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Razer Tarantula Review November 03, 2006 |
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Summary: Razer's onslaught of new controllers continues. They scored with the Copperhead, they didn't do too bad with the Barracuda. How will the Tarantula do?
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 4 ) |
So when gaming mouse company Razer first announced their plans for their entry into gaming keyboard with the Tarantula I was more than intrigued. I’m a big fan of their gaming mice products and even though their recent headphone recently was a little bit disappointing I was looking forward to seeing what they would do for gaming keyboards. After all, a mouse is basically a PC input product so creating a companion keyboard would be a natural fit. When I actually got a chance to use Razer’s Tarantula, however, it was something of a surprise. It was more than what I was expecting from the company…and also a little less. That’s confusing, I’m sure but stay with me; it will all make sense.
The first think I quickly noticed about the Tarantula was its size. It’s a big one. It’s not quite as long as the Merc keyboard (20 inches to the Merc’s 21 inches) but it still takes up more desktop space because the Razer is wider than the Merc. It’s also very, very black with a shiny hard plastic finish that makes you be very careful while handling the product. You just don’t want to scratch it at all.
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Unlike the Merc, the Razer Tarantula doesn’t really have a dedicated section devoted to just gaming buttons. Indeed the keyboard layout is pretty conventional for the most part but there are some interesting differences. The main one is the 10 keys (5 on the left and 5 on the right of the main keyboard layout) that are specifically made for the Tarantula’s macro set up (more on how that works later). Those buttons along with the Razer logo on the bottom center of the Tarantula, have an electric blue light glow coming from them that gives the keyboard an eerie presence to it in the dark, much like Razer’s Diamondback mouse. There doesn’t seem to be a way to disable the glow, however.
Installing the Tarantula may give you a bit of a fright at first since Razer is requiring you plug in two included USB cable connections in order for the keyboard to work (it’s possible that the reason for this is that glowing light effect takes up a lot of energy but we don’t know that for certain). Thankfully the Tarantula makes up for it by providing for two on-board USB ports that are placed on the top right hand side of the keyboard which is perfect for plugging in your mouse and whatever other USB device you might want (alas these ports are only USB 1.1 and not 2.0 ports). The USB cables also come with headset and microphone cables as well. If you plug both of them into the appropriate openings on your soundcard you can then plug in your headphone-microphone combo into the keyboard itself through the use of two such ports located next to the keyboard’s two USB ports.
| Keyboard design | Page:: ( 2 / 4 ) |
In the top center of the Tarantula is a rectangular port that Razer is calling the BattleDock. While they aren’t selling them yet, the BattleDock is designed to add some extra functionality to the keyboard through the use of Razer branded accessories. They have announced two such additions so far; an overhead blue light that makes typing in the dark a bit better and a web cam for people who want to communicate via video. We would love to have a port for an iPod or other MP3 device so we can listen to music while we play games but that kind of support has not yet been announced (in an odd move, Razer is selling a version of the Tarantula to business oriented customers that replaces the BattleDock with a port specifically for an iPod connection but there is no word on when or even if that kind of support will move to the gaming product).
So how does the keyboard feel while playing games? Razer has made a big deal in marketing about the keys reduce latency in games using membrane keys to cut response time but the truth is that we really didn’t notice any difference playing games like Dark Messiah of Might and Magic or Battlefield 2142 while using the keys on the Tarantula for the past several days. The keys themselves feel fine while operating them; I didn’t notice any mushy feeling or anything else while we push them but to say that they reduce lag time while playing games may be pushing things a tad.
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However, that’s not all the features the Razer Tarantula has for gamers. One cool thing that they have done is the idea of replacing keys with not letters but icons. If you want to, say, remove your “R” (for reload) key with a bullet icon that represents reloading you can. Razer provides 10 such icon keys, mostly for first person shooter titles, in the Tarantula (they have plans to sell even more separately for other game genres) along with a plastic tool that makes removing the main keyboard buttons easy. Then all you have to do is get the icon key you want and push it in place. Other icons included with the basic Tarantula include a target (presumably for sniping) a knife, a pistol, a machine gun, a grenade, a fist, and something which we think looks like a helmet (for armor maybe). There’s also a comic book like word ballon icon includes which is likely supposed to represent voice chatting.
The main thing that separates the Tarantula from other gaming keyboards is its software. Let’s start with the macro keys first. As we stated before, the keyboard has 10 of these keys that can each store up to eight separate keyboard strokes. So if you have your favorite combo you want to use in, say, World of Warcraft you don’t have to use a third party macro program. You can just bring up the Tarantula’s software which brings up a representation of the keyboard itself on your PC screen. By moving your mouse cursor to one of the macro keys shown in the layout and clicking on it you bring up a screen that allows you to put in your series of keyboard button commands. You can even use it to delay the time each keystroke in the macro is used in the sequence (in 50, 100, 150 and 200 millisecond increments). You then select which profile and program the macro uses and volia; instant combo move to take out a particularly nasty enemy in your favorite game.
Speaking of profiles, the Tarantula actually has 32 MB of onboard memory which is enough to store up to five profiles and the keyboard’s software can store up to 100 different profiles. Each profile can have two different keysets which means you can switch between a regular keyboard set up and a Battlefield 2142 set up on quickly. Needless to say the software is extremely powerful and extensive but thankfully it’s also just a matter of pointing and clicking inside the keyboard’s user interface which is pretty each to use. If you are a hardcore gamer you can probably have a lot of fun just programming different profiles for all the games on your hard drive. It’s a little daunting at first to have all of the various options that the Tarantula gives you out of the box but we found that putting the time into it was worth it.
However, even though the product is a powerful one there is one aspect that may keep some gamers from picking it up; the price. At $99.99 this is not a cheap keyboard by any means and quite frankly we could do without some of the game’s hardware aspects (particularly the glowing lights) if it meant making it a little more affordable.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 3 / 4 ) |
Pros
Powerful and extensive software program
The UI is easy to use and offers up a ton of options for gamers who really want to get in the nitty gritty of their keyboard layouts and macros.
Options to remove keys to replace them with icon keys
For people who don’t want to remember letters for their button commands, offering the option to replace them with easy to recognize icon keys is a nice touch.
Onboard USB and headphone-microphone ports
Why can’t all keyboards have these?
Cons
Large size
If space is at a premium on your desk, the Tarantula may take up too much of it for your tastes
Glowing blue lights
They are eerie to look at in the dark but not necessary for your gaming.
Future BattleDock support unknown
Razer has announced a light and web cam but we rather have the iPod dock they are supporting with the business version of the keyboard.
Price
Even with all of the options the UI has, $99.99 is a lot of green for this kind of product
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 4 / 4 ) |