❤

Love that pen (and that nib)! I thought I could "level up" a bit, by getting the Pilot 743 with the (larger) SFM nib, but that one does not flex as nicely as the SFM nib on the Custom 74. I am glad you're enjoying your pen.

Diamine Polar Glow ink always looks so pretty when I see it swatched. It reminds me of Parker Sapphire.

Not "scratchy" at all. "Scratchy" is when the tines aren't aligned. "Rough" is when the nib isn't polish properly. Neither is true of the TWSBI. The TWSBI nibs have a tiny bit of INTENTIONAL feedback. This is a good thing, and every nib would be better this way. Ultra-smooth nibs are over-polished, are one step away from baby's bottom, and two steps away from wearing out faster. At least seventy percent of the fountain pens on the market, including extremely expensive one, are drastically over-polished because that's what everyone in this generation wants. But it is not a good thing. Platinum is another company that is truly expert at putting a little feedback on their nibs. Sailor does the same with some of their most expensive pens. So does Montblanc. And so does TWSBI. Pens with a little feedback are made for writers. Pens with ultra-smooth nibs are not.

Same. Don't own a TWSBI and am patiently waiting for more colorful Minis!

I have two classics, and one of them cracked completely in half at the ink window. The other one is still fine. I know twsbi has great customer service, but I haven’t contacted them about this yet.

I love Hongdian pens.

@@joop912 Me too! I've just been playing with my N6.

@@archivist17 Oh wow, I didn't know they even made piston filled pens. Thanks for mentioning it. My current Hongdians are the black forest in yellow, 1861 brass, 1861 stainless steel, and 1861 Carbon Fiber. I'm sure I'll be getting more soon.

I've given away at least a dozen ECOs to newbies, and everyone loved the pen, and had no trouble using or cleaning them after watching one video. TWSBI is THE most innovative piston pen on the market, and they do a lot more than just new colors. They're introduced several new pens, and variations on the old one. I'm all for new writing experiences, and you should get something that gives you that, but to be honest, I really had to go up to pens costing several hundred dollars before I found a new writing experience that was worthwhile. If You like to write, and learn how use a soft gold nib properly, which does not mean flexing at all, ever, there is no better nib for a write. Get one. If money is an issue, start saving. I stopped drinking coffee, soda, bottled water, etc., when away from home, and started putting ten dollars a week into a Christmas account. Two years later I bought a Visconti Bronze Age, a Pilot Custom 823, and a Platinum 3776. It was worth the wait.

Same here. Somebody's gripe might ultimately be another's feature. I'm more team Lamy than team TWSBI, but I can def see others issues with Lamy. These are all points to ponder when considering a purchase, at least it does for me. Videos like this greatly play into my decisions and that seems to have worked out well for me.

What's a 10?

@Raluca An affordable 10 for me is the Karas Kustom Ink v2, and a luxury 10 for me is the Visconti Millennium. That being said those are my personal picks and everyone is welcome to have their own.

Ooooohhhhhhh I may have to look into this!

@Pens and Tea correction.. FPR, not FRP :) FPR = Fountain Pen Revolution FRP = Fiber Reinforced Plastic Haha! Can't wait to see what you think!

After trying some Jinhao copies I bought a Lamy vista from Amazon, sold by Amazon. It wrote like crap. Sometime later I realized it was actually counterfeit. Tried a Lamy from Barnes and Nobles on impulse, and it writes great.

@@bhoola123 Perhaps mine was a copy, but it was much better quality than my Jinhao Safari copies, yet they worked and the better quality Safari (with the Lamy packaging) didn't. I can't investigate further now, as I threw it away. I've stopped collecting, due to poverty, but maybe one day I'll try another Lamy. Hopefully try before I buy 😄

Hey, same here!

Personal taste. I wouldn't give a worn dome for every Lamy pen ever made, including the 2000. You can unscrew the nib unit on the 580, too. And give people some credit. Not everyone is a dunderhead who can't handle a piton filler. I've given, I don't even know, at least a dozen ECOs to newbies, they all loved them, and not one of them had any problems using them or cleaning them. All you have to do is watch one how-to video. How, exactly, does a pen "feel" cheap. Too many "feel" something, or "imagine" something", or "believe" something, but don't actually know whether these things are fact or fiction because they don't try them. Anyway, saying that an ECO feels really doesn't make much sense, especially with a pen that is as well build as anything out there, and that uses far, far better materials than any of the plastic Lamy pens. The ECO is very well built, and the 580 is built even better. The Lamy pens don't "feel" cheap, they are cheap, and use really lousy material, add five cents of dye to a batch, call it a special edition, and sell it for the highest profit margin in the fountain pen world, at least outside of China. The AL isn't any better. It uses very cheap, very thin aluminum, and I've seen several with broken grip sections. As for upkeep, I'll ask you. . .seriously? I doubt there's an easier to clean, easier to maintain piston pen on the market. What O-ring problem? I think you watch too many bad videos and don't do things yourself. Never dry out completely? It takes ten minutes for mine to dry completely after cleaning. Not that it matters. If you're smart enough to use distilled water, which you should do when cleaning any good pen, drying out completely isn't necessary, or even good. I store pens filled with distilled water, and a little in the ink reservoir does not affect a fill of ink. And that wrench...seriously? Yes, seriously, and it's one of the pen's best features. It's sad that every piston filler isn't made this way. I have seven-hundred-dollar piston pens that are infinitely harder to take apart and clean because they don't have a wrench, and really are a pain to take apart and clean. One of them, thank goodness, can be disassembled easily IF I use the TWSBI wrench to do it. You should try things, rather than imagining them. First, putting shimmer ink into any piston filler means more cleaning than you have to do with a cartridge/converter pen, but it takes me ten minutes to clean an ECO completely, even with shimmer ink. It's fast and easy. It's one of the main pens suggested by the experts to be used with shimmer inks. I don't think you have much experience with fountain pens, and certainly not with any type of piston filler. I know you haven't owned and compared maintenance requirements between the TWSBO and far more expensive piston fillers. The things you call "design flaws" are the envy of just about every other fountain pen company out there. They wish they had designed their piston pens to be more like the TWSBI. Full disclosure, I love cartridge/converter pens. They are easy to clean, and easy to use when you change inks often, as I do. But I also own a lot of piston fill pens, low cost, and very expensive, and TWSBI is one of the best. If TWSBI ever puts a gold nib on one of their pens, I'll buy a double handful. Also in full disclosure, I prefer the 580 ALR over the ECO, but the ECO is an excellent pen in every way. There's a reason it's one of the most popular pens on the market, and that reason is not bercause it has design flaws, not because it has a wrench, not because it's hard to clean, and not because it requires a lot of upkeep. That reason is purely and simply because it's an excellent pen in every way, and those who actually use a lot of different piston fillers know just how good it really is.