At first we would like to thank Razer for offering us their Huntsman Tournament Edition Linear Optical Switch Keyboard for testing and reviewing.

 

About Razer:

"Razer is more than just the world's leading brand in gaming.

We were founded in 1998 in San Diego, California by our CEO Min-Liang Tan and our President Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff in a tiny shared office with a couple other gamers. We have grown today to hundreds of employees worldwide with offices in seven cities, including San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.

Our vision from the very beginning was to be the world's greatest gaming brand and we've set out to achieve that by designing the best gaming products that any gamer has ever seen.

We believe that truly great products are based on technology, designed with extensive human factors and user ergonomic studies and then tested by the top professional gamers. In simpler terms, our own world class scientists and engineers develop cutting edge technology in-house or with partners, design phenomenal products around core technologies – and test the hell out of them in the field with our pro-gamers before we launch them.

We are the only gaming hardware company in the world with dedicated gaming user interface research and development labs, and our technology and designs are incubated in three dedicated design centers located in facilities in California, Singapore and Shenzhen. No other company boasts of technology like we do – because we're the only guys who have what it takes under the hood.

We tell it like it is: some can pretend to co-develop products with professional gamers, but gamers don't develop technology: scientists and engineers do (and ours just happen to be gamers as well).

We develop and design our products in our own labs and then put them to the test with top professional gamers who use them in pro-level tournaments and then provide us with feedback. Then we iterate on the product, refining it with the feedback – over and over and over again. That's how it's done, that's how a Razer product is built from ground up. No marketing BS and no hype.

We pioneered the eSports movement with the world's first $100K tournament back in 2000 and we have continued to give back to the community by sponsoring top eSports athletes who give back to Razer by beta-testing our products. We remain one of the largest sponsors of eSports community sponsoring top global eSports teams worldwide.

The people that work here at Razer are gamers just like you – some amateur, some ex-professional gamers, some just play for fun, just ask our CEO who will lay the smack down on you in Quake Live or our President, who has over ten level 80's on his local server. Hell, he will even take you on a raid in the middle of the work day.

We are the same gamers who are told by the suits that we need adult supervision and we need a professional CEO or management team – and we're the same gamers who tell the suits exactly where to shove it because we like doing what we do – and we do it on our own terms.

We hope our passion for gaming speaks to you like it does to us, through our products and we hope you enjoy the competitive edge we bring to your game."

Product Features:

 

ABSOLUTE SPEED

 

When a split second can mean the difference between victory and defeat, the absolute speed of the Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition is what separates the champions from everyone else. Designed and tested by Team Razer athletes, this gaming keyboard is armed with the fastest Razer switches we’ve ever designed, to give you the edge you need to thrive where the competition is fiercest.

 

RAZER™ LINEAR OPTICAL SWITCH

 

With 1.0mm optical actuation that registers at the speed of light, expect nothing but instant response from every keystroke, as you react and execute clutch plays with clinical efficiency.

 

Tested to have an industry-leading durability of up to 100 million keystrokes, the Razer™ Linear Optical Switches are also well-equipped to withstand the rigors of training and competitive play.

 

DOUBLESHOT PBT KEYCAPS

 

Harder and more durable than ABS or PVC, PBT is a thermoplastic that gives the keycaps their premium feel and quality - a tough, textured finish that holds up well against intense use.

 

Made with doubleshot molding to ensure the labels never wear off, they display the thinnest font ever designed on a PBT keycap to provide a clean, minimalist aesthetic.

 

ONBOARD MEMORY

 

Bring your settings anywhere and be match-ready in no time. Activate up to 5 profile configurations from its onboard memory or custom settings via cloud storage.

 

COMPACT FORM FACTOR

 

The tenkeyless design allows for easier positioning to get your setup just right, and is easy to carry around when travelling.

 

DETACHABLE TYPE-C CABLE

 

Unpack, plug and play with minimal fuss as you move from tournament to tournament. A secure latch ensures that the cable stays connected throughout gameplay.

 

The keyboard just feels really fast. It feels so nice to press especially when playing Dota when I have to hit buttons quickly to micro my units as fast as I can.

 

STANDARD BOTTOM ROW LAYOUT

 

The Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition also has a standard bottom row, allowing for greater customization when modifying your keycaps.

 

WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED

 

Get up to 2 years of warranty and access reliable tech support.

Purchase directly from RazerStore and get 14 days risk-free returns.

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

At a glance

 

Razer™ Linear Optical Switches for faster, more responsive keystrokes

Doubleshot PBT keycaps for a sturdy, textured matte finish

Onboard memory to bring your settings anywhere

Compact form factor for convenient mobility

Detachable Type C cable for easier set-up and storage

 

Tech Specs

 

Razer™ Linear Optical Switch with 40 G actuation force

100 million keystroke lifespan

Razer Doubleshot PBT Keycaps

Standard Bottom Row Layout

Compact form factor

Detachable USB-C Braided Fiber Cable

Hybrid onboard storage – up to 5 profiles

Chroma backlighting with 16.8 million customizable color options

Razer Synapse 3 enabled

Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording

N-key roll-over with built-in anti-ghosting

Gaming mode option

1000 Hz Ultrapolling

Aluminum matte top plate

 

 

With the Huntsman Tournament Edition keyboard, Razer is proposing a model aimed towards professional gamers that has a very fast actuation speed and is quite light/portable, an ideal aspect when frequently gaming on-the-go. This keyboard does pack Razer’s Linear Optical Switches for delivering 1mm actuation and instant response from every keystroke. Thanks to the optical implementation of these switches, the durability has been raised to up to 100 million keystrokes, which is quite an achievement! Besides the switch aspect, Razer is also using doubleshot PBT keycaps with this model, which hold up really well during intense use and present themselves with a tough, textured finish for a better grip.

