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Twsbi Good?


Kamm

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I have a Diamond 580 with a 1.1 mm italic. It didn't write well out of the box and had trouble with hard starts and skips. I took it to a local brick and mortar and had my guy adjust it while doing some shopping. After getting the nib adjusted at the shop, it's become a wonderful writer. It's wet, juicy, and starts instantaneously even after a week of sitting on a shelf.

 

I will say that the TWSBI 580 1.1 mm is a little on the broad side compared to the Lamy 1.1. In fact, my TWSBI 1.1 has exactly the same width as my Lamy 1.5 mm. And the TWSBI 1.1 is more stubby compared to the Lamy's sharper line.

 

TWSBI's a great brand if you like tinkering and don't necessarily need to use it as an immediate daily writer.

Edited by pendexter
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Well there you go. Glad I asked! Is there a different pen I should get knowing I only have two Lamy FPs? Also what the heck is "demonstrater? Like it being clear? Cause I LOVE that.

 

Yes, a demonstrator could be completely clear, or colorful, yet see-through. If you prefer those, there are a few othr in that price range. Take a look at the Platinum Cools. They will run a size smaller than the Lamy, or maybe the Pilot Prera, also a size smaller. I've never used a Kaweco, too small for me, but their ICE series are also demos as well as a clear in ther Sport line and I've heard good things. I think it is too short for a piston converter though, not positive. There are others out there (I'm pretty sure Aurora and Montverde), I just don't know enough to comment on them.

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Let's me just say this. I now have three:

- Orange Vac 700 in fine nib

- Smoke Vac 700 in medium nib

- 580 AL with a Pendleton Brown medium stub

 

All are perfectly smooth and and great writers. They all feel solid. The Vac 700 is the perfect size for my hand and the 580 is the perfect pen for me to carry for daily note taking duties at work. I have no worries about any and all were well worth the cost. If any were to break or get lost, I'd immediately buy a replacement.

 

Plus, any company that encourages you to take them apart and perform your own maintenance is fantastic in my book.

 

So my opinion? At the current price point they are great pens.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers ~ Voltaire

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I concur with the general opinion here: For the price point, they're very decent pens.

 

I have two, both with Pendleton nibs, and they have done very well for me! The fine 580AL I ordered straight from Pendleton, and it is superb! The medium 580 Diamond, I ordered from Goulet, then sent it off to Pendleton. It wrote very decently as stock, I just wanted the beautiful CI nib he grinds on it.

 

I had the nib holder fracture on the 580AL here a month and some change ago, but TWSBI had me a new piece in three days, so no sweat there. For how nicely they work, I can deal with changing out the occasional part if I really need to.

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Diamond 580 AL

 

I figured the AL would be more sturdy.

 

So far so good. But i did have to change the nib, twice! The first was a disaster. The second was pretty awful too but generally worked. The third is a charm and is very nice indeed.

 

I would say the new versions are way more robust and so some of the accounts you see are not based on the pen you would get now and the support is great so there are 2 mitigating factors there but yeah, some issues.

 

Ink capacity rules.

 

Personally think it is worth the roll of the dice. TWSBI and Goulet are both good at support. If you get a good one, they are fun pens.

 

-kp

Looking for a cap for a Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel Deluxe Fat version

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Can anyone confirm if Goulet check or tune the nib before shipping a pen?

 


 

 

Diamond 580 AL

 

I figured the AL would be more sturdy.

 

So far so good. But i did have to change the nib, twice! The first was a disaster. The second was pretty awful too but generally worked. The third is a charm and is very nice indeed.

 

I would say the new versions are way more robust and so some of the accounts you see are not based on the pen you would get now and the support is great so there are 2 mitigating factors there but yeah, some issues.

 

Ink capacity rules.

 

Personally think it is worth the roll of the dice. TWSBI and Goulet are both good at support. If you get a good one, they are fun pens.

 

-kp

 

Edited by GTVi
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Good enough for its price but, as with all pens, the main issues are: (a) does it suit you: personal preferences are often more important than general quality, e.g. nib flexibility or width; (B) how it compares to other options: what else is available in the same price range, in this case especially in the second-hand market. From my own viewpoint, TWSBI makes decent pens that allow some fine-tuning, decent, reliable daily writers.

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The fourth pen I ended up with was a TWSBI Vac700. I love it. It's my desk and letter pen being plastic and larger than my others. I had to make it a bit wetter as it was a tad dry, but it's fairly smooth. I've got a Diamond 580 on my list when funds allow.

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goulet checks the nib before shipping out but not tune them

 

nibs.com and richardspens.com are the only two sites that I know of that have their respective nibmeisters adjust stock nibs before shipment.

 

When I purchase from Goulet I always ask them to ink the pen up and make sure that it writes well. I don't think that they check the nib if you don't ask. There are some people that want a completely 'mint' pen out of the box, so it's probably easier for them not to have inky nibs sent to unsuspecting buyers.

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My mini is the most reliable pen I own. Always starts, never skips, holds lots of ink, posts securely, writes smoothly, no problems despite dropping it numerous times. It's my daily carry pen.

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I do however had to change the mini's nib as the EF stock it came with was very dry if not scratchy... I;m inclined to the dryness but then I bought a 580 nib unit I can definitely says the bigger nib looks better on the pen and writes better but I was able to salvage the original number 4 nib having given the nib a foot after tuning it

Edited by Algester
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I don't have a TWSBi but one thing to me stands out in the responses in this thread. That being the high percentage of folks who either adjusted the pens themselves or had them adjusted by a nibmeister or at least a pen tech at their local B&M shop.

