The best wireless mechanical keyboards

It’s no secret that mechanical keyboards provide some of the best tactile typing experience. It’s also no secret that wireless keyboards can be a boon for productivity, reducing workplace clutter and easily connecting to numerous types of devices. Fortunately, the choice of wireless mechanical keyboards has grown so much in recent years that you can find options with a feature set on par with the most expensive wired keyboards.

When looking at today’s selection of cableless mechanical keyboards, it’s not just the switch type that needs to be considered. For example, how many devices do you want the keyboard to be able to switch between? Should any of these wireless connections use a USB receiver? Battery life is also paramount (all options here are rechargeable), and as with any other premium keyboard, features such as programmability, onboard memory, and quality keycaps are important.

With these qualities in mind, we searched for the best wireless mechanical keyboards for power users.

Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro

Ars chooses

Buy: Starting at $140 at Amazon and Best Buy

The Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro is a rare wireless option that supports just about every feature you’d expect to find in a wired mechanical keyboard. From full-size switches and a full-size programmable layout with multimedia keys to built-in memory, multiple Bluetooth profiles, and a braided cable, there’s not much missing here.

The BlackWidow V3 Pro has been my productivity companion for several years now. Each key, including four multimedia keys, is easily programmed in the Razer Synapse software. That’s enough, but you can also program each key with an auxiliary input that is activated when the key you assign as the “Hypershift”key is pressed simultaneously.

Key bindings can run macros, open software and websites, make mouse movements, and anything else. The keyboard easily adapts to any application you use, and you can create application-specific profiles that automatically launch when you open a specified program.

Unfortunately, some of the most advanced features, such as running macros or applications, don’t work unless Synapse is open. This makes it difficult to use the keyboard’s four built-in memory profiles. In fact, storing on-board memory profiles requires you to open Synapse and use a dongle or cable, not Bluetooth.

The BlackWidow V3 Pro is only available with Razer Green clicky switches, which have a total travel of 4mm and actuates at 1.9mm with 50g of force, or Razer Yellow linear switches (3.5mm/1.2mm/45g). The green switches I’ve used combine sharp clicks with the booming clatter of large keys and the rattling of plastic stabilizers to create a startling noise. Without any sound deadening components like those seen in the Epomaker TH96 below, I often hear a metallic chime when lowered.

The BlackWidow V3 Pro is fairly hefty and solid at 3.1 pounds, but its plastic bottom and easy-to-smudge aluminum top panel aren’t unique. It’s also a little disappointing to see ABS at this price point, but these keycaps can pass for PBT with how decently they resist fingerprints. (I replaced the keycaps with non-Razer PBTs for better grip and durability.) Also, the legends are double so they shouldn’t fade.

The BlackWidow V3 Pro is also the only keyboard on our list with a wrist rest. The softness of the accessory means that you can actually use it for a while.

Razer claims the keyboard lasts up to 192 hours on a single charge. When per-key RGB backlighting is set to full white, standby times are reduced to five hours at 100 percent brightness and 14 hours at 50 percent brightness. That’s less than the advertised battery life for Rainbow RGB lighting (13 hours and 25 hours, respectively). Luckily, Synapse has a battery meter that shows the exact percentage.

Fine

• Full size full size keyboard with all overlays
• Each key, including multimedia, can be programmed for two inputs.
• Lots of built-in storage

Badly

• Super expensive
• Some advanced features are application dependent
• Aggressive typists should beware of rattling stabilizers, periodic ping.

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