The Drop x Invyr Holy Panda and the Glorious Panda are similar tactile switches. But which of the Panda switch would you choose in the fight of the Panda twins? Let’s take a closer look at them for more detail.
TL;DR: Holy Panda is the winner
While we won’t go into details about the Holy Panda switch’s history, various versions, or several clones, Drop Holy Panda has always been the famous tactile switch.
The Holy Panda switch is the perfect balance in terms of sound and feel in the realm of tactile switches, with far better tactility the MX Brown, a clean feel, and attractive sound.
Although the quality control isn’t flawless, Holy Pandas are some of the most wonderful tactile switches to touch when you obtain a perfect set.
As a result, we think the Drop x Invyr Holy Panda is the overall winner.
Drop upset the resellers with the pre-assembled Holy Panda, despite the fact that the Holy Panda has always been a pricey switch regardless of how many you buy.
Glorious further shocks the market by offering a less expensive option of the Holy Panda with only a few small modifications.
The Glorious Panda is the superior value Panda and always will be, with a much more orange stem, somewhat more stem wobbling, and a little metallic ticking noise.
The Glorious Panda offers excellent value at 1/3 of the Holy Panda price, but its imperfect sound and doubtful longevity could be enough to drive difficult consumers away from the switch.
Glorious Panda was even called “the best variation” by Quakemz, the original designer and brain of the Holy Panda.
Would you choose the Holy Panda or the new journey with Glorious Panda?
The Holy Panda is a pre-built model of a community-created switch, created by mixing the tactile stem of a Halo True or Halo Clear switch with the housing of an Invyr Panda linear switch, and called “Holy Panda” as the result.
Drop and Invyr collaborated to disrupt the resale of the Holy Panda, or a switch made up of pieces from numerous other switches, when aftermarket, or “mechmarket” prices began to rise above an insane $4 USD per switch.
The Drop x Invyr Holy Panda was published, however due to quality control concerns and false information, the Glorious team decided to further disrupt the market by creating their own more affordable version, named the “Glorious Holy Panda.”
While both switches and the term “Holy” are controversial, we can be certain that they each get their own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Although these are not the only two tactile Pandas, they are the most common in the markets at the moment.
Will Drop’s Holy Panda be your best bet, or will the youngster Glorious Panda come out on top as the underdog?
Holy Panda Vs. Glorious Panda
Let’s take a closer look at these two panda powerhouses.
The Feeling: Holy Panda is better
Glorious Panda and Drop Holy Panda switches both have a 67g spring, brass leaf, and a moderate tactile feel.
Despite the similar statistics, the Glorious Panda spring feels heavier, which could be due to the length of the spring.
The latest set of Drop Holy Pandas all came with lube on the leaf and stem legs, despite the fact that both are intended to arrive clean and unlubed from the maker.
Of course, this means that the Drop Holy Panda is better out of the box, whilst the Glorious Panda is more tactile and has a stronger spring return.
Both switches should be tested in a dry, unlubed state after opening the Holy Panda and wiping the thin factory lubricant with an alcohol-soaked q-tip.
Interestingly, removing the lube from its stem legs and leaves boosted tactility without reducing smoothness.
The bump on the Holy Panda seems more apparent, purposeful, and smooth when both are dry. In contrast, the Glorious Panda has a little scratchiness to it.
Both have a “P” bump profile due to the the Panda style, which means a bump at the top and travel at the bottom.
The bumps themselves have an unique feel. The Holy Panda appears to have two steps when gently pushing the stems: a pop at the top, followed by a rounded bump, which leads to travel to the bottom.
The tactile bump on the Glorious Panda, on the other hand, was more consistent, with a stronger bump at the top and a shorter travel time at the bottom.
The tactile difference is insignificant while typing quickly with keycaps on, but the Holy Panda’s better smooth gives it the lead.
The Sound: Holy Panda is better
Holy Panda is a louder tactile than most of the others on the market, having a higher tone clack than Cherry MX Brown, NK Blueberry, Durock T1, and many others.
The Holy Panda has been known to make a sound that many describe as “Mr. Krabs Walking” after getting lubed, filmed, and matched with high-quality keycaps.
There is a significant amount of metallic pinging when you have the Holy Panda next to your ear and tap it.
The sound profile of the Glorious Panda is basically similar, with the exception of a tiny flaw: an extra metallic ticking that could be generated by the metal leaf.
Because of the loudness, the entire switch sounds much more metallic than the Holy Panda.
The sound is only audible if you listen extremely carefully or if you hold the switch close to your ear.
Sound can be amplified by a hollow keyboard shell, metal plate, bad stabilizers, and un-lubed switches, so sound dampening and modification are always recommended.
The Holy Panda could be a better option for you if you are sensitive to such louder noise or are cautious of acoustics and sound created by a switch.
You might not be able to notice the leaf tick at all in daily use, especially if you use headphones or are in an area with a lot of background noise.
However, the Glorious Panda’s leaf tick issue could become a problem if it causes key chatter or numerous inputs over time.
If this is the case, only time will tell.
The Glorious Panda is the right pick for you if you don’t mind potential switch noise or future talk.
The visual: Both are great!
Lately, switches are frequently recolored to provide aesthetically pleasant designs that suit your construction and aesthetic.
The only problem is that keycaps always hide them.
