XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem Switch Review

I can’t lie at the start of this one, this week leading up to this review absolutely sucked at work. I’m talking about catastrophically bad: come in early, stay in late, and all the meanwhile accomplishing nothing other than stacking up bullshit that I’ll inevitably have to deal with next week. At the least, this makes the weekend somewhat more enjoyable and provides some levity to otherwise annoying household chores like painting the lawn and mowing the house. You know, those things that we all have to do but nobody actually ever feels like doing. I will say, one of the biggest things holding me together through the end of this month is the rapidly approaching double header of the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies, which I will absolutely be taking part in. While I will, of course, only pay for one ticket and sneak into the other showing as you all should do as well, I am still trying to figure out which one I want to see first. Currently I’m leaning on Oppenheimer and then Barbie, but I’m more than willing to hear any sort of feelings on the matter from the Barbie to Oppenheimer crowd.

**Figure 1:** Would Cillian Murphy as Barbie or Margot Robbie as J. Robert Oppenheimer be the better crossover...?

I guess I should probably bring this introduction back around to the relevant topics of keyboard and switches, given that’s why all of you are assumedly here. In addition to the Novelkeys and Cannonkeys meetups which I’m planning to attend in the upcoming months, I’ve recently been suckered into attending the Chicago Keyboard meetup later this month on July 29th. Not planning to stay for any sort of extra time in the days before or after the meetup, I will be couch surfing to save on costs and only bringing some of my keyboards and artisans instead of the normal switch collections which travel with me. Don’t worry though, the second and third largest switch collections in the world will be there and I will just be pretending that I am those collectors the entire time. I’ll even wear two nametags. (Honestly, you won’t even notice the few hundred switches difference between our collections and really neither will I.) In the event that you’re in the area and not signed up for that meetup yet, you should totally grab some tickets and come meet me and all the other awesome keyboard people there. I’ve also heard that this one is supposed to be quite packed with some impressive keyboard and artisan collections as well…

**Figure 2:** You've got to admit that their logo is pretty damn nice.

Switch Background

Admittedly, one of the first things that had caught my attention about these switches when I was shopping around for another switch haul on AliExpress was their full-length name: ‘XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem Switches’. While referring to these as Lotus Stems in passing is more than sufficient to get the point across for most people, I think that there’s a great deal of detail left out when ignoring the ‘XCJZ’ and ‘Jerrzi’ parts of the name. In fact, just these two branding tags alone point down a rabbit hole of context that not only provides some background as to these switches specifically and how they stack up to the rest of the market in this day and age, but also down a branching pathway that focuses on a larger trend underpinning switches in the current mechanical keyboard scene. With that lofty impression settled, let’s take a look at the easier of the two to contextualize with ‘XCJZ’.

**Figure 3:** XCJZ Instagram page as of publishing date.

XCJZ is the name of a switch collector and designer based in China that appears, at the least, to have deep connections to existing manufacturing brands of several different switches. Without much more information known about them by wider western audiences as a lack of their direct interaction on their social media platforms, it is also rumored that they may be an employee and/or direct designer of switches for a particular manufacturer or series of brands. First posting on Instagram in April of 2021, XCJZ has gone on to post over 700 photos of different switches, many of which never released and/or were never made available to western switch collectors or the western keyboard scene at large. In parallel, over those years they’ve racked up quite a following on bilibili, a Chinese video sharing platform, displaying an equally impressive number of new switches and short videos. Given my lack of Chinese knowledge, I suspect that these may partially be reviews, further adding to XCJZ’s designations of collector and designer already attributed to them. While the connection between this collector and designer and the Lotus Stem switches shown here in this review is quite obvious, many people may not have recalled that XCJZ was also responsible for designing the Lucy switches which I reviewed several weeks ago in my LICHICX Lucy Switch Review. As well, it is also believed based on some of these posts on bilibili that XCJZ may be working on a tactile switch with BSUN, a recently resurging switch brand in China, to be released in the coming months.

