Help with Switch decision (Brown vs Black)

[Drbacon]

Looking to get a CM Quickfire Rapid but can't decide on which switch to get. I have tried the red switch which I didn't like it because of how sensitive it is. Will be used mostly to play Quake Live and Starcraft 2, the brown switch I have read is kind of annoying for FPS games however is meant to be the best option for SC2. Would the Black switch be the best middle ground as its not as sensitive as the red and doesn't have the tactile bump like the brown. Willing to pass on the tactile bump if it means having a better keyboard for FPS games. Appreciate any advice on this decision.

[eth0s]

Brown is the best for gaming, don't believe any rubbish you read.  Red isn't really that great for anything.  Black?  meh.  Listen, I don't know much, but I know gaming.  In fact, I dare say that I have spent more time playing video games in the last 15 years, than you've spent sleeping, eating and working combined.  Basically I have no life, and I'm telling you that a tactile bump is good for gaming, which means browns or blues for you, but since u seem to like a heavier switch, maybe you want Cherry MX Clear.  I'm certainly not the Keyboard Oracle, but I would say that you should focus your decision on brown vs. clear.  And if you want to do yourself a favor, and save some time, just get one keyboard with brown switches and another keyboard with clear, b/c you'll end up getting them both eventually anyway.  (Try a blue as well.)  But personally, I wouldn't recommend black or red for gaming.  However, the choice of switches is very subjective, so you have to make your own choice, and in the end there is no wrong answer.  Whatever works for you, is what is best.  But there is a reason why the Cherry MX Brown is the most popular switch.

[Tony]

Definitely brown. Overall jack of all trades, good for RTS games and easily to sell when necessary.

[mechanisch]

Welcome to Geekhack.
Doesn't the Brown switch have the same, or nearly the same- actuation force of Reds?  If Red is already too light, you might not be pleased with the Browns, either.
Switch choice is going to be a personal decision.  Personally I find Red to be the best for both typing and gaming, followed by Black.  Although I can game on blue, its not my first choice by far; although they are indeed very nice to type on.
Cheers,
m

[Armando Penblade]

Brown is the best for gaming, don't believe any rubbish you read.  Red isn't really that great for anything.  Black?  meh.  Listen, I don't know much, but I know gaming.  In fact, I dare say that I have spent more time playing video games in the last 15 years, than you've spent sleeping, eating and working combined.  Basically I have no life, and I'm telling you that a tactile bump is good for gaming, which means browns or blues for you, but since u seem to like a heavier switch, maybe you want Cherry MX Clear.  I'm certainly not the Keyboard Oracle, but I would say that you should focus your decision on brown vs. clear.  And if you want to do yourself a favor, and save some time, just get one keyboard with brown switches and another keyboard with clear, b/c you'll end up getting them both eventually anyway.  (Try a blue as well.)  But personally, I wouldn't recommend black or red for gaming.  However, the choice of switches is very subjective, so you have to make your own choice, and in the end there is no wrong answer.  Whatever works for you, is what is best.  But there is a reason why the Cherry MX Brown is the most popular switch.

I'll repeat myself from an earlier thread with an extra comment at the end:

Remember to take everyone's opinions-as-facts with a grain or six of salt. Things like "reds are better for gaming" or "blues are **** for everything" are deeply personal statements, and people can pull all manner of justifications for these statements out of their rear-ends when they need to.

Consider how *you* use your keyboard and think about what makes sense for you. For instance, many people think that the linearity, heaviness, and "feel" of MX Black switches are terrible for straight-up typing, but when the time came for me to buy a mechanical keyboard to use in an office environment, they were my first choice. I type heavily and quickly, but bottoming out on Cherry switches tends to be noisier (or at least a noticeably different caliber of noise) than rubber domes. As such, the heavy, tough-to-bottom-out MX Blacks would let me maintain my high speed (the heaviness would "spring" my fingers back up) while helping me avoiding bottoming out most of the keys. As such, they'd be plenty of quiet--moreso than so-light-you-bottom-em-out Reds or clickity-clackity Blues, at least.

On the other hand, I'd hate these things for gaming, PERSONALLY. Having to whack the keys that hard would get really annoying, just as it did on my ancient rubber dome keyboard that was starting to wear out after years of abuse. I'd love some Reds or Browns for that . Other folks would HATE that. It's so deeply individual that even extremely strong opinions might be meaningless to you!

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Extra comment: SteelSeries sponsors many pro-gaming teams who therefore use their 6Gv2 and 7G keyboards with MX Blacks to great effect. Linear switches are beloved by many gamers. On the other hand, top Korean Starcraft pros also use Zowie Celeritas with MX Browns. . . AKA, IT'S OPINION, MAN

[pitashen]

Brown is a good start. If you end up hating it, someone on geekhack will be more than happy to adopt it.

In reality, there is no such thing as which keyboard is better for gaming. Korean SC2 Pros are able to compete with rubber dome. Plenty of high level stream players use cherry blues. EG all use blacks (altho not by choice). The truth is our fingers are quite good at adapting to all sort of keyboards you throw at them as long as you give them enough time to get used to it.

[rhalle]

I recently got my first mechanical; I went with a Filco TKL with browns.

It's nice and I'm satisfied with it, but I wouldn't mind if the switches were a little stiffer.

If I had to do it again, I might have gone with blacks-- or even clears.

[Henry Allen Venture]

Will be used mostly to play Quake Live and Starcraft 2, the brown switch I have read is kind of annoying for FPS games however is meant to be the best option for SC2.

I've spent many hours playing FPS on a Filco with MX Browns, and I don't really see how it can be annoying.
The tactile bump on Browns is very subtle, and doesn't get in the way when you're playing FPS.
In my opinion, its more than worth any annoyance caused when gaming, to have the bump while typing.

With respect to SC2, you've got to keep in mind that there is no one switch that is best at anything. In the end, there's only really what you prefer.
Unfortunately that means you have to do lots of reading and try as many switch types out as you can.