hello good people i'm dmitry and if you're into 60%
keyboards something small something compact the razer huntsman mini
is a solid recommendation i will feel like marquez when i say this but i've
had this keyboard for several months and i've been using it
extensively in the razer's feedback process and now
finally receiving the retail unit and using it extensively
for the past three weeks razer's direction with keyboards is absolutely
fantastic they're on track to really dominate that space and listening
to feedback from the community from gamers and the
mainstream and they've done a fantastic job in
improving the optical red linear switch the gen 2
versus the gen 1 that we saw on the razer huntsman te but i will say razer
can do better the keyboard is fantastic but it makes
me wanting more now some of the things are
mitigated by the custom review samples like i have here with the hardware
canucks spacebar it's not anything special but
it is appreciated so in this video let's talk about everything that is new
on these gen 2 optical linear switches compared how they sound and how they
feel versus the razer huntsman te and also compared to some of the other
60% ducky keyboards and that is kind of where things kind of
become a little bit challenging for the huntsman mini so here's my
long-term review of the razer huntsman mini
a keyboard with a lot of potential but it's not perfect
it's true what they say about the corsair a100 we've got water cooled
hardware for cool temperatures a cool design that stands out with plenty of
good io it's whisper quiet with an efficient fan
and occupies as much space on my desk as my plant the corsair a100 up to 16
cores with 2080 ti it does not disappoint check it out
below alright so first quickly let's cover
all the basics price wise you're looking at two skus 119
and 129 depending on the switch variety the one interesting thing we were
discussing with mike and eber is like with this keyboard where is the
razer tax it is kind of funny how we gotten accustomed to razer delivering
competitive prices for their keyboards and their mice and with this keyboard
what is the catch perhaps we've gotten so accustomed to razors
really expensive price points for pretty much all of their peripherals
until like a few years ago so we kind of believe and perceive that 129
119 dollars is a good value but still it is quite expensive also in line with
other 60% keyboards so we have the razer clicky
optical switches the purple ones and we also have the gen 2
improved razer linear optical switches i was completely surprised at how
fantastic they felt versus the original on the huntsman te
and you are paying that 10 premium for the gen 2 linear switches
because of lubing so factory lubing is applied on
all switches and we also have silicon dampeners on every single switch
therefore they feel smoother quieter and there is no longer that
rattle and the nasty noise that we really didn't
appreciate on the huntsman tee take a listen
so really aside from the space saving advantages you get with a 60%
keyboard that is really the main advantage of getting the huntsman mini
over the huntsman te and i really wish that the te was also updated
with the gen 2 switches because i mean based on that sound test
i can tell you 100 the gen 2 feels so much better but the huntsman t with the
gen 2 switches would be like my perfect gaming t key of
keyboard so the improvement really comes from the lubing
to smooth out on how the switch travels and also
the silicon dampener is not affecting on how the switch feels because normally
if you were to put dampeners on like the mx stem you would have that
little bottoming out effect that is kind of squishy so none of that is present
here which is awesome instead you have this really satisfying
density when you bottom out equivalent to something like on leopold
keyboards when they put this like felt carpet inside the frame so it not
only mutes the sound but it also softens out
all this all the bottoming out uh strokes so it's kind of equivalent
here with the huntsman mini as with the huntsman t the switches are
incredibly light so you have to kind of train not to accidentally
depress the keys just with the weight of your fingers but really for fps gaming
nothing but pleasure with a handsome mini as for my analysis on the clicky
switches they're not lubed nor do they have
silicon dampeners like their linear switches do
because they don't really need them here you still have a bit of a clunky
sound profile to them but they do have a very different feel versus your other
clicky switches from uh cherry and kale these feel very
similar to razer greens light actuation and kind of a soft
clicky point they're not my favorite clickies but
they're not as loud as others as for the rest of the keyboard all the
fantastic basics carry over from the huntsman te so we have a long
color-coded type-c cable with a large space opening in the
frame itself for custom cables the keycaps are double shot pbt and the
texture is slightly more rough than what we get with ducky
but the font is incredibly clean and crisp
without the usual artifacts that we notice on like the really fine
characters on the standard pbt keycaps so whatever
razer has done here is applauded nice
i'm actually surprised that the illumination on the mercury edition
isn't as bright as i would expect for a white
body simply because the led is below the
keycap and it doesn't really help to illuminate the frame underneath