**Figure 4:** Postings from XCJZ regarding supposed tactile switch collaboration with BSUN.

Pivoting to the second brand tag associated with the Lotus Stem switches, the ‘Jerrzi’ brand of switches carries with it a much deeper connection to the current state of mechanical keyboard switches at large. First appearing to western audiences back in May of 2022, Jerrzi is a fairly new switch brand which reports itself as bring its own distinctive manufacturing facility and switch brand based out of Guangdong, China. However, astute viewers of mine will have noticed that even though I’ve acquired about two dozen of these Jerrzi branded switches over their year of existence, I have yet to classify their manufacturer as anything other than ‘Unknown’. In fact, this seems to be a trend of mine for many switch brands as of late, all of whom are seemingly claiming to be their own facility and brand as well. That is because I don’t believe that Jerrzi is actually its own brand, rather I believe they are a brand pitching themselves as standalone while operating out of the factory of a larger, more established brand.

See, in addition to Jerrzi being based on Guangdong, China, discussions with other switch manufacturers have pointed me to the fact that Huano is also based on Guangdong, China. Or, at the very least, the manufacturers that make the molds for both Jerrzi and Huano just so happen to be based in the same city as each other… Furthermore, Jerrzi has pitched associations with prebuilt keyboard brands of RK and Batknight, recently releasing switches with them that are very much upgraded, higher quality versions of the Huano made RK and Batknight switches from many years ago. Whether or not Jerrzi is a separate brand entity from Huano is not really something I think is up for debate, much in a similar fashion as to how ‘Rantopad’ and ‘Gateron’ are separate from each other, as well as ‘Kaihua’ and ‘Kailh’ are. Unlike Rantopad and Kaihua, however, Jerrzi is a switch brand that came into existence after the explosion of custom switch offerings and the near fever pitch from the worldwide keyboard community for custom colored, unique-to-me style switch offerings. Aiming to meet this increased desire for all things new, different, and customized in switches, I believe that large manufacturers have begun sprouting up new brands and nameplates to help fill this desire for the niche and unique. However, unlike the dusty brands of many years ago with nameplates that have never had a positive identity applied to them, today’s shiny, new switch brands have to have a social media presence, a website, and a gimmick to help them sell themselves. And I suspect that this issue is not just one of Huano and Jerrzi…

Do keep in mind that all of this intertwined conspiracy about a potential Huano and Jerrzi connection is, at best, marginally substantiated conjecture. New manufacturers for switches such as Haimu and Keygeek have popped up in recent years with verified proof of life and older brands such as Huano and BSUN have made “returns from the grave” after not having openly made switches for several years now. However, with supposed connections between brands like Huano and Jerrzi as well as others such as the still fuzzy connection and separation of Tecsee and BSUN from each other, it’s hard to really know for certain where the line between different switch manufacturers lie. With this increased emphasis on unique brand identity as well, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to ever unravel the connections between brands and factories for certain even with the added information that wasn’t available for brands and nameplates from 2014-2016. Is Dongguan Grain Gold an offshoot of Haimu? Are Haimu and Outemu connected in some way? (Hint: Yes) Is SP Star just a subsidiary of JWK? All of these are open questions equally as confusing, if not more so than the connection between Jerrzi and Huano…

**Figure 5:** We need some meddling kids so these manufacturing can't keep getting away with this...

Looping back around to the stable and non-conspiratorial side of my switch interests, the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches are fairly new for both XCJZ and Jerrzi, first making their appearance somewhere in Q2 of 2023 to western switch audiences. While likely available in some sort of semi-public or private sale in China in Q1 of 2023 or before, they are currently available to western audiences via (everyone’s favorite switch gambling) websites such as AliExpress and TaoBao. Priced at $0.35 per switch, these click jacket clickies are on the cheaper side of an already fairly budget friendly brand in Jerrzi and mark the first collaboration between Jerrzi and a specific custom community-related individual or vendor. Given the custom designed marketing and branding surrounding the Lotus Stem switches, their general shelf life and availability to western audiences at large is completely unknown though anticipated to remain for at least a few months before either being updated or removed from production entirely.

Lotus Stem Switch Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches come in an all-black housing with a minty green colored stem. Coming in 5-pin/PCB mount construction, the few sales pages that exist for these switches report them as being entirely made of POM with factory lubrication of both the stem and the 60g bottom out spring. Aside from the more classically inclined colorway of the Lotus Stem switches, these largely appear to be designed in similar fashion to other Jerrzi releases such as their Kyria releases, which feature a bifurcated LED slot with centered circular depression and inverted, raised text ‘JERRZI’ nameplate. Features more indicative of Jerrzi-branded (and Huano made) switches may be found in the sections below.

