Yafa $13 Blister Pack Pen Review

[themax]

Date: 6 June, 2010

 

Maker/Brand: Yafa

Model: Blister pack model (10025)

Type: Cartridge fill (International)

Color/Material: Burgundy plastic and stainless steel

Nib size/Material: M?, steel

Actual Cost/MSRP: $13

 

First Impressions: Taking pen out of pack, it feels heavy and poor in finish. Plastic feels soft. Looks well proportioned. Some paper from blister pack stuck semi-permanently to barrel. It was hard to get flow started. My first impression was disappointment at having spent $13 on this pen. Cap snaps securely, posts securely.

 

Appearance & Design: Appearance is appealing to me. The cap is beefy, as is the clip. The section could be longer for my taste. My thumb rides on step between section and barrel.

 

Balance & Comfort (posted/unposted): Pen is light and long enough for my hand unposted. Posted, balance feels cap-heavy, but not unpleasantly. Balance OK.

 

Weight & Dimensions:

Length (cm): Capped 14.7, Uncapped 12.5, Posted 15.7

Weight (inked, g): Capped 24, Uncapped 14

Barrel Diameter (cm): 1.4

Average Section Diameter (cm) 1.15

 

Nib performance: Smooth writing, when flow is good, surprisingly smooth. Some small amount of line variation. Not world-changing, not unpleasant. I would call it medium point. No tooth.

 

Filling system: Takes international cartridges, does not hold them to section very securely.

 

Comparison to others: Compared to a ~$3.00 Pilot or Platinum pen, nib is smoother writing, feed not as reliable, pen is more substantial and not disposable. Compared to a $13 No-Nonsense Sheaffer, design is more appealing, finish and reliability are poorer.

 

Real value: This pen could be an almost totally pleasant, put in your pocket, lend away, daily writer, if not for the flow issue. Its real value is providing a FP fix available at your local office superstore when you leave your pens at home. If flow was reliable, $13 would be a great value.

 

Overall conclusions: The packaging for this pen claims it "writes like an expensive fountain pen!" It does, in the way an Oldsmobile drives like an expensive Mercedes--but I'm an Oldsmobile kind of guy. I want to like this pen more, and I would love the writing experience, if it were not for spotty flow. The cartridge came unattached from the section, stopping flow, while I was writing this review.

 

I did a search for other reviews of this pen before posting. I found some comments suggesting that the ink supplied with the pen, which I tested the pen with, might be the cause of spotty flow. I will try with another brand of ink and post an update if it makes any difference. I also read that the pen may respond well to some thorough rinsing before inking--I will try that, too.

 

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[Osmaroid]

Thanks for an insightful review. It will be interesting to see how it does with other inks. I may well be tempted at that price, especially as I have been spending much more per pen recently and it would be nice to have a low cost, good writer for everyday use (I do have one low cost, terrific writer which was a great surprise and which I intend to review shortly).

[ZeissIkon]

I had one of these (my first FP after twenty-five years or so without), and found the flow improved mightily when I flushed the section with water containing a little dish soap, then rinsed thoroughly. I suspect this removed mold release from the plastic feed, greatly improving the flow. I also adjusted the tine spacing a tiny bit, and was very happy with the pen -- but then I got an offer to trade it for an Esterbrook...

 

Another suggestion: spend $5 or so for a converter; you'll like the pen a lot better with bottle ink.

[bluemagister]

The feed seems to be too far back under the nib...adjusting the nib might help.

 

I got a BAZIC fountain pen that writes like a champ, but only with GOOD ink carts...the cheap Monteverde ink cartridges are full of swill unfit for pens.

[PenFan95]

Thanks for the review writing samples, please!

[inkthefinks]

I had one of these - it worked much better when I replaced the cheap international cartridge with a full-length Waterman.

[charlescolp]

I tried the Universal adapter in mine. I love bottle ink colors over cartridges. The universal had a problem with the barrel size. When screwing it back on it failed to allow the threads to meet. I tried cutting the nob end off the screw portion of the adapter thinking it was a length problem. It turned out to be a problem with the metal rings kitting the inside of the barrel. I will be trying this with a Monteverde Crystal adapter. it has less girth at this point and should allow for the pen to go back together. I like the smoothness of the nib on this pen and plan to use it for specialty marking (green, red, purple) instead of a daily writer. The smaller size on the Monteverde should not be a problem. I will report back what I find so that everyone else can enjoy this cheap but decent pen. Yafa is a distributor for Monteverde so my hopes are high that this will work. The ink cartridges that came with it are terrible and cause skipping like that is it's job. Here is to a grand adventure of using some seriously cool colors in an otherwise useless pen.

[charlescolp]

The Monteverde Crystal converter fits and works perfectly in this pen. I am running Noodler's Rattler red eel in it now. I think it could do better with some nib honing but for now it is very scratchy. I am doing all my testing on Clairfontaine paper. I only have one other pen to test it against at the moment and that is a Noodler's Ahab. While the Ahab flows across the page the Yafa fights it. As I find out more and do some nib tuning I will let you know how it goes.