Huano Pineapple Switch Review

With Memorial Day being a national holiday here in the United States this coming Monday, I’ve been dragging myself through this slog of a work week by force with magical thoughts as to what I would do with my entire extra day off this weekend. While it likely will just allow me to push off doing laundry and dishes that much longer than I normally would, I am honestly left at a bit of an impasse as to what I should do with this time. On one hand, I have the vague, nebulous “adult” part of my brain telling me that this sunny summer weather can only reasonably be enjoyed next to a barbecue grill which lead to me blowing the final few hours of my work week price comparing between Home Depot and Lowes. On the other hand, I have the less mature part of me that realizes I could also just spend the entire weekend being absolutely unproductive and just sort switches for the collection or build one of the half dozen keyboards that I’ve been pushing off for months now. Nobody ever informed me that being ‘responsible’ carried so much burden in figuring out what to do outside of the 9-5 grind. At least when I was in graduate school, I could still pretend that I had no discernable reason to have my shit together yet.

In all reality, I know damn well that I will probably follow up on neither of those options and instead will opt for a majority of my weekend spent laying on my sofa all day watching YouTube videos of nothing groundbreaking nor important. One thing I will definitely be doing, though, is planning travel and hotels for meetups I had mentioned at the start of previous reviews a bit more. In addition to the NK and CK ones that I am still planning to make in August and September, I am also planning to be at the June 17th Ohio MK meetup given that I am both currently in the state of Ohio and had my first few meetups here back when I joined the hobby so long ago. Much like with the NK and CK ones, I hope that I will get to meet a few of you there and I will definitely be bringing my switch collection for display with the (bold) assumption they’ll have table space for all those switches! The Tennessee meetup in 2022, alone, demonstrated that the collection is growing to a dangerously large size, with four (of my now six) testers taking up nearly an entire table just for themselves!

**Figure 1:** ... the switches that ate everyone!

Switch Background

For all of the brands and manufacturers which have popped up over the span of the past couple of years, it is surprising to think that Huano has managed to hang on and continue their growth in the modern mechanical keyboard switch scene. Huano, a brand primarily known for their push button switches for mice, has been around at least as early as 2012 producing series of mice buttons which are still around and used as of today. While competition with other lightly keyboard related pushbutton switch brands such as Omron has always remained strong in that space, Huano sought out production of mechanical keyboard switches sometime around 2014 following the lapse of Cherry’s patent on the MX style switch design. Throughout those few years of production stretching from 2014 to 2016, Huano was primarily known for their OEM-style Black, Red, Brown, and Blue switches, though any sort of brand collaborations, alternative nameplates, or even customized releases which may have happened were largely undocumented and remain unknown even to this day. While Huano reverted back to primarily mice switches following this brief stint in mechanical keyboards, it would not be forever, as they made their resurgence again in late October of 2020, teaming up with Ajazz, Firstblood, and eastern switch designers to release a slew of customized, uniquely colored switches in line with other old manufacturers pursuing the post-pandemic mechanical keyboard craze.

**Figure 2:** Original trio of Ajazz x Huano diced fruit switches including Banana, Peach, and Kiwi.

While Huano has managed to continue their pace of production of new mechanical keyboard switches from 2020 into the middle of 2023, the air of mystery surrounding the company, their associated brands, and partnered OEM deals remains just as present. Of the original Huano switch production run stretching from 2014 to 2016, only one OEM brand connection has been confirmed to date by the nameplate name of ‘Switch Master’. ‘Switch Master’ switches came in a series of four, entirely black housing switches with orange, blue, red, and black stems. While Red, Black, and Blue Switch Master switches have all been positively identified in person by collectors over the years, the elusive Orange Switch Master shown in the marketing photo below has still yet to be seen. More recent switches produced by Huano have positively identified collaborative brands including Ajazz and Firstblood, though nameplates such as the singular ‘swirl’ logo, and small runs like Elecom Low Profile Oranges and HolyTom/HolyJerry, and ‘Douyu’ continue to the blur the lines as to where Huano’s production starts and end. To make matters even worse, not all Ajazz switches have necessarily been confirmed to have been made by Huano, further adding to the confusion even within identifiable collaborative brands. To make worse matters into even worse matters, switches such as the Strawberry Jellies and Huano Pineapples I’m reviewing here today have absolutely no nameplate branding to them, meaning there could be slews of
Huano-made switches left unidentified to date.

