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Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard - featuring a slick all black exterior and fearsome LED keys, this exclusive Razer gaming peripheral is the best we have seen yet from the world renowned gaming company. Sporting features even the Tarantula does not possess, this keyboard should be on the very top of every gamer’s wish list.

Like the Lachesis and Tarantula, this keyboard is named after a type of nocturnal and venomous wolf spiders. The Lycosidae have good eyesight and are capable of rapid movement to retreat as well as to attack.

The first thing that attracted me to the Razer Lycosa was the keys. I find it very apt that this keyboard was named after a nocturnal arachnid. The Lycosa features adjustable backlighting for every single key. Once plugged in, the entire keyboard lights up with a menacing blue hue. The WSAD keys are further illuminated, brighter than the surrounding keys, designed in mind for First Person Shooters (FPS) players gaming in low-light conditions. This unfair advantage in low-light environment can prove to be the deciding factor in competitive games.

Another apparent feature is the Lycosa’s compact design. It is less than 47cm long and about 22cm wide inclusive of the wrist rest. It is extremely lightweight, the perfect keyboard to bring for LAN parties and gaming outings. My favourite part of the Lycosa is the non-slip rubber keytop finishing. Unlike the plastic feel of normal keys, Lycosa keys prevent any accidental slipping and hitting of wrong buttons. The rubber finish makes typing and hardcore mashing of keys very much easier and very much more comfortable.

Similar to the Tarantula, all keys are fully customizable. Macro keystrokes as well as other buttons can be bound to each individual key and as such, each of the keys have the potential to become helpful hotkeys. The Lycosa’s onboard memory allows the key configurations to be saved to a profile and allow users to load different profiles with the respective programs. Another useful function is the ability to turn off the annoying Windows key. Often games are interrupted by the accidental touch of the Windows key, bringing the user back to the desktop. This problem can be avoided by shutting off the Windows keys during gameplay. Also boasting a touch panel, the Lycosa offers convenient access to multimedia functions. The Lycosa offers users the highly dependable anti-ghosting capability that is characteristic of Razer keyboards. This effectively eliminates lag or unresponsiveness from keys and is a very crucial function in fast paced games like FPSs.

After going through detailed specifications for both the Razer Tarantula and Moshi Celesta in my previous reviews, the Razer Lycosa is actually my favourite choice. The Lycosa is a mix of the pros of both the Celesta and Tarantula - the flat keys, rubber keytop, anti-ghosting capability, customization functions and so on. The compactness of the gadget also means that it will not hog up space on my desk, it even frees up one USB port for my mouse (it has a USB port and headphone jacks attached).

Despite the numerous useful functions and features, the Lycosa does have its rants. On the very top would be the considerable price tag. For a casual gamer, this price tag would not be justified by the uses of the Lycosa. Furthermore, the earlier versions of the keyboard had ridiculous bugs and glitches. The key lighting would dim and fade off by itself, keys would not respond and the keyboard cannot be detected. Luckily many of these problems have been rectified by Razer firmware and users now get to fully enjoy the Lycosa without the irritation of the numerous glitches.

The Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard is one of the quietest keyboards I’ve ever used, and it has comparable key response times in juxtaposition to high end gaming gadgets like the Razer Tarantula and the Logitech G15. This is definitely a handy asset for gamers and its advantages far outweigh the potential problems that it might cause.

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With the recent post about the Moshi Celesta Keyboard, I was tempted to post another review about yet another revolutionary keyboard - the much vaunted Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard. Touted as the big brother of the older Lycosa keyboard, the release of the Tarantula in early November 2006 sent the gaming world into a hype. It took Razer sometime to iron out creaks and a bug in the workings of the keyboard and the finished product was a gaming-intensive but still versatile keyboard.

On first glance, the Razer Tarantula does not look glamorous, especially sitting beside my Moshi Celesta. It is about 21 inches long, which is longer than your average keyboard, and wider too. It takes up more space than average, thus it might not be a good idea to try to fit the Razer Tarantula into sliding keyboard trays. The keys have a standard layout, but the orientation is slightly awkward at first and would take some getting used to. The keys are displaced slightly to the right, so first time users would find it disorientating, especially during games. The keyboard has a glossy black finish and a stylish Razer logo that lights up with LED lighting when the keyboard is plugged in.

The Razer Tarantula requires the plugging in of two separate USB cables, instead of the usual one, likely due to the constant LED glow taking up extra power. However, one need not worry about the keyboard using up USB ports on the computer needlessly - similar to the Celesta, the Tarantula has built in USB ports at the side, for plugging in mice or thumbdrives.

