Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape Switch Review

I know that the gap between this review and the previous one was only a single week longer than it normally is, but to me it has felt quite a bit longer. On one incredibly boring and painful hand, this personal time dilation has been due to my work life picking up quite a bit in recent weeks. Being towards the end of our fiscal year and with a strange influx of orders for this point in the year, I’ve been spending noticeably more hours in the office than in previous weeks and this surely isn’t helping time fly by. On the other, much more exciting hand, I’ve been traveling quite a bit in my time off and most recently in the form of a road trip over to Rhode Island for the Cannonkeys meetup! Managing to actually escape the office for a few days a couple of weeks ago, I took the nice ten-hour road trip over to the east coast to see if it lived up to all of the hype it has online as well as finally meet up with a bunch of vendors, designers, and fellow keyboard enthusiasts that I’ve not had the chance to meet in person with yet. To say that it was a blast would be an absolute understatement, as I had fun from the first few hours of rolling into town all the way up until the minutes before I hit the long road back home to Ohio. As is tradition for my review post meetup, let me share some of my interesting sights from the trip to the Cannonkeys meetup in picture form:

**Figure 1:** Dune Brothers Lobster Roll and fries - my first lobster roll and favorite meal I had while I was there.

**Figure 2:** A Dunkin' Donuts themed 60% keyboard that won the best overall keyboard of the meetup.

**Figure 3:** Alchemist Keyboards OGR Polycarbonate back case designed and owned by friend of the website James.

**Figure 4:** Tactile Zine table from CBA88 featuring a recent release with some really super cool people interviewed in it...

**Figure 5:** Personal collection photo on a nearly 10-foot-long bar that Cannonkeys so graciously allowed me to setup on!

Regarding the rest of my keyboard related plans for the remainder of 2023, I think that the Cannonkeys meetup will be my last meetup I attend this year. While this is a fairly easy claim to stand by given that there are only a few months left in 2023 (somehow), I think that ending this year’s keyboard tour on this high note would be a perfect way to wrap up what has been quite a crazy and wild year in my personal life. With trips to Ohio, Chicago, Novelkeys, and Cannonkeys meetups this year I’ve attended 2005 more meetups than I had in any previous single year in addition to moving across the country and starting a new job. Quite frankly, that’s more excitement than I would ever expect to get in any year, much less one that isn’t even over yet. Those of you who I met, held conversations with, and hung out with after all of those meetups made the experiences and road trips more than worth it, and I’m strongly considering attending at least a few of those meetups again in person next year. Or maybe I may make it out to a few other ones somewhere else in the US, who knows…? The warm wishes, stories about switches, and every demonstration of stuff from the collection in between have more than made me ready to wrap this year up writing switch reviews and I’m glad to finally be back into a regular schedule of things. As for all of you who I didn’t meet but are here reading this review as well, know that your readership here is holding up the other end of my excitement for another complete year in reviewing switches. So, without holding it up any further let me finally get back to it since I’m already a week behind…

Switch Background

Well, this switch is going to have one strange background section – that much I can say confidently. As for the stuff I feel less confident on, let’s start with the name of these switches: Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes. While I’m quite sure that this is the actual name of these switches, given that I received them directly from Moyu Studio who is evidently championing this release based on their name, a precursory Google search of them has them for sale on KPRepublic under the name ‘Cyan Snow Vines’ rather than Snow Grapes. Shaking off this ominous start to a confusing backstory, Moyu Studio has these linear switches listed for sale as having roughly 58g springs and two different custom mixed housing combinations for the top and bottom housings and being made by ‘Wikuo’, a name not ever really associated with switch production to the best of my knowledge. Readers of previous switch reviews on this website may recognize this name, though, based on its association with Wikuo Harmony switches made by up-and-coming manufacturer LICHICX – the same production house that XCJZ has seemingly been a fan of over the past half a year of switch releases. With the stage set for those switches and their through-lines connecting them drawn, let’s go ahead and briefly touch on the first of the trio of names associated with these Snow Grapes in Moyu Studio.

