First Impressions: 6/10
This pen actually came in a proper box, with two spare black ink cartridges. I didn't take any photos, and it wasn't all that impressive, but compared to all of the other chinese fountain pens that I've purchased, this was by far the most impressive in terms of packaging.
Considering the price, I really wasn't expecting much either. More on the price later.
Appearance and Design: 8/10
For pictures please go to Hisnibs: (No affiliation, haven't even bought anything from there, but great photos
.)http://www.hisnibs.com/duke_209.htm
Surprisingly simple design, matte black with a gold band and clip. The gold colour on the band and clip is starting to wear off, despite the fact that I haven't used it much. Very slight wear, and it has been a few months. The matte black finish also tends to collect scratches, once again not too serious, but I take good care of my pens.
As you can see from the photos on hisnibs.com, it really is quite a pretty pen, and the 22k gold plated, dual tone nib is quite a work of art, especially for a pen as cheap as this one.
Weight and Dimensions: 8/10
Capped Length 132mm
Uncapped Length 118mm
Posted Length 145mm
Diameter (at thickest) 11mm
The pen itself is about 26g. I am unsure if this is with or without the cap.
The pen feels quite substantial in terms of weight, but it is quite a slim pen.
I personally do not post my pens, and the Duke 209 feels perfect in my hands, although I often use lighter pens: Pilot 78G, Reform 1745. This is because the pen is well balanced. It is not too heavy at the back, and this helps if you plan on writing with it for longer time periods.
When posted, I find the pen slightly back heavy, but then again, I don't usually post. I find it similarly balanced to the TWSBI 530, although slimmer and shorter.
Nib and Performance: 9/10 Medium Nib.
This pen has one of the smoothest nibs I have ever encountered, especially for a chinese pen. It is smoother than my JinHao X750, although the line produced is not as wide.
I personally prefer EF nibs, and so the score is 9/10, rather than 10/10. For fans of medium nibs, this pen has never skipped, wrote perfectly out of the box, I didn't have to do any flow adjustment, tine alignment, I didn't even have to flush the pen out first!
(I will be attaching a writing sample at a later date.)
Filling system: 10/10
It uses the standard C/C filling system, you either love or hate it. It happens to have a very well made convertor that comes with the pen, so I gave it a high score. The converter doesn't look cheap like most of the converters that come with cheap chinese pens.
Cost and Value: 10/10
I paid $0.99 and $8.99 shipping for this pen. I purchased it off Ebay from the seller Gotoschool88. What can I say? A pen that writes perfectly out of the box, is built solidly, has a good convertor, and comes in satisfactory packaging, all for under $10 shipped? 'Nuff said.
Conclusion:
If you are looking for an inexpensive pen that you won't feel embarrassed to whip out in public, that has a buttery smooth medium nib, and is well balanced, this is a winner.
