Razer BlackWidow + Cherry MX Blue switch review

[Reimu_64]

First gen Razer BlackWidow with Cherry MX Blue switches.

[Leslieann]

The stabs are Costar style stabs, not cheap, just different. These are used Filco, older Das, and some Cooler Master keyboards (as well as a few others). They can work just as well and sometimes better than Cherry style but they are a pain to swap caps on.

Pad printing also rubs off, I've had some last only a week.

Not sure if it was an issue on the regular but the Ultimate had an issue with (I think it was) the left Alt and space bar rubbing each other and causing the alt key to stick. I had to grind the sides of my key caps and add some paint to cover up where they had been ground.

While you can't see it, internals were typical Chinese quality control, mine didn't have the issue, but I've seen some where the plate was extremely rusted after only a few years.


As for the switches, at the time Cherry's molds were going bad, it later turned out that these were at the time one of the best ways to get good Cherry MX blues, however most of us had no idea this was an issue and actually laughed at Razers claim of hand selected switches. The blues in my Filco came from one of these and they work great (though they've been fully worked over), so how they were treated and what batch mattered and could explain some of the chatter.

Along with cost (Cherry was more expensive then), this is probably why Razer switched to alternative switches which more than likely helped create the modern switch industry we have today, almost all of which are better options than buying old beat up switches that need to be desoldered. This was also one of the first mass market mechanicals that you could buy in an electronics store like Best Buy from a recognizable brand (others did exist), so from a historical perspective, this is an an important keyboard, it launched what we have today. It's just a shame it was so bad.

[Reimu_64]

Oh man, I always thought costar style stabs were the cheaper alternative. I've broken so many of them in the past, unlike Cherry stabs. My bad.

Yep, pad printing is terrible. Thankfully my all my BlackWidows still have their legends, though some keys have significant shine.

I also didn't even think about it from a historical perspective. It makes a lot of sense that this was the board that pushed manufacturers to make their own boards. You make it sound like this is a collectors board haha, but for a first attempt, I don't think it was that bad. Remember, the Ultimate version even had backlighting which would've been cool in 2010. I'm still pissed about the whole macro situation.

[Sup]

Costar is puke since they have issues with cherry profile spacebars and modifiers the metal wire kept rubbing inside the spacebar . At least I had these issues with my Filco and GMK sets and they where super ratelly no matter how much lube i added.

[Leslieann]

You have to over-lube Costar, I fill the slots entirely with thick lube, as well as lubing the wire with thick lube.
Cherry you have to be very precise how, where and what lube you use in each place, and they still may bind.

They have their faults (pain in the neck to cap swap), but also their pros, being plate mount you can work on them, they tend to be a bit more free of friction and they deal with warp better. Warp on Cherry style stabs causes far more bind than in Costar style. Also it's a bit rich to complain about Cherry profile rubbing when south facing switches also also rub. This an issue with the cap profile, not the stabs.


It also depends on who made them, many knock-off Costar are simply trash. The real thing work just fine.