The Pen Addict 738/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	738
Title:	Technically Correct… Which Is One Kind of Correct
Release Date:	October 15th, 2026
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 738
Audio File:	Audio Episode 738
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 738
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 738. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace and Enigma Stationery. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hello, Myke Hurley. How are you doing? I'm fine.

Myke Hurley: I'm fine.

Brad Dowdy: We're continuing. I drug Myke into our offline conversation into online, even though there's nothing to talk about other than to make him frustrated. I succeeded. I succeeded.

Myke Hurley: I'm just, you know, I don't remember. You're fine. You're fine. You can just leave it. Last week, did I mention that we were in the A&? I think I did, that we were in the emergency room, right? You did. You did. You did. So, like, everything's fine, but just, like, that event has created, like, a cascading effect in my life, and it's like, do you want to take coats off, Brad? It's a whole thing. Yeah. Do you just want to take a coat off anymore? And it's just...

Brad Dowdy: That rules.

Myke Hurley: It's a whole thing. It's amazing. There's lots of things. That's just one of them. Yeah. We're fine.

Pens

Brad Dowdy: Well, Myke, let me relieve your brain for an hour and talk about pens. What do you think? I would love it. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm going to start off with a pen that came into view earlier this year when I saw on Instagram some of the pilot... I can't remember exactly which pilot retailer or pilot locale. You know how pilot does a pretty good job? They'll have Pilot Korea on Instagram and Pilot Nepal. They do a good job of this. And there was an item that popped up that I was interested to see what happened with, and it's called the Pilot Capless Stainless Nib Fountain Pen.

Brad Dowdy: And I may have, like, mentioned it in passing at the time, but I didn't really want to talk about it until I saw if this was going to be a broader release or a regional release. And what this is is your standard Pilot Vanishing Point that we all know with a steel nib. And they've made steel nib vanishing points in the past, not as a primary stock item all the time everywhere, but, you know, once in a while they'd just throw a steel nib vanishing point out there and it'd be fine. So this one came out with five colors. So this was this release months ago. It came out with one, two, three, four, five, six colors. Six colors. If I'm counting right, I might be counting wrong. Five colors. And I was like, oh, this is going to be the backfill price point vanishing point across the world. And it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. So that's why I'm bringing it up now. So these were imported into the U.S. via jet pens. And they actually note that this is imported from Japan, which is telling me that it's not coming to the rest of the world. Right. So it's $169 for a steel nib vanishing point, which in this market seems all right. In this economy. In this economy. In this economy. We are in an economy. But I went and looked it up because I haven't been in the vanishing point market for a while. The in-stock base vanishing point with the gold nib in the U.S. Or let's say in the outside of Japan market. $192. That's honestly, it's crazy to say that's really freaking good. Mm-hmm. Because they were like $160 for the longest time. And if they've only gone up. I thought they were more like in the 240s.

Myke Hurley: So I don't know. I think the gold, a gold, ignore gold actually. $200 for the vanishing point seems very fair. Yes. For where we are right now. Correct. Because it used to be $100-ish, right? It was covered around $100.

Brad Dowdy: First one I bought at that long, long ago Atlanta pen show was like right around $100, $110. And then I was pretty comfortable with them in like the $140 to $160 range. And this is just for stock editions. Special editions have always been more expensive. And now like the current special editions are like $650, right? It's crazy. The $550 to $650 have been what the special editions are.

Myke Hurley: Brad, my pilot vanishing point, broad nib, black matte body. Mm-hmm. Bought on the 4th of May 2012. Yeah. It was $140 from JetPens. That's actually a lot. I mean.

Brad Dowdy: I think the black matte wouldn't at the time. That might have been a special one. In that range, that one was more expensive. But still though, right? And then they just ended up keeping that one. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So having it for $192 to your point you just made. Yeah. That's pretty good. Like so. I think so. Vanishing point, game on. Let's go. Let's go. But they're focusing on the special editions. I was hoping, honestly, this steel nib would be a backfill in preparation for whatever new price increase the gold nib will have. Luckily, the gold nib one doesn't have a ton of gold. It's a very tiny nib. So maybe they're able to manage that a little bit. But I kind of want one of these steel nibs to compare. I've never used one.

Myke Hurley: Why do you think that they would only release it in Japan?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. Especially in five colors like this. Yeah. They've done stuff like this before.

Myke Hurley: Significant. Like this feels like a product line, right?

Brad Dowdy: Like this feels like a product line. Especially with the color choices. Like they've done this range of similar type metallic colors. These look great. Like all of the colors look really good.

Myke Hurley: Could it be that like they will do it, but it's technically a different pen because it's called the vanishing point, not the capless. So it's like they wouldn't have a product that's called capless outside of Japan?

Brad Dowdy: Maybe. I could totally see this coming down the line like next year outside of Japan. But this is going to be one. And we'll talk about this. We'll actually have a note to talk about my Japan trip coming up. Like this is going to be on my list to see because in Japan it should technically be. Readily available. Decently cheaper. Readily available and somewhat cheaper.

