Pete E. wrote:

Hi Jim,

I like the Olympias the best for typing experience.  They feel like bigger machines (being in the 9.5 to 10.2 lbs range) while the others are 1-3 Lbs. lighter.  They key-boards have a solid feel to them. 

My Hermes Baby is my least favourite to use...as it feels more like a toy when I use it.  And I worry that it might break when I type with my normal speed and force...so I hold myself back.

That's interesting, Pete.  While I've never touched a Hermes, I've heard quite a few opinions as to their so-so feel and relative fragility.  The Hermes prices are also disproportionately high, which is fine with me because I'm not really interested in them.  They seem to be the Gucci of typewriters. 

The only Olympia that I have any real experience with is my SM9.  It's a great machine, very well built, but the keys don't feel all that "snappy" or "solid" to me.  It could be, partly, the sound of the machine that's fooling me - the SM9 "sounds" like there's more going on besides just the typebar hitting the platen and the escapement ticking.  I do enjoy typing on it, but much prefer the solid/snappy feel of my Smith-Coronas, or even Royals.  Still, I'd like to try out an Olympia ultra-portable at some point.

I really like my Skyriter for the feel, but the original brownish crinkle paint job is uninspiring.  I'm torn over the decision to leave it as-is or give it a more pleasing color, like forest green with yellow pinstripes.  Hmm...  

Those keys look like they should glow in the dark. 

Jim,

The Olympia SM3 and SM4 in my collection are probably the best I have in their portable-machine category.  Followed by my SM7.  All of these are carriage-shifting machine.

My least favourite of the bunch is my SM9 from 1968...it's segment-shifting and the key-top levers move a lot more, side-to-side, when I type.