I saved the best for last. I had a meeting with Pentel last week remember? What I didn't tell you was how excited I was when the new Tradios were seen on the table. Super beautiful pens they are. I know there are quite many Tradio fans out there like me. A few years ago we made a special request to import some colorful versions only meant to be sold in France. It was a hit but because of the higher price than basic model (HK$55-65 vs. $42), sales slowed down to the point we couldn't keep it on shelf.
Here comes the new versions arriving Hong Kong in mid-Oct, a Nature and a Soft series. Now same goes to these series, it won't be in the stores forever, so grab them first thing when you see them. This time however, "Energel" refill is being used instead of the previous fibre tip or roller ball refill.
I love Nature a lot, the best seller here is definitely going to be beige and brown, although grey is not a bad color. They all have matte surface which is different from previous models and the grip feels great.
Although "Energel" gives a super smooth writing experience, you can change to other Tradio refill pretty easily. Just remove the "Energel" refill and the spring, both fibre tip and roller ball refill fit perfectly.
Then there is this Soft series, which differs a bit from Nature in terms of coating. It has a little rubber touch instead of matte. When I show these pens around, everybody loves the red one. The color is really closer to pink than red as you can see from this picture. There is also a blue one which I didn't get a sample so its not shown here.
As a Tradio fanatic, yes I got proof here, you can see I have a pen case full of these pens. Some were brought during my trip to France a few years ago. I just had to make sure I have a Tradio somewhere around me at home, in office or traveling. The reason why I love the fibre tip refill is that I can vary the width of strokes pretty easily to achieve calligraphy like writings. It is also an essential tool for me to test papers for bleeds in addition to my acid testing pen.
