Booker-Palooza 2012 Review and Giveaway #3: Pentel Tradio Fountain Pen in Pearl Black Finish (Entries closed and winner announced)

Welcome to day 3 of Booker-Palooza 2012. This is the third givewaway of the week, with two more to follow, so make sure you check back daily.

Please note that because I screwed up the timing of this post and it published late, I will keep entries open for an additional 24 hours, until 12:01 a.m. on Friday, September 7.

You're probably wondering how I decided to give away this this Pentel Tradio Fountain Pen after spending 28 bucks on it a year or so ago. The clue is in the last part of that sentence. I purchased this at least a year ago, tried it out for a day to write the review, then put it away and never got around to writing the review. Something tells me there are not legions of Tradio fans scouring eBay for a deal on this pen, so I figured, what the heck . . . give it away! So, here we go.

The Review

The Tradio is comparable in size to a Lamy Safari (though here, I have it pictured next to a Lamy AL-Star,) at least in length. But it tapers more at the ends and is thus less cylindrical. It feels uch smaller than the Safari, though, perhaps partly because of its shape and partly because it's virtually weightless. When you're writing unposted, there's no heft to the pen at all. Some people will like that, some won't.

While I'm comparing it to the Safari in size, I might as well make the comparison in a few other ways, especially since they are similarly priced (in fact, at Jet Pens, the Tradio and Safari are both priced at $26.00) and both could be considered "entry level" pens.

Top: Lamy AL-Star, bottom: Pentel Tradio

The finish on the Tradio is a little fancier, probably designed to give the illusion that the pen has a gunmetal body instead of a plastic one. It looks more purple in the photos than it does right in front of you. (The picture of the cap captures the finish better.) But if you like shiny, metal-looking plastic, the black pearl Tradio is for you. The other Tradio finishes look, online at least, like they would be more obviously plastic. So, in the fancy-shmancy category, score a point for the Tradio.

The Tradio doesn't feel very durable, but I have to admit I never really put put it to the test. Perhaps it is because the pen is so light, but I just would not have the same confidence shoving this pen into my jeans pocket as I would carrying a Safari that way. It feels more breakable to me, but I have no scientific evidence to back that up.

The wire Safari/AL-Star clip is very distinctive, and I've read a lot of negative comments about how ugly it is, but I happen to like it in both form and function, and I do not like the Tradio's clip as much. The cap and clip on the Tradio are part of he same molded piece of plastic; there is no spring for the clip except for whatever physical properties the molded plastic has. While not quite as guaranteed to go over your pocket every time, the Tradio clip is nonetheless pretty consistent. But I have to give the nod to the Safari in this one.

One-piece clip and cap; view window near top

The Tradio cap, like that on the Safari, clicks on rather than screws on, and has one feature that I consider somewhat gimmicky: a window in the cap that lets you see the nib while the pen is capped. I'm not sure what function that serves, though I suppose it's possible you might have a Tradio rollerball in the same color and want to be able to tell the difference. If you're going to put a viewing window in a fountain pen, better to have it so you can view the ink level, like on the Safari.

The nib on the Tradio writes incredibly smooth for a pen at this price point. Really, really , nice. I actually like the feel of this nib much better than any on my Safaris.And it has an aesthetic leg up on the Safari nib as well, with some design on the nib and, according to Jet Pens at least, some gold plating. Unfortunately, the design of the nib was usually obscured by ink; this nib displayed lots of nib creep when inked with Noodler's Navy, but I didn't try other inks and for all I know, that same ink would creep on a Safari. But the Safari has something else going for it: the nib is easily changed, and relatively inexpensive replacement nibs (around $10 each, I think) make it economical to experiment with different nib widths, including three widths of italic nibs.

Overall, the Tradio is a solid entry-level pen or daily writer for those accustomed to fountain pens. It's a viable alternative to a Lamy Safari if you happen to like the design silhouette or finish better, want a fancier nib, want a smoother writing experience (though your mileage may vary on this consideration), or, like a lot of people, are turned off by the Safari clip.

I got my Tradio through Writer's Bloc; they still carry the pen in a few other finishes, but not black pearl.  You can find the black pearl finish and several others at JetPens. I've ordered a lot more over the years from JetPens than I have Writer's Bloc, but they are both reliable vendors in my experience.

The Giveaway

 If you'd like this pen, here's how to enter the giveaway.

Please note that because I screwed up the timing of this post and it published late, I will keep entries open for an additional 24 hours, until 12:01 a.m. on Friday, September 6. 

You can enter by email, by commenting, or by both. It's perfectly OK for you to enter both ways. Not everyone is necessarily going to take the time to do that (very few did on the first giveaway), so entering both ways may increase your chances of winning.

To enter by email, send an email to me at notebookeresqATgmail.com, with the following word, and ONLY the following word, in the subject line:

TRADIO

 
Lower case or upper case doesn't matter, as long as your email reaches me by 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, Friday morning, September 7. You may send only one email per person.

