Review: Pentel Tradio Fountain Pen
"This pen is odd. I'd seen the name a few times so I grabbed one w/ blue ink when I ordered from JetPens last month. I guess it might be a fountain pen by the strict definition. But the nib is not metal and I'm not sure what to make of the feed. The journal used in the review is a Miquelrius."
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2008/0...untain-pen.html

Hmmm, looks intriguing. Do you think the nib can be "shaped" into an italic? I'm thinking of the way quills are shaped, with a sharp knife for example? Thanks for posting -- I wasn't aware of these pens at all.

Doug

I bought one too several months ago. Yes, it reminds me of a felt tip and something about the feel of the tip on paper or the noise of the tip, sets my teeth on edge. At the same time I picked up some brush pens and they were more interesting.

The design of the nib on the Tradio looks like a Hero 360, Sheaffer Stylist and others, but as mentioned, the sandwiched material is "plastic felt" instead of metal.

Maybe someone can tell us if it would be useful for Japanese/Chinese writing. I don't see how you get much line variation out of it.

These pens come with fountain pen nibs as well. 2-tone, marked "Iridium Point".

Saw some this evening:

Click to view attachment

Unscrewed one -- seems to take long international carts but I'm not sure.

A bit pricey here (about S$22) =p The finishings look pretty tacky too imho.

I've had one lying about my desk for several years, now. It gets grabbed when no other pen is in immediate reach.

When they first appeared in Australia (I found mine in Officeworks) they had refills available. The refill is the complete works except for the barrel and cap. However, both pens and refills have disappeared here.

The nib is a stiff, shaped, fibre-tip so it can write with more 'character' than the normal round fibre-tip pen.

The collector is astonishingly long, two-thirds longer again than the one in a Platinum Preppy, and with much finer and many more disks. I have no idea why the designers thought they needed such a generously proportioned collector.

Mine has dried out a lot more in a drawer over the years than a Pentel V-pen did over about twice as long, so the barrel doesn't seal as securely as a V-pen.

Looking at the end of the nib, you could probably shape it, if you used a strong magnifying glass, and had a really sharp blade (scalpel).