Razer Lycosa review

Razer's new £60 Lycosa gaming keyboard has several unique features. The rubber coating on the keys provides a soft, comfortable touch. You can switch between three backlight configurations via a touch-sensitive control pad. You can even use Razer's software to program each of the Lycosa's keys to work as a separate macro, either individually or in combination with one another.

Design
The Lycosa's glossy plastic housing is also attractive, but we're less enamored with the detachable wrist rest. For one, it requires four screws, which seems overcomplicated when surely a plastic clip or two would suffice. The wrist rest is also made from a nonvented matte plastic that seems to induce sweating. This is gross, especially if you're not normally prone to sweaty palms.

A third profile lights up the W, A, S and D keys, but keeps the rest of the board unlit

Setting up the Lycosa is only a little convoluted. It requires two USB inputs, as well as separate audio inputs if you want to plug in your own headset and microphone. Because the Lycosa has a single spare USB 2.0 jack on its top edge, we understand why Razer relies on two USB outputs. Presumably it wants to preserve the pristine data stream for the keyboard itself to ensure typing responsiveness. Fair enough. Razer still could have added a second USB input, though, since the current one has a dedicated data stream all to itself via the second USB cable.

The software is easy to set up, although hard to navigate because of small type and a less-than intuitive layout. If you don't plan on using macros, you might not even need it. The touchpad's media control and backlit profile button work without installing anything.

Features
The Lycosa's backlighting is its biggest problem. With the blue LED turned off, you're left with an almost illegible keyboard, that's similar to the purposefully blank Das keyboard of a few years ago. If you're not secure in your touch-typing prowess, the reasonable thing to do would be to turn on the Lycosa's backlighting, which reveals the letters on the keys, along with the touch pad buttons.

The problem is that the lighting is so faint that in a lit room, it gives you only a suggestion of which key is which. Unlike Saitek's Eclipse II keyboards, there's no way to adjust the brightness on the Lycosa's LED, let alone the colour.