**Figure 3:** The lone Switch Master marketing photo showing proof of life of Switch Master Orange switches.

**Figure 4:** Recently made Ajazz Douyu Orange and White switches made by Huano in 2023.

Of all of the nameplates and branding designs used by Huano across both of their production stints, and completely disregarding the existence of the Pineapple switches which have brought us all here today, the most common recent nameplate seems to be that of the ‘HUANO’ in stylized all caps followed by a logo. This nameplate design appears to be being adopted for the most recent, stylized, and assumedly ‘premium’ line of custom Huano switches, which include switches such as Huano Pandora, Spirit Wind, Earth Yellow, and Turquoise. Unlike more traditional offerings, these Huano branded switches all feature more ‘effort’ driven color schemes, with each component being differently colored and complementary to each other. Whether or not the branding for these more premium switches is a deliberate attempt to consolidate branding design for Huano-made switches that they aim to sell and distribute themselves, the leaking of these premium nameplates into OEM-style offerings with clear top housings and black bottom housings over a similar time frame suggests it may be so.

**Figure 5:** Huano Pandora, Turquoise, Spirit Wind, and Earth Yellow premium switches from late 2022 and early 2023.

As of the time of writing this review, the most recent Huano-made switches to hit western audiences include a silent linear collaboration with Keychron, a pair of ‘Douyu’ branded Ajazz collaborations, and a confusingly named, bright orange Huano Pineapple switch. While none of these switches really carried any information or marketing from Huano’s end, the Pineapple switches especially did not, being dropped onto Aliexpress and Taobao without even an identifying nameplate to associate them to Huano. Connected to this switch production house only by the sales header on the aforementioned platformed, these Pineapple linear switches are available for anywhere between $0.24 and $0.45 per switch depending on source location and applicable sales at the time. Without hardly any information or public knowledge of them save for a rare few YouTube videos reviewing these switches, the future of these switches I broadly uncertain. What is likely assumable, however, is that their legacy will live on in some fashion as they are first five-pin, custom Huano keyboard switches that I am aware of as of the time of writing this review. Much like with anything in the custom mechanical keyboard switch world, when one design style or pattern appears, there are surely many more to come that will follow it.

Pineapple Switch Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the Huano Pineapple switches are remarkably not pineapple-like in appearance. Sure, the light green stems are certainly reminiscent of the leaves sprouting from the top of a pineapple, though the rest of the housing construction is notably orange whereas pineapples are… yellow. I’m not entirely certain if pineapples are different in China, where Huano is based, or if this was one of those weird translation issues like the ‘Follow the Wind Dog’ switches, but regardless I felt the need to ham-fistedly point to the obvious lack of pineapple appearance in these Pineapple switches. Beyond the lack of direct connection between name and appearance, these roughly 45 g. bottom out linear switches have little else in the way of easily identifiable features which help in distinguishing these from other switches which may be marketed as pineapple themed from other manufacturers in the future. As for a closer look at some mold-level details, these switches definitely do stand out as a bit more unique relative to other designs I’ve covered in reviews previously.

**Figure 6:** I paid $3.00 to make this photograph happen.

Looking first at the (reportedly) polycarbonate top housings of the Huano Pineapple switches, they externally feature very little identifiable or distinguishing characteristics. As stated previously in the Background section of this review, these are among very few Huano switches to feature an entirely blank nameplate making them hard to distinguish even as Huano-made switches, specifically. Beyond this, the four-pin style attachment and bifurcated LED slot with circular indentation in the center are both noticeable but fairly commonplace in this day and age. Internally, there are no architectural differences which appear to provide any improvement or change to the overall feeling of these linear switches, with the only features worth discussing being the extra thick padding underneath the nameplate region and the location of the mold markings in stamps on the east and west edges of the housing rim. Both facing inward, the left-side mold marking is a single capital letter whereas the right-side mold marking is a double-digit number, as can be seen below in Figure 8. To the best of my knowledge, this location for mold markings in top housings is entirely unique to Huano and has not been seen in switches made by any other brand to date.

