. I'd been using a membrane keyboard prior to purchasing this one. Originally, I imagined that the feel would not have been a major change. I was wrong. It felt like I was using a completely different keyboard. First off, the sound that the keys make when you tap them is incredible. The Stealth Edition makes a certain sound when you press the keyboard, but it isn't loud to the point where you feel like your playing an off-tune piano. Second off, the feel of the keys themselves is amazing. They don't feel like your typical cheap key-caps. They feel like they're high quality. I do wish that they were laser-etched though.Overall, this keyboard is great if you're a gamer that isn't looking to invest $150+ on a gaming keyboard. To be honest, you don't need to be a gamer to enjoy using this amazing keyboard.

I purchased this keyboard for work because it looked like a good midrange compromise. I was satisfied with it initially, but performance has degraded to the point that I feel compelled to post this poor review.First, a couple minor preference issues:* It requires two USB ports, which I'm sure is noted somewhere in the description and I just missed it. This is fine for my work keyboard, but I use a laptop at home and like to keep the port use to a minimum.* I don't like the row of "m" buttons down the left. Maybe this is a gaming keyboard thing, but I'm not used to it, and I always end up tapping one of them when I mean to hit the tab key.* I'm not a fan of the font used for the keys, I find it large and blocky to the point of being a little hard to read.None of that is a big deal and I would have given this a solid 4 based on my initial experience: The keys strike a good balance between mechanical responsiveness without being too loud for an office setting.However, within about a month, I started having issues with certain keys reporting spurious key strokes. This is most noticeable with the 'x' key. It's fine if you're just writing and end up saying "exxxit" instead of "exit", but it's problematic in apps like Visual Studio: Frequently, when I cut a line of text, it will end up cutting multiple lines. If I notice then I undo it and it's fine, but in the worst case I'll end up deleting multiple lines of code unintentionally, not notice, and have an app that won't compile for some unknown reason.Now, after owning it for about six months, the shift key is going out. This is causing all sorts of hassles, such as making it inconvenient to enter any passwords with capitals.For comparison, I've been using a Das Keyboard 4 at home for almost two years and it's performing as flawlessly as the day I bought it. I assume my problems with the Razer are uncommon or else everyone here would be complaining, but I won't be picking up another of these midrange mechanical keyboards.

NOTE: This review is for the Stealth/Full Edition.INITIAL THOUGHTSI have owned a handful of keyboards, and this one is probably my favourite so far. I live in a relatively small student house, and accordingly, my old Razer BlackWidow Ultimate was extremely loud and I constantly received complaints. This keyboard, however, not one complaint yet. It feels great, sounds great and looks great. Love this keyboard.PROS✓ Great Tactile Feedback -> Having owned the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, the tactile feel is very similar. If I could compare to the old membrane keyboards that you might've had at school, it would be very similar just not AS soft I guess. You still the get clicky feel that you normally would get from a Mechanical Keyboard, but it doesn't feel too aggressive. Absolutely love the feel to this keyboard✓ Quiet (But not silent) -> If you are buying the stealth version of this keyboard, then this is definitely one of the features you're probably most weary about. If you are familiar with other mechanical keyboards, you know how loud some of them can get. Please keep in mind that the word 'stealth' is in comparison to the clicky version of this keyboard... it is still louder than your typical membrane keyboard. The clicking is comparable to the loudness of clicking a pen over and over again, if someone is in the same room as you, it may get annoying but as far as a household, it probably won't be too bothersome (just close your door if it is).✓ Macro keys -> This is one of those extra features that are nice, but I don't use that often. If you are a gamer that plays games where there a lot of different abilities to cast (WoW, most MMOs), then this feature would be awesome for you. The macro keys are however fairly off to the side, so I would recommend using them as situation buttons that don't need to be pressed very often. As for me, I use them for opening up everything I want to open up in the morning usually (this way I can have basically everything on my boot menu disabled). So dependent on what you want to use them for, they're definitely helpful.✓ Looks Great -> Honestly, this keyboard just looks awesome. The font used on the keys is very stylish and easy to read. The keys are curved slightly dependent on where they are and what fingers you should be using to press it, it should feel very natural. Since I'm not a fan of fancy lights, I got the plain version, which still looks awesome (and I have no troubles seeing any of the keys at night).✓ High Quality -> Razer is known for providing high-quality products, and this keyboard definitely meets that quality standard. The keyboard itself feels relatively heavy and well built. Although I recommend not smashing this keyboard or anything, it will definitely hold up over the years. The cable is also a very high quality braided wire, and shouldn't cause you any problems.✓ Other Features -> On the right side of the keyboard there is both a microphone and audio jack as well as a USB port, allowing you, if you prefer, to connect your mouse, your mic and your headset all into the keyboard. I would however not recommend this as it will clutter your workspace with wires. The F keys double up as media keys where you can control the volume, and other pause and play features. These are all great small features that may slightly make your life a little simpler.CONS✘ Price -> Although $110 (after tax) is relatively cheap for a high-quality mechanical keyboard, it is still a hefty amount to drop on hardware. If you are an avid gamer and want a high-quality keyboard, then I highly recommend the price. The Stealth/No LED version is substantially cheaper than the chroma, but if you are someone who loves LEDs and want to make your setup look amazing, I have heard nothing but good things about the chroma upgrade.✘ No Dedicated Media Keys -> This isn't a huge issue with me (but I have enjoyed it on other keyboards that I've owned). The biggest problem for me is the location of the function key (that activates the media keys on the F keys). Having it on the right side of the spacebar is awkward for the way that I use a keyboard, however it's really not a huge deal since I rarely use the media keys anyway.✘ Wire Splits Into 4 Separate Wires -> Because of the audio/mic jacks on the side, the keyboard has to split into 2 USBs and 2 AUX cables near the end. Since I don't use the plugs on the side, I just have 3 extra wires that clutter up behind my desktop and are extremely annoying. In order to combat I have tied them all together so that they only act as one extra wire, but it is still something that can get really annoying when trying to keep everything clean/organised.FINAL THOUGHTS ⚖I absolutely love this keyboard. Although I kind of miss the LEDs even though I rarely used them, they aren't a huge deal and saves you a bit of money. I highly recommend this keyboard.R A T I N G S ☆QUALITY ★★★★★ [5]DESIGN ★★★★ [4] **Having the 3 extra wires and having the extra ports on the right side is poor design.PRICE ★★★★ [4] **Fairly expensive, but worth the price.RELIABILITY ★★★★★ [5]FEEL ★★★★★ [5]FINAL SCORE ★★★★★ [5]**Absolutely love this keyboard, highly recommended!

Me duró exactamente un año, justo antes que se acabara la garantía se descompuso intente contactar con servicio al cliente pero todo es en estados unidos y es un relajo para hacer valida la garantia, en fin no fue una buena experiencia

Great keyboard plain and simple replaced my wasd keys with rubber capped ones also installed o-rings and this keyboard is super silent enough to use whole my girlfriend sleeps

When first using the keyboard after using a standard mechanical keyboard, i found myself a very bad typer due to the macro keys because my hands are more centralized on the keyboard. This keyboard is already beginning to feel comfortable and I recommend this to any type of gamer. The keys do feel tight though, they arent so easy to press as other keyboards. You can barely touch the key and it will register.

Just as good as all the other BlackWidows, plus cheaper than them too. What's not to like? It's a great, cheap mechanical keyboard.