Editing The Pen Addict 604/transcript (section)

== Review of the Navalo Ikaku pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' You published your review of the Navalo Ikaku, which is a pen that we've been talking about a bunch of the last few weeks. You know, I feel like you'd kind of given the majority of your feelings that are in the review on the show as I kept prompting you for it. But I had a question in reading through the, the article that I didn't really feel like I necessarily got an answer to. Maybe you don't have an answer to it because it's a complicated question. And my question for you is if you had $700 to spend on a pen, would you choose this pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I call this question, the reviewer's dilemma.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's very, it's a very, I will state it is a very unfair question to ask. Like I know that, but this is just where I'm, where I'm a little hung up on this proposition is that I'm just not, I don't, I want you to tell me basically like, is this the place to put that money? Cause you could get a similar pen, I feel like from a lot of brands. And so this is just where I'm hung up a bit on, on Narwhal moving into this, this category. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And this is why it was difficult to write this review. I'm going to answer your question very directly and then we will go, we'll discuss it. The answer is no. Okay. I would not, if I had $700 to spend on a pen, this probably doesn't make like the top five and probably the top 10 pens of something I would choose. But where the reviewer's dilemma comes in is that is a very strict, only for me opinion. And it doesn't consider whether there is any technical issues, flaws, mispricing with the pen, which there's not. Like, I think the pen is well-made. I think the price is fair. Like there's really no issues with the pen. And then you also, do you have to say, I also would not spend the money I would choose to spend it elsewhere. Right. I don't know that that, that's why I like having the podcast and other platforms because I think there's one part review, but I have to understand in my review, people want to know, Brad, what decision would you make if you were, if you had this choice to make? And my choice would be, no, I would not spend this money on this pen. And while I was using this pen, I used it for several weeks. I enjoyed every second of it. I kept thinking, it's like, ah, maybe I should ask them, like, if I could buy this pen. And I was like, no, that's like not the best use of my money. Like if I was going to spend that money, I'm going to think about it a little bit more. It would have been like a, uh, like a convenient opportunity for me to email them and purchase this pen. But then when I say, no, I would not spend the money on this pen. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with this pen. Right. It's just, that's where it boils down to my personal tastes. Um, and I don't know that I generally don't put that in a review. I will generally talk about whether I like it or not. And then I will call out any technical flaws, like very directly. Right. If I think there's a problem with the pen, I'll say it. If I think it's like, it's priced incorrectly, I'll say that. Like I'm very direct on those types of things. But like, is this pen worth it is only a question I can answer. And everyone has to answer that for themselves. So this is hopefully providing information and I can answer more. And if you say, Brad, would you spend $700 on this pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, like I wouldn't. Unless there was, the problem is there's other opportunities, right? This price point is very expensive, right? This is a ton of money to spend on a pen. I have very few pens that are more expensive than this. Like maybe a handful. And I would just choose, like the list of things I would choose for that amount of money would just be more because there's a couple of minor things that I don't find the value to be in. Like I have a real issue with this clip on this pen in that it's just very, it doesn't feel sturdy to me. It's like, it's thin and it's just not my style. Like I think it aesthetically, it looks fine. But I just kind of can't get over like the thinness of it and that they use it in like, it's fine to use it in other pens, but I've never liked it in the other pens either, right? Like some of their ebonite pens that they use, things like that. You know, if you're spending $700, you know, like literally you could buy almost anything you want, right? You could buy a Nakaya. You could buy a fancy platinum. You could buy, you know, a big sailor. You could buy a lot of custom type of pens. Like you can really kind of like the world is your oyster with this type of money. So you have to very specifically want this pen in this style. And I just think I would spend my money differently. And that's not a knock on the pen itself, if that makes sense. And that's why it's like, it's like difficult to discuss that in a clear, concise way when there is literally nothing wrong with this pen, like whatsoever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah, I mean, so for me, like one of the, one of the things that I think about, you know, when I look at a pen like this, I don't have many pens like this, like Arushi pens or whatever. And I always go back to like one of my absolute favorite pens, which is not a longer available, which is the 3776 Galaxy Starlight. Right. Which is just truly an incredible pen. And I think it was like $700, like a similar price point. And I'm getting a platinum. Right. Yeah. With a platinum nib and like, you know, it's got like all of that stuff going on. It's just, it feels to me just complicated to look at a newcomer in that space and make that decision. When it, I mean, and also like I just said, this, this one doesn't like massively speak to me. Right. Which is what's going on here. Like it may be if it did, I would feel different, but it kind of doesn't. So there you go.