This question made me wonder whether there should be a forum for typewriter reviews.

I agree that reviews are great, but we already have specific 'Portable', 'Standard', and 'Early' sub-forums for such reviews, and there are reviews already contained within those sub-forums. Adding a new sub-forum just for reviews would be a little redundant given some people would still be putting their reviews/impressions of specific machines in those original sub-forums.

Further to this, if a Reviews sub-forum was added I would feel compelled to sift through the other three sub-forums and move review-type threads to the new sub-forum, not something that I would look forward to doing given that I'm still working on merging the maintenance and repair sub-forums together, something that has turned out to be a painstaking and time consuming exercise.

I think the best compromise would be to flag review-type threads in the subject line with the word review. For example, if someone wanted to post a review of their SM9, they could create a new thread in the portable sub-forum using this format: "REVIEW - 1969 Olympia SM9". It would also be easier for me to edit thread titles if I recognize them to be an unlabelled review.

I'll have to write a review on my favourite machines tomorrow 

Life has moved on since I last posted in this thread. For one thing, I got the Silent-Super really thoroughly cleaned and fixed the recalcitrant sticking 'o' key. It's a dream to use and I have been.

Then for my birthday present to myself I got a bargain on a 1961 Baby, and after a couple of days on it was so in love that I devoted the next three weeks to getting an affordable 3000; this mainly involved sitting on eBay like a hawk circling over a mouse nest. I'm currently on the train home from picking it up, & have spent the last 45 minutes in the staion cafe practically weeping with love and gratitude...

Beak, I see what you mean about the paper rest! But I'm the sort of person who often forgets to put the paper rest up anyway; and on most of my machines I have no idea how to tell when the page is ending, so these design flaws will be as nought in the face of all this beauty and magical typing. There is some sort of quality to this thing that I can't define; certainly, it has a smell that hot me like Proust's madeleine; and, unlike the mad hippie Silent-Super which presents on the page a bit like an otherwise really cool guy who's been living in his VW van for a few months, its typeface on the page is clear, cool, crisp, and elegant. I'm completely in love.

So my Big Three are, predictably, 1: Hermes 3000. 2: Olympia SM8. 3: Smith-Corona Silent-Super.

With shout-outs for the Baby, the Splendid, and my beautiful, slightly damaged SG3. One day I might get a Skyriter in good condition but for now just call me Hermes...

Last edited by KatLondon (30-4-2015 14:13:20)