Title says it all pretty much. Just curious how other’s people’s experiences have been with their prefered switch weighting as they got deeper into the hobby. Personally I started off liking super heavy switches (80g & higher), but as time went on I’ve been slowly decreasing my prefered weight. Which is now 70g & lower these days, with me still experimenting with lower weights. Anyways thought this would be an interesting topic for discussion, look forward to everyone’s responses!
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My preferences vary not as time goes on, but based on my mood. Some days I prefer light switches, some day heavier, some day linear, some day heavy tactility. So each morning I choose my board from my rotation and they differ - from IBM M to Zealios to Topre etc. (sometimes I change keyboards even twice a day).
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My first mech was an IBM model M, considered medium weight switch.
Later when I tried heavy switches like MX blacks a long time ago, after a long coding session I had pain in my fingers.
So quickly switched to lights switches (MX Browns) and never looked back: I’m typing on Zelios V2 62g at the moment, very close to browns in term of weight but more tactile.
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I started off heavy and stayed heavy. 
70-80 is where it’s at. I kind of think though, that given a month or so, I could get used to anything, with the possible exception of those whisper switches that activate with a passing breeze. And, I don’t want to go higher than whatever it is the BKE Heavies are at. Those are right at the edge of satisfying without tripping over into masochistic.
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I started out pretty heavy. Loved 80g for a long time, then was on 78g, 62g, and now I’m using 50g. I’ve also transitioned from primarily tactile to primarily linear.
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I started with Cherry MX black went up to MX clear and MX greeen, then wound up going with cherry MX blue in my work keyboard and silent tactile Romer G switches in my gaming keyboard.
I prefer the sharp / clean / crisp tactility in the MX blue switches, but the sound profile or lack there of, in the Romer G switches.
How do the 62g Zelios V2 compare to the MX brown and or MX blue switches?
Does the greater tactile bump of the Zelios cause you to bottom out harder?
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My Browns are unlubed and my Zelios are, it can partly explain why I feel them the same weight.
Also if I’m not mistaken 62g for Zelios is the bottom out force, while for browns it is the activation force (50g?).
I always bottom out.
LOL, I’ve been there. There was a time when I did the same, although lately I have been finding myself using certain boards & weights much more than others. I do have a wide range of boards, but find tactiles to be my favorite still. 67g linears have been growing on me though.
Yeah even I find MX blacks fatiguing with long sessions. That’s actually what made me start exploring lighter weights TBH. I had retooled blacks in my acrylic Clueboard & even though they are super smooth ones they wore me out with the stock springs.
I was planning on rebuilding the Clueboard I mentioned with 67g V2 Zealios, but after reading one of jshufelt’s build logs I might use them to make a batch of Zykos.
I agree. I rocked extremes for a little bit in my 660C & tried to convince myself they are more than meme domes, but they really are too much. I got heavies it in now & while I like them, I’d really like to get some 55g domes for it.
That’s kinda the way I’m headed too, not sure I’ll get down to 50g though. 67g seems like a sweet spot for me, gonna try some 62g & 60g springs sooner than later also. Tactiles are definitely my favorite switch type, although nice linears are growing on me. Creams really interest me from the few I have, want to do a build with them soon.
I had Gateron Greens in a Magicforce & Let’s Split for awhile, you might want to give them a shot if you haven’t. They are just a tad heavier than MX blues (nowhere near as heavy as MX greens IME) & have a nice crisp, clean tactility/click IMO. You said silent tactile Romer G, do they really have a silent tactile or did you mean their tactile variant is very quiet? Romer-Gs didn’t interest me much when the first came out since they had their issues & are proprietary to Logitech boards. I have heard they really improved them a good bit nowadays though.
I have one of the original G Pro keyboards, it is quieter then MX brown. I can’t recall if it’s quieter, due to the design of the switch or if it has active dampening, but it defiantly is softer when bottoming out, then an un-silenced MX switch is.
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Hmmm interesting question to think about.
My preferences at the beginning of my enjoyment of keyboards went…
MX Blue --> mx clears --> ergo clears --> DIASPORA OF FLAVOR
Diaspora of flavor. At a certain point I became more enlightened and opened to styles of switches. Lubed linears, different tactiles, and old school clickies. I started understanding each of them have their time and place in my chart of enjoyment.
I would say as a trend my weight preferences skew toward a bottom out of approx 62g-67g (with 63.5g being the sweet spot of course 
). But that has been continually the same since my start into this hobby.
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I’m the same way. Started tactile now lean more towards linear. Also prefer something a bit lighter now. Usually around 63g. It was a happy accident when I ordered MX Silent Blacks with MX Red spring.
It’s kinda like the novelty of tactile wore off and I want something cleaner feeling now.
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Seems like I have had similar preferences changes to a lot of other people, I started out with clickies (mx blues) > 78g tactiles > 67g linears. I think the point I decided to start playing with linears was around when holy pandas started to become really popular and the zeal V2 switches came out, while I like tactiles those were just too tactile for me, and I quickly came to love linears. As far as weight goes I think 67g is about right for me too, I’ve been typing on some red inks at work for like a month and they really just aren’t heavy enough, but conversely I think 78g is too much nowadays, my fingers get fatigued quickly if the weight is too much.
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V2 Zelios are also too much tactile for my taste unlubed and this is why I lubed the legs on mines, perfect amount of tactility for me: significantly more than my browns(that I can already feel), and kindof in the line with my Topre board in term tactility amount(still not the same tactile feel, but I like both).
It is funny to see a lot of people moving from tactile to linear, I’m also to a point that I could also make this switch.
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I think modern linears are the best switch you can buy. They are so smooth that a heavier spring doesn’t fatigue your fingers as much, yet still provides sufficient weight to prevent accidental activation.
I’ve really enjoyed my time with Gat Black Inks, sometimes I play a game of trying to type as lightly as possible, and I am never able to type light enough to miss actuation, yet my typing speed gets even faster.
Even clickbar switches are a linear in disguise since the actuation point has a very sharp bump provided by the clickbar.
I’ve really enjoyed combining different switches in a board by putting lighter weight switches on my pinky keys. A heavy tactile on my enter and escape key since they are rarely used and need to prevent actuation. Then I’ve even put a light linear on keys that reside under my palms and are hard to reach.
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Like you, I’ve been decreasing my prefered weight. Started around 67g then to 63.5g and now 55g. What changed seems to be shifting focus from optimal spring weight for a particular switch to optimal spring weight for my hand, moving from best experience to most comfort.
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Anything between 63.5-65g is perfection to my fingers.
I went from being all over the place (heavy/light and everything in between) to zeroing in on that weighting.
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Lighter. 60-65g is gucci.
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I’ve always been a 70-80g guy personally. I would have gotten clears for my first board but hated how hard it was to get caps off.
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Thanks for all the answers guys! Interesting stuff that starting heavy then going lighter & starting with tactiles then moving to linears seems to be a path a lot of us followed. Guess we’ll have to wait for more people to chime in before we can say if that is the norm or not.
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I’t would be interesting to know what got every one in to mechanical keyboards and what their first keyboard was, it would probably shed some light on why they started with which switch.
My first mechanical keyboard was the Steel Series 7G (Cherry MX Black). I bought it for a couple reasons. I loved it’s simple / industrial look, the wrist wrest (that adds to it’s industrial look), and it’s built like a brick shit house. If it wasn’t for its non standard layout and the keycaps waring out after 5 years of use, I probably would have never replaced it. It’ was at that point, that I discovered the enthusiast mechanical keyboard market.
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