**Figure 6:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switch and its components.

Looking first to the top housings of the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches, it is remarkable just how similar they are to the Huano Pineapple and Fi switches in terms of their general construction as well as the finer details. Externally, the top housings feature a bifurcated, rectangular LED slot with a centered circular indentation as well as a large, rectangular indentation on the nameplate exactly identical to the two aforementioned Huano switches. Unlike those, however, the Lotus Stems feature an inverted, raised text, all capital letter nameplate reading ‘JERRZI’ for their associated brand. Internally, the Lotus Stem top housings are again identical in design to the Huano Pineapple and Fi switches. Damning similarities between these two include the previously uniquely located mold markings on the left- and right-hand side ridges of the housings. Like the Huano switches, the Lotus Stems have a single capital letter mold marking on the left-hand side of the top housing rim and a one- or two-digit number marking on the right-hand side.

**Figure 7:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem top housing external design showing inverted JERRZI nameplate and bifurcated LED slot with centered circular indentation.

**Figure 8:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem top housing internal design showing identical location of mold ejector marks and mold markings to other Huano-made switches.

Moving next to the stems of the Lotus Stem switches, there are more or less identical in design and execution to other click jacket stems which I’ve covered in reviews on this website. The minty green colored portion of the stem is the fixed upper portion which include the keycap stem mount as well as the barely tapered center pole. The lower, click jacket portion of the stem is milky white in design and features the non-tapered slider rails and tactile stem legs. Upon opening the switches for inspection, it’s worth noting that I did not really notice any factory lubrication on the slider rails (or springs), so if any is present, it is extremely thin at best. There did appear to be the tiniest amount of factory lubrication on the stem legs of the Lotus Stem stems, though this is not uncommonly used to reduce scratch between stem legs and leaves in a switch. While no mold markings or other features were particularly stand out in the design of these stems, I did notice that the stems come from at least two different molds, as there are ones which feature an east side notch in the keycap mounting stem and others which feature a west side notch in the keycap mount.

**Figure 9:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem stems showing two-part clickjacket mechanism, non-tapered slider rails, and barely tapered center pole.

**Figure 10:** Side by side photo of east- and west-notched XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem stems showing existence of at least two different stem molds.

Finally arriving at the bottom housings of the XCJZ Lotus Stem switches, I find it odd to mention that these do not readily appear to be made by Huano both inside and out. Unlike the top housings, the rounded rectangular bottom out dampening pads and flat, barely present south side spring collar are not details which I’ve noted previously in Huano-made switches which I’ve reviewed. Likewise, the usage of three separate single letter mold markings on the bottom exterior of the Lotus Stem bottom housings is not something which I recall having seen on any Huano switches, even in passing. While it is entirely possible that these features are present in some Huano-made switches out there somewhere, these features in and of themselves appear to be commonly associated with Jerrzi branded switches and may stand as a means by which they could be differentiated from Huano switches in the event that they have no distinctive nameplate marking. I also feel that it is worth mentioning, in passing, that the leaves protruding through the bottom housing also have circular indentations around them which is a feature also not present in the Huano Pineapple and Fi switches.

**Figure 11:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem bottom housing internal design showing padded bottoming out regions and eight mold ejector circles along upper edges of housing.

**Figure 12:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem bottom housing exterior design showing PCB mounting pins and locations of three different single letter mold markings.

Push Feel

Is there really anything good that can be said about clickjacket clicky switches? While I’ll be the first to admit that there has been some progress on this mechanism made by brands such as TTC over the past few years, the vast majority of clicky switches still employing this mechanism are just simply not all that good. The XCJZ Lotus Stem switches are, to no great surprise, not an exception to this vast majority either. Speaking to the good fractions of this switch first, though, the marketing regarding their bottom out weight around 60-gram force is fairly accurate and the mechanism in and of itself is a touch more composed and singular than some of the more egregious examples like old Cherry MX Blues and Razer Greens. That being said, though, the click jacket mechanism and surrounding linear portions of the Lotus Stem’s stroke is a scratch factory actively going through demolition. In this analogy, plastic debris from the machinery is going wild, leading to quite a bit of variability both within the actuation of the clicky mechanism itself as well as across the batch of switches I received, and to such a degree that this is especially noticeable when comparing force curves of several stock Lotus Stems against each other.

