"Tuff" Pens made in France

Several people have made reference to "Tuff" pens from France. I am unable
to locate any information on this brand. Does anyone know of an Internet
outlet or a USA retailer?

Thanks,

Gordon

Virtual Gordon wrote:
Several people have made reference to "Tuff" pens from France. I am unable
to locate any information on this brand. Does anyone know of an Internet
outlet or a USA retailer?

Thanks,

Gordon

Tuff Pen is a trademark for Stypen UK. The Tuff Pen seems to be a
rebranded Stypen Penny for the UK market. The differences I've seen
though is that the Tuff pen is uniformly colored, as in all red and so
on, and I've only seen the Stypen Penny online in multi-color such as
http://www.stypen.fr/eng/pennypen.html

Another difference too is that the Stypen Penny is listed as coming as
fountain pen or rollcart, whereas the Tuff Pen comes as a 'nib'
(fountain pen), rollcart (rollerball 0.6), or handwriter (0.5) - all
three take standard ink cartridges! I've never seen the rollcart
version, but I have the 'nib' (fountain pen), and the handwriter (with
flexitip).

My personal preference of the two I've got is the handwriter one
(flexitip 0.5), which has a thicker line than the 'nib' (fountain pen),
and won't dry off when left uncapped, but I haven't tried the
rollcart/rollerball, which I think I'll try to get out of curiosity
stince it too takes standard ink cartridges.

The Tuff Pen seems to be an almost indestructible school pen, sold at
=A31.99, which is just over $3. If you're mainly interested in fountain
pens it seems a few US internet retailers have some Stypen ones that I
haven't tried yet, but considering they're more expensive than the
Stypen Penny they shouldn't be worse, and Stypen seems to be good
quality even at the low end. In my experience the Tuff Pen and the Bic
X-Pen (both seem stypen) wrote on the finer side of medium, but then
I'm comparing them against pens that perhaps write on the thicker side
of medium, such as the rotring skynn. They're not much different, line
on paper, than the parker reflex, and I wouldn't be able to tell which
pen wrote what line, though the rotring skynn would stand out with its
thicker lines.

Here's a US-based review of the stypen UP, which seems to be available
in the US, as well as other models too such as the Stypen Saturn (just
google for stypen fountain pen, you'll get a few results for retailers)
http://www.stylophilesonline.com/archive/jan03/02up.htm The sentiment
in the review seems identical to mine when I posted about the Tuff
Pens; that is, surprisingly good quality for the price. It also seems
to have got mention in a USA Today article "The Stypen-Up fountain pen
features a classic Art Deco style, with a sleek and clean modern
finish. Its retraction system, chrome nib, and iridium tip help this
instrument glide over the page, making both the writing and subsequent
reading a pleasure. The Stypen-Up comes in an all-chrome finish and a
palette of red, blue, and yellow" http://tinyurl.com/7pkhv

Thanks for the great response. These look like they would be fun to play
with.

Breaking out my checkbook.

Gordon

cassioculture,

I purchased a nibbed Stypen UP this afternoon. I must agree with the
Stylophiles article; it is a "cool" little pen. Very light and comfortable,
smooth in contact with paper, leans toward a medium line. No one is going to
mistake it for a Pelikan, but for less than a trip for two to the movies one
can have a neat little toy for their shirt pocket. My wife will probably
hijack it. She thinks anything small is "cute"...thank God. Thanks again for
the information.

Gordon

Virtual Gordon wrote:
cassioculture,

I purchased a nibbed Stypen UP this afternoon. I must agree with the
Stylophiles article; it is a "cool" little pen. Very light and comfortable,
smooth in contact with paper, leans toward a medium line. No one is going to
mistake it for a Pelikan, but for less than a trip for two to the movies one
can have a neat little toy for their shirt pocket. My wife will probably
hijack it. She thinks anything small is "cute"...thank God. Thanks again for
the information.

Gordon

Oh you found it in a nearby store?

Yes, I think Stypen may as well be the complete opposite of Parker
pens, which, even in their school and casual range, are so
conservative, uptight and stiff-lipped. But that could be because
Stypen is almost entirely a school and casual range, with no jewellery
pretensions.

Oh you found it in a nearby store?

Yes, we have a wonderful pen store here in Lexington, KY, Leather, Inc. It
is actually amazing that such a small city has a merchant with such a large
selection of pens. I had noticed the Stypen UP before while browsing, but
was not prompted to purchase one until I read the Stylophiles article that
you referenced. The UP is already lost to me, by the way. My employer
hijacked it this morning. Oh well...

Gordon

Virtual Gordon wrote:
Oh you found it in a nearby store?

Yes, we have a wonderful pen store here in Lexington, KY, Leather, Inc. It
is actually amazing that such a small city has a merchant with such a large
selection of pens. I had noticed the Stypen UP before while browsing, but
was not prompted to purchase one until I read the Stylophiles article that
you referenced. The UP is already lost to me, by the way. My employer
hijacked it this morning. Oh well...

Gordon

Heh.

If you want I'll send you a Tuff Pen. I'd personally recommend the
flexitip handwriter version because, unless you're a diehard fountain
pen fan, I find it writes better, and it still takes standard ink
cartridges. I also like it because it has a bigger cap that when posted
on its rear end makes it handle like a full-size pen, though when
capped it's same size as the X-pen, though more protected 'cos the cap
covers more of it and is just tougher.

Email me your address if you want, and I'll drop you one in the mail
sometime next week.