Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Esports Gaming Keyboard review

First, let me clarify who will be doing this review. I am a video game enthusiast and writer, not a keyboard enthusiast. I appreciate the performance enhancements that a proper keyboard can bring to gaming and how it impacts my day-to-day life while writing. I am comparing the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro to other high-end commercially available keyboards that the vast majority of consumers will be looking to purchase. I have no experience with the ultra high-end, custom-built keyboards that I know some folks are into. I can not speak to those keyboards, so I will not compare the Huntsman to them in any way.

Over the years, I have had probably half a dozen different gaming keyboards, which all lasted for various lengths of time before being replaced for one reason or another. The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro stands tall above them all, thanks to the deep suite of features designed to give you the edge in any game you decide to play.

Right out of the box, the Huntsman V3 Pro is a solid but lightweight keyboard. I reviewed the full keyboard, which is available in tenkeyless and mini as well, for those who prefer that style. The Hunstman V3 Pro also includes an extremely low-profile magnetized wristrest with a sleek leather cover. I understand that the previous version of this keyboard had a thicker wristrest that offered more cushion, but I personally prefer this style as I find that it does not ever wear out over time.

The main highlights of this keyboard can be found in the keys themselves. Featuring the Razer Analog Optical Switch Gen-2 with Rapid Trigger and Razer Snap Tap, you will be hard-pressed to find a more complete competitive FPS keyboard anywhere else out there. These Analog Optical switches “allow gamers to select from a super-shallow 0.1 mm actuation point to a bottom-out depth of 4.0 mm”. This allows you to choose exactly how much pressure you would like the keyboard to require before activating the key. When you pair that with the hyper-light 40g required to actuate them, running and gunning has never been faster or smoother.

In addition to the Rapid Trigger feature, the Huntsman V3 Pro 2 also boasts the proprietary Razer Snap Tap, which ensures that two keys are never actuated together. If you are strafing right but need to switch to left, as soon as you activate your key to move left, your rightward movement is immediately cut off. This allows for much more precise movement throughout your gameplay, much more akin to what you would expect from playing with a controller. Blending what feels like controller movement with the aiming precision offered by a mouse is like a cheat code for playing competitively on PC.

All of these features can be adjusted to your preferred sensitivity or can be turned off completely. The level of customization is unmatched, and on-board profiles allows you to save multiple configurations. When writing, I prefer a much less sensitive keystroke, so I have profiles saved for “Gaming” and “General use” which is excellent.

I found the features that the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro offers, specifically Rapid Trigger and Snap Tap, to be game-changers for any shooter I tested. I play a TON of Warframe and Call of Duty, and my performance was noticeably improved with the Huntsman V3 Pro. In Warframe specifically, movement is so key to your success in tough Steel Path fights that the Huntsman V3 Pro felt like a new piece of my arsenal. Navigating with standard WASD movement is fine, but the precision and flow that the Analog WASD setting offers puts that to shame.

The precise customization of actuation points, resets, and overall sensitivity, coupled with the robust suite of onboard profile presets right out of the bo,x make the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro a breeze to open up and use immediately. There are a variety of ways to adjust the keyboard on the fly using combination function keys, but you can also go in and fine-tune the experience with the Razer Synapse app for more detailed adjustments. This is easily the best keyboard I have had the pleasure of using in my years of playing on PC, and I don’t see it being dethroned anytime soon.

Note: Razer provided us with a Huntsman V3 Pro Esports Gaming Keyboard for review purposes.