First Twsbi, Looking For Advice.

[PenInkPaperDraw]

Hi, was looking into buying my first Twsbi. The 580 is the one that i have in mind right now. I'm curious of what everyone thinks of the different model. Is there somethings i should look out for? I'm still new to the whole world of Fountain pen. Right now i have a lamy safari and a monteverde monza. I do appreciate the safari better then the monza.

 

Thank you in advance.

[IndigoBOB]

The Pen Habit liked the 580 a lot and he's good at picking out what works and doesn't from my experience:

 

 

Figboot on pens as well gets enthusiastic about the 580:

 

 

I was going to go for the 580, but then I discovered the comfort of ebonite and detoured in that direction.

 

I have the Eco and Eco-T. I like the Eco-T more because the design of the section is more comfortable and decreases slippage for me since the sections can get slick if your hands get oily. The Eco-T is in my daily rotation along with the Safari. If you like the section of the Safari I think you'll like the section of the Eco-T.

 

I found the Eco to be on the drier side, but that can easily be remedied with a lubricated and/or wet ink (Sailor inks, Noodler's inks like AABB, Heart of Darkness and more) or if you need you can shimmy some brass sheets and easily open and align the tines. Pens_and_Tea describes the tightness in her video:

 

 

When I first started out I didn't like tight tines, but I actually prefer that now because I have inks that work well with that and it lets me adjust the flow to my liking since it's easy to shimmy them open incrementally if you take your time. Plus dryness is good for cheap paper.

 

TWSBI pens feel very well built and they use a great nib IMO: Jowo. They have early histories of cracking, but I haven't experienced that, reports haven't been as frequent IMO, and the TWSBI customer service has always fixed every problem I've heard reported.

 

Personally, I had the money for the Eco-T and 580, but I got the Eco T for the extra grip the faceted section provided, since the Original Eco's section got a little slick for me fairly easily and the Eco-T's section makes an apparent difference. I do plan on getting the 580 later on. Gourmet Pens wasn't the biggest fan of the section In Hand:

 

http://www.gourmetpens.com/2015/06/review-twsbi-diamond-580-al-purple.html#.WididLallE4

 

Aesthetically, I personally think the Eco-T isn't very attractive, though lolol. I switched out my Original Eco parts onto the Eco-T body. The 580 is a very attractive pen IMO. They're both great pens from what I gather and it depends on your grip and preference if you have the money for either.

Edited December 6, 2017 by IndigoBOB

[Torrilin]

The only thing with my 580 is the cap is sometimes prone to unscrewing itself while being carried. It’s fine in a pen slot, but loose isn’t ok.

 

It’s primary use is drawing. Not that it’s unsuited for writing, just I draw a lot more than I write. For writing use, I like a wide range of nib sizes. For drawing, I’m more finicky.

 

I’ve got a couple safaris too, and they’re great if they’re getting used every day by god. But they’re a bit prone to drying out without regular use. They also like to pop the cap off when stuck in random places. And the barrel likes to unscrew from the section while I use it. Irritating. The swapable nibs are great, and Lamy sells really quite nice nibs. The converter ink capacity is kind of sad compared to the cartridge. Not a big deal with an xf nib or regular dye based ink, but potentially a little or a lot annoying.

 

The TWSBI ink capacity is nuts. Seriously nuts. It’s fantastic. Run out a fill and you’ll know that ink pretty well. Great if it’s a good ink, not so great if you hate the ink. If you’re more into fountain pens because of ink love, you may want a smaller capacity pen as an alternative option.

[inkstainedruth]

I have a TWSBI 580-AL. It's a really heavy pen for me (the absolute limit of what is comfortable, especially posted) because I have small hands. But I was bound and determined to get used to the weight (and I love the pink trim on mine ). I have a B nib on my pen, and I'd swear it's a slightly better nib than that on my Pelikan M405 Stresemann -- which even with buying that pen from Rolf Thiel off eBay, was more than five times as expensive! The B nib on the M405 *is* very nice -- don't get me wrong; it's just that the nib on the TWSBI is, well, better....

