Pentel Tradio Pulaman Fountain Pen - Black Body - Black Ink

I find product reviews fascinating because the same product can receive such a wide range of ratings and impressions. Sometimes, it's almost impossible to account for the apparent discrepancy. With the Tradio there is little uncertainty about why so many may react so differently. The way we hold the pen and the way we apply pressure and move it across the page can vary so dramatically that no single mechanism for delivering ink to paper can please us all. What we really need in reviewing pens is some way of characterizing our respective writing “styles.” I'm not going to try to do that here. But I will say that this pen appeals to me for much the same reason that a Varsity does. Not its partial disposability, which I find sad, but the fact that I can grab it and write impulsively and rapidly without annoying skipping or excessive ink. I don't look for a wide range of line variation, but there is no question that I can get substantial variation if I write slowly. I don't write slowly.

Maybe these reviews would benefit if those of us who take the time to write them could make more explicit comparisons of the pen we are reviewing to those we find to be preferable. Who knows, maybe one day we can create a writing instrument genome the way Pandora is creating a music genome. Of course, we would need to collect… well, I think that should be obvious.

BG

One of my all-time favorite pens. Many here seemed disappointed that they were unable to vary the line width, but I have never had that problem. The key to making the pen alter widths is, first off, start with a very light touch. If you twist the pen gently while writing, you can create shading and different line width. Most of all, though, I just love the way this pen makes contact with paper. I tend to write quickly, and, as such, rollerballs tend to move too quickly across the page, and I literally "lose control" of them, and my handwriting suffers. Put the fiber-tip used in the Pental Tradio provides a great deal of friction, and, as a result, I end up writing slower, and with much greater control.

I first used this pen when it was marketed in the US as the "Pentel Fountain Pen", which was subsequently discontinued. (I was so disappointed, I actually called the public relations office at Pentel, and an extremely nice woman there went into her boss's private reserve stock, and sent me a half dozen of the pens for free!) The refillable version's has some issues...the clip has a tendency to break, and they refills seem to run out of ink faster than the old disposable kind.

Other than those minor issues, I love this pen.

I've used the Pentel Arts "Stylo" JM20, which appears to be a non-refillable version of the Tradio for the American market; the unique tip looks exactly the same, except on the Stylo the plastic part containing the felt nib is ivory-colored. I'm not excited by it myself. The line variation it gives, while not dramatic, is an advantage over other felt-tip pens, and the plastic nib does seem more durable than many felt brush pens. I haven't noticed bleeding, but I have had the problem of the plastic flicking little hair-lines of ink. For me, it can't compare to a flexible metal nib or a hair brush.

Ручка просто замечательная! Очень понравилась, однако, на глянцевой бумаге могут остаться разводы - если не дать высохнуть. Поразила чистота линии и очень удобная эргономика. Пока что лидер в моём личном списке пишущих инструментов.

Sorry, I made an error in my Tradio review. I wrote "Of course, we would need to collect… well, I think that should be obvious. " Instead of "collect" I should have typed "name it..." Great way to spoil a punch line, eh? BG