Editing The Pen Addict 381/transcript (section)

== Hashtag Ask TPA Questions ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, let's do a couple of hashtag ask TPA questions to round out today's show. Wayne the brain says, I'm fairly new to the wall of the pens. I want a solid rollerball. I'm looking at the Lamy Ale Star, but it seems like they only have one millimeter refill. So, are there any good 0.5 or 0.4 refills that you would recommend? I am open to other pen suggestions.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' As much as I love almost everything that Lamy does, I hate their rollerball refill. It's way too wet and too bleedy on most papers. It's very wide, and it's not a good refill to swap out. You know, there's not a good match to take the All-Star and find a good comparable refill for that. So, I'm almost looking at a different pen. You know I'm going to say Retro 51, but you may not like that style if you like the All-Star.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I would look at something like the Retro 51 because you can get something. I'm working on a review for the Otoe Dry Flash Gel refill, which is a .5 needlepoint gel that fits without modification into the Retro 51. So, I'm working on that review. That might be a consideration to look at some of the Retro models, even if it's not the Tornado models, some of their larger models. They just use a better refill with the Schmidt. And then you're opening up a whole other world of barrel types that you can use with that refill. The problem with the All-Star is that it's a tough refill to replace, match and get something of quality. So, I would steer you away from Lamy's rollerball products. Their ballpoint products are good, if you want to go that route. But the rollerballs, I have not had a good luck with. And I'd look at something like Retro. And if that's not your style, then we can look at all kinds of other different models, like the Mark 1 and Tactile Turn and all of these other types of things. But that's the only thing I have to say with that is Lamy's refills are pretty proprietary usually.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, next question comes from Michael B. Lasher. I'm finally ready to make my jump to buy a bongbox pen. My question is, how?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, last episode, we revealed a secret network of underground spies and

'''Brad Dowdy:''' carriers. that we have in our underground worldwide network. But honestly, what you should do is follow Bungbox on Instagram. That's where they update the most frequently. And then they have their information on Instagram and you can send them an email. And when they release a pen, and a lot of times they can work with you via email and set up something like a PayPal invoice. They're not always going to be able to do that, but they are pretty good with working with you if you contact them. And you're going to have to do it when they launch the pen. They sell out of all of these things reasonably fast. So, shoot them an email, give them a couple days, hopefully they'll get a response. In your email, give them very specifics. If you see a pen, say, I want this pen with this nib, and this color, whatever, give them all the details to pull that specific pen for you and send you an invoice at the time when you're communicating with them the first time. And then hopefully they will get back to you and go that route. They used to at a time for the US market, they'd throw some of their pens on the Amazon bung box store just so people could order them, but I don't think that's a thing that they still do. At least I haven't been paying attention to that. So, the best way is to contact them directly, and they're pretty good about working with you on that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I've done it a couple of times and I've had no problem. Like, they work pretty, they're actually very open to it, and they will help you as much as they can. As long as there's stuff in stock, they'll do what they can for you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, yep. So, I think they're probably the best at doing that, and it's still no guarantee, right? Like, it's tough sometimes to make that jump and make it happen, but that's your best option for sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, let's finalize today's episode, I don't know why I said it that way, of a question from Greg Co3, have you seen anything about these .28 needle tip uni jet stream pens? They look a little higher end of a metal barrel too.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, these are super cool. At first, I thought it was a Lamy Safari knockoff, to be perfectly honest. Greg Co sent me this on Twitter, I saw this, and I had never seen this pen. I like how it looks. I want a .28 needle tip jet stream. I've never seen a refill that matches that description. I'm curious if this is a real thing, a concept thing. I don't know what's happening here, but I want it. I at least want to learn more about it and understand, you know, is this like for real? Because this would be pretty cool. So, I mean, it's got the uni stamping, uni jet stream on there, it's needle tip, it's got a cool barrel design. Like, I'm all in on this pen if I can get a hold of one. So, I'm glad Greg Co sent me that because my interest is peaked.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Thank you to everybody who sent in horror stories and hashtag us TPA questions. You can always send in stuff by tweeting with the hashtag us TPA or email to hello at penaddict dot com, right? Yes. Wonderful. Thank you so much to our sponsor this week, the fine people at Squarespace. Thank you for listening. If you want to find us online, Brad is on Instagram. He's penaddict. I'm iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. You should always tune in to Brad's Twitch streams at twitch.tv slash penaddict. And, yeah, we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]