Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsGood Keyboard, HORRIBLE Drivers, Useless Customized Lighting Feature
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2023
I have used many Razer products over the last 10+ years. I bought the Ornata as a replacement for my Razer Black Widow as I recently bought a new gaming rig, plus a second for my work computer. I also have two Razer Naga X mice (a very sub-par replacement for my Razer Naga Epic), which I note here as the combination has issues. I bought the first Naga X many months ago. I bought on Ornata & used it for a few weeks to see if I liked it or if any of the issues others have had popped up. They didn't so I bought a 2nd keyboard & mouse. And now I have big problems.
Let's start with the good: As a keyboard, I like this better than my Black Widow. My Black Widow lasted over 8 years & my Naga Epic also lasted a good long while despite being dropped regularly. The keys on the Ornata have enough tactile response that I feel like I am actually typing rather gently pressing very soft/spongey keys but aren't as tactile as the Black Widow (which got annoying after a while as it was rather loud to type on). I have 2 computers, a brand new gaming rig & an old computer that I use for work. I bought one Ornata for the new gaming rig since the keyboard it came with had extremely low profile, super soft /spongy keys that drove me nuts. I liked the Ornata, as a keyboard, well enough (at first) that I bought a second one for the old PC.
I don't really care about the fancy lighting schemes, I just wanted a good keyboard first & foremost. My day job is draining as hell & though the rainbow lights shown the photos could bring a bit of colorful happiness to rather boring work. It does do that but causes other issues.
My love affair with Razer products has now come to a full & complete stop.
According to Razer, the new Chroma Lighting Studio will work across devices. EXCEPT IT DOESN'T! You see those nifty rainbow lights in the ad? That is a default lighting scheme BUT it is in constant motion shifting the rainbow from left to right. So long as you let it do that, the Naga X becomes a part of that rotation, so the keyboard drops one color which is added by the mouse & they cycle in tandem. I do NOT like the animated lighting. I wanted my keyboard to look like the display ad. I created a custom lighting profile in Chroma Studio to stop the motion......but now my mouse doesn't light up *at all* because YOU CANNOT CREATE PER-DEVICE LIGHTING SCHEMES! It's either all devices or the ones that can't mimic the fancy lights, just don't light up at all but Razer doesn't warn you about that "feature." So now I have a stationary rainbow keyboard like the picture but NO LIGHTS at all on my mouse. This is an actual "design feature" not a bug according to Razer.
If you, like me, have more than one computer with Razer devices, DO NOT SET UP CLOUD PROFILES! I made that mistake & cannot figure out how to undo it. Like with the lighting scheme, the cloud profile enforces the profile settings on ALL computers. BUT It lets you create more than one profile which deceptively led me to believe I could have different settings on each computer, which became necessary as my Naga X was way more sensitive on my new PC than my old one. Nope! The profiles are apparently there to switch custom modes (i.e. disabling the Windows key on a gaming profile but enabling it on a work profile) regardless of what computer you're on, not being able to set Computer 1 to one setup & Computer 2 to a different setup. So now, each time I reboot a computer (which is a LOT thanks to Razer), Synapse pops up with a sync error asking me if I want to sync settings with the cloud (which switches the computer to the last-used profile no matter which PC), or use the 'local settings.' Telling it to use 'local settings' does not stop this from happening every. single. time I restart a computer.
The WORST part of Razer's products are the drivers. They are bug ridden messes. Both computers now have the same driver-related issue. If the computers go into sleep mode, about every 20 to 60 minutes the keyboard lights up, then the mouse lights up, both with their default lighting profile not the one I set, then after several minutes they turn off. My gaming PC is connected to my TV. Anytime I watch TV through any other device, when the keyboard lights up, my TV displays a pop-up that it detected another input device & wants to know if I want to switch. ??? This started when I bought the second keyboard & mouse for my work PC. Both computers now have this problem. If I do switch input devices to see what's up with the PC, the PC itself is not actually on, I switch to an all black screen. This happens over & over until I finally turn the PC off.
Conversely, if I finish gaming & want to put either PC to sleep, I can't. If I let them go to sleep on their own, they will do that but wake themselves up (kind of) regularly. If I try to put either one to "sleep" I'm taken immediately to the Windows login screen like I bumped the mouse or keyboard & it woke the computer. Except I didn't. The only way for this not to happen is to shut it off completely. Both computers now have this issue so I have to completely turn them off otherwise the keyboards/mice turn themselves on/off until I finally turn the PCs off. Those devices are BRIGHT by default. I live in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment. Just one of computers kicking on/off at night is akin to turning on all the lights on a full size Christmas tree! When both computers (2 keyboards & 2 mice) do this at the same time, it's bright enough to wake me up!
Uninstalling the drivers does exactly nothing and I am NOT the only one with this issue. Even doing a "clean uninstall" - which cannot be done using only Razer software - has not fully helped. My next step is to download a tool to clear out the registry for Windows 11 Pro, plus one on my Windows 10 Pro work PC, to see if I can rid myself of this issue that way. I found instructions online that walked me through a 'clean install' where I manually deleted all the crap that gets left behind by Razer after uninstalling but the problem persists. If that doesn't fix it, I get to do a full format and reinstall of both computers (i.e. erase everything on the computer, including Windows, and start over again). My new PC is just over 2 months old & my old one was fine until I switched to the Ornata keyboard. I do think this started due to the keyboard since I was switching the Naga X between the computers w/o problems before the 2nd mouse arrived.
Worse, I don't know if a format/reinstall will help! Because I set up a cloud profile on my Razer account, it refuses to let me not use the cloud profile despite the option to use "local settings."
Even worse? I'm NOT the only one with the issue! Search Razer Driver Issues (specific to a device or in general) & see the flood of problems people are having. Razer support is useless as their only suggestion is to uninstall / reinstall -- over & over again until they apparently find someway to blame the customer's setup. Great support.
This will definitely be my last Razer purchase. My Naga X feels like an over-priced cheap piece of crap compared to my old Naga X. While I generally like the Ornata, it too feels cheaply made so I highly doubt it will have the 8+ year lifespan of my Black Widow (and technically it still works but I hated the extra row of 'M' function keys + it started to feel a bit too tactile). If the Naga X lasts more than a year, it will be miracle. The generic 2-button mouse that came with the new computer feels way more solid than my very overpriced Naga X. Razer used to make great stuff. Now they sell overpriced crap with fancy lights.
If you do buy a Razer device, don't install anything other than Synapse. Good the 'fun times' people are having with the very not necessary Cortex bloatware. That also never fully uninstalls.
