Comparison of Doll Sweet's EX-lite and Happy Doll's HA-160

In this Comparison of two lightweight dolls I'll be discussing the pros and the cons of Doll Sweet's EX-lite and Happy Doll's HA-160/R. Both share a life-sized body height and a weight of less than 15 kg, so they are perfect candidates for a match.

The EX-lite comes from Japanese-Chinese manufacturer Doll Sweet (DS) and is the first doll of her kind made by DS. It is a completely new development. She was introduced in December 2016 after several months of field-testing in mainland China. This doll is explicitely designed as an alternative to inflatables.

The HA-160 comes from Chinese manufacturer Happy Doll (HA). She has a rather long heritage, and her sisters have been around for years. The HA dolls have undergone a continuous model care, enhancing the doll with features like silicone breast implants and a better skeleton.

The base variant is the HA-160/F which is solely made of fabric. She comes with an lightweight Anime/Manga head. The variant HA-160/S has gel-filled breasts implants, and the HA-160/R has as well gel-filled breast implants as a (not so lightweight) silicone head with realistic facial features.

However, the closest competitor for the EX-lite in regard to the used materials would be a Candy8teen doll like ›Amber‹ - she's also made of polyurethane (PUR), but has some kind of silicone coating. However, since the C18 dolls do not have a skeleton and are longer be made, I will only mention them parenthetically.

Overall appearance and first impressions

The appearance of both dolls is nice. In both cases, opening the box might be slightly irritating. The Happy Doll ladies are folded to a cube, and it's every time astonishing that the skeleton safely survives this unharmed. The EX-lite comes dismantled in a carton designed for display. The HA-160 is in one part, after you put the head onto her body, the EX-lite is a torso with a head for the moment of unpacking; you have to connect the arms and legs first to get a complete human-like body.

Visually, the EX-lite is clearly more realistic. From a distance, she looks comparably realistic like a PUR or fiberglass manikin. Like all Happy Dolls, the HA-160 has an undeniable inheritance from a line of fabric dolls. That includes some seam lines on the sides, and a zipper on the back.

Like the Candy8teen ›Amber‹ doll, the EX-lite has a couple venting holes. Contrary to ›Amber‹, where these holes have several centimeters diameter, the venting holes in the EX-lite are hardly visible. However, they are areas where humidity could potentially enter the PUR foam under the coating.

Weight & haptics

The body surface of both dolls is non-sticky and non-tacky; no powdering required - this is a major advantage over most TPE and silicone dolls. They both feel, at room temperature, warmer than their TPE or silicone counterparts - another huge advantage.

Happy Dolls have a skin made of sythetic fabric, so you can feel a texture. The EX-lite's PUR surface is smoother, but doesn't feel like plastic. In areas that bend, both dolls show wrinkles.

Sidenode: As well the EX-lite as the HA-160 is miles away from the plastic appearance of the C18 ›Amber‹ doll, and both dolls are significantly softer and more pleasing when touching than anything C18 has ever produced.

The complete body of the EX-lite is made of a homogenous PUR foam. There are no areas with a different hardness or softness. Opposed to that, the HA-160/S and HA-160/R have super-soft breast implants, filled with silicone gel. These breasts feel nice and invite fondling. Touching the breasts of the EX-lite feels more like grabbing a foam object with a nice shape, but hardly give a haptic stimulation.

Head & neck connector

The one available head for the EX-lite is a variant of the Kayla silicone head. It's an aristocratic face with an earnest expression. The material of the face matches the material of the body, which is nice. Currently, there are neither alternative heads nor variations available. The only possible modification would be to replace the 24 mm full round eye balls. As the factory ships them, they are brown, but this kind of eyeballs is available on the aftermarket in different colors as well, e.g. from Secrist.

Happy Doll builds fabric dolls with cute Anime/Manga faces. They can be designed to smile, cry, show surprise and lots of other expressions of a cartoon character, but they alwas remain fantasy creatures. The ›Miyu‹ silicone head is different; it has realistic facial features and regular human eyes. This head has a different material than the rest of the body and the heavier weight on the more lightweight body gives an odd impression of mismatch. But Miyu has a tender smile I grow very fond of. It's a face I like to look at.