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like all I can think about in comparison with this pen, and it's not even remotely similar in style or design. Like the Aurora Optima or even the 88. And those are in the, you know, $500 to $700 range. And I just like, I would choose like, you know, one of the Auroras, you know, if I'm going to spend over $500, between say like $500 and $750, you know, you just have Auroras and Pelicans and even Nakias. And then you have like special edition Platinums and Sailors and Pilots. And like, like I said, like there's probably 10 pens I could list out. And, you know, that I would feel more comfortable. And it's a lot of it's what you're saying in the established brand type of thing. But, you know, a lot of people are, you know, not, maybe not as established and are looking at some of the newer brands. And I love that they're doing this. Like I love the pen, you know. But, you know, you're asking like that's a big, big, big ask to get into that price point. So when you have that amount of choice in a price point like that, you can get anything.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They can, like, Ikaku can get to that point, right? Sure. Like brands can rise to the point where that's the thing. But that just takes a bit of time. You should say like if there are things where you can point to, which we both point into things in this range and like that ain't right. Like maybe when they fix those things, like maybe if they do a better job of a clip, maybe if they do a better job of integrating the grip section into the design of the pen, like then we start to get to the point where we're like, I'll use one. It feels good. Maybe I'll do it. And then it like grows from there, I guess. Yep. But it takes time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And they are, one thing I noticed, which I wasn't totally clear on before I started researching the article, that they've done almost 10 releases in about a year at this price point between $700 and $800, which kind of astonished me. So we'll see. We'll see what's up their sleeves going forward.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Obviously, the brand has fans, right? And also the pens look good. So that is enough to sell, but it's not yet enough to make you say like, yes, this is where I put my money. But they can get there though, right? Oh, without question. They can get there. Without question.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet. If you want to find some amazing pens. I spent my money there recently. You can go there because they have the products that you're looking for from all of your favorite brands. Pen Chalet believe in fast and reliable customer service and giving you the best prices possible. They run special discounts every couple of weeks and they're always adding new styles of pens. Every time you go to Pen Chalet, you're going to find new stuff. You're going to find new products. You're going to find new brands coming on board. They've got everything you're looking for. Whether you want a fountain pen or a mechanical pencil, maybe a bottle of ink or a pen holder for that upcoming pen show. Maybe you want to take pens to it or maybe you want one that's empty so you can fill pens up. Whatever you're looking for, Pen Chalet have got it. Talking about pen shows, have a pen show at home by going to Pen Chalet and just peruse through the incredible offerings that you'll get. They do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the U.S. and they sell internationally with very reasonable shipping rates. Pen Chalet has low prices on high quality pens of a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the password penaddict. This is where you will see the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet along with this week's special offers. What do you got for me, Brad?