Editing The Pen Addict 472/transcript (section)

== Leonardo Pens Review ==


'''Brad:''' At least. And I would like to talk about pens today, especially, Myke, one of the best pens on the market. And if you've listened to this show for, I don't know, any time in the last 100 episodes, you know that I love the Leonardo Memento Zero. And this is my opportunity yet again to fawn over it. Would you like me to do that? I would. I would like you to own one, is what I would like.

'''Myke:''' I was thinking this exact thing this morning when I read your review. So why don't we talk about that, too?

'''Brad:''' All right. So I just reviewed one of the latest releases from Leonardo. They have several different models, several different price points, several different styles. But kind of their two... Entry level is the wrong term, but their two kind of starting points are called the Memento Zero, which is the model in this review. And the Fiore, which is really hard for me to say, essentially the same pen, slightly different barrel shape. So I prefer the Memento Zero, but this commentary and this love of this pen could also relate to the Fiore model. So just everyone keep that in mind. Save me some emails. This is one of those pens, I guess I kind of discovered at pen shows, three-ish years ago, something like that, two years ago, two and a half, three years ago. And I kept waiting. They came out and people were buying them and loving them and saying, Brad, you need to get a Leonardo. And I'm like, yes, look at these pens. They're amazing. I need to get a Leonardo. And then at the time, it was when Leonardo was just kind of ramping up.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, it felt like there was a moment where they kind of took a turn.

'''Brad:''' Well, they didn't have... They weren't ready to be this good, is what happened, right? I could not get the model that I wanted, so I kept waiting, right? So they launched a product line and it was really... At the time, it was just the Furores and just the Memento Zeros, just the... At the time, around $150 to $180 pens. That was it. They didn't have any of this high-end stuff that they have now. And people were buying them. People were loving them. People were recommending them. And I was like, yes, I need this pen. I want one. And I want this specific one. It was called a Blue Hawaii was the material. We've talked about it before because you didn't like how the material was laid out. We'll talk about that later. I got a Blue Hawaii with Rhodium Trim and I just couldn't buy one, right? No one had the exact setup I wanted and I wasn't going to sacrifice. I was like, I know there will be more. I will just wait. It turns out I waited almost a year from when they came out to when I picked up my first one. And then I got it and I was like, oh, yes, yeah, I see what the deal is here. I see why this is so popular. And that's all well and good on the front end. I figured out a pen that I like. Everyone else likes it. I see why it's recommended so well. And then they kept getting better, right? Leonardo just kept tweaking the recipe that made them successful on launch and refining that. You know, adding in a few different materials, having the materials be slightly more complex, refining the nib choices. You know, they had a mixture of Bach and Yovo in the beginning. Now they just use Yovo. You know, they added some upgrade models, which, you know, that's a whole separate podcast, right? Like when they have like piston fillers and gold nibs. We're not talking about any of that. And they just continue to refine and they release new colors, like I said. And they just every time they released, say they release four colors of the Memento Zero. Every one of them would just be bangers, right? They're just like, man, look at these pens. And like, this is something you don't need one of these pens a year, right? It's the same pen, you know, with different clothes on. And like, that's cool. We all have our things. You know, we all, some people have 50 Lamy Sepharis and that's cool. It's like, I don't need 50 Memento Zeros, you know, to match all these colors. So I had this blue Hawaii and then, you know, there was this kind of purpley one with rose gold and pink. And I was like, ah, I should get that one. So I got that one and, you know, it just kind of continued on. The reason why I like these, Myke, I guess we should probably get to this part, is it's this classically styled fountain pen. You look at this and you go, oh, that is a fountain pen or oh, that is a pen. I mean, I know they have some rollerballs and rollerballs, but it looks very traditional. But it's got very modern types of shapes and hardware and the finish of the pen. It all seems very, very current. And the, but with the overall design kind of holding this like, you know, representative of the past type of aesthetic. You know, it's the right size and the right weight and the right width and the right shape and all these things. But, you know, it's made for, you know, the 2020s and it's fantastic. So it fits my hand so well. And I'm such a steel EF Yovo nib fan that it's perfect for me out the box. And that's one of the other things that I like about Leonardo is not everyone has the same experience out of the box as I've had. But I think more times than not, it is kind of the perfect pen right out of the box. And it's still under $200 right now. Like this model that I reviewed is $199. So we're teetering on the edge. But there are other models without like the black trim or like the previous year's model that are like $169 or something like that. It's just a rock solid fountain pen that I can't tell you, I can't nitpick this pen from my perspective. There it's flawless. And I was scared to say that word. It's probably not, you know, but it comes with no caveats. And I think that's pretty rare for a product these days, especially when you're spending like a good amount of money. Like $200 is no joke amount of money. And like even then we make decisions about the products that we buy. This price point, what can we live with? What can we live without? You know, is it a good value? And like I just, I can just recommend this pen wholeheartedly. Not because, well, because it's great. Also because like I personally love it. And sometimes those two things don't align, right? Like I can personally love a product that's the best for me and never want to recommend it to someone, right? Or I can personally love a product that I think would be universally loved by anyone I would recommend it to. And that's where the Leonardo Memento Zero falls. This specific orange model, Myke, it's actually forcing me to sell two other Leonardo Memento Zeros. Why? Like I've pulled them, well, I, cause I, I would, if now that I have this orange one that made me have four and I don't need four of the same pen, right? So I'm going to keep the, the, the pinkish purple one with rose gold trim. Cause it's different. Then I'm going to keep this one. And then I have two others that I've bought over the years that I'm just going to sell because I'm, I will never use four of these pens, right? This, I do not need a collection of these pens. Like I like the two that I have. They're very different. They have different nibs. They look completely different. And the other two like just wouldn't get used as much. And like, that's, you know, whenever I finally get this pen sale up, we can go through the whole process of, of, um, choosing pens to sell. I know people have been asking about that and wanting me to discuss that, how I'm doing that a little more. So once I get this finished up here in the coming weeks, we'll, we'll, we'll do a show on that. But yeah, I don't need four of them. Right. I have a lot more sailors that I don't, you know, necessarily want to sell because there are enough differences and enough different models and things like that. But I've ended up with four Memento Zeros because they're kind of easy to buy because they're so cool. But I know I'm not going to use a couple of them. So do you, would you like to buy one?

'''Myke:''' Maybe.

'''Brad:''' I'm just kidding. I didn't even think about that before we started telling you, you need to get one. And oh, by the way, I am selling a couple. I was thinking about that. I didn't even think about that.

'''Myke:''' Well, I saw that you put it in the show notes, but then I realized you're not going to have any nibs that I want.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. They're both of the ones I'm selling are extra fine nibs.

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' The one I'm, the other one I'm keeping besides this one is a medium ground into a stub by, uh, Gina at Custom Nib Studio. And that's the rose gold and pink one. So that one stays and then this one stays and the other two are equally as awesome. They're just, but they're identical to this orange one that I have. Right. So I don't, I don't need them.

'''Myke:''' You mean like in, in the model, right?

'''Brad:''' The build, like the shape and the nib are exactly the same. They're identical. So I would, it would, I would just be keeping them for the color of the pen. And you know what? Like that's for me right now, that's not something that's working for my pen library. My pen library is all of a sudden in this expansion phase and it's like, I'm cool with it, but like, I got to clear some space. Steel or gold? I mean, I'm pausing because what I, what I want to say is steel and it's not even close. And I was trying to decide if that's the right thing. And I feel like it is.

'''Myke:''' Why?

'''Brad:''' It's so good.

'''Myke:''' The steel nib?