Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard
by Razer Inc.
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List Price: Our Price: $70.00 You Save: $29.99 (30%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard
Customer Review: Replacement for G15 -had a 1st gen G15 that finally died ^^;
Summary: 4 Stars
As the title states, this keyboard was bought to replace my 1st gen G15 that finally died. I've only been using it for a little over a week so far.
~PROS:
1. One of the few keyboard that has separate programmable keys. Some keyboards say they have programmable keys but they're referring to the F1-F12 keys which started to get annoying when shopping around. I actually do USE the F1-F12 keys for things!
2. Loving the soft feel & fast response/Anti-ghosting, when my G15 died I had to go searching for an old keyboard to use until my Razer arrived and ended up with one of those freebies you get with a new PC. It reaffirmed why I want a higher quality keyboard!
3. Razer's rearranging of the Delete, Home, End, Page Up & Page Down keys hasn't been a problem to adapt to like some users have reported.
4. Attached wrist rest! I've had other keyboards with the detachable wrist rests which were constantly coming loose/off or breaking.
5. Haven't noticed any static or buzzing with headphones plugged into the headphone/microphone jacks on the back of the keyboard as some other users have reported. At least not with Vent & WMP so far.
~CONS:
1. I run Vista 32-bit and it took me about 10 tries to get the Firmware to update, which was annoying due to how you have to update the firmware. (it's an older version on the CD that's shipped with the keyboard) In order to update the firmware you download the update files, click on the .exe, then following their prompts: unplug the keyboard, hold the escape key down, plug keyboard back in, let go of escape key, then PRAY the firmware installed properly! Needless to say I got real sick of crawling under my desk to keep unplugging my keyboard, and after the third try rearranged some of my other USB devices so I could temporarily plug the keyboard into the USB ports in the FRONT of my CPU!
2. Razer's lack of customer support! When I was having difficulty installing the Firmware I went looking for customer support options on razerzone.com. Due to this being my 1st Razer purchase, maybe they had some hints or tricks I didn't know about. NOPE! Just said the same thing in several different locations, and don't remember even seeing any type of forums or a customer support phone number...
3. Going for the escape key quickly I've accidentally hit the L1 key a few times, and the same with the Enter key (on NumPad) & R5 key.
~~~ Overall, as long as I don't have to update the Firmware again real soon I'm happy!!
Customer Review: Decent gaming keyboard
Summary: 4 Stars
The Tarantula tries to be a great gaming keyboard but it falls a bit short of the line.
One of my biggest problems with this keyboard is the fact that Razer went to all the trouble to put backlighting effects on some parts of the keyboard but couldn't be bothered to backlight all the keys. There are plenty of keyboards out there that do, and when I'm playing games in the dark I sometimes wish I had.
Oh, but I could get the light attachment you say? I could I suppose, but that would mean plugging a device into the battle dock, also known as the 2nd thing I dislike about this keyboard. So far there have been no good uses for the add-on port.
In my opinion Razer attempted to match its competitors gimmicky gaming keyboards with the Tarantula but did not actually bother to go the distance with any of the gimmicks they chose to include, with the exception of the re-bindable keys.
I do like the additional buttons to be mapped, and the media controls. The software is decent and the fact that it has speaker/microphone jacks built in is nice for LAN parties, as is the built-in USB hub.
The biggest thing though, and the reason I gave this keyboard 4 stars, is the fact that the keys feel nice and respond nice, and the board as a whole just feels very solid and nice to type on. It feels and performs well enough as a keyboard that I can overlook some of its shortcomings.
Customer Review: Overall good
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using this keyboard for 12 months now. I still enjoy the very short keystroke, which lowers the noise output while typing. I wish it were easyer to keep clean under the keys, and the "battle dock" or whatever they are calling the expansion slot is pretty much useless. The mic and headphone port is also a waste because there's noise issues on both. The onboard USB hub should be powered considering that the keyboard eats up 2 motherboard USB slots, and with them being non-powered, their usefulness is restricted. The quick launch macros are a good idea, but I found that I stoped using them after the first couple of times that the settings were lost.
All that said, and as the title states, it's a very nice keyboard. I've enjoyed the ability to control winamp without closing full screen apps, and the left-side buttons for photoshop are recockulasly useful. The zoom rocker is a great tool for fine detail photoshop drawing and editing. The one button sleep function is great for when you need to jump up and leave in a hurry. And the board looks pretty nice too. I'm not sure it's provided any advantage in gaming the way that a mouse can, except for maybe some swagger.
Customer Review: Cool, but not what i expected
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a pretty cool keyboard. I love the programmable keys and the program provided is pretty easy to use for making macro's or remapping the keyboard. It types really well and the keys have great response. Problems I have is that it takes two usb ports to plug in and for some reason the added usb ports on the keyboard itself wont work for me (says something about insufficient power). Also one of the keys stopped working, but that was easily fixed by removing the key with the tool provided and resetting it in place. Also, get a cable splitter for your audio cable if you want to use the headphone jack on the keyboard without having to unplug your existing speakers all the time.Customer Review: Razer Tarantula Keyboard
Summary: 4 Stars
I am very satisfied with the product, however, it was clearly open box. I would be fine with this, except that the item was advertised as new. It was very easy to set up (It's a USB keyboard, how difficult could it be?). Although it comes with media keys, my media player (foobar2000) isn't supported. They do work with iTunes and Windows Media Player, though.
All in all, very satisfied with my purchase. I just wish it wasn't opened before I received it.