Editing The Pen Addict 408/transcript (section)

== Platinum Curie Doss Review ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I have, well, okay, I don't have questions. I don't think they're for me. Well, I do have questions. I have commentary. How about that? The Platinum Curie Doss is a very interesting pen on a lot of levels. And now that I've gotten to hold one and use one, like at pen shows, John from Lemur Inks, he had one at Baltimore. I got to test this out. I'm like, okay, cool. It's way bigger than I thought. And so I had my head wrapped around the overall size of this pen is very large. When we talked about this before with yours, when the pictures had me, you know, kind of a belief that it was going to be not a small pen, but no more than your average size pen, let's say, whatever that means. But you know it when you feel it. If you're a pen addict and use a lot of different pens, you know what a normal size pen feels like. This is a bigger pen. The mechanics are impressive. So I opened this up on stream yesterday and I was trying to figure out how to fill it. And it has all of these, you know, little notches and buttons that you have to twist and turn.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think I made this analogy previously, but the thing is like Fort Knox or like one of those puzzle boxes or something. Like trying to actually get a cartridge into the thing is wild.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. But once you do it once, I think it's logical, right? It's not normal for a fountain pen, right? There's no way normal what you have to do to actually put ink into this pen. But the mechanics are logical after you do it. So I inked it up. I was sure that this was a Curie Doss in the box that I was opening. So I, of course, grabbed the Mount Fuji ink cartridge as one does for the Curie Doss and inked it up. And I was able to get, so I got a red Curie Doss and I got an extra fine nib. So I pulled some strings, got the extra fine nib, which I don't know if it's ready yet on the market, but it's coming soon. It was just a little bit further behind. And I deployed the nib and there was ink all over the nib. Do you see this when you engage the pen, like a lot of ink coming out the breather hole of the nib?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' A little every now and then, but nothing has ever made me feel like something weird was going on.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, this covers, you know, like, I don't know, a tenth or 20th percent of the nib. Like it's a large blob of ink when you deploy the nib. And I was like, huh, that's interesting. Maybe I'll just wipe it off. Maybe it's just, you know, when I first inserted the ink cartridge and, you know, the air pressure and all that makes it blob out. So I cleaned it up and it just comes back. So there's something going on on the inside there. That doesn't bother me that much. Like it just looks weird. It's like, oh, that's a weird thing. The extra fine nib is awesome. I love, love writing with this nib. The big red flag that I had before getting this in hand was what are we calling the protrusion near the nib? Does that have a name? So it's where the, where the fin hole, the fin hole. So that protrusion, it's a little bit in the way, but I can get around it, right? Like my grip is.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That one's not the problem for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That, that, that, that, the, the, the, the, the back side, the backside nubbin is not a problem for you. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The way the little fin comes out at the bottom of the pen, right? That's not the issue. The issue for me is the little, is the clip or the plastic part of the clip.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. So the clip is zero issue for me. Like I couldn't, I don't even notice it, which, which is why I'm a vanishing point user, right? That works for the way I grip a pin. The backside nubbin, I hit it every now and then. You have to get pretty low to get to that point. Like it's not as much of a disaster.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'll say they're both issues. Now I'm holding it, but I find, you know what? They're both issues. I always forget this until I actually pick up and use the pen. Those two, like, so the, the, the, the fin hole and the clip nubbin, these are terrible. This is just terrible. They.

