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fountainpenkid
October 26th, 2012, 03:39 PM
Hi all!
My TWSBI Mini is here, and I want to give you all a early comprehensive review of this long awaited release!

First Impressions: I didn't expect it to ship so fast! It got here in 3 days. Checked the mailbox at 9:00 at night, not expecting to find anything...I was wrong! I madly tore open the envelope, and the outer cardboard box. Then, there was the pen! TWSBI's standard Apple-esque packaging is really a great touch, especially when mixed with TWSBI's modern designs. Included is a nice instruction manual, and a piston wrench as well as a bit of silicone grease. I love their "user serviceable" mentality (anti Apple right there though :)) Enough about the box. You already know how it looks ;)
9/10 Great, distinctive presentation for a $50 pen!

1401
Inked: I filled my TWSBI Mini with Diamine Asa Blue right away. Who wants to WAIT to ink their new pen!? The pen started immediately, and wrote a nice, wet, fine nib. This was great, considering the shaky experiences you hear about with some TWSBIs. (Still, no flex, or springiness, though. I wish TWSBI made titanium nib upgrades!)The only problem is the nib is really a fine nib, but I ordered a medium. (It is stamped medium, so it is not some sort of mismatch ;)). You hear that Asian nib grades do vary, so I'm not too mad, but TWSBI sells predominantly to the English-speaking world, as so should make their nib grades more towards our standard.
9/10 Impressed!
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Filled: Oh Yeah! She's a piston filler! (I don't think the pen community would expect anything else on a pen like this from TWSBI.) The piston is precise and quite smooth; so much nicer than my OMAS Paragon, which feels shoddily made when it comes to filling it. TWSBI continues the 540's tradition by allowing the user to take apart the piston to grease it. This doesn't have to be done that often, but it saves you from having to pay someone to do it. Knowing how to take apart your entire pen is a cool feeling. There is a problem though. The piston is NOT maxed out to the most capacity. While TWSBI did this with the 540, they seemed to think a bit differently with the mini. The problem lies in the piston head. There are two gaskets, as with many pens. This ensures no leaks, but TWSBI left a considerable distance in between the two, reducing the ink capacity by .2 ml (approx.) This is not the biggest deal in the world, but for a student (which would be a GREAT market for this pen!), the more ink capacity the better. After 1 day, I'm halfway through the fill. There is one more problem I've found with the piston. It is pretty minor, but the overall effect of a product is often in the details! When you unscrew the section, there is a little nipple at the end od the barrel--this makes getting a Q-tip in there to clean out the ink from the barrel quite hard. You can just take apart the mechanism, but that's a hassle. I don't understand why TWSBI didn't just make the piston go down as far as it could--it would increase ink capacity! Overall, it is precise, smooth, but lacks maxed out ink capacity. (Don't take this as "it doesn't really hold much ink" though...the ink capacity is still pretty high for a pen under 5'' capped.
8/10 Great!
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Quality: This is a hard one. The TWSBI mini is my first pen without a gold nib, and a first tier name. So I will try to judge it as a $50 pen. The cap and metal machining, for the most part, is quite nice. Little variations on the clip can be seen under a loupe. But not some ugly problem. Just tiny detail work. The plastic on the cap (really the whole cap in general) is very precise and could be on a much more expensive pen. The engravings on the cap band are awesome and well done. The detraction is the barrel. The diamond facets are very nice, but the threads (there are posting threads on this pen!) have injection molding lines on them. They are pretty noticeable. This really detracts from the quality of the pen IMHO. Then, on the blinde cap, there is a little injection port centered on it. Not horrible, but it firmly places it in a "good" not excellent category. My Pelikan m400 is injection molded as well, but sports a $250+ price tag new. There would be a problem if I saw some injection molding ports. Here though, I'll be less scathing. Overall the quality is good, almost great. I would happily spend $20 more and get a bit more of a quality fit and finish. One last thing--there is the famous TWSBI cracking problem to consider here...and horrible dictu, my mini caught the plauge. I noticed a longitudinal crack in the barrel--it almost followed one of the facets on the barrel--and so I contacted TWSBI. They said they couldn't find a crack. It really was there, but maybe it is just hard to see. They smoothed the piston, but a cracked pen is still a cracked pen. When you buy a TWSBI, at the time of this review (Decemeber 2012), you really can't expect it to last very long. Not to say it won't, as some people have had their TWSBIs for years and had no problems, but there is always the chance. I actually wonder how many TWSBI 530s or 540s will be left (with all original parts) in ten year's time.
7/10
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Comfort: This pen is short for most people. At 4.5 in. uncapped, its quite petite. But the pen is stubby and thick; accommodating large sized hands when posted. Posting is great with the threads, and the cap ring is curved and feels nice in the hand. But for smaller hands, this pen is O.K unposted. I use it unposted. The grip section is deceiving, as it does not flare out near the nib, but continues to taper inward, like the Lamy 2000, vintage Aurora 88, or a Parker "51." This took a little getting used to for me, but it is quite comfortable once I got the hang of it. BUT, people with large hands may want to hold it about where the threads are. The cap threads, sadly, are uncomfortable to grip, unlike Pelikan's (or better yet Parker's vintage Vacumatic's) tightly spaced design. This may be a serious factor when you consider a purchase. If you have large hands, and like a large grip diameter, try this pen in person first. I think for mid sized hands, this pen's moderate weight, combined with a nice grip section allows for nice long writing sessions.
8/10
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Design Notes: I tend to be critical here, and this is no exception. The design, visually, is quite nice. The curved cap is beautifully done, proportionally nice...etc. So are the diamond facets on the barrel. But there are a few little glitches. The first is at the nib section--TWSBI tried to make a classy look by putting a trim ring by the grip. It looks o.k, don't get me wrong, but it is a major problem for corrosion. Metal near grip sections is a bad idea--especially on such a daily user pen! The next glitch is on the blinde cap. The posting threads are a nice touch, ensuring a cap won't fall off. But the threads are exactly the same as the capping threads, causing you to twist the cap on for 1/2 turn. Not too bad, but I would've liked a more subtle approach. The posting threads also make it so the cap doesn't always align with the nib, which can be a problem when the clip gets in your way because it is on the underside of the pen. Lastly, a spring clip would have been nice, but the clip works fine as is. TWSBI did a great job, with some minor glitches.
8/10
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Price: TWSBI's original price tag on this pen was $80. They aren't flaunting their lower-than-estimate price, but I'll applaud them for keeping the price the same as the 540. Smaller or miniature-sized pens often are more costly to produce than the standard sized ones. So this is a good price. At $50, you can buy two and not feel too bad about it. The price also gives itself to becoming a daily user pen for everybody--It certainly has become mine! I would like to see some upscale TWSBI models though. No, not with gold nibs and silver trim, but with a bit more attention to detail as well as more interesting (hint: titanium flex) nibs.
9/10 The pen is MORE than worth the money!

