Editing The Pen Addict 149/transcript (section)

== Jet Stream Pens ==


'''Stephen Hackett:''' So we, we've danced around this a little bit. So I've used the, uh, the jet stream for a long time and I like the jet stream, but you know, Brad, I'm, I'm going to be 30 and you know, it's coming up. I know that's not old, but it feels, feels old. Um, I have a mortgage. I have a car, a new car for the first time in my life. I have three children. I have a job. I have a company. I feel like it's time for me to move into the adult pin world. And so I'm coming to you, my wisest pin friend. You're, you're, you're an L you're an elder in my life in this, in this regard. You are a trusted advisor. So if I want to become a man and I want to buy a grownup pin, what, what are the steps for me to enter this world? What, what should, what are some of the factors I should, I should look at and what, what are some of the things I should try?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this question is probably a lot harder to answer than you would anticipate. And there is a reason for that. And that reason is there is a huge gap in the pin market that is unfulfilled. And that is between like the $3 pins that we all use, like the Jetstream, and that are awesome. I mean, you cannot get a pin that writes much better than that. And on top of it, it's like $2 or $3.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And then you go all the way up into like pins that are hundreds of dollars that you're buying for like their design or their materials. You know, if it's gold or some kind of in some kind of super fancy thing going on. And that generally may not even write as well as your $3 Jetstream. So there's this huge gap in that, in that range. And I'm not counting in fountain pens at all for you until you can test some of mine in Atlanta. If you want to go down the fountain pen road, we can look at that. But I'm talking strictly ballpoint gel liquid ink type pens. So the immediate thing that people are yelling at the screen right now or yelling in the air as they're listening to this, and what Myke would be yelling right now is Retro 51. So the Retro 51 Tornado uses a refill called the Schmidt P8127. And that's really what makes the pen. It's a high quality pen. It costs about $20 to $25. It's a twist pen. So it's retractable without a cap.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And the refill writes amazingly. That's what really makes the pen. You know, I talk about it all the time. You know, people don't buy a Montblanc for the writing experience. They buy a Montblanc for the Montblanc experience. They want that pen. It's not going to be the best writing pen. The Retro 51 is an awesome writer. But the problem with the Retro 51 is that you're very limited on your refills without hacking the pen. So that stock refill for the Tornado is 0.7 millimeters, but it's a liquid ink. So it's going to be much wider and wetter than your jet stream that you're used to.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I don't know that I would actually recommend that to you, having seen your handwriting and how you write and how you write in notebooks and, you know, you want something to use in the field notes.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What I'm thinking off the top of my head is the Lamy 2000 ballpoint, which I own. And number one, it's flat out beautiful. And if you handed that pen to anyone, they would go, whoa. Because it's a very simple classic design, but it's made out of this material called Macrelon. It's like a fiberglass. And it's got this great stain, brush stained steel-like tip, clip, and knock. It's also a retractable pen.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' Yeah. I'm looking at this online. It's beautiful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And for a ballpoint, for a pen that comes with the ballpoint refill, it's actually a really good refill. It's not quite to par with the jet stream. It's a little bit worse. But in the grand scheme of all ballpoints, it's really, really good. You know, there's tons of bad ballpoints. This one is spectacular. The pen feels amazing. I was actually not thinking I would really like that pen very much. And I've actually turned out to like it very much. And the best part about it is it's only like $60. It's in that $50 to $60 range. Which I think if you're going to spend more than that, you're really looking for like something like in the pen design itself that's going to want to make you spend more than that. Right. You know, like the Mont Blanc, you know, for the gold and pearl that's on it. Right. I don't necessarily know that anyone needs that. Yeah. It's not. Yeah.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' Gold and pearl aren't really my scene. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, there's some really nice pelicans that are running about $250, but it's not going to write better than your jet stream. It's just not. And so you kind of come to this compromise of where you get a really. My biggest priority is the writing experience. If the pen writes crappy, I don't care what it looks like or how good it, you know, what the price is or anything like that. If it writes crappy and I have to fight to find a good refill to put into it, I'm not going to be happy. You know, I want a good out of the box experience. You know, I could maybe adjust the refills later if I want. This refill comes in blue. I've been more than pleased with my Lamy 2000 ballpoint. And it's just a good pen. I end up recommending it a lot for people who aren't into fountain pens, but want something. You know, people want a nice pen. They say, tell me, recommend a nice pen to me. I'm like, well, what do you mean nice? And how do you write? And, you know, that answer could go 8 million different ways.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I'm never going to recommend like $200 and $300 pens out of the blue to anyone. You know, I'll start right out the gate. Well, what are you trying to do? And you'll probably like a jet stream is kind of how it goes. And they say, well, I want a metal barrel and it has to be retractable and I need these features. And then we kind of narrow it down. And a lot of times it's a retro 51.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think the Lamy 2000 might be something you can look at. And I'll bring mine to Atlanta. You can test it out. But that's something certainly to consider. And it's a very nerd-friendly design. It's like a super classic German sleek design. It's understated. But when you feel it and hold it and show it to someone else, it's kind of like, ooh, this is nice. You know, it's a really, really, really solid pen. Gotcha. I think that's something to consider. And outside of that, I would have to think about it. Because like I said, there's a massive gap. It's like Jetstream, $3. Retro 51, $25.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Then nothing. Like, I don't know what to say outside of that. That's why I was so pleased that I liked the Lamy 2000. And it was a good pen because that kind of fit a huge gap. And fountain pens, we have that same problem with fountain pens in like the $52, $125 range. There's just this massive gap price point in there. I'm getting yelled at in the chat room. And because Dan Bishop's not here, he would have been yelling at me too. Retro 51. Kara's Customs pens. You may have heard Myke and I talking about it at some point. They do, depending on if you want retractable or like a screw-off cap, they make nice machined pens that are made to fit certain refills. Like a Pilot G2 refill or, you know, a Uniball Sino refill. You know, it should fit the Jetstream refill. So if you want to stay with Jetstream, you can actually get an upgraded barrel. Like a machined aluminum barrel. And those, they're actually going to be at the Atlanta Pen Show. And I'm probably going to pick up one of the machined aluminum barrel ones because they're making these two-tone ones that look really sweet. They're very old school, like Mad Men looking style.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' Yeah, that's actually what I thought when I pulled this page. I was like, I feel like I'm Don Draper.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, they're pretty awesome. And we're good friends with the guy that makes them and he's going to be at the Pen Show. So that's something I plan on picking up there. So I think those are probably your two choices. Is it the Lamy 2000 or the Retract, which I think takes the Jetstream refill? I have to double check. I'll have to look on the refills on that page. Or ask Dan Bishop himself, who makes the pens. But I think those are probably your main choices there for, you know, for your big boy. Yeah, yeah.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' Yeah, and I definitely understand it's a giant question, right? And that's why I kind of want to spring it on you. Yeah. But yeah, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, I like. I like many of our listeners, not only on this show, but across the network, you know. Like well-made things. You know, the backpack I have was not cheap, but I know it's going to last me a decade. And that is far more interesting and attractive to me than something that is going to, you know, burn out in a couple years. And like, yes, you know, if a $2 Jetstream, if I hand it to a client and I never get it back, like, okay, I can live with that. But there's also that attraction of, you know, I like to buy something that, again, becomes part of my everyday carry. Something that is on me all the time that is, you know, part of just when I go out the door, this is kind of what I go out the door with. That is a little bit higher class, a little bit nicer.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, I think those are two ideal choices. And, you know, I actually get these questions a lot and it never becomes easier to answer. You would think after all these years, you know, that market void would kind of, that gap would kind of get filled. And it just really doesn't. It's a real kind of an interesting space, the way the pin market's set up. There's not a lot of middle ground pins. And so when people find a good one, it usually becomes kind of a big deal because there's just not a lot available in that range of pins in the market.

'''Stephen Hackett:''' So we'll try some things out next week in Atlanta. And maybe I'll crash and we can follow up on that at some point.