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Drop Holy Panda X Mechanical Switches

$19

~~$35~~

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... / SWITCHES / TACTILE SWITCHES / DROP

Drop Holy Panda X Mechanical Switches

Name: Drop Holy Panda X Mechanical Switches
Brand: Drop
SKU: drop-holy-panda-x-mechanical-switches
Price: 19 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.226244 (442 reviews)

442

$19

~~$35~~

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Product Highlights:

Frequently bought together:

Drop Holy Panda X Clear Mechanical Switches

Drop Holy Panda X Hand-Lubed Switches

LOOP Mechanical Switch Puller

overview

details

story3

reviews442

photos272

q&a54

discussions216

Customer Reviews

4.2

(442 reviews)

(207)

(161)

(51)

(13)

(10)

85% would recommend to a friend

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Seredetia

Apr 15, 2022

Verified Buyer

Spring ping? Depends…

First and foremost: Yes. You can hear the spring ping if using these straight out of the box. Second, and most important: How much it matters to you depends on how deep you are into building keyboards. For the casual person just getting into modding keyboards (me), it’s BARELY an issue. The stock lube actually sounds fantastic compared to most stock switches and will not need to be messed with unless you’re picky. Did I “mess” with them by lubing them? Heck yeah. Did it make a difference? “Holy Panda,” yes. Lol. Noticeable difference for sure. Did I use the most expensive, silkiest lube ever? Heck no. I’m poor(ish). Do it if you can. If you can’t/won’t, these are still a solid purchase. The best part about these switches is the noticeable, tactile bump. Man it feels great coming from Gateron browns. THIS is why I bought these, on the hopes that it was actually tactile. I like to feel my words. For what, gaming? No. I’m an IT tech and spend 99% of my time remoting into computers and, well, typing crud in the command line. I also write books. Loads of general typing. These make my experiences absolutely satisfying. Are they loud? Moderately, at stock. A little less lubed. Still clicky enough to annoy my coworkers, which is a good enough reason for me. I paired them with (lubed) Everglide Panda stabilizers, and I’m SO happy with the setup. Price? Man. I hate the price. Not going to lie, these are expensive. Literally paid more for these and the stabilizers for my entire actual (non-Drop) keyboard. I decided to approach these with a “treat yourself” mentality, and they make me smile. I’d consider these for another build for sure. They’re fun to type on, and I have NO regrets. Please take this review from an “enthusiast” perspective. I have VERY little experience in modding keyboards. They just make me happy.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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Theroc

2318

Keyboard Club Member

Mar 1, 2022

Verified Buyer

Finally, a tactile switch to get excited about

For the longest time I've had to deal with a personal dilemma: I seemed to be eternally stuck with browns. Cherry Browns, Kaihl Browns, Box Browns. The only switches I found usable were brown. So what? The problem is I've also found them endlessly boring. Not as boring as linear switches, but still, meh. I've tried other tactile and clicky switches but they were either too stiff or too noisy; Box Jades were fun but the bump was way too high, too immediate to work for me. So, when I got word of these "secret new tactile" switches I jumped at shamelessly begged for the chance to get my hands on them and review them. As the title suggests I wasn't disappointed. These are proper tactiles. Not clickies, not non-linear linear nonsense. As usable as your favorite browns but with a better defined yet smoother bump. Just a joy to type on. I installed them next to Cherry MX browns and the difference is subtle but unmistakable.

If you've ever found yourself in the same boat as I, these switches will come as a welcome respite from brown drabness.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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Mkjenis

Keyboard Club Member

Mar 1, 2022

TherocNice review. You might want to give Pewters a try, they are revamped/reimagined "browns".

linnes

126

Mar 2, 2022

MkjenisI wouldnt recommend pewters at the price they are now. Better off getting durock light tactiles

ctchoy

Apr 26, 2022

Verified Buyer

A truly unique switch, but...

I have the following tactiles to compare this switch to:

Drop x Invyr Holy Panda
Boba U4T
Boba U4T silent
T1 Sunflower
Naevies
Cherry MX Browns (RGB) - ugh... why did I buy these
Zealios Redux
Everglide Dark Jades

Pros:

The switch is very smooth when lubed (in comparison to my Drop x Invyr Holy Pandas, which still needed to be broken in after I lubed them)

Cons:

The switch is really expensive at $1 a switch before tax (when it's not on sale). Granted, it might be worth it if you're looking for a really long tactile bump that is VERY round. This type of pricing can be typical when you start to look at "Premium" (what does that even mean) switches, so only you can determine if the long and round tactile bump is worth the price.

Subjective:

The travel distance is longer than the Drop x Invyr Holy Pandas (I prefer the Drop x Invyr's short travel distance)
The housing is semi transparent, so it can still let some PCB RGB light through, though it will be darker than fully transparent switches (I don't use RGB, but it's there if you do)
The bump is very round, and goes for most of the switches downward travel (this is the switches' most unique feature, as no other tactile I own has a key press feel like this one). The closest tactile switch in sound is probably the Zealios Redux, with the HPX's being a bit deeper. The closest switch in tactile feel is probably the Naevies, but with the HPX's having a significantly longer travel distance and rounder bump. I think the round bump is cool, as it adds something different to my existing tactiles.
I re-wrote this point like 5 times. Without getting into drama, I would have liked to have seen different branding on these switches, as they are a genuinely good and unique product to hit the tactile switch market. However, they don't share much DNA in sound or press feel with the Drop x Invyr Holy Pandas. Hopefully, future tactiles can get their own branding to give them their own identity. I get that the switch market is flooded right now, so it's to Drop's benefit to base the naming off their very successful Drop x Invyr Holy Pandas. But it's also a shame that such a unique switch didn't get to create it's OWN identity within the market (i.e. Plump Pandas, Queen Bees, etc.).

