Actuation At The Speed Of Light

Razer Huntsman Elite

- Koh Wanzi

Traditional mechanical switches register key presses when two metal leaves come into contact with each other, but metal oxidizes and wears out, leading to performance degradations. This has led manufacturers to pursue optical switches that use light for actuation instead.

The Huntsman Elite is Razer’s new flagship mechanical gaming keyboard that uses what Razer calls Opto-Mechanical switches, but that’s really just marketing jargon for the aforementioned optical switch mechanism.

In the Razer switch, a light beam passes horizontally across the switch shaft. This is normally blocked by the switch’s stem, but when the switch is depressed, a hole in the stem is exposed, which then allows the light beam to actuate a receiver. This sends a corresponding signal to your computer, which translates into a key press.

You’ll also find a clear piece of plastic located at the rear of the switch that helps diffuse the light more evenly. Each switch also comes with its own metal stabilizer bar. This supposedly helps reduce key wobble, and I think it’s pretty neat that Razer hasn’t limited stabilizers to just the larger keys.