The only real complaint I have about the 580-AL is that the piston does not go all the way down to the end of the feed. As a result, when the pen is really low on ink (and yeah, Torrilin is absolutely right about the capacity -- it IS nuts just how much ink that pen holds!) you get flow issues if you get an air bubble in the chamber. I was showing my pen to someone at a pen club meeting a few months ago, and between the two of us passing the pen back and forth, managed to juggle the pen enough so that the air bubble to the back of the remaining space in the chamber (i.e., by the piston head instead of by the end of the feed). But I think that is a design flaw on TWSBI's part. I have a lot of other piston fillers (Noodler's pens, Pelikans, even a Dollar 7i7i demonstrator) and the 580-AL is the ONLY pen that has that issue. I don't know if other TWSBI piston fill models have that problem.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PenInkPaperDraw]

I looked at the Eco-t and think i'll try that one first after all. The 580 is still my next in line right after that one if everything goes well. They seem to be good quality and the price is quite reasonable for both. I do like the fact that the Eco-t as a similar grip as the safari and that is why i believe i'll go with that one first. Also the price, the 580 AL is double what the Eco-t cost, which would make it my most expensive pen as of now. Keep in mind that i'm still new to FP, only at a month or so right now.(I did have dip pens for calligraphy but none for every day use.)

 

Thank you everyone for the great pieces of advise.

Edited December 6, 2017 by PenInkPaperDraw

[IndigoBOB]

I have a TWSBI 580-AL. It's a really heavy pen for me (the absolute limit of what is comfortable, especially posted) because I have small hands. But I was bound and determined to get used to the weight (and I love the pink trim on mine ). I have a B nib on my pen, and I'd swear it's a slightly better nib than that on my Pelikan M405 Stresemann -- which even with buying that pen from Rolf Thiel off eBay, was more than five times as expensive! The B nib on the M405 *is* very nice -- don't get me wrong; it's just that the nib on the TWSBI is, well, better....

The only real complaint I have about the 580-AL is that the piston does not go all the way down to the end of the feed. As a result, when the pen is really low on ink (and yeah, Torrilin is absolutely right about the capacity -- it IS nuts just how much ink that pen holds!) you get flow issues if you get an air bubble in the chamber. I was showing my pen to someone at a pen club meeting a few months ago, and between the two of us passing the pen back and forth, managed to juggle the pen enough so that the air bubble to the back of the remaining space in the chamber (i.e., by the piston head instead of by the end of the feed). But I think that is a design flaw on TWSBI's part. I have a lot of other piston fillers (Noodler's pens, Pelikans, even a Dollar 7i7i demonstrator) and the 580-AL is the ONLY pen that has that issue. I don't know if other TWSBI piston fill models have that problem.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

The nib is what impresses me as well. I have a Broad in mine and it writes so well. It can even get too smooth if I don't have a dry ink in it. I do prefer the Medium for the vast majority of my inks. I haven't tried any finer nibs yet.

 

There's no difference between the nibs on the more expensive TWSBI models besides size. That's why I like the fact that they made the Eco-T the model with, what is for me at least, the more comfortable grip for writing. But I think the 580 is beautiful for some reason. Something about it, especially the AL version, and the new ROSE color this year is lovely. The Demonstrator design definitely adds a lot to the aesthetics IMO.

 

There's not a whole lot of options out there to get a Jowo nib for that price of the Eco/Eco-T and on a piston filler, and like you say, the ink capacity is huge. I've never had that air bubble problem in my eco, but I'll be more observant in case it happens.

 

I looked at the Eco-t and think i'll try that one first after all. The 580 is still my next in line right after that one if everything goes well. They seem to be good quality and the price is quite reasonable for both. I do like the fact that the Eco-t as a similar grip as the safari and that is why i believe i'll go with that one first. Also the price, the 580 AL is double what the Eco-t cost, which would make it my most expensive pen as of now. Keep in mind that i'm still new to FP, only at a month or so right now.(I did have dip pens for calligraphy but none for every day use.)

 

Thank you everyone for the great pieces of advise.

 

When it comes to Eco's you want to make sure you get the right sized nib. They typically won't exchange it if you open it. You can get replacement nibs, too, since the Mini uses the same one.

Edited December 7, 2017 by IndigoBOB

[Torrilin]

I haven’t tried an eco-t and probably won’t. The blue is upsetting. And while I really quite like the Safari grip, I LOVE the grip on my 580 and eco.

 

I haven’t experienced the air bubble thing I don’t think. My eco has been having a very minor ink blorting issue, but it got a good scrub the other day and may have reconsidered the blorting. We shall see, i figured if I was scrubbing pens I should see about fixing everything up. So I’m back to having the fude inked to match the eco, so it should be easier to recover from blorting. The eco’s nib and feed popped out by accident while I scrubbed it, which made the reason for the misbehaving pretty obvious.

