Razer: FAIL

Dear Razer,

As an early birthday present last year, my boyfriend bought me this sweet keyboard:

The Razer Lycosa Mirror Edition.

Naturally, I was ecstatic. I remember feeling a sense of awe as I unboxed the Lycosa, watching its glossy finish gleam under the dim light.

For someone who prefers form over function, the sleek keyboard satisfied any superficial hardware cravings - who cares that it would be a mess of fingerprints within an hour? I could always wipe it, right?

I plugged it in and installed the driver. Falling in love with it's electric blue lighting and media keys - goodbye tabbing out from games to change a crappy song! - I gushed over how awesome and beautiful this keyboard was.

Of course, I loved it for more than its looks. There was also the sentimental part of me melting at boyfriend's thoughtful gift - he knew that I'd been drooling over it on the Razer website for a while. It was one of his most expensive gifts to me, and being in the early stages of dating, I was blown away.

However, a deep resentment is starting to build within me and my beloved Lycosa...or rather, its creator, Razer.

Any potential future owners of a Razer Lycosa, please be prepared for one or more of these situations to arise within the first 2 years:

1. The backlights blink randomly

- For no reason at all - and I'm not even NEAR the keyboard! - the lights will cycle through it's off, WASD, and fully-lit mode repeatedly. I have to manually switch the lights off to fix it; sometimes this doesn't even work and I have to unplug and replug the keyboard.

2. Random keys stop working for random amounts of time

- Luckily, mine never failed me during a game (yet.) However, it is unacceptable for Razer, with its reputation for quality gaming paraphernalia, to charge us a bomb and have us deal with malfunctioning products. How can you charge 79.99$ for a keyboard that can't even perform its most basic function - to TYPE?

3. Random keys flying off

- Okay, this has never happened while I was using it, but within 2 weeks of each other, 2 of my friends managed to make the same key fly off while typing normally. I can't really explain how it happened - and neither can they.

They were just typing, and somehow the key stuck to their finger and lifted itself clean off the board. I have never dropped or banged my keyboard before so the problem is definitely not on my end.

Also, I've bought keyboards that has lasted for donkey years without ANY of the aforementioned problems AND cost a mere RM19.90.

4. Restarts itself occasionally, for no reason at all

- It randomly stops and starts working again all by itself. I hear the sound of a USB being unplugged and replugged without me doing anything at all. This is HIGHLY irritating. Also, when this happens, the default media player is reset to Windows Media Player (I normally set it to iTunes) and I have to go and reset it.

5. Media keys unsensitive/don't work occasionally

- Sometimes when I press them, they do not respond until I tap them several more times. This is ridiculous because the keys are built for you to change songs in the midst of a game and I don't HAVE the time to do a finger-tapdance on the keyboard.

There were the 5 main problems I've encountered within less than a year and a half of owning this beautiful disaster.

I don't use the USB port often, but when I doI' plug my mouse into it, it tends to disconnect itself occasionally, which is INFURIATING because you don't want to lose mobility while you're busy 1v1-ing someone in CS, do you?

I've read other complaints online and people have also complained that the USB port simply fails - random disconnects and whatnot.

Also, the headphone jack is static-ky. I am not sure if this is the headphone's problem or the jack's problem, but both are Razer products so it's STILL their fault. I have to jiggle it a bit before I can get a clear sound and even so, it causes the keyboard to black out sometimes.

Other problems which are not manufacturing defects but may deter potential buyers (if you're not turned off enough by now):

1. Fingerprints. Ew. Can be wiped, but you just get fed up after a while and just use it in all its greasy glory.

2. The black lacquer chips off after a couple off months. I'm a girl and I have medium-length nails so I suppose it is inevitable. Now the blue light shines through where the paint has chipped off.

3. The little legs to prop the keyboard up have snapped off several times with little impact (brushing it against the side of my laptop, for instance.) It is easily fixed and I'm glad it's not damaged permanently, but I would expect something sturdier for the amount they are charging.

4. Once a key has fallen off, it remains permanently loose. So far, only 2 keys have fallen off - I retardedly vacuumed one off by accident, and the other fell off when my friends were typing (as mentioned above.) Both were remedied with a spot of super-glue though, so no hard feelings.

However, some people DO remove their keys deliberately to clean the inside of the keyboard, so I'm sure they will be extremely pissed off to discover that the keys will be loose after doing so. It takes very little for them to come off again - the key can easily stick to a sweaty/wet/sticky finger and follow your finger off the board (this has happened to me SO many times it pisses me off just thinking about it. Thank god for superglue.)

And that sums up my pretty long rant about the Lycosa.

The warranty period for all Razer keyboards is only 1 year, so I can't get a replacement. Also, no software fix has been created to fix the blinking light problem.

As far as I know, this problem has been going on for a long time (based on other user reviews,) so it is rather disgraceful for Razer to not act upon it.

I know I sbould always research thoroughly before investing in a pricey piece of equipment, but what can I say? I fell in love with it's sleek looks and even so, I didn't plan on buying it - it was a gift.

And for such a reputable gaming company, I would expect better quality and longevity of their product. It is such a shame that 20 ringgit keyboards can outlast this 280 ringgit piece of branded hardware.

Shame on you, Razer! Time to step up your game!

That said, I haven't had a big issue with their mice (I own a Salmosa SEA edition and an Abyssus - another gift from my boyfriend) save for the fact that my configurations are reset almost everytime the Abyssus is unplugged from the pc. I have to restart to pc to get my settings back to normal.

I also own a Razer Piranha headset (the first gift from my boyfriend) and its sound was not too shabby in the first year of ownership (it was secondhand.)

However, after dropping it numerous times, there now seems to be a mild static and fuzziness after a while. But I acknowledge that this is a result of my own carelessness. Also, it was previously owned by my boyfriend, so I cannot judge it not having known the prior treatment it received.

And yes, I have all the latest drivers installed, so don't ask. :)

So all in all, while I am fairly satisfied with the performance of my mice, I am deeply disappointed with the quality of the Lycosa mirror.

Please don't take these complaints as being ungrateful towards Sam's lovely gift. I love it so much and will always appreciate it because it came from him.

I am just deeply unsatisfied with the product - although it looks magnificent, in the end I still fare better with a 20rm ugly-ass Logitech.

That is the official end of my complaint.

Signed,

A severely disappointed used-to-be fan of Razer