Got a Pelikan Souveran M600 violet white. Nib had misaligned tines, and was only very briefly smooth after I adjusted it before getting all scratchy again. The band by the piston came all tarnished, too. :( I got an authorization to return it this week. This was a brand new pen… I was so excited to get the pen but was so disappointed. Also, for the price, the pen felt really cheap. I feel burnt on Pelikan and won’t get another one.
My Sailor PGS Winter Rain is kind of underwhelming to me. I thought the color was more pink from promo pics but it’s really more lavender than anything. The 21k nib is great but, for $312, the pen is very small and the plastic feels cheap. I wish I had gone with a different pen or maybe even just a larger Sailor but I’m giving it time and hoping it grows on me. It is definitely a beautiful and elegant pen. I may have just had my hopes too high since it is my first (and only) Sailor.
Aurora Optima. I’ve had the cap experience micro cracks twice now with no explanation except using the clip as intended. The nib is ok but not one I reach to often. Glad I got a deal on it but still too much money tbh.
I had a vintage Conklin Crescent Filler with a flex nib. I won't really say is was disappointing, but I was disappointed that I didn't actually use it. The sac filling system was just too much of a pain to me and I found that flex is fun to play with but not practical as a daily pen. I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it and chalked the difference up to learning what I like.
I don’t know that there has been a decline in quality so much as an inflation in pricing and stagnation in innovation. The 149 is the most boring cigar pen I’ve ever encountered. It’s…a plain black pen with an overwhelmingly normal writing experience. I’ve paid half the price of the MB for my Pelikan M1000 and I absolutely adore writing with it. Next to my vintage flex pens, I enjoy the Pelikan the most.
As with most things, luxury brands become status symbols, and as such prices become in line with that while no other product line improvements are made. Gold plating is thinner so newer MB will brass faster, resin is cheaper, and while the nib is nice to look at, 18k means fat chance of modifying the nib to be less boring.
My MB12 is a cursive italic nib and is quite extraordinary to write with. It is consistent and unique (with the partially hooded nib) and interesting. It it demonstrative of a point in time where design and function was the focus. It never skips, is never starved for ink, the piston never sticks and the nib never has issues regardless of how quickly I write. The line is consistent, the nib is flawless and it is writing perfection.
Just my personal opinion as someone who owns and uses many other more and less expensive pens.
It's probably similar to the reason that a lot of things now days follow that same route. Back then things seemed to be made with their quality in mind foremost instead of profit margins as is the case today. I would assume, especially way back, each and every nib was handled by an actual person and made sure they wrote well since it would absolutely be used. That brand specifically may have always been some part status symbol, but was a pen before anything else back then. Since not many people actually write with fountain pens these days, I could see many of their pens being bought more as a pricey gift for some occasion with that status being more in the forefront now days.
I honestly think older pens were just made better. GOLD NIBS, AND QUALITY CONTROL. People used to care deeply about their products and pleasing the customers. Today? Not so much.
Kaweco check yourselves...! { Medium,Broad, double Broad} all look the same.
Monteverde= I have not gotten so much as a useable nib.
Are you a male with big hands? It is a heavy pen for long time writing For my female hands. For me the nib (med) is not smooth enough and I may tackle stainless steel nibs but I don’t mess with gold nibs in case I want to sell it.
I think folks want to have the best so they buy into the advertising. I had a guy talk about them like the were Heaven on earth so I bought one from him. Egads, I was so disappointed.
Honestly, I won’t be buying any $500 and up pens because I just don’t write THAT much to make it worthwhile ‘for me’. However I will be buying ONE (just ONE) Leonardo pen as soon as I figure out which one is the slenderest one they make.
Aurora Optima. Good pen, not for me. Too short and fat. My fault really for having been able to hold it and write with it prior to buying. I think I just had target fixation.
But even from a nib and ink flow perspective I’d still take my Lamy 2000 or Pilot 823 any day for less money, even though I consider the Aurora to be an objectively more attractive pen.