 

Definitely if you’ve got a thing for certain nibs, be fussy about getting the right eco nib. That’s why both my TWSBI pens have xf nibs. Fatter nibs tend to upset me when I’m drawing as a default, and I specifically wanted the giant ink capacity because running out of ink in a life drawing class is upsetting.

[gryphon1911]

I have 2 Ecos (one medium and one with 1.1mm stub) and a 580 with a 1.1mm stub.

 

I could leave the 580 with the stub in my permanent rotation and not be sorry that I did. I especially like using it with a good shading ink, my favorites being Noodler's Habanero and Noodler's Golden Brown.

 

The Eco with the stub is not as wet or wide, so not one I use very often. For normal day to day writing, the Eco with the Medium is a solid writer.

 

If you are not 100% sure on TWSBI and want to try one out for not a lot of money, the Eco is a good way to go.

 

I do find that the material, feel and just overall fit and finish of the 580 is much better and a more satisfying experience. Then again, you can get 2 Eco's for the price of of 580.

[akrohn2010]

I looked at the Eco-t and think i'll try that one first after all. The 580 is still my next in line right after that one if everything goes well. They seem to be good quality and the price is quite reasonable for both. I do like the fact that the Eco-t as a similar grip as the safari and that is why i believe i'll go with that one first. Also the price, the 580 AL is double what the Eco-t cost, which would make it my most expensive pen as of now. Keep in mind that i'm still new to FP, only at a month or so right now.(I did have dip pens for calligraphy but none for every day use.)

 

Thank you everyone for the great pieces of advise.

 

Hope you enjoy your Eco-T! The Eco was my second fountain pen and still one of my favorites.

[Runnin_Ute]

I have both a 580 (not AL version) and an Eco. The 580 is a B that I had stubbed and the Eco is a 1.1. I prefer the 580- even though it is bigger, it just feels better in hand to me.

[katerchen]

Agree on the 580. It's just the perfect size/form.

 

The Vac700 is just a tad large/unwieldly for me.

[prashant.tikekar]

Agree on the 580. It's just the perfect size/form.

 

The Vac700 is just a tad large/unwieldly for me.

Ideally 580 with no. 6 nib from vac700 would be a perfect pen for me.

[prashant.tikekar]

Agree on the 580. It's just the perfect size/form.

 

The Vac700 is just a tad large/unwieldly for me.

***Deleted duplicate post Edited December 8, 2017 by prashant.tikekar

[Jamerelbe]

Ideally 580 with no. 6 nib from vac700 would be a perfect pen for me.

I think they were working on this they showed a 580-like pen with #6 nib on Facebook a, while back. Maybe some day they'll get around to producing it?

[PenInkPaperDraw]

It's confirmed, the Eco-T is ordered. Thanks every one for your input. I will definitely keep the 580/580 AL pretty much at the top of my wishlist.

[prashant.tikekar]

I think they were working on this they showed a 580-like pen with #6 nib on Facebook a, while back. Maybe some day they'll get around to producing it?

Yes. I too remember that. Hope to see it in production one day.

Edited December 9, 2017 by prashant.tikekar

[Beechwood]

My two pieces of advice for new TWSBI owners, only take it apart when absolutely neccessary, just because you can doesnt mean that you should.

 

Other posters have had problems with Diamine ink staining the pen, so avoid. I have also seen an email from TWSBI blaming stuck pistons on saturated inks, such as Diamine causing the problem.

[anemography]

Which Diamine inks have stained the pens?

[BT_Summers]

Which Diamine inks have stained the pens?

 

 

My pen was stained with Diamine Majestic Blue, other people have said that they have had problems with Grape and certain reds. I would avoid all Diamine Reds, blues and purples in a clear plastic pen.

 

I had used Parker Blue and Black since the pen was new and the colour just washed through the pen, no staining, I filled up once with Diamine and the section became stained and the piston stuck solid. I asked Twsbi for help and they said it was because I had used a saturated ink in the pen, they would not honour the warranty on the pen, they said it was user error

 

I asked Diamine to comment/help and they just ignored me.

 

Thats the last Diamine ink I will use in a pen.

[anemography]

Yikes, I have blue Diamine inks in 3 of my TWSBI pens at the minute. Only Blue Velvet is what I'd call saturated though.

 

I wonder if it's something in the red dyes Diamine uses? Majestic Blue does have that red sheen.