**Figure 7:** External top housing design of Huano Pineapple switches showing blank nameplate and basic, bifurcated LED slot design.

**Figure 8:** Internal top housing design of Huano Pineapple switches showing lateral mold marking location and thicker construction under the nameplate.

Whereas the top and bottom housings of the Huano Pineapple switches each have their respective unique markings and design features, the stems are fairly standard and contain no details not seen previously in other switches reviewed here. Aside being dustproof and light green in color, the only two features to point to are the slider rails which appear to be thicker at the edges to reduce direct friction between bottom housing and slider rail, and the center pole which has a rather aggressive tier towards its bottom end. While hardly strange in the grand scheme of all modern mechanical keyboard switches, the Huano Pineapple stems are fairly short compared to the general trend of longer style stems being produced today, clocking in at only 12.27 mm in total length. For perspective, the average stem length of all 320 switches I’ve measured to date is 13.01 mm in length, with much of that average being skewed high by recent releases.

**Figure 9:** Front and back side of Huano Pineapple stems showing raised edges to slider rails and short, heavily tiered center pole.

Reportedly made of nylon, the orange bottom housings of the Pineapple switches feature the most in the way of unique and identifiable details, and likely are where the majority of design intent was focused by Huano in the creation of these switches. Internally, the two features of distinctive note are the bottoming out padding present at the base of both slider rails as well as the rather weak south side spring collar. Speaking to these in reverse order, the thin rectangular outcropping does appear to help hold the spring fixed to the center pole hole mast well, though its rather uncommon for switches which have spring collars on either side to have them not at least somewhat cure to contour the curved edge of the spring. As for the bottoming out padding, this is a fairly common occurrence in modern switches I’ve covered on this site, though the shape that these form with their direct connection to the raised ring around the center pole hole mast is incredibly unique. Externally, we are again treated to a two-mold marking construction with a single capital letter on the left and a double-digit number on the right-hand side, just above the LED/diode pinout holes. An additional point worth stressing here, as well, is that the Huano Pineapple switches are five pin in design, making them the first Huano switch of such to come in a PCB-mountable fashion to the best of my knowledge.

**Figure 10:** Bottom housing internal design of the Huano Pineapples showing oddly shaped bottoming out pads as well as short south side spring collar.

**Figure 11:** Bottom housing external design of the Huano Pineapples showing dual mold marking locations as well as PCB mounting pins, which are a first for Huano-made switches.

Push Feel

The Huano Pineapple switches are definitely a harder switch to pin down in terms of their push feeling characteristics than I had initially anticipated, and doubly so when considering the context surrounding these switches. To lay all of that out there for you, I quite literally bought these at $0.24 per switch and had virtually negative expectations for them at that price. That is not to say that I had those expectations of them given previous recent premium offerings that Huano has made, as those have been fairly decent performing with respect to most metrics, but rather any time I can get switches that cheap I expect them to be absolute shit somewhere in the back of my mind. These switches are definitely not that. The first and most noticeable aspect of their linear stroke is their very thin, ever so slightly factory lubed smoothness that makes them not feel scratchy, but also doesn’t make them feel like they’re necessarily lubed either. Once I actually got around to mounting and testing these, however, the actual housing collisions of the Pineapples rapidly took over as their most distinctive feature. While I have no basis to refute the paper thin (and also unsubstantiated) marketing claims of the Huano Pineapples having polycarbonate top housings and nylon bottom housings, I will gladly die on the hill that they don’t. Due in some part to either this marketing being incorrect and/or the housings being incredibly mechanically thin, the housing collisions at top and bottom out are both pointed, firm, thin, and just a touch sharp. That being said, though, they don’t necessarily feel cheaply thin and plasticky either, like is commonly associated with true polycarbonate constructions. As well, the lack of strong resistance from a 45 g. bottom out spring doesn’t exactly help mitigate the perceived sharpness of slamming into the bottoming out at even relaxed typing conditions.

