Razer has unveiled the Tartarus V2 Pro, a new version of its one-handed gaming keypad that brings a proper analogue thumbstick, more adjustable keys and a redesigned wrist rest. It launches today, September 17 for £199.99 / $199.99 / €219.99, so yes, there’s a fairly hefty Razer tax attached to this one.
If you’ve never used one, the idea is to put your movement controls, abilities and shortcuts under one hand while leaving the other free to handle the mouse. It’s a fairly specialised bit of kit, particularly suited to games where you’ve got a small army of abilities competing for space on your keyboard, like an MMO.
The Tartarus V2 arrived in November 2017, making it nearly nine years old, although Razer did release the Tartarus Pro in 2019. That distinction matters because the Pro already introduced analogue optical switches, so this new model isn’t the first Tartarus to offer keys that respond to how far you press them.
What the V2 Pro brings is Razer’s second-generation analogue optical switches, replacing the standard V2’s mecha-membrane keys. You can set the point at which a press registers anywhere from 0.1mm to 4mm, compared with 1.5mm to 3.6mm on the older Pro. Basically, you can make a key respond to a very light press or require a much more deliberate push. Rapid Trigger is supported too, allowing keys to reset as you lift them instead of having to pass a fixed reset point.
The thumb control is another substantial change. Both older models used an eight-way directional thumbpad, whereas the V2 Pro has a full-sized TMR analogue stick for variable movement in supported games. It can also behave like a four-way or eight-way D-pad, and comes with two extra caps of different heights. Razer says the contactless magnetic sensing should reduce wear and the likelihood of stick drift.
Meanwhile, the wrist rest can now slide in and out and left to right, giving you more scope to adjust the fit than the V2’s two-position palm rest. There are 31 programmable controls, three onboard profiles holding up to 24 keymaps, and a second layer of assignments through Razer’s Hypershift feature. The older models were advertised with 32 programmable inputs, so the upgrade here is about the controls themselves and how you configure them, rather than simply adding more buttons.
Rounding things out are wired polling rates of up to 8,000Hz, textured doubleshot PBT keycaps, sound-dampening foam and the expected RGB lighting. The Tartarus V2 Pro will be available through Razer.com, RazerStores and selected retailers.