The variations available for the HA-160 body cover a huge area. If you are after a unique style, the HA-160 is clearly the better choice.

Both dolls come with proprietary neck connectors. The HA-160 has a neck stub without locking mechanism. The head of the EX-lite is put onto a neck connector with a rudimentary locking mechanism which is not compatible with the regular DS spigot-type head connector. Though, the EX-lite's head won't fall off by itself. The silicone ›Miyu‹ head sits rather tight on the neck stub, but it can fall off, e.g. when the doll bends too far sideways or backwards.

The ›Kayla‹ head of the EX-lite comes with a slightly open mouth, hinted teeth and even the tip of a (silicone) tongue. The ›Miyu‹ head has a closed mouth without hinted teeth, but there is a very narrow cavity behind the lips which could possibly accomodate for a 3rd party tongue.

By default Doll Sweet's silicone heads can not be connected with the EX-lite neck connector.

Theoretically, the eyes in both heads are removeable. If you try this with the EX-lite head, you risk tears on the sides. Miyu's silicone head is more solid, but you risk damaging the sewed eye lashes when trying to remove the eyes.

Skeleton, poseability & range of movement

Both dolls have a poseable skeleton. The EX-lite has a high-tech skeleton made of POM, the HA-160 has a conventional skeleton design. Both dolls can bend the neck and move the head, the elbows, the knees, the wrists, and the ankles. Both doll's feet even accomodate to high heels, opposed to the so called "standing skeleton" as found in many TPE dolls.

However, due to the construction of the dolls, both designs have a couple of limitations.

The HA-160 has poseable fingers which can hold small object; the hands of the EX-lite are floppy and do not have a maniphalanx, but their given pose is more elegant than anything you could accomplish with the hands of a Happy Doll.

The EX-lite can be dismantled by removing her limbs. One of the biggest issue with this doll is that the limbs don't sit tight and tend to fall off by itself. As a workaround, DS ships the doll with little nylon tubes; they are intended to make the connection tighter, but don't work always that way. A locking mechanism, as known from manikins, would have had advantages in easier securing the limbs. Though, the disconnecting limbs might be an intentional design to avoid breakage of the POM skeleton which might be hard to repair.

The attached arms and legs show not always, but sometimes, a gap. If you put her into clothes, these gaps will be hard to notice.

In both dolls, the material can work against certain poses. That's most obvious in the EX-lite which always returns more or less to the body shape she was molded in - with slightly spread and raised legs (when laying on her back). The joints are not tight enough to force her to close the legs for extended periods of time or to stand straight.

Happy Dolls have similar issues like this, but they can stand straight, sit on their butt and close their legs. They even can raise their arms over the head. But the skeleton restricts certain arm movements.

In regard to posing, both dolls are not entirely perfect. Though, the intended usage as a sex doll is more obvious in the EX-lite than in any of the Happy Dolls. Because of the default posture, it's hard to cloak what the EX-lite is made for. It will be a challenge in photography to find angles where the EX-lite doesn't look like a sex toy.

Standing capability

With some support, both dolls are able to stand on their own feet, including standing in high heels. They need a 3rd point of contact for that, like a column or a wall they can lean on.

However, the silicone head of the HA-160 impedes posing as the weight is not balanced through a skeletal neck connector. The fabric heads are much better if you want this doll to keep a standing pose.

The posture of the EX-lite is less than appealing when you try to make her stand. She can lean on a wall, but the upper body sinks down, resulting in a posture similar to a gorilla. As it seems, she is just not designed to be a manikin. However, in photography there might be some workarounds to get nice shots if you work quickly enough - you "just" need to get the picture before the EX-lite's body shape returns into her gorilla-shape.

