RAZER™ INFORMATION

Razer is one of the world's leading brands in high-end computer gaming equipment. Having their headquarter in San Diego, California, Razer enjoys an extensive and international distribution of their products, they sell in all major countries and continents: in America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East. Razer designs and produces cutting-edge gaming equipment that provides professional computer gamers a combination of technology, innovation and design. Razer's research and development team works together with leading professional gamers to develop the best technology for next generation of gaming equipment. Razer's superiority in gaming equipment comes from their ability to understand and conceptualize what the gamers need, and to produce the product afterwards.

Each Razer product bears the invisible signature of hundreds of professional gamers, gaming enthusiasts and engineers, and each Razer gaming product is built from single components, assembled with care and precision to optimize the gameplay for all professional gamers worldwide. Because of all that facts, Razer's reputation of being the leader in gaming technology is shown in every single Razer product.

For more information about Razer™ products and philosophy, go to http://www.razerzone.com

FACTS

• Anti-ghosting capability for up to 10 keys
• 32KB Razer Synapse™ onboard memory
• On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ profile switching
• 10 programmable gaming hotkeys
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response time
• Hyperesponse™ gaming keytop with fully interchangeable keys
• Headphone-out and microphone-in jacks
• Media center keys
• Two USB ports
• Gold-plated USB connector
• Battledock™ for add-on accessories
• Approximate size: 522mm (length) x 220mm (width) x 33mm (height)

Windows 2000 / XP / X64 / MCE 2005
2 Available USB Ports
CD-ROM Drive (for drivers)
At least 35MB of Hard Disk Space (for drivers)

THE PRODUCT

Now, in my hands i've got a razer keyboard, called "Tarantula". It's noteably bigger than any other usual keybord and takes some more space in front of my monitor. I even had to clean up my table, so i could put it at the place where it belongs! Tarantula's surface is black and shiny, it looks like any scratch or fingerprint will be seen on it. So I have to act careful. Little surprise was that it takes actually 2 USB slots. But the good news is that there are 2 USB slots on the right side of the keyboard, where you can, if you want to, put in 2 other USB thingys, for example your mouse or your headset. So the Tarantula gives you 2 USB slots for your other USB-based gaming equipment, and it takes 2 slots.

As this keyboard is made for gamers, the biggest difference from a normal keyboard are the 10 extra buttons, five on each side. You can bind all kinds of action you want to them. By the way, all 10 button shine blue like the „Razer“ logo, which is at the lower side of keybord. As you may know, you can find the shining logo of razer on all products we tested here, but how to turn off the light – i couldnt figure out... But i think that doesn't matter anyways.

There are also some other extra buttons on both sides. On the left side are the following buttons: one button to for the stand by freature (originaly named „Zzz“), and another one for your internet browser, which will open your home page. Under this button are more 4 buttons, which are basically for editing/watching pictures. You can rotate, zoom, unzoom, or set them back to the real size.

On the right side of "Tarantula" you can find sound and movie programs control buttons. It normally works only for the Windows Media Player, but you can change it to your favorite program, for example to Winamp. With these buttons, you will be able to open any of the fav programs, control sound or even turn it off, also regulate song piping. It looks like "Razer" wants to make us become lazy with all that buttons, so we don‘t need to reach our mice ;).

On the top of the keybord you can find the "Razer" made connector, which they call "BattleDock". It‘s for extra things to connect, as far as I know there are no things for "BattleDock" on the market yet, but they told us that 2 things were already made – a webcam and an extra light which helps you to write at dark. An also interesting thing is that the Tarantula got an iPod slot.

Razer announced that the buttons of this keyboard respond faster than other keyboards. I played Call Of Duty 2 and Counter-Strike with it, but I didn‘t really feel any big difference. But all buttons are pressable really nice and softly, so it really fits not only to play games but also for any other work. So Tarantula makes good impressions not only for gamers, but also for my non-gamer friends!

All gamers must love Tarantula's extra buttons with pictograms. First person shooter fans can change the special buttons to a button with a bullet pictured on it. You will be able to find 10 extra buttons to change, which is mainly made for FPS games. Razer is planning to make extra buttons for other games also.

Now, lets come to the program which belongs to the Tarantula keyboard. Like I said before, this keyboard got 10 extra bindable buttons, with which you can nearly do anything. While you're playing a game, just turn on the Tarantula program, pick any of the buttons on the screen which you would like to bind, and click your on the action you want to bind to it. It works just awesome for gamers, especially in RPG games. You can even program it so that commands would work with delays – 50, 100, 150 or 200 ms later. Razer lets you change any of the buttons to do other things, but I don’t really see why you should change all that buttons ;). Finally, when finished customizing your Tarantula, just save all tuning – that’s all. By the way, you can create up to 100 profiles, which means that you can use different profiles for diffrent games, so you won’t need to configurate it all over again, just click on the profile you made before, and you got it.

COMMENTS

"Tarantula is the best keyboard that i have ever played with. It gives you the perfect response in every movement that ables you to have that perfect controle in-game." - Fredrik "JAEGARN" Andersson, Counter-Strike player.

"I use this keyboard for both Quake and WoW. In Quake, the need for super responsive keys is important. The Razer Tarantula's keys are easy to press and they respond instantly, allowing me to be in complete control of my movement. In WoW I use 40 different keybinds for combat, and with the ability to press up to 10 keys at once, I've never once encountered a stuck key. This keyboard has never let me down in a tournament." - James "2GD" Harding, World of Warcraft player from Fnatic.

"There is not much that has to be said about this keyboard-it's beautiful! My favorite part about it is the fact that I can push several keys at once and it will never lock up on me. For that reason alone I would never use a different keyboard." - Christian "SeaL" Aranha, Counter-Strike:Source and Call of Duty player from CheckSix.

"In WoW, binding your special abilities and spells to your keyboard is crucial. With the Razer Tarantula, I am able to fit in extra abilities, allowing me to slice and dice my opponents in arenas with ease. The awesome response time and the sleek design are great plusses." - Abdul "bokas" Suleiman, World of Warcraft player from Team EG.

"Playing with the tarantula is a whole new experience, the design and buttons feel so natural so i cant imagine play without it. I think it´s fair enough to say Tarantula enhance your skill, especially your sense of movement ingame." - Patrik "cArn" Sattermon, Counter-Strike player from Fnatic.

Rating Explanation: