Razer Arctosa Gaming Keyboard- Black

by Razer

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 1.6 x 11.1 inches ; 2.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001L5U18E
• Item model number: RZ03-00260800-R3U1
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #31 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Game Hardware > PC Game Hardware > Gaming Keyboards
  • #80 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Game Hardware > PC Game Hardware > Controllers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 7, 2008

Product Description

Color: Black

Engineered with industry- leading gaming technology from Razer, the Razer Arctosa comes with outstanding features like fully-programmable Hyperesponse keys with macro capabilities, customizable software profiles with on-the-fly switching and 1000Hz Ultrapolling, giving you the competitive edge to perform faster and better in-game.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Works decently....but still a little bit disappointing..., February 11, 2010

By 

Yang Zhou "Yang Zhou" (West Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Razer Arctosa Gaming Keyboard- Silver (Personal Computers)

Just simply not worth the price I paid for this item....definitely should have gotten a Microsoft Sidewinder X6 or something else for just a tiny bit more. I guess it will serve me for a while until I have some extra money laying around to get a high end Logitech or something, but a keyboard of this low of a quality should sell for more like $25 at most. Razer was obviously thinking more about maximizing profits and not about actual customer satisfaction.

Build Quality: Abysmal, the whole keyboard flexes when I just push down on it a little. The key labels look like they are just press-on stickers. The little touchpad buttons are rather hard to press, and I hear they break rather quickly anyway. Wrist-rest is not adjustable, and feels extremely slippery; it almost feels difficult to keep my hands on this keyboard. I might go spray a coat of something on the wrist rest to make it a bit less slippery.

The keyboard is relatively small and slim in form factor and looks pretty decent; the key-press depth is pretty good as well. Typing on this keyboard actually feels pretty good to me, but that's ultimately just a matter of personal opinion.
One thing I do like is that the keyboard doesn't slide around on my desk like my old one used to - it seems more or less glued down to the desk...and...I get cool little Razer stickers....oh joy...
Don't seem to notice any ghosting issues when playing Mass Effect 2, but perhaps in a more intensive game like Counter Strike it could become an issue. Razer claims to have anti-ghosting around the gaming cluster though.

Summary:
At least it is a decent looking keyboard, and will serve the basic purpose of typing and a bit of light gaming, but I still feel for $40 worth of keyboard, I should have gotten a much more solid product than this.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what it said it was, August 20, 2010

By 

Ziraya - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Razer Arctosa Gaming Keyboard- Black (Personal Computers)

This product is black with black print, that is what it says it is so you shouldn't count that against it. You were informed.
Besides, being able to type proficiently without looking at the keyboard is a requirement of most American high schools, so this shouldn't even be an issue.

That all said, the Arctosa is well sized, well laid out, relatively quiet and very comfortable, given it's low price there is no other keyboard on the market that I have found that compares.

The only complaint I have is that it has the insert/delete key group arranged horizontally, I prefer the vertical setup, but that's one point off next to a hundred points on.

As the other reviews mentioned the key lock indicators are very bright, but that's what black tape was invented for.

Edit: 6/24/2011

I've now been using this keyboard for just shy of a full year. In that time I have spilled on it multiple times, I have not treated it great, I have dropped it, I have stepped on it, and it is perfectly fine. It's got a few too many screws to say it's simple to take apart, but it's not difficult ether. So far I've disassembled it fully on three occasions, the first time took me a few tries so it was open and close, I've removed all the keys multiple times, scrubbed it from top to bottom, put it back together, and it is absolutely fine. When I first bought this there were a lot of comments saying that the media control cluster was difficult to use. At first yes, but after about a week you get used to it, it's mostly flush but you can feel the holes the buttons reside in, and it's not difficult to memorize the position of them from the corner. Oddly this is just about the only keyboard that I have left the wrist rest on, it's perfect in every regard. It's a damn fine keyboard and I will by another if I ever need to.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great keyboard, June 14, 2010

By 

Rahul Raina (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Razer Arctosa Gaming Keyboard- Silver (Personal Computers)

I bought this keyboard for its macro capabilities as I am a gamer. I don't know why other people would even buy this keyboard if they are not going to use to macro keys. This keyboard has fully programmable keys to set macros to. It's great for any game; I usually play a lot of mmos and rts so the macros come in handy. Some people that buy this keyboard don't even install the software that comes with this keyboard and complain about its crappy quality. As for me I have had this keyboard now for over 6 months and it feels just like it did when I bought it.

As for the keys themselves, they are slimmer than a regular keyboard, partly the reason why I bought it, as a gamer I find I need to press keys asap, and the slimmer keys help, as they allow better movement and take less time to press. So that was a plus in my book.

As for the design, I think it is very aesthetically pleasing. It looks great on any table top.

Some people feel that the glossy finish is prone to finger prints. Well honestly I could care less if my keyboard had some finger prints on it. I hardly ever notice it. Some people might be bothered with some fingerprints on their keyboard, and if you are one of those people, then look elsewhere.

The only con would be, as other reviewers have mentioned, is that the status lights are very bright, esp. if you are gaming in the dark. But a quick remedy, like some tape, to cover the lights can fix this.

It's a great gaming keyboard overall, 5/5. If you are looking for a keyboard that can take your gaming to the next level, this is a good choice.

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