Review on Renewed Razer Huntsman Mini Gaming Keyboard: Linear Optical Switches + Chroma RGB Lighting – PBT Keycaps – Onboard Memory – Fastest 60% Keyboard – Classic Black by Aaron Rosengren

Sorry for a picture. I took lots of photos of both keyboards, but Revain won't let me upload pics from my gallery, so I just took this photo to show both keyboards together. While I mostly buy Razer products, I'm NOT a Razer fan and my reviews are totally honest. I've been using both keyboards for over a month now and finally settled on Black Widow. I bought both keyboards from Revain Renew which gives you a 90 day return policy so it's a great way to get to know the product before you keep it. save even more! The Huntsman is a good keyboard, but ultimately the Black Widow 65% form factor was the deciding factor, and the fact that it could also use my mouse button was a nice bonus. If you like the keyboard 60%, Huntsman could be the winner. Below I will detail the pros and cons of both. First off, I'd like to say that if you're not already familiar with the Razer ecosystem like I am, you might want to check out other options as Razer Synapse is probably the only issue with these keyboards. Maybe Razer will fix them with updates but I doubt it because they have a pretty good approach to certain things. Black Widow (BW) 65% vs. Huntsman (HM) 60% - Switches: The yellow BW switches only make noise when released, while the red HM switches make a noise when down and when released become, making them loudest two. Both feel like quality switches, but the HM buttons feel more stable. If you don't know HM switches are optical, they last longer and have faster response times, but I find them to be overly sensitive to input. The BW grooves allow the LED light to shine through, meaning you won't be disappointed with the results when changing keycaps. However, HM didn't convince me on some of the newly purchased keycaps as the light only shines from you. This is exaggerated by space. BW is definitely the flashier option, which is shocking since it's wireless. - 65% or 60%: I don't know why anyone would want a 60% keyboard when there's a 65% option. If you remove the arrow keys from the keyboard, you must use the mouse when typing. I'm a programmer and this quickly became an obstacle to my productivity. Razer gives you access to the arrow keys via a print function, but the layout is unnatural and you'll quickly decide to use a mouse instead. This brings up one of the problems with Razer Synapse, which is that you can't map Razer's default "Hypershift" keys, so you can't correct the placement of things. Using 60% as a dedicated gaming keyboard means you're limited in custom mapping for most of the keyboard. Design: I think HM has a much cleaner design with smaller bezels. To be honest I wish HM was 65% and that would be a really tough choice. Both look like high-end keyboards, but the HM comes with PBT keycaps, making it a premium choice, even though the BW is twice the price. The XM USB-C connector is not proprietary. I put a magnetic connector on the BV so I can quickly plug it in just for charging and leave it at 2.4GHz. works great but the only problem with BW is that the keyboard goes to sleep even when charging and doesn't wake up fast enough to be annoying. There is no way to disable this feature even if it is disabled in settings. Since I play with Tartarus, it's usually a nap when I switch to the keyboard to type something quickly, and the lag can be costly when gaming. Bluetooth doesn't seem to be the best either, I've had to fix it multiple times when trying to use it to reconnect to the computer. I'm just trying to stick to 2.4GHz. You must connect all Razer products directly to your computer's USB ports or you will experience performance errors. Because the BW can use the same dongle as the Naga mouse, I only need 2 USB ports for my current setup and can avoid bugs that Razer doesn't want to fix. One of these errors is the increased frequency of keypress freezes, which I will discuss in more detail later. Feature: I noticed that in both BW and HM and even Tartarus Pro some keys get stuck in active/pressed state. It seems software related but thought I'd mention it. To fix this you have to press the same button again and infrequently, but sometimes you have to turn off the device. If you do your research, this seems to be the trend for Razer products. The sensitivity of HM makes tapping BW a bit difficult. Seriously, it even works if you just touch the button with your finger. What I would like to see: - Razer Synapse does not restrict the user's ability to customize the keyboard. That's the point of these gaming keyboards, isn't it? Solve the sticky button problem. I don't understand how a competitive gamer can trust a Razer keyboard. Warning. As with all Razer products, it doesn't work well when plugged into a hub and needs to be plugged directly into the computer. That includes Razer's own SMH hubs! I have a Razer Core V2 and I don't use the USB ports for a keyboard or mouse like I thought. I think it's an issue with their Razer Synapse software because before I got involved with Razer I was all Logitech and never had an issue with USB hubs/docks. Razer is aware of the issue and simply asks users to connect directly to the PC/laptop instead of fixing it. So if you're using Razer, make sure you have enough USB ports.