Razer Ornata Chroma Gaming Keyboard: Hybrid Mechanical Key Switches - Customizable Chroma RGB Lighting - Individually Backlit Keys - Detachable Plush Wrist Rest - Programmable Macro Functionality

Amazing quality, and beyond amazing delivery time. Especially over a holiday weekend. I ordered this early Friday morning and was pleasantly surprised to receive it by Sunday. They seriously must have driven it right to my house it was that fast. Amazing price, amazing quality. Everything was in original packaging with plastic and instruction manual. Lights work and it sounds AMAZING. Very quiet, and comfortable keyboard. If I could give it 6 stars, I would. Thank you!

Top half of this review is an overall performance overview. Bottom half is an update about quality control and slow replacement issues that made me change this from a 4- to a 3-star review. I didnt purchase this keyboard for gaming, just straight typing. I work in transcription and have many of the same problems gamers do. I type faster when the keyboard gives me the right tactile feedback, it cant be too loud, the key spacing needs to be on-point, and even ghosting is a problem. The Ornata is one of the best keyboards Ive ever used and has noticeably increased my productivity. Key Feel: Im a heavy-handed typist, meaning membrane is generally easier for me to use. However, I love a good click. Having a tickity-tack sensation with depression helps me stay in the zone while I type. When Im not working, I type fastest on my Macbook Pro keyboard. Macbook keyboards are a sort of membrane/mechanical hybrid like the Ornata, which is the biggest reason I went with it. You get that click while still having gentler touch. The Ornata has a more aggressive click than a Macbook keyboard, but its still that hybrid sensation. Key Height: The Ornata advertises itself as a mid-profile key on the Razer website (I dont know why all the professional reviews call it low profile; it definitely isnt even by gaming keyboard standards). I liked that idea. With low-profile keys (and especially full-on chiclets), it can be too easy to hit multiple keys at once when typing at max speed. However, the keys on the Ornata float above the profile of the keyboard base. The end effect definitely isnt as dramatic as high profile keys, but its still on the higher side. I expected something shorter. Key height can play a big role in hand fatigue, especially if youre a heavy-handed typist. If they set the keys even a little bit into the base of the keyboard, or make them just a touch shorter, it would be closer to mid-profile. The trade-off you get for this key seating is easier cleaning (see Cleaning down below). Anti-Ghosting: When typing quickly, I often have a problem where Im hitting the next key in a sequence before my finger has fully disengaged the previous key. On every other keyboard Ive ever used, this means ghosting. Id get thes instead of these and so forth. The Ornata prevents that, and it significantly improves my work efficiency. I spend less time correcting the thes and tht and thougs I normally have to deal with. Key Volume: Id rate this as a mid-volume key. Its much quieter 15-year-old, out of the box desktop mechanicals that pretty much go THUMPITY-WHACKITY, but its nowhere near as quiet as my Macbook. I can still transcribe without the key volume making it hard to hear my files, but a friend of mine who works on the phone noted that their customers would absolutely be able to hear their typing. To me, the volume is too loud for a hybrid key. It seems like its making an effort to make a sound. I think thats what bugs me the most about it. Its inorganic; it doesnt feel native to the key feel. If it was even the same volume but less sharp of a sound, it would be great. If youre looking for a stealthy keyboard, this definitely isnt it. Programability: TBA. I havent messed with this yet, but I use a number of macros while I work. Ill update this review after Ive fiddled with it. The one thing I will say is that the keyboard updates are a mild annoyance. Your keyboard will stop working until you restart your computer, which I found out the hard way. As an aside, the Synapse software frequently leaves a lot to be desired. Im on the beta for the new version. It works better, but the upgraded main interface is enormous, slow loading, and ugly. Lots of negative space for no good reason. It also lacks the customization capabilities you would expect. Everything about the keyboard is customizable, but you cant customize the interface to only show the options you use. The Chroma (color-change) customization screen is still awkward to use, though it works much, much better than it used to. Color & Color Programming: Phenomenal. The color is just icing for me, but it makes my work day a lot more interesting. Its rich and lovely with a good color-to-color shift. There are a few problems with programming it. The first is that the software needs work, though the beta of the new Synapse works much better than the old one. I still have problems with the keyboard abruptly resetting the color cycle to default after updates. Cleaning: Someone asked a question about this and made me realize this keyboard is absurdly easy to clean. I have dogs that shed nonstop; fur tends to build up between keys in other keyboards. Because of the floating set and spacing of the keys, I dont get as much fur between the keys, and what does get in is a cinch to get out. I can tease pretty much anything that falls between the keys out with just a napkin or my nails. It would be effortless to clean up with canned air or just a paintbrush. Even if something was stuck to the membrane, you could dampen a Q-tip or a stiff paintbrush and get it right off. Overall, definitely recommend for heavy-handed typists that have a need for speed and accuracy. I knocked off a star for it overcompensating on the click loudness and the keys being taller than they should be for true mid-height. UPDATE, reduced from 4 to 3 stars: After having the keyboard for about eight months, the LEDs started glitching out. Razer customer service personnel is fantastic; Ive dealt with them twice now, and theyre great. I sent my original keyboard back to Razer for a replacement. I appreciated free shipping both ways, but it was ground. It took almost a month between shipping it to them and getting my replacement. Six months after I received my replacement, the black coating is starting to wear off the center of my space bar. I have a .5 inch section where its totally worn off an a 2 inch section where it has a heavy gloss from wearing down and is about to wear off. I had a shoddy laptop keyboards coating last a good five years longer than this. The weird thing is that this didnt even happen on my last Ornata after six months of an equal amount of use. I contacted Razer customer service. I got prompt, professional replies, and the agent checked with a particular department about my issue. Unfortunately, this is considered normal wear and tear, and my warranty is considered to be from my original purchase date. Razer does offer replacement key caps, but they were out of stock when I contacted customer service. Youd think a gaming keyboard would have key coatings tough enough to withstand heavy, rapid key press abuse. Just six months is pretty pathetic. This could be a quality control flub, but if so, the Ornata definitely has QC issues; this marks the second time something has gone wrong with a brand new Ornata within less than a year. If this were a $30 keyboard, I wouldnt care so much. But you cant have a $100 MSRP on a keyboard and have quality issues like this, let alone replacement shipping thats as slow as it is.

To some people good and membrane dont go together but for me, I prefer to have a membrane keyboard. Out of the box each key has these little clips which from what I can tell only exist to make noise. I guess to make you feel like it was more mechanical than it was. I removed them though. The wrist rest is very plush all be it little over half a year later it is starting to peel up being made out of some artificial leather material. It is comfortable but I wish they chose a different material on this front. What I dont like is Razers insistence that you use, and download their software. You tell it you dont want to download, it downloads anyway. You tell it you dont want it to open on startup, it does anyway. You unplug your keyboard for whatever reason and it opens or prompts you to install it again. I want literally nothing in your software.

I am a big fan of low profile keyboards. Use it to work and play. This particular one has a good value for the money, good quality, great size and shape. My biggest disappointment was the sound of the keys. It is not even: some keys sound less loud and some are very noisy and irritating. The space bar is wobbling a bit and makes a cheap sound. The backspace key makes the most loud sound in the universe, I try to avoid using it at night. I would go with membrane only option if Razer had it in TKL edition, but they don’t.