If you are going to have an lts-based troubleshooting ISO, call it that! Pick one of your usual editions, and swap the kernel - and call it the Troubleshoot! Something easy to point at if problems appear, and a known state for 'helpers' to work with.
BTW - there are lots of kernel switch app out there to fork from - like AKM from EnOS for instance - so I would vote for a default zen kernel, and reference info on and a call to the kernel switcher available from an assistant.
I'll shut up now! 
Here is another vote for the zen-kernel: Yesterday, I installed Garuda on my wifes notebook. While the installation was hasslefree (as always), my wife reported an extremly slow performance on the notebook afterwards. And she was right: Opening programs took at least twice as long, compared to the previous system on that machine (which was Manjaro). Switching to linux-zen solved this issue. If there is interest, I can also post my terminal output here...
To sum that up, 2 of my 3 machines had trouble with the preinstalled tkg-bmq kernel. I guess that less patient or less expierienced people would not take the time to investigate the error and would switch to another system immediately. That is why I think it is important to deliver a standard that simply works on most of the hardware.
Oh, and one more thing: For this notebook, in the compositor settings, I also had to set the VSync mechanism from "auto" to "none" to make animations smooth. Before, the wobbly windows thing was kind of a slideshow... 
I found tkg kernel works best on my ryzen 5 1600+rx470 system. Zen gave a lot of troubles after a while(right around the time you switched to tkg from zen). Linux xanmod and liquorice were a bit laggier compared to zen and tkg in my experience. It is best to stick with either the zen or the tkg kernels since I've had the least amount of problems with them.
Zen OOTB, with options to go for TKG or Xanmod. The performance on Xanmod is good for daily use but def not gaming
Well it seems my machine is bad to compare Kernels, cuz after many days testing them, it seems no matter the kernel I throw at it I donât have issues with them. Itâs a good thing but also a bad thing, depends how we see that. loll
Here are the kernels I tried so far (I will try more this week):
linux-tkg-bmq
linux-tkg-pds-zen2
linux-tkg-MuQSS-zen2
linux-lqx
linux-xanmod
linux-zen (or zen2, canât recall if that one exists)
They all boot within half a second of each other, all work well in terms of opening apps, everyday usage, all work well in VBox. I do not try gaming.
In the end for me maybe only a long term test of each of them would define where stability falls, but long term testing (months working with each kernel) takes time.
I did notice however very subtle differences in the CPU usage in 2 areas:
I have to re-do my tests for the virtualization part, but for the governor thing I found out linux-tkg-MuQSS-zen2 seems to better handle the boost feature of Ryzen 3000s. Other kernels over use the boost, which causes temps to skyrocket and stay in the skies, but MuQSS is more aggressive to throttle down and I could shave off many degrees on the CPU, especially when itâs idling, there is absolutely no reason to shoot the CPU in the boost mode when the load is very low, to my opinion/taste.
All those kernels use the boost too often for my personal taste, but MuQSS was the least aggressive of the lot.
Itâs so darn easy to install/uninstall kernels (and even build them!) with Garuda, it just blew my mind when I realized the ONE-CLICK button to install kernels and ONE-CLICK âbuildâ button to build kernels (those can take 2hours on my machine but so easy to build anyway). Taking advantage of this I will test more kernels, although I could see my tests wonât add anything good for the Garuda devs to decide how to handle Garudaâs default kernel vs optional ones. loll
Ok Lets rank them in sevrel catigories and see witch one gets the best total score .
Are the kernel headers brought in automatically?
Yes 
IIRC.
sudo mhwd-kernel -i linux-zen
install the headers.
Nope, just added them. Thanks 
5 posts were split to a new topic: Small Garuda manual for complete newbies
HAHAHA! I finally got issues with a kernel, 'bout time.
Last time I booted with linux-lqx everything was fine.
Then about 1-1.5 days ago I switched and booted to another SDD testing MuQSS kernel.
Today I re-booted to my 1st NVMe with linux-lqx and out of nowhere it doesn't boot! It freezes at the "echo" commands displaying the linux img and initramfs. Nothing to do other than hard reset, which is never a good sign. Tried 4 times.
So exit linux-lqx for me, freezing at this point of the boot process I am suspecting the kernel.
I booted with another one on that same NVMe and it went through... no sure but other kernels have not failed, so...
Well, garuda-kde-barebones-linux-zen-210126.iso doesn't boot.
Version 210126?
Yes, it's contain in the iso name.
Oh!!! It's at the bottom of the Downloads page on the website.
I'll try that!!
weird i tried out the xanmod kernel not expecting much because of my past experiences with it, its the snappiest of the kernels that i have installed after i switched to kde from gnome. maybe the best kernel is highly variant from hardware to hardware.
Me too xanmod was quite good. If kernelsâ behaviour vary so much between hardware, then itâs a nightmare to pinpoint the âbestâ one to use by default.
not only hardware to hardware. xanmod which was dead slow when i was using garuda gnome, now is suddenly the fastest kernel of the bunch for garuda dragonized which im using on the same hardware right now
Very much this. Different kernels behave very differently on different hardware, hence the problems we see with people trying xanmod and tkg.