New Life & Testing

As I removed the new Razer Tarantula from its packaging, I noticed the addition of a new label. This time around, the keyboard clearly stated it was the U.S. version. This important sticker lets the user know what version they have when they install the software. Previously I had to resort to counting the individual keys to determine what version it was. Thankfully this is a thing of the past. The most apparent difference was the fact that the wrist rest was no longer composed of the same material as the rest of the keyboard. Razer no doubt heard the complaints of the keyboard getting obnoxiously dirty, so they replaced it with a matte textured surface that shows hardly any skin oils or palm prints. Of course the rest of the keyboard is still as prone to dust as ever, but this fix definitely helped the keyboard keep its clean look even through intense gaming sessions.

The best part of this was the fact that the keyboard no longer exhibited any problems whatsoever! All the keys and macro buttons worked fine. The software suffered no failures and whenever I configured any program to respond to the media controls they worked perfectly. Although the software still suffered the irritating delay and the USB hub still wouldn't work with my flash drives, I was ecstatic and relieved to finally use a keyboard that suffered no double and triple keying. I could finally go on with my proper review. It's unfortunate that the first impressions with the keyboard were as awful as they were, but regardless the determination to complete the review was still there.


When testing the keyboard with any FPS game I found the keyboard responded as well as any other keyboard I had used. Herein lies the problem, at no point while gaming with this keyboard could I feel a significant and immediate difference between it and my normal day to day keyboard - a Logitech Media Elite keyboard. Every keystroke registered just as fine as with any other one. When attempting to press multiple buttons to try and get the keyboard to lock up I simply couldn't. I tried moving forward and backward in a circle strafe maneuver while reloading and holding my walk key all at the same time and the Razer Tarantula performed perfectly. Not that it did it any better than my regular keyboard, but nonetheless it worked fine. When it came to racing games like Need for Speed Carbon and FlatOut 2, the keyboard worked just as fine as platforming did in Ultimate Spiderman. There were numerous other games tested throughout our time with the keyboard, and all of them performed well and exhibited no irregularities. The thing is, is that it did its job just as well as any other keyboard on the block. It didn't help me frag faster or perform complex moves I couldn't already do.


Think about this: in FPS games like Counter-Strike: Source & 1.6, how often do you have to perform a move so ridiculous that you can't do it with your own keyboard already? Do you really need an über mega expensive keyboard so you can wait for hours at bomb site B while T's rush tunnels? Most of the time you're already set and ready for anyone foolish enough to stand in front of your crosshairs by just standing there. What does this keyboard offer that others don't? Minimized lag and increased response time? Maybe. Honestly though, if I couldn't tell the difference and I was looking for this increased performance, imagine giving the keyboard to someone in a blind test without mentioning it to them. Would they ever mention the keyboard responded faster, or made them better? Probably not. Even testing with games like Oblivion and GuildWars showed no noticeable signs of improvement.