What is the best portable Typewriter?

Portable typewriters are the most produced type of typewriters through out history as from the name, it is meant to be portable and easy to travel with from place to another without any concern about weight or size. 

As a typewriter enthusiast, repair man and collector, i have nearly seen every single portable typewriter ever produced since 1900 until the late 1970s and i was able to identify 3 major types of portable typewriters. 

In this article, i will be mentioning, in my personal opinion, what is the best portable Typewriters ever made when looking for reliability, portability, size and weight. 

Link Below has all our available portable typewriters. 

https://www.mrmrsvintagetypewriters.com/collections/portables

When it comes to reliability, i can not mention other than the famous Smith Corona Skyriter.  (Pictures of my previous Skyriter - Click here please ). I did personally take it with me to the Maldives (Pictures) and it was a reliable machine to type on while placing on a table, desk, sofa, or any uneven surface as its flat metal base makes life easier and typing steadier than any other light machine. Yes, Skyriters Rule the Steadiness and reliability to type for a long time when away from your desk or home.

Negative points: Little Heavier than other light portables so it wont be a good idea to take with you into the Air-plane. On the other hand, do not expect perfect alignments as the machines tends to be lose this letters alignment as time passed by. 

Portability, Yes, the Main Aim of this Article, and the winner is Leather cased Baby Hermes Typewriter (Pictures). I cant say that its your best option as the best portable typewriter to take with you inside the plane, put in the bags between cloth, walk for more than two miles without having a problem and most important, it will always be secure inside the leather base and lid that will safely hold the Typewriter. Why the leather lid and base? because the Metal lid and base of the Baby Hermes doesn't fit in this category as the handle is fragile and not easy to fit a big hand inside it and tends to slip a lot, on the other hand, I personally believe that the Baby Hermes with Metal lid or fine, but will fit on the next criteria.

Negative point of a Leather Cased Baby Hermes: As much as I like the Hermes 3000 as much as struggle sometimes to easily fit my big hands on a Baby Hermes Keyboard and its big close Keys.

Size, Yes, Size Matters. Baby Hermes Design is the best portable typewriter when it comes to size and fitting in your hand bag, back pack, or luggage. it is a real ultra portable and slim enough to fit between your cloth or inside your back pack or hand bag (Big sized ones).

Negative point: as mentioned before, Keys are big and close to each other and I sometimes hate the small line spacing lever. Please, in this Category, Get rid of the French ROOY slim Typewriters as they are Rubbish and I personally consider them waste of Metal as they are too slim and too useless and fragile.. Just don't waste your money on these Machines, ever. 

Weight wise, did you ever try the Adler Tippa 1? if not, grab one as it is combination of plastic and Metal making it lighter than usual and nearly as light as a Hermes baby. The are very good portables. 

to summarise, the best portable typewriters are the following:

  1. Hermes Baby typewriter
  2. Olivetti Lettera 32 or Olivetti Lettrera 22
  3. Adler Tippa 1
  4. Olympia Splendid 33,66 or 99 and Olympia SF
  5. Smith Corona SkyRiter

Finally, its all a matter of Choice and taste. I cant Define what you might like or not as it all depends on many factors like your hands, ability to carry, typing skills, and other factors that will always differ from a person to another. 

Thank you 

Walid Saad

Mr & Mrs Vintage Typewriters. 

Note: I am always more than happy to suggest or recommend a portable typewriter that suits your needs. please contact me for a chance to communicate about your next portable Typewriter. 

 

Comments

Walid Saad

enjoyed reading your comments reguarding the likes and dislikes of the portab;e typwriters. i got lucky yesterday and scored a brabd new hermes baby…took it out of the original box. it has a metal case with 2 push buttons to release it. i donr have any idea the age of it but looks like the finest piece of equipment. thank you again………ed

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