Myke Hurley: Because I feel like to me one of the key things. I mean we've been talking about this for the best part of a year now it feels like. One of the key things that the pen companies can do right now is what you're saying backfill. It's like you have massive holes in your product lineup from a pricing perspective. You have to find ways to fill that. And so me and you predicted months ago that we would see an influx of steel nib pens now. Because it's just the way to do this. And I think I would bet that a lot, I don't know about majority, but a lot of people that buy a vanishing point do not care what the nib is made from. Because it's not why they're buying it. They think it looks cool. I actually agree with that. Right? It's like, oh, it's a fountain pen with a retractable nib. How cool. Like I would expect, I would bet that the capital sort of vanishing point is a lot of people's first fountain pen. Like serious fountain pen. Like they don't actually have one before. But they're like, oh, that seems really interesting. Like a fun. Or it's like a cool gift. I bet it is a graduation gift for a lot of people. Like it's just an interesting product. Or it feels like a good executive pen to have. Right? Which is not going to break the bank. But it's like interesting. It's like a talking point to people. Yeah. It's so good. Yeah. Having an option under $200 is brilliant. And so I don't know why they wouldn't do it. I could just imagine it's just a timing thing for why they haven't yet.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, this is something I'm like keeping an eye out on. Because I think it's kind of the right move. We talked about. So it's about a year. Maybe a slightly over a year from when like the biggest price increases happen. And honestly, we haven't seen that much backfilling. Like Pilot did that one gold nib pen. And I haven't seen it hit the U.S. yet. Sailor's done their gold nib pens. Which I'm going to have a review of one coming up soon. Those have hit the U.S. And honestly, when I'm saying the U.S., I mostly mean outside of Asia. I am obviously U.S. based, but this goes for Europe and other markets as well. I mean outside of Asia.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Schaefer Pens

Brad Dowdy: So that Pilot, I can't even remember the name of it. Because it was like a $100 custom 74 looking pen with a steel nib. I'm just blanking on the name. I haven't seen that since their press release for launching it in Japan. And it was like, well, like what are you going to do? Like, you know, I don't know what's happening. I think there's going to be some Elite 95s. The E95, which is the pocket pen in some new colors. Hopefully coming soon with gold nibs. I don't know how much those are going to be. So, yeah. It's just interesting for me to see this one. This, now that they came over in JetPens, who imports this stuff, like I said. It brought it back into my thoughts. It's like, oh, are we going to see this broader than I read the more. I searched more into it. And I was just like, oh, no. This looks like it's going to stay there for now. So, kind of related to the price point discussion. This got brought up to me this week on stream. The Schaefer Balance 3 Piston Filler.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I would have never even considered Schaefer anything. Like, have we ever discussed a non-themed Schaefer on the show? Absolutely not, no. Yeah. They do some good Star Wars stuff. They do. And they do some good coffee stuff. And they just did a macho pen. I think we might have, like, discussed. But Schaefer did something kind of interesting here in that they modernized a classic design. Yeah. Which I'll admit is gorgeous.

Myke Hurley: Brad, I love this pen. Yeah. I think this is a really good-looking pen. It is simple as you like, right? It's black with gold furniture. And they do have a silver furniture one, just to show you. Okay. I just put the link to the gold. I feel like you've got to have the gold, personally. I think if you're doing it. But anyway. But just the profile of the pen and the areas that they've chosen to do something with it look really good. There's a very good contour grip. And the cap has a point at the end. This just looks like an excellent pen, design-wise, I think.

Brad Dowdy: And on top of that, it's a piston filler. Yeah. And just to wrap up the intro part of it, it's $228 US in the US market. Obviously, a steel nib. Obviously. Oh, yeah. Steel nib. Steel nib. They at least made a two-tone steel nib to bring in this, tie in the entire aesthetic, right? I'm glad that they did that because that's a classic look. Yeah. I can't take my eyes off it, right? Kind of like you. That's kind of the reaction I have. If I just would have read text Schaefer Balance and saw that in just text form, I would have never clicked the link. No. I'm not interested in what they're bringing to the table. I think they did a good job modernizing one of their most classic designs and trying to make it for this market that we're in right now. So, who knows until we test one out and see how it is. It looks pretty solid. And it's at least interesting, right? Whether you want it or not or whether you like it or not. It's at least interesting to see companies do this. Parker's tried to do this in the past, even before all the price increase stuff. But they had a real pricing problem. They would make the dual fold copy of their old classic dual fold. And it was really nice and really beautiful. But it was just really, with the steel nib, it just had these weird outlier prices several years ago. So, yeah. I don't know. I like this. And I want to see what people think about this once people start getting them in their hands.

Myke Hurley: I think they've got something new going on at Schaefer. They did. I think they turned it over.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They turned it over again last few years, I think. Last couple years. They've gotten out a little bit more. I think in the U.S. I think Kenro Industries is now distributing them in the U.S., which is for these types of brands, the old Schaefer, Parker, Waterman's, the old classics, Cross, usually don't go through that type of chain, like that type of distributor. They're usually just more of like a brick-and-mortar type distributor, like, you know, your classic big box office stuff. So, yeah. I'm interested. So, yeah. We'll see. I just thought I'd bring this to people's attention. Yeah, yeah. Because it just made me kind of go, huh. I was like, that's interesting. I'd like to see that. And I'd like to see what they're doing, whether it's for you or not. I think it's a good, good entrant into the market. And I kind of want to see that.

Myke Hurley: So, very good. I'm always happy to see these more kind of like established older brands just push it a little bit. Like, you don't have to just keep making the same thing over and over again. Yeah. And I think that they've, from a design perspective, pushed this in ways that are not too bold, but bold enough.

Brad Dowdy: I think that's the thing. Like, with these old brands, you just don't want to see the same old, same old. Even though they're literally bringing back a vintage design, it's modernized. Yes. And you can tell just in the imagery that, okay, they've actually thought about this for the modern market instead of just like, you know, rolling out the conveyor belt for the same old, same old, which some of these companies do. Like, Cross and, you know, Parker at the lower ends. I mean, props to them for putting this out there. I think it's interesting.

