Razer says its new mechanical keyboards have near-zero input latency – The Verge

Razer has announced an update to its popular Huntsman lineup of mechanical keyboards that reduces input latency to “near-zero,” the company claims. That’s because the newly announced Huntsman V2 and Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless (which omits the numpad, volume wheel, and media controls for a more compact board) both have a polling rate of 8,000Hz, meaning they can theoretically detect key presses eight times faster than the original Huntsman keyboards.

Combined with the keyboards’ optical switches, which use an infrared beam of light to sense when they’ve been pressed rather than metal contact points, Razer reckons the two new Huntsman keyboards will feel more responsive for gaming, especially when combined with a high-refresh rate monitor. In contrast, standard mechanical switches can suffer from what’s known as a “debounce delay,” when the keyboard has to take a moment to work out if a key has actually been pressed or not.

Other improvements introduced with the V2 keyboards include new doubleshot PBT keycaps, which have a more durable design with legends that shouldn’t wear away over time. The doubleshot design also allows the keyboard’s programmable RGB backlighting to shine through the caps. There are seven preset lighting effects built into the keyboard, and you can customize them via Razer’s software and save them to the board’s firmware.

Both keyboards are available with either Razer’s clicky or linear optical switches. The linear switches have also seen improvements since the keyboard’s first iteration, with the addition of a silicon sound dampener inside, and more lubricant to make them feel smoother to press. Razer also says it’s improved the acoustics of the keyboards, with the addition of a new layer of sound dampening foam, and there’s now a wrist rest included in the box with both keyboards.

The full-size Huntsman V2 features a volume wheel and media controls on its top right, but only the smaller tenkeyless model has a detachable USB-C cable.

The announcement of the new keyboards follows the launch of the first entry to the Huntsman V2 lineup earlier this year. The Huntsman V2 Analog, as its name suggests, is a keyboard with analog switches, allowing you to program two functions to a single key press or adjust exactly how much you need to push a key down for it to register a press (known as the “actuation point”).

Both of Razer’s new keyboards are going on sale today. The full-size Huntsman V2 will cost $189.99 with clicky switches and $199.99 with linear switches, while the more compact Tenkeyless model costs $149.99 with clicky or $159.99 with linear switches.