To enter by commenting, click in the comment field, then use one of the login methods displayed or click in the NAME field to comment as a guest. Please note that if you log in using your Twitter or Facebook account, I will not have your email and will not be able to contact you directly if you win. In that case, you'll have to return to this post to see if you are the announced winner and claim your prize. (If you are concerned about privacy, note that your email will not display in the comment.) Your comment must be timestamped no later than 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time, Friday, September 7.

Good luck, and check back tomorrow for giveaway number 4 in Booker-Palooza 2012. Remember,  each of the giveaway posts this week goes up at 12:01 a.m. and the sign up period on each is only 24 hours, so you'll have to check back every day to make sure you don't miss your chance at something interesting.

UPDATE: 29 emails and 19 comments equals 48 total entries. And the winner is . . . drum roll please . . . [CYMBAL CRASH] . . .

Kyle, the third email entry received. Congratulations, Kyle!

Booker-Palooza 2012 Review and Giveaway #3: Pentel Tradio Fountain Pen in Pearl Black Finish (Entries closed and winner announced)

Fine Point Face-Off! Pilot Hi-Tec C 0.25mm vs. Uniball Signo DX 0.28mm vs. Pentel Slicci 0.25mm

UPDATE

3/20/10: Greetings, The Pen Addict readers, and many thanks to The Pen Addict for the link! It provided quite the traffic spike to this young blog, making me feel somewhat like Navin R. Johnson felt like the first time he saw his name in the phone book (before things went sour). Some people who missed the link today will probably hit it tomorrow; after all, notebook and pen enthusiasts seem to me to be likely participants in today's National Day of Unplugging.

ORIGINAL POST

 On some forum or another a couple of weeks ago, I saw members setting forth their favorite fine-tip gel pens. The thread was started by a proponent of the Pilot Hi-Tec C. Pretty soon, people started chiming in, and it became clear that there were three pens vying for the title of best fine point gel pen: the Pilot Hi-Tec C 0.25mm, the Pentel Slicci 0.25mm, and the Uni-Ball Signo DX UM-151 0.28mm. 

I like fine tipped pens because I happen to write rather small, but I'd never written with pens with such fine tips before (to me, "fine" always meant 0.5mm), so I figured: why not include one of each in my first Jet Pens order and do a comparative review?  Well, here it is!

This is my first pen review, and I was surprised at just how much I have to say about these three. It used to be that a pen "felt good" or didn't, and that was about as far as my opinion went. This is my first stab at evaluating details, and you're likely to see my reviews evolve over time, as I find some characteristics to fade in importance and others to increase. Anyway, here goes. 

Here they are laid out next to each other:

First Impressions

The Hi-Tec and Signo DX are both a little shy of 6" capped, the Slicci a little bit shorter. The Slicci is noticeably thinner, and its ink tube is not only thinner but seemed to have a shorter line of ink in it, making me wonder if it would run out faster than either of the other pens. I won't be writing with it long enough to find out though, for reasons you'll read below. (The Signo DX ink line in the tube also looked shorter than in the Hi-Tec, but most of that is made up in how much further toward the capped end the tip of the Signo extends. The tip is noticeably to the right of the Hi-Tec C's tip in the photo.)

Comfort

The Signo DX is the only one of the three to offer a cushioned grip, which would be nice, if it helped me. But I find that I grip my pens too close to the tip for most cushioned grips to do me much good (i.e. I grip the pen at least partially below the cushion), and the Signo DX was no different in this regard.

Still, the Signo DX was the most comfortable of the three to grip because the cushion made for a wider barrel than either of the other two. The Slicci was the least comfortable to hold. It's so thin, it felt like I was writing with a Tootsie Pop stick. Somehow, this caused me to try to grip it tighter. I can see myself cramping my hand or at least getting very fatigued if I tried to write with the Slicci for an extended period.   The Hi-Tec C was just there, not particularly comfortable or uncomfortable, but the ridges in the plastic that serve as a grip strike me as unnecessary.

"Comfort" is a relative term when it comes to writing with these three pens, because the sad fact is that I didn't like the feel of any of them. The only pen I can see myself using much in the future (and that's pretty much just so it won't go to waste) is the Signo DX, and then only with certain papers. 

I tried each of these pens out on six different papers: 20-lb. multi-purpose paper from Office Depot, a Tops Docket Gold legal pad, a large Piccaddilly notebook, an extra-large Moleskine Cahier, an A4 squared Whitelines, and a staple-bound, French-ruled Clairefontaine. With few exceptions, the writing felt exceptionally scratchy. The upstrokes felt like I was etching the paper rather than writing on it, and made a lot of noise. I kept thinking that the tip was better suited to etch serial numbers on diamonds than to write in my notebooks. Admittedly, however, this could be due as much or more to my heavy hand as to the mechanics of the pen tip.

