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20-1-2015 23:08:43  #1


Favorite/Least favorite brands

I've just been wondering, what is everybody's favorite and least favorite brands? My favorite by a long shot is Royal, because all of the "real" Royals I have used (not counting the mass produced Japanese portables)  have had a very sold feel and they tend to just be very reliable and durable machines. My least favorite is Olivetti because of the two I have owned I am not very impressed with quality or feel. Olivetti seems to have put their major focus on design rather than the mechanics themselves, and usually their designs are too outlandish and modern for my taste anyway.

I'd rather take one beat up Royal over three pristene Olivettis!


 
 

20-1-2015 23:12:05  #2


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

I would like to add, though, that of my two Olivettis my Underwood 21 (aka Studio 44) is here to stay because of how well it prints. It also has a tolerable, but slightly stiff, type action.


 
     Thread Starter
 

20-1-2015 23:44:37  #3


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

That's an extremely difficult question to answer because there are models from every manufacturer that either stand out for their excellence, or disappoint because of its shortcomings. However, if I could only own machines from one brand I suppose it would be Olympia, in part because they're wonderfully engineered. Still, let's just say that I'm really glad that's a decision I don't have to make. As for the least favorite, I'd have to go with ABC, which in North America you'll more often find is branded as a Cole Steel. I've yet to find one that works properly, and the one I own refuses to type despite the ridiculous amount of time I've invested in repairing it. 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

21-1-2015 10:15:05  #4


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

For me it has to be Olympia - I'm in love with them. I have an Olivetti Lettera 32 that I liked a lot when I got it but the keys are so small, my fingers just go through them. And next to the Splendids, it just looks kind of big and ungainly. There are others too but right now I'm all about the Olympias. 

And yes I know my picture is a Japy! I love that too.

Last edited by KatLondon (21-1-2015 10:15:38)

 

21-1-2015 10:25:20  #5


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

Another vote for Olympias here. Second place: Smith-Coronas.

 

21-1-2015 11:13:19  #6


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

I like Royals for the same reason that JustAnotherGuy does. My second favorite so far is Underwood, but that is without too much experience with the brand.... third has to be Smith-Corona. These things said, I have had virtually no experience with Olympia or Hermes machines which I suspect I'll like very much.

 

21-1-2015 21:34:22  #7


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

My favorite so far is Olympia. Then Royal. To be quite honest, I have never used a 30's, 40's, or 50's Royal, but I have used the Royal 440, and I like the feel of that. Olympia is the best in my opinion. They're touch, feel, and even style is all appealing to me. This might change because I have never used a Hermes (I had the chance to sample one at the shop in Manhattan, but I didn't and now I'm kicking myself) nor an Olivetti. But I don't think I'd like their tiny keys either. I sometimes miss on my Olympia's large square ones. So I guess I'm a die-hard Olympia fan. Now if I could only get my hands on an SG1...


A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
 

21-1-2015 22:58:30  #8


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

Cool beans, ztyper. My Royals span 1929-1956, the earliest being a P and the latest being an HH. Royals feel surprisingly sturdy and strong, with a solid touch that says 'I mean business'. Even the depression-era Royals feel this way. I highly recommend them.

The machine that threw me off with its tiny keys is no longer in my collection.... it was a gorgeous 64 Adler Tippa. The other major issue it had was the NOISE. It was loud enough to make your ears ring, no matter what you did with it. I traded that over to Richard Polt, who upon his first keystrokes said "Wow. That's loud." I hear that he has grown to dislike it on noise alone.... and that was why I was sold the machine in the first place! I may buy it back eventually just because it was so gorgeous.

 

22-1-2015 08:07:23  #9


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

I have a 1949 Hermes Baby and a 1950 Empire Aristocrat, which is the UK-licenced version of the same machine. I bought the Hermes all covered in gunk from a tiny antique shop for £20, took it home, and spent a day learning how to clean it and get it going - had to work out a couple of little fixes, too - and it worked - for about three pages. Then the teeth went, under the carriage. 

You can definitely feel when you type on it that the poor thing has had a long and hard life, but it is LOVELY. Snappy and clean and the little round flat keys are perfect, at least for my fingers. But now, several times per row, the carriage just zooms ahead. It's unnerving.

The Aristocrat was given me and I had to fix it and clean it, but it is also old and haggard. Neither one of them types very well at this stage. But I do love them both. 

 

23-1-2015 19:59:44  #10


Re: Favorite/Least favorite brands

Great thread,
I really don't have a least favorite but I do have a couple of typers that I really like and admire their quality. A 1949 Royal KMG and a 1968 Olympia SG3. The Olympia has the 17 inch wide carrage but types like a dream. The old KMG has been sitting in a barn for the last 3 years and demonstrates what a work horse it is/was. I love them both but would have to give the Olympia first place in a shoot out. Mainly because of the larger type and ease of keying with the molded plastic keys. The old Royal had seen years of hard use before the Olympis was even born and still has a solid easy typing feel. Either one would be a great life long typer if you had to live with only typewriter. I would like to experiance a SG1 or the SG3 with a standard carrage. Something tell me that it would feel even lighter.  So, if I could only have one, it would be the Olympia so that is my choise for favorite. I hate to have a least favorite, I like'em all, just some more then others.
Tom

Last edited by Tom Waits (02-2-2015 10:18:01)

 

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