Tartarus Chroma Keypad: a good addition for any gamer

I’ve been an avid gamer for a long time and my platform of choice has always been consoles, but when I started getting more into MMOs and FPSs my weapons of choice became a keyboard and mouse. Recently I got my hands on the Razer Tartarus Chroma Keypad.  Now this is a cool little gadget, and I was excited to see if it could enhance my gameplay experience.

The Razer Tartarus Chroma Keypad has 25 fully programmable buttons including an 8-key rotational thumb-pad. The adjustable wrist and improved ergonomics make this little device pretty comfortable to use. The Tartarus keypad effectively replaces the left side of your keyboard: your standard WASD movement keys, Tab, Shift and Spacebar.

The keypad is fully customizable using Razer’s Synapse software allowing you to individualize the keypad to your best functionality.  You can make changes to the lighting on the keypad, to each of the 25 keys within the different key-maps, and you can even change the thumb-pad from 8-key to 4-key and key bind each individually. With synapse you can have unlimited profiles and macros as all are stored in the cloud.

I tested the Tartarus Chrome Keypad on a lot of different games, and it took a bit of getting used to.  Depending on the game, switching between one key map for movement and normal controls, and a second key map for fighting, didn’t come very natural.  But after a few adjustments it eventually got easier.  The thing I found most useful was the macro system.  I was able to make macros for the rotations I would use and even set the delay manually and then bind one key to the macro, which meant not having to switch between key maps so often.

At $79.99 the Tartarus Chroma Keypad may not be for everyone and does have a bit of a learning curve, but I do recommend it especially if you want to discover a new way of playing.  It’s a good addition to any gamers repertoire, especially those who enjoy MMOs and MOBAs.