Razer, hear my plea: bring back the DeathStalker | Razer Insider
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Razer, hear my plea: bring back the DeathStalker

  • March 31, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 60 views
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Through my college years, I had nothing but MacBooks, and I even gamed on them, which got me really used to the "chiclet" style keys. When I was finally settled and ready to build a desktop gaming rig, I paired my first one (in a decade or so) with the Razer DeathStalker Elite, since it seemed like the premier chiclet-style keyboard for gaming at the time. I loved that thing - the nice big chiclets, the wrist rest that was nearly level with the flat keys. It all just felt right. Over the next couple of years, I built several more rigs, and paired them with two more DeathStalkers. Well, after heavy use for several years, the DeathStalker on my main rig started to show its age; keys would get stuck, or just not register... just stuff that I'd expect after a few years of hard use (I'm a software developer and I also game plenty). I popped on Amazon to buy the latest (I thought it'd be the "Chroma" version) and was DEVASTATED to find that not only are these no longer available in 2020, but there's basically nothing else out there like it. I tried a Redragon knockoff and hated the feel of the keys (and it had the weird 7-shaped enter key that I think is a UK thing?). Other than that... nothing. They just don't make hefty gaming chiclet keyboards with the integrated wrist rest like this. Now, I'm not opposed to moving to a mechanical keyboard or whatever, but that's not really my issue. I just loved the chiclet keys, the wrist rest, the *shape* and feel of the DeathStalker. Tried a bunch of different boards since then, still haven't found "the one." My next project is going to be to buy a low-profile mechanical keyboard and just switch every single keycap out with a chiclet set I bought from one of two companies who sell them... but we'll see... whew. All this wouldn't be needed, though, if Razer just refreshed the DeathStalker! Add new stuff if you need to justify it, just give me the shape and feel of my favorite board ever and I'll just throw $$$ at you. Thanks. (P.S. If anyone else knows of a decent knockoff - not that cheap Redragon I tried - please let me know!)
pancholr
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5 Replies

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Deathstalker (RZ03-0080) is what I am rocking right now. Really want to upgrade to something with Chroma, especially after one of the Razer B&M guys showed me the Chroma Keyboard Visualizer plug in. We looked at several of the new keyboards, like some of the Hybrids including the Ornata Chroma and the Synosa Hybrid (I think. There were like different versions of them or something? It was a few weeks ago). But yea, I love having a short "chiclet" keycap. Especially when I am writing a paper or grading. I hate hearing the loud sound of mechanical keyboards and I find the chiclet keyboards easier for my fingers to flow over. (Side note. Having the B&M was awesome to stop in and check these out in person since I had literally been looking at them online the week before.) So I totally agree with you. Unless someone at Razer can suggest something in the pipeline, I am going to keep rocking this until it dies. Which might be a while...
Former member of Razer Special Forces, circa 2010. Razer Deathstalker, Taipan, Mamba Elite, Kiyo, Wolverine TE, Kraken TE, Hammerhead TW, and Base Station Chroma
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Hear our pleas Razer! There is a demand. Make us a masterpiece.
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  • Kelsett
  • April 5, 2020
Please, please make it happen ! Razer would literally own the market.
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i know this won't help much, but hear me out first: maybe try cherry silver-like switches with low travel, so even if the chicklet-style keyboards don't come back, i feel like that may be the next best thing
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  • Rud2020
  • Author
  • April 5, 2020
brokeboish
i know this won't help much, but hear me out first: maybe try cherry silver-like switches with low travel, so even if the chicklet-style keyboards don't come back, i feel like that may be the next best thing
I do like those silvers, but the keycaps on the K.70 Rapidfire (only board I know that comes with them), while nice, are still not QUITE all the way to a fat chiclet like the Deathstalker. I’d do a custom board with silvers and a separate set of chiclets, but... these keycaps don’t exist! (Slight update to my original post - I got a set of chiclet keycaps from Flasquark to try, but for some reason they made the baffling decision to make them only in an acrylic version. I thought maybe I could look past it for the shape, so I popped them on a board with Oetemu low-profile switches I’ve been using to experiment... alas, the acrylic was too much to bear. Slippery af.) I also recently tried the Roccat Vulcan Aimo 120, which is a very sexy beast and probably my favorite mechanical. Beautiful, and great keycaps. BUT (there’s always a bit), the switches are decidedly not low-profile. They’re still quite good for thunking away if that’s your thing, but it’s not the same experience I’m trying to recapture. I’m almost crazy enough in my mad quest for everything I want to pull the keycaps off a refurbished Roccat and put them on a board with silvers (though Corsair isn’t going to make this easy on my by building their K.70s with a nonstandard bottom row.... ahhhh!), but you see how it would be so much nicer if Razer just didn’t me the huge solid of bringing back the DeathStalker! :P
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