There has been something of a renaissance for transparent technology in the last few years, and I love it. Some of the most iconic gaming hardware from the 1990s and early 2000s boasted colorful, translucent shells, and that approach to design has been returning with products like the Razer Phantom Green Collection I tried out.
Now, Razer is returning with its second Phantom family, this time dropping the saturation in honor of the spookiest season of the year. This is the Razer Phantom White Collection, and not only is it one accessory bigger than its green predecessor, it also simply looks better — well, in my opinion.
What is the Razer Phantom White Collection?
Surprise, surprise, the Razer Phantom White Collection is just the Phantom Green Collection, but more misty than verdant. Well, there's also the addition of a new product in this lineup, so let's go through the list.
- Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K Phantom White Edition for $169.99 at Razer.com, which is $10 more than the normal version. We reviewed the original Razer Basilisk V3 Pro wireless mouse.
- Razer Firefly V2 Pro Phantom White Edition for $109.99 at Razer.com, which is $10 more than the normal version. I reviewed the Razer Firefly V2 Pro mousepad.
- Razer BlackWidow V4 75% Phantom White Edition for $199.99 at Razer.com, which is the same price as the normal version. We reviewed the Razer BlackWidow V4 75% wired keyboard.
- Razer Barracuda X Chroma Phantom White Edition for $139.99 at Razer.com, which is $10 more than the normal version. I reviewed the Razer Barracuda X Chroma wireless headset.
- Razer Kishi V3 Phantom White Edition for $109.99 at Razer.com, which is $10 more than the normal version (and is the new addition with this collection). I reviewed the Razer Kishi V3 Pro mobile controller.
As a complete set, the Razer Phantom White Collection costs around $730, about $40 more than if you bought the normal black and white variants of each product. The Phantom collections feature more premium gear than most of Razer's other special editions, but I love that.
I prefer this over Phantom Green
I was quite positive in my hands-on with the original Phantom Green Collection, and praised Razer for actually putting in effort to make its products look as good as possible while translucent.
It wasn't just about slapping on a new plastic shell; Razer re-engineered internals, experimented with different materials and colors, and went through dozens of iterations to get it as good as possible. I even spoke to Razer's Global Head of Design about this process.
Despite all of that, I still didn't love every part of the Phantom Green Collection. The green made it difficult to actually see the internals, the RGB lighting didn't always play nice with it, and key legibility for the keyboard plummeted to nigh unreadable levels.
Razer couldn't introduce a new family of translucent devices without starting with its iconic green, though, and I still considered the lineup a big success overall. That being said, I like the Phantom White Collection a whole lot more. It also adds the Razer Kishi V3 mobile controller to the mix, which was a good choice on Razer's part.
It's a more consistent aesthetic that works better with the Razer Chroma RGB lighting that's prominent in four of the five included products. I can already see a lot of people who skipped over the Phantom Green Collection rushing to add these products to their gaming setup, and I don't blame them — because I'm one of them.
And I like this mouse enough that I'm still using it
I used to be all-in on all-black gaming accessories, but lately I've grown rather fond of lighter-hued gear. So, when I got in the new Phantom White Collection and saw how the Basilisk V3 Pro 35K mouse and Firefly V2 Pro mousepad looked compared to my standard black versions, I knew in moments I was making the switch.
The mouse, especially, is easily the highlight of the entire Phantom White Collection. I love the peeks into the internals and the threads of RGB lighting; it even impressed one of my friends, who is very much not interested in PC gaming accessories.
It certainly helps that the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K is genuinely my favorite mouse ever, of course, but I also considered the keyboard. The BlackWidow V4 75% is Razer's answer to the rise of incredible, modular enthusiast keyboards, and it's honestly great — I also reviewed the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%, and liked it a lot.
That decision will have to wait, though, because I already have a mountain of keyboards to review... and the color of the switches is extremely obvious underneath the translucent keys, and something about that bugged me a little.
Put it all together, and the Razer Phantom White Collection is an excellent retro throwback, and the ghastly tone is perfect for the spooky season. If you're interested in checking out the lineup for yourself, the Phantom White Collection is now available from $109.99 at Razer.com.
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