“Slightly rubbery, which picks up any residue off your fingers and makes the knob look dirty. The rotation is ever so slightly off axis. The click isn’t too satisfying.”
“Nowhere near enough depth, and too much weight to the rotation. Also lacking in knob grip.”
“Great weight (not too heavy, not too light), and lovely stiffness.”
Via Anna, via MeFi.
Overall a very average knob experience.
I even watched the videos.
Posted by: Sam | February 22, 2013 at 20:29
There’s something to be said for a pleasing mechanical action. Car doors, kitchen units, even amplifier knobs.
Posted by: David | February 22, 2013 at 20:34
You should flip the toggle switches on my 1965 (transitional) Fender bass head. The switches on the 70s silverface stuff are good enough in their way, but there's really no comparison. A ball-bearing-on-glass feel not altogether unlike an old Smith and Wesson trigger.
Posted by: Matthew Walker | February 22, 2013 at 22:26
I'm glad nobody has gone for the cheap "know what I mean? know what I mean?" play.
Posted by: vanderleun | February 23, 2013 at 01:16
Why, the very idea. I run a classy establishment and its patrons are classy people.
Well, not Anna, obviously.
Posted by: David | February 23, 2013 at 07:40
I even watched the videos.
I did too as knob feel really is important. The reviewer is quite economical with his video commentary but I think most viewers won't have any problem understanding his intent.
Posted by: Col. Milquetoast | February 23, 2013 at 08:14
I think vanderleun also meant to refer to was "That's what she said"
Posted by: Col. Milquetoast | February 23, 2013 at 08:16
I did too as knob feel really is important.
The design of mechanical interactions – ergonomics, I suppose – is something I appreciate. I remember the huge clunky keys on a Betamax video recorder that my school friend’s dad had bought around 1980, and which impressed me no end. (They’d be terrible now, not at all precise and with way too much resistance, but as a child they were a big part of the appeal. That and the fact we weren’t supposed to go near the thing, on account of it being so new and incredibly expensive.) And skilled people have spent a lot of time making sure CD drawers open just so, and that toilet seats fold down in a silent and pleasing manner.
Insofar as one can be pleased by the motion of a toilet seat.
Posted by: David | February 23, 2013 at 08:36
Doh......there I was thinking it was about penises.
I have such a one-track mind....
Excuse me for going but I have a knob to polish and then will have to shoot off....
Posted by: jones | February 23, 2013 at 09:31
Insofar as one can be pleased by the motion of a toilet seat.
Up and down slowly is good.
Side to side wobbling is never good.
Posted by: rjmadden | February 23, 2013 at 10:02
Side to side wobbling is never good.
No, you don’t want any sudden lateral motion at a critical moment.
Any minute now this thread will turn into a sitcom from 1972.
Posted by: David | February 23, 2013 at 14:02
Where's Suzanne Sommers when you need her?
Posted by: mojo | February 23, 2013 at 17:37
So. A site devoted to the backwards bonk.
Posted by: TimT | February 23, 2013 at 23:36
In the interest of avoiding the numerous double entente's that have yet been made, mostly those on my mind anyway...I've never understood the appeal of a "click" knob on volume controls. Why? I've avoided them all my life and now my new car has one. Volume=39 is too soft, yet 40 is too high. Damn, now thinking about what Goldilocks would like in a knob...
Posted by: WTP | February 24, 2013 at 00:59
Once you've watched one of those videos, you have to watch them all, mainly for the expressive hemming and hawing*, by turns unconvinced, then surprised by the sheer variety of all the knobs.
I'm gonna check me some knobs right now!
Posted by: Henry | February 24, 2013 at 10:34
I suppose the appreciation of knobfeel, for want of a better word, is actually quite nostalgic. I looked around the Guild of Evil’s headquarters and most of the electronic equipment lacks a knob of any kind. It mostly uses remotes and isn’t designed for any direct physical contact. If there are buttons and dials at all, they’re tiny and perfunctory, hidden away, and only there in case something goes wrong with the remote.
Posted by: David | February 24, 2013 at 10:45
Incidentally, we mustn’t titter about toilet seat motion and toilet safety in general. Your toilet is a death trap just waiting to strike. This one certainly was. And who can forget this explosive episode? It seems that toilets malfunction explosively more often than you’d think.
Luckily, our finest minds are working on the next generation of toilet seat technology. Stay safe out there, people.
Posted by: David | February 24, 2013 at 11:00
The funny thing is the knobfeeler makes good points. You don't want axial skew on your knob.
Great blog, David.
Posted by: First time commenter | February 24, 2013 at 15:31
Ahh, double entendres, they never get old and flacid.
Posted by: Dry end of the Titanic | February 24, 2013 at 21:26
Contender for the ultimate #firstworldproblem…?
Posted by: Joan | February 25, 2013 at 10:34
My company's web blocking software seems to have an objection to the word "knobfeel".
Just what we need, priggish bits...
Posted by: mojo | February 25, 2013 at 17:17
It seems another company also has been providing information to the general public on this issue:
http://s10.postimage.org/e1qk6x7qh/knobstiffness.jpg
Posted by: Aus Autarch | February 25, 2013 at 19:06
There ought to be an industry award for the knobs with the best knobfeel. They could call them Knobbies, just as hotel towels are awarded Fluffies
Posted by: witwoud | February 25, 2013 at 19:14
TypePad’s spam filter is still being temperamental. If anyone has trouble with their comments not appearing, email me and I’ll poke them free with a broom handle.
Posted by: David | February 25, 2013 at 19:58
Many thanks on the kind words everyone!
Posted by: KnobFeel | March 09, 2013 at 22:25