Razer has entered the low-profile mechanical keyboard area with a bang with the Deathstalker V2 Professional and we have now 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 might 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 a wide range 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 area. Undeniably, there are fairly just a few prime 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:
| Characteristic | Description | ||
| Chassis | Aluminum and plastic, matte black end | ||
| Type-factor | Full dimension and TKL | ||
| Keyswitches | Razer™ Low-Profile Optical Switches (Linear) | ||
| Backlight | Individually lit and per-key programmable | ||
| LED colour | RGB 16.8 million colours | ||
| Keycaps | ABS keycaps w/ anti-wear coating | ||
| Different keycaps | No | ||
| Connectivity | 2.4GHz wi-fi, Bluetooth 5.1, Kind-C wired | ||
| Matrix | N-key rollover | ||
| Onboard profiles | As much as 5 | ||
| Media keys | Sure – single multi-function | ||
| Profile key | Sure | ||
| Brightness key | Sure | ||
| Home windows lock perform | Sure | ||
| Software program assist | Sure – Synapse | ||
| Cable | 6.5ft / 2m | ||
| Dimensions | 71.2 x 5.5 x 1 in / 437 x 139 x 21mm | ||
| Weight | 1.7 lbs / 775g | ||
Right away you’ll discover the distinctive construct high quality of the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional. It’s a mix of aluminum and plastic put collectively very nicely. There’s no flex, and virtually no key rattle, even when shaking the board vigorously. Positioned on the appropriate 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 essentially the most premium audio gadgets we’ve encountered. Manufactured from aluminum, it’s ridged and has an ideal really feel to the contact. It’s stepped, and feels clean and managed after every notch. With out overstating issues, it’s a pleasure to make use of. Subsequent to the quantity wheel is the multi-function button. It’s made 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 clean whereas not being slippery. It’s onerous to understand how this coating will maintain up over time, and value mentioning that the board has ABS keycaps that are usually extra vulnerable to put on than PBT. As to the texture of the keys and stabilizers, there’s little rattle or wobble. The stabilizers on this are top-notch as nicely. The house bar strikes as one strong piece when pressed, which is strictly what we might need out of it. After our month of testing, the board held up nicely with no indicators of wear and tear or beauty injury.
Two further issues Razer doesn’t be aware within the specs are which you could elevate the board peak and that the polling price response interval for keystrokes is the usual 1,000Hz (1ms).
This thumb drive exhibits simply how skinny the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional is.
Key switches
The important thing switches on the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional that we obtained for assessment had been the Razer Linear Optical Switches. In at the moment’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 swap, which is already a quicker extra responsive swap, and also you’re able to break somebody’s day.
A priority we’ve had with linear switches previously is unintentional key presses. With many linear switches, Cherry MX Reds specifically, heavier-handed avid gamers have been identified to make unintentional keypresses. This solely occurred in just a few cases with the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional, these usually got here right 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 clean, mushy virtually, however nonetheless exact and responsive. There was no fatigue in any way after lengthy gaming and writing classes.
(Picture credit score: Razer).
Performance
One of many fundamental promoting factors of the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional is it’s low-latency wi-fi functionality. Right here is the place issues get just a little 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 predict needs to be anticipated in 2022. Nevertheless, 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 motive force model. Nevertheless, it stopped and by no means acted up once more after reconnecting the keyboard just a few instances. It’s onerous 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 had been tempted to not embody this and write it off as a random incidence, but it surely continued for lengthy sufficient and was annoying sufficient to be value mentioning.
For multimedia performance, there’s clearly the quantity wheel, but in addition a single multi-function media button. This can be utilized to pause and play media you may have in your PC. One press performs or pauses, two presses skips to the subsequent observe, and three reverts to the final observe. The “subsequent” and “final” features work for video playlists as nicely. We felt this labored effective and was straightforward to get used to. Anybody with a pair of wi-fi earbuds needs to be accustomed to the idea.
In wi-fi mode, the battery life was greater than sufficient. Rated at 40 hours of steady use, we had been by no means involved with operating out of juice in the course of an Apex Legends match. Nevertheless, because of the 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 might take weeks to so long as a month between fees, it’s noticeable. Granted, this received’t impression you throughout a gaming session, at full cost, however it’s one thing you’ll should sustain with when you don’t like taking part in with the cable related.
Razer Synapse
The most important weak point of the Razer Deathstalker Professional V2 is the Razer Synapse software program assist. 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 organising totally different profiles that may be saved regionally in your keyboard.
A few of these options work effective, 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 could make the board glow nonetheless you need.
For some motive, 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. This can be a nonsensical determination, particularly once you take into accounts that the Razer Deathstalker V2 Professional already has a shorter battery life than competing keyboards as a result 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 instantaneous wake time by comparability. It might be good to see Razer take into account these elements 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 most important problem most individuals may have with the keyboard isn’t the construct high quality, the switches, and even the software program, nonetheless. It’s the worth. 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. Nevertheless, we predict it’s definitely worth the value in case you have the cash and are available in the market for a brand new low-profile mechanical gaming keyboard.