Conclusion: Students: are you looking for a great pocket pen to take everywhere? This may just be your thing. Collectors: looking for a reliable travel pen, in miniature? This may be your thing as well. I think the new TWSBI mini may just be, as I hoped, the best sub $100 mini pen available today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmkPTxUIdSM&list=UUtN_cGg1Fb5ppwmVJ-GmjFw&index=1&feature=plcp
58/70 B- (Remember I grade harshly.)
Leakability Factor: (I'm adding this to all the reviews(if it wasn't covered before) to give people an idea of how dirty their hands may get by using this pen. The higher the better. This is not factored into the pen's score.) 6.5/10. I've found that turning the grip section in your hands will result in smears of dry ink on your hands. This is because TWSBI doesn't apply silicone grease to the section threads. Nothing huge, but for inkless hands on a small pen, I've found my 1939 Vacumatic to be less "inky."

manoeuver
October 26th, 2012, 04:38 PM
nice review, Will. evenhanded and fair I think. I'll be checking this one outnin Columbus for sure.

writingrav
October 26th, 2012, 04:47 PM
Awesome first review. I'm still drooling in hopes that mine arrives tomorrow ; the latest Monday.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

fountainpenkid
October 26th, 2012, 05:08 PM
Thanks so much guys!!
sorry for the bad pics. better ones will come tomorrow.

