Review: Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 Mechanical Keyboard

One of the elements to which little attention is usually paid is to the peripherals and more specifically to the keyboards, among others, looking for economical solutions that can cover the just needs. Razer is a company specialized in high-quality peripherals and features, designed for the most epicurean gamers who want a different product. The 2016 Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Keyboard offers incredible performance for gaming enthusiasts, with Razer's own mechanical keys.

Razer Green Keys

Razer bet on using its own mechanical keys and leaving aside the Cherry MX. In 2010 I chose to use mechanical keys to make gaming keyboards. The mechanical keys until then were used in normal keyboards for typing and little else. This bet has been a success and now the great gaming keyboards choose to do the same as Razer with the Razer BlackWidow, use mechanical keys. Four years later it decided to up the ante and Razer went on to create its own mechanical contacts, with very specific specifications ideal for gaming.

The Razer keys are easy to operate. When we press the key, there is a stem inside that moves down and presses a spring that activates the contact and causes the command to be executed. When we release the key, this spring returns to the rest or initial position, making the key operational again. These Razer mechanical keys are tested by professional eSports gamers. Razer mechanical keys are optimized and have a durability that no one can offer on the market. The keys allow you to execute commands faster than before and for longer.

It stands out from these keys that they are manufactured by Razer, therefore the company controls the entire manufacturing process of each of the keys. After years of research and development work, it now has keys that far exceed the competition in terms of durability and have very small tolerance levels. Having total control of production allows the company to implement new technologies to improve its products.

Razer Green has been designed with two points, one for actuation and one for reset, which have been optimized, offering the Razer Green keys an excellent performance when it comes to gaming. These actuation are distinctive click media and achieve key reset for a new press in approximately half the time of contacts made by competing companies. This offers a high operating speed.

These keys require a pressure force in centinewton of 50cN, which conversion to grams is 50.98 grams-force for activation. There are other solutions on the market, but in this case they are a good option, since we will avoid accidental keystrokes.

Razer Black Widow Ultimate 2016

One keyboard to dominate them all, more or less. The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 keyboard offers us high performance and high quality, within the company's demanding standards. It is characterized by the Razer Green keys in this case, which make it ideal for gaming. It has been developed with a green backlight that we can individually increase or reduce the intensity, but it will always be green, since it does not admit more colors. It does not have dedicated macros, the macros are combined with the normal keys, perhaps it is the only weakest point for those looking for a keyboard with dedicated configurable macros.

The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 keyboard has several lighting modes, depending on our taste, being the star mode that illuminates keys at random, the wave mode, which creates wave effects from two different points, the breathing mode that raises and lowers the light power, a static mode, the reactive mode, which, depending on the key we press it is activated and the wave effect, which we can choose to go from right to left or vice versa. In addition, the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 has technology anti-ghosting, which prevents losing simultaneous keystrokes up to a maximum of ten keys pressed at the same time, recognizing them all. It has a fairly high pollingrate of 1000Hz, so we won't lose keystrokes, thanks to the fast tracking of the different keys. It has a game mode, which deactivates the Windows key, to avoid scares in the middle of a game.

The keyboard has been equipped with a USB port, so when we connect it, we will not lose a USB port, in addition to having a more comfortable access for external devices. The jack connector is also interesting. This allows us to connect headphones with a microphone in the same connector, since the two elements have been integrated into the same contact. Without a doubt, the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 has everything you need to be a high-quality, high-performance gaming platform.

Conclusion

We consider it a great option, without a doubt. It is not that it is economical, we are aware of that, but quality always pays off and this keyboard is no exception, in addition, it is not one of the highest options within mechanical keyboards. We particularly liked the response of the Razer mechanical keys and that it has lived up to expectations. Without a doubt, Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 is a preferred option, for us, within the market of mechanical keyboards.