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we have a lot of what we've seen before and these are some of the things that I ordered recently. And I haven't received them yet because I did do a pre-order for the Kaweco Iridescent Apricot, which I raved about just a week or two ago when we were talking about the podcast. But they have a lot of inks in here, which you don't normally see on sale. And then a couple of new additions, the Bennu Minima is at a price that is really, really inexpensive. And if you've ever been wondering about Bennu's, this was kind of the model that started Bennu off and became really popular because it's a smaller, like a torpedo-shaped pen. It's a, you know, number five size nib and it's a really, really great price. And then further down below, they still have some of the Caran d'Ache 849s, which I love and I know you enjoy as well. And then they snuck in the Kaweco AC Sport, which it is F1 season, Myke. So why not have a pen with a little carbon fiber inlay on there? It's a very racy. It's a very racy pen. It is ready to get the season underway. Ooh, there's some other Bennu's down here as well. Some of the limited editions, Dragon, Christmas. Ooh, these are all new. I got to check out these. Bennu's Love Little Lark. These are really cool. I love Bennu pens. So there's definitely some neat ones in there as well. So go check them out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Go to check it out yourself right now at penshalet.com. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the password penaddict. Thanks to Pen Chalet for the support of this show and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm actually still scrolling. I can't believe how long this list is this week. So good job, Ron.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, lots of good stuff in there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Shout out of the week, Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hashtag killwinterwithorange. Our friend Random thinks always takes advantage of the cold winter months and lays out everything orange that they have on their Instagram feed. And it is amazing. I mean, it's pretty much orange year round with Keith. And I appreciate that about him very much. But if you go over to the Instagram right now, we are really focusing on the orange and just getting some fun orangey vibes in this cold winter wherever you are. So, yeah, definitely go check that out. Give Keith a shout out. And by the way, he pops up at a couple of different pen shows with a lot of 3D printed like pen holders and different desk accessories. So really cool. So definitely give Random thinks a follow and check out all the orange hotness over there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' By looking at Keith's Instagram, it would seem that Keith lives in perpetual winter.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's what it looks like. It's orange year round on that feed. But it's especially orange during February. Fair enough. Yep, fair enough. All right, real quick, I'm going to go through all of the new Lamy Safari SEs. You know, we've talked about them a bunch. But I was finally able to get them all in hand. So, as you well know if you're listening to this podcast, Lamy Safari did two colorways this year, Pink Cliff and Violet Blackberry. And within each of those colorways, they did the fountain pen, the rollerball, and the ballpoint. So I have six pens here, one of each style in each of the two colors. On top of that, I have bottles of ink, which is where a little bit of my confusion comes in. I'm going to call them Pink Cliff and Violet Blackberry for now. But apparently their official names are Cliff and Blackberry. They don't have the pink out of the cliff and the violet out of the Blackberry is apparently the name, which, again, Lamy is going to Lamy. But maybe because Pink Cliff is, there's no pink in there. I kind of wish there was a pink ink for this pen, but regardless. So I inked up, I finally just inked up the Pink Cliff Safari fountain pen, extra fine nib. This is my favorite of the two models, the Pink Cliff, because I like the matte barrels, right? So the Pink Cliff is the one with the dark blue matte barrel and the pink finial and the pink grip section. So the pink grip section on the Pink Cliff barrel is also matte to match the blue. Now, if you take the Violet Blackberry fountain pen, that pen also has a lighter color purple grip section with a glossy barrel. The grip is matte, which is fine. But I feel like if we're going to go full matte on the other version, I kind of would have liked to seen full glossy on this version. It's not a big deal. Like, it's by no means a deal breaker. I love the matte. Like, matte's my preferred texture. But this is such a pretty shiny barrel for Violet Blackberry. I would have liked to seen the shinier grip section, I think, which they do. Like, their stock Lamy Safaris, like if you get a red one, a yellow one, a black one, a blue one, they're all shiny. So I know they do that type of finish for the grip section. So I don't know. I would have just liked to have seen some cohesion there in the setup. But it looks great regardless. So the rollerballs are interesting. I think I'm definitely going to review. Like, I won't review a lot of these products, right? Because like, there's only so much I can say about a Safari. I'll do like some Instagram stuff, take some pictures. They all look cool. But if I review any pen, I'm going to review the rollerball because I don't know that I have. I would have to go back and look. And I'll tell you why I'm not choosing the ballpoint here in a second. But the rollerballs are interesting. They use like a medium black rollerball refill. The style on the exterior looks like the fountain pen minus the ink window in the side of the pen. And then the finials have one notch, just like a line across. That's how you