Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard Review

Design & Features
The design of the Razer Lycosa is attractive. The keyboard surface surrounding the keys on the top of the Lycosa is a glossy black that looks good, but soaks up fingerprints like a piece of tape on the set of CSI. The keys themselves are a matte black color and have a non-slip rubber finish. Personally, I've never had a problem with my fingers slipping on any keyboard, but the coating is comfortable to use and looks good.

The thing I miss on many gaming keyboards like the Tarantula is the lack of backlighting. I tend to work and game in the dark and I like backlighting on my keyboard. The Razer Lycosa gives you the option of turning the backlighting on for the whole keyboard, turning all the lights off or turning the backlighting on only behind the WASD keys. The latter option is strange to me as every game I have played needed keys other than only the WASD to play making backlighting only the movement keys very odd.

Physically the Razer Lycosa is neither the largest keyboard I have seen nor the smallest. The Lycosa measures in at 469mm x 168mm x 15mm without the removable wrist rest and 669mm x 221mm x 15mm with the wrist rest attached. The wrist rest itself is matte black in color with the same look as the keys, but lacking the non-slip rubber coating.

Headphone out and mic in jacks are located on the top right edge of the keyboard and a single USB 1.1 port is right next to them. The media keys on the Razer Lycosa are touch sensitive. This is cool, but the media keys suffer from the same problems that every touch sensitive button around does?lack of tactile feedback. When you are trying to use the keys you have to look at them to be sure you are hitting the correct key in the correct place. The keys function perfectly, you just can't use them without taking your eyes off the screen and looking down. The media keys include all the common fare like play/pause, stop, forward, reverse, and volume up/down. Missing is a mute button and the control for the backlighting options is located here as well.

The Razer logo in the middle of the multimedia keys is used to turn gaming mode on and off for the keyboard, which turns the Windows key off while you game. To put the keyboard in gaming mode you simply press the Razer logo while pushing the Windows key.

Programmable Keys & Typing Feel
Every key on the Razer Lycosa can be bound to a macro using the Razer drivers save the multimedia keys, which can't be reprogrammed. Macros recorded in the drivers are limited to a maximum of eight keystrokes. You can control the delay between the key presses by simply holding the key down for longer or shorter periods or you can manually insert a specific delay time. The keyboard can store ten different profiles for different games and applications and allows for on-the-fly switching of profiles. Macros can only be recorded from within the software, no on-the-fly macro recording is offered. The Lycosa uses 1000Hz Ultrapolling and has a 1ms response time so lag is not an issue when gaming.

The reason Razer says it didn't provide backlighting on the Tarantula keyboard was because it wouldn't fit in the keyboard with the anti-ghosting technology in use. That will make many gamers wonder if the Lycosa features anti-ghosting technology. The answer is it does include anti-ghosting to some extent. Only specific keys on the Lycosa have anti-ghosting built-in. The WASD keys do naturally, and many of the commonly used keys close to the WASD have anti-ghosting as well. Keys that have anti-ghosting include the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, tab, Q, E, left shift, Z, X, C, left control, and left alt. If you like to play a game that requires keys other than these for some functions you could see issues with ghosting.

Often typing feel is an afterthought for some gaming keyboards. None of the products that Razer has designed has had glaring issues with typing feel and the Razer Lycosa is no different. The typing feel is good with keys that offer good tactile feedback and make a satisfying click when pressed. The non-slip rubber tops are comfortable for gaming and normal computer work.

Comfort & Other Stuff
Some people like to have their keyboard at a bit of an angle when typing, for those sorts the Razer Lycosa has a pair of kickstands on the back at the top corners of the keyboard. Neither of these two stands has a rubber foot to keep the keyboard from moving when they are raised. This will be an issue for some users who prefer to not type flat. For those who like their keyboard flat Razer put nicely sized rubber feet in strategic locations around the keyboard that do a great job of keeping the Lycosa in place during spirited gaming sessions. The feet work so well in fact that I have had to pick the keyboard up at times to reposition it on my desk rather than simply sliding it around. The removable wrist rest is comfortable to use, though it has no padding at all. The Lycosa is rather thick so most users will find the wrist rest a necessity.

Final Thoughts
In the end, I really liked the Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard. It lacks some of the bling you get on competitors like the Logitech G15 with its fancy screen. I have a G15 and honestly, I never look at the LCD, so I didn't miss that one bit. The typing feel is very good meaning the Lycosa is adept at gaming and you can actually use it to work when you have to be serious. If you are a big fan of macros you can record lots of them to the Lycosa, but they have the eight key limit that may be an issue for some. The MSRP for the Lycosa is $79.99 and I think that for the vast majority of gamers, the Lycosa will be a fantastic gaming keyboard. Macro lovers will want to shop elsewhere.