Model:  Tarantula

Manufacturer:  Razer, Inc.

Provider:  Razer, Inc.

Reviewed By:  Tom

Review Date:  11/27/06

  It’s been quite some time since I received a Razer Viper in early 2003, a few weeks prior to the product launch. Although I had to introduce Razer then, there is certainly no need to do so now. Razer has been very aggressive in improving on the premise of the original Viper, as the latest Krait and Copperhead designs can attest. From the outset Razer has made it known that they would concentrate on all gamer peripherals, not just mice. So, it wasn’t that much of a surprise to see a keyboard prototype at the Razer booth this last CES. Today, we have the production version of that keyboard, and it’s a monster. Read on to find out why!

Packaging & Contents

Razer has come a long way in the packaging department…that first review Viper of ours didn’t come in anything more exotic than bubble wrap! The Tarantula however, comes in a very stylish black box, complete with details and a flip up lid that shows off the replaceable keys that come with the board.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pull this keyboard out of the box is how massive it is. If you use any kind of keyboard tray at your desk, you’ll probably want to measure it to make sure this keyboard will actually fit before you order one. As keyboards go, it’s dead sexy, with accent lighting and a gloss black finish. Picture and Audio media keys are on both sides of the keyboard, as are ten more Macro keys, which can be programmed using the software suite. Unlike most keyboards, the deck of the Tarantula is flat, devoid of the stair stepping you usually see. It resembles a notebook keyboard, except the in the size and throw of the keys themselves.

Design

There is actually a lot to talk about with the keys on this board. They are all replaceable, and the main focus of the Razer design team was the responsiveness of the keystrokes which Razer claims an “optimized hyper response” feel. As a trade for this special tuning, there’s no backlighting. You could argue this two ways…either you’re hardcore enough where looking at the keyboard is a waste of time or you’d rather be able to see the keys in the dark. Personally, I lean toward the latter side. Razer has also spent the extra money on more diodes or whatever they used to limit the voltage on the key grid to eliminate ghosting. The book says that you can press ten keys at once with no ghosting, so if you have eleven fingers this may be an issue…otherwise, you’re good.

On the underside are four non skid feet, which a casual push of the keyboard on a laminated desk showed to be very functional. There are two flip down feet in the back in order to improve the angle of the keyboard, but these don’t have any grip on them, and make the Tarantula slightly more prone to slippage, although I never experienced a problem with it. The keyboard has connections to bring your Microphone, Headphone, and two USB connections right to the keyboard, which is a handy feature. There are two USB connectors that need to be plugged in for the keyboard to work, with no real good explanation as to why.

The big innovation on the Tarantula is the Battledock. This mounting point appears to use a USB connection that is attached to the internal USB hub. Razer has only announced a light (dubbed the BattleLight) and webcam attachment, but pretty much anything that uses USB should be possible. Miguel and I saw a prototype Tarantula in Pro Series white at CES, and that one featured an iPod dock, so that may be yet another BattleDock accessory. Razerguy also mentioned that they’re trying for an OLED display, but that might show up as a BattleDock accessory or it might show up in a later model of keyboard. All speculation at this point, but at least you should know that Razer isn’t out of ideas with only two BattleDock accessories.

Specifications/Features

Next: Software & Performance