RazerBlackWidow V4 Pro Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: Yellow Switches Linear & Silent - Doubleshot ABS Keycaps - Command Dial - Chroma RGB - Magnetic Wrist Rest Snap Tap

Had this keyboard since late 2023 and it 2025 early and it's good. When I bought this not all of the command dial worked on Windows 10 but all 8 work on Windows 11. While all 8 functions work on windows 10 with synapse in the background windows 10, some such Horizontal Scrolling don't work without it.Also another downside of this keyboard is that it SHOULD NOT BE USED WITH A USB HUB, It will cause double typing and ghosting regardless of cable. This keyboard is running 2000 hz on mine (No reason to run higher but I don't.)This keyboard is my best keyboard I bought from razer and it's the yellow switch, I prefer linear. Razer yellow switches are what I recomned I buy from razer as far as mechincal keyboard go, and red low profile for the deathstlker v2. They have no issues on each keyboard I bought. The orange switch is a different story, don't buy it because the blackwidow v4 75% white is double typing even on 125 hz.I wish Razer would update the onboard memory for allowing command dials to save beyond the 8 defuault fuctions and execute them that way without razer snyaspe but oh well.Last thing to mention, this keyboard is wider then a full size keyboard due to having 5 macro keys plus 3 side buttons. At least all 8 save macros onboard in both standard and hypershfit, but the related keyboard blackwidow v4 doesn't to m6 only.

I love how in many games my keys change the lighting level to white from my static red for the keys that I need to use in game play, like Diablo IV the 1, 2 ,3 ,4 and Q keys light up white. While the rest of my keyboard remains static red with reactive green when depressed. The clicking sound reminds me of the old IBM selectric keyboards. But not nearly as much click as those keys possessed! I upgraded from the first version Black Widow Chroma keyboard. As some of my green keys on that board have become prone to missing a press and require constant attention to whether or not 4 of the keys have properly been pressed in my typing. It really is nice not to have to reread everything that I type for missing A,G, Shift function and number pad 1 keys. I ordered 10 replacement keys from Ali Express that appear to be exact key replacements, but that keyboard does not have hot swappable keys they and their 4-pin diode need to be unsoldered then the new key needs to be soldered back onto the main board. Where if this Chroma Ver. 4 Pro board gets sticky or missing keypresses, a key replacement is just a tug away according to other reviews. I have yet to attempt to pull a key out, yet. I highly recommend this keyboard to anyone looking for a backlit keyboard. And who requires a clicky key press, make sure you choose the green key option when placing your order! There are plenty of videos on YouTube that show how to use the Razer Chroma Studio software for customizing the full RGB capability of the keys. I recommend that you watch at least one of them to get acquainted with using the keyboards lighting ability.

