Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Twitch
    Game on Aus
    • News

      We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

      June 28, 2022

      GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

      ANZPL Season 4 Champions

      World Of Tanks ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final: Champions Decided In Sydney Derby

      June 27, 2022

      The ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final is here. The Sentinels take on the Skorpions to find out who will be the Season 4 champions!

      Best Console Digital Deals of the Week 24/6/2022

      June 23, 2022

      PlayStation has released it’s Mid-Year Sale offerings along with a few great choices for deals to be picked up on…

      Sentinels vs Skorpions to clash in World of Tanks ANZ Premier League Finals

      June 23, 2022

      [This press release has been provided by Wargaming PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] The…

      Fall Guys is finally available on all platforms…and it’s free!

      June 22, 2022

      The wildly chaotic, battle royale-like party game, Fall Guys, has finally launched on all platforms. Up until today, Fall Guys…

      View All
    • Reviews

      We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

      June 28, 2022

      GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

      The Quarry – The Review

      June 24, 2022

      OK readers, I have a secret to tell. And I might lose some of your respect after I tell you.…

      Necesse screenshot

      Necesse – the perfect blend of two iconic indie games

      June 23, 2022

      I really don’t know how to open this other than: more people need to be playing Necesse ASAP, it’s my…

      More D&D Monsters! A review of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters Of The Multiverse

      June 22, 2022

      THERE are a lot of sourcebooks for Dungeons & Dragons out there. D&D 5e (the current edition) has something like…

      SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review

      June 19, 2022

      DESPITE never being the hugest fan of MMO/MOBA games, largely due to my lack of patience and willingness to invest…

      View All
    • Podcasts
      game on aus logo

      Predators Beware!

      June 23, 2022

      Stormie’s not well this week so Pete and Jim carry on! The lads chat how many lootboxes you need in…

      Episode 245 Hero Card

      Episode 245: Summer Games Fest!

      June 17, 2022

      Catch up with all the news from a weekend of announcement at Summer Games Fest! Pete, Stormie and Jim talk highlights and lowlights along with games that are just too big!

      Episode 244: Diablows?

      June 9, 2022

      Pete has some things to get off his chest about Diablo Immortal and new Pokemon while Stormie and Jim nod…

      GOA Pod 243

      Episode 243: Happy Birthday Solitaire!

      June 2, 2022

      The gang talk about their cozy Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband, licensing music for games…

      GOA Pod 242

      Episode 242: The Richie Benaud Episode Number

      May 26, 2022

      Two… two four two. Yes, episode 242 is here and like the late, great Richie, it’s marvellous. Pete and Jim…

      View All
    • Categories
      • BY PLATFORM
        • Playstation
        • Xbox
        • Nintendo
        • PC
        • Mobile
        • VR
        • Retro
      • BY GENRE
        • Action
        • Action-Adventure
        • Adventure
        • Battle Royale
        • Fighting
        • FPS
        • Horror Games
        • RPG
        • Simulation
        • Sports
        • MMORPG
        • MOBA
        • Party Game
        • Platformer
        • Puzzle
        • Strategy
        • Survival
        • Indie
      • GOA ESSENTIALS
        • Esports
        • Conventions
        • Tabletop
        • Hardware
        • Furniture
        • Funny
        • Streaming
        • Win
        • Podcast
        • Video
    • More
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
    Game on Aus
    Home » Razer Cynosa V2 Membrane Gaming Keyboard: A Review
    REVIEW

    Razer Cynosa V2 Membrane Gaming Keyboard: A Review

    Royce WilsonBy Royce WilsonJuly 25, 2020
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    MOST ‘serious’ gamers have a mechanical keyboard nowadays, and with good reason. They are responsive, tactile, and have low actuation points – all great for gaming.

    The thing is, quality mechanical keyboards aren’t cheap and most of us aren’t made of money, so it’s important to know there are more affordable options on the market. There are also people out there who don’t like the clicky, tactile feel of a mechanical keyboard, or just want something simpler. That’s where a membrane keyboard comes in.

    While a mechanical keyboard uses individual switches for each key, a membrane keyboard has the keys over a membrane connecting to a circuit underneath. The design has been around a long time, but isn’t usually found in gaming keyboards – although the subject of this review is one of the notable exceptions.

    There are not many membrane gaming keyboards on the market, and even fewer with full RGB coverage like the Cynosa V2.

    The Razer Cynosa V2 is an interesting beast in that it’s a wired RGB gaming membrane keyboard, which is not a combination of features I expected to be writing but here we are.

    By and large, membrane keyboards are not great for serious gaming because they only register a few simultaneous keypress at a time, and the keys don’t always have a consistent actuation point. That’s absolutely fine for regular gaming and general word processing internet use, but in a high-skills competitive match it’s a good way to find yourself aboard the express to pwnd town.

    I have to be honest and say I wasn’t spectacularly impressed by the Razer Cynosa V2 – not because of any issues with the unit itself, but largely because membrane keyboards really aren’t that good for serious gaming to begin with.