Carole
October 26th, 2012, 06:06 PM
Great review, except now I want one! It'll be interesting to hear if your M nib gets less Fine-ish and more M-ish after a soap/ammonia cleaning. ( My 540 did, it was quite alarming.) Look forward to more tomorrow! (Video I hope? if so, it would be nice to hear more about the Ink Capacity /Gasketry stuff. ) Thanks!

duende
October 26th, 2012, 06:31 PM
Excellent review. If there were 3 things you could change to make it an A+, what would those be?

fountainpenkid
October 26th, 2012, 06:35 PM
Excellent review. If there were 3 things you could change to make it an A+, what would those be?

1. Nicer quality in the finished product--take away all those injection molding ports/seams!
2. Piston filler with more ink capacity--"maxed out"
3. Smaller, redesigned posting threads, as well as more tightly spaced capping threads.

good question!

Zhivago
October 26th, 2012, 08:58 PM
Very thorough review, thank you.

Do you normally check your mailbox that late at night? :D

earthdawn
October 26th, 2012, 10:42 PM
Thanks for the review... Very much appreciated.

And I know it was a good review cause now your making me have to get one ....

Seriously though it was a good honest and straight up review. Bravo

fountainpenkid
October 27th, 2012, 08:18 AM
pics updated! +video added!

Carole
October 27th, 2012, 04:42 PM
Hey, Will, Eccellente !! Might even be the video premiere of the Mini, in fact. Seeing you write with it unposted, was great--and it's not as mini as I'd though. Your review was very good indeed! Thank you!
(btw, video playback is getting blocked on my mac for some reason, so I viewed on your youtube channel......bluegrass and all! Fun! )

fountainpenkid
October 27th, 2012, 04:49 PM
Hey, Will, Eccellente !! Might even be the video premiere of the Mini, in fact. Seeing you write with it unposted, was great--and it's not as mini as I'd though. Your review was very good indeed! Thank you!
(btw, video playback is getting blocked on my mac for some reason, so I viewed on your youtube channel......bluegrass and all! Fun! )

Thanks! I don't play much bluegrass anymore. I do mostly classical or my own stuff. I should post some of my new stuff some time!

fountainpenkid
October 27th, 2012, 04:57 PM
Here is the video premiere of the Mini: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSM8poxbrO8

Lince
October 27th, 2012, 09:30 PM
Threads to post, have no idea. Now this must just be the final detail that will make me buy one.
The black with blue ink combo is excellent.
Thanks for the review.

Carole
October 28th, 2012, 12:08 AM
Here is the video premiere of the Mini: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSM8poxbrO8

Let the record so reflect, and thank you, Will. I should have done a complete search before posting, mea culpa. In any case, it's interesting to see everybody's individual take!

fountainpenkid
October 28th, 2012, 06:42 AM
Let the record so reflect, and thank you, Will. I should have done a complete search before posting, mea culpa. In any case, it's interesting to see everybody's individual take!

I agree. No worries :)

Zhivago
October 28th, 2012, 02:28 PM
I just noticed what may be a small flaw in the finish of the cap on my Mini. Right at the seam between the metal band and plastic cap there is a very small rectangle-ish...groove or flaw. If it is supposed to be there, I don't know why. I should add that this is below the clip and above the W and S in TWSBI.

I'd appreciate it if those of you that have Minis could check to see if there is anything similar on your caps. Thanks.

fountainpenkid
October 28th, 2012, 02:59 PM
I just noticed what may be a small flaw in the finish of the cap on my Mini. Right at the seam between the metal band and plastic cap there is a very small rectangle-ish...groove or flaw. If it is supposed to be there, I don't know why. I should add that this is below the clip and above the W and S in TWSBI.

I'd appreciate it if those of you that have Minis could check to see if there is anything similar on your caps. Thanks.
I have the same thing on the blinde cap.

Zhivago
October 28th, 2012, 03:29 PM
I have the same thing on the blinde cap.

Hmm...that is interesting. As best I can tell, I don't. What do you make of it?

Thanks for the reply.

fountainpenkid
October 28th, 2012, 03:37 PM
I don't know. It looks like something damaged it...maybe a tool that put on the blinde cap scarred the plastic?