Body details

The EX-lite has significantly more body details than the HA-160. E.g., her fingers have glued-on finger nails, and her toes have glued-on toe nails. As well arms and legs are apleasure to look at. In closeups, they look significantly better than a fiberglass manikin.

The eyes in the ›Kayla‹ head are full-round 24 mm plastic eyes without a spring mechanism for moving, but they are not glued into the eye sockets; the line of sight can be adjusted rather easily. The face has makeup, eye brows, and eye lashes - much more details than any inflatable could possibly have.

The HA-160 has neither finger nor toe nails. Her hands and feet look - well - like a plush doll and are not particulary photogenic. They always keep their clumpsy appearance, which might be considered cute - but it is not particulary elegant.

The eyes in the ›Miyu‹ head are moveable, but adjusting the line of sight is a challenge a the eye balls do not slide well on silicone. The head comes with some makeup (lipstick), and stitched eye lashes and stitched eye brows.

The EX-lite comes by default with pubic hair. It's the same patch DS offers for their silicone dolls. The patch can not be removed.

Fot the HA-160, there is no pubic hair option.

Equipment for sex

Both dolls come with a vagina insert. The default insert of the EX-lite is small and rather hard to get into the doll. The insert of the HA-160 is relatively huge and can be inserted pretty easy.

The insert for the HA-160 has a diameter of about 11 cm and is ~17.5 cm long. It weights ~570 g.

The default factory insert for the EX-lite has a diameter of about 6 cm and is ~17 cm long. It weights ~260 g. According to Doll Sweet's specs, the internal depth of the insert is 15 cm.

Both dolls do not have an anal cavity, so they are not designed for anal sex.

The silicone Miyu head has a very small mouth cavity. I don't know if it's supposed to be used for oral sex, but in case you are going to try this, you will have a very hard time. The Kayla head of the EX-lite has a very small mouth cavity, but you can not have oral sex with her. Neither the width and depth, nor the PUR material is designed for that.

Cleaning & storage

Cleaning is an issue with both dolls since neither of the dolls can take a shower. Proven cleaning methods for all Happy Dolls include applying an "upholstery cleaner", available as spay and shampoo, in combination with a brush. This usually gets rid of stains and most other visible dirt.

Cleaning the coated PUR of the EX-lite is largely an unknown territory. DS recommends to use a sponge and typ water. If you want to disinfect your dolls from time to time, probably neither the EX-lite nor a Happy Doll should be your first choice.

The EX-lite comes with a silicone insert, the material of the HA-160 insert is probably TPR. Cleaning the inserts is easy. Both inserts can be cleaned under running tap water or with a mild hand soap. Occasionally applying some disinfectant, followed by washing residue off with tap water, should be harmless for both types of inserts. In regard to cleaning the supplied inserts, both dolls are identical to their silicone or TPE counterparts.

In regard to storage, the HA-160 is uncomplicated. You can fold her to a cube, like she is shipped, or just put her almost anywhere you like. The EX-lite wants to be dismanteled, and the body parts needs to be protected to avoid scratches and tears. The carton the EX-lite comes in is not well suited for storage as it's a bit bulky and not really easy to get all body parts back into the packging.

Neither the EX-lite nor the HA-160 can be hung on a doll stand. They both don't have an eye bolt or a neck bolt for hanging.

Manual and documentation

The EX-lite comes with a written documentation. The assembly and the permitted range of movements is documented online.

The HA-160 does not come with any kind of documentation, neither printed nor online.

Warranty

The EX-lite explicitely comes without manufacturer warranty. This could be considered a warning sign in regard to longevity and the expected lifespan.

The HA-160 has the usual amorphously limited manufacturer warranty of most other dolls made in China.

Care & repair procedures

Care & repaire procedures for coated PUR are largely unknown at this time. Traditionally, to glue torn PUR foam together, epoxy resin is used. So far it us completely unknown if and how the coating can be restored.

Repairing a HA-160 requires either sewing skills (for the body), or vanilla silicone glue (for the Miyu silicone head). However, as experience from the Happy Dolls available for years shows that repairs are rarely necessary.