**Figure 6:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches as they arrived in their packaging.

Starting at some point in 2020, Moyu Studio is an eastern-located but western-facing keyboard and switch vendor which has seen mild success and commercial relevance over the past few years compared to other vendors started roughly at the same time. While they have helped facilitate the sales of keycap sets from smaller designers/brands such as G Keycaps and Domikey, the bread and butter of their business appears to be focused on switches, with a large emphasis on porting more eastern-facing brands and releases to western audiences. In the middle of connecting those two disparate switch audiences, Moyu Studio has also been responsible for a few ‘custom’ switch offerings, the earliest of which was the translucent, incendiary red Queen switches made by Durock/JWK around the middle of 2021. Following middling success with these switches, they’ve since release Green Snake switches in 2022 as well as are continuing production on a ‘Greek God’ themed family of switches which first started in 2021 with the all-blue Poseidon switches and have been since followed up with Hades and Hera switches in 2022 and 2023, respectively. With Moyu Studio claiming ownership of the ‘Wikuo’ branding, as we will see in the next paragraph, this Snow Grape switch collaboration with eastern switch collector and designer XCJZ constitutes somewhere between the 6th and 9th switch which Moyu Studio will have been responsible in designing as of the time of writing this review.

**Figure 7:** Various switches released by Moyu Studio over the years including Green Snake (Light Green), Queen (Red), Hades (Dark Green), and Poseidon (Blue).

See, now this is where the background of these switches gets a bit confusing, as if it wasn’t already bad enough. According to the Interest Check for the Snow Grapes switches published by Moyu Studio on ZFrontier on July 7th of 2023, they are effectively the founders of Wikuo, making Wikuo a sub-brand of Moyu Studio. With their further claim that Wikuo made these new Snow Grape switches, confusion arises from the fact Wikuo Harmonies – which bear a ‘Wikuo’ nameplate – were made by LICHICX, a manufacturer separate from Moyu Studio. So if all things here are true, that makes Wikuo a sub brand of Moyu Studio, a manufacturer of switches, and the nameplate used on switches made by LICHICX, whom is a separate factory that XCJZ appears intimately friendly with. Knowing full well that this likely isn’t the case, allow me to present the following piece of information to help provide my take on the interplay and connection of these three parties:

**Figure 8:** Bottom housing external design and mold marking comparison between Durock Lupine (Left) and Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape (Right) switches.

**Figure 9:** Top housing and stem comparison between Durock Lupine (Left) and Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape (Right) switches.

On the left you’ll see the bottom housing exterior of a Durock/JWK-made Lupine switch from 2022 and on the right, you’ll see a Snow Grape switch supposedly “made” by Wikuo. As can be clearly seen in Figures 8 and 9 above, these two switches share identical mold marking locations on the bottom housings, identical winglatch style top housings, and incredibly similar stem shapes – all features which suggest they are made by the same factory. Previously, all of the aforementioned switches made by Moyu Studio have been through a singular manufacturer, which I’m sure everyone could clearly guess correctly based on my build up as Durock/JWK. So, while the Snow Grapes are listed as having been made by Wikuo, I suspect that they are more reasonably were made by Durock/JWK. As for the association with LICHICX, I assume the Harmony switches were a single time collaboration much like with how XCJZ has made switches with other brands besides LICHICX, such as BSUN. However, in order to hedge my bets in the event that I am utterly and completely wrong in the matter, I’m still going to refer to these as being made by an ‘Unknown’ manufacturer for the time being…

**Figure 10:** While a bit exaggerated, this definitely is how I felt on the inside writing that last paragraph.

As for the timeline of the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches, even that is mired in a crazy conflation of various sources. Officially, these switches were teased via Interest Check on ZFrontier first on July 7th, making that the earliest known time frame in which they entered the public domain. However, collectors on the Switchmodders Discord server appear to have received these switches in a hands-on fashion as early as July 17th, not only 10 days after the ‘interest check’ for the switches but nearly a whole month ahead of the Snow Grape Geekhack Interest Check on August 15th. Clearly for sale on KPReupblic as of the time of writing this review, the Snow Grape switches have yet to see any official sales release by Moyu Studio or any of the half dozen brands proxying the sale of these switches, making their release date, as well as question as to how I received my set, even further confusing if you ask me. All I can say with any degree of certainty is that they come out… soon...? While the pricing was not discussed at any point in these Interest Checks or postings by Moyu Studio, some perspective can be gained by the KPRepublic sale which has them listed between $0.43 and $0.50 per switch depending on whether packs of 35, 70, 90, or 110 are purchased.

