Okay, left field here. The thing is, there are so many wonderful typewriters that the real answer is just to find the ones you LOVE. There are plenty to like, and plenty more to admire. But which ones just feel like home when you get them out? 

I'm going to make a case here for my 1955 Halda. I know. You can't count on finding one and when you do you might not love it. Mine might be in extra-special condition. But the touch is so light, and the clack so sweet, and the typewriter itself is so no-fuss, that it's just really doing it for me. 

Another one nobody else has mentioned is a 1950s Remington Quiet Riter - an unfairly overlooked machine, I think. Mine is a 1959 dull metallic green model and insanely beautiful with its dark green keys, and its slightly muffled typing sound. Wonderful. 

I also very much like the Splendids and SFs of Olympia but they tend to have been heavily used. 

I agree re the L22 but will make a case also for the L32; somehow I keep thinking I prefer the older one - and I know they are more solidly constructed - but I am finding the L32 is easier (though a little characterless) to type on. There are SO many of them around, and they take up so little room - you should get one for not too much.

I'd also say Hermes. Tom Hanks, on a UK radio programme the other week, was asked to choose one luxury to take on a desert island, and he chose a Hermes 3000. As well as the 3000, I also love my 2000 very much. Also 1955. I have a little sub-family of mid-sized portables from 1955 and they're wonderful. (It includes a Groma Modell T, which I would encourage anybody to snap up if they see one.)

Aside from these, the Silent Super, the Torpedo (or in the UK Blue Bird) 18b... Olympias, pick your fave...  All these Top (Name a Number) lists! I think my basic List of Love is about ten machines. And the one you love the most may not be one of the ones everyone says you'll love. 

pdxtypewriter wrote:

igotztowrite:  Thank you! I use these mostly for poetry writing, so perfect. I'll have to look into the Torpedo and Facit since they are not machines I have studied.

colrehogan: regarding electrics, I had a SC Classic 12 as a kid that was a workhorse. Is the Coronet Super 12 similar but electric?

It is an electric, and yes, it takes those cartridges.  I was able to get a new cartridge for mine recently online.

igotztowrite wrote:

The Torpedo 18 and the Facit TP1 would replace the QDL and SM9 on my list.

Ooh, I forgot about the Torpedo. I absolutely love mine, but I fine myself not using it much due to the overly hard platen. But it is certainly a wonderful little machine. Smooth as butter and fast like the wind. I would recommend that to anyone who wanted a nice typewriter as their main machine.

And if you're just writing poetry, then the Lettera 22 is probably a nice choice. The slim profile and the soft lines create such a pleasant typewriter to look at, that alone is enough for anyone to use it regardless of touch. Though touch is very important, and this one has, what I find, to be a very fine type action.
 

You should have bought it. That's not the model that Kat was referring to, but the one I said was my preference. It predates the Quiet-Riter that was produced through the '50s and I think it has a bolder design. The margin stops, by the way, are under the paper table. You flip the the paper table back to expose the margin stops and set them.

Standard 13 mm (½ in.) ribbon will work, but you'll have to reuse the special Remington spools, which should be in the machine based on your photo. What's the asking price on it?