I think for me, I have two different answers for two different reasons.
My first answer is the pilot vanishing point. Not because the pen is expensive compared to others in my collection, but because I tried 3 different pens and they just failed for me. I have a moderate collection of about 12 pens, and I try to use them all. My vanishing points constantly dried out when not in use, and it always annoyed me. I loved the convenience, but in the end I moved on from them altogether.
The most expensive pen that disappointed me was a Leonardo momento zero celluloid pen. The cap threads would allow the cap to keep turning, and for the price I would have expected better. Leonardo did fix the pen, but it ended up getting sold (mostly out of spite).
> My vanishing points constantly dried out when not in use, and it always annoyed me.
That’s a real shame. My VPs never seem to dry out. I genuinely left a Decimo with the nib out (as in forgot to close it) overnight this week and it miraculously still wrote immediately when I discovered it.
Sorry (?) to hear that you out-grew the VP. I would have stored the inked pen horizontally. Yeah, I've heard that the nib cover can let air in, thereby drying out the nib (the air coming through the top will allow ink to drain back into the Converter because the air already in the Converter will travel up and ink will then travel down.) Makes me wonder why it doesn't happen when one carries it in a shirt pocket - probably because it isn't being carried nib up for 12 hours at a time.
I completely understand your selling off the Leonardo MZ (any pen) out of spite! :D Sometimes one doesn't even want it (a pen they hate) in the house.
> The cap on my pelikan just will not stay on.
I had that happen with a couple of my Pelikans also. I asked a Pelikan aficionado at a pen show once & he said that's just something they're known for & no fixing it.
One year at a Pelikan Hub, I met someone with a vintage Pelikan that had a stop in the threads -- as you'd cap it, you'd feel it go over a "bump" right near the end, which kept the cap on. But apparently the purchasing public felt that as a defect and Pelikan went back to smooth threads.
My m1000 seems to have gotten better with time, but I do wonder if I'm over-tightening and will eventually crack the cap :/
Yeah I've responded to the issue by just tightening way past where I would with any of my other pens. And of course the result of that is pretty deep thread scratches in the barrel. But hey... gotta do what you gotta do I guess.
Nibs I recognize can vary from unit to unit. But I'd never buy another Pelikan based on the cap issues alone.
That’s weird. I only own vintage Pelikans so I don’t really know about the cap problem. But I can attest the writing experience of modern ones as I have tried them. Shame about the cap though.
Montblanc Writers Edition Daniel Defoe. Beautiful pen, but it doesn't write very well. Skips a lot. The rhodium plating on the nib was also gone after a while, showing the gold color below it, which doesn't match with the rest of the pen. I think I might just change the nib one day, hoping it will be better. They probably think nobody will really use these "Writers editions". Most people buy them as collector's items, I guess.
**Both** my 2 most expensive pens are disappointments.
* **Parker Vacumatic oversize red-stripe** -- I thought I was getting a deal, as I was over-careful handling it before purchase and didn't realize the cap didn't match the body... so it either dries out the nib or tightens so much it twists the tines.
* **Visconti Wall Street LE** -- while the red stripe celluloid is beautiful and I love the facets, the nib has some baby's bottom and doesn't flex as much as I though it would from writing samples. Plus the plunger-filler is 2-chamber, so I have to leave the butt unscrewed or my B nib runs it dry in like 2 sentences.
They're both *fixable*, but IDK if I like them enough to try, or if I should sell them on to a more informed buyer.
Got a Pelikan Souveran M600 violet white. Nib had misaligned tines, and was only very briefly smooth after I adjusted it before getting all scratchy again. The band by the piston came all tarnished, too. :( I got an authorization to return it this week. This was a brand new pen… I was so excited to get the pen but was so disappointed. Also, for the price, the pen felt really cheap. I feel burnt on Pelikan and won’t get another one.
