Razer Cynosa Chroma Gaming Keyboard - [Customizable Chroma RGB Lighting][Individuallly Backlit Keys][Spill-Resistant Design][Programmable Macro Functionality][10 Key Anti-Ghosting]

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I have a love/hate releationship with Razer products. I will stay away from any laptops/tablets that they make going into the future and have a KOTOR headset that has barely worked out of the box and now has no support because its been discontinued. HOWEVER, their mice and keyboards are my pride and joy. This is my second Razer keyboard and my first Chroma product. I also have 3 different Razer mice and Im looking at buying the new version of the Naga. I am not a fan of mechanical keyboards at all, so to find an affordable membrane keyboard with the extra LED effects was a no-brainer purchase for me. Its still a little louder than I generally like from other chiclet keyboards that I prefer (Razer Deathstalker Expert), but I got this mainly for my kids to learn how to type on so the chunky keys were a must. The amount of customization and effects that you can program on this thing are amazing and the software makes it relatively easy. Unfortunately, the Synapse 3.0 is still in beta so it has some quirks. Certain layers dont always like to load on my Chroma lighting setup, I cant add older devices from the Synapse 2.0 era to manage in 3.0 so I have two different Synapse programs installed and running at the same time. My biggest issue to date is that it does not seem to allow multiple instances of the same program to run across different user accounts on Windows 10. Allow me to explain: I have a Win10 PC setup with my account and two children accounts (microsoft accounts). Each of our accounts has our own Razer Synapse account associated with different emails. If I boot up and log in to any one of the three accounts, the Chroma profile works just fine and all lights are as I programmed them to be. However, if I remain logged in but lock one user account and log in with another, it will not allow Synapse 3.0 to open and load my Chroma profile associated to that account unless I go back and log out of the first account OR close Synapse 3.0. There is also quite a bit of bleed between colors that are next to each other. Would be nice to have an option to turn off the outlining LEDs and just have backlit keys so I can have a yellow key next to an orange key next to a red key and be able to visually tell the difference. As it stands, I have to separate like colors strategically to give my kids a good visible template for learning touch typing. I am still giving this a 5-star rating because it works as advertised and my two gripes are minor gripes and I have found workarounds (log out instead of locking account/separate like colors on my keyboard layouts), but I would definitely like to see improvements made on these aspects over time as they continue to improve the Synapse software. UPDATE: The issue with switching between user accounts has resolved itself. :)

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Update: When I press The R Key it produces "ER". The R button seems to be stuck to the E button or something, only when i press R. its really annoying. This comes after Casual use mainly gaming. Youd think the WASD keys would mess up first. absolute crap, the cheap default keyboard that came with my PC lasted longeeer than this one. Such a shame. I had higheer hopes foer this One Star unless this issue is somehow rectified. . . old review: Ironically, Im typing this review with this keyboard. Im usually someone who buys a PC and just uses the keyboard that comes with the computer. This time around I decided to build a gaming PC. I was looking for a keyboard that had an RGB style LEDs and this looked like a good choice. Pros: you can completely customize each key to do any color, reaction or effect you desire. the software that you download features very detailed customization. -It also has the ability to adapt to any game or software you have: for example, each of my games have separate custom effects and colors. -when im browsing I have my favorite color. -You can adjust the brightness. -There are downloadable pre-loaded effects. -this keyboard Links to Twitch! -I had a key that squeaked but then after a bit of use it stopped squeaking. Cons: not really the keyboards fault, but the Razer software requires updates pretty often.

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... I have to manually turn the lighting off every time I am going to leave the computer for any length of time. The software has several settings that should take care of this for me, but apparently screen saver mode is not considered to be inactive according to the software. I even tried using power settings - no go. The lighting was still on. So, I keep the software window open, and when I know I am going to be walking away from the computer while leaving it on, I click the toggle to turn the brightness setting to off. And then I turn it back on when I sit down at the computer again. Otherwise, the feel and accuracy of the keys is phenomenal. After 2 years with a cruddy keyboard, this one has made my typing accurate again!