Myke Hurley: This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform that is designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just getting started or scaling a business, Squarespace will give you everything that you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings of a professional website, grow your brand, and get paid all in one place. With Squarespace, you can offer your services and get paid. From consultations to events and experiences, you can showcase your offerings of a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Think built-in appointment scheduling, email marketing tools, and more. You can keep everything cohesive of on-brand invoices and get paid easily with online payments. The online payment stuff can also extend to store items, right? So Brad has a store that he has run on Squarespace for years over at the Pen Addict, where they have all the integrations that you need and the services you might need to sell physical and digital goods. And you can then, as you're building your business, you can connect with your audience and your customers through email campaigns. Squarespace has all the tools you need to engage clients, promote services, and grow your business. It's all built-in. You can set up email automations to stay connected, nurture leads, and save time, while seamlessly integrating your offerings into a beautifully designed template that drives bookings and sales. You can schedule emails that reach your audience at the perfect time, keeping your business top of mind and driving long-term growth. Head to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict. You'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict with the offer code penaddict, and you'll get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for this show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support with the Pen Addict and Relay. Can I give a double shout-out of the week? Shout-out of the shout-out of the week.

Brad Dowdy: Shout-out to Squarespace support. Once every few years, they're always changing and updating, like the back-end stuff. Once every few years, they break something in my workflow, right, specific to me. And they did that like two weeks ago with the Markdown Editor. And shout-out to them. They actually listened to the problem when telling me there wasn't a problem, listened to what I had to say, watched me, you know, like screen cap and screen record what I was doing, go, oh, yeah, let me look into this. Let me escalate it. And then fixed it.

Myke Hurley: Oh, that's so good because you were dealing with this while we were together.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, while we were in Memphis. I was so angry. Yeah. Like when things change, like when you're like an online publisher of some sort, but you have like workflows, right? And this is a stock item that they have their Markdown Editor in. And they broke it. They were making a change and they broke it. And they're like, no, that's just how it works. I'm like, listen, this is not how it works. You know, and they actually listened to me. You said listen and they said, okay. Yep. I said listen. I was like, no, no.

Brad Dowdy: Here's why this is an issue. And they're like, oh, yeah. Okay. And they fixed it. So we're back in business. All right. That was shout out number one. Real shout out of the week, Myke. Oh, can I do it again? Shout out of the week?

Myke Hurley: I did it. I feel like I doubled it up.

Brad Dowdy: No, no, no, no. Okay. The first one was the shout out of the shout out of the week. I don't understand. I don't know. This is. So, Myke, we have our shout out of the week.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Myke Hurley: I'm not doing that again.

Brad Dowdy: I was trying. Red Branch Crafts. We have our latest meet your maker up on the site. Jeff and Susan from Red Branch Crafts. Caroline Foti, who writes for the Pen Act, interviewed them recently. And it's just a great post on how they came to be. I met them two years ago at the Washington, D.C. Super Show. And I think it was their, it might have been their first show. And I think I talked to them before the show. They were just like, hey, what to expect? They're super nice people. Great looking pens. They make the materials. They make the pens in house and just really, really good stuff. I always like to give a shout out to Caroline and all the makers she gets in this series for Meet Your Maker. So, if you like this, go check out this article at the bottom. You can click on the tag for Meet Your Maker and see all the different maker interviews we had. So, they're really good.

Myke Hurley: Nice.

Brad Dowdy: All right. You want to do a quick businessing update? Yeah. Quick scheduling update?

Brad's Japan Trip

Myke Hurley: What you got? So, next week's episode is going to be a special episode essentially called Brad's Going to Japan.

Myke Hurley: So, if you have questions for Brad's upcoming Japan trip, get them in now. Go to penaddictfeedback.com where you can click the link in the show notes and submit your questions. We're recording it on Wednesday of next week. So, make sure you have them in before then. Yeah. And the episode will be out on Wednesday as well.

Myke Hurley: Then Brad's going to Japan. So, we're actually, we've been kind of going backwards and forwards on the right way to handle this. Brad wanted to do some guest episodes. I've convinced him to enjoy his trip and like get ready for his once in a lifetime trip kind of thing. And so, we're actually going to take two weeks off the show, which we've never, I don't believe we've ever done before. So, there is today's episode. There will be an episode next week on the 21st. And then the show will be back again on November 12th. And we will then obviously be going into great detail probably over the course of the next four episodes. Yeah. From that kind of breaking down everything Brad got up to in Japan. Because obviously I want to hear about the pen stuff, but I also want to hear about literally everything else that you do. Yeah. So, that will be fun. So, yeah. If you've got questions or you've got maybe things you just want to say to Brad, if you have maybe recommendations and stuff for Brad's trip, you can send them in at penaddictfeedback.com. And we'll try and get to as many as we can. If we get any. I mean, I don't know. Maybe nobody's got any opinions about Japan. I don't know. I don't think anyone listens to this show. Well, that also could be a problem if nobody's listening.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. True. So, reminder, that episode is going to record Wednesday, the 21st, next week. So, get them in soonish and we'll cover them and I'll have a bunch of stuff I'm going to go through. Next week is my big prep week anyway. Yep. Where I'm, you know, planning and, you know, like really dialing everything in down to like specific stationery I might be looking for and specific other things I might be looking for. So, this is good timing. And then, yeah, and then we'll be off for a couple weeks, which will be interesting, but should be great. Should be great.

Myke Hurley: It'll be great for you. All right.

Brad Dowdy: I'll miss you, but great for you. Yeah. Will you? Well, here's a question. Does Myke need anything from Japan? So, there's a question. Oh, man. You can ponder over the coming week. So, you can submit that to penaddictfeedback.com.

Myke Hurley: I hadn't considered this quite possibly.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Well, okay.

Brad Dowdy: Here's the question.

Myke Hurley: Would you otherwise go to the Pokemon Center? I don't recommend it. Yeah. So, you know.

Brad Dowdy: No, but it depends on my friends who might. Okay. Right. Because I'm going with another, my wife and I are going with another couple. Yeah. And they might.