can tell the difference between the rollerball and the fountain pen. The fountain pens have like an X or a plus sign across the top. So it's like two lines intersecting where the rollerballs are one line. So I will probably review the rollerball just because I haven't done many rollerball reviews in the past. And the reason I'm not reviewing the ballpoint is because I love the ballpoint and I've already reviewed them and they're great. Like, I think the ballpoint's one of the Safari ballpoints are one of Lamy's underrated pens. Except this time, they borked them up. I don't like what they did with these limited edition ones. Because, again, the consistency and design with each of the rollerballs and the fountain pens, you have the alternate color in there, right? You have the main color, pink cliff, violet blackberry, as your barrel color. And then you have an alternate. In the pink cliff, you have a pink grip section. And in the violet blackberry, you have a purple grip section for both the rollerball and the fountain pen. The ballpoints are flat, just the main color. So the pink cliff is just a blue matte barrel. On its own, it looks great. But you've set me up to have some hit of pink on these barrels. And the ballpoints have neither. Neither the violet blackberry or the pink cliff have any notes of their alternate color. Which, like I'm saying, if you just put out this ballpoint as a standard lineup pen, I would be totally into it, totally love it. But my expectations have been set to have this extra hit of color, like a two-tone color. And the ballpoints are just the single barrel color with black trim and clips and knocks and things like that, just like the other pens. So that design element came in pretty flat for me, even though I am traditionally a Lamy Safari ballpoint lover. I really, really like that pen. So as far as the ink goes, the cliff ink is a blue-black, and it's kind of basic. Like, I think I'm going to enjoy it as a blue-black ink, but I don't know that I'm going to be reaching for it consistently because it's...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Lamy blue-black is already great. Like, I'll probably do a comparison of that ink with Lamy's blue-black. Lamy's standard blue-black is probably a little bit grayer than this, so this is a little bit bluer. So I've inked that in the Lamy Safari Pink Cliff. I really have to think about these names, Myke. It's very complicated.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, especially because you're now giving it a name that they said it's not. Oh, what did I say?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So the ink, allegedly, is just called Cliff, and sure. Hi, Cliff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a completely fine ink. I think Blackberry is going to be the standout ink color. I have inked that in a Sailor King of Pen to test out, and it has... So the Cliff blue-black ink is a very standard, straightforward ink. If you like a blue-black ink with not a lot of, you know, sheen, or... It's got a little bit of shading, but it is a very straightforward ink where Blackberry has kind of this nice, dark, reddish-grape undertones, very, you know, like a dark, black raspberry, and then has kind of almost a brownish, goldish sheen. A lot of people were seeing copper in the sheen, and it's a very heavy sheener. It's like a... It's like a 90-plus percent coverage sheen on the line is kind of how I rate it, right? How much sheen covers the line when you write your letters on there, and it's pretty much fully covered, you know, outside of a few little parts. So, if you like a heavy sheener, then the Blackberry is going to be for you. I think the color is pretty neat. It's very dark and kind of moody, and I like it a lot. The good thing so far in my quick testing is the sheen dries quickly, right? Like, I will tend to avoid heavy sheeners because a lot of times they don't dry well, and they can be sticky after the fact, and this one is very, very good. It dried pretty quick. I was testing it on Sands and Tomoe River paper. Had no issues. With it smearing after the fact, which you will see time to time from Sheening Inks. So, overall, very positive about this whole lineup. The Pink Cliff Fountain Pen, Safari Fountain Pen is going to be my favorite, and then I will review the Roller Balls probably, and the Inks. So, we'll see from there, but very happy with this lineup. Now, I'm almost to the point of burnout on this lineup. Now that I finally got them, it's like, okay, phew, I can breathe a little bit because I get really amped up about this, and then we had this whole dark lilac situation mixed in between this. I felt like it took away from this lineup a little bit. So, yeah, I'm ready to actually get to using these pens, and we'll see, see how it goes, but I already know I love the pens, and I'm glad they did these colors. I think they're beautiful, and good job. So, let's see what the All-Star can bring to the table this year, which we should know pretty soon. So, they usually announce the safaris in February, and the All-Stars usually don't linger too much further behind, almost like May at the latest. So, we'll get to see the All-Star creations for 2024 here, probably coming soon. It's probably All-Star dark lilac, if I had to guess.