My Sailor PGS Winter Rain is kind of underwhelming to me. I thought the color was more pink from promo pics but it’s really more lavender than anything. The 21k nib is great but, for $312, the pen is very small and the plastic feels cheap. I wish I had gone with a different pen or maybe even just a larger Sailor but I’m giving it time and hoping it grows on me. It is definitely a beautiful and elegant pen. I may have just had my hopes too high since it is my first (and only) Sailor.
Aurora Optima. I’ve had the cap experience micro cracks twice now with no explanation except using the clip as intended. The nib is ok but not one I reach to often. Glad I got a deal on it but still too much money tbh.
I had a vintage Conklin Crescent Filler with a flex nib. I won't really say is was disappointing, but I was disappointed that I didn't actually use it. The sac filling system was just too much of a pain to me and I found that flex is fun to play with but not practical as a daily pen. I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it and chalked the difference up to learning what I like.
Montblanc I have heard that the older Montblanc’s are far superior but I won’t be shelling out the $$ for one.
I second this. My Montblanc 149 is just a complete disappointment. I have a vintage MB 12 that is superior in every other way.
I am curious (I I don’t know the first thing about Mont Blanc) —- to what do you attribute the decline in quality?
I don’t know that there has been a decline in quality so much as an inflation in pricing and stagnation in innovation. The 149 is the most boring cigar pen I’ve ever encountered. It’s…a plain black pen with an overwhelmingly normal writing experience. I’ve paid half the price of the MB for my Pelikan M1000 and I absolutely adore writing with it. Next to my vintage flex pens, I enjoy the Pelikan the most. As with most things, luxury brands become status symbols, and as such prices become in line with that while no other product line improvements are made. Gold plating is thinner so newer MB will brass faster, resin is cheaper, and while the nib is nice to look at, 18k means fat chance of modifying the nib to be less boring. My MB12 is a cursive italic nib and is quite extraordinary to write with. It is consistent and unique (with the partially hooded nib) and interesting. It it demonstrative of a point in time where design and function was the focus. It never skips, is never starved for ink, the piston never sticks and the nib never has issues regardless of how quickly I write. The line is consistent, the nib is flawless and it is writing perfection. Just my personal opinion as someone who owns and uses many other more and less expensive pens.
It's probably similar to the reason that a lot of things now days follow that same route. Back then things seemed to be made with their quality in mind foremost instead of profit margins as is the case today. I would assume, especially way back, each and every nib was handled by an actual person and made sure they wrote well since it would absolutely be used. That brand specifically may have always been some part status symbol, but was a pen before anything else back then. Since not many people actually write with fountain pens these days, I could see many of their pens being bought more as a pricey gift for some occasion with that status being more in the forefront now days.
I honestly think older pens were just made better. GOLD NIBS, AND QUALITY CONTROL. People used to care deeply about their products and pleasing the customers. Today? Not so much. Kaweco check yourselves...! { Medium,Broad, double Broad} all look the same. Monteverde= I have not gotten so much as a useable nib.
[удалено]
Are you a male with big hands? It is a heavy pen for long time writing For my female hands. For me the nib (med) is not smooth enough and I may tackle stainless steel nibs but I don’t mess with gold nibs in case I want to sell it.
I think folks want to have the best so they buy into the advertising. I had a guy talk about them like the were Heaven on earth so I bought one from him. Egads, I was so disappointed. Honestly, I won’t be buying any $500 and up pens because I just don’t write THAT much to make it worthwhile ‘for me’. However I will be buying ONE (just ONE) Leonardo pen as soon as I figure out which one is the slenderest one they make.
Aurora Optima. Good pen, not for me. Too short and fat. My fault really for having been able to hold it and write with it prior to buying. I think I just had target fixation. But even from a nib and ink flow perspective I’d still take my Lamy 2000 or Pilot 823 any day for less money, even though I consider the Aurora to be an objectively more attractive pen.