TLDR: It's a unique and smooth switch, that is pricy, and deserved its own branding aside from the Holy Panda moniker. If you have the money and want a unique tactile, go for it.

Recommends this product? Yes

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bendrexl

May 1, 2022

ctchoyGreat review, thanks! The unique tactile profile was enough for me to forgive all other flaws, so I appreciate your much more objective and detailed write up

•

ctchoy

May 2, 2022

bendrexlGlad it could help!

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SpecTP

176

Keyboard Club Member

Mar 1, 2022

A solid tactile switch

I love assembling and customizing mechanical keyboards for the last 8yrs, so when Drop asked if I would review a new switch, I naturally agreed. Having owned pretty much every switch type from linear, clicky and tactile and 45cN to 65cN actuation force. I started with heavy MX clears and blacks with 60-65cN. But as I progressed, I'm leaning towards lighter actuation switches. Because when you game and code as much as I do, all those years of heavy key presses take a toll on your finger joints. And I'm no spring chicken anymore. Which is a good segue into Drop's switch offering. There was no spec sheet with the keycaps, so I'm just going by observation. These feel like 45cN-55cN tactile. Tactile is like your old prom date. Give 'em a nudge and they'll go all the way. These feel really good and I didn't even need to lube them up. Drop sent me a sample of 5 switches and I promptly stuck them on the WASD keys for some serious gaming session. So after 32 hours of gaming, I have to say they are really comfortable and responsive. In the end, I generally prefer switches with a bit heavier actuation force, but for keys like WASD and 1-5, these would be excellent candidates. I'd definitely swap mine out for these and I will likely keep the ones I installed into the WASD. So if you like tactile responses with a light actuation, these are perfect for the job. 5/5 rating. Would definitely recommend it.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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Mar 7, 2022

I just put in some Glorious Panda and compared to these, the Glorious panda feels a bit heavier. But the tactile characteristics feel the same.

Joey_Spacebar

Keyboard Club Member

Mar 7, 2022

SpecTPGood to know. Thanks for the help.

•

Deophobic

Apr 29, 2022

Verified Buyer

False advertising for a decent product.

Like many have pointed out, these are being sold as “pre-lubed” when they are most definitely not. I installed a couple of them to my board and was met with the most horrific, scratchy, pinging switch I’ve ever used in my life. I consider them completely unusable in their stock form. Upon opening them to check the factory lube job I found bone dry switches with zero lubricant present. I would have zero problem with this if these switches were advertised as unlubed but they aren’t. Drop is marketing these to customers as a drop in replacement when they simply aren’t. You will need to buy a switch opener, lube, a brush and spend several hours lubing these to be able to use them. If they had not falsely advised this product the rating on them would probably be a 3.75 of 5 stars. They are fine. Better than browns but not as good as other tactile options.

Recommends this product? No

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ZeroTwo002

Apr 12, 2022

Verified Buyer

Strong leaf and spring ping

I like the feel of the switch, lubed nad unlubed. But the spring and leaf ping kinda kill the switch for me. The spring ping u can get away with lubing the springs, the leaf ping tho is hard to get away even when I tried to lube the leaf itself (not great to do on a tactile) the ping was still audible.

Recommends this product? No

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CheerioCoil

Apr 3, 2022

Verified Buyer

Great switches. Would 100% recommend

These switches feel amazing and typing is a great experience. I did lube the switches but I don't believe filming will be necessary with these. After lubing with krytox 205g0, there is still a very discernible bump when pressing down on the switch. The sound profile is not very clacky and with MT3 keycaps there is a nice thocc to the keyboard. Not too heavy to actuate, keystrokes feel accurate and very little wobble; not any more than other good switches. Build quality is also nice. I only had one switch pin break out of 64 keys when I pressed too hard into the hotswap board. FPS gaming was no issue at all with these tactile switches, although if you really want the fastest response I would go with a linear switch. Since I work more than I game and I don't want to own more than one custom keyboard, I like these tactile switches more and these are a wonder to type on.

Recommends this product? Yes

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ptong

Mar 4, 2024

Verified Buyer

Switches are constantly dying

When they work these are great switches, but they have a WILD failure rate. I built out a Drop Shift kb with these and enjoyed the hell out of it until the switches started dying: double clicks or non registering strokes. I've slowly replaced them as they've died, and now after ~2 years I have 2 full 35 packs of bad switches. At the end of the day, it's a good experience until it's not... And then it's awful. Nothing breaks your flow worse than all of a sudden not being able to trust your interface.

(Edited)

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Marksman46

May 20, 2022

Verified Buyer

Good with a lot of work

They are very expensive for what they are, and that's an above average tactile switch. They have so much spring ping stock that I would recommend these switches to NO mech keyboard beginner. In order to make these switches shine, they needed 205G0 on the housings and 105GPL on the springs. For all that work, you get something that might be a competitor to stock Boba U4Ts, with a more clacky sound profile. These are good quality switches, but it's almost unacceptable at the pricepoint on pre-order, let alone the pricepoint for $1 a switch. That's a price I can't justify for almost any switch, especially one as bad as these are stock. Even fully lubed/filmed/oiled, they are only good-great, but not the best.

Recommends this product? No

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o2_designs

May 2, 2022

Verified Buyer

Batman Nanananananananaa

I think Batmans would’ve been a cooler name for these. But anyways, love these, new favorite tactile switch. Nice round bump. Not too soft, not too stiff stock spring. Lubed these w 205g0 and added deskey films. I had them in a drop shift and felt the switches were too nice for the board so I took them out and going to be putting them in a Bekeneko shortly. Also love the color. There is too many pink pastel switches on the market imo.

Recommends this product? Yes

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