Retro 51 Tornado Touch Review

I have been a fan and follower of Retro 51 ever since I discovered their Tornado a couple of years ago. They asked me recently if I wanted to try out their latest release - the Tornado Touch - and of course I said yes. Thank you Retro 51 for sending me this pen!

I first heard about this pen through my Twitter feed with several readers pointing me to its release. I was excited! And then I clicked the link. I became confused quickly. What is this, a mustache? Is that a derby hat? Did I eat something that is causing me to hallucinate? I'm not going to lie, my initial reaction was not positive.

That's where getting the pen in hand and seeing it in person really helped. This is a really great pen. To address the mustache and derby right away - you don't even notice them when the pen is in your hand. They blend in seamlessly, and when one or both catch the corner of your eye you can't help but grin. At least I do. The Tornado Touch will put a smile on your face.

But lets get to the real shocker of it all: The refill. The Tornado Touch uses the Schmidt-Mine 635 which turns out to be an ultra-smooth, clean writing ballpoint refill. The line it laid down impressed both me and Myke but I discovered something even cooler after the podcast.

When you pull off the end cap to replace the refill you are met with phillips head threading, meaning you need a screwdriver to remove the refill. Ok, that sucks, but I got over it quickly once I saw Retro 51's video on how to change the refill. I didn't notice it until then, but the threaded part of the refill is just a sleeve that fits any standard D1 refill. That's right, your favorite D1 refill - Zebra Sharbo X, Uni-ball Jetstream, etc. - are all usable in the Tornado Touch. That is what I call winning.

This is an excellent job by Retro 51 in building a completely new product off an existing model that many of us know and love. It's portable, looks great, works flawlessly, and you can use a wide array of refills in it. I'm glad I got to use the Tornado Touch before making a judgement on looks alone.

Thanks again to Retro 51 for sending this pen my way!

Pelikan M215 Rings Fountain Pen Review

So you broke down and bought a Pelikan M205 and you love it, right? It is an amazing pen that writes wonderfully, looks beautiful, and will last for decades. Your Pelikan fountain pen needs have been met! Or so you think.

Businesses love consumers like me and you. We obsess over the small details, latch on to the things we love, think we have found perfection, and slam our wallets shut.

Squirrel!

What is that bright and shiny thing over there? You made a product I already think is perfection even better? Just take my money now!

Thanks a lot Pelikan.

The M205 is a near-flawless pen in my mind. The only teeny tiny thing that could be improved on is the overall weight. The M215 Rings model takes care of that by using the same M205 design and adding five metal rings to the barrel. This gives the pen some added heft that many writers may prefer over the base model M205. It's not a huge amount - 20 grams for the M215, 14 for the M205 - but you absolutely notice it when writing. It feels great.

My buddy Thomas loaned me this pen over a year ago, and the written portion of this review was done around then as well. At that time, I didn't own a Pelikan of my own, but a few short weeks later I bought an M405 at the Atlanta Pen Show. That was followed later in the year by my M205. To say I've been bitten by the Pelikan beak is accurate.

Thomas has since sent me the now discontinued M215 Blue Stripe model, which is a beauty, and the 2014 Atlanta Pen Show is only a few weeks away. I don't really have a shopping list for the show this year but the odds are good that I add another bird to the flock.

For more, check out Brian's review from way back in 2009. I wonder if he still uses his?

Kaigelu 316 Review

After seeing a couple of different reviews about affordable pens from China, I decided to take a chance and order a few. The first one I received was a Kaigelu 316. So, is the price difference worth it? In a word, no – not in this case at least.

A quick explanation

Why did I go out on a limb and buy a $33 pen from China? It's something new to try. Granted, most of the pens you can find on eBay that are made by companies like Kaigelu, Hero, or Jinhao aren't even close to $33. Normally, they're less than $10. I really liked the look of the barrel material in the photos, so I decided to take a chance. There's something so enjoyable about landing a really great deal for something that provides a lot of value. I was looking for the rush of getting something that feels and performs like something that costs 5 times more.

Look and feel

The color of the 316 that I ordered is called "Tiger Eye." It's a blend of warm orange, gray, and black. It looks handsome in soft light, and gives a 3D look because of the different layers of color in the celluloid. The metal accents are a cheap looking gold. There's a large button on the top of the cap with the Kaigelu logo, which is a kangaroo. As far as I can tell, a medium nib is the only option. The pen came with a converter and was packaged in a decorated cardboard box.

The nib has a nice two-tone look with another kangaroo etched into the nib, along with "KAIGELU" just beneath it. I really like the look of the nib.

The pen has a heft to it that was new to me. I've never felt a pen this heavy. To make sure I wasn't imagining anything, I grabbed our kitchen scale to do a few quick comparisons. Turns out, this pen is actually overweight compared to others.

• Kaigelu 316 - 46g (capped), 31g (no cap)
• Lamy Studio - 33g, 24g
• Lamy Vista - 21g, 10g
• Kaweco AL Sport (with clip) - 24g, 13g

As you can see, the uncapped Kaigelu is a tad lighter than the uncapped Studio. I tend to normally write without the cap posted, so this is a pretty accurate comparison for me. Oddly enough, the bulk of the weight in the Kaigelu body is toward the rear of the pen, not the nib section. This can make for an awkward writing feel.

The converter worked great, but it does have one deal-breaker for me. There's a small metal ball bearing inside the ink chamber that tends to rattle around. This makes the pen feel and sound cheap. I assume the bearing is there to keep the ink from clotting, but I can't say for sure.

The cap screws onto the body when capped. On the particular copy of the pen I have, the threads don't have a satisfying "end" when screwing the cap on. On every pen that I have with a screw on cap, there's a very definite end point to the threads. You know for certain when the cap is completely secured and you can't possible turn it any further. This isn't the case with my 316 – it feelsl ike I could continue turning the cap onto the body. I haven't been able to find an "end" to the threads, and I'm always concerned that I'm causing some sort of damage to the pen or that I won't be able to uncap it later.

Writing performance

Yikes. The nib had a serious case of baby's bottom when I first inked it up. After 5 minutes of nib smoothing, it started writing like a charm. Despite the smooth nib and plentiful flow of ink, I can't write with this pen for more than a few paragraphs because of the weight. It's difficult for me to keep my handwriting neat because of the top-heavy nature of the pen. It wants to topple over, and that causes the nib to take its own direction sometimes when forming letters.

In short, I pick the pen up because I think it looks pretty, but put it back down shortly after because the writing feel is off-putting.

Overall

In retrospect, I wish I spent the $33 on a different pen. The Kaigelu 316 writes and feels similar to a Jinhao that I have, but the Jinhao cost $6. I wish I had more positive things to say, but it ultimately boils down to the fact that the pen isn't pleasing to use.

In my case, the cost of the Kaigelu 316 greatly outweighed the value.

(You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution, Twitter, and App.net.)