Review: Razer Huntsman V3 Hall Effect Keyboard
It finally happened. After years of standing by optical switch technology, Razer has finally jumped on the bandwagon and made its own Hall Effect keyboard.
Razer still stands by its optical switches, at least according to its PR representatives. In the eyes of Razer’s engineers, optical switch technology is still superior to magnetic switches. According to Razer, an optical switch still has greater accuracy and is less likely to face interference from outside forces (such as electromagnetic fields or a metal desk). But, apparently, the demand for magnets has become so strong that Razer simply can’t ignore customer demand anymore. As a result, Razer’s first Hall Effect keyboard, the Hunstman V3 HE, came into existence.
Being its first attempt, Razer didn’t try to do anything crazy. No screens, dials, or split spacebars. Instead, it offers a simple and basic Hall Effect keyboard that does exactly what it says on the box. And, as much as I like the new and bizarre, sometimes that’s all a keyboard needs to be.
Smooth to a Fault
The most important part of a keyboard will always be how the keys actually feel during use. In this regard, the Hunstman V3 HE is merely fine. The switches are smooth when pressed, and the smoothness is consistent across most of the keys. Though some switches feel slightly overlubed, to the extent that the bottom-out of the keystroke feels mildly tacky. Because this keyboard uses a tray-mount system, there are also slight differences in the stiffness across the keys: switches closer to mounting screws will feel less flex when typing, and vice versa. The typing experience has multiple slight differences across keys that make it feel inconsistent, but these aren’t major enough to be irritating—or even particularly noticeable—during regular use.
Each switch has a 40-gram spring, which feels comparable in weight to a Cherry MX Red when typing. They’re reasonably light and have limited wobble, but are slightly slow to return after being pressed. It’s not a major issue, they still return relatively quickly, but a more snappy spring would have been preferable.
The typing sound can best be described as relatively “clacky,” with a clean, full tone and a significant midrange. The sound is clean overall, without any extraneous scratchiness, pinging, or other odd frequencies. There are noticeable differences in tone across the keys, especially on some of the outer ones, which end up taking on a noticeably deeper and duller sound. Compared with the rattly and atonal optical Huntsman V3, these improvements are night and day. But compared with the gasket-mounted Razer BlackWidow V4, there’s definitely still room to improve.
The spacebar poses the largest issue, in both sound and feel. There are two strips of foam on the underside of it to prevent a hollow sound when typing. While this does work, it also results in a lower “thump” noise that’s significantly deeper than any of the other keys. More important, because the foam strips on my unit are too close to the switch underneath, they collide with the housing when pressed down and make the end of the keystroke feel distinctly squishy and muted. The spacebar is also significantly heavier than any other key, weighing nearly 10 grams (comparatively, a standard spacebar is around 7 grams, while a standard single-unit keycap is around 1.5). This makes the switch feel noticeably lighter than the others, and at lower actuation distances, this can even result in some mis-inputs.
I found that swapping out the spacebar for a nondampened one (thankfully, it’s a standard 6.25-unit length, which is incredibly easy to find) results in an improved keypress and a sound that’s far more in line with the rest of the keys, as opposed to the distinctly deeper tone it produces out of the box. For those OK with a more destructive fix, it would also be easy to remove the foam from the original spacebar.
Conversely, the stabilizers on this keyboard are issue-free. All of them are smooth and quiet with zero rattling, indicating Razer has figured out its factory lubing methods, something quite a few manufacturers still struggle with.
Typical Plastic Shell
Like most of Razer’s keyboards, the latest Huntsman has a very straightforward build: an integrated metal top plate and a plastic bottom shell in a tray-mount assembly with sound-dampening foam. The screws holding the two halves together are counter-sunk into the top housing, which has Razer’s typical black brushed finish. Thankfully, there are no fragile plastic clips holding the two halves together. The shell, even with the metal top, has a slight amount of flex in-hand.
Inside the case, there are two printed circuit boards: A main board that screws into the metal plate, and a daughterboard that screws into the bottom shell. These two boards are connected by a three-pin JST-style connector and a thick ribbon cable. There is a piece of sound-deadening foam between the plate and PCB, filling the empty space between the switches, and another inside the bottom shell. While the use of a secondary daughterboard is nice, the bottom plastic shell feels fairly thin. This seemingly contributes to the underwhelming sound profile of this keyboard, and it ultimately results in a less robust and sturdy design compared with an all-metal (or even thicker plastic) construction.
This keyboard uses a standard tray-mount assembly. The top half screws directly into the bottom shell of the keyboard, using multiple evenly distributed support posts. This design is easy to disassemble, making both modifications and repairs straightforward. Because the bottom half is made from plastic, though, there is a greater risk of the threaded posts stripping or getting damaged during assembly and disassembly.
