The camera flips again and we see the keyboard being dropped into an acoustic test chamber that is lined with foam. Incredibly, with all the improvements Razer has jammed in, including more cushion and less frame around the wrist-rest, even the dedicated media controls remain. It's not a huge loss that there are still no macros or USB pass throughs, and the company has at least removed the necessity to power the board's RGBs with a separate cable. This means that the higher a mouse's polling rate, the smoother its motion across the screen will appear. This is a very legitimate difference, and so an 8,000Hz polling rate in a mouse absolutely makes sense. With a keyboard? Honestly, not at all. Don't believe me? Let's do the math: The world-record for words per minute is 216 (set in 1946 by Stella Pajunas on an IBM electric typewriter), which translates to about 54,000 keystrokes an hour, 900 keystrokes a minute, or 15 keystrokes a second.

Razer Huntsman V2 mechanical gaming keyboard review Razer Huntsman V2 mechanical gaming keyboard review

With the retiring of Razer’s original optical mechanical keyboards, the Razer Huntsman and Huntsman Elite, the new lineup makes sense. Media keys are such a handy inclusion, so it’s nice to see such lavish ones on the mid-priced Huntsman. Overall, this is a premium keyboard, from its build quality and smooth switches, to its keycaps and programmability. Synapse lets you store countless profiles on the app, and up to 4 profiles on the keyboard itself so you can bring them to another PC without Synapse. However, RGB settings and functions that require Synapse don’t carry over. We writers enjoy how a good, noisy keyboard can make any home office sound like an old-timey newsroom, but we also understand that your coworkers or family might not be so keen on the idea.If that's the case, the Huntsman V2 is the best of both worlds: It gives you the tactile satisfaction of the best mechanical keyboards while sparing the ears and sanity of those around you.Be match-ready regardless of the situation when you can save and activate up to 5 on-board memory profiles, while building a library of macros and settings to call upon with cloudstorage Admin said:The Razer Huntsman V2 delivers programmable keys that can store up to two functions, robust media keys and premium keycaps atop admirable optical mechanical switches. But most won’t notice the 8,000 Hz polling rate. The camera shifts down to a full shot of the Razer Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless keyboard, which has a noticeably more compact form factor, but also has Razer Chroma RGB lighting and an ergonomic wrist rest.

Optical Gaming Keyboard - Razer Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless

The keyboard performs like a champ, but falls short of its acoustic goals – at least on the linear switch version. Ironically, this seems to be because Razer was too successful with its sound dampening foam and silenced switches. The foam cuts out hollowness and reverberations throughout the case, but in doing so reveals all of the extra rattle from the stabilizer wires beneath each key.With a mouse, you can see the cursor glide across a screen, and the higher the polling rate, the more often the mouse's position on screen gets updated (assuming you have a monitor with a fast-enough refresh rate to take advantage of those extra data points). One of Razer’s greatest advantages is its peripherals’ long feature lists. The Huntsman V2 isn’t so expensive just because of its optical switches. It also has a lot of gaming functionality, like on-the-fly and software macro recording and programmable keys. With Razer’s Synapse software, keybindings can automatically launch with a specific game or other app, and you can program every key to have another function when right FN is pressed simultaneously.

Razer Huntsman V2 | Razer United Optical Gaming Keyboard - Razer Huntsman V2 | Razer United

With Synapse, it’s easy to set up different profiles and settings for different uses. For example, my work profile has typing keys set to 2mm, with navigational keys, the FN row and numpad at a lighter 1.5mm. I love firmly asserting a space or enter, so those keys are at 3.6mm. Features and Software on Razer Huntsman V2 Analog

Flagship performance in a tiny package

The Huntsman V2 Analog has a fake leather wrist rest that’s also RGB-ready. To set it aglow, all you have to do is plug in the keyboard and magnetically attach the wrist rest to the keyboard. It’ll metallically snap on securely, and thankfully, doesn’t require plugging in an extra cable to light up (like the Huntsman Elite does). The early version of the software I used had an odd glitch that would occasionally detect a second keyboard when none was connected