**Figure 12:** Force curve diagram for stock Huano Pineapple switch.

With respect to the cross-batch consistency, I would also say that the Huano Pineapples are fairly good, though not without a slightly higher than average variability. While it may not necessarily be worth cherry picking through a batch for most dedicated custom keyboard builders, roughly 20% or so of my batch had a slightly more muted and firmer bottoming out which was noticeable not just in hand but also when placed into a plate and a case. Surprisingly, however, there was only maybe one or two switches in my entire 110 switch batch which had any spring ping at all and little to no issue otherwise. Given the extended nature of the spring and their light bottoming out weight in the mid to low 40-gram region, I had originally expected these to have some metallic pingy feeling towards their bottom out.

Sound

Treading along the well beaten-to-a-paste path (or is it well-trodden horse?) as established on this website, the sound of the Huano Pineapples does very much fall perfectly in line with their push feeling. What is not well stressed in that section above, however, is just how loud these switches are. The sharpness and pointedness of the bottoming and topping out are easily most apparent in the sound of these switches, making them noticeably stand out among the crowd of modern linear switches that aim to be more quiet and subdued. Unlike the similarity in topping out and bottoming out feeling, there is a slight bit of difference to their sound, with the architecture of the bottom housing likely being the cause of the bottom outs having just a touch more depth and reverb to their sound. As well, there is virtually no spring ping noise present anywhere in the batch, and even so when typing at faster speeds as well. While I sincerely doubt Huano put all that much attention and effort into the design of these switches given their bargain-bin price tag, lack of nameplate branding, and lack of color scheme flair, these very much do remind me of the Kinetic Labs Husky switches which were clearly designed with the intent of being markedly different in their tone, pitch, and overall sound profile. Like the Huskies, the Pineapples very much feel like they were designed to be loud, noticeable, and audibly responsive, in an attempt to differentiate themselves from other linear offerings out there today.

Wobble

There is stem wobble in both the N/S and E/W direction of the Huano Pineapple switches, though it is much more prevalent in the N/S direction. Ever so slightly better than the average modern mechanical keyboard switch, it’s not likely to bother most users who would try and mount and type on these switches, but it’s also not exactly anything to write home about either. Interestingly, as well, there is no top housing wobble across the batch that I received either, something which I had marginal concerns about given the placement of the mold markings on the rim of the top housings which could, in theory, lead to a lack of perfect seal with the bottom housings.

Measurements

If you’re into this level of detail about your switches, you should know that I have a switch measurement sheet that logs all of this data, as well as many other cool features which can be found under the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking on the card above. Known as the ‘Measurement Sheet’, this sheet typically gets updated weekly and aims to take physical measurements of various switch components to compare mold designs on a brand-by-brand basis as well as provide a rough frankenswitching estimation sheet for combining various stems and top housings.

**Figure 14:** Numerical details regarding the stock Huano Pineapple switch force curve diagram.

The latest in the content-adjacent work that I’ve picked up, the new ‘Force Curve Repository’ is now hosted on GitHub alongside the Scorecard Repository and contains all force curves that I make both within and outside of reviews. In addition to having these graphs above, I have various other versions of the graphs, raw data, and my processed data all available for each switch to use as you please. Check it out via the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking any of the force curve cards above.

Break In

Break In Notes

17,000 Actuations

- In an incredibly subtle fashion, at 17,000 actuations the Huano Pineapple switches feel slightly more ‘tacky’ at their housing collisions than their stock counterparts. Had I not opened some other Pineapples prior and saw just how little factory lubrication was present on the stems, I’d have been tempted to chalk this up to lube migration during break in. Ultimately, however, I am not entirely sure this isn’t just a batch-to-batch variation and/or personal testing bias issue.

