Razer Orbweaver & Tartarus Chroma Gaming Controllers Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Price

The Razer Orbweaver Chroma is available from the Razer Store for £119.99 . The Tartarus Chroma is also available from the Razer store for a much more affordable £69.99.

Overview

These controllers are certainly unique in their approach to gaming, as they’re about as big a departure from a standard keyboard as you could get while still maintaining the core features, as well as mixing in a few new ones too. While they’re quite versatile for a wide range of gaming, the Tartarus is perfect for FPS gaming, League of Legends style MOBAs, RPGs and so on. The Orbweaver, however, dominates when it comes to MMORPG style games, as it has a much bigger control set and that means more macros, more control and thanks to that more adjustable palm rest, even greatest long-term comfort for those marathon gaming sessions.

I’ve seen a few people with this type of controller recently, with a nice little curve ball to how they were intended to be used. Do you have a racing wheel mounted to your desk? It can be tricky to reach your keyboard. Have one of these strapped to the arm of your chair and you’ve got a great range of extra macros, launchers, shortcuts and more at your fingertips, which is great if you’ve got a steering wheel with a limited button set of its own. This works for any simulation setup too, especially so for flight sims as that extra D-pad thumb control can really come in handy for camera adjustments and more. I’ve seen people have this as part of their VR setup too, as with an Oculus Rift on your head it can be tricky to navigate a normal keyboard; having something like this that fits snug into your grip is so much easier to operate blind.

There is an elephant in the room, though, and that’s the price. The Tartarus isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s nearly half the price of the Orbweaver, making it great value for money in comparison to its big brother. With most of the same core features and fewer buttons, this is easily the one to go for if you’re just looking to add a new dynamic to your desktop gaming. The Orbweaver is for those who want to take thinks a lot more seriously, with mechanical switches that give it a premium feel and premium performance, they’re fast, have a great tactile response and it’s clear Razer put a lot of work into their switch design. With a large bank of keys, you’ll not be short of control, macros and anything else you may need and this is going to pay off big for MMORPG gamers.

The amount of desktop space you can save it huge, push your keyboard out-of-the-way, give yourself a lot of extra space for your mouse and a much more natural arm resting position for both the controller and your mouse; something that will reap huge rewards in terms of comfort after a long gaming session.

Pros
Great build quality
Unique and stylish design
Adjustable ergonomics
Saves a lot of desktop space
Great for a wide range of game types
Thumb controls add a new dynamic to your game
Stunning RGB lighting and effects
Easy to set up and use
Fantastic mechanical switches (Orbweaver)
Great membrane switches (Tartarus)

Cons

Prices could be better, but this is enthusiast gaming gear and quite specialist

“The Orbweaver and the Tartarus add a new dynamic do your desktop gaming. Either as an addition to your keyboard, mouse or simulation setup, or as a fresh alternative to the standard keyboard controls. With great ergonomics, functionality and design, they’re a welcome addition to any serious gaming environment.”