Hi

After visiting the Omas site, I discovered that they launched a new 360
http://www.omas.com/defaultPhotogallery.as...rc=7&grl=14
That new 360 is way uglier than older 360 and the nib is uglier too. I really dislike this new 360 design. I will always prefer the older 360 which was better designed and much more ergonomic.
I wonder why Omas launched such an ugly new 360.
Just my two cents

regards

georges

I may be wrong (it happens) but it looks like the new shape is just on the C/C version. The piston variant still looks much like the big fella I've got sitting in front of me.

GBP £0.01 (at current rates).

Yrs etc.

IANAN

Bleck! I'll stick with my bling.

From the pictures, I would have no desire to own one.

I think they launched it to appeal to a larger pool of customers (beyond the pen-pen people, many of which are here on FPN and therefore mostly don't like the new shape)
It does nothing for me either, and in my relative view, it is not very appealing either. Looking at my Paragons and my Ogiva and my Milord... well it doesn't measure up to them. Even the old 360 is much more distinct in my view (love the old shape but cannot handle them so well)
But here is the thing: my local B&M store guy told me that they have been selling pretty well. Comes a young woman into his store, wants to buy a nice gift for her husband (both are not yuppies but have good jobs and are more on the stylish side of fashion). She sees the pen, the pen looks modern and stylish (which it really does, no matter if you like the design or not). The pen fills with cartridges which she likes as she doesn't want to fumble around with ink bottles. She compares the pen to Cross and says: Boring! She compares it to Pelikan and thinks: No! Finally, she wants the pen and buys it.

I am not saying that the new 360 only appeals to such a clientele as I described above, but the focus is clear: Omas wants to release innovative designs. And their Emotica, another innovative design, has been very successful. Will the new 360 follow suit? I don't know and hopefully not!

So, in my and in your (George) view, the pen is definitely not that great, but the overall strategy behind it is clear.
So, let's stay away from them and buy all the (for us) nicer older models.

Disclaimer: I don't want to offend anybody who does like the pen. I've met a few pen-pen guys who liked the new style. So, this is not necessarily self-contradictory.

This might be a minority opinion, but I like the new design. It's both contemporary and elegant. Of course, if any of you were planning to send me one of the piston designs, by all means proceed :-)

I didn't care for the old style 360 and even less for the newer one.I'll also stick to my Paragon/Arco/etc style,preferably pre-2005.

Jim

Kinda true omasfan. I myself have seen an interesting limited edition 360 that I will have to reserve before it is gone. I baught my 360s at extremely reasonable prices but this limited edition 360 I have seen is not cheap: 500€

The old design 360 is beautiful to behold, but somewhat hard to use, unless your grip happens to fit exactly to the design of the pen. Mine does not, and I had to settle for either (1) the nib not being angled correctly on the page, or (2) the sharp corner of the triangular section digging into my finger.

Then I met John Mottishaw at a pen show, and he quickly pulled the nib and re-installed it, rotating it a few degrees off center. Voila! Suddenly the pen fit my hand perfectly while also hitting the page at the correct angle for writing. It doesn't look quite as pretty, because it is asymmetrical when viewed head on, but I now love this pen. I'm going to get a few more and send them to John Mottishaw.

The new design 360 is just plain ugly. Sorry. I hate to bash pens on this site. Somebody may like it, but not me.

I rather like the look of it.

Ray

Such strong opinions. I like them both.

Harv.

I'm with you Ray.I like the new 360.

When I was concidering getting th Paragon I was also thinking about the old 360.
I think the old 360 had character and presents but it was to bold for my taste.
I find the new 360 to be more refined and classy.I dont think I will buy it because I will rather spend the money on a Pelikan or a MB but I like the new design better.

I love the old 360 design and it happens to be comfy for me to hold. It also had the unique advantage (along with my VP) of being a fountain pen I could grab at night (if I'd capped it right) and write in the dark or dim light with and get thte expected results every time.

Sometimes, being a writer, I'd wake up at 2 a.m. and have to take down notes for a story, so it was useful to have pens where I didn't have to figure out where the nib was.

For this reason, my 360 (mezzo) and my VP are my go-to nightstand pens.

I didn't like the old one. Rather too much like writing with a Toblerone with a nib shoved in it

Thats funny but true

Hey.. I like Toblerones Wonder what it'll be like to shove a nib & feed in a bar of it and try writing with that?


Shahrin

Can't realy say which one I like better, the old or the new, but the old one happens to fit my hand and writting style and it is one of my favorites.

I could never warm up to the old 360, it wrote beautifully, and I liked the look. but...I dunno. I haven't seen a new one in person, but as opposed to the old stlye, I'd go along with most people and say the design change doesn't work.

TOBLEROMAS

Click to view attachment

With PR Chocolat ink perhaps?

Let's face it, most of the people that like the big triangular shaped pens have bought one. And they've tried to introduce the old shape in a smaller size with bright colors and then large pens with different materials like the Burkina and the Galileo plastic. I bet that they've exhausted the market for the current style.

So they're now after a newer, hipper crowd that wants a triangular pen, but also wants something a little more mainstream and avant-guard. I'm not sure if I like the ends of the pen, but I'll probably try one....at least in a store. The same people that like/bought the Emotica will like the new pen. If they' introduce it in the screaming red plastic of the Emotica, I'd look hard.

Skip

Very good

FWIW, I dislike the 360. I can use it, and I have no trouble rotating the nib when clients ask for that work. But if I want a triangular pen, I'll track down a Triad. Probably not this one, on which I did major celluloid restoration, however, as it's way out of my price range.



Oh, yes, it really is triangular.



Many Triads didn't survive because the cap is threaded and people were too hasty, or too stupid, to bother learning that you cap and uncap the pen by turning the black cap-crown knob, not the whole cap. Today, Triads are highly sought after. I own the Triad pencil below, but I haven't yet seen a Triad pen I could afford.

It seems they now target a different sort of customer and have ended up with a controversial new design. However, while I liked the older 360 it had what I considered to be a design defect. The cap attaches to the barrel on a lip at the very front of the section. This lip was made of the same material as the rest of the pen - vegetal resin. While great for the body and barrel I thought it was less than ideal serving as a mechanical point of attachment subject to frictional wear and tear and loss of material over time (e.g., unlike a screw top cap it clicks on and off). At least that was my concern over long term reliability and I sold it with no regrets. I may be wrong, but I'm sticking with my decision that it was the right thing to do.

When I first saw the redesign I was amazed that the company would take what I considered to be such a large step in the wrong direction... in my mind it's the suicidal equivalent of turning a Montblanc 149 into a C/C filler...lol

Hmm, it does have a distinctly unattractive shape. Blecch.

Very funny! and right on!