Myke Hurley: I think if you do go to the Pokemon Center, I want something. Okay. Anything. That indicates Pokemon Center. You know what I mean? Like a. Yep. Yep. That's what I want. More than anything.

Brad Dowdy: I'm definitely familiar with it from seeing all the videos and how everyone takes a picture and they have some Pokemon in like a thing in the front that everyone, like a photo op. Is it the Mewtwo? I mean, there's no point in me saying this. Yeah, it is. I think it is. It's like a. It's in a tank. Yeah. In a tank. It's from the movie, baby. That guy's going to bust out of there and the world's going to be awesome. So, I see that in all my videos. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: We might. But the thing is, I would never ask somebody to go to the Pokemon Center unless they were going. You know what I mean? Because it's like, oh boy. A hundred percent. It's going to be a thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And like, I wouldn't have anything to buy there, but I would get something for you. Yeah. Yeah. Which would be cool. So, okay. On the list. That is on the list. Speaking of lists, Myke. This, I dug this from the depths. For some reason, this percolated to the top of one of my links when I was looking at stuff. I was like, oh yeah, we never updated Wirecutter's best pen list. They did an update back in July. Okay. And I looked at it back then and we didn't cover it because it's really freaking good. They have the best suggestions. Like a lot of these are like Amazon link listicles, right? Where it's just, they're just throwing random crap up there. But Wirecutter's kept this list for so, it's got to be a decade now. And they're always thinking about the things that go on it. And it's concise. And according to me, which is all that matters, it's correct. Which is very rare for most of these lists, but Wirecutter's always done it. The top pick. The best pen. And it's been at the top, I think, the entire time we've covered this is the Jetstream. Uniball Jetstream. They list the RT, which is not my favorite Jetstream. But it's fine. The problem with the RT, I don't think, and whenever we've covered this list before and covered the Jetstream RT specifically, I don't think the Jetstream 1.0 millimeter line width refill is the best Jetstream refill. I think it's the .7. And the RT, the majority of them are 1.0s. And people like them. They're fine. I just, I'm particular. I don't know if you know this, Myke. I'm particular about pens. And that one's just never as consistent as the .7 is to me. But I like finer lines. You know, it's whatever. You do.

Myke Hurley: And I think that's the thing. I understand your thing about consistency. But I think most people, most people do not.

Brad Dowdy: Most people, the people reading this list are going for the wider. And plus a one millimeter ballpoint line writes like a .7.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. .7 gel or something.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because I've always said like the .7 gels, like the .7 Uniball G2s or whatever, they are the popular one.

Pen Pin Reviews

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So between this pin and one other pin, which they actually smartly rate highly on this list, they're the two best pins. We'll get to it when that comes up on the list. Next item. I can't remember if they've had this in the past. Certainly they have. But they did a multi-pin this year. Yes.

Myke Hurley: I was actually, unless I missed this because I was looking through this article today, I was surprised that there wasn't like a change log. Yeah. Kind of thing. You know, like if they have updated it, I would have just assumed that they would note that it was updated and how. That's true. But maybe they don't feel that. Maybe that's like a distraction. But yeah. It seems like in the past they have. This is why I looked. Because I know I've read Wirecutter articles before where they're like, we've re-ranked this and changed our decisions. Yeah. Maybe they just couldn't handle the hate that they were getting and they decided to.

Brad Dowdy: Melanie Panola, who has written this article for years, she's been at the masthead for this article for years. And I've talked to her via email. Yeah. So she would know.

Myke Hurley: Interesting.

Brad Dowdy: I can't remember. I'd have to go back and somehow, I don't know, archive, which I'm just not really. Interested in finding out. But they have a multi-pin on here. They put the multi-pin and I'm surprised. I'm going to click this link. The Jetstream Slim Multicolor is my favorite. Like, I didn't know this was actually readily available. I use one of the Japanese imports. It stays on my desk. It is by far and away my favorite multi-pin. I was shocked to see this. It's specifically the slim version. It's a three-ink cartridge multi-pin. That's not much wider than, like, a standard gel ink barrel. It just feels so good. It's inexpensive. It's like 10 bucks.

Brad Dowdy: I couldn't. I was really kind of shocked to see this on here. I rate this pin extremely high. I would even get this ahead of, like, the single version RT, to be honest. Like, this is just a darn good pin. And I think maybe they've just made a model that goes on the shelf now. Because a lot of these pins are, that are on these types of lists, you need to be able to walk into a store, like a grocery store, an office supply store, and find these, right? That's the context of this list. It's not, hey, I've searched all corners of the internet and found these pins. This is not the wire cutter is about.

Myke Hurley: Right. You know, I feel like.

Brad Dowdy: This is general information.

Myke Hurley: I don't know that they operate like this. But if they don't, they should. Which is, like, the best product that you can get. Yes. Not the best product. Mm-hmm. Right? Exactly. There's no point being, like, the best pin you can get is this fineliner from Japan that you have to import using, like, one, what are those, like, shipping services called? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a bunny in the name? White rabbit. White rabbit. That's it. You know, that's not helpful. Like, you're not providing a service to people. You've kind of, there has to be, like, some kind of, kind of, like, God around it. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Next pin is their only flaw on this list. Mm-hmm. So this is best for best ergonomic pin, Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity. I hate the Pilot Dr. Grip. Okay. Like, I, like, like, that's not too, too strong of a word. It's a bad pin for two reasons. One is they market this as a hand-strained pin. While technically correct, it's because it's a wider diameter barrel.

Brad Dowdy: Visually, the marketing says, oh, this is a squishy grip. Right? Because it's a translucent grip with a thickness and a, like, a color cylinder underneath. So you think it's squishy? It's actually very firm. And it's just, it's disingenuous what this pin is selling. It's fine. It is ergonomic. A lot of people love it. Do you think it needs a squishy grip to be ergonomic? No. No. No. But this visual tells me that it is, is my problem. It is visually saying, squeeze me.