Compared with standard mechanical keyboards, which have hundreds of distinct switch options that can be freely swapped out, one of the largest issues with Hall Effect keyboards is limited customization. The switches and sensors have multiple competing standards, meaning it can be difficult (or impossible) to find aftermarket switches that are compatible with any given keyboard. I was initially told that third-party switches wouldn’t be compatible with the Huntsman HE lineup, but I was surprised to find that the switches from the Wooting 60HE seemed to be fully compatible. I easily pulled one of the switches from the 60HE, and popped it directly into the Huntsman with zero issues. While I can’t definitively confirm, this indicates that other aftermarket switches using the same standards could also be compatible.
Finicky Functionality
While testing this keyboard, I ran into a few issues. The most prominent was key repetition: Within a few hours of use, the N key ended up creating a constant input whenever I would press it (namely, nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn) until I pressed another key. When I swapped the switch with another, this new switch refused to register any inputs. The only solution was to fully reset the keyboard.
During regular typing, I also ran into quite a few moments where an input would be missed during typing. These were sporadic and seemingly random, and it’s entirely possible that I was simply not pressing a key down far enough, but the frequency was significant enough that it didn’t feel like user error. Beyond this, the issue occurred at several different actuation distances with seemingly-similar frequencies.
The standout feature of this keyboard is the polling rate. Much like the previous optical-powered Huntsman V3 Pro, the Huntsman V3 HE features 8,000 hertz polling. This means the keyboard communicates with your computer 8,000 times per second. This is the gold standard for peripherals today, but it’s honestly overkill for the average person (or really, anyone outside of the highest levels of competitive play). In reality, such a high polling rate is more of a safety net against mis-inputs than an actual performance improvement, since it drastically decreases the chances of a keypress happening between messages.
While 8kHz polling is impressive, it’s not exclusive to analog switches (both Hall Effect and optical switches are considered analog, while mechanical switches aren’t)—there are mechanical keyboards that also feature the technology. Instead, the main benefit of an analog switch is the ability to detect how far the switch has been pressed down. Through this, the actuation distance of the switch (how far it needs to be pressed to register an input) can be adjusted. On the Huntsman, the actuation distance can be adjusted between 0.1mm and 4.0mm, practically covering the entire travel distance of the switch. Using this mechanic, the keyboard can also recognize multiple inputs over the duration of one keystroke, or react differently based on the direction of a key’s movement.
This functionality is also used in other features, such as Rapid Trigger, which is the most useful of these features. In essence, Rapid Trigger allows for more immediate inputs by tracking the direction of the switch’s movement instead of waiting for it to pass a predetermined actuation point (typically 2.0mm of travel). This means if you release the key partially and press it down again, the keyboard will register a new input regardless of whether it returned to the “resting” position above the actuation point. In practice, the Huntsman HE performs comparably to any other system, allowing for more rapid inputs when gaming.
Alongside Rapid Trigger, the Huntsman also has various other customization features with varying levels of widespread appeal. While most of these will likely go unused by the average player, it’s always better to have more customization options. The most noteworthy are the Dynamic Keystroke feature, which allows for different inputs to register when a key is released, and Snap Flex, which allows for simultaneous inputs when a key is pressed or released. These both have the most appeal for any kind of advanced techniques, with the key example being precise smoke grenade throws in Counter-Strike 2. I could also see these features being useful for frame-perfect inputs for speed-runs or exploits.
Along with these, there is also the ability to emulate the inputs of a game controller on your keyboard. This is primarily done to replicate the analog inputs of a controller joystick, which allows for more fine controls of movement speed compared with a standard key. It can also be used to replicate the pedals and steering of a racing game, or any other inputs that require more fine inputs than a standard key can provide.
These settings are all incredibly easy to set up and adjust, as well. Razer Synapse presents them in an intuitive and straightforward way, with tooltips and built-in animations to explain different settings. Really, this is one of the largest benefits of the Huntsman: Customization through the software is incredibly easy and quick, meaning you can swap between keymaps or make other adjustments between matches, or even between rounds, without having to wade through unnecessary menus or confusing interfaces.
While there are some odd details, this is a perfectly serviceable Hall Effect keyboard, especially for buyers who want to stay in the Razer ecosystem or who are specifically looking for 8kHz polling. With good switches, in-depth software and great specs, it’s a solid gaming-focused workhorse that manages to still sound pretty good, even if the build quality and typing experience aren’t quite what they could be. Plus, the barebones approach is always preferable to some of the strange choices other manufacturers have been making.
The Huntsman V3 HE is available in either a 65 percent or Tenkeyless (TKL) configuration, retailing for $120 and $140 respectively. Currently, both layouts are only available in black. The keyboards feature Razer-branded linear Hall Effect switches.