'''Myke Hurley:''' These are official. Like they are both in the documentation.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' For me placed in the exact worst areas for both of them. Like being exactly where they are means I have nowhere comfortable to hold this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. And from my perspective, I have a super traditional textbook grip, which is what these protrusions are made around. They're not generally a problem for me. A little bit at the bottom on the backside, but I can see that if you have a non-standard grip, which is why, again, you're not a vanishing point fan, right? It's a problem for you. But the real problem I have with this pen is the diameter of the barrel. It's big, right? It's a big boy. It's, it's too wide and it causes instant hand fatigue.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's going to be the downfall. I think of this pen, not all of these other little things, not the size, not the mechanics of it. And, but, and I'm saying this, it's a perfectly fine pen. It's going to sell well. I will recommend it, but there will be a thousand caveats with it. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have become an increasing fan of a quick release fountain pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like being able to pick up a fountain pen, hit the knock and it just be ready is great. Like, and I know that the vanishing point exists and that's fine. But like this pen I've just left on my desk and I love being able to reach out and grab it, you know? Like, so I've become a fan, like a renewed fan of this mechanism, like this idea. But it just frustrates me so much that everyone that makes this pen decides that they must adorn the grip area. Like you could put a clip on this pen somewhere else if you have to have a clip. Right. Like it just drives me bananas. Like they just, they ruin them by, by like sticking extra pieces on them. Just, just nothing will be better, please.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. So I've had this pen for a day. I'm going to use it for a couple of weeks and maybe my, you know, maybe my thoughts change, you know, like the, the Y studio resin pen. I was a little bit concerned that I was like, boy, this is a weird pen. I'm not sure I'm going to like it. And now I can't put it down. I'm kind of in that same spot with this one, but it's different because it's actually making my hand tired when I write with it because my fingers are now further apart, which causes strain in the upper part of my hand, which makes it uncomfortable to write with for a long period of time. That's not going to change on this pen. Right. I, and I'm going to use other pens that are thinner, that are more, uh, and more standard diameter barrel, but especially with an extra fine nib where my strokes aren't large. Right. Like I would almost start like, again, the caveat, the list of caveats is would be, okay. You probably want to start with like a medium nib on this because you're going to need bigger movements to not stress out your hands so much when you're writing with a wide diameter barrel. So we looked this up on stream and Tony looked it up for me. So it's 11.3 millimeters wide or diameter and the Lamy dialogue, which has the same problem. It's Lamy's attempt at their retractable pen. It has a twist mechanism to, uh, get the nib out. And my main complaint about it is that it's too wide. It's 11.6 millimeters. So it's right there in that same, uh, same category. Um, chat rooms mentioning that the large diameter does help some people like who have arthritic hands and, and need larger grips. That's absolutely true. So in that case, that's a way to, you know, look at it as well. But whereas something like the pilot, Dr. Grip is made to be wide and made to have that comfort level for a wider grip. I don't know that this is necessarily made for that. Dr. Grip.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Now that's a weird name for a pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. He's on the, uh, coronavirus science team. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. He's a super good guy. Dr. Grip. Mm hmm. Yeah. So it's, um, it's interesting. I'm going to spend some time with this before I come to my final conclusion. Those are my initial thoughts. Right. And I'm going to use it consistently for probably two weeks or so before I even consider writing it up. And, um, I don't know if it'll change. We'll see. I look like you said, the best part about this pen is to have it laying on the desk, pick it up, click it, start writing, write your thing and then put it down. Right. I don't want to write page after page with this is where I'm at right now. And that's different from a lot of other fountain pens that I recommend without the whole list of caveats. Like this is going to be a thing. Right. So, um, we'll see. And, you know, I want to see what they do with it. I like it as a platform. What can be next? Right. You always start somewhere. Right. And, you know, we've seen changes in the vanishing point over the years. The vanishing points have actually gotten wider. Right. But they're still in a reasonable, reasonable diameter. They were like 10 point something millimeters when we looked it up. So they're definitely thinner. And, um, they've gone to a wider barrel. Maybe platinum can, you know, make this more compact if this is a success for them and they keep working on it. I'd like to see them keep working on it because I think they have something here. Right. The price point's right. The mechanism is right. We'll see what the durability is right. Yeah. It looks cool. I like it a lot. So.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I would really love, honestly, for me, like I would just love to see them find a way to make it more comfortable to hold. Um, the barrel size is larger, but it's not my initial issue. Maybe if like I didn't have a problem with the protrusions, then I would find the barrel size to be a problem. But in general, that pen is fatiguing to use in a way that like pens aren't always, you know?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. Right. Which is, I'm glad that it's plastic. Like I imagine the, if they do a metal barrel version, we're going to get close to Lamy dialogue type of issues, which is very heavy and very wide. Maybe why they made it out of plastic. It's very uncomfortable. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. It may have just been the best thing for it. Because it's, it's definitely a more expensive price point. And if they would have made it out of metal, even charged just a tad more, I don't think there would have been as much conversation about the price of this pen as there have been.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Agree. So they've done a lot right. Like I very much respect what they did here. And this is what I want to see. Like I'm not knocking it as a product. Like I, this is as a pen addict, I want to see this out of companies, right? Like I want this to be a success. Yeah. Please innovate on things and make modern pens. Like this is great. I love it. But, you know, if you're asking me about the writing experience, I'm going to hem and haw a lot because there's, there's things you have to consider if you're going to purchase this pen.