**Figure 13:** Comparative force curve of three different stock XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches.

As can be seen in the comparison force curve for the Lotus Stems above, the inconsistency in the ‘noisy’ peaks in the basin of the upstroke mechanism dip really highlights just how much switch-to-switch variability one gets in trying these switches out. As well, the offset in the click jacket bump in the downstroke curves shifting up and down fractions of a millimeter does well to highlight this inconsistency too. The one thing not necessarily well denoted in this force curve, though, is that the actual point of clicking, or where many people may intuitively say the mechanism actuates, feels as if it is much later in the downstroke than the 2.00 mm or halfway point. Before analyzing the force curves and seeing this, I had noted down the that click mechanism felt closer to 3/4ths of the way through the downstroke, instead.

Sound

Surprisingly, for as much love and warm feelings as I expressed for the XCJZ Lotus Stem switches in the Push Feeling section above, their sound is not quite as bad as one may expect. While there is all the associated jumbled, plasticky chaos present that one would anticipate with click jacket switches, the mechanism is decently condensed in its sound profile and doesn’t carry the same sharpness in ping that is present in some of the more grating click jacket clicky switches. As well, these are ever so slightly on the quieter side of click jacket switches, with some of the more sharp and pointy tactile switches producing comparable volumes when harshly bottomed out on. (I’m looking at you in particular, Moyu Blacks.) All of that considered, though, the variability between switches is especially well highlighted here in the sound profile of them and leaves me considering why people are choosing to continue using this mechanism in 2023. This curiosity is exponentially increased when considering the amount of switches that XCJZ, the designer of these switches whose name is directly attached to the front of this review, appears to have tried, collected, and documented over the past few years.

Wobble

The stem wobble of the Lotus Stem switches is very close to on par, if not ever so slightly better than the average modern mechanical keyboard switch. Present more in the N/S direction than the E/W direction, the stem wobble present both ways is likely not enough to bother most users but could be problematic for those more sensitive to wobble and/or using tall keycaps which highlight wobbly stems in switches. Without formal comparison, as well, I would say this is fairly on par with both Jerrzi branded and Huano made switches in my limited testing experience.

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.

Note: Due to the articulable, two-piece nature of the click jacket clicky mechanism, measurements are difficult to complete and thus not included in the aforementioned measurement chart. I did my best to make approximations of what measurements I could, though, and have included those in the normal measurement card format above.

**Figure 15:** Numerical details regarding the stock XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem 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

- At 17,000 actuations, the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches became significantly more chaotic sounding and feeling, with increased pingy-ness, scratchiness, and plasticky shard goodness at the point of the mechanism. It is as if they had some sort of magical spell placed on them that made them not quite as bad as more egregious clicky switches which was rubbed away somewhere between stock and 17,000 pushes.

- Interestingly, for all the shifting that did occur in the mechanism in terms of both feeling and sound, there was no increased stem wobble in either the N/S or E/W directions as is commonly seen in switch break in testing here.

34,000 Actuations

- I tell you what, if 17,000 actuations is what it takes to remove the magical spell off of the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches, then 34,000 actuations is what it takes to put a curse on them. These things have an impressive degree of ping that all of a sudden pops up this far into break in that is simply impossible to ignore and hard to imagine was hiding in the stock versions of these switches.

- At 34,000 actuations there is a minor increase in stem wobble that is more so noticeable in the E/W direction than the N/S direction. While hardly the first thing that is picked up on following the steep increase in chaos of the sound of the switches, it is enough of an increase to at least warrant messaging.

51,000 Actuations

- 34,000 actuations appears to be the ‘breaking point’ of the Lotus Stem switches in that that is the point where they become the absolute worst they will possibly be. While I imagine the stem wobble would continue to drift at actuation points beyond 51,000 strokes, it doesn’t appear to have increased all that much more than was previously noted above. Thankfully the sound didn’t get any worse either.

**Figure 17:** Comparative diagram showing no distinctive trend in change of XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem force curve diagrams during break in testing. All variation seen is no greater or lesser than is present in between different stock switches.

