Well, I broke down and got myself a black G43X this afternoon.
I have been back and forth trying to decide between it and a G26.5 for several months now and couldn't make up my mind. As part of my research I discovered that the G43X was pretty darn close to the size of my loved and regretfully sold Walther P5 of yesteryear that and I figured the G43X would be an easier sell than the G26.5 if I didn't like it, I finally succumbed to the BANG disease. (Buy A New Gun)
WOW.
I didn't really understand how much smaller this gun was just handling it at the gun counter. As soon as I got it home I put on both of my favorite JMCK G19 holsters and it pretty much disappeared.
Since getting skinny a couple of years ago I haven't really been able to hide my old trusty G19.3s very well. I have resorted to carrying my wife's G42 or my old NAA Guardian a lot of the time.
Even with a Graith belt and the excellent JMCK 2.5 Wingclaw or the IWB3. While it wasn't obvious to a non-gun person that I was carrying, I could go to another room put on the gun/holster, come back and my wife would say "I can see your gun". Only the IWB3 and a jacket was really hidden.
I did the same thing tonight, swapping between the G19.3, G43X, nothing to see if she could tell.
She had trouble telling if I had the gun or not in the Wingclaw 2.5. She could tell something was on my waist (or I had a beer gut one time) but she couldn't tell the difference between the empty holster/gun with the G43X but she could always see the G19.3.
With the IWB3 and G43X she couldn't tell the difference between gun/no-gun/no holster she could always see the G19. This with a holster that really doesn't fit the gun!!!
Don't even get me started on the weight difference with a loaded mag.
Color me impressed. I wouldn't have ever thought the difference between the G19 and the G43X on paper would be that big in practice. I am really looking forward to doing a shooting comparison. While I am not expecting the same performance, unless there is a significant degradation in my shooting with the G43X I will be looking to selling/swapping several of my G19s to get my pair and a spare.
As much as I hate getting rid of my G19s and that monstrous stash of G19 magazines, swapping guns is much better than adding 100 lbs back to hide the G19s again.
Thanks to GJM and JHC for opening my eyes to this.