Editing The Pen Addict 194/transcript (section)

== New Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Talking about new pens, I have a new pen. Oh, yeah? That arrived this morning. But let's take a break before I spill the beans. Okay, cool. This week's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Harry's. Oh, Harry's. Do we love Harry's, Brad? Yes, we do indeed. I'm going to ask you all about Harry's in a moment. But one of the things that we love about Harry's is how they make shaving less expensive. It can be really annoying just not only to buy blades, but the fact that you have to buy overpriced blades. And having to use those blades, those expensive blades on your face without replacing them, right, because they're so expensive, that can lead to a lesser quality shave as well. One of the best things that you can do when you're shaving is replace that blade frequently. But with all of the current brands that are out in the drugstores, that can be really expensive. And this is what Harry's sold. They make their own blades, their own German engineered, so you know they're good, five blade cartridges. They'll give you a close, comfortable shave without cuts and razor burn. Harry's guarantee their quality, and they'll give a full refund if you're not happy. They offer a high quality shave at about half the price of a big brown blade, so you'll be able to change that blade more frequently and get that fresh shave. On average, an everyday shaver saves $150 a year using Harry's, and over one million people have made the switch to Harry's blades. For just $15, you can get their fantastic starter set, which will get you a razor, moisturizing shave cream, and three razor blades. Mr. Brad Dowdy, please wax lyrical about Harry's.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't have anything much to wax lyrical on, but I did have another funny anecdote, which always seems to pop up related to Harry's. For some day, it was one day last week where I was, yeah, I'm a morning person. I like to get up, get going. You usually have to take the kids to school, you know, shower, shave in the morning, but for some reason, I was late. One day, doing that, so I just started working, had a bunch of other errands to run, and didn't take a shower until the afternoon, and I walked past my wife, like, you know, like 30 minutes or an hour later, she's like, you smell good. It's like, like this was an abnormal thing. I'm like, no, it's because I took a shower late, and I just put on the, the Harry's aftershave gel, so I, yes, I do smell good, because I love that stuff. So, yeah, I, it was just kind of funny. It caught her off guard. I guess she wasn't used to smelling afternoon brad. She's more of a morning brad person.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Morning brad person. Well, there you go, right? If you want your significant other to tell you that you smell good, you want to pick up some of Harry's products. It's time to stop overpaying for a great shave. Go to harrys.com right now. They'll give you $5 off if you use the code penaddict with your first purchase. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S dot com. Coupon code penaddict to check out for a special $5 off. Thank you so much to Harry's for their continued support of this show and all of Relay FM. So, I wasn't expecting this today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I wasn't expecting this to show up in the show notes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, but my Namisu Nova arrived.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'm anxious to get mine. I obviously haven't received it yet.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, this is a Kickstarter that we all backed, right? The Nova Minimal Fountain Pen. We are both owners of the Nexus, I believe was their previous pen. Correct. And, you know, we had some feelings about that. You know, some of the stuff that I didn't like the ridges in the grip. I didn't like the cap because it took too long to twist off. But overall, I was impressed at a first outing from Namisu for their Nexus pen. So, my Nova arrived today. So, I'll give you some thoughts on it. I'm completely blanking on the model that I bought. So, I'm going to have to go to Kickstarter to find that out. I think I went with the titanium barrel with a steel nib, I believe, is what I went for. But I'm checking now. No, I went with aluminium. So, there you go. I went with all aluminium because I have the titanium in the Nexus. So, that was it. I didn't really feel like I needed to go with titanium again. So, I have all aluminium here in just like a nice silver color. It feels very nice to hold. It's got a good feel to it. It's got a good weight to it. The grip section is large enough that the thread of the cap doesn't dig into your hand. And it's smooth. So, I like that. The removal of the cap is nice and easy. Just one quick twist. And it's off. So, I'm not kind of fumbling for that. It's maybe, let's see, it's probably one and a half turns.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Is the cap larger lengthwise than the previous model? Because not only was it a mini turn cap, it was a very short cap.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, this is a large cap. This is a significant cap. It's big. And then we have, on my model, I have a medium box nib, which is fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I love their nibs. Yeah, absolutely.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Very smooth. Very good ink flow. Very happy with this, with the nib. They do have a couple of complaints. No converter or cartridge in the... Not in the packaging at all. That's a little strange. Oh.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You would think... I could see no cartridge, but no converter is a little bit odd. Either one or the other.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, there is a very strong chance that they had them for sale. And you know, you get those backing surveys or something. I don't remember their process. But for as much as a converter costs, I think that they should maybe just throw one in.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Agree. Yeah, totally. Like I said, one or the other. Just pick one, put it in there just so we don't have this conversation.