Brad Dowdy: You have to pay me for that.

Brad Dowdy: That's extra. That's extra.

Myke Hurley: That's extra. And it's not a really good. Don't squeeze the doctor.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's traditionally not a great refill. I don't, I don't even know. I guess they use the acrobolic refill now. It's fine. The doctor grip is fine. If you want an ergonomic pin, I don't know. Let's, let's talk. We can do something different. The problem is it's kind of the only one in this category, right? Like where you can go into the store and buy this. Some other companies have tried and it's just not really that good. But I, I just, I just don't like that.

Myke Hurley: Well, so maybe it's technically the best one then.

Brad Dowdy: It, they're technically correct, which is one type of correct. So let's move on. Best, okay. We can talk about this one. All right. A lot. Best pen for fine lettering or drawing. It's the Pilot Precise V5 RT. Okay. Okay. I don't disagree like with like my entire chest. I, the problem is they kind of go against this later, which we're going to get to.

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Pilot Precise V5 RT

Brad Dowdy: The Pilot Precise V5 RT is an awesome pen. It's a roller ball, five millimeter needle tip. It's a good line. It's a fine line. It's not the finest or the best, but this is a very good pen. I just don't know that it's categorically the correct answer. It is just a darn good pen.

Myke Hurley: And I would highly recommend this pen. I would like to have this conversation in full. So can we jump, jump through the list a little bit to the end? Cause I think what you're going to say is they say the best fine liner is to secure a Pigma Micron. No, it's above that.

Brad Dowdy: They have the best gel pen for fine tip lovers.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I, you know, in my mind, I just read gel pen and just left it at that. Okay. I was going to, cause I was going to say like, there's no point making the argument I was going to make, but just the secure Pigma Micron, I wouldn't say it was like a writing pen for most people. I don't think they would see it as that, but okay. So yeah, let's talk about this then. Best gel pen for fine tip lovers, Uniball Signo RT1. I always stick, I can never remember whether we're supposed to say Sino. I've had this conversation so many times.

Brad Dowdy: This is a, this is a decade old conversation. That's still like.

Myke Hurley: We do not know is the answer.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, we actually do. It's Signo. I clarified. Brad, it can't be known.

Myke Hurley: No one can know.

Brad Dowdy: It's truly unknown. It's true.

Myke Hurley: It's impossible.

Brad Dowdy: What is known is that this is a better fine tip than the RT5.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So what's going on here then?

Brad Dowdy: It's a gel pen that goes down to 0.38 and 0.28. Right. So they're saying you go to read the RT. It says best for fine lettering or drawing. And then this one is a best gel pen for fine tip lovers. And I think like the RT1 is actually the answer to both. They said in our test, they have a statement here. In our test, the Signo RT1 performance was nearly identical to that of the Energel and the Precise V5 RT parentheses with just a bit of smudging when we forced it. That's about the RT because it is a rollerball ink. Like it's going to be fine for drawing, but for a fine line, you want the gel ink. And I think this pen should win both categories.

Myke Hurley: But they're saying the Univore Signal RT1 is a gel pen. Yeah. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I got a little confused there. But I think that's just what they're saying, right? It's like this is the people that like gel pens, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: But they don't classify the RT in the title header. They're not saying this is your best fine line rollerball. They're saying this is your best fine pen. It happens to be a rollerball. This is just me being me. I think it's the same.

Myke Hurley: Well, they're saying it's a gel pen, right? Mm-hmm. And that is, at least to them, that is some kind of signifier. Yeah. That it is specifically a gel ink pen.

General Gel Pens

Brad Dowdy: Well, let's do the specific gel, the general gel category. Because I think they nailed this.

Myke Hurley: Even then, they don't have a general gel category. It's best smudge-free gel pen. Yeah. That's a stupid category. Why is it so specific with gel pens? Yeah. Why can't they just have a gel pen? Why is it like the best smudge-free gel pen and the best gel pen only if you like fine tips? It's interesting.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I said I like this list, but it's getting more and more questionable.

Myke Hurley: No, I'm just kidding. Well, none of these, no lists, no lists are perfect.

Brad Dowdy: They at least have good answers. They do have good answers. Yeah, they're all good products. They are, except the Dr. Grip. The best smudge-free gel pen, agreed, stupid category name, because it's literally the best gel pen on the market, is the Pentel Energel RTX. It just is. Like, if you're going, if the normies are going out to buy their colorful 0.7 gel ink pens, this is the one you want 100% of the time. It's better than the G2. It's better than the Signo 207s and 307s. It's better than the Zebra Ciracis. In the 0.7 gel ink category, it's the best. Like, I don't think it's even a question. Like, my category is back to the Signo RT category. That's where the Energel doesn't play. It's not in that realm because of the tip sizes. But, yeah, the Energel and the Jetstream are, like, the two best pens on the store shelf. Just every time, just walk into a store. If you pick an Energel or if you pick a Jetstream, you're going to be in good shape. You've made a good decision. Last one, is the best fineliner? I'm honestly surprised that they got this right.

Brad Dowdy: Because it's, I will say that the Secura Pygma Micron is the best fineliner. It's also kind of pricey. And they don't necessarily, they don't consider price in here, which is good. These lists never choose the Secura Pygma Micron for this category. So, I'm actually very pleased. It's just such a well-known, great product that's been around for decades and remains the best.

Myke Hurley: Has it got a status now in that it would be surprising if you didn't pick it?

Brad Dowdy: No, because I think this is where the list makers will zig.