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's the same formulation. This episode is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens, the world's number one pizza oven company that let you make restaurant-quality pizza in your own home. Ooni Pizza Ovens can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit and cook pizza in as little as 60 seconds. This high temperature is what separates the pizzas that you're making in an Ooni Pizza oven from those that you can make in a conventional oven. They're super quick to heat up. Your Ooni Pizza Oven will be ready to go in just 20 minutes, which is just enough time to get all of your toppings ready. Do you love an authentic wood-fired flavor? What about the convenience of cooking with gas? Whether you're looking to cook with wood, charcoal, gas, or even electricity, there is an Uni Oven that fits your needs and lifestyle. Uni-designed ovens like the wood pellet-fueled Fyra 12 and the multi-fueled Karu 12G for maximum portability. It's made for those who like cooking on the go, camping, and getting out into the wilderness. But if you want the convenience of gas but love the flavor of wood-fired cooking, Uni's Karu line has you covered because you get to use wood, charcoal, you get to use wood or charcoal right out of the box or get the optional gas burner for cooking flexibility. And now, with Uni's electric Volt 12 pizza oven, you can make pizza both indoors and outdoors. Uni ovens are for more than just pizza. You can cook juicy burgers, sizzling fajitas, buffalo wings, and so much more. They are ovens. That's what they are. Uni pizza ovens start from just $299 for free shipping to the US, UK, and EU. They also make cast iron cookware, pizza pails, thermometers, and loads of other accessories to help you level up your cooking. Took a very important delivery at home today, Brad, of an Uni Volt 12. Ooh, nice. It's not the electric one. So very exciting. We have pizza weekend at home. We're getting all of our ingredients together, which, by the way, Uni also sell ingredients on their website. So if you're not sure what you want, you maybe want some dough or you want some other recommendations for products you can buy, they have all of that, as well as the accessories. You can also get groceries there, too. So you can go and check it out for yourself. I'm very excited. This Saturday is going to be all pizza in our house.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, dough is the most experimental part of this whole thing, trying to figure out how you're going to do it. We've always done lots of different things, so I'd be interested what Uni's offering for that. Yeah. Because you know

'''Myke Hurley:''' you're going to get good stuff, right? Exactly. So they make balls, they will ship them to you, you can put them in the freezer, and then you can just grab them to frost them when you're ready and you're ready to go. So they have all of this stuff, too. They really are the one-stop shop for making great pizza at home. Listeners of this show can get 10% off their purchase of an Uni pizza oven. Just go to uni.com and use the code PENADDICT2024 at checkout. Uni pizza ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. So go to uni.com O-O-N-I dot com and use the code PENADDICT2024 for 10% off. Our thanks to Ooni Pizza Ovens for their support of this show and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, Myke. Let me explain a little bit about what you're going to get into and why you're about to get into this. Thank you. All right? So Myke and I are about to do something fun. At least I hope it's going to be fun. So I didn't really lose a bet with a PENADDICT member but they had a little hiccup signing up for membership and there's all kinds of set up, sign up things that things go weird, things go wrong, whatever. So I fixed it for them and we'll call this person Rick because that's their name. So we got everything squared away.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We got everything squared away for Rick and he says, you know, thanks for getting everything squared away. Now this is what I require in return. So I fixed this problem and then he has demands of me. Interesting. It's like, I'm in. I'm in on this. He says, I have bought, this goes into our Uni ad read as well which I didn't realize. I have bought everything except underwear and pizza to support the show. I deserve, I deserve this. All right. He says, I don't like the precedent

'''Myke Hurley:''' this is setting, but nevertheless.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, just wait. The next one, the next sentence starts with, I demand, and he put that in quotes. He was being funny. On a soon to be episode that you and Myke each read the names of four to five Orochizuku inks. One of you is Angry Samurai. The other is Hello Kitty. First one to laugh loses. So my reply was, okay, I will accede to your demands minus the voices. We're not going to do voices for this because it's going to go bad enough as it is. We don't need terrible voices for this. So I said, I have an idea and this is my idea to kind of pay off what I owe Rick here with the Orochizuku pronunciations. I thought you and I would have an Orochizuku Inc. draft.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.