Editing The Pen Addict 475/transcript (section)

== Review Challenges ==


'''Myke:''' That's actually a pretty fun thought because it's like, oh, what would I use the drill log for? Well, I could use it for this.

'''Brad:''' Like I have some of his inks just sitting here, the paints like that I'm never going to use, but I've always supported him because I think it's really, really smart what he's doing. And I'm really anti-Vantablack like he is or the concept of what they did with Vantablack. And I like to support him for that. I just don't want people putting Blink in their fountain pens.

'''Brad:''' So we'll drill log it and then we'll go from there.

'''Myke:''' You posted a review of the Narwhal original. This is something that came up on an RSTPA recently. If somebody had asked you if you ever tried out Narwhal pens, because they seem to be pretty good prices for pretty good quality products. And you said you hadn't and you wanted to rectify it, even though other people in the kind of the pen act temp I had tried them before. And I think I could probably sum up this entire review for you, which is does a good job. Yeah, it's good.

'''Brad:''' Like the end. That's what I wrote about. I wrote about the challenge of reviewing a good pen, not a bad pen or not a pen with a flaw or not a great pen that is changing the way I think about pens or think about using pens or would make a difference in someone starting with pens. It's just all around good. It's completely fine. It's really fairly priced. It has a piston filling mechanism, which is honestly, if it didn't have that, it wouldn't be that special. It's got a good nib made in-house. It's like there wasn't a lot to say about it because there was nothing bad to say and there was nothing outstanding to say. It's just good. It's well priced. It's solidly built. It feels good. I think if you bought it, you would like it. It's not transcendent. And is it fair for me to want every product I have to be game-changing or game-destroying if it's terrible? And of course not. Like sometimes products are just good. And that's where this one lands. Now, the question you asked me in the document is, could this pen be good enough to make it into the top five under $50?

'''Myke:''' Yep.

'''Brad:''' Right now, no. Why? Because I think it's not as... Trying to answer the question of what people are looking for in a fountain pen under $50 leads me towards this is going to be their first dalliance with a fountain pen. And therefore, I'm a little more risk-averse in the recommendations. A lot of cartridge fillers or a lot of more rock-solid piston fillers for much less money to get into. Because you've got TWSBI Eco on there. Right. So I have the TWSBI Eco on there, but it's less than $30. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So you made my point. I would put this on the one-to-watch list, right, if I had such a list. Like, it could be, eventually. I think it's going to price itself out of the... Like, this one is exactly $50. They have other models that are like $60. So I think $50 is going to be the base for them. I actually think they're going to be in the next tier, which is a weird tier, which actually they have a better chance of, like, meeting those expectations in that $50 to $100 tier. And they're definitely in the one-to-watch phase because I think they're going to be working with some other people. And, like, we've started to see them do, like, some diamond cast material and doing some different materials for their pens instead of the base acrylics. And then still having the piston filling mechanisms. They don't have a lot of nib options right now. So I think that holds them back. You can get finer, medium. That's it. So if you're good with those, you know, great. Knock yourself out. But I would like to see the full range of what a stock, you know, nib setup would be from extra fine to broad. And even maybe a stub. But I wouldn't even count that at first. That's always, like, a second or third tier thing. So Narwhal is good. I don't know if they'll cross that great threshold. And they don't have to, right? I don't know that I'd say Twisby is great. I think they're better. If you're asking me personally one-to-one, I'm going to take the Twisby 580 over the Narwhal every time. But I've also had how many years of experience with the Twisby, right? So Narwhal is on the one-to-watch list. I will continue to watch what they do. I will continue to try out new models as they come out and see if they broaden their horizons on their nibs. They make their own nibs. So I'd be interested to see are there going to be other options for that in the future. And then we'll go from there. Like, it's still a pretty new brand, right? They've only been around for, what, a year or two? So people who use them like them. And, like, that's the best praise you can give, I think, right? People who have tried them out and tested them say, oh, yeah, it's good. I like it. So that's good enough for me right now. And it's not more than that.

'''Myke:''' Fair enough. All right. We have a couple of RSTPAs we want to do. One is like a follow-up, and there's two that are connected, and they're time-sensitive. So we're going to knock those out today before we finish.

'''Brad:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke:''' First comes from Ed. So this is a bit of text here, so I'll get through it. So I just listened to the latest episode and was happy to hear a couple of intellectual property issues come up.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, boy.