The Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed is a 65% size mechanical keyboard stripped down to the bare essentials that gamers need to focus on.
Is that a good thing? Well, I asked a twenty-something gamer to test it, and his response was, “Hell yeah”. In simple terms, it has all the full size, full throw, mechanical alpha and arrow keys (68 or tenkeyless) and Control, Alt and Fn access the keyboard shortcuts, numbers, and M1-M4 gaming key. Said gamer won’t give it back, so you know it must be good.
Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed
Website | here |
Manual | here (PDF) |
Price | $329.95 inc shipping |
From | Razer online, JB H—Fi, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Amazon AU Razer store |
Warranty | Two years |
Country of Manufacture | Designed in California and made in China |
About | Razer Inc. is a Singaporean-American multinational technology company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, financial services, and gaming hardware |
More | You can read more here |
First impression
Small (318.5 x 130 x 40.5mm x 718g). Extremely well-made. Really nice woven fabric USB-A to USB-C charge cable (that also is a keyboard cable). DGRFG7, 2.4hz 5.2mW, -10dBm Wi-Fi dongle. Importantly, instructions – you need these to drive this because it takes considerable muscle memory to learn a new keyboard. Two by 3-position legs elevate it from flat to 6 or 9°.
Construction
I love mechanical keyboards – if it were not for them, I would wear out several membrane keyboards each year. Razer makes its mechanical key switches with ABS injection double moulded keycaps and lettering – rated for 8 million keystrokes. The platform (case) is aluminium, and as a 65% keyboard has no palm rest or deck.
Keypress – two styles
The review unit has Green keys – tactile and clicky. You can also order yellow silent activation (similar to Cherry MX Silent Red). It is a full 15mm throw with about 45g activation. There is a distinct tactile click about 5mm down when the key has activated.
Battery
The battery will give 200 hours of play time (lighting off). Charge time via the USB-C port is about 2 hours, drawing a measly 5V/.5A/2.5W so you can charge it from any USB 2.0 or later device. It won’t fast charge, but you can use any USB-C PD chargers as well. But here is the kicker – at 100% brightness/activity, it lasts just 17 hours. I recommend using the cable in critical situations.
PC Linking
The USB-C cable acts as a standard USB HID. Or you can connect via BT 5.0 or the DGRFG7 HyperSpeed dongle. It can store three connections. We cannot measure millisecond speed lag, but subjectively cable was a smidge faster than wireless than BT.
Razer Synapse
It is not my intent to review this software. It is a software suite – Synapse, Chroma Connect, Chrome Studio, Chroma Visualiser (all for Chroma compatible devices) and Razer Cortex (system optimisation). All up, there are over 1GB of files. The suite gives access to customisation and customisable backlighting with 16.8 million colours and various pre-set options.
GadgetGuy’s take
Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed is a premium 65% gamers keyboard. It allows gamers to focus on the game with 68 full-sized keys and customisable lighting.
But don’t try and use it for a typist’s keyboard where dedicated function and control keys are more important. Over a week of use my usual 100WPM and 98% accuracy slipped severely. I use function keys and number keys a lot – it was not Razer’s fault. I usually use a Razer Blackwidow 100% size, green key, producing millions of words each year for GadgetGuy.
Rating
The Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed is in the 65% keyboard (or tenkeyless) category. You would be surprised that there are so many starting from $100. But they generally don’t have cable, Wireless, BT connectivity, doubleshot keycaps, Synapse control software or an aluminium chassis. So, if you are a gamer with a budget, it is a 10/10.