Holy Panda Keyswitch

Holy Pandas are aTactile switch with a very noticeable short rounded ‘bump’.

History

Originally, Holy Panda switches needed to be built from the stem of aHalo Switch and the housing of anInvyr Panda switch, according to the original GeekHack thread only around 10,000 Panda switches were made. Their infamy started when Top Clack member Quakemz put a Halo stem into the Panda switch housing.

For a long time neither Halo switches (for the stems) or Panda switches (for the housing) were available easily, driving prices up to 6 USD per switch, this was partly because of the scarcity of Halo stems, but mainly because the original Panda moulds (tooling) were thought to be destroyed, preventing more from being created after the popularity spike.

Massdrop began selling Halo Switches again, meaning if a switch housing close to the Invyr Panda could be created, a switch equivalent to the Holy Panda could be built once again.

TheGSUS ‘New Panda’ IC/GB started and seemingly filled this role, right at the cusp of the GSUS Groupbuy, Massdrop started their group buy for Pre-assembled Holy Panda switches, claiming to have the original Panda switch tooling, further claiming it was never destroyed only partially damaged. This caused quite the stir amongst the community, especially those in the GSUS Groupbuy, the community began to distrust Massdrops claims to have the original tooling. This prompted Massdrop to send samples of this switch to Quakemz, after a little bit more drama it was confirmed that the actual production samples were, in fact, Holy Panda switches.

Further drama added to the whole situation by problems in the GSUS Groupbuy caused the creation of yet another Panda switch alternative, theYOK line-up, a clone of the GSUS version.

The YOK switches were easily and widely available, fulfilling multiple buys before the Massdrop Holy Pandas had even cleared all the drama.

Holy YOK

Holy GSUS

Specs

Type:Tactile

Weight: 67g bottom out if usingPanda springs, 100gf bottom out if usingHalo True springs

Plate-mount

MX Style