Waterman Crusader, Medium

[siopaopei]

Hi guys, I just discovered the FP Inventory Software a few days ago in this forum, pretty nifty tool! I like the review feature so I decided I would use it for this review. You can read the full review on my blog too (click here). This is my first vintage pen, I'm really happy with this purchase.

First Impressions (8)

My first impression on this pen was that it was incredibly light. Even if it felt light in my hand, it didn’t feel flimsy at all. Light and well-put together is how I would describe this. The pen looked almost like NOS when I got it, except for a tiny ding on the cap.

Appearance (8)

The Waterman Crusader has a plastic body and a two-tone metal cap. The chrome plated trims reminded me of jukeboxes and old diners. It’s plastic so most people won’t find the design exciting, but I kinda like it. It has an old-school appeal that I’m fond of.

The cap snaps on and off, and it posts at the end of the pen. It’s a little on the short side if you don’t post the cap.

Nib (8)

The nib of this pen is a 14kt gold-plated steel, Ideal nib. It looks slim and the sides don’t flare out too much. The feed at the bottom side of the nib looks flat, much like old-style Waterman pens do. There’s not much tipping on the nib, making it really pointy. I was expecting a medium point on this, but I’m it writes more like an EF. Not at all scratchy, though, it’s very smooth for an EF.

Filling System (8)

The pen uses a lever filling system, which was common for that time. I was a bit hesitant to buy a lever filler at first, being used to converters/cartridges and piston-filling pens. Once I got used to it, however, it turned out to be pretty fun.

I found that the FP community is generally very accommodating and helpful.

Conclusion

All in all, I think that this pen is a pretty cool pen to carry around. I’ve used this for days on end and I had no problems with how it refills or holds ink, nor with the way that it writes. If I had any gripe about it, I wish that the medium point is broader, but that’s usually how vintage medium nibs were made back in the day.

[DET]

I am pretty sure that's a 14k gold nib, not steel, siopaopei.