Razer Mouse and Keyboard Review
- Butter X
- Mar 29, 2024
- 7 min read
I wanted to share my thoughts on the Razer mouse and keyboard I’ve been using.
Now I am talking about both of these items in the same video because while they’re not sold as a set, I did buy them at the same time. I had quit gaming for about a decade to get some experience working a “real job”, spend time with friends and family, party way too much, and you know, touch grass. No not that kind of grass, like actual grass .
Anyway I was bored during covid and decided to start gaming again, and was in search of a new mouse and keyboard since I was stuck across the country and all my old gaming stuff was back in NY. Since I’m currently on a budget but am a sucker for quality goods, after much poking around on the internet, I landed on this mouse and this keyboard.
Let’s talk about the mouse first. This is a Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed Wireless Gaming Mouse that is BOTH Bluetooth AND Wireless Compatible, with up to 16K DPI Optical Sensor, 6 Programmable Buttons, 450 Hr Battery [on screen show: If you game 10 hours daily, that’s about 45 days / 1.5 months). The one I got is in classic black. I’m not sure if it comes in other colors - my guess MAYBE their signature green? But… [SHRUG]
It is available on Amazon for about $40 - I included the link below if you want to look more at the product details.
So pros and cons:
First off, pricing. At $40, it may not be the cheapest mouse on Amazon but it’s a pretty good price point. I generally prefer to either go as cheap as possible with a quality I can accept in terms of usability and longevity, and I’d say this one fits both.
Which brings me to point number 2, build quality. I got this towards the end of 2022, and so 2 years later, it’s still in fairly good condition. I do clean my gear after almost every use, if not at least once a week. So maybe keep that in mind because some mice do tend to deal better with gunk build up than others. I just prefer not to find that out. [vomit emoji]
It’s relatively comfortable. The ergonomic shape with the thumb grip and sloping towards the front is a nice shape in general. The buttons all click nicely, scroll wheel is nice and big and with the squared edges plus the texture, makes it actually really easy to use both to scroll with and as an added click button. Thumb buttons work perfectly fine and are pretty standard in terms of responsiveness.
Now FYI the only real technical issue I’ve had is with the wireless connection with my laptop, but it could be my laptop’s fault. Either way I pretty much only use it with bluetooth.
All in all, definitely an easy recommend if you’re on a budget but want something that’s good and will last.
I will share with you some cons for me that may be just personal preferences, but who knows maybe you have similar concerns and I like to have as much info as possible before I make my purchases.
First thing is the size. If you have small hands like me, it’s really not that comfortable in long sessions. I definitely notice much faster hand fatigue onset than with my old logitech gaming mouse which was smaller all around. While your hand muscles can and do build a bit of tolerance to that, it still is an issue for me two years in.
Weight is another point for me - I tend to like a lighter mouse. Not super light where it’s flying across the mouse pad, but this one feels just a couple of ounces heavier than I’d like? Then again it’s wireless so maybe I’m just a wired mouse person because it’s actually fairly light until you add in the battery.
Which brings me to my next gripe, the weight distribution. Again, personal preference maybe but I like my mouse weight to be relatively evenly distributed, whereas this one, due to the battery placement, is HEAVILY favoring its back end. It’s not a crazy issue, but when I try to move left the right, it usually turns a bit due to the lighter front side, and so is a bit of an adjustment to relearn for precision.
Last thing which is probably so small it’s just a me thing, but the forward and back button on the thumb makes this plasticky clack noise that’s just really unpleasant to me. I know it seems small but I use those buttons a lot so every time I hear it it just bugs me. That’s a lot of bugging throughout the day…
So that’s the mouse. Next up is the keyboard. Oh boy do I have some thoughts. This is a Razer BlackWidow TE Chroma v2 TKL Tenkeyless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: Yellow Key Switches, Linear & Silent, Chroma RGB Lighting, Magnetic Wrist Rest, Programmable Macros, Classic Black
It’s currently on Amazon for $120, says it’s on sale from $140, so definitely not super budget friendly, but when I got it it was on sale for $90. Still not super cheap since my friend has since recommended a compact mechanical keyboard from Amazon for less than half of what I paid, but I thought maybe I’d get more longevity with a trusted brand like Razer? Who knows, I guess I’ll check back with my buddy in two years and see if his keyboard is still working.