Brad Dowdy: And just because, oh, everyone knows the Micron, let's do something else. Yeah, but they didn't know this scenario, right? Which I appreciate.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because it's like I wonder, like, has it got a kind of recognition amongst just stationary enthusiasts as opposed to, like, addicts or lovers like us, right? Like, people who like a nice pen are aware of it. In the same way that if you were doing, like, best coloring pens, the Copics would be there. Because people just know them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And this, the Micron's interesting because I think it really only has one competitor and then it's everything else. I think the one competitor is the Statler pigment liner. Right. Which just has way fewer options. Yeah. Right. I think it's just as good.

Brad Dowdy: But I just prefer the Micron in the black. Yeah. Black Micron versus the pigment liners in black. I always prefer the Microns. And then everything else is after that, like your UniPens. Like, UniPen makes this list a lot because it's, like, a dollar per pen cheaper. It just has very few options compared to, like, the Micron. Yeah. And the Micron's just better. So, anyway. That's the entirety of the list, which I appreciate. It seems like it had a lot of things, but it really didn't compared to, like, a lot of these lists that'll just go run on to 20 different items and all that stuff. So, I think very good, honestly, stuff from Wirecutter, which, you know, y'all should go check out that list. And, yeah, I mean, I think it's stuff that, if you're listening to this podcast, it's stuff you know. And, you know, no real disagreements, which is fun.

Myke Hurley: I mean, it's just good because it's, like, obviously they get a lot of traffic. And so, we just, all we want is them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're doing a good job, you know, and they're doing a great job. They do. They do.

Brad Dowdy: And, honestly, Melanie works at it. She will email Anna or she'll email, you know, other people in the community just to say, hey, what am I missing? Like, I haven't, didn't talk to her this year, but in the past she'll say, you know, we've done this before. Am I missing something? Yeah. And I was like, that's cool. Like, you know, I know that she's talked to Anna a bunch. And it's like, yeah, like, let me tell you about X that came out. Yeah. And it's, they do a good job instead of just, like, throwing a bunch of links up there and saying why they're good.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Should be part of the research, right? Makes sense. Yep. Totally. All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Enigma Stationery. Enigma Stationery offers unique items made from in-house designs along with top brands and hard-to-find imports. Brad, what is catching your eye over at Enigma right now?

Brad Dowdy: The Enigma Stationery app. Myke, did you know?

Myke Hurley: I was going to mention this in case you didn't, actually. I didn't know if you knew, but, yes, they've got an app now. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm on the app right now. It's really great. It is so fast. I went through, like, every page on this just to see, like, is everything working? I was, like, Dan didn't, like, have me beta test, nor did he need to. But I was just like, I'm going to be a beta tester. I'm going to check everything. And, like, this site just, like, whips through every page. It's really well done. And it has, like, the same organization you would get on the website. But it's very easy to use. I appreciate that if you go to the App Store on iOS, the Apple App Store, one of the images is the hot dog pen, which I can appreciate. I can appreciate that. So, anyway, go check out the app. I have it downloaded. And it's just great to browse through. Like, you can check. Like, they have a whole exclusive section, which I was browsing through. The desk accessories, which is funny when I look at this. I was like, man, I have a lot of these things. I like all the Enigma stuff, like the desk mats and the ink towels and hot dog pen. Then they have their exclusive fountain pens, which are glorious. Some of my favorite pens that I use on a regular basis. They have their mystery boxes. They have nib holders that are made for them by River City Pen Co. They have their pride collection, which I bet I have, like, at least half of this stuff on here. Then the newest one, and we talked about this one before, is the collaborations. Their Secure Dragon collaboration, art collaboration, is spectacular. The artwork on that one is stunning and really, really good and really cool. So, then you can just drop in, shop by brand. I'm not going to go through everything. But they have these categories are just laid out super, super well. Even shop by character, which we know that Enigma does good at. And I just ran into a Business Frog acrylic keychain, and I don't have that yet, and I'm going to need to order it. Oh, look at that. Oh, and look, there's an Eevee Game Boy lenticular enamel pen, so that's for you.

Myke Hurley: Well, no, that is amazing. I actually have one of these pens. I have a different, oh, I don't remember what Pokemon I have, but I have one of these lenticular pens. Is it behind me?

Brad Dowdy: Man, there's a Business Frog rubber stamp, too. All right, we're going to have to update the Business Frog category, at least at my house. Oh, what is this pen case?

Myke Hurley: We've lost him now, folks. He's gone.

Brad Dowdy: Lit Lab tray. It looks like a banana. Good. But it's... Oh, okay. So, what this is, I've seen these before. It's like a lay-flat silicone, but it has a zip. So, if you zip it like a banana, but then you unzip it, it lays completely flat on the desk. It's almost like it goes from pen tray to pen case. That's kind of cool, like if you're mobile. I haven't used one of these. I've seen this concept before. It's like a lay-flat pen tray, but then you could just zip it up and throw it in the bag. Okay, that's cool. What is it called? Lit Lab Altna, A-L-T-N-A, tray. Okay.

Myke Hurley: Interesting. I'll make sure it's...

Brad Dowdy: So, it's like a very... It's a very simple design. So, it's not that expensive. It's like 18 bucks. Because it's not saying like this is like your pouch, right? This is like your mobile, portable, like pen tray situation, right? You just open it up. You can use it like a pouch and not unzip it all the way, but the idea is for it to lay flat on your desk and it's not that big. So, that's pretty cool. I like that. It's a very simple design. Anyway. Here's my recommendation. And it looks like a banana.

