[pwnd by Massdrop]

[gak1234]

[pwnd by Massdrop]

[OfTheWild]

Oh dont worry, there will be plenty of group buys for you to spend money on lol

I would pick up a bunch of tactile switches in a switch tester from somewhere like NovelKeys. Then you can compare all of them side by side. That being said, you really dont know what you'll like until you try actually typing on them for a while. I thought Cherry Clears were awesome until i had to type on them for a bit and realized they were too heavy for me. There are a ton of options out there, and even more options when you take into account that you can swap around springs, stems, and housings. A great way to get a feel for something is to go to a meetup locally and try out some stuff that people have built.

I use a fullsize at work, its a Ducky. Really basic, well made, super cheap used. I've desoldered all the switches a few times now to get what I wanted for feels when I'm going to be typing on something for 50 hours a week. If you find something you like, dont let something like switches stop you from using it.

[pixelpusher]

If you want to get to know switches fast I would agree to grab the biggest switch sampler from
Novelkeys.  Once you find a switch you think you like then you could try more of them on a full board.  I recommend a hot swap switch board like one from Glorious gaming for real world testing mx switches. May not look great, but the hotswap ability is very helpful.

Welcome to Geekhack. 

[Kavik]

I have a switch tester with MX Tactile Gray and MX Clear, but I have not tried a full keyboard with either. I recently built a keyboard with 67g Zealios. As far as individual key feel goes, I'd say the Zealio is right between them in terms of tactility, but a lot smoother. I usually prefer heavier switches myself, but, IIRC, the 78g Zealios are heavier but not as tactile. I have not tried finding tactile grays, but Zealios might be easier for you to source if you're willing to solder.

As far as keyboard choice goes, I'd say get whatever looks cool to you. There's not really a lot of difference in consumer keyboards in terms of features. I personally hate media keys and lighting modes other than on and off; what else is there besides programmability and build quality? It's not often that there are fullsize GBs as far as I can tell, so, if you're looking for a hefty metal custom, TKL is probably as big as you'll get.

That said, the best switch I've found so far is buckling spring. Nothing really compares to it (if you get a good specimen), but it's really loud, and you can't really customize IBM keyboards with fun colors and keycaps.

[pixelpusher]

Good point about media keys, Kavik.  Whether you like them or not, don’t let that effect your choice of keyboards.  Using a program called autohotkey, you can easily add them to your keyboard if needed.  Also, I forgot to mention that you should try to get a keyboard with a standard layout.  Otherwise you will have a hard time finding new keycaps for it. 

Google standard layout mechanical keyboard if you need more help there.