Here is PBT rainbow set

After playing around with mechanical keyboards for a year or so, I decided to write about it from my point of view. I was always under the impression that typing on a mechanical keyboard will make you type faster, well, that's not always the case, at least not for me. But it does make you want to type more because it has a magical power that trigger you brain in saying that it is good for you (No, I am kidding.). Unlike the rubber dome that we all use, mechanical keyboard give you a different feeling when you press it. Every keys that you press has a switch under the keycap. All the switch does is telling the computer board inside the keyboard that this key is pressed (So, basically it's a Boolean - True/False (Pressed/Not Press)). It's hard to describe to a person who never used a mechanical keyboard before on how it feel when you press it. The best way of understanding is actually to use it, words just simply doesn't apply on this. But from my experiences and understanding of different Cherry MX switches. There are a few switches that stand out the most: Blue, Brown, Black, Red, Clear, and Green. Black is a heavier version of Red, Clear is heavier version of Brown and Green is a heavier version of Blue. (By heavier version I mean you need to use more force to press it). There are other switches, but the one made by Cherry named Cherry MX is probably the most used one on the market right now. (So you can find different brand of mechanical keyboards but they all uses the same Cherry MX switches).

For gaming:

Gaming is one of the selling point for mechanical keyboard brands. Some games require really fast reaction of double tapping, Red and Black switches are the best for these. (They are linear switches, they give you a feeling of up down up down because the actuation and release points are at the exact same position). So what's the difference between these two switches? Red require an actuation force of 45g where Black will require 60g (You need to press harder on Black switches). It might sound like a disadvantage for Black switch, because who would want to use more force to press? Let say that you are playing League of Legends, the champion that you control has skill set on Q, W, E, and R. Most player will have their finger on top of the keys because they can press it faster when they have to. Red switches are way too soft for some people thus, when they put their finger on top of the key it might trigger the key even though you are just putting it on top. Black will require more force, hence, they can solve this problem.

For office usage:

Switches like Blue and Green are out of the picture because they produce a clicky noise that could be ignoring for office usage. Black switches are heavy and could make the user get tired really easily. Red, and Brown seems to be the best fit for office usage.

For home usage:

If you don't play games you can pretty much use any switches you want as long as noise isn't an issue.

Office: Brown/Red > Others

Home: Brown/Blue/Red > Others

Gaming: Red/Black > Brown/Clear > Blue/Green

It's seems like red is the best pick "logically", well not really because like I said before a lot of people think that red is too soft. A lot of people really like the noise coming out of Blue switches, not because they like the noise but the fact that those clicky noise is really machinery , hence, it sounds like you are typing on "mechanical" keyboard. I have seen a lot of professional gaming players that uses Blue switches, I for one don't enjoy it because it feels mushy, but everyone has different opinions.

The bottom line is you only know which is for you when you tried them. A simple word of advice is that some switches might seems to be the best choice by the first impression, some switches will require user to use for certain amount of time to enjoy it. Red, Brown and Blue (if noise isn't a problem) switches are the safe bet on choosing your first mechanical keyboard.