The main feature about the Tarantula that Razer boasts about is the ‘anti-ghosting’ capability. Anti-ghosting refers to the ability of the Tarantula to respond to simultaneous key presses on the keyboard, even when they are depressed all at the same time. This would be a very significant advantage for gamers playing First Person Shooters (FPS) or Real Time Strategy (RTS), as now they can perform multiple actions. There are also 10 macro keys on the Razer Tarantula that allows customizable programming of macros, for in-game use. Razer helpfully included several custom keys, labeled with knife and gun icons, for the user to install wherever they wish.

After a few days of use, one thing I did not like about the Razer Tarantula was how prone it was to leaving smudges or fingerprints on the exterior. The glossy surface has a rather slick and menacing look, but only when it’s clean. Prepare to have a piece of smooth cloth to give it a wipe-through after usage. Also, due to the slightly different orientation of the keys, I tended to hit wrong keys very often, and it really took me quite a while to get used to it. There have also been much talk circulating online that the Tarantula was ‘buggy’, in the sense that many reprogrammed keys often did not work and commands being unable to be bound to keys. This required the release of many updates and patches for firmware and drivers by Razer.

What really impressed me was how fully customizable this keyboard was. Every single key can be remapped to serve a different function. By using the bundled software, settings can be made on-the-fly and on a very basic, idiot-proof interface. Furthermore the keyboard has an onboard 32KB memory to store key profiles, identical to that of the Razer gaming mice (like Lachesis).

If you have extra cash to splash out on a gaming accessory, I would recommend this. Complementing a good gaming mouse, your gaming experience would be very enjoyable indeed, as the Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard fully justifies the US$120 (US$79.99 now) price tag. Otherwise, if you are not fully into gaming, go for a cheaper, more functional keyboard.

Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard

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Usually, I would not use the adjective ’swanky’ on something as dead as a piece of electronic hardware, but in this case, ’swanky’ perfectly describes the Moshi Celesta Keyboard. All over the web, other superlatives have been lavished on the Celesta, and from the very first glance, it’s easy to understand why.

The Moshi Celesta Keyboard is the new, uber-sleek keyboard from Aevoe Moshi and comes in two colour themes - silver perimeter with white keys and blue LED, or all-black with red key labels and LED. It is exceptionally slim, even when compared to Apple’s aluminium keyboard. It has two USB 2.0 ports on the right side and is compatible for both PC and Mac. The mere connecting of the USB cable would allow the keyboard to function, without the hassle of having to install drivers and software through CDs. When powered up, the Celesta exudes class and sophistication, with the top of the keyboard giving off a warm glow, illuminating the Moshi logo.

The keys are flat and knitted closely together, resembling the built-in keyboard of a laptop. Keys are easily depressible and they actually have less ‘travel’ than those on a normal keyboard. This basically means that the key travels a smaller distance downwards when depressed. This might be a good or bad thing, depending on user preference. Users who are fond of pounding their keys would not be accustomed to typing on this surface, whereas users who lightly tap on keys would adore the feel of this keyboard. Typing will not require much force, making it, in fact, a very comfortable activity. The layout of keys are pretty much standard, with QWERTY keys arrayed neatly. There are two multimedia buttons directly above the navigation keys, below the ‘delete’ key, which allows for volume control. Also there is an ‘eject’ key, for opening the disc drive.

The Moshi Celesta Keyboard offers a flip-down panel to adjust the height at which the keyboard is elevated, but it can only be elevated at two fixed heights. According to Aevoe Moshi, the keyboard’s two tilt angles are specially designed to provide ergonomic support for the wrists. For users who prefer to keep the keyboard far from the edge of the tray, the keyboard’s incline would allow forearms to rest comfortably on the tray and for wrists to rest on the support. For those who like to keep the keyboard to the edge of the table/tray, the flip-down panel tilts the Celesta to an angle where your wrists and forearms are aligned comfortably. The Celesta comes equipped with rubber feet, so the lightweight aluminium frame does not slip and move around when typing.

One thing I really liked about the Celesta is the presence of not just one, but two USB ports on the right side. It makes it that much more convenient to dock thumb drives or even charge an iPod, when compared to connecting it to the computer’s USB ports. Typing is pretty much hassle-free, but comparatively, it is not much different to that of a standard keyboard.

The biggest attraction of this keyboard is the eye-candy factor. This keyboard is such a ravishing sight. Complete with the cool hues from the LED glow, the Celesta oozes poise. The downside of this is the extravagant hole that this gadget will burn in your pocket. Priced at US$120, it is more than double the price of Apple’s new wireless keyboard, and a good 20% more expensive than Razer’s lauded Tarantula gaming keyboard.

If you have the cash to splash out, the white version of the Moshi Celesta Keyboard would be a perfect match for that iMac, while the black one will go with almost any other PC. Fundamentally, this is a very basic keyboard for daily use. Users such as gamers might want to give this a pass, especially when there is a need to program keys for certain functions. Otherwise, this is a big ‘yes’ for office executives or home users who are looking for a simple yet elegant design and basic functionality in a keyboard.

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