Snow Grape Switch Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes come in a light blue and light purple colorway, with the stems taking up the light purple color and the light blue being similarly shaded in a translucent top housing and opaque bottom housing. As was referenced in the Switch Background section of this review, these switches are dustproof in appearance with winglatch style top housings, but otherwise carry no distinctive features that could easily help separate them from a similarly colored switch. All finer details, or lack thereof, at a sub-part level are much more easily explored upon examining the individual switch components, which we will do below.

**Figure 11:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches and their components.

Looking first at the top housings of the Snow Grape switches, these translucent blue winglatch style housings come made of a “custom milk blend” material and with very little outwards ornamentation. In fact, the only features of distinctive note besides their bottom housing connector style is surrounding the LED/diode slot. The actual slot, itself, is thin and rectangular with both a centered rectangular bifurcation and centered circular depression, which is not altogether uncommon among modern MX-style switch releases. What is a bit uncommon, though, is the location of the mold markings for the top housings on the exterior of the housing on the left- and right-hand ends of the LED/diode slot. On the left side, the Snow Grapes feature a sideways, capital letter mold marking and on the right side they feature a two-digit number marking. In addition to being uncommon locations for mold markings in general, these are especially uncommon for Durock/JWK made switches, being much more common to see in switches produced by KTT. As a result of this external marking location, the internal structure of the Snow Grapes is incredibly barren and features no particular points of note worth mentioning in text.

**Figure 12:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switch top housing external design showing bifurcated LED slot design and left- and right-hand mold markings surrounding it.

**Figure 13:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switch top housing interior design showing lack of distinctive markings other than the small internal blips at the point of topping out to accommodate the stems' unique shape.

Moving next to the stems of the Snow Grapes, these are at least a touch more exciting than the top housings in terms of their specific details. An incredibly light touch, that is. Coming in on the longer side at 13.45 mm in total length as compared to a 362-switch average stem length of 13.03 mm, these POM-based dustproof stems are fairly mundane with respect to most features. They have non-tapered slider rails, a strong tiered center pole, and no obvious mold ejector imprints on either the normally shaped front or back plates of stem. That lightly interesting touch to the stem design, though, comes by way of the nearly imperceptible bumps on the top of both slider rails. While the functional effect this brings to the topping out of the switches would be dubious at best due to their incredibly small feature size relative to the slider rail width, and the fact that the top housing interiors have little notches at the top to accommodate this nub like a puzzle piece, it is at least an interesting concept to help reduce the topping out footprint in similar fashion to the center pole-only bottoming outs. As for factory lubrication, while it is list as “mild” on the packaging and is definitely present to the touch, it is incredibly difficult to photograph and more along the lines of what most manufacturers would consider as ‘light’ coverage.

**Figure 14:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes showing non-tapered slider rail bottoms, heavily tiered center pole, and small top-side bump on the slider rails.

Finally arriving at the bottom housings we arrive at the most structurally interesting portion of the Snow Grape switches. Coming in an opaque, light blue color, these “mixed nylon” bottom housings come in 5 pin configuration and feature mold details externally that are more in line with Durock/JWK production as shown above. Internally, though, the bottom housings are interesting in that they have north and south side spring collars, some extra support padding around slider rails, and some vertical north to south grooves on the edges of both the north and south-side spring collars creating a sort of ‘centered third’ design. It is also worth noting that the upper rim of the bottom housing interiors do not feature any mold ejector circles and instead only have a few shiny, differently textured areas on the bottom housing upper rim. Externally, aside from the three-digit mold marking underneath the upper PCB pin, these switches don’t feature all that much that is unique nor interesting.

**Figure 15:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape bottom housing internal design showing north and south side spring collars and vertically divided bottom housing base design.

**Figure 16:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape bottom housing external design showing three-digit mold marking located under the upper metal PCB pin.

