Backstory: Last year, I decided I wanted to own a typewriter again, after nearly 20 years of not using one. After months of searching, I found a beauty, and I bought it. It was an Underwood Standard Portable, so far as I can tell, from the late 1920s. This is my little review...




Standard/Portable

Weight: This typewriter is a portable, so obviously, weight is an issue. The machine on its own is about 5.5kg (roughly 10-11lbs). Not too bad. I have heard of machines that weigh less, and some which weigh more, within the portables range, but this seems rather middle-of-the-road. It's not a pain to carry around, and it's pretty comfortable. It doesn't rip your arm off, when you pick it up in the case. 

Size: It's a nice, compact typewriter. Not as compact as some, but still compact with enough features to make it a decent typewriter. 

Features: It has most of the features that the average typewriter would have. It doesn't come with tabulation functions, but it has everything else: margin-stops, backspace, shiftlock, single carriage-shift, etc etc. It has enough features to do what the average typist would require. 

Construction & Function: Very solid and seems to work very well. There's no real issues with it. The ribbon-selector set on RED makes the keys somewhat more difficult to press (as a consequence, I don't use that setting), but it does work. 

User-Friendliness: It's a very no-nonsense type of machine. I soon figured out what all the switches and levers did, before I ever got my hands on a copy of the manual. It has margin-release, line-spacing, carriage-release, paper-release...none of these switches or levers are marked, but their placement on the machine tells you what they do, anyway. My one little gripe is that the carriage-bell is not as loud as I'd expect it to be, which is unfortunate, 'cause my hearing isn't super great. But it's loud enough to hear it, if you're expecting it. If you're not, it might ring and you'd never notice it. 

Ribbons: Takes standard, 1/2-inch ribbons on standard-size spools. Easy to thread and replace and remove. No issues there. 



All in all, I'd say it's a 4/5 typewriter. I'm sure there are better, pre-war portables out there, but this one does a dandy job just as it is.