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Just quiet enough to be good for an office setting. I love the programmable colors and its relatively easy to set up. I have an adapter for my Macbook Pro and the keyboard doesnt do well drawing power off of it so I have to use a hub, but otherwise this keyboard is everything I could have asked for. It makes up for how bad the new Mac keyboards are.

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I was looking for a quiet membrane keyboard with backlighting and the Cynosa seemed to fit the bill. I tried it out for about a week. It was pretty quiet and comfortable to use after coming from using laptop keyboards and standard Dell keyboards. However, the Razer Synapse software was difficult to use and buggy. The space bar also wasnt that great - it was clacky compared to the other keys and was a little off balance. I couldnt bring myself to dedicate a bunch of time to program the keyboard and deal with Synapse so I returned it in favor of an Asus Cerberus keyboard. The Asus keyboard, while not very customizable, is noticeably quieter than the Cynosa and doesnt require any third party software to use the lighting. It also feels a little higher quality for the same price.

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I bought this in a pinch after my old Razer keyboard crapped out on me. I generally love razor products. Im just not too impressed by this one. While it does work, you can tell its cheaper in quality than some of Razers more expensive keyboards, which is to be expected with how little this thing costed. The biggest difference is how much pressure it takes to press down on the keys. Im so used to small amount of pressure from my other keyboard that this thing feels like Im having to use too much strength just to push down on a key. For the price, this is a functional keyboard, my only thing is that, you can buy a keyboard that can do all the same things for way less, and itll still do just as well. Im not too upset about buying this one, it was just a temp until I could replace my old one properly, and Ill keep it as a backup, just in case, but if youre expecting a keyboard thats top notch for gaming and things like that, I wouldnt bother with this one.

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I have this one and the Black Widow Chroma. Why both? Well, the loudness of the Black Widow mechanical keyboard was interrupting my husbands sleeping and when I would type at length it really was even too loud and obnoxious for me. One thing I love was that the Razer uses their keyboard lighting system per key where as others have only a few lighting pads so its a lot more smooth on the Black Widow and Cynosa. I plan to keep using the Black Widow for when I game or as a back up. But this Cynosa is a great alternative. It is, essentially a regular keyboard with the chroma lighting i adore. For gaming, I believe the mechanical is likely superior. I just wanted to give perspective of someone who has both. I was leary about the bad reviews I saw here. Then I decided to go read the reviews of the black widow on amazon. The metrics were similar so I went ahead and got this one. So far so good! One tip, when I installed the keyboard I was asked to install a new synapse. It would not show on 2.0 and I have read about various fixes to make this work but in the end I just installed synapse 3.0 to save time and effort (no reason not to).

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First keyboard that came was defective. The driver was installed properly and the device is not responding. The replacement keyboard is the same thing, driver was installed, device not responding. I tried contacting razer support but no response. Worst new product I ever bought. 2 consecutive defective products, really? This will be the last Razer product I will ever buy...

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Only owned it for two weeks when every time I clicked the "f" key it typed out "df". Checked into it some more and found that Razer keyboards sometimes have a tendency to create ghost macros that you cant get rid of. Tried using different usb slots, even a different computer and still didnt work. Sent it back to Amazon since its still only 2 weeks old and bought a better reviewed brand.

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Ok, seriously for the price you cant really touch this keyboard.. its the only one that offers individual key RGB lighting at this price and its probably better than all of the cheap Chinese trash floating around on eBay for $19. But thats where it ends. Using this keyboard is ok but nothing special the keys are somewhat mushy.. Ive used other membrane keyboards in the past which have been just fine but something about this keyboard just feels off.. You can tell they put all the money into the RGB and thats it. I picked up a Corsair K70 low profile today at Best Buy and what a world of difference.. The sound and feel of the keys is just sublime. Plus I can use my previously installed iCUE software to manage it instead of having to use Razers software which was somewhat clunky. Im not not too thrilled with Razer products in general but couldnt turn down the Amazon Warehouse deal for $40 (which included free dog hair from the previous owner) This is a keyboard that looks the part and thats about it. You will find yourself wanting more if youre someone who does any frequent typing.

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