Tactile Turn Mover pen review
7 July 2014
The Tactile Turn Mover is an aluminium pen made by Will Hodges. It was a Kickstarter project originally but it’s now available directly from the Tactile Turn website.
It comes with a Pilot 0.38mm G2 refill but will take a large range of alternatives including my current favourite, the Pilot Juice. The refill is replaced by unscrewing the barrel from the middle. I mention this because it took me a while to realise this. This is almost certainly because I’m a little slow.
The steel clip is good and firm. The knock works well and is a pleasure to… well I would say click, but it’s almost silent, so I’ll have to settle with just saying it’s a pleasure to use.
The barrel is beautifully machined. The grip section is ridged and comfortable. The pen as a whole is well balanced and comfortable to hold. There are a range of colours and there is a shorter version, the Shaker, that will take a different set of refills.
I’d like to mention in passing that this is the only Kickstarter project I’ve backed, so far, that has delivered on time. This isn’t to criticise those projects that have been delayed, the whole idea of Kickstarter is to fund new ideas and that’s bound to lead to unexpected difficulties, but it does, rather, say a lot about Will’s expertise and experience.
The Tactile Turn Mover is a good solid reliable pen. It isn’t a pen for composing poetry with, although if you want to, who am I to say? Particularly if it’s some kind of gritty, urban and/or industrial poetry. It’s more a pen to use to get work done. It’s extremely well made, it’s very high quality, and it’s good and robust and honest.
Thanks Ian for the review. I also backed Will and received my blue mover on time. I really like the pen and his quality of work is outstanding. For anyone interested read his struggles with his anodizing suppliers. Will really works hard for the high quality of work his customer’s enjoy.
Does the aluminum feel like it will scratch or dent easily ? How is the grip after long writing sessions?
It doesn’t feel as if it will dent easily, it’s a solid pen. This version being raw aluminium I expect it’ll pick up marks as it goes along. The coated versions I suspect will be a little more scratch resistant. It’s not a pen I’ve used much for extended periods, it’s more a quick note taking pen for me. The grip is easier on the fingers than, for example, a Rotring pencil, though.
I purchased a Titanium Mover from Will and after only 1.5 months of ownership a co-worker dropped it onto a concrete office floor from 3.5ft. It dented the nose severely due to a VERY thin-wall condition caused by machining the spiral too deep. It canted the nose of the pen so far that it rendered the pen unusable. It was quite embarrassing since I was in the process of explaining how rugged and cool the pen was (and expensive). I sent the pen back to Will and just today (2/25/16) he responded with:
On 2/25/2016 4:57 PM, Will Hodges wrote:
> Hey Andrew,
>
> Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, I just got a chance to take a look at your pen and it looks like the front does need to be replaced and then I’ll have to machine the whole straight section down so the parts fit perfectly together. If you want to do that it’ll be $40 via PayPal too will@tactileturn.com. Let me know what you think.
>
> -Will
On his website he touts these pens as “nearly indestructible” and even on our first email exchange after I bought it he said “I hope this pen serves you well for a long long time!”. What kind of person creates a product with an obvious defect then attempts to extort more money from their customer to fix their own deficiency? Shame on you Will. I am very angry about this ordeal and I am certain anyone in this situation would be right with me.
I continue to like my aluminium Tactile Turn very much, but then I’ve taken care not to drop it onto concrete floors.
Hey.. I hear you. I dropped my karaskustoms on the kitchen tile and the nose has a dent in the aluminum but still works…it’s soft aluminum. I read some dropped their stainless steel maxmadco and had a similar nose issue…sent it in for repair and Jim was able to fix it..no charge. The SS maxmadco is a bit heavy but the nose is pretty thick.
Probably the best pen to drop is the SS jotter
.if the nose dents just stick a refill in it and bend it back. Buy it’s quite light and when you drop it it usually gets only scratched.
I did noticed my tactile turn was pretty light and a harder aluminum than say karaskustoms. ..but yeah..all these metal pens can dent..
RMinNJ