1 - ztyper
- Key Master
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- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
- Posts: 773
The Best Typewriter
I know this opinion varies from person to person, but what is the best typewriter out there? I was told the Olympia SM-9 DeLuxe is the best, but then I saw the Smith-Corona Silent-Super (which can't decide what its name should be0 was also pretty good too. Then I read the Hermes 3000 is the all time best. I just want to know which typing machine is the best in the world.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- JustAnotherGuy
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- From: Illinois, USA
- Registered: 20-9-2014
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Re: The Best Typewriter
Oooh, that's a hard one. Personally, I think my Royal KMM is one of the best typing machines out there. I just love the snappy feel and the very subtle attractiveness it has.
- teeritz
- Novice Typer
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- Posts: 37
Re: The Best Typewriter
Impossible to answer, since everyone will have such varying opinions based on what they expect from a typewriter. I agree about the SM9 and Silent Super. Both wonderful machines to type on. Very snappy and responsive, robustly built. That's what I look for in a typewriter.
Others will rave about the Hermes 3000 or Olivetti Lettera 22, or any other of the vast number of machines out there. It will depend on what kind of typing action or feel you expect from a typewriter.
Either way, there is no one best typewriter out there. This pretty much applies to any other product on the market, now or then.
That's my view, anyway.
My blog, about typewriters,wristwatches, fountain pens, Bond, and whatever else happens to be polluting my mind at any given time;
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- Uwe
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Re: The Best Typewriter
The best typewriter is the one that I'm using at the moment.
At other times it's the Olympia SG1. If Ihad to narrow down the choices ever so slightly it definitely would be a standard machine over a portable. Actually, it would be far easier to answer what isn't the best typewriter in the world.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Ektagraphic
- Touch Typist
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- From: Mass.
- Registered: 05-10-2014
- Posts: 146
Re: The Best Typewriter
I can't say that I have tried enough typeweriters, esecially ones that were in smooth enough mechanical condition to judge! That being said...I do have an Olympia SM9 and out of the machines I have tried, it has got to the be the best! There are many great things about this machine from the excellent action down to it's overall smoothness to you. I do have an SG1 that I sent out for service before I got to use enough to know enough about...so I have a feeling that once my SG1 comes back, my opinions will change! Are you trying to decide on a typewriter to purchase? You probably couldn't go wrong with an SM9 in good shape
- ztyper
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- From: Somewhere in New Jersey
- Registered: 01-10-2014
- Posts: 773
Re: The Best Typewriter
Well, thanks for the input. I do actually have both an SM-9 and a Silent-Super and I think they're both the greatest. Though for this one, I'd give it to the SM-9 since its font is a bit larger and easier to read. But anyways, I'll be sure to look up each and every typewriter that was listed.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
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Thread Starter- beak
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: The Best Typewriter
If you want a test for 'the best', you could try this to examine the machines that you have, at least.
Take some non-trivial subject which you have something to say about, and type out an essay on that topic at least 5 or 6 pages long. Make it something about which you can both write freely at times, and about which you will have to stop and think now and then.
Which machine did you think about the least (and think about at all, and in any way) while you were doing this? IMO, that will be the 'best' machine for typing that you have.
In my case, that machine is an Olympia SM8, but I intend to add an SM9 to the stable very soon because of the freedom indicated by the SM8 to think about what I'm doing more than about how I am doing it. I expect that the 9 will replace the 8 at the top of the list - but for this criterion only, perhaps.
Last edited by beak (09-4-2015 04:08:01)
Sincerely,
beak.
- KatLondon
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- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
Re: The Best Typewriter
My SM8 comes up here. My number 1, I think. (I have got my hands on a Silent-Super but it's knackered; it shows me why they're sofgreat, and that I need to find another one.) The SG3 is a dream, but has such a heavy carriage... I wonder if it's a little bit stiff from having been so rusted out, I think it might need periodic cleans to loosen it up. And the Adler Special - which was clean when I got it - is pretty special, if a bit clattery. I like the clatter and it types practically by itself.
Editing in to say the criterion is quick and snappy typing action! I'm not too hung up on Tabs - right now I like the 'Self Starter' button on this 1946 Remington Rand, which moves the carriage along five spaces - I love that, so simple! But I do like having touch control, though if you get a machine whose touch is right for you, that isn;t going to matter... A basket shift is easier; otherwise the SM3 would have it. But different machines of any model will vary possibly more than machines of different models. Even a 1962 Which? report found this, and specified it in their findings. They advised that the thing is to find a machine that works for you.
As for looks, well, unless a typewriter has those it isn't getting in the door. By looks I mean good design, in which form follows function and things are well thought out and well made.
Last edited by KatLondon (09-4-2015 04:37:20)
- TypewriterGuy
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- Registered: 24-4-2015
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Re: The Best Typewriter
Ive heard alot of people say Hermes too. But I love my Underwood Standard 5!
Back from a long break.
Starting fresh with my favorite typer. A Royal Futura!
- beak
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- From: Qld Australia
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Re: The Best Typewriter
That Olympia SM9 (1969 vintage) arrived, and, following a couple of hours clean-and-relube, works like a dream, as expected. Has firmly planted itself on my writing desk, and is not at all likely to be surplanted by a 'better' portable any time soon.
I couldn"t say that this was in any mechanical way better than my SM4s, but it certainlty is less of a distraction; it never grabs my attention, and never seems to intrude upon the work. It just lets me lay down text. So far, the nearest to perfect in a portable (that is intended for work) that I have used.
Noting too that it may well be the quietest TW that I have.
ETA The question about the Hermes 3000; I was, for a moment, thinking of selling mine, following an extended session with it the other week. Why? - it"s that stupid paper support and the fact that there is no proper indication of the approaching end of the page. These 3000s are fantastic typers, and suffer only from these two, annoying design flaws. Fit a better paper support, and you have an absolute ace of a machine!
Last edited by beak (25-4-2015 09:59:42)
Sincerely,
beak.