- There is a noticeable amount of stem wobble in the N/S and especially E/W direction in the Huano Pineapples broken out to 17,000 actuations. It would be enough to likely drop the wobble score by a point or two depending, all things considered.

34,000 Actuations

- At 34,000 actuations, there is effectively no more stem wobble increase nor increase in the tackiness noted in the push feeling for the Pineapples broken in to 17,000 actuations.

- The only notable change at 34,000 actuations that is not present in the stock switches or previous stages of break in is a slight increase in disparity between housing collision sounds. The batch of Pineapples I broke in out to 34,000 actuations largely seemed to have slightly deeper bottom outs than the stock versions of the switch, which would support the lube migration idea even if it is admittedly fairly farfetched.

51,000 Actuations

- Surprisingly, the stem wobble nor push feeling tackiness that was originally noted at 17,000 actuations does not appear to have increased to any real degree out to 51,000 actuations. Based on the fact that these do not appear to be evolving phenomena, I’d imagine simple aftermarket lubing and care could easily mask these issues in the Pineapples if they were to be used in a full build.

- The only real change noted in the Pineapples that were broken out to 51,000 actuations was an increase in prevalence of spring ping. While not by all that much, this batch did have a slight bit more of a pingy noise to them than the stock Huano Pineapples did.

**Figure 16:** Comparative diagram showing lack of change in Huano Pineapple force curve diagram during break in testing.

Comparison Notes to Other Notable Linear Switches

Note – These are not aimed at being comprehensive comparisons between all factors of these switches as this would simply be too long for this writeup. These are little notes of interest I generated when comparing these switches to the Pineapple switches side by side.

Wuque Studio Morandi

- While the Morandis and Pineapples have a similar pointedness to their bottoming out, the bottoming out of the Pineapples is a bit more aggressive both in terms of push feeling as well as sound.

- In terms of overall volume, there’s basically no competition here. The Huano Pineapples are louder and slightly higher pitched than the much more subdued Wuque Studio Morandis.

- Across a batch of both Morandi and Pineapple switches, I would say that both are smooth in their stock form, but not necessarily equivalently smooth. The extremely thin lube application on the Huano Pineapples causes them to feel a tad bit more ‘free’ and light throughout the stroke than the Morandis, even when accounting for differences in push feeling resistance as a function of spring weight differences.

Cherry MX ‘New Nixie’

- While the Cherry MX ‘New Nixie’ switches are smoother than their traditional Cherry relatives, they still do have a touch of scratch that just simply isn’t present in the Huano Pineapples, even with a very think lubricant application.

- With respect to stem wobble, the New Nixies are far superior to the Pineapples in the N/S direction, and only a little bit better in the E/W direction.

- Like in most other comparisons that are drawn up on this list, the housing collisions of the Pineapples are a bit more thin feeling and noticeable than the bottoming out or topping out collisions of the Cherry MX New Nixies.

Novelkeys Dream Cream

- While these switches are still fairly different from each other, the Dream Creams and Pineapples share the most common topping out feeling in terms of solidity of the collision and overall plasticky feeling.

- The Huano Pineapples are just a touch more smooth than the stock Novelkeys Dream Creams, which isn’t all that surprising given the lack of factory lubrication in the broken in Cream switches.

- While the Novelkeys Dream Creams are a bit better than the Huano Pineapples with respect to N/S direction stem wobble, they are also just a bit worse than the Pineapples in the E/W direction.

Invokeys Black Sesame

- When compared directly next to each other, the Invokeys Black Sesame switches feel as if they are on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Huano Pineapples when it comes to housing collisions. While the Pineapples are thin, pointed, and somewhat sharp, the Black Sesames are comparatively duller, flatter, and firmer in their collisions.

- There’s hardly any competition here when it comes to the stem wobble, with the Black Sesames having significantly less N/S and E/W direction stem wobble than the Huano Pineapple switches.