 

The product is shipped inside a compact cardboard enclosure; on the top layer we will get to see the main product features highlighted:

 

 

 

On the side of the box, we will get to see the approximate size and weight of the product, the keyboard layout, the package contents but also the system requirements:

 

 

 

Some professional gamers also give their impression on this particular product:

 

 

 

On the back area, Razer is offering a close shot of the optical switch design, but also highlights the main keyboard components; here we will also learn of the 2-year warranty period:

 

 

 

After removing the top packaging layer, we will end up with a plain cardboard enclosure, that also features a large black Razer logo:

 

 

 

Besides the keyboard, which is also wrapped inside a transparent plastic bag, we will also receive some documentation:

 

 

 

The customer is receiving a nice set of stickers, a registration card but also a multi-language product guide:

 

 

 

 

We do get a lot of Razer sticker models to use on our computer case, laptop or other gadgets:

 

 

 

As a hardware bundle, we will receive an USB cable, which is now Type-C:

 

 

 

We were delighted by the compactness of the Huntsman TE and in order to be able to fit other custom keycaps, the standard key size was preserved; despite its low weight, the top layer does include a thin aluminum layer that you won’t notice at first, thanks to the texturing of the pain used:

 

 

 

The function keys do also come equipped with preset multimedia actions:

 

 

 

 

With the F9 key we can also enable on-the-fly Macro recording, while with the F10 we will enable Gaming mode. F11 and F12 are the backlight brightness control keys:

 

 

 

The Pause key does also double up as a Sleep mode key:

 

 

 

The directional keys are nicely separated from the rest:

 

 

 

Here are some shots of the lateral sides of the keyboard, that highlight the top aluminum layer, along with the bottom plastic cover:

 

 

 

 

 

The entire bottom plastic layer of the Huntsman TE does feature “By Gamers For Gamers” markings, which is quite unique!

 

 

 

In the corners, we could see small rubber feet:

 

 

 

 

The kickstands do open in two separate ways, in order to allow two angles to be used:

 

 

 

The USB Type C port can be seen in the top left corner, where we can easily attach the supplied cable:

 

 

The central sticker does inform the user on the product serial number, the internal code name, but also the power rating:

 

 

The supplied cable is fully braided and enough flexible:

 

 

As we have seen with most Razer peripherals, the connectors do offer green plastic interiors, in order to completely fit in with the company’s main color scheme:

 

 

The RGB goodness will show up right after the keyboard is connected to a spare USB port; on screen we will immediately see the prompt for installing the unified software, Synapse 3.0:

 

 

After the installation of the software, the keyboard will be detected right away for configuration purposes:

 

 

 

The Customize area will allow the user to select different functions for the keys; we can allocate a separate set of functions to the same keys if we do enable Hypershift mode. Gaming Mode can be used for disabling certain key combinations, that may disrupt the session:

 

 

 

 

For ease of customization, we can also select groups of keys from the left side:

 

 

 

We do have plenty of key functions to choose from:

 

 

 

Keyboard Function

Mouse Function

Macro

 

Inter-Device

Switch Profile

Switch Lighting

Razer Hypershift

Launch Program

Multimedia

Windows Shortcuts

Text Function

 

Button Disable

 

 

 

From the Lighting tab, we will be able to define the LED brightness, choose when the lighting effects should turn off but also choose and configure from the available Chroma presets:

 

 

 

The Quick Effects are easy to choose from and will be applied immediately:

 

 

 

 

For more customization purposes, we do have the Chroma Studio at the ready, that opens up in a different section of the interface; where we can apply multiple layers of effects and also configure each independently:

 

 

 

 

The application is also able to link certain profiles to applications:

 

 

 

Chroma Visualizer does allow some very interesting effects, such as visual EQ for the default playback device:

 

 

 

The Macro section has a separate interface as well:

 

 

 

After trying out the keyboard in CS: GO, Borderlands 3, Halo: Reach and Darksiders 3, we were quite impressed by the insanely fast actuation speed this keyboard is capable of. While this aspect is very good in competitive gaming, we found ourselves pressing some keys by mistake at times so definitely the new switches need some accommodation time. Due to very fast actuation speed, we are reserved to recommending this particular keyboard for typing purposes, an aspect the Apex Pro keyboard could perform as well in good conditions thanks to the adjustable actuation distance.

 

The lightweight design and the build quality do really recommend it for professional gamers that are frequently on-the-go, while the removable USB cable adds up as an ergonomic feature.

 

The keyboard is backed up by the Synapse 3 configuration tool, which offers a ton of customization options for the buttons, but also for the RGB lighting system. If the user would not like to create a user/password combination for it in order to upload profiles to the cloud, the software can be used in Guest mode as well.

 

Razer Huntsman TE is now available at some retailers at a discounted price of about 131 Euros, which makes it even more attractive for enthusiasts!

Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition Linear Optical Switch Keyboard is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Razer for making this review possible!