Myke Hurley: Something I found that I think is fun. The Max Silicone Cat Stapler. What? It's stapler. Looks like a cat. No. Yeah. I haven't seen this. Pretty good. They got a calico cat. It's a good cat color.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. And they have gray stripe. They got the gray stripe. Let me see. Let me see. Let me look at this one. Pretty good, Brad. Oh, man. It's like the cat's just, the cat's basically doing a loaf on the top. Yep. Just 20 bucks. Yeah. Can have a cat stapler. All right. Sick. Okay. I need to stop. It's good stuff. Enigma Stationery app.

Myke Hurley: Yep. And website, of course. Because you want to go and get $10 off on orders of $50 or more by going to enigmastationery.com slash penaddict and using the code TPA26 at checkout. I would expect that the code would probably work in the app, too, but don't quote me on that. That is enigmastationery.com slash penaddict. And you'll get $10 off on orders of $50 or more with the code TPA26. So thanks to Enigma Stationery for their support of this show and relay. I did a stream yesterday, Brad, where I was modifying an iPod. And Dan from Enigma was in the chat, both encouraging and heckling me, which was perfect. Yeah, that's correct. That's how it should be.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. That seems right.

Quick Hit Topics

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Quick, couple quick hit topics here. Quick hit topics here.

Brad Dowdy: There's two, so you have to sing it twice. Nope. Come on. When I had Rob Knight on a couple episodes ago, we discussed stationary items that were the most satisfying to finish, like to complete, like finishing a notebook, finishing a bottle of ink. And then friend of the show, Jacqueline, asked me yesterday, related to that question, what's the most satisfying stationary to start? And I thought that's an interesting question because I get super excited about like some new, like the beginning of a new thing, starting something. So I put down a few things. I have one thing that stands out above all of these on the list, and I'll let you pick out which one when I'm done here.

Myke Hurley: So the three, which one do I think is the top? Well, four.

Brad Dowdy: I put four, then you put in one. I put one in. You put in the one in. So the first four were mine. So the first one is a new notebook, taking off the packaging, right? Just that initial unwrapping of the notebook and kind of opening it up and cracking the spine and then actually putting down your first markings in there. That's pretty impressive. That's a happy maker. Sure.

Brad Dowdy: The first time using a new nib grind, I think is a pretty cool thing to think about and very exciting because you've had a product probably for a while, or you could have just bought it for the nib grind, but you've kind of modified it a little bit and into something that's like really interesting to you. And then you get to like take that home, clean it up, put in a new ink, get out your paper and use that for the first time. That's pretty cool. I think that's very satisfying. I think a new, back to like our gel ink topic from the Wirecutter article, a new Pilot Hitec C. I specifically put down a 0.3 in black. When you get that first line out there with a new, really fine gel ink pen, that's something like really cool to me to see those markings on the page. It's like, oh, this is different. This is nice. And then a very simple one is washi tape. Because starting a new roll of washi tape, when you use it, you're smiling. Like you can't help but smile the first time you put down the washi tape on the page, like in a new roll. And you're like, yes, I bought this for the reason. Yes, that's a octopus hot dog. And it looks sick on my page and it makes me smile. So like those were my things. And then I put, then you put one, which is what, which I think is excellent.

Myke Hurley: Uh, the first time you use a new fountain pen ink, because like you think, you know what the color is, you bought it for the color that it is. You have seen swatches, et cetera, et cetera. But the first time you put it in your pen and write on your paper, you actually see what the color is.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think that's totally right because it changes. It can change. The paper can change it. The nib, nib wetness can change it. And that's very satisfying because like you get to learn about it too, right? You don't just get to see like what the color is like. You get to learn about it. And I think that's super fun. So, um, which one do you think is my number one most satisfying stationary? I tried to play it cool and give them all equal, uh, equal levels of love.

Myke Hurley: See, I, I have an opinion. I, of what I think it is. I want to try it. No, I think in general, but I can't speak for you. I mean, so like, I don't think it's washi tape. I don't think you like washi tape that much. Like I know as much as some of the other things. Sure, sure, sure. Right?

Myke Hurley: The first time using a new nib grind is satisfying, but it's also nerve wracking.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: So, and you tend to be in an environment where there is an element of pressure to it, I find. Right? Because it's like, there's people around, well, because you're mostly doing these event shows. Yeah. And you're like, you know, you're trying to work with a person. Like there's like a, there's like a stress to it, depending as well on how much you love the pen. It's like, oh my God, is my pen okay?

Notebook Satisfaction

Myke Hurley: I think for most people, the most satisfying is a new notebook because of the way you described it. The way you, they're all, you always got to unpack them, opening them up, like, you know, like a big stretch, you know, that the notebook gets together. I think that's great. But for you, I'm going to assume it's just the Pilot Hi-Tech C 0.3 millimeters in black. And the reason is because you've given way too much information about the product. Like, it's not just using a Pilot Hi-Tech C. It has to be in 0.3 millimeter and it must be in black, which makes me think that that is what you consider to be the most satisfying out of that list.