Zhivago
October 28th, 2012, 04:17 PM
I don't know. It looks like something damaged it...maybe a tool that put on the blinde cap scarred the plastic?


I'll contact TWSBI and let you know what they tell me.

fountainpenkid
October 28th, 2012, 06:52 PM
I'll contact TWSBI and let you know what they tell me.

Sounds Good!

KrazyIvan
October 29th, 2012, 11:37 AM
I saw your Youtube video before realizing it was you. :) Thanks for sharing.

Zhivago
October 29th, 2012, 12:52 PM
Sounds Good!

I got a message back from TWSBI asking for a picture. I suspect that confirms it is a flaw.

fountainpenkid
October 29th, 2012, 02:11 PM
I got a message back from TWSBI asking for a picture. I suspect that confirms it is a flaw.

i emailed twsbi days ago about my mini having reduced ink capacity...still no response.

Zhivago
October 29th, 2012, 11:54 PM
i emailed twsbi days ago about my mini having reduced ink capacity...still no response.


That is surprising. I've contacted them a couple times before and they've always replied quickly, as they did this time. Btw, here is a picture of the very small flaw in the plastic of my Mini's cap.

fountainpenkid
October 30th, 2012, 11:02 AM
yup. thats exactly what mine looks like; on the blinde cap though.

Zhivago
October 30th, 2012, 11:17 PM
yup. thats exactly what mine looks like; on the blinde cap though.

Despite it only being a very small/minor flaw, TWSBI is going to send me a new cap. One more example of their fabulous customer service.

fountainpenkid
November 4th, 2012, 07:04 AM
UPDATE: Crack found in Barrel of my Classic Mini...I'll send another email and see what happens..:(

Zhivago
November 5th, 2012, 11:47 AM
Wow! That is not good. Where on the barrel and how bad?

And I thought TWSBI was going to take care of all these cracking issues.

fountainpenkid
November 5th, 2012, 02:43 PM
I did too...It is all along one of the facets...about 3 in long if I had to take a guess!

Best,

Zhivago
November 5th, 2012, 08:15 PM
That is a serious crack. You didn't accidentally drop it or bang it?

fountainpenkid
November 6th, 2012, 06:20 AM
I did a 4 foot drop test on to a linoleum floor...that shouldn't have done anything--especially after seing how well twsbi's new material performed in their videos...although that was a different kind of stress.

FP_GaF
November 6th, 2012, 06:55 AM
I did a 4 foot drop test on to a linoleum floor...

You took a bullet for the team, mate. Hats off to you.

fountainpenkid
November 6th, 2012, 08:05 AM
No problem...I always do drop tests :) The nib, as expected, had some ink droplets on it, but the gripping section remained ink-less. The pen does get dried ink on the o-ring from time to time...quite annoying for someone like me who HATES ink on hands!

Zhivago
November 6th, 2012, 10:14 AM
I'm sure they will replace your barrel. But if the Minis start having the same problems as the 540s...that won't be good.

fountainpenkid
November 6th, 2012, 10:58 AM
I'm sure they will replace your barrel. But if the Minis start having the same problems as the 540s...that won't be good.

I agree. A TWSBI with their QC and design under control would be a huge deal.

fountainpenkid
November 6th, 2012, 06:33 PM
Email sent over 24 hours ago now...still no response...again! They have a great customer service reputation, so I don't know whats up!

Zhivago
November 6th, 2012, 08:07 PM
That does surprise me as I've always received a reply in less than a day. I should add that all my correspondence with them has been through ebay.

I wouldn't worry yet, but if you don't hear back in another day, email them again.

fountainpenkid
November 7th, 2012, 12:48 PM
They replied on facebook. They want a picture. Will do!

Zhivago
November 7th, 2012, 10:59 PM
Good to hear.

fountainpenkid
November 9th, 2012, 06:55 PM
They're fixing it! Philip is very nice, and fast to reply! Total turnaround in Customer Service!

fountainpenkid
November 24th, 2012, 10:31 AM
Pen arrived back from repair today...piston is super smooth, though Philip couldn't find a crack...

fountainpenkid
December 22nd, 2012, 08:02 AM
updated