So, as I was wandering around the Indy 1500 gunshow yesterday, I was specifically looking for something smaller than my G26 for off duty IWB carry. After finger banging all four of the mentioned pistols, my conclusions are as follows:
1. The P365 is just TOO small for my hands. This was my initial thought when I had one that I past on to a coworker who was desperate for it, and comparing the four pistols side by side just reinforced this feeling.
2. The G48 is, in fact, a flat G19 - almost exactly matching my primary carry pistol but skinnier. Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing, but it makes it hard to imagine how much easier to carry the G48 will be over G19
3. The G43X and 365XL seem to be in a sweet spot, size wise. Both allow a full firing grip, and feel good in the hand. The P365XL FEELS better in the hand, but the trigger on the couple of samples I tried was pretty awful (gritty with several stacking points through the pull). I also don't like the idea that the rear sight is machined into the optics plate, I guess I can drift the front sight to fine tune POI, but that just seems off to me. Likewise, I'm still totally underwhelmed with the X-Ray sights as they come from the factory, so the "value" of having NS from the factory seems like a false economy - I'd much rather have place holder sights or factory Ameriglo/Trijicon HD options.
4. The G43X trigger was nothing to write home about, definitely a step down from what's on my Gen5 G26. Also, on both the G43X and G48, there was a distinct tendency for the slide to "jump" when the striker fell on dry fire - not sure what that equates to in live fire, but it's disconcerting when considering a new pistol
At the end of the day, I walked out with nothing new in my hands, but I think I've ruled out the 48 and P365 as contenders.