Okay so the keyboard is pretty straight forward. Definitely love me some rainbow LEDs. Otherwise it’s a pretty standard keyboard and not much to write home about BECAUSE. Two major, major issues for me - One not so much a problem but definitely FYI is that it is NOT silent. It is nowhere NEAR silent. It’s potentially slightly quieter than your normal red switches, but it’s louder than a normal non-mechanical keyboard still. I’m not entirely sure that’s so much the switch design themselves so much as the key design? So the switch doesn’t really make noise, but because of how plasticky the keys are, and maybe the depth of the key presses themselves, the keys make a noise when they hit the bottom point, and then a noise when they reach the top again on the bounce back. Basically anyone sharing a room/space with you will still want to kick your shin no matter if smashing your QWER keys playing League of Legends or typing your corporate resignation letter to become a full time gamer.
Which brings me to the typing, the true pain point of this entire story. The trigger of my everyday life that makes my left eyelid twitch. Almost the bane of my existence making me want to just unplug this keyboard and type on my laptop keys which are imo, horribly designed… Typing on this keyboard is a NIGHTMARE. If any of you know a fix or at the very least know why it does this, PLEASE tell me in the comments below because it randomly and constantly adds keystrokes, especially with the U, C, K, comma, apostrophe and forward slash keys. It’s like the ghost of Razer is living in my keyboard and is the ultimate troll.
I can’t even talk about the rest of the keyboard functions because that one thing alone makes me question if I can ever buy another Razer keyboard. I know that’s harsh, especially considering I love the look of their laptops and have wanted one for a long time, but this keyboard guys…
Anyway. Aside from that, as you can see from the B-roll and right here, the coating on the keys are pretty thin so it’s worn through and now instead of a cool lit letter I have 2 ugly blobs for keys. And you may say I’m maybe aping my keys too hard but I used my old Logitech keyboard for 3+ years grinding World of Warcraft daily for 14 hours a day and did not have this issue.
And this wrist rest is kinda just gross looking once the fake leather started peeling. Don’t get me wrong, it looked pretty sleek when I first got it, but it’s specifically a gaming keyboard. You had to have expected someone to be rubbing their hands on this thing like 8 hours a day everyday. This can’t be unexpected. Mind you the foam actually feels fine if not nicer than the man made leather which kinda sticks and gets a bit uncomfortable if your hands get sweaty. So why not just do a durable foam - you can still press a logo to the middle for branding. [Shrug]
Last little thing is sort of not really relevant to the usability or performance of the keyboard so much as just a bit of a pet peeve? So they include this magnetic wrist rest - or maybe is it called a palm rest since it’s really my palms on here…
Anyway as you can see, it stays put, I can move my keyboard around, and if I pick it up and put it back down, it snaps right into place. Super awesome because I do obsessively like things lined up nicely. But why did they put this here? The keyboard has a special little logo light panel - it’s not even like just a little edged out logo, it’s entirely made of a different material, they had to cut out this area and find a way to attach this little bit. It looks super cool, but I only got to admire it when I first plugged this in. Otherwise look [snaps wrist rest on], you almost NEVER see it. Again, it looks super cool. Beautiful detail to add. And I love the magnetic palm rest. But the two just seem to not go together at all. I can’t imagine no one thought these two things would clash? What am I missing here?
Okay so that’s it for this review. Quick recap - if you don’t have the budget for a high end gaming mouse, this Razer wireless mouse is fantastic for the price point. I love that I can travel with it without another piece of wire to worry about, and any cons with can be justified by the price point in my opinion. The keyboard? I honestly wish I was still in the return period or had maybe gotten the standard red switches if those don’t have the ghost keystrokes - someone please let me know if you have the red switch version and if you have this same irritating issue.
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Links:
Mouse:
Keyboard:
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