- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Test Results
- Compared to others
- Discussions
The Razer Ornata V2 is the successor to the Razer Ornata Chroma. It's still quite similar and uses the same clicky Razer mecha-membrane switches as before. They offer a good overall typing experience, although they simply feel like rubber dome switches with a clicky feedback. The board also feels a bit cheap, but it comes with a decent magnetic wrist rest. On the upside, it comes with nice full RGB lighting that can be customized easily in its software.
Our Verdict
The Razer Ornata V2 is a pretty good overall keyboard that can be used for different scenarios. It features hybrid switches that give off the feeling of a rubber dome switch, but with the feedback of clicky mechanical switches. It might be a bit loud for people surrounding you, but if you're not near anyone, it should be fine. It's not designed for mobile devices, but can be a good option for programmers or gamers that don't like the feel of real mechanical switches.
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Full RGB backlighting.
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Comfortable wrist rest.
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Good typing experience.
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Slightly plasticky build.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a great gaming keyboard. It has unique Razer switches that mix the softness of rubber domes and the clickiness of mechanical switches. Unfortunately, their activation point is a bit deeper than some standard mechanical switches. The board features nice RGB lighting and comes with a decently comfortable wrist rest, but it does feel a bit cheap.
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Full RGB backlighting.
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Comfortable wrist rest.
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Good typing experience.
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Slightly plasticky build.
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Rubber-dome like switches.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a wired-only keyboard and isn't designed to be used with mobile devices.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a decent keyboard for the office. It has two tilt settings and comes with a wrist rest, which can be useful for ergonomics. It offers a nice overall typing quality, although it can be a bit noisy due to its clicky switches, which might not be ideal if you're near colleagues.
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Full RGB backlighting.
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Comfortable wrist rest.
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Good typing experience.
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Slightly plasticky build.
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Loud clicky feedback.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a good keyboard for programming. It offers a good typing quality with its hybrid switches, and its ergonomics are good thanks to two tilt settings and an included wrist rest. You can also program macros on all its keys, but it, unfortunately, doesn't allow multi-device pairing. It's also only decently built and feels a bit plasticky.
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Full RGB backlighting.
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Comfortable wrist rest.
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Good typing experience.
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Slightly plasticky build.
- 7.6 Mixed usage
- 8.8 Gaming
- 1.7 Mobile/Tablet
- 7.3 Office
- 7.7 Programming
Test Results
The Razer Ornata V2 is a full-sized keyboard that's about as big as the previous Razer Ornata Chroma. It also takes a bit more space if you use the detachable wrist rest.
The build quality of this keyboard is decent, and there's not much improvement from the previous Razer Ornata Chroma. The frame is still plastic and has a lot of flex, and the ABS keycaps are decent at best. The only nice part is the detachable wrist rest, although even that doesn't feel too premium.
The ergonomics of this keyboard are good. It comes with a detachable wrist rest, which is fairly plushy and comfortable, and there are now two incline settings, compared to the single one available on the Razer Ornata Chroma.
The Razer Ornata V2 has amazing RGB backlighting. You can easily customize it with the software on a per-key basis and set different effects as well. You can also control the brightness directly on the board, which is nice.
The keyboard's cable is long enough to reach your computer, but it's unfortunately not detachable.
This keyboard is wired only and can't be used wirelessly.
The extra features available on the Razer Ornata V2 are what make it stand out when put against the previous Razer Ornata Chroma. This board now has dedicated media keys and a dedicated wheel for volume. You can enable Game Mode to lock the Windows key with Fn+F10.
Just like its predecessor, the Razer Ornata V2 features clicky Razer mecha-membrane switches. These aren't real mechanical switches and feel a lot more like typical rubber dome switches. However, they offer clicky feedback, which tries to imitate the feeling of a mechanical switch. It offers a good overall typing experience, but that actuation point is a bit further down, which might not feel as responsive as some mechanical switches.
The typing quality of this board is quite good. The switches offer a nice mix of smoothness from rubber dome switches with clicky feedback. Unfortunately, the spacebar feels very wobbly and rattly. The keycaps don't feel too bad for ABS plastic, although they don't feel as nice as PBT keycaps.
With clicky switches, the Razer Ornata V2 is quite loud to type on, which might not be ideal for an open-office environment. For a quieter keyboard, consider the Razer Cynosa V2.
Just like most Razer products, this keyboard is compatible with Razer Synapse 3. It features a lot of customization options whether it's key-remapping or RGB lighting. You can create a lot of different profiles, but unfortunately, can't save them to the board as it doesn't have onboard memory.
While the software is available on Windows, making the keyboard fully compatible and customizable on this operating system, it's not available on macOS or Linux, which is unfortunate. Also, some keys like the context menu don't work on macOS.
Compared to other keyboards
The Razer Ornata V2 is a small upgrade over the previous Razer Ornata Chroma but still uses Razer mecha-membrane hybrid switches. They provide the softness of a rubber dome but with clicky feedback like true mechanic switches. If you want truly mechanical options, check out our recommendations for the best mechanical keyboards. You can also take a look at the best Razer keyboards or even our picks for the best gaming keyboards.
The Razer Ornata V2 is an upgraded Razer Ornata Chroma. It now has dedicated media keys with a volume wheel. Other than that, the hybrid switches still feel fairly similar and you still get great RGB backlighting. These two boards are extremely similar, but if you prefer having media control, the Ornata V2 is the better option.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a better keyboard than the Razer Cynosa Chroma if you want to try mechanical keyboards. The Ornata V2 isn't really a mechanical keyboard, but it has hybrid mecha-membrane switches that have the softness of rubber dome switches and clicky feedback from mechanical ones. It also comes with a nice wrist rest and feels higher-end than the Cynosa Chroma. The Ornata V2 also has dedicated media keys and is more comfortable to type on. On the other hand, if you don't like clicky switches, the Cynosa Chroma is much quieter.
The Razer BlackWidow Elite is a much better keyboard than the Razer Ornata V2. It features optical switches from Razer, which have very low pre-travel, which is great for gaming. The BlackWidow Elite is also much better-built and feels a lot more durable than the plasticky Ornata V2. It's also better suited for an office thanks to the Razer Orange tactile switches, which aren't as noisy as the mecha-membrane switches on the Ornata V2.
The Razer Ornata V2 is a better keyboard than the Razer Cynosa V2. They both have two incline settings, but the Ornata includes a detachable wrist rest. It uses Razer Meca-Membrane clicky switches, which combine the softness of rubber domes and the clickiness of mechanical switches, which should create a better gaming experience. It also has a dedicated volume wheel on the keyboard. That said, the Cynosa V2 is a quieter keyboard.
The SteelSeries Apex 5 Hybrid Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is better than the Razer Ornata V2 if you like the feeling of mechanical switches. The Razer's switches feel a lot more like rubber domes than actual mechanical switches and SteelSeries' actuate quicker, which is great for gaming. The SteelSeries is also noticeably better built and feels more durable.
The Razer Huntsman is a better mechanical keyboard than the Razer Ornata V2. It uses the proprietary Razer optical switches, which actuate quickly. The build quality is also much better. On the other hand, the RGB lighting of the Ornata V2 bleeds a lot more than the lights on the Huntsman, and it comes with a detachable wrist rest, which helps its ergonomics.
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