Retro 1951 Tornado Twin Stylus Pen Combo

Sometimes you feel like you’ve finally arrived. Maybe it’s that sleek, sexy Corvette in your driveway. Or perhaps it’s the new fishing boat with the flying bridge that is just too darned big to fit on a trailer on the back of your truck. Or, maybe, just maybe it’s that girl or guy you never thought you’d get a date with, never mind a second……or a third.

Sigh….good times…….

Huh? Oh. OK. Back to reality. Well folks, I am here to tell you that you can get that same feeling, only you won’t have to cash in your 401K just to get one.

I am here to review the Twin Pen Tornado by a company called Retro 1951, Inc. Actually, I stand corrected. After checking the Dow, if you cashed in your 401K, you might just have enough. After all, it is $20.00 give or take a few pennies.

This pen is the ultimate in pen/stylus swank. Even the packaging is just way over the top. It comes in a colored metal sliding tube. Beautiful. Then, when you open the tube, you find a velvet pouch. Even more beautiful. When you finally, slide the combo pen out of its black sleeve and you hold it in your hand, one word comes to mind: Exquisite.

The Twin Pen has a nice feel. It’s heavy, yet nicely balanced. It’s a little smaller than the average sized writing instrument, yet well scaled. You want to write something the minute this beauty hits your palm.

The Twin Pen comes in a variety of colors. I have the blue, which is deep and glossy.

The pen top is metal, silver, and has a nice texture to it.

You hold it, feeling the heft, and then you turn the top. A liquid filled point appears at the bottom. You swivel the top again, and out comes an under liner, or perhaps a stylus, which comes in the package. You decide the duo you want. The points are easily exchanged.

Everything about this instrument cries precision engineering. The size, the deep rich color, the varying points, all tell you that this pen will last longer than you will. The Twin Pen is that well made.

I sampled the pen tip as well as the under liner and was not disappointed. The pen flowed across the page as I wrote, the fit of the barrel felt exactly right in my hand. The ink did not skip, glob, or thin out on me, just a nice even flow.

The under liner surprised me. I expected the usual cheesy attempt at a highlighter replacement, full of bald spots and globs, and not doing the job of a standard highlighter.

But this point, with its orange colored ink, covered the area I desired with minimal resistance. Let’s face it. These under liner tips are usually for emergencies like airports and meetings where a standard bulbous yellow monstrosity just will not do. After all, you have your reputation as a non-nerd to maintain…..or at least a stylish nerd, oxymoronic though that may be. In those instances where style must, and I do mean MUST triumph over substance, the Twin Pen Tornado comes through with flying colors. The under liner does the job elegantly. So, actually you get both style and substance with the Twin Pen. A true rarity these days.

In the words of my hero, Billy Mays, “but wait, there’s more”. Simply swap out the highlighter tip with the stylus tip and you are ready to attack your PDA or phone with vigor and panache, and look sexy doing it. Not an easy thing to do, I hear. The stylus does the job as successfully as the under liner.

And when you are done, simply retract the point; clip it to your shirt or suit pocket, and walk confidently from the meeting, making sure to flash your little beauty at the crowd as you depart……

We…um….were talking about the pen here weren’t we? Of course we were.

So do yourself a huge favor and improve your self worth not to mention your self esteem, and go online to your favorite pen or stylus emporium and get one of these Twin Pen Tornado stylus/pen combos. It is stunning, functional, looks like a piece of art when you use it and it might just get you that raise you were hoping for. After all, what boss would let you get out of that meeting without making you give them this pen.

Bosses…man, they are all the same, aren’t they?

I really should give this back to Jenkins. Well, maybe some day.

This bit of nostalgic technology is not available in many stores, however we found it at both StylusCentral.com and StyliSource.com:

http://www.stylisource.com/detail.asp?product_ID=att-1307k

Daniel R.  Berenthall is a writer and techno-geek who sometimes does reviews for cool stuff.  Oh, and he writes too.  Pick up his latest book, “Video Killed The Digital Star” at amazon.com.