- Much like with the comparison drawn above with the Wuque Studio Morandi switches, while both the Black Sesames and Pineapples are smooth, the differences in degree of factory lube application leads to a very disparate feeling within that scratch-less territory. The Huano Pineapples are noticeably more thin, free, and loose feeling whereas the Black Sesames are slightly thicker and more distinctively lubed in feeling.

Gateron Oil King

- The Gateron Oil Kings, largely speaking, are the superior option to the Huano Pineapples in terms of most performance metrics. This includes stem wobble, general smoothness, and overall cross-batch consistency. This is also not entirely surprising given that this is a comparison from Gateron’s latest and greatest and a seemingly throw away design change by Huano.

- The same points made in comparisons elsewhere in this list about the Huano Pineapples having a thinner, higher pitched, and a looser feeling set of housing collisions as well as thinner factory lubing by comparison also directly applies here to the Gateron Oil Kings as well.

SP Star Sacramento

- The Huano Pineapple switches feel a bit smoother than the SP Star Sacramento switches, both in terms of single switch comparisons as well as across a batch of each.

- While the Huano Pineapple switches have marginally lesser wobble than the Sacramentos in the E/W direction, they also have a slight bit more in the N/S direction than the Sacramentos. In terms of overall comparison of stem wobble magnitude, I would say that these two switches are the most similar of the comparisons made in this original list of comparisons.

- The housing collisions of the Huano Pineapples, yet again, are much more thin, higher pitched, and ‘jump out at you’ than the housing collisions of the SP Star Sacramento switches.

Bonus Round

I don’t really know why, but I was just feeling it for this one. I figured there would be no complaints from any of the readers here, but in the event that there are, feel free to add them to the Reddit thread for this review like every other person who just has to share their opinion about my opinions.

Husky

- While these two switches are the most similar to each other in terms of their thinness and pointedness in their housing collisions, the Huano Pineapples are definitely the more vibrant of these two. Not only are they a bit thinner in feeling than the Huskies, the Pineapples are also significantly louder overall.

- Of all of the switches in the comparison list and the Bonus Round, the Huskies and the Pineapples have the most similar stem wobble in both N/S and E/W directions.

- With respect to smoothness, the Pineapples are just a fair bit more smooth than the Huskies, though ultimately any thought of modifying these with aftermarket lubrication would obliterate this tiny difference.

Huano Spirit Wind

- Surprisingly, the Spirit Wind switches have a more pointed and sharpened bottoming out onto a stem pole than the Huano Pineapple switches. That is not to say, though, that the Spirit Winds necessarily feel more thin, though. Rather, the collision feels much more solid, firm, and concentrated into a singular point of the bottoming housing than in the Pineapples.

- These switches are virtually identical in terms of smoothness, and without opening a Huano Spirit Wind switch, I’d assume it got a similar super thin lubrication treatment.

- While these two switches are very close to each other in terms of their stem wobble, I feel as if the Pineapples have just a hair more stem wobble in both N/S and E/W directions.

Strawberry Jelly V4

- In all reality, the only reason I included this switch on this comparison list is because of a commenter on the only YouTube review I could find of the Huano Pineapple switches claiming that they are “just a recolor of the Strawberry Jelly switches”. Clearly not knowing enough about switches to know that there are four different Strawberry Jelly switches, I’m going to assume this commenter meant these specifically, and by looking at the force curve below I’m going to also assume they are dead wrong. The molds of the bottom housings, alone, aren’t even the same for fuck’s sake, so how this claim got made seriously is just beyond my understanding.

- Further separating the Strawberry Jelly V4 switches from the Huano Pineapples, the Jellies also share the same comparison note pointed out above in the Spirit Winds when it comes to housing collisions. The Huano Pineapples are simply much thinner, sharper, and louder on the ears than the Strawberry Jelly V4s.

Scores and Statistics

Note – These scores are not necessarily completely indicative of the nuanced review above. If you’ve skipped straight to this section, I can only recommend that you at least glance at the other sections above in order to get a stronger idea of my opinion about these switches.