Editing The Pen Addict 566/transcript (section)

== Lamy Balloon release ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' We have a discussion to have about the release of the Lamy Balloon. Okay, so long-time Pen Addict readers and listeners may recognize this name. What is the Lamy Balloon? This is the pen that many years ago, Myke, in fact, 13 years ago, that I reviewed in 2010. I reviewed the Lamy Balloon Rollerball. It's this blue, transparent blue pen, like rollerball pen. Like, this is the only way it comes in rollerball. It's not a fountain pen. It's not, you know, pencil. It's not the ballpoint. It doesn't get the full workup that Lamy normally does. So, I've always held this pen to a high standard for design. Like, I think it's a great design, right? And I raved about it. Now, at the time of the review, I was really disappointed in the refill. It has a very proprietary refill. Almost nothing else fits in there. And the refill was poor. Good refill.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I liked it. Oh, let me rephrase it. I bought one in 2018 at the Lamy store in San Francisco and really liked it. Mm-hmm. So, I don't know if it changed or maybe, you know, just our taste.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, maybe because this pen has actually had gone through a little bit of design change, right, from when I first reviewed it. But I still, the reason why the balloon has always stuck in my head is because this is what I wanted the Lamy Vista to become, right? This is where we got on the whole hire me Lamy kick, you know, five or six years ago. It was like, you can make these translucent barrels at a low price point in the fountain pen lineup. Why don't you?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And here they come again with a new relaunch of the balloon. You'll notice, at least, well, I noticed the one drastic change of this pen compared to my model in 2010 is the clip.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, they've actually redesigned the whole thing, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They pretty much, the front end, like the section looks the same.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But the body is the Safari Vista body. It looks like it. The old balloon had a rounded cap, completely different clip. Yep. It was quite a different pen, I think. And I feel like now they have decided to just use that kind of tried and true design language for the balloon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. So that begs the question, Myke, when am I getting the Vista? Like, they've made the top half now, right? They've made the cap. Mm-hmm. They literally made a Vista cap or a Safari cap or an All-Star cap for this balloon. When are we going to have the full continuation of the product? And that's what I've been harping on for years. Like, I know you can do this, Lamy. Like, from 2010. Like, I love this pen so much. It's such a cool design, right? And it's like, this is like your entry-level pen. Like, I'm not asking Lamy to change the world here. But I've always been on them knowing that they can make this, right? And now they've done a few things over the past couple of years to tell me they're kind of telegraphing, like, the next move, right? They're building up. Like, they made an All-Star with a translucent yellow grip section, right? That was that, I don't know, it was one of the Asian editions. I can't remember if it was China or Japan or Hong Kong specific. But it ended up being a worldwide release. It's like an Iron Man-looking pen. So it had the yellow grip section. But it was an All-Star, which they don't usually change the grip section color. Now they've made a cap that looks to be a match to the rest of the more entry-level fountain pen lineups. The Safari, the Vista, and the All-Star.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We might be getting there. We might be getting there, Myke. So I found this to be very interesting. So they've always kept the balloon in the lineup. It's never been that great. Although, like you say, I'd probably need to try the refill again because I didn't have a great one. So I will get one of these new ones. What I want to see from this, from anyone who orders this pen before I get it, is if this cap can be swappable into one of the pens. Yeah, can you take a put-up to Safari? How close is the manufacturing? Like, are they setting this up?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like it's got to be, Brad. I feel like this is the same thing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Because it's a machining thing, right? It's a cost of machining thing. If you can make similar products, like, that's better for your factory. Right? Like, if you can make a cap that has multiple uses, well, now we're getting this cap dialed in to maybe being used for what I want, which is a Vista or Safari in this colorway. So we might be getting there. So I want to see, I want to get one of these. I haven't bought one yet, but I will soon. And I want to see if this cap is hot swappable with your Safaris and Vistas and All Stars, things like that. So I'm sure someone will be able to test that before I do. So that is my next question. Have they started to build in a universal cap for this price point of pen? And if so, it's only going to be a matter of time before I get what I want.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would like them to just make this for the Safari. Like, I would just like this to be...