Other

The XCJZ Lotus Stem switches come in 35-count switch boxes identical in construction to those first covered in my ‘Fancy Switch… Boxes?’ Short Article. Given the similarity in design between those covered there and these boxes here, I figure I’ll spare this writing keyboard a few strokes and choose to cover the packaging in this section via photographs. The packaging is as received from my AliExpress purchase of the switches in late June of 2023.

**Figure 18:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem box top and side profiles.

**Figure 19:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem box bottom and other side profiles.

**Figure 20:** XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches in Jerrzi branded tray from packaging.

Comparison Notes to Other Notable Clicky 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 Lotus Stems switches side by side.

KTT Purple Sauce

- In a head-to-head comparison, the sound of the KTT Purple Sauce switches is much more singular, focused, and less chaotic than the comparatively crazy XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches. If the Purple Sauce sound, in this instance, was a bit sharp and pointed, it basically makes the Lotus Stems sound like sea urchins by comparison.

- The stem wobble, in both N/S and E/W directions of these two switches are fairly comparable, with neither in particular being great in the context of all modern switches.

- Much like with the more chaotic, jumbled, and plasticky sound of the Lotus Stem switches mentioned above, the feeling of these switches has a bit more of a scratch and grainy quality to its mechanism than the Purple Sauces.

TKC Blackberry

- Of all of the clickjacket and clickjacket adjacent mechanisms on this comparison list, the TKC Blackberries are the absolute furthest from the Lotus Stems in terms of their overall sound. While they do share some of the same plasticky background tones from their mechanisms, the actual clicking of the Blackberries is significantly sharper, louder, and more pronounced.

- In terms of stem wobble, the TKC Blackberries are just ever so slightly better than the Lotus Stems in the E/W direction but comparable in their N/S direction play.

- Even though the Blackberries have a bottom out weight that is only 10 grams heavier than that of the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stems, the Blackberries feel significantly heavier throughout their stroke. If I had had to guess prior to looking at the numbers, I would have assumed closer to a 20–30-gram difference between the two.

Novelkeys Cream Clickie

- These switches might as well be as far apart from each other as humanly possible in terms of both their push feeling and their sound. The Cream Clickies, comparatively, are smooth, elegant, and daintily clicky whereas the Lotus Stems are brutish, scratchy, clusterfucky, since I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in a switch review before.

- Surprisingly, the one point where the Lotus Stem switches have a leg up on the Cream Clickies is with respect to their stem wobble. The Lotus Stems have a touch less N/S and even less E/W direction stem wobble than the Cream Clickie switches.

Kailh Box Jade

- While I feel like the Box Jades are only a touch louder than the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stems in terms of their overall volume, the sharpness to the clickbar mechanism makes them feel as if they are much more piercing and overwhelming than the comparatively softer clickjacket mechanism.

- In regard to their in-hand push feel, the Kailh Box Jades both feel smoother and have a slightly more centered clicky mechanism than the Lotus Stem switches.

- While the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem switches are a bit better than the Kailh Box Jades with respect to their E/W direction stem wobble, they are a bit worse than the Jades in the N/S direction. All things totaled, the differences in stem wobble in both directions causes their overall scores with respect to wobble to come out about the same.

Cherry MX Blue

- Of all of the switches in this comparison list, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Cherry MX Blues and Lotus Stems are the most similar in terms of their overall sound profile. That being said, the Cherry MX Blues I have for direct comparison here, though, do have a bit more jumbled plasticky-ness to their mechanism than the Lotus Stems.

- Hey, at least the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stems are better than the MX Blues when it comes to both N/S and E/W direction stem wobble. That’s as minor of a victory as ever but one definitely worth taking given how the rest of these beatdown comparisons have been.

- Interestingly, even though the MX Blue clicking mechanism appears to both onset later and be shorter lived than the Lotus Stem one in their force curve comparison below, these two mechanisms feel fairly similar to each other in terms of their location, size, and intensity.

Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez (40g)

- Even though the two mechanisms present in the Clickiez and Lotus Stems are wildly different, they have a fairly similar overall volume to them. The noted increased ‘ear presence’ of the Clickiez when comparing their sound directly against each other, though, comes from the extra sharpness to their tone much like with the Box Jades comparison above.

- In terms of their out of the box smoothness, the Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez blow away the Lotus Stems and there’s hardly any room for comparison there.

- The stem wobble of the Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez switches is also significantly better than the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stems, which is not often a comparison point that Zeal switches beat out their competitors on.

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.