Razer Deathstalker Professional V2 gaming keyboard assessment: A slim win

Razer has entered the low-profile mechanical keyboard enviornment with a bang with the Deathstalker V2 Professional and we’ve one in for assessment. Low-profile is a small, however ever-growing phase of the mechanical keyboard market, and one which already has some strong merchandise. Logitech has its personal low-profile entry and may very well 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 value). Since then, there have been quite a lot of rivals which have put out low-profile mechanical keyboards, each wired and wi-fi.

Corsair and Cooler Grasp, together with smaller corporations like Nuphy and Keychron have all thrown hats into the low-profile enviornment. Undeniably, there are fairly a couple of top quality low-profile mechanical keyboards to select from in 2022. So, how does the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional stack up?

Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional specs and construct high quality

Right here’s a fast rundown of the specs for the Razer V2 Professional:

Immediately you’ll discover the distinctive construct high quality of the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional. It’s a mixture 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 aspect 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 units 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 amount wheel is the multi-function button. It’s fabricated from steel as nicely and has a really satisfying click on to it.

The important thing caps really feel unbelievable as nicely. The coating feels supple and easy whereas not being slippery. It’s exhausting to know the way this coating will maintain up over time, and value mentioning that the board has ABS keycaps that are sometimes 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 precisely what we might need out of it. After our month of testing, the board held up nicely with no indicators of damage or beauty harm.

Two extra issues Razer doesn’t notice within the specs are which you can elevate the board peak and that the polling fee response interval for keystrokes is the usual 1,000Hz (1ms).

This thumb drive reveals simply how skinny the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional is.

Key switches

The important thing switches on the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional that we acquired for assessment have been the Razer Linear Optical Switches. In at present’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 change, which is already a sooner extra responsive change, and also you’re able to damage somebody’s day.

A priority we’ve had with linear switches previously is unintended key presses. With many linear switches, Cherry MX Reds specifically, heavier-handed avid gamers have been recognized to make unintended keypresses. This solely occurred in a couple of cases with the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional, these sometimes got here all the way down to consumer error extra so than anything.

Razer’s linear switches are surprisingly good to make use of, not only for gaming, however for writing as nicely. The actuation may be very easy, smooth nearly, however nonetheless exact and responsive. There was no fatigue in any respect after lengthy gaming and writing periods.

(Picture credit score: Razer).

Performance

One of many primary 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 expect needs to be anticipated in 2022. Nonetheless, 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 driving force model. Nonetheless, it stopped and by no means acted up once more after reconnecting the keyboard a couple of occasions. It’s exhausting to say what brought about 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 embody this and write it off as a random prevalence, but it surely persevered for lengthy sufficient and was annoying sufficient to be value mentioning.

For multimedia performance, there may be clearly the amount wheel, but in addition a single multi-function media button. This can be utilized to pause and play media you’ve gotten in your PC. One press performs or pauses, two presses skips to the following monitor, and three reverts to the final monitor. The “subsequent” and “final” capabilities work for video playlists as nicely. We felt this labored high-quality and was straightforward to get used to. Anybody with a pair of wi-fi earbuds needs to be conversant in 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 midst of an Apex Legends match. Nonetheless, as a result of 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 costs, it’s noticeable. Granted, this gained’t impression you throughout a gaming session, at full cost, however it’s one thing you’ll should sustain with should you don’t like taking part in with the cable linked.

Razer Synapse

The largest weak spot 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 high-quality, others much less so. RGB management works on par with the highest rivals. A number of totally different lighting profiles and results, per-key lighting management, and Razer Chroma integration imply which you can make the board glow nonetheless 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. It is a nonsensical resolution, particularly once you take into accounts that the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional already has a shorter battery life than competing keyboards on account of 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 think about these components for future software program updates and successive keyboards.

Remaining ideas

The Razer Deathstalker V2 is a unbelievable 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 may have with the keyboard isn’t the construct high quality, the switches, and even the software program, nonetheless. It’s the value. Coming in at $249.99 USD for the complete sized mannequin and $219.99 USD for the TKL mannequin, it’s a steep asking value for the common PC gamer. Nonetheless, we expect it’s well worth the value when you’ve got the cash and are available in the market for a brand new low-profile mechanical gaming keyboard.