The Slicci was the worst in this regard. Maybe my stronger grip on this then pen also translated unconsciously into greater application of pressure to the paper. I'm not sure. All I know is that even on the 90 gsm Clairefontaine paper, it was scratchy.  The Hi-Tec C was not much better on most papers. The only pen and paper combinations I could see using over the long haul were the Signo DX on either the Clairefontaine or the Moleskine. (I know, I know, everyone says Moleskine paper is terrible, but what can I tell ya, I felt what I felt, and the Signo DX wrote much more smoothly in the Mole than in the Piccadilly.)

I don't know if the slightly smoother feel of the Signo DX is due to the extra 3/100ths of a millimeter in the width of its tip, the quality of the ink, or even the fact that the Signo DX had blue-black ink instead of blue ink like the other two. It did, however, provide a noticeably smoother delivery of ink than the other two.


I find it interesting how my evaluation differs from others. Office Supply Geek found the 0.25mm Hi-Tec C to write "smoothly." Pen Addict liked the Hi-Tec, but didn't comment on the smoothness of the writing. He did, however, note that the 0.28mm Signo DX was "scratchier" than the slightly wider-tipped 0.38mm version. On the other hand, he thought the 0.25mm Slicci has the "smooth writing ability" of its 0.5mm model. Something Random noted that even the 0.38mm Signo DX was difficult to write quickly with if you're used to a 0.7mm pen.

Performance

It would be unfair form me to downgrade these pens on performance just because they're not well-suited for what I do. I have to give them uniformly good grades for doing what they are supposed to do: write a clear, consistent, and really, really thin line.

It's obvious from the above photo that the pens would write a thin line. However, due to the scratchy feeling of writing with the pens, it felt like the ink flow would be less than consistent. I won't bore you with an extended writing sample, but here's a one-line comparison of the line left by each pen in a Moleskine Cahier, showing a very consistent line from all three:

I found the color from the Signo DX to be most pleasing, but it's not a fair comparison. It is a blue-black, while the others are straight blues.

Now, a comment on feathering and bleeding seems almost obligatory in a pen review, but I'll not bother here. If these inks feather or bleed at all, it's in proportion to the width of the lines they lay down. That not only makes it invisible to the naked eye, it probably requires a microscope instead of a loupe to see it.

Finally, I was pleased that, contrary to my expectations, writing with these fine tips did not cause indentations  that showed through to the other side of any paper in the tests. I thought that the extremely fine tip on these would leave deep impressions, but I'm beginning to think that I eased up on the pressure in response to the scratchiness, and thus caused less of an impression than I get with my extremely smooth 0.50mm Ohto Orca ceramic rollerball (which I should be reviewing in about a week).

Suitability for Attorneys

Here's where the review gets most personal. Though these pens are good at doing what they're supposed to do, they're no good for what I need to do.

As a litigation attorney, my handwriting is usually one of three things: editing a draft document, writing down notes (from research, a meeting, or a phone call), and signing things. I didn't find any of these pens very suitable for any of these.

First, the obvious. For signing a document, you want a bold line. My signature doesn't take up half the page like the signatures of many attorneys -- all the more reason that the line has to be bold. You need to be able to see whether or not I've signed something, and the line laid down by these pens is so thin that the existence of my signature, which is quite small, may require a double take.

Second, for the same reasons, I don't find these pens good for marking up drafts. My assistant needs to be able to see where I have marked up a document, and these lines don't jump out from the page, at least not in these hues, (Pen Hunter tested many more colors and said that they "stand out on the page" even in the 0.25 tip width.) They actually jump out much more clearly in this photograph than they do when the actual page is in front of you. So, I've added a reference notation from a Platinum Preppy fountain pen with fine nib:

By now, you're probably thinking I must be half blind because of the difficulty I have seeing these lines. But trust me, they are much more visible in the photo than they are when looking at the original marked-up page.

Third, these pens are unsuitable for my general notetaking because of the audible scratchiness I noted above. I can even envision the noise from the scratching being a distraction to others in a meeting or at the library.

For other kinds of attorneys -- patent attorneys, perhaps, who may need to annotate detailed schematic drawings -- these thin writers may fit the bill quite nicely.

My use will probably be limited to using the Signo DX for my GTD weekly reviews, since I'll be doing those in the Cahier and the Signo DX/Cahier combination provided the smoothest feel. The Slicci and Hi-Tec C will be going in a pen cup in the firm's file room.

Bottom Line

These pens are great fine-line performers, but take more getting used to than I'm likely to be able to accomplish. If a thin line is your main need and you don't mind the audible scratchiness of the fine tip (or have a light hand that mitigates it), these ought to be right up your alley.

Fine Point Face-Off! Pilot Hi-Tec C 0.25mm vs. Uniball Signo DX 0.28mm vs. Pentel Slicci 0.25mm