 

Might be interesting to run a poll as a separate thread asking how many users/owners of TWSBi pens have needed to do so compared with other pens in their collection.

 

For what its worth, I've never needed to have a pen worked on; my collection is Parkers (various, both old and modern), Sheaffer Targa, several Pelikan, several Pilot, several Lamy (Safari and L2000).

Moshe ben David

 

"Behold, He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps!"

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I would like one, but we hear mixed opinions. Most people complaining are concerning cracks that sometimes appears in the demonstrator pens from TWSBI. They claim TWSBI sends them replacements parts, though. Let's say they are pretty cheap for what they offer, a lot of brands with great prices like Pilot would charge you a lot more for a demonstrator pen with that visual quality. If it is going to be your one and only pen for a while, I would advise you to pick something safer, if you already have good pens, you might be lucky and find a great pen for the price ordering one.

I'm pretty sure TWSBI has changed the things that were cracking, and if you watch brian goulet's video a lot of the racking is inflicted by the owner

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I don't have a TWSBi but one thing to me stands out in the responses in this thread. That being the high percentage of folks who either adjusted the pens themselves or had them adjusted by a nibmeister or at least a pen tech at their local B&M shop.

 

Might be interesting to run a poll as a separate thread asking how many users/owners of TWSBi pens have needed to do so compared with other pens in their collection.

 

For what its worth, I've never needed to have a pen worked on; my collection is Parkers (various, both old and modern), Sheaffer Targa, several Pelikan, several Pilot, several Lamy (Safari and L2000).

well I had my Lamy 2000 adjusted because it came out of the factory on the tight side so it was very very very dry to the point of almost none writing

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i only have handful of pens, i adjusted all of them except one. all of them have either tines not aligned exactly, or some other issues. i just take that as part of using fountain pens. not a big deal, just few min looking at the nib with magnifying glass and making sure the tines are even, making sure i flush and floss the nibs.. that type of things. some of the nibs take little longer to align.. but once done, they are much smoother.

 

have two TWSBI. they have their pros and cons. depends on what you like, some of the pros can be cons. but they write very well, and holds lot of ink. i like them, but at the same time, they stay home since i only carry pens that can comfortably fit in my pant pockets. the large ink capacity is great, if you like using same ink for extended period of time, or write ton of stuff everyday. i don't write all that much and i like to change inks often. customer service is amazing. i contacted them with few questions and they were very prompt in responding.

 

TWSBI 580 piston can jam, if you use soap water too often without greasing the rubber bit. i ran into that problem and had hell of time pushing out the piston and greasing it again. too much playing about with black plastic parts can strip the thread quickly, they seems to be softer than the clear parts. i'm sure 580 AL will do better. for $50, it's a lot of a pen.

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goulet checks the nib before shipping out but not tune them

 

Does Goulet really check the nib before shipping them? How do you know this? I've heard that they will test pens on request, but I've never heard that they check each pen before shipping.

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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TWSBIs are pens that people love or hate, like or dislike. People's opinions are all over the board on TWSBIs. I think there are two reasons people love TWSBIs so much:

 

1. They're customer service is outstanding. When a pen cracks, or has some other type of problem, they are willing to do what it takes to help a customer out. This, I believe, is why so many people love them. In other words, let's say a person buys a pen and it has no difficulties, and he or she likes the pen. They have had a good experience. But, let's say another person buys a pen, like it, it cracks, he/she contacts customer service, they provide excellent customer service, and take care of the person in exemplary fashion, the buyer then feels very good about the pen and the company. They tell others, usually emphasizing how well they were treated, and how well their pen writes now. They are telling more people about their experience versus the person whose pen wrote well to begin with.

 

2. They elicit feedback from people (on Facebook, that I know of) about pens they have on the drawing board. People feel like they have some ownership in the company because they were asked, and they gave, their opinion on certain models of TWSBIs, features, colors, etc.

 

Now, having said all that, my own personal opinion. I have only two (and I've never owned another): The Vac 700 and the Micarta. I like the 700 only once having inked it. I really love the Micarta. It's my favorite of the two. I've developed the habit of selling pens that I don't really love, so I'm considering selling the 700. No problems with it. It just doesn't light my fire, so to speak.

Edited by Blue_Moon

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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My early TWSBI 530s came with very dry nibs, though they were good once adjusted to increase the flow. My more recent TWSBIs came with nibs perfectly adjusted, very good writers. I think this change may have happened when TWSBI switched to Jowo-supplied nibs.

 

I've had a lot of cracked and broken plastic parts. TWSBI have always sent a replacement part quickly when I asked for it, but it still irks me. Other brands of pens just don't break like that.

 

I loved my Vac 700 at first. It's a very charismatic pen, looks and feels good, writes well, holds a lot of ink, and the special ink-filler bottle you can get for it is cool too. However, it has ink flow issues. Often it writes for a short while and then dries out, because some sort of bubble has blocked off the ink from flowing into the feed, and then I have to jiggle the filler knob to get it going again. That's a nuisance. Then after a while the cap fell apart, with the wide band at the mouth breaking off. So, I had to request another cap.

 

My overall experience with the TWSBIs, and particularly with the Vac 700 (of which I have two), is that they are frustratingly close to being the Right Thing, but the parts breakage and the Vac 700's flow issues really sapped a lot of my enthusiasm.

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