Switch Type
Easy to swap switches, so I usually dont bother explaining this. You CAN game on every switch, but blues are terribly designed for it (ex: wearing basketball shoes to run, bringing a mini van to a track)
Linear is best for most gaming applications, but some RTS'ers want tactility. Go clears with a spring mod. Browns just don't cut it (if you've never used clears, you might be ok with browns. Clears ruined browns for me)
The bump on clears is larger and produces are greater tactile feel, doesn't it? A lot of people argue that 68g is the lightest they'd go for ergos, but I don't mind the equivalent lightness of blues. What's your take on 62g? You sound like you know what you're talking about.
My opinion on gaming keyboards is that, while linear feels great and allows for very fast key presses and double-tapping, the absence of tactility can lead muscle memory up a stray path in moments of high pressure/stress. I agree that blues have been poorly designed as far as gaming goes, due to the mismatched activation and resent points and the fact that they are dual/stem and reset can sometimes fail if you hover the keys or during quick taps, although I feel this is over-hyped (negatively) and less of a problem in practice than claimed.
I would personally love to see a tactile switch created that uses the same spring as MX Blue, but clicks and resets at the exact point of activation (like buckling springs).
Going to answer it as you ask them:
1. Love my 62g clears. I just wish I didn't lube the leg so much. On anything lighter than 62, and even 62 unlubed, the bump sticks ever so slightly on the upstroke. I would go as far as to say that for easy going typing, I LOVE stock 45 cherry spring + clear stem + thick PBT. But if I'm typing fast, the stickiness really gets to me and makes it difficult to use reliably. With 62g, I don't really have problems on the upstroke...I just lubed mine because I had lots of lube x.x Picking up thin lube to VERY LIGHTLY lube the legs on my next board (in the mail!)
2. You can game on blues.
I cannot. Because I have used every MX switch and spring variant I could get my hands on, and am used to the hovering technique (also on that tangent, clears actuate right after the bump ends, literally at the bottom of the bump, not mid bump. At least on the 45 cherry springs). Blues were my first switch, and I love them. In fact, all my custom boards that I build/mod have a
blue switch for the escape key as a throwback to the start of my hobby.
I will say that if I do frequent board swapping, I HATE my 62g lubed blacks. They are just so smooth that I get bad key presses and find myself missing tactility for typing. But then when I use it for a month straight, it's my favorite all purpose. And then I use my ghost blacks and everything else sucks again (btw, Ghost Blacks are god tier for gaming. Recommend you at least try for 3 hours before dismissing everyone
). I'm all about that keyboard rotation.
3. Me too
Clears are the closest I've come. Unlubed legged clears are more tactile than blues. I'd recommend either lightly lubing 45g cherry clears or finding somewhere to snag 62g+ korean springs with clears.
Or if you can get used to a heavier spring, get clears and blacks and do my favorite stock swap: Ghost Blacks and Panda Clears. I LOVE my panda clears as an all purpose lazy and want to type lazily board. I rest my fingers on the keys haha. Which is why I bring it to work every day
Edit:
POM for linear, thin PBT for click, thick pbt for clears, thin abs for browns (why waste money if its just gonna go on a brown. jkjk)
Edit 2:
Here's my Watermelon board with blue on escape as proof of my love for all switches
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