GoKawiilBrad Bourque is a tech journalist and commerce writer based out of Portland, Oregon. He’s contributed to sites like Digital Trends, Business Insider, and WIRED.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Gaming keyboards have evolved over the years to add RGB LEDs, extra knobs, and buttons with screens, but one feature has remained fairly consistent: the mechanical switch. That’s slowly changing, with brands introducing adjustable optical switches that are more customizable and have a faster response time. Razer’s Huntsman V3 Pro TKL is a compact, wired option on sale at Amazon for $124.99 (usually $159.99).
Optical switches constantly read the height of each key, opening up a wealth of new features that traditional mechanical switches don’t support. For example, you can set the activation height for different keys, down to 0.1mm for the lightest touch, or up to 4mm for keys you don’t want to accidentally press at the wrong time, and they can reset without reaching the top height for faster repeated presses.
Related Logitech made an analog and mechanical keyboard in one
Like some other keyboards with optical switches, you can use a function Razer calls “Snap Tap” to prioritize specific key inputs over each other, letting you rock back and forth between your strafing keys in a shooter, for example. The feature is turned off by default, and is banned in some games like Counter-Strike 2, but can be switched on at the keyboard level or in the Razer Synapse app.