Hi Maledicted, thanks for the bienvenue message !
You're very welcome.
The fact that we have different perceptions of what should be a keyboard is a nice thing, because we can discuss about it ! (Even if i am a noob )
I agree. I also find it to be something that people can be passionate about, and have differing opinions on, without a conversation descending so easily into a morass as many other topics.
Yes I have tried some, and i'm currently looking for a comparaison plate for opening my switch culture. For the moment, my favourites are Cherry MX Blue (For their clicky sound and their hard pressure to apply) and the Cherry MX Brown. I suppose that you should have tried a lot of them, then what are your favourite ones ?
When you say comparison plate, do you mean a switch tester? I think
this 130 switch tester is a good value, and it covers
most of the bases, but none cover them all. It has some pseudo-boutique switches, like Everglides, which seem really smooth to me. I don't have any of the more popular factory lubricated boutique switches to compare them to though.
I used MX blues happily for years and years myself, those and MX reds. I think that once you've tried a wider array of switches, you'll find them to actually be quite light. There are those who end up swapping lighter springs into switches that are typically stiffer though as well, as most people do not end up sticking with the most common MX switches in the long run, although MX brown is an occasional exception. I think MX clear is more popular amongst tactile lovers because it is a lot smoother out of the gate, with a more pronounced tactile bump. They have stiffer springs though without swapping them for something lighter.
I like mostly clicky switches with relatively sharp tactility. I usually have a preference for relatively stiff tactility as well, although that doesn't seem to be universal (depending on how you define it). As such, I love mostly vintage switches like SKCM blue Alps, beam spring and capacitive buckling spring, for which I don't think there are any modern equivalents. Matias (clones of simplified Alps) and box thick clicks (particularly jade and navy) come pretty close for me. Of all of these, unfortunately, only box switches have any MX compatibility in terms of boards and caps. If you're used to MX blue, you may like trying box whites, pinks, or pale blues if jades and navies are too stiff. The whole family is wonderfully crisp and refined, and enjoyable to type on. As an added bonus pinks and jades are surprisingly bassy for a clicky switch, which is not common at all with any clicky, new or old.
Other great ones I have tried are NEC blue ovals, SMK second generation and Hi-Tek "space invaders". I prefer all of these to Cherry MX ... but they're also all weird proprietary ye olde switches. Gateron and Outemu make fantastic affordable clone switches of MX blue though that eliminate the rattle and are more stiff and crisp in terms of tactility.
As far as tactiles go, I'm not a huge fan of them in general because the MX variants are almost exclusively a relatively rounded bump (so I haven't really put effort into trying many boutique MX tactiles that are popular). I do like the old Alps tactiles and Matias' modern simplified Alps clones though, because the tactile event is still crisp and sharp, though I have found some Matias tactiles to be a little less smooth than the rest of the family. Otherwise, Topre (which you may eventually hear of a lot) is pretty nice for rounded tactility. They're essentially high quality/refined rubber domes, which use a PCB for capacitive sensing (sort of like capacitive buckling spring) instead of the more traditional membrane contacts. Topre is buttery smooth and satisfying to type on, and relatively quiet to boot even without silencing. In general, I prefer nicer dome with slider boards of years past, like Fujitsu Peerless, Focus dome with slider, and NMB dome with slider to MX tactiles or clones as well.
For linears, linears are just linears to me. I'm still rocking my very first (known) mechanical keyboard with my gaming rig, a Corsair K70 with MX reds. I haven't replaced them, in spite of the fact that I could get a bit stiffer switches that I don't actuate accidentally from me resting my fingers on them, or were smoother, because they're not
that much worse than any other linear. I imagine if I liked linears for typing, I would use something else. Complicated Alps and Matias linears are quite nice (although I would argue that the Matias ones are sort of tactile). Even the cheap Gateron MX clones seem to me, to be nice and smooth without modification (I don't bother to lube switches or stabilizers myself), and you'll get smoother and smoother from there with the boutique options from what I hear. People seem to love to apply their own lubrication as well though.