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 Gaming Keyboard: Razer Lycosa
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Blue lights in the darkness...Razer is perhaps the most famous for their gaming mice, but they also have other gaming devices available for those who want to maximise their Razer gaming pleasure. The Razer Lycosa keyboard features keys finished with a non-slip rubbery surface and when the power is turned on, the keys are illuminated with dark blue led lights. It also has a removable wrist rest and a small touch screen on the upper right corner. In the following we’ll go through the main features of the keyboard and tell you about our experiences with it. Technical detailsIn addition to the usual functionality of a keyboard, Razer Lycosa also has special functions for gaming purposes. Perhaps the most important of these are the option to backlight the WASD cluster only instead of all the keys on the board. Similarly, touchpad on the upper right corner which allows you to use your media player software, adjust the volume of your earphones (if you have plugged them into the jack on the keyboard) and switch the illumination modes of the keyboard is very useful. Razer Lycosa also offers the option to disable the Windows key on the keyboard which gets rid of the annoyance of accidental key presses in the middle of a heated battle. Furthermore, you can disable any other keys on the keyboard with the accompanying Configurator software. Also included are earphone-out and microphone-in jacks, as well as a USB port at the back of the keyboard. Like many of the Razer mice, Lycosa also offers 1000Hz ultrapolling and 1ms response time. The Razer Lycosa allows you to set up to ten different profiles that you can switch between by pressing the Razer logo on the touchpad and the F1-F10 keys. For each profile, you can set up different macros for practically all the keys on the keyboard – for example, launching a program or turning one of the keys into a mouse button, or disable all the keys that a particular game does not need. Furthermore, the WASD cluster has an anti-ghosting capability, which means that the keyboard should ignore accidental key presses. User experiencesThe appearance of the Razer Lycosa keyboard appealed to us. Especially in dark surroundings, the dark blue backlighting of the keys and touchpad provide a positively entertaining atmosphere. While playing a game, the option to have only the WASD cluster keys lighted up on the keyboard can be very handy, although you may be left guessing about the location of other required keys when you cannot actually see them. If you want to write something in lighter environment, however, it is pretty hard to see any of the markings on the keys. And, in dim lighting, the dark blue light appears blurry against the black surface of the keys when you look at the key from an angle (instead of directly from above). Thus, we made a plethora of typos while writing with the keyboard. In addition, the small size of the Enter key led us to think that the anti-ghosting capability would be needed also around that key. Also, because of the relative flimsiness of the keyboard, gaming may suffer under the more heavy-handed users and it also makes the keyboard very noisy to use – you would not want to type with it while someone was sleeping in the next room. Other handy features include the earphone-out and microphone-in jacks as well as the USB port. The USB port is basically an extension port that needs to be connected with the keyboard’s second USB cable to the computer. Our ratingOverall, the Razer Lycosa keyboard is rather good in gaming use and looks splendid, but the poor visibility of the markings on the keys makes it less perfect for other productive uses. Every gamer wondering about purchasing the Lycosa should think carefully if the possibility to configure every key on the keyboard for ten different profiles is really worth the cost, especially since you may not be able to see the keys when you actually need them. It would have been handy if you could configure keys other than the WASD keys on the keyboard that you want lit up - as well as an adjustable brightness level for different conditions. In our opinion, if you can find a good deal on the keyboard, you might want to give it a go – but at the current price, you might want to look around for other options before you make your decision. Our rating (1-10): 6/10 |
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