Now I’m a big fan of TWSBI pens and I own quite a few of them so when I heard about the Go I was really curious; a budget friendly pen with an interesting filling mechanism.
Needless to say, as soon as I could put my name down for one I did and as soon as I could pay for it I did and so on the day of release (15th Aug. ’18) it was shipped, and I waited for the Post Office to deliver it and they did, the very next day. It was a tough few hours with it sitting on my desk at work waiting for me to get home and unpack it but once I was home the wait was over.
Was it worth the wait? Yes, I think it was.
When I opened the envelope, I was expecting to find the pen in an economy wrapper I didn’t expect to find it in white plastic box partially covered by a cardboard sleeve and when I slid the box out I was further impressed to see the TWSBI name embossed into the lid of the box. As the image shows the pen is packed with an instruction leaflet and is held in place by being fitted with a square foam block, simple but effective.
Starting at the top the cap has a black finial with the TWSBI logo, in red, set in it; moulded as part of the design on the cap is the name of the pen and what appears to be a small lanyard loop which I have been treating this as a roll stop.The cap also has a slightly opaque inner cap into which the nib goes to keep it from drying out. The barrel of mine is a nice smoky grey and I may dabble in other colours if they come out; as it’s nearly pay day I might order a blue one.
The next point of interest for me was the nib section, I had read that it tapered quite steeply from the barrel and it does taper but not so much that it presents any problems using the pen and I am a person who prefers a bulkier section on my pens. What made me look twice at this is that whilst it is not shaped like the recent version of the Eco it has three nodules, at the nib end of the section, that provide somewhere to rest your finger when writing; they flare the end of the section without flaring the whole thing. I think it’s rather clever and I’ve found it very comfortable to write with.
Finally, the filling mechanism. It’s interesting, you just submerge the nib in the ink and depress the plunger, then release the plunger and hey presto the pen is loaded and you are good to go. It really is that easy, I got an 80% fill on my first attempt. The only advice I would give is use a shallow bottle, nothing deeper than a standard Diamine/Herbin; I used a KWZ and they are quite tall bottles and it was a bit of a fiddle and I can imagine that when the bottle is running low it could be a problem.
Writing with the pen is a nice experience; it has a small TWSBI nib around a size 5 and the medium version I have is very smooth, the ink flow is steady and it’s not too wet (currently loaded with KWZ Warsaw Dreaming) so the results have been good. I had a lot to do over last weekend so made this the pen of choice and used it continuously and it’s a really comfortable pen to use. Not heavy, slightly shorter than my Wing Sung 3008 (c.6mm) with a slightly wider barrel making it easy to hold.
From a value point of view this pen is outstanding; what you get is a TWSBI pen with probably the easiest filling mechanism you can get for around the same price or less than replacing the nib on an Eco.
Without a doubt this pen is worth the money, for a budget friendly every day pen this one is going to be very hard to beat; so, my advice is get one.
Disclaimer: This pen was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.
The Indian Marmalade Company 