In 2020, Razer introduced the Huntsman Mini, a 60% keyboard that impressed us with its compact footprint, comfortable PBT keycaps, and Razer’s clicky optical switches. Now, almost two years later, Razer has returned with a revision of its tiny board. Dubbed the Razer Huntsman Mini Analog, it remains mostly unchanged with one major exception—its key switches. It comes outfitted with Razer’s new analog optical switches, and each button press allows for scaling levels of input, which produce more accurate button presses and finer movement. It’s a welcome improvement, though its $149 price tag may give pause to everyone other than hardcore gaming enthusiasts looking for a compact board for high-level, highly precise play.
Hunting With the Bare Essentials
As mentioned, the Razer Huntsman Mini Analog is a 60% keyboard, which means that the number pad has been lopped off and the additional function keys have been condensed to other keys as secondary functions. With 61 keys at its disposal, the Mini Analog looks exactly the same as its predecessor in both its design and its dimensions, measuring at 1.4 by 11.5 by 4.1 inches (HWD). It’s even slightly smaller than our Editors’ Choice pick for this category, the Kinesis TKO.
The new Huntsman weighs just slightly more than its predecessor at one pound on the dot, but it’s still one of the lightest keyboards on the market. It comes with the same “double-shot” PBT keycaps as its predecessor, which give keys an extremely durable textured quality that won’t wear away with use.
Looking closer, you’ll find the additional functions printed on the sides of the keys. Holding the Fn button automatically highlights those keys, as well, adding some visibility to the all-black keyboard.
Razer’s familiar Chroma software powers the keyboard’s RGB lights. Chroma works with Razer’s ever-growing ecosystem of gaming peripherals, in this case letting users customize the RGB lighting of individual keys and map effects to one of the 150 supported games. It also boasts a variety of other customization options that we’ll get into in just a minute.
The underside of the tiny keyboard is emblazoned with Razer’s “For Gamers” motto, with two kickstands underneath to add some extra height to the keyboard. There’s a small stand with six degrees of tilt nestled in the larger stand, for players who just want to add a touch of verticality. There’s also an inset for the Mini Analog’s USB-C cable, which tucks into the keyboard nicely, adding to its clean, minimalist aesthetic.
In use, this board is exceptional. Razer produces some of the best keyboards money can buy, and the Huntsman Mini Analog is no different. It does take some getting used to, though, especially if you’re switching from a full-size board to something smaller. A 60% keyboard appeals to users who know their way around the keys and are able to get work done with a greater number of shortcuts.
The star of the show (and the board’s biggest feature) is the new analog optical key switch. Instead of a typical digital input that simply registers a keypress, the analog alternative allows for scaling levels of input, which corresponds with how deeply you press on the switch. This results in finer movement control and adjustable actuation points that can be applied across the keyboard, or on specific keys.
This makes emulating gamepad inputs—like finer joystick controls—easy to accomplish. Racing games and simulators, along with first- and third-person shooters, greatly benefit from the new switches and should make keyboard warriors very happy.
Bright Lights Come at a High Price
All of these settings and more can be adjusted in Synapse. The app gives you the ability to customize just about everything on the keyboard to your liking, from key binding and actuation to software-specific profiles across its five onboard profiles. In fact, there are so many options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Synapse is one of the most in-depth peripheral control apps out there, so it’s easy to get lost in its wealth of options, in both key customization and RGB lighting.
In many ways, Razer is synonymous with the gamer aesthetic, and for good reason. Chroma offers tons of RGB customization options down to the key, with oodles of game-specific RGB light settings, and even a visualizer that syncs the lights to music—a party trick that’ll turn your desktop into a mini rave with the right track.
While the settings are robust, they’re not always super clear for new users not already indoctrinated into Razer’s ecosystem. This problem could be solved with some helpful walkthroughs that briefly explain settings, or how the different Razer modules work. As it stands, you’ll mostly be learning by trial and error. It’s a minor nitpick of an otherwise very sophisticated app that combines control over all of your Razer products together into a single command center.
Of course, all of this comes wrapped in a $149 bow—a rather high asking price for essentially the same product that was released back in 2020, just with new switches. If you own the Huntsman Mini already, you might not be too inclined to update to the Huntsman Mini Analog.
Worthy Prey
It’s equally hard to unequivocally recommend this keyboard if you aren’t interested in analog switches. In that case, you’ll be better off buying the older non-analog Huntsman, which is $119 but frequently retails for less. There are also cheaper compact-board alternatives like the Fnatic Streak65 or the HyperX Alloy Origins 60.
But there are few alternatives that can compete with Razer’s quality. The Huntsman Mini Analog is still as sleek and sexy as it was when it was released in 2020, and the new analog switches are another reason why gaming enthusiasts who prefer precise control in a small package should set their sights on it.
