Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition Review

Over the course of a year, Razer has been releasing keyboards to cater to a wide variety of people; from the casual user, to the full-time streamer.

But there was never a keyboard that slotted in the middle of this; where you could use the features of Synapse and the RGB configurations, while being able to carry the keyboard anywhere you like because of its compact design.

This is where the Huntsman Tournament Edition comes in; released in October of last year, it’s a great middle-ground keyboard that’s meant to be brought to different events, or even just different rooms around the house for those WFH situations.

With that, we took the keyboard through its paces, to see if it really stood up to being a keyboard worth buying from Razer.

Design - Score 91

Compared to previous keyboards we’ve reviewed, this is a smaller footprint, with the keypad reducing the size by a third, while the keys are close together.

This is actually a welcome design, as it doesn’t just cater to gamers and streamers, but writers as well. Typing this review on the keyboard itself, the learning-curve of not being able to press on a rogue letter was very minimal, and every press felt very satisfying.

And yes, it works great on tablets such as the iPad as well when it was taken downstairs for a test, even though the RGB couldn’t be customised, due to ‘Synapse’ not being able to be used on iPadOS.

every press felt very satisfying

The satisfaction of the keys are mainly thanks to the ‘Optical Switch’ variant here, where every press feels like it’s going to register before you even touch a key.

This is especially good when you’re playing a multiplayer game, such as Sea of Thieves. When rushing to repair your ship with many planks of wood and throwing buckets of water off the port-bow, there’s a fair few keys in order to run back and forth to do this, while reloading your planks in-between.

Everything felt fast here thanks to the keyboard, and next-to-no latency occurred, resulting in a smooth experience, especially in other games too such as Serious Sam and Grand Theft Auto V.

Everything felt fast

It plugs in via a compact USB-C to USB cable, where this is also detachable; a very welcome touch here, as this means the keyboard can be carried or packed into a bag without wrapping the cable around it.

The RGB is also here for this mid-range keyboard, with full-customisation thanks to the ‘Synapse’ app that we’ve previously tested the Cynosa Lite and Basilisk Ultimate with.

The full-experience is here, with multiple colours abound across all the keys, so you can have a wave of colours cover the peripheral, vertically or horizontally. While you could also highlight specific keys in static colours, to help if you’re playing a specific game at a certain time.

Really useful, and can save a lot of time

The great touch about this is that the keyboard has memory-onboard, so wherever you may take it and plug it in again, it will remember the RGB configs that you set. Really useful, and can save a lot of time when needed.

It’s also very useful if you own another Razer product that features RGB, as they can all sync with one another, without having a lightshow on your desk. So if you match the Huntsman with the Basilisk Ultimate Mouse, they could both display colours in a wave, in unison. A neat touch.

The only caveat we have, is that it’s not wireless. Granted, the RGB may be a factor for this, but when you consider other keyboard such as the Keytron 2 with its same configuration and its wireless ways, you can’t help but think that a wireless connection for this portable keyboard could make it even easier to be carried around to different events, without having a wire alongside it.

But otherwise, the keys feel great, the full-RGB is very welcome, and the minimalist design makes it a great match for those desktops you see on Instagram with a plant, a smart-light and many hashtags.

READ MORE: Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition laptop revealed

Price - Score 85

The RRP is £149.99, which seems a bit steep, even for this keyboard. But at the time of writing, it’s £50 off on Amazon - that's a great deal that will get you this keyboard for just £99.

When you consider the low-latency, the compact design and the full-RGB of five profiles, ready to be configured, this seems like a pretty good value when you take that discount into account.

Razer has a reputation of making good-quality keyboards, and that still stands here. So if you want something you know will last for a good while, you can’t go wrong with this keyboard.

READ MORE: Razer Gigantus V2 mousemat revealed

Our Score

Pros

• Great compact design
• Full-RGB is here, and works well
• Keys feel great, no latency and very durable to the touch

Cons

• Not wireless

• A tad expensive

We were really surprised with the Huntsman. It’s an example of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, and after spending the last week with it, we were happy to give it a rating that reflects how much we enjoyed using it.

It’s very responsive, the compact, durable design made it ideal for gaming and even writing, while the RGB made it stand out from others in this mid-tier of keyboards.

Granted, it’s not wireless just yet, but if you want a reliable, mid-range keyboard that you want to have used around the house on your PC and other devices, you won’t go far wrong than the Huntsman. And that

£99 deal price on Amazon is a steal!