so all the light shines right through the keycap we have all the standard 60
shortcuts printed on front of the keycap in a separate color so you can easily
see them we have the function key that highlights all the shortcuts including
media control all your f keys including lighting
customization macro recordings and your arrow keys since the layout is
also completely standardized you can swap out the keycaps
which is awesome and razer actually sells a bunch of their own pbt keycaps
including pink green black and mercury the frame is also completely clean and
simple with only the razer text embedded in the front which is kind of
hidden and we have the dual step angle adjustment at the bottom
with six or nine degrees so now let's step back and talk about
why i feel like razer can't do better if we take a look at the competition from
ducky especially with the mecha mini it seems
to offer slightly better value versus the
huntsman mini even though i get it it's the first
60 mainstream gaming keyboard i feel like razer
really could have approached it from a perspective of dominance
and yet they didn't the aluminum frame on the mecha mini feels fantastic
and comparison to the huntsman mini the mini is all plastic
and super light which is an advantage if you travel and it's probably a good
thing for most but when it's on your desk it
just doesn't feel as premium it would be awesome if the frame
was weighted to give you a bit more stability because even though we have
the rubber pads at the bottom the keyboard does slide around the
second point of advantage for ducky would be the additional value-add
keycaps and this is something that would be fantastic for razer to include
like a razor green escape or something for the function key
and i get that it might interact and kind of ruin the whole clean aesthetic
of the keyboard and might not fully go with like if you are switching
your keycaps but the value add element is just not there
with the huntsman mini and the third point
is that while i really appreciate razer for improving the switch feel
it still has a lot of like wiggle room inside the frame
and it not only wiggles the actual switch but it
in turn wiggles the keycap as well it's not a substantial take away from the
build quality but razer had time to perfect the switch
feel yet they didn't fix this thing where the switch kind of wobbles inside
the frame and you know when you're typing you can
kind of feel the keys kind of floating around
i even noticed it on my black model when i swapped out the keycaps because the
bottom row you can clearly see the edge and all the
keycaps are slightly misaligned when i was swapping out the keycaps on my
mercury edition one of the keys actually got stuck
luckily this is the only time it's happened so
i wouldn't worry about that and my last point would be about
razer synapse i know everyone loves to complain about it
i think it's a powerful program you can do a lot with it save
four profiles directly onto the keyboard which is awesome customize all the keys
create different shortcuts my complaint here is really about the
initial setup when you plug in new razer peripherals into your pc
because all my usb peripherals shut down during the installation of whatever is
happening with razer synapse and this product and
then you have to restart and then i have to do the same thing for
the other keyboard as it recognized it as like a separate product
even though they're both huntsman minis so if you are after a 60%
keyboard i feel like the hanson mini is a strong contender on the market
and it's a good way to push the industry forward
hopefully we'll see a 60% from logitech or corsair
but unlikely because razer is really the only company
who are reaching out to reviewers and media and community
and really trying to engage and seeing what people want even though i know this
will not sell well in volumes versus like full size
keyboards but still it's really awesome to see
them try something new so aside from this being an almost perfect
60 keyboard my three complaints include no additional keycaps to a little
customize and add value to an already pretty expensive product 129
dollars it's even more expensive than the huntsman t even though the reason
behind this is because the additional lubes from factory
and also the silicon dampeners on all the linear switches
complaint number two i feel like the frame is a bit too light for my taste
even though we have an aluminum base plate here to really add rigidity to the
frame i just wish it was slightly heavier and
the minor complaint number three would be with the initial razer synapse
installation when you plug in the razer peripherals on how it shuts down all the
other usb peripherals while this thing installs something
with razer synapse i wish it wouldn't do that alright guys i hope you enjoyed
i will be keeping this keyboard in my keyboard arsenal because the gen 2
linear optical switches feel fantastic especially with that
dampening of the silicone and it's one of the reasons why i'm still using the
extra 5k4 keyboard because all the large keys are dampened
and silent and if you're after the clicky format
and the 60 body this is an alternative and the clickies here they feel totally
different versus mx blues not as sharp of a clicky point and also
a much lighter so i would guess that's a positive for
gaming alright guys i hope you enjoyed make sure to check out this other
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