Push Feel

For having a visually light application of factory lubrication, the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches are quite smooth linears, and so much so that this stands out as one of their more defining characteristics when trying them in hand for the first time. While the stroke is definitely more so on the ‘this feels lubed’ side of the smooth spectrum, the majority of the linear stroke for almost all switches in this batch feels consistent and does not register as gummy or resistive in any way. That being said, though, there is some degree of variation in about 10% of the batch of switches I received, with the later end of the just above the bottom out having a slightly stickier feeling that also does translate a bit into the sound of the Snow Grapes as well. While not entirely unexpected for modern, MX-style switches, it is a touch disappointing in a vacuum given how decently well these switches are lubed otherwise. As for their spring weighting, force curves for the Snow Grapes have them reading slightly lower than their advertised 58 gf bottoming out, ranging anywhere from approximately 50-55 gf with no greater variability on this point than is expected or commonly seen in switch springs.

**Figure 17:** Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape force curve diagram.

The housing collisions for the Snow Grape switches, unlike the linear portion of their stroke, is a bit more surprising in a positive sense. Whether it be as a result of the two-tone housing material construction or perhaps the small pips on the top of the slider rails, the housing collisions are incredibly well balanced with the topping out feeling only marginally more thinner than that of the bottoming out. As a whole, these collisions are pretty firm and singular, punching pointedly at their respective ends without coming across as aggressive or sharp as more dedicated-to-the-collision long pole switches. At higher actuation speeds there is a touch of increased separation between the topping and bottoming out as a result of the topping out drifting more towards the sharper end. However, with all things considered this is far from the largest drift I’ve seen in reviews of switches I’ve done on this website.

Sound

Without a doubt, the most interesting aspect of the Snow Grape switches which jumped out to me upon testing them in hand is the combined overall sound that their similarly balanced yet just so slightly different housing collisions bring. When typed on at a moderate pace, these linear switches truly produce a medium loud ‘snapping’ style sound that is very singular on the ears but a rapid combination of a quick, deeper base sound followed by a slightly higher pitched accent. While this snapping does become a bit more aggressive at higher actuation speeds, that subtle drift mentioned in their feeling becomes really apparent in a matching pitch shift that causes the topping out to not only sound sharper but a bit more highly pitched. The sole typing test that exists for the Snow Grapes, as well as personal experience trying them out loosely in other kits here leads me to the conclusion that the overall sound profile for the Snow Grapes is extremely board dependent, as some more hollow boards and cheap caps seem to bring out a thinner, sharper, and more plasticky tone to these switches than not. Even without any sound really present from scratch or that rarely present stickiness near the bottom out, your mileage will definitely vary with the sound you can get out of the Snow Grapes. As for how they sound in hand though, it’s certainly got me intrigued enough to want to try them in various builds.

Wobble

Furthering the ‘all over the place’ sort of vibe that the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes are packing, the average switch’s stem wobble is definitely very small in both the N/S and E/W directions. However, which direction is wobbly and to what degree is seemingly entirely random by the switch. If these are 10% wobbly, any given switch will have that 10% wobble distributed into N/S and E/W directions. Some switches are 5% N/S and 5% E/W, some are 8% N/S and 2% E/W. So, while the stem wobble is not necessarily all that bad on average, the variability, even within that good range, is a lot more than most other switches I remember having tried in recent memory.

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 19:** Numerical details regarding the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape 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 biggest change noticeable in the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches is that the separation in topping and bottoming out tones is much more increased at higher actuation speeds than in stock switches. While its not necessarily all that much of a change, it is enough that I can separate stock from broken in switches based on this detail alone.

- As is expected in the breaking in process for most switches, stem wobble in both N/S and E/W directions for the Snow Grapes increased a bit upon breaking them in to 17,000 actuations.

34,000 Actuations

- At 34,000 actuations, there wasn’t really any increase in either the stem wobble nor the separation in topping and bottoming out sounds over that of the switches broken in to 17,000 actuations. While not completely unheard of it, it is usually the case that at least one of these metrics continues to move past the initial break in period making these Snow Grapes a bit odd on that point.

- The one change which was noticed at 34,000 actuations, and is actually the last change to have occurred in the break in testing I did for the Snow Grapes, was that of some factory lube migration leading to some switches being ever so slightly scratchier in parts of their strokes. While likely not enough to actually affect anyone’s builds if they were using these switches over a long period of time, there was at least enough of a difference that I felt compelled to mention it.

