Digital Trends

Razer Tarantula

December 17th, 2007 | by Josh Norem

Use and Testing

We tested the Tarantula for several weeks and came away impressed, but not blown away. When we first took the Tarantula out of the box we were surprised by how large it is. It’s a normal keyboard size from top to bottom, but is extra wide due to the extra buttons adorning both sides of it.

We flipped up the little tabs on the back as we prefer a slightly elevated keyboard, and found the ergonomics immediately comfortable. We then decided to plug it in, and discovered there are two USB cables, one thick and one thin. You can get by with just the thick cable, but the other cable provides power to the USB ports. The ports are non-powered though, and run at USB 1.1 speed, so they will not work with a USB key, but will be just fine for a mouse or headset.

Once everything was connected we were stoked to find that the media keys and extra buttons worked fine in Windows with no drivers. Of course, we wanted to customize them so we decided to install the included software. Once we had done that, we were dismayed to find that the keyboard was not being detected by the software, even though it was working fine in Windows. Not surprisingly, this is the exact same problem we had with the Razer DeathAdder mouse. This is obviously a problem Razer needs to address as mice from its competitors just work, and there’s no need to update firmware, uninstall drivers and re-install them, etc. Once we had updated both the firmware and the driver for the mouse we were able to make some customizations, and we liked how easy it was to select different programs to use for the custom buttons. The buttons themselves are easy to use as well though they do take a bit of force to press down.

We also fiddled with the macro settings and were surprised at the amount of customization available. You can select a macro key, then press the buttons you want it to perform, and you can even insert delays between key presses from 50ms to 200ms. You then select which profile it goes in, and you can store up to 100 profiles. We also removed a few keys with the included “key remover tool” and found the process quite easy.

For gaming and desk jockey work the Tarantula is very comfortable and felt great to our fingers. We were never able to perceive any extra bit of precision, however, and the keyboard felt like a normal keyboard to us. The one big area of disappointment is that the keys are not backlit, which is odd given that the keys on the edges of the keyboard are backlit. And since this is a keyboard that costs $100 USD, we expect that feature.

Conclusion

The Tarantula is a great keyboard, no doubt. It’s comfortable, sturdy and has useful extras. But it’s a minor let down, and at $100 USD it’s a bit overpriced. We liked the ergonomics, the extra features and the general feel of the keys and the palm rest, but were put off by the difficult software installation, lack of backlighting and somewhat high price tag.


Pros:

• Comfortable ergonomics
• Useful extra buttons
• Lots of customization potential

Cons:

• Indiscernible “precision,”
• Main keys are not backlit
• Wonky software