You won’t be able to see the beauty differences between these switches unless you use a low-profile keyboard with pudding keycap, floating keycap design or transparent keycaps.
The Holy Panda has a white housing with a salmon-pink stem, which is a Halo True switch stem’s signature.
This color reflects the Holy Panda switch’s origin and heritage as the offspring of two apparently conflicting switches, a Halo True and an Invyr Panda.
The Glorious Panda, on the other hand, has a cream-colored housing with an orange stem.
This different color scheme shows that the Glorious switch is not a genuine Holy Panda, but rather a recolored 2nd variant.
The Packaging: Glorious Panda is better!
Drop Holy Pandas are packaged in a plain carton box with handy plastic switch trays. The switches had previously arrived as a blown disaster within the cardboard packaging.
Glorious Pandas, on the other hand, arrive in a plastic bag inside a nicely-designed cardboard box that fits the Glorious branding and style, as well as a Panda-head sticker. For the consumer, this is a pleasant touch.
Build Quality: Glorious Panda is better!
The Glorious Panda isn’t a perfect clone, to be sure.
Aside from the color scheme, the Glorious stem wobbles a little more in the East-West direction, which could be due to the shrinkage differences.
Although the difference is insignificant, it does happen.
Both housings are made of Polycarbonate/Nylon, have a minor North-South wobble, and might use some film.
There are no creaks in the housing of either the Holy Panda or the Glorious Panda.
While typing, the slight difference in stem wobble is undetectable, and the switches are otherwise nearly comparable in build quality.
The stems are pretty much identical when analyzing the separated switch pieces, with the Glorious Panda’s stem legs having a little different curve. The seam lines on the Holy Panda / Halo True stem are more visible.
It’s worth noting that the Glorious Panda’s housing differs from the Drop x Invyr Holy Panda’s in terms of cast markings.
This is strange given both claimed to have Invyr molds, with Drop claiming to have worked directly with Invyr and Kailh, while Glorious claiming to have discovered the “lost Invyr molds.”
This disparity could be due to Drop, Invyr, and Kailh retooling.
Quality Control: Glorious Pander is better!
While the flaws described above, Glorious has such a great handle on quality control than the newest batch of Drop x Invyr Holy Pandas, despite only being on their second batch of switches.
This is due to a problem with broken stem legs, factory lubricant, and pieces of debris inside the switches in the most recent batch of Drop Holy Pandas.
When users opened the Holy Pandas to lube them, they discovered not only unclean and badly pre-lubed switches, but also several switches with broken stem legs.
Some owners reported that up to 10% to 15% of their Holy Pandas had damaged stem legs, which is a quite huge part.
These flaws were also present in my own batch of Holy Pandas.
In the most recent batch, some users have reported key chatter and switch failure.
The sound and tolerance complaints about the Glorious Panda are overwhelmed by all of these quality control difficulties.
You may find it beneficial to open and inspect each Holy Panda in your collection to ensure that nothing is damaged, lubed, or unclean.
Overall Winner: Holy Panda after modding
Although that Holy Panda does not require much modification, lubricant and filming make this excellent tactile switch even better.
Even modification can’t always fully salvage a switch with the Glorious Panda.
The GP has increased stem wobble as well as the ticking problem that appears to be un-enhance-able by lube and film.
While these are minor drawbacks that can be forgiven in favor of the lower price point, the reality remains that the Holy Panda is overall better.
Glorious Panda is the winner in terms of value for money.
If you only care about the feel of a switch and how tactile your switch is, the Glorious Panda is the best value for money.
The Glorious Panda rivals the Holy Panda in tactile feedback and smoothness for $0.69 per switch, and much less when Glorious has a sale.
Furthermore, the Glorious Panda is shipped unlubed from the factory, including the stem legs, resulting in a stock switch with better tactility than the Holy Panda with quality control difficulties.
Though the metallic leaf sound may be a concern for more picky keyboard users, the Glorious Panda still is the more cost-effective option among these two tactile switches.
Maybe you should go for Glory with almost all of its strengths and for only 2/3 the cost of Holy Panda.
Despite the fact that this is an exceptionally even match, we must be picky and picky if we are to determine a winner.
Once all factors are equal, and the price isn’t a factor for you, the Drop Holy Panda emerges victorious.
Although Glorious Panda is a superior bargain, the fact that a flawless G-Panda can’t match up with a Holy Panda. It means that if money isn’t an issue, you need to go for the Drop Holy Panda, or contemplate creating the “frankenswitch” yourself as in the old days.
Though there may be concerns with quality checks, this is more of a manufacturer issue than the Drop’s issue.
The typing experience is unrivaled if you have a full set of flawless Drop Holy Pandas.
When all factors are reviewed, serious users will agree that a flawless Holy Panda is the better switch.
The Drop x Invry Holy Panda is a superior switch with a premium price tag that won’t disappoint you.
However, if you’re looking for a switch with a better price-to-performance ratio that really can give the Holy Panda a run for its money at a third of the price and a virtually equal typing experience, the Glorious Panda might be the better option.
Conclusion
Drop and Glorious have both launched a switch that has everyone’s attention, from membrane users wanting atonement to gaming keyboard users seeking repentance, and everyone wanting ascension.
Make your decision and follow your road…
Whether you pick Holy tactility or Glorious tactility, it is a little price to pay for salvation.
