I tuned a 1/2 step down for years and years, then down a full step. But for the last year, I've been just using standard tuning. I got tired of having to transpose keyboards and samples down to my guitar tuning, so just went standard tuning.
I really got into 7 strings and I love them, but I do not like the sound of a really dropped 7th or 8th string anywhere I've heard. I actually love the mids and not the super low stuff. So I go with pretty light, 9.5-55 (7 string set - 9.5, 13, 16, 22, 29, 41, 55) balanced set from Kalium (aka Circle K). This works great for me.