Personally, after trying all the major Cherry switches except MX White (red, blue, brown, black, green, clear), I don't find browns terribly disappointing, but I would much rather use blues, greens or clears. I do feel that the tactile action of brown switches can provide useful feedback, although the small bump reduces the usefulness of this feedback in relation to MX clears for example. As someone who tends to float keys while gaming, I find the tactile bump to be very useful, as they give me a firm indicator of where I am in my stroke in relation to the actuation point.
In terms of distance to actuation and bottom out, all stock MX switches should have the same characteristics (2mm actuation, 4mm bottom out). With tactile switches, the tactile bump comes just before the actuation point -- once you pass the tactile bump, actuation occurs very quickly. MX browns have a tactile area between 1mm and 2mm depression, with actuation at 2mm depression.
I feel that the value of brown switches is as a starting point. They're a decent middle ground, which allows people to determine in what direction the would like to move for future boards (i.e. do you want a board that's more/less tactile, would you want audible feedback, would you want a heavier switch, etc). However many people are also happy with brown switches all on their own, and never feel the need to try and get something different.
