Staples brand mini gel pen, black ink. I think they were $3 for a pack of 12, and worth every penny.
Sadly, they've been discontinued in my local store.
NOT my photo.
Sadly, they've been discontinued in my local store.
NOT my photo.
I wondered what the difference was between the Varsity and the VPen. On JetPens.com, it says the VPen is the name of the Varsity sold outside the U.S.A. However, Jet Pens sells both and charges 80 cents more for the VPen than the Varsity. If it's the same pen... I have 2 pens (Metro & Petit1 Mini), both Pilot. I assume your VPen writes well, since my Pilots do.
If I were to buy one of those, I'd probably get the Varsity. Since you've used them, what's the difference that makes you prefer the Varsity over the Zebra?Zebra Zensations fountain pen, blue ink.
I prefer the Pilot Varsity, but oh well.
If I were to buy one of those, I'd probably get the Varsity. Since you've used them, what's the difference that makes you prefer the Varsity over the Zebra?
Cool pen and the vintage ad is great. Funny about your experience with the pen. That's just a normal #6 Jowo, right? Same nib as a $50 TWISBI or Retro 51.I took out my Edison Hudson today, which I had not used in years. At the time I bought it, it was the most expensive pen I'd ever even considered, and I had high expectations, which were not quite met. There was nothing I could point to that was actually wrong with it, it just didn't seem to write any better than the cheaper pens that I had been using. Also, it's a bit larger than I like, particularly when posted, and I strongly prefer posting. Admittedly it's a very attractive looking pen.
But I had a new ink to try, De Atramentis Alexander Hamilton, and on a whim I decided to try the Edison. Not bad. It's not blowing me away, but perhaps it's a bit better than I remembered.
By the way, the picture you see in the pocket of the notebook cover is on the back of a bit of blotting paper. Richard Binder used to include small pieces of blotting paper with anything you ordered from him. They would have pictures from vintage pen advertisements on the back, and of course, his own name. The mechanical pencil is a little mini model that Retro 1951 sold for a while but then discontinued.
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Cool pen and the vintage ad is great. Funny about your experience with the pen. That's just a normal #6 Jowo, right? Same nib as a $50 TWISBI or Retro 51.
There's only so much a maker can do for tuning. You can tune to a customer's preference for smooth vs feedback or wet vs dry. But I suspect most just tune for a happy medium and make sure everything is flowing well so the pen writes out of the box. That's not going to make anyone go "wow!", but at least you know it got a good QC check. You can always have it tweaked to your preference later or even reground as a stub or architect or something cool.Not sure whether it's exactly the same as what is in those brands, but it is a stock #6 German steel nib. Reasonably or not, I expected it to have been "tuned" by the maker, although I bought it through a reputable third party seller. And again, there is nothing I could point to and say, "this is bad". Well, live and learn.