Brad Dowdy: You broke that down insanely well. Thank you. You are correct in all the right ways. There you go. There's something about that pen that I wish it was just a better pen because it always starts off well, right? It doesn't end well. It never ends well with the Hi-Tech C. It starts, when I write with a fresh one of those, that is like the holy cow moment of stationery for me. Like, this is the essential product for Brad and how he writes and how he likes to see things on the page. And nothing makes my handwriting look cooler than that pen. And then a week later, I want to throw it against the wall, right? Yeah. It's just, it's a technical pen and the way it's designed is, it's not going to be like the most long lasting pen. It's just a little finicky in that way, which is unfortunate because it's amazing. But yeah, that's the one. I think most people would probably say the notebook, like kind of to your point. And then maybe the ink. I think the ink is a pretty good, pretty good breakdown here. So yeah, yeah, that's, that was good. So it would be interesting to hear if there's anything. What we had one in the chat, the first sharpening of a cedar pencil. That's actually pretty good. That's a very, like, I like the tactile stuff, right? The notebook is very tactile and you can feel, I love feeling like that brick shape in your, in your hand. Just like before you really, it becomes your notebook. Once it becomes your notebook, you don't notice like just the rigidity and just like the, how it's a solid object. Once you start using it, you lose that. To me, that goes away from when it was brand new. And it's just like so dense and rigid and just, I don't know. It's very cool. So I don't know. That'd be my second choice. But speaking of notebooks, Myke, I put this list in a new notebook that I'm using. One of my, one of the pen addict notebooks, the Midori ones. Because I'm trying to use this notebook more, it's kind of getting set to the side. And we'll just run through this real quick.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: To say a few things. So, okay. This is your one, right? With your logo on it? Okay. Yeah. The one with my logo on it. And it's just a perfect size and perfect shape. Beautiful. And I'm, I'm using some other things instead. Like I'm still using my plotters. So I'm not, everything's not going in this notebook right now, which is kind of what I want. So I said, okay, let me just brainstorm a list. And the list is called what goes in this notebook. So I just started rattling off things here. And some of this is going to be very obvious, but there's a goal here that I'm going to get to at the end. So I'm just going to riff, riff these off here and maybe I'll stop. So, and these are all numbered on my list. I'm not going to read the number every time, but notes, ideas, pen tests, music lyrics, quotes, trip plans, shopping list, shop inventory, journaling, morning pages, book list, music list, packing list. You can tell when I get on a theme here, gear list, troubleshooting notes. I'm okay. I don't know what I was thinking there. Pickleball scores, game scores. Here's the most interesting one. I have no idea what this means and why I wrote this down. I wrote down bot poetry.

Brad Dowdy: Bot poetry. Yeah. Bot poetry. Like robot. Sure. Robot or not.

Myke Hurley: Huh.

Brad Dowdy: Next one is waffle ranking, which I think is actually a pretty good one.

Brad Dowdy: Number 20, business frog philosophy. I think that can go in the notebook. Yeah. Actually, in every notebook. Yeah. Yeah. Jam recipes. I don't know why. Top 100 lists. They're back on the list again. Stickers, washi and ink samples. So that was my list and I'm just going to keep writing random stuff in here as I think about it. But what I'm going to do with this list is when I don't know what to write, I'm just going to go to an open page and pick out the thing on the list that I haven't written about most recently. So like I could start with number one, notes, and just go write some notes on there. Like if I don't know what to think. And then number two is ideas, which, you know, have a brainstorm. Number three is pen tests. You know, I could get a new pen and test it. So if you don't know what to write in your notebook, make a list in the front. And then when you're going, huh, I don't know what to write. You go to the list, pick one thing and do that. And I think that's going to help me with this notebook. So that's just something I'm messing with. And I wanted to play around with and wanted to mention. Bot poetry. Hmm. What could I have been thinking? Like I don't use AI. I'm not talking about like AI. I don't use AI for anything. I don't bot poetry. I must have seen something. I wonder if there was like a bot on Mastodon that did like a haiku or something. I don't know. I don't know what that could be, where I got that idea. So we'll go with it. We'll go with it. I can tell I've very much confused you on this. And you know what? I've kind of confused myself. But that's what we love doing this show.

Myke Hurley: You know, I like that. There are so many lists.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, it can't just be, okay, my goal for this notebook wasn't to make a list of the things. It was actually to do the things. Yeah. But I made a list and now I can go pick off the list and do that thing. You know, when I need a minute to, when I need 10 minutes break to just doodle and write in my notebook, I can go to this list and go, oh, you know, what's a good quote I can write down, you know, and put that in the notebook. Because there's really like no rules for this notebook that I'm currently using. So like anything can go in there. So that's something I'm working on. So we'll see how that goes. We'll follow back up and see if I fulfill any of this.

Myke Hurley: I like that you kind of have like an index, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's in the notebook. Yeah. And what's funny is it's like, it's on the second, it's on the second page. It's not even in the front. I wrote something else in there. So anyway, there's no rules. Things can go anywhere.

Myke Hurley: Things can go anywhere. Are we done for today? Well, I think that's a wrap. I think that's a wrap. If you would like to send in any questions for our next episode, remember if you've got any Japan-focused stuff, please send them in to penaddictfeedback.com and we'll do what we can to answer as many as possible as Brog prepares for his Japan excursion, which we're all very excited about for him and not at all jealous. I would like to thank Squarespace and Enigma Stationery for their support of this episode. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com. Brad, my spoke pen's coming real soon. It's nearly here. I'm very excited. I bought the Auto Flashdry refill because I want to try the dowdy method and see what that's all about. We'll see.

Brad Dowdy: I think you'll like it, the refill.

Myke Hurley: I'm excited. I'm excited. You can go, yeah, spokedesign.com for those. Brad, are you still streaming? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Streaming three times a week. No, like, not in general. I meant this week or whatever. Yeah. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I'm not streaming shipping. Right. I'm not streaming shipping. I caught up. Back to regular. Regular stream. Back to the desk. So I'm starting to fulfill the St. Jude's. Nice. Incentives. So I got postcards. I got ponies to paint. And then I got some Zoom calls on YouTube that we're going to do when I get back from Japan. Love it. I'll be putting out a post on that in the coming days just to give everyone who supported that campaign, which thank you so much. Just give them an idea of what to expect. I don't want to leave them high and dry while I'm in Japan for two weeks. So a lot of it's going to be done when I get back, just as a heads up.

Myke Hurley: Nice, nice, nice, nice. Yeah, you can find me here at Relay. Go to relay.fm. Find a new podcast. Maybe you check out Design in California. We just started a series about the iPod to celebrate the iPod's 25th anniversary, which is happening right now.

Myke Hurley: But until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.