Review: Razer Turret

User Experience and Summary

In the grand scheme of things aesthetics and specification are relatively minor concerns when it comes to gaming peripherals. Such hardware needs to be a joy to use, so how does the Razer Turret fare when gaming from the couch?

Well, it's a mixed bag. In the plus column, the keyboard feels right at home on your lap and does a decent job of replicating the desktop experience as best it can. It takes seconds to install, is paired to the receiver right out of the box, and doesn't appear to suffer from any adverse latency - there must be a tiny amount, but you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference between this and a wired solution. And of course, if you're in the living room, wireless is a much tidier choice.

But there are downsides. The mousepad, for starters, is too small for fast-paced gaming. It feels cramped as you pan across wide scenes, and though the mouse is ambidextrous, lefties may lament the fact that the pad can't be relocated to the keyboard's left side. It's inevitably the mouse part of the package that leaves something to be desired, and though Razer has embedded magnets in both the mouse and the surface, we still found ourselves dropping the pointer from time to time.

There's room for improvement and Razer's focus on gamers has prevented the Turret from excelling in other scenarios. We'd quite like to be able to detach the mousepad in order to create a small, compact keyboard that could be used with any Bluetooth device, and though the mouse is handy when gaming, it can become a bit of a chore if all you want to do is select a movie on Netflix. Wouldn't it be handy if the mouse surface also doubled as a trackpad for those instances where a precise pointer isn't necessary?

Summary

The Razer Turret is a neat attempt at bringing the favoured keyboard and mouse experience into the living room. Sleek, well made and free of unwanted wires, Turret succeeds in providing an uncluttered solution that's simple to configure, rechargeable and straightforward to use.

There are, unfortunately, a few undesirable caveats that detract from the overall package. The mousepad is awfully cramped, the accompanying mouse doesn't share the keyboard's quality feel, and the omission of LED backlighting is a surprise given Turret's £150 entry fee.

We come away feeling as though Razer's lap-friendly peripheral still has a place on the market, but it serves as a niche solution best suited to RTS gamers who need the precision of a keyboard and mouse in a compact and tidy form factor. For everyone else, don't throw away those joypads just yet.

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The Razer Turret keyboard and mouse is available to purchase from RazerZone.

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