Editing The Pen Addict 421/transcript (section)

== Testing Methods ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um, I rarely think about it. Usually because it's already done by the time I get it. Either the manufacturer will go ahead and take care of it. Especially when you have a piston filling capacity. That's easy to measure. Like, for example, you take a Pelican pen. And you unscrew the nib. And you fill it up with water. And then you pour that in the, you know, whatever tiny measuring device you have. And you can tell really quickly how much ink it will take. Like, that's a very simple, simple thing to do. So, I've just never put in the time or effort to want to do that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I mean, like, even though the manufacturer tells you. I mean, there's always an element of interest in doing the testing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, like, but this is, this can't, it's like, it's like niche stuff in a way. Like, and I get that. Like, for you, it's like, I could do that. If somebody else wants to do that for their blog, like, they should do that. And, like, that's a good thing for you. But I will do my thing, which is writing about the way this thing feels. So, if I can look at, again, I like to compare against the other industries that I'm a part of. YouTubers that review phones, right? You can watch, like, Marques Brownlee. And he's going to tell you what it feels like to use. And, like, the parts of it that work, the parts of it that don't. And then you watch a guy called, like, another YouTuber I like called Zach's Jerry Break. All he does is just take phones apart. Yeah. And see, like, what they're made of. How easy do they break? Like, that's his thing. And there's a market for that thing. But it's not necessary that one person has to do both things. Right. And you definitely fall more into the, like, I'm going to tell you what this thing is like to use. Rather than I'm going to take it apart, take some macro photos of all the pieces and tell you how they made it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Like, to me, I try to explain for, like, the 90th percentile use case. Yep. Right. Right. So, when I'm reviewing the vacuum filling system on a Pilot Custom 823, when I fill it well, I get about three quarters of a barrel full of ink, which is a ton of ink. Some people will be frustrated that they can't max out that 100% of ink capacity in there. But that's just not something to worry about. There are 90% use cases. I'm going to stick this pen into the bottle. And then I'm going to snap the piston down. And it's going to fill up my barrel three quarters. And you're going to write for weeks. Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Most people's, like, thing is, can I fill it? Right. Like, at all. Right. And if the answer is yes, you've captured most people. But then you will get the, like, there will be another group of people. And this isn't bad or good. It's just, like, it's a different desire, a different set of use cases, a different set of product wants. Who will be like, well, I want to fill it completely. And then you start to, then those people will start to look for the products that will allow them to do that. And I always think of Conid for this. Yes. Like, Conid seemed to have, like, a diehard set of fans who just want to fill their pens up completely. Yeah. Like, and they make all these wild systems, like the bulk filler, that will allow you to do that. And it's also always a demonstrator, pretty much, because if your whole thing is you can fill this pen up completely, you want to see that you can fill it up completely.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. So the prime example of how this manifests on the blog are the ink reviews that I do. I will never water test a fountain pen ink that isn't marketed as waterproof. Right. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, like, your everyday inks, I do not care. How well they stand up to a water drip test. Because if I did care, I would buy an ink that said waterproof on the bottle.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Does that make sense?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, to me, waterproofness does not matter for a standard ink because you're trying to find something that isn't there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, therefore, I will never test that. But an ink that's pigmented or waterproof, I will water test them to say, hey, is this marketing real? So, that's kind of the main way that manifests itself.