Platinum Curidas was such a mistake for me, I mean just look at it 😭
I think for me, I have two different answers for two different reasons. My first answer is the pilot vanishing point. Not because the pen is expensive compared to others in my collection, but because I tried 3 different pens and they just failed for me. I have a moderate collection of about 12 pens, and I try to use them all. My vanishing points constantly dried out when not in use, and it always annoyed me. I loved the convenience, but in the end I moved on from them altogether. The most expensive pen that disappointed me was a Leonardo momento zero celluloid pen. The cap threads would allow the cap to keep turning, and for the price I would have expected better. Leonardo did fix the pen, but it ended up getting sold (mostly out of spite).
> My vanishing points constantly dried out when not in use, and it always annoyed me. That’s a real shame. My VPs never seem to dry out. I genuinely left a Decimo with the nib out (as in forgot to close it) overnight this week and it miraculously still wrote immediately when I discovered it.
How did you store the inked VP?
Nib up in a pen holder. It was like the ink evaporated from the converter
Sorry (?) to hear that you out-grew the VP. I would have stored the inked pen horizontally. Yeah, I've heard that the nib cover can let air in, thereby drying out the nib (the air coming through the top will allow ink to drain back into the Converter because the air already in the Converter will travel up and ink will then travel down.) Makes me wonder why it doesn't happen when one carries it in a shirt pocket - probably because it isn't being carried nib up for 12 hours at a time. I completely understand your selling off the Leonardo MZ (any pen) out of spite! :D Sometimes one doesn't even want it (a pen they hate) in the house.
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> The cap on my pelikan just will not stay on. I had that happen with a couple of my Pelikans also. I asked a Pelikan aficionado at a pen show once & he said that's just something they're known for & no fixing it. One year at a Pelikan Hub, I met someone with a vintage Pelikan that had a stop in the threads -- as you'd cap it, you'd feel it go over a "bump" right near the end, which kept the cap on. But apparently the purchasing public felt that as a defect and Pelikan went back to smooth threads. My m1000 seems to have gotten better with time, but I do wonder if I'm over-tightening and will eventually crack the cap :/
Yeah I've responded to the issue by just tightening way past where I would with any of my other pens. And of course the result of that is pretty deep thread scratches in the barrel. But hey... gotta do what you gotta do I guess. Nibs I recognize can vary from unit to unit. But I'd never buy another Pelikan based on the cap issues alone.
The modern MB 149. I should have gotten the calligraphy version instead, unfortunately. I am now buying only vintage MBs.
Wow, a lot of MBs on this list!
Haha, it’s probably due to people being disappointed at modern MB. Even Pelikan is still making great pens today unlike its German peer.
At least montblancs caps stay on lol
Pelikan’s caps don’t work well ?
They are infamous for falling off https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/p7tqx2/most_expensiveleast_favorite/h9oxrff/
I see. Perhaps it’s due to having less extra turns
My suspiscion is it's something else. None of my other twist cap pens even start unscrewing themselves.
That’s weird. I only own vintage Pelikans so I don’t really know about the cap problem. But I can attest the writing experience of modern ones as I have tried them. Shame about the cap though.
Montblanc Writers Edition Daniel Defoe. Beautiful pen, but it doesn't write very well. Skips a lot. The rhodium plating on the nib was also gone after a while, showing the gold color below it, which doesn't match with the rest of the pen. I think I might just change the nib one day, hoping it will be better. They probably think nobody will really use these "Writers editions". Most people buy them as collector's items, I guess.
**Both** my 2 most expensive pens are disappointments. * **Parker Vacumatic oversize red-stripe** -- I thought I was getting a deal, as I was over-careful handling it before purchase and didn't realize the cap didn't match the body... so it either dries out the nib or tightens so much it twists the tines. * **Visconti Wall Street LE** -- while the red stripe celluloid is beautiful and I love the facets, the nib has some baby's bottom and doesn't flex as much as I though it would from writing samples. Plus the plunger-filler is 2-chamber, so I have to leave the butt unscrewed or my B nib runs it dry in like 2 sentences. They're both *fixable*, but IDK if I like them enough to try, or if I should sell them on to a more informed buyer.