Gaming keyboard head-to-head

Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard

UK Price (as reviewed): £79.99
US Price (as reviewed): $75.99

The Razer Tarantula is Razer’s stab at making the ultimate gaming keyboard and, with its expertise in gaming mice well known, it certainly has a lot to live up to.

The first thing regular readers may notice is how similar the Razer Tarantula looks to another Razer keyboard, the Pro|Type. It’s hard to miss the similarities, though there are differences.

The main difference is that the iPod dock is gone, though you may not think it at first. The same hole is there at the top of the keyboard, taking up space and making the keyboard bigger than it really needs to be, despite feeling a lot lighter than the Pro|Type.



But it’s no longer for iPods. It’s now renamed as a Battledock and allows extra enhancements, like lamps or web cameras, to be plugged in should they be needed. The Battledock enhancements aren’t included with the keyboard though and cost extra, which is always a little frustrating.

As seems to be the growing trend in gaming keyboards, the extra buttons are included along the sides. The Tarantula also sports a wide selection of media keys for managing music while you play, including a shuffle button and a volume control which are all very useful and responsive, more so than their equivalents on the Revoltec Fightboard.


The keys on the Razer Tarantula are of much higher quality than the Revoltec Fightboard, all being flatter and quieter than the Fightboard's cheap keys. The keys on the Tarantula are so quiet in fact that on-lookers may not realise you were typing at all.

One thing that we didn't like about the Razer Tarantula was that not all the keys were backlit. The macro keys on the sides are, but all the keys in between are left in the dark. We suspect its part of a ploy to get you to buy the Battledock lamp attachment, which feels a little sly of Razer.