Editing The Pen Addict 313/transcript (section)

== Pen Purchases ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, you know, and I don't ever go into a purchase, and again, this is a very personal thing. This is me talking as a pen purchaser for something that I like. I don't ever go into a purchase saying, what am I going to get if I try to resell this pen? That has never once crossed my mind in making a purchase. So, like I said at the beginning, there's all kinds of different angles. Are you trying to, you know, make money on a purchase to resell it for a higher value? You're looking at things one way, and I'm not saying Kimberly is. I'm just saying in general, a general buying process. Everyone's looking at it from a different angle. Like, I don't buy pens looking to hold their value or concern about their resale value. I buy a pen because I like the pen and I want to use it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Someone else may be looking, well, I like this pen, and I think it's a good deal, and I could probably resell it for more. That's a valid thing, too. So, you got to decide, you know, it's an infinitely open-ended question because the variables are just massive in a question like this. So, you just, I mean, we always talk about being careful with your money, you know, and don't go on spending sprees, which you don't know what you're buying. So, do the work. Ask people around you. Ask for help. You know, check prices out, you know, and just be careful out there, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's a crazy world out there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, talking about saving some money, let me help you save some money. Today's show is brought to you by Simple Contacts. Simple Contacts can give you the ability to have something that is so nice in the world, and having an app that takes a tiresome task and makes it fuss-free. That is what Simple Contacts is all about, but for your contact lens prescription renewal. So, you'll be able to reorder your contacts with Simple Contacts from anywhere in just minutes. You complete their online self-guided vision test, which takes five minutes or less from wherever you are right now. You don't have to go to a doctor office. You don't have to go to a waiting room. None of it. It's all done in their app. Then, once you've gone through everything, you can order your favorite contacts right there from the palm of your hand. Simple Contacts offers all the lens brands you love. They even have options for astigmatism. They have multifocal lenses, colored lenses, and so many more. Then, you'll be able to get your prescription refilled whenever you need it. So, whenever you need new contact lenses, you can just open the app. You can go to their website, order them, and they'll be with you. Simple Contacts vision test is just $20, which, for comparison, an appointment without insurance could cost you $200. Simple Contacts saves you money and time. I need to let you know this is not a replacement for your periodic full eye health exam. Simple Contacts check that your current prescription that you've entered into the app is correct. That's what their test is doing. You say, oh, I went to a doctor a while ago. This is my prescription. They make sure that that prescription still seems accurate based upon the test that you're doing, and they will renew your lenses based on that prescription. They are not writing brand new prescriptions for you or examining your eye health. That's something you'll still need to do on a periodic basis. But what you won't need to do anymore is every time you need new contact lenses, you don't need to go to a doctor's office and waste all that time. Now, Brad, I know that you have tried out the Simple Contacts app test, and I wanted to know what you thought of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I wish I was smart enough to videotape me doing the vision test because I got the biggest kick out of this. I took it actually multiple times because I thought, ah, there's no way this works, and it absolutely works. It gets your vision. It goes through a few different tests, and then it asks you to, like, okay, put your phone down and walk. I think it was 10 feet away. I can't remember if it was 12 or 15, but I think it was 10 feet away. Okay, and read these things, and the audio cues from you reading off the vision test on the screen of your phone, it, like, helps figure out what you need. And I thought that was kind of wild. So I was impressed with it.

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'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, we got a few Ask TPA questions to end this up on. First one I thought was a really good question for both of us, because we both have individual experience with this. So Joe Casabono says, I'm a fine nib kind of guy, but really want the Sailor Pro Gear Great Purple Cosmos, which comes with a zoom nib. How does that stack up? I've read it can be broad, medium, or fine, depending on how you hold the pen. Thanks. So you got a zoom nib in a recent Sailor, is that correct?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep, I have it on the 1911 Tangerine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. And I had a zoom nib on, I forget the name of it, Stardust Galaxy or Starburst, something like that. So I got a zoom nib on that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I thought I would like it, I ended up not liking it. Okay. It was, so it's a blocky type of nib that, yes, you can, by the angle you hold it vertically to the page, can change the width of the line, broad, medium, or fine. I rarely got to that fine level. Maybe if you flip the nib over, but I never write like that. I don't, yeah. I don't write like that as a...

'''Myke Hurley:''' So weirdly, I think this is, maybe for the first time, something I have more experience than you want.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Which is very strange. Yeah, because I got mine grounded to like a fishhook architect and then I sold it. So there you go. Because I didn't like it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Maybe I should answer this question then. So I would say that there kind of, there isn't three areas for me with this. There's really kind of two. You can do fine or you can do broad. That's how I found it to be because, I don't know, the broad side, you can kind of, you can vary it a little bit, but it's more tricky to do where it's way more simple to like, you hold the nib in one orientation, it's broad, you flip it over onto its backside and it's fine, right? Like that's way easier to do than to try and like angle it in such a way that you can also get a medium line. So I would say that whilst it's possible to do, I don't think that that is really something you should consider is going to happen here. Like most of the time you're going to get broad or fine. And the fine, so when you're using the nib upside down basically, that is not a great experience as a fine nib. It's obviously, I mean, if you think about it, it's never going to be as comfortable to use because it's super weird. You know, like it works and it works fine and it's a good fine nib, but it's nowhere near as good as other sailor fine nibs like that are more regular. I, however, really recommend this pen and this nib because it's super weird and fun. I love using my 1911 because I can do silly things with it and the, the zoom, you know, the regular side, the broad side is super broad and I love that. Like, but if that's not your thing, don't go for it. Like if you don't think you would enjoy the broad experience, then don't do it because that's what you'll end up using most. Because whilst the fine nib side works, it's not super comfortable. It doesn't feel really great and you kind of have to be pretty particular about how you're holding it. I've found to get a consistent ink flow.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I liken this nib to a chisel tip marker. Like I really enjoy chisel tip markers, but I don't use them to write with every day. You have to have a special occasion to write with this. So if I'm using fines or extra fines and I expect to have that individual variance in this pen, I'm going to be disappointed. And I was. So, you know, you kind of got to, that, this is one that you, if you ever had the opportunity to, to test drive one, to see what you really think. Like mine was really good. I bought it as an experiment to see if I would like it. Turns out I didn't, but Myke really likes his because it fits like some of the things that Myke does with, you know, his writing and other people really like it. And it's a really cool idea. It just depends on what your expectations are to get out of this nib.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I feel like if, if, if broads are not your thing, then you should probably not do this.