First, Razer made mechanical keyboards that added pretty RGB lighting. Then they made smaller Tournament Edition keyboards that dropped the number pad in favor of portable form factor. But what if you could go smaller and drop the arrow, the function keys, and the homepage cluster too? Allow us to introduce the Razer Huntsman Mini.
The Razer Huntsman Mini is what's dubbed a 60% keyboard, maybe the first to become a mass market one of its kind. It offers the ultimate form factor for power users and gamers who have limited desk space, need to maximize space for mouse use, run multiple rigs, or need an even more portable tournament-ready peripheral. We've been using it for days, for work and for play, and we're in love.
The Razer Huntsman Mini successfully takes the core elements of Razer design, from their best-in-class mechanical keyboard design to all the visual bells and whistles (and software support) that gamers know of Razer products, and puts it in the smallest form factor we've seen yet. As a user of Razer mechanical keyboards since the original Blackwidow, and a current user of the Huntsman Elite (USA's best selling gaming keyboard in 2019) and Tournament Edition Black Widow (one for each desktop in this office), the Razer Huntsman Mini was the perfect addition to use for both my extreme need for durable and quick typing, and evening streaming.
What Exactly Is The Razer Huntsman Mini?
Competitive players and notable influencers are increasingly leaning into the compact 60% form factor for their keyboards. You may have heard about Tfue's custom $3,500 mechanical keyboard, and there are others too including FaZe Clan's cloakzy 100 Thieves' Ceice who Razer partnered with on designing the Huntsman Mini.
Razer’s first ever 60% keyboard - the most exciting keyboard launch for Razer this year - comes in two color options (white or black) and two different switch options (clicky or linear). The obvious form factor speaks for itself, but don't fret, the "missing" buttons are still accessible through secondary functions. The letters I, J, K, and L double as arrow keys if needed and the numbers double as the function keys. There are even key combinations to access Razer's variable RBG lighting features too.
What also makes the Huntsman Mini so appealing are the super responsive Razer Optical Switches. The stats:
- Razer™ Optical Switches – with Clicky or Linear options
- 100 million keystroke lifespan
- Razer Doubleshot PBT Keycaps
- Standard Bottom Row Layout
- Aluminum construction
- 60% Compact form factor
- Detachable USB-C Braided Fiber Cable
- Hybrid onboard storage – up to 5 keybinding profiles
- Onboard lighting presets
- Individually backlit keys with Razer Chroma RGB backlighting featuring 16.8 million customizable color options
- Razer Synapse 3 enabled
Razer Huntsman Mini Uses Doubleshot PBT Keycaps
The Razer Huntsman Mini was built from the ground up and makes use of the Doubleshot PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate) Keycaps first introduced with The Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition. These are made with a two-layer plastic injection mold, meaning they cannot fade and there's a substantial reduction in that oily look gamers get on traditional spray painted keycaps.
Razer makes a point of using the thinnest font possible with the Mini's keycaps, and given the nature of the small form factor and reduced number of keys, there are also secondary functions printed on the side. This makes accessing the F-function keys easy since they're just doubled with the numbers at the top of the keyboard, but it's no ideal to use the arrow keys which require holding down the keyboards one-and-only function key which happens to be on the right, underneath the arrow keys. If you need arrow keys, this keyboard is not it. If you need the rest of the keys, and want the form factor (and amazing keys), the Huntsman Mini is perfect and user-friendly.
Gamers have choice with the Razer Huntsman Mini too, not just between the Black and Mercury (white chassis) variants of the keyboard itself. Available today is the Clicky version that we've been testing but in a matter of weeks another version featuring linear switches will debut.
One of the selling points of the Huntsman Mini's new linear switches is the reduced acoustics. For our Clicky Mini, it's comparable to our Blackwidows and full-sized Huntsman, but when the linear variant comes out next month there's a noticeable reduction in sound from the audio comparison tests. We've yet to try this version ourselves to compare in person.
Note: The Razer Huntsman Mini will feature international keyboard layouts around the world, including Japanese, Nordic, UK, French, German, Russian, and Spanish.
The Razer Huntsman Mini (Clicky version) releases July 14, 2020 on Razer.com and authorized retailers for $119.99 USD, and the Linear version in August for $129.99 USD.