The Razer Huntsman V2 TKL, 'one of the best, most practical mechanical keyboards out there today,' is 50% off for Black Friday

Razer Huntsman V2 TKL keyboard on Black Friday Deals background — (Image credit: Future)

Razer Huntsman V2 TKL | Mechanical | doubleshot PBT keycaps | RGB lighting | $159.99 $79.99 at Amazon (save $80)
The Huntsman V2 TKL is a compact version of Razer's outstanding mechanical keyboard, featuring linear optical switches, durable doubleshot PBT keycaps, 8000Hz polling rate (that's really fast), and Razer Chroma-powered per-key RGB lighting. It's a simple, solid keyboard, and a particularly good option right now if you're looking to move up from membrane keyboards without breaking the bank.

Price check: Best Buy $99.99

Keyboards occupy kind of a weird place in the pantheon of PC hardware. You want a good one, especially if you type a lot, but they're also not an especially glamorous piece of it. I mean, it's just a keyboard, right? So for me, at least, the thought of spending big bucks on one is a struggle: I know I should, but I don't wanna. That's where Amazon's Black Friday deal on the Razer Huntsman V2 tenkeyless comes in: It's a really good keyboard, and it's 50% off.

The Huntsman V2 features Razer's second-gen linear optical switches, which promise improved sound-dampening to cut back on the incessant clackety-clack of heavy typing, and an 8000Hz polling rate, which in simple terms is a measure of how often your keyboard sends input data to your PC: When it comes to gaming, faster is better, and the Huntsman V2 is very fast.

There's also sound-dampening foam to help keep down the racket when the keys bottom out (which is to say, when you're mashing them really hard), onboard memory for up to five macro profiles, an ergonomic wrist rest, and of course the most important feature of all, Razer Chroma per-key lighting. (That's not actually the most important feature, but let's be honest, we all like it.)

For a more practical perspective on this board, let us take a look at our review: We scored the Huntsman V2 very highly, praising its fast, quiet, and durable linear optical switches, and its effective noise dampening. The TKL version lacks the number pad and media keys, which may or may not be important to you—for gamers in particular, numeric keypads are often wasted space, as evidenced by the rise in popularity of TKL designs—but it will also eat up a lot less real estate on your desktop, which can be a big plus if you're working in a cramped space.

We're curating all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here.

Bottom line, the Razer Huntsman V2 is "one of the best, most practical mechanical keyboards out there today" in our estimation, and we know about this stuff. For $79.99—half the regular $159.99 price—it's a good one to look at if you're interested in making the move to mechanical.

If you'd like to shop around before you commit (and honestly, you always should), we can help with that too—here are all our favorite Black Friday deals on gaming keyboards, and mice too.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.