51,000 Actuations

- Very surprisingly, even with changes to feeling, sound, and stem wobble, the Snow Grapes all but seem to have stopped their evolution out at 51,000 actuations. I sincerely doubt that this is the true end to their evolution, though at least for the purposes of this review you can see that there’s quite a bit of time you have before your switches begin to change underneath your fingers.

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 Snow Grape switches side by side.

Cherry MX2A RGB Black

- In a head-to-head comparison of their overall sound, the Snow Grape switches not only sound much more complete, but also more well-rounded and robust in their housing collisions than the comparatively ‘singular’ and plasticky sounding MX2A RGB Blacks.

- Even keeping in mind the variability in stem wobble that does exist across the batch of Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes which I received, they are generally better with respect to wobble in both directions than the Cherry MX2A switches.

- Given that the application of factory lube in the Snow Grapes was around all four sides of the stems and not just in the bottom housings like in the case of the MX2A linear switches, the Snow Grapes are more consistently smooth both in switch and across batch.

Wuque Studio Morandi

- Of all of the switches on this comparison list, the Morandis are the most similar to Snow Grapes in terms of the character and depth of their housing collisions. While the Morandi are slightly more quiet than the Snow Grapes, people who enjoy their Morandis specifically for the sound that they produce at bottoming out are very likely to enjoy the Snow Grapes as well.

- The average Snow Grape switch is comparable to the Morandis with respect to both their N/S and E/W direction stem wobble, though the Morandi switches have a much greater cross-batch consistency to them.

- While both of these switches definitely fall under the category of smooth linears, the Snow Grape switches are missing the subtly scratchy, not quite lubricated enough type feeling that the Wuque Studio Morandis bring to the table.

Gateron Cream Soda

- In terms of overall volume, the Gateron Cream Sodas are the most similar to the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches of any of the switches on this comparison list. Both of these switches, as well, up shift their tone at higher actuation speeds causing them to sound a bit more high pitched and sharper under intense, ‘What the fuck did you just say to me’ copypasta shitposting barrages.

- The average Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switch has less stem wobble in the N/S and E/W directions than the average Gateron Cream Soda switch.

- While these two switches are easily comparably smooth when tried next to each other, potentially due to either the lube application or the housing material differences between them, the Cream Sodas feel just a hair bit more firm and ‘sluggish’ through their stroke.

Novelkeys Dream Cream

- Given the lack of factory lubing in the Novelkeys Dream Cream stock switches, it’s not a surprising claim to make that the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches are the smoother switches when compared head-to-head.

- As well, given that the Dream Creams are far from Kailh’s cutting edge design with respect to mold tolerances and specifications, they have a bit more stem wobble in the N/S and E/W directions than the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes.

- Overall, the housing collisions in the Novelkeys Dream Creams feel a bit more plasticky, jagged, and singular in tone than the more deep, muted, and well-balanced housing collisions in the Snow Grapes.

Jerrzi Fortune

- Part of the reason that I picked these Jerrzi switches for comparison is that they have an end of stroke stickiness which is not only much more noticeable in feeling but also in sound than in the Snow Grape switches. In hand the feeling and sound are similar, though the Snow Grapes present such in a much more subtle and subdued fashion.

- While the Jerrzi Fortune switches are surprisingly comparable to the average Snow Grape switch in terms of their N/S direction stem wobble, the Snow Grapes have much lesser E/W direction stem wobble.

- Both of these switches are smooth linears, though much like with the Cream Soda comparison above the Fortunes just feel a bit more weighted, sluggish, and more forced through their linear strokes than the Snow Grapes.

MODE Obscura

- Both the topping out and bottoming out in the MODE Obscura switches are significantly louder and higher pitched than the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grape switches.

- Much like with the comparison made above to the Wuque Studio Morandi switches, the MODE Obscuras have a subtle scratchiness to their linear stroke which especially stands out when compared to the well lubricated, smooth strokes of the Snow Grapes.

- Whether it is from the leaves or the spring is uncertain, but there is a certain metallic, pingy undertone to the Obscura switches which simply isn’t present in the Moyu Studio x XCJZ Snow Grapes.

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.