Hey everyone,
First, thanks to everyone for your comments- I want to assure you all that I have read every single one and I am not the only person in the company to do so. We take what you say seriously, we really do want to offer the best pens possible and feedback is invaluable to us in doing so. I have not replied to the group as a whole because I wanted to see where the comments would go, the group is a great community and I know that you will all let your opinions be heard.
Personally I still like the new nib much more than the old. All of the talk here has been about asthetics, and I agree that the old nib looks marginally better than the new, but when it comes to functionality I think the new nib wins hands down. After writing with the new one I can't stand using the old ones anymore- the main reason is the diameter of the nib, I think the old one tapered too much. I have one of each here at my desk and every single person I ask to hold one in each hand picks the new nib everytime. No one has ever picked the old nib as a better pen nib. I don't even want to use the old one anymore. Has anyone else reviewed the nib on it's functionality rather than the way it looks? I understand that a large part of selling pens is the way the pen looks, but it seems to me that is mostly determined by the material and the turning job. The other half of selling a pen is the heft, balance, etc. of the pen and I think that selling the new nib should be easier than the old if you can get one in the customer's hand. I must admit ignorance here, I don't sell pens so I could be totally off my rocker.
These are my personal thoughts and feelings feelings and I am just curious if you all hate the new nib (well, the 86% who have voted against it!) just because of looks or if you have even compared the two when writing?
That being said, we are in meetings constantly about our pens, among other things, and we'll use your comments and other feedback from customers not active in this forum, to help us decide what to do with this pen. We will seriously be considering changing our nib, either back to the old one or perhaps a new design that looks like the old one but functions more like the new. We appreciate all of your input and I wanted to let you all know that we are not ignoring you, or any of our customers.
Also, I am curious, many of you say that the baron's nib is the best roller ball nib (even better than our old nib), I have actually never turned a Baron and I wonder why you think so. From the photos the nibs look identical to our old nibs.
Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it!