Everyone loves/hates different brushes for a variety of reasons. What is someone's baby that they love, and stroke and cherish, is someone elses' personal nightmare. The best way to find out is to try one. You seems like you have experience of a few brushes, so you will know instantly if it is going to be something you are comfortable with, and if it has the quality you were expecting, (a knock off no matter how good is going to have inferior build quality and materials) the atomisation performance you were hoping for, (again a knock off will be poles apart as it won't have the same precision machine work) etc etc. So I'm with Rebel, just try your mates brush, then please give us your review. With your experience of different brushes it would be good to have that comparison. The proof is in the pudding.
@frank artale has been very generous in gifting a few of these brushes to folks on the forum, and I'm gutted I missed it
. To me that speaks of someone who believes in his product and wants to spread the word. It makes no sense to me to do that on a forum with this many members, some of whom are high profile, with many many more unregistered folks popping in also, if there was a possibility that one of the recipients would then slate the brushes for not being what they said they were. I know your intention was to get info rather than to cast doubt upon frank, however I think props go to frank for responding as he has, as it could very easily be taken the wrong way. You're a good egg frank.
I think Olympos really need to get it together with websites and public image etc etc if they want to be taken seriously though. No matter how well a product may perform, you have to get it in the customers hand first before it's appreciated, and folks like to have a bit of brand security behind them before they part with their money, know a bit about the history of the company/product, with reviews to back it up regarding performance, longevity of parts, quality, and whether it holds up over time. In short they need to have faith in the company and the product. Reputation - It is why I longed for, and eventually after a long time of wishing got a micron, pretty much based on its rep, and faith in Iwatas quality alone. It may not be everyones fave, but it became my holy grail, and didn't disappoint me, it was everything I hoped for and I love it. That kind of faith and security is something Olympus need to be building, and if they can do that at these prices, it's a sure fire winner.
As Mark said, maybe that is something folks around here can help with. If folks agree with franks opinion, and it's kinder to the wallet too than comparable brushes, then maybe there's a way to get it some attention. I'm interested to know what our spreader of love thinks too.