beak wrote:

Well now!  'For their standard line, Royal is king.' would be a debating topic...

Such sweeping statements are always amusing to read. Unless you've directly, and objectively, compared examples from every typewriter manufacturer that existed, and used pristine models tuned to factory specifications for that comparison, what exactly are such authoritative sounding declarations based on? The norm within our hobby is that opinions are usually formed from a limited - shockingly limited actually - experience with the myriad makes and models that were produced during a century of typewriter mass production. Arguably making matters worse, many of those opinions come from those who aren't even able to differentiate between a subjective and objective analysis of a machine's characteristics. 

In the same breath I have to admit that I too have been guilty of making tongue-in-cheek declarations of one model's superiority over all others (typically when discussing the Olympia SG1 ) without bothering to properly qualify my statements. Even though I own and have used a large number of different standards, and include in my experience a career of writing professional comparisons of machinery for publication, I still don't consider myself qualified to declare any one typewriter (or typewriter manufacturer for that matter) as an undisputed King. In truth, I'm always pleasantly surprised by the fundamental parity that exists between the makes and models within my own collection, and by how efficient and effortless the majority of those machines are in their role of creating type.

 

beak wrote:

Well now!  'For their standard line, Royal is king.' would be a debating topic on which I would rather be among the opposition to the motion!

That statement was supposed to be a bit of a pun 'cause, you know, kings are royal. (I'll see myself out...) 
 

Straight out the door with the pair of you!

Hmm. Well, I'll look at "office" models at some point then. The configuration of my typing table is such that the table is tall and the chair won't get tall enough, so the portables seemed right. I do have an Olivetti Studio 44 which is still considered a portable but is larger than the others I mentioned, and it's sloppier/looser (less tight feeling) than the Lettera 22 - the keys sort of feel spongy regardless of touch setting vs. the Lettera which, on the lightest touch feel snappy/firm. I went for the Lettera 22 (which I'm using almost exclusively) and the Groma (which I love but which must go in for service) because they are regarded as having "punchy" rather than sloppy action (these terms elude me a bit), and they are raved about by some authors - the 22 especially, because I honestly didn't know what I was doing until I got into it. Now I find my sloppiness fat fingering the smaller, roundish keys is displeasing (hence desire for "the fatter keys"), and yet I love the feel of these 2 machines otherwise.

Hi Asher

You are correct, we are a bunch of enthusiasts here on Typewriter Talk, that's why we hang out here. When looking at typewriters for serious writing, one must also take into consideration the purpose for which the machine was designed. I'll use the Smith-Corona family as my example working from lightest to heaviest;

The Skyriter was built as a travel typewriter and was expected to type a few pages a week, while whom ever was using it was out on assignment or on holiday.

The 5-series (Sterling, Silent etc.) was a portable typewriter designed  for home or office where it would be expected to type a few letters a day.

The Secretarial or 88 was a desk top typewriter designed for use in a lawyers office or similar where it would be expected to type a couple of letters or pages per hour.

The Super-Speed was the heavy-hauler of this family, designed as a typing pool machine where it would be in near constant use for 8 hours a day typing out a page every 5 minutes.

One could say the same about the Hermes Rocket, 3000, Ambassador and the big Hermes' heavy hitter (I believe it was the Hermes 9), but each level of machine is built for a different level of workload. The later Royals like the Sprite, although they have Royal printed on them, they were made in Japan by Silver-Saeko (now Saeko-Epson) in order to compete in the world market that was being flooded with cheap Japanese everything back in the late 1960's and 1970's. Hope this gives you a little to think on and a better idea of what qualities you are looking for in a typewriter.

As for the Olivetti 32, I too found the keys and especially the space bar too small for my big hands, so it became a late Christmas present for the 12 year old daughter of a friend. The shrieks of excitement when she realized what she was getting were priceless. All the best,

Sky