Well, if you had to design your own light what would you pick?
You must have some preferences…
And a flashlight can’t have all types of knurling at the same time either
No knurling but with that chalky HA3 ano might be enough for some. Thick work gloves with lots of oil spray might still require something more.
Sideswitch? Stiff tailswitch? Different grip required for each.
Point being, each person has his own needs, use cases, and opinions.
Worst I ever saw was the little Imalent with display. Slick, smooth, no knurling, teeny switch on the back that you had to press in to turn on/off. Nfw to do that without 2-handing it.
The size of the light and the position of the switches also matter.
Big (heavy) lights will stay in your hands without the need of giving them extra attention/grip.
A Maglite has hardly any knurling, and it doesn’t need much because of its weight.
But a small AAA light with a tail switch might shoot away like a booger if it has no proper knurling.
I like knurling that is effective, but not overly aggressive.
For a 1x21700 flashlight, medium-sized rectangular knurling seems like a good choice.
Here’s my EDC with that type of knurling…
I would call that the linear / rectangular knurling, just with finer lines.
It’s supposed to be very grippy in the direction that matters most (forward/backward sliding) and less in the rotation/circumferential aspect.
I think this is quite good for a light with a tail switch. However, when the light has a power switch on the side, rotation definitely matters, and I agree with you it is a bad choice on that specific light.
It’s not actually sharp, but it reminds me too much of holding onto heat sink fins. I also think it looks worse visually than many of the options in the poll
It’s the only small-scale texture that does not slip when paired with a slippery finish (like clear anodizing), or when held by sweaty hands. All of the others slip in my experience, especially when pressing on a very firm tail clicky.
I don’t like large-scale textures as much–too much extra material+weight. I also dislike the linear ones because they are very good at visibly trapping grime.
Crude, but…
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