TLDR: slipshod programming, excellent marketeers.[NOTE: apologies for the typos - I had no time to proof my notes. But it takes ages to even list all the issues/flaws, much less document them--I'm far from the only person who has tried... and threw up their hands in defeat.]//skip to Part 2 for better grammar :)PART 1 ----- THE HARDWARE -----Literally every major feature listed (on the amazon page for naga pro and blackwidow v4 pro) has a major issues1. Media keys1. Sunken down too far to be visible, aka too short to see and use easily2. Hard to see. Symbols are faint. No through-key illumination, only peripheral backlight. Very difficult to see even in good light and without glare of the backlight.2. Indicators above the arrow keys1. No backlight, cannot see the text, not that you use these often.3. Command dial - modes + comments1. Keyboard brightness® Redundant. Dedicated fn keys already exist on this very KB2. Windows zoom.® Programmed with wrong output (e.g. deprecated in newer windows os)3. Track jogging.® Limited utility. Works only when player is in focus, which defeats the main purpose® Doesn't work will all apps® Windows media: dial ONLY WORKS WHEN FOCUS IS ALREADY ON TRACK SLIDER. Absolutley useless.® Under the hood, it's just "shift + left arrow" and "shift + right arrow"4. Vertical scrolling.® Good use case: gaming. For button mashing quick-events; perform scroll wheel up/dn if you've already mapped your physical scroll wheel's up/dn to something else® Useless? For me anyway5. Horizontal scrolling.® Actually works. Nice to have when synapse crashes, disabling horizontal scrolling on razer's naga pro mouse. (though I haven't tested this extensively).® UPDATE. Nvm. Does not work w/o synapse.6. Switch apps® Alt + Tab… but much worse.you already have alt-tab. But this is worse. Once you stop turning, it selects that app, but gives you little time to glance through them, so you have to key turning the dial. But if you overshoot and reverse dial turn direction…◊ It Scrolls in wrong direction // If you reverse scroll direction too quickly, it won't recognize the change in direction, aka the wheel doessn't work well7. Track selector® Basic next track, prev track8. Switch browser tabs® Why would you need this?9. Custom modes - user created® Can be useful, but YMMV® Gaming: map to scroll wheel4. Dedicated macro keys1. M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 - useful2. Side keys - too easy to bump by accidentOverall hardware quality - fine for <$100, but not remotely worth >$200PART 2 ----- THE SOFTWARE -----No review of Razer peripherals is complete without mentioning their software, Synapse.Razer Synapse - so, so many issues1. Required for most features to work, integral to the product listed.2. Frequently crashes (especially during games). Result:i. Your profile stops working: macros and keys return to default (or to some random ghost profile that you can't delete)ii. Your macros stop workingiii. Your lighting stops working3. Profiles1. corrupted2. Hybrid storage doesn’t work (white profile on Naga Pro): unable to retain settings when synapse disconnected3. Profiles and macros don’t work when signed IN to Synapse, but work OK on a guest account.4. Unable to sync profiles5. unable to factory reset / erase profiles (!)4. Macros don’t work in a dozen ways1. issues with combined modifiers (like win + ctrl)2. keys stuck in down-press or un-press3. keys do not respond4. corrupted in so many ways...1. random keystrokes removed from macros2. unwanted duplicates3. failure to run4. failure to duplicate correctly5. corrupted on import6. up/down keystroke pairs no longer “linked”7. no name “No macro”8. unable to edit9. unable to wipe from account5. Not synced6. Disappeared from account7. Nonfunctional1. When signed into Synapse2. When signed into specific user account3. At all8. NOTE: yes, I am sure many (if not all) the issues stem from Razer/Synapse, not the user. eg i checked the macro files themselves and discovered, for example, some were missing ID tags, had the wrong ID, sequenced my inputs differently from what was displayed in Synapse, were missing key-up lines (making your keys/buttons stuck "pressed down"), etc.9. Keys are incorrectly mappedExample: the inputs {up, down, left, right} are mapped to arrow keys® But with turbo, they are are mapped to numpad 2,4,6,8…® But Synapse doesn't automatically deactivate num lock.® So when you think you're rapidly commanding {up, down, left, right}, Synapse is actually putting out {8, 2, 4, 6} on the numpad.® Even when using "keyboard recording" i.e. they don't actually record faithfuly your key presses, they estimate.® This bug is hidden. Zero indication is visible to the user. I had to parse the macro files directly to finally figure out what on earth was going on.5. resource intensive1. Consumes 1 GB of RAM2. Consumes 100 MB to 200 MB of GPU VRAM(!) while machine is idle just after rebooting.3. Generated >10 GB per user in AppData. (Razer, what on earth are you doing that requires multiple gigabytes?!)6. Seriously, it's easdier to list what they did right than what they did wrong.This is literally the worst piece of software that I (or most people buying Razer products) will EVER use.PART 3 ----- SUPPORT IS TERRIBLE -----1. Razer Support actively dissuades users from contacting support:i. they require A LOT of personal info to even start talking to you.ii. they require VERY invasive logs to even start helping you1) even if their intent is completely benign, would you really trust Razer Security™ with your personal info? If you think Synapse code is bad, do you think their internal code is any better?2. they can’t help you anyway (so what was the point of collecting all your personal info?)i. their main advice:1) uninstall/reinstall everything.2) don’t get fancy:a) don’t make complicated (useful) macros,b) don’t use USB hubs, including their own accompanying peripheral,c) don’t ‘run too many things at once’3. Support forums are littered with tons of “yes-men” who just repeat official lines from Razeri. … even if the advice is irrelevantii. … even if the advice does not work (see a comment above), eg their driver removal tool doesn’t work on recent firmware patches4. And yes I’ve tried EVERYTHING while troubleshooting over the years:1. clean Windows installs2. new machines.3. laptops/desktops.4. different OS.5. different synapse ver.6. different combinations of razer products7. different Razer accounts8. Multiple of same product9. safe mode10. lesson: RAZER PRODUCTS WORK BETTER THE LESS YOU USE THEM.1. don’t use synapse2. don’t use macros3. don’t use chroma / lighting4. don’t reassign keys5. don’t mix/match razer products6. Don't use on multiple profiles on the same computer7. Don't use on multiple computers8. etc. ad nauseum9. … which defeats the point!I could go on for hours… this is just the tip of the iceberg… and these are just the issues i’ve experienced this year alone.Razer has written terrible software and fielded terrible support for years and years. Do you expect them to improve any time soon?From the start and for years on, I was a big fan of Razer products because they offered features not found anywhere else on the market. But their value soured. Their broken software is a deal-breaker. If they invested half as much on software as they did on marketing, they would not need marketing.But I can no longer recommend their products any longer. Even if Razer started discounting their products AND Razer’s competitors all went on vacation (no longer true in 2024, if ever), I could not recommend buying Razer products: they just DON’T work. They are tremendously tiresome, hassle-some, fragile, inconsistent, perpetually broken, and time-consuming. They have wasted thousands of dollars of my time. At minimum.I bought Razer products because they not only accelerated my work, but also enabled me to do things I could not otherwise. So I tolerated their terrible software for a long time... until now. This is the last straw.One can’t help but wonder whether their software issues are intentional. It would make more sense than this calamitous never-ending train-wreck.(Seriously, it's as if they slapped together every feature solely to satisfy a checkbox but performed zero user-testing and or zero quality control, especially in their software. )TERRIBLE PRODUCT.Just buy a Wooting keyboard instead. Or even a Wooting knockoff.

So far with proper care, this keyboard is the best one I've ever owned. Sure synapse has its flaws, but this keyboard standalone doesn't have nearly the amount of issues listed by other reviewers without synapse's interference. I do use synapse however and still haven't ran into a single driver issue related to this keyboard. Definite thumbs up for now!