    I found the keys quite mushy, especially when typing. It wasn’t too bad for single-player gaming, especially in more strategy-oriented titles like Transport Fever 2, and while it was serviceable in things like casual Overwatch matches the keys just felt mushy in a way I didn’t love.

    The Razer Cynosa V2 looks cool and is well built, but I found the keys to be very mushy and not fantastic to type with.

    The big selling point of the Cynosa V2 is that it has per-key RGB, controlled by the Razer Chroma software, as well as being able “sync with an ever-growing library of Chroma-integrated lighting effects for popular games” (as the press announcement says).

    The keys, being membrane based, are also pretty quiet and don’t have the clickety-clack noise of a mechanical keyboard, which is something that may appeal to a lot of people.

    They are also spill-resistant, which is a big plus if you’ve got a penchant for knocking drink mugs over or small children/pets on the loose in your house.

    In a nod to the gaming nature of the keyboard, there are also some multimedia buttons above the numpad, along with a volume control.

    As far as membrane gaming keyboards go (and I can’t remember the last time I encountered one), the Cynosa V2 is very good and does everything you’d want on that front; it also connects via USB so there’s no issues with wireless connections or batteries to worry about.

    But it’s still a membrane gaming keyboard and thusly in that weird spot between “budget typing keyboard” and “Mechanical gaming keyboard”.

    One of the advantages the Cynosa V2 offers is spill resistance – helpful if you like to keep refreshments on hand while you game.

    The Cynosa V2 also integrates with Chroma (to allow co-ordination with things like Nanoleaf, Lifx or Hue smartlighting, Discord and Twitch) which looks great in the marketing materials but realistically, if you’ve got all that stuff you’re likely going to buy one of Razer’s excellent mechanical gaming keyboards instead anyway.

    The main challenge is I simply can’t see what makes the Cynosa V2 worth $119. Sure, the RGB is good and, as with all Razer’s stuff, it’s a well-made keyboard, and the individual keymapping is a great feature, but realistically you can get an entry-level mechanical keyboard for the same or even less money as the Cynosa V2. There’s also the inescapable fact a generic membrane keyboard (albeit without the full RGB lighting etc) costs much, much less.

    Ultimately for me, the keys were too mushy for the amount of typing I do each day, and for the money as a gamer I would suggest you’d be better off getting a mechanical keyboard instead.

    If you really want a membrane keyboard – there are folks out there for whom mechanical keyboards aren’t their thing – the Cynosa V2 offers all the features of a gaming keyboard, along with water resistance and solid construction.

    For everyone else, this probably shouldn’t be your first choice for a gaming keyboard unless you are determined to get into the Razer ecosystem and don’t quite have the money for one of their mechanical keyboards.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleAry and the Secret Seasons releases September 1
    Next Article Samsung 870 QVO SSD: Boosting Your Booting On A Budget

    Related Posts

    NEWS June 28, 2022

    We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

    GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

    HORROR GAMES June 24, 2022

    The Quarry – The Review

    OK readers, I have a secret to tell. And I might lose some of your respect after I tell you.…

    Subscribe

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Ads
    Advertisement
    Categories
    • ACTION
    • ACTION-ADVENTURE
    • ADVENTURE
    • BATTLE ROYALE
    • CLOUD GAMING
    • CONVENTIONS
    • ESPORTS
    • FEATURE
    • FIGHTING
    • FPS
    • FUNNY
    • FURNITURE
    • GOA
    • HARDWARE
    • HORROR GAMES
    • INDIE
    • MMORPG
    • MOBA
    • MOBILE
    • NEWS
    • NINTENDO
    • Open-World
    • OPINION
    • PARTY GAME
    • PC
    • PLATFORMER
    • PLAYSTATION
    • PODCAST
    • PREVIEW
    • PUZZLE
    • RACING
    • RETRO
    • REVIEW
    • RPG
    • SIMULATION
    • SPORTS
    • STRATEGY
    • STREAMING
    • SURVIVAL
    • TABLETOP GAMING
    • TECH
    • VIDEO
    • VR
    • XBOX
    Related Article
    NEWS

    We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

    June 28, 2022Royce WilsonBy Royce Wilson

    GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably absent from the party.…

    Minsc & Boo
    TABLETOP GAMING

    My favourite cards from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

    June 27, 2022ArlentricBy Arlentric

    Dungeons & Dragons lore and storytelling meets the world’s most popular collectable card game: Magic: the Gathering in the recently released card set Commander Legends: Battle…

    ANZPL Season 4 Champions
    ESPORTS

    World Of Tanks ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final: Champions Decided In Sydney Derby

    June 27, 2022Darren 'Str8JaktJim' MacneallBy Darren 'Str8JaktJim' Macneall

    The ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final is here. The Sentinels take on the Skorpions to find out who will be the Season 4 champions!

    Game on Australia Logo

    Game On Aus is an Australian games publication working across written, video and podcast, and supported by an ever-growing community of content creators and fans!

    Copyright GameOnAus 2022. Privacy Policy

    CONTENT
    • News
    • Gaming Reviews
    • Podcast
    • Tech
    • Indie
    ABOUT GOA
    • About Us
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.