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, because I got the pen and was like, I don't know if I have a converter spare that fits this. I have a bunch of converters, right? But I have some Japanese ones. And what I ended up doing was I luckily took the converter out of my nexus.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, exactly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And put it in. But I don't think that that is a good first run experience. You need to remember that there will be people backing this project who it's their first fountain pen. Right. If you have a really successful one, which they did, their project was significant. I'm just going to the amount now. They made £104,000. So they definitely have people in here out of their 1600 backers. This is their first pen. I really think just throwing a converter in the package would really help people feel better about the experience. Or even just throwing in a cartridge or two. I really think that that is something that they should consider for the future. They're not expensive. Put it in. Don't make it a choice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's pennies. No matter which way you go, just do it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, you've made £104,000. You're doing all right. But I've got to say, the materials, the build quality is excellent. It is completely round with no clip. That is the design. I knew that going in. But it does mean it rolls away. Which is a thing that frustrates me. But it does, you know. And they included a little felt pouch to put it in. And they have lovely leather pouches that you could buy for extra as well, if you like. But I've got to say, they've improved the pen in every way. This is not going to be a pen that like immediately goes into my rotation.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it doesn't have that special something for me personally. But it is solid. It is a good pen. This is a great gift pen for someone. Because it looks more expensive than it is. I'll give it a thumbs up. But I think that, you know, I had some comments last time about the build quality that they have done. Now I need to feel that in the future I need to consider the first run experience a little bit better.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. If you're coming at it from Kickstarter, you should. If you're coming at it from your own retail shop, you can get away with that kind of stuff.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So I'm looking at their page and they say in their add-on section, a converter is available which allows you to use bottled inks as opposed to cartridges. So it's in their add-ons. It shouldn't have been an add-on. Really, guys. It should not. It's pennies to put one of those things in the package.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Well, I'm anxious to get it because that's like my favorite shape fountain pen. Yeah. I like the Edison Pearl. I like the Nakaya cigar shape.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's very reminiscent of the Pearl. Very, very reminiscent.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which is reminiscent of the Nakaya Piccolo. And that's just my favorite shape. So I'm anxious to see if this lives up to it and I can use it like I use those other pens that I enjoy so much. So much.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I tell you one of the really great benefits of getting an aluminium one of these and I can't speak for any of the other models is the way that it warms to the touch.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's always cool. Now you're making me go see which one I ordered because I don't remember.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think you went titanium.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm pretty sure I did. I know I went steel nib because I already have the titanium nib from last time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So now... But yeah. I mean, anybody that has backed this, I mean, it's a good pen. The cat posts if you're interested. Really? Yeah. Huh.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That surprises me. I will never do that. I hate metal on metal posting. Does it have a... Does it have a... Like a... What's the word I'm looking for? Like, does it have a seal like on the inside? No, sir. Of the cap? Like a plastic? It's metal on metal? It does this. Yeah. Oh, shoot me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would never do it, but I know some people like it. Right. But yeah, I've got to say, I'm happy with this pen. I think it's nice. I do. I think it's really nice. I think they've done a lot of good stuff here to make this a better overall product.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's taken me like an hour to get into Kickstarter. Let's see. All right. View Pledge. I ordered titanium. Yeah. That makes sense.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I'm interested to see how the titanium one of this turns out. I mean, with the last one, I'm happy I own a titanium pen, but I don't feel any benefit over aluminium personally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure. And I would say I would generally choose aluminum over titanium, all things being equal, because it's generally not worth the price increase that it requires. But since I had the aluminum, I went with the titanium kind of thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. That's what I feel. It's like, get one. It's like I went titanium mid last time too. I was like, just go all out and I'll get a titanium pen. Because it's just like, oh, I have a titanium pen. But I don't think that it adds a lot for the price. And this isn't a thing against Nemisu. I just think in general. Sure. Personally, I don't see the appeal of titanium. I know I'm going to get a lot of feedback. I reckon from Thomas about why these things, what the benefits of titanium, but I don't feel them. But yeah, I've got to say overall, the product is great. The choice of a Bach nib is a very smart choice to make. Like it a lot.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Good. I'm anxious to get mine, especially now that I've looked and seen that it's titanium. Now I'm ready for it.