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Online Vision Classic


Black Rose

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While perusing the pen counter at one of the few store in our city that actually stocks fountain pens, my wife (Maharet) instantly took a liking to one of the pens in the display case.

 

That pen was a red ONLINE VisiON Classic fountain pen manufactured by ONLINE Pen of Germany.

When we went to actually buy the pen, the red one was gone so she settled on the silver coloured one.

 

Appearance & Design: 10/10

 

ONLINE followed the simple packaging concept of the Lamy Safari, but took it one step higher by using a windowed black cardboard box with a magnet closure.

 

The box this pen came in included the pen and a white ink cartridge with what appears to be blue ink.

There were two more ink cartridges stored inside the pen.

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/P4230179C.jpg

 

The pen is very appealing to the eye, with it's brushed aluminum appearance.

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/P4230180C.jpg

 

When viewing the ONLINE Pen web site, it appears that the VisiON Classic was replaced by the VisiON Design for 2011.

The VisiON Classic most closely resembles what is now called VisiON Topline.

 

 

Construction & Quality: 9/10

 

This is very well made pen.

 

The body and cap are made out of brushed anodized aluminum, the end of the body where the section attaches to it features stainless steel threads, as does the section.

 

The end of the pen where you can post the cap appears to be chrome plated plastic.

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/P4230182C.jpg

 

When using rare earth magnets to test the pen for steel content, the posting end of the pen did pull towards the magnet, but I believe that is due to the spring that is installed in the end of the pen.

 

I'm not 100% sure but I believe the purpose of the spring is to simply put some pressure on the converter or a pair of cartridges to hold them in place.

 

The cap features a spring loaded pocket clip, which opens approximately 4 mm to allow to be clipped to fairly thick items such as a composition book.

 

The cap gives a nice solid snap sound when it is placed on the pen. Whether this will continue as the pen is used over time remains to be seen.

 

One of the really cool features of this pen is the replaceable nibs.

Yes, other pen manufacturers also have replaceable nibs, but not like this.

 

If you want to change the nib on this pen, remove the cartridge or converter, unscrew the nib from the section, screw in the new nib, install the converter or cartridge, and you're done.

 

There are a total of 6 different nibs available for this pen: Fine, Medium, Broad, 0.8 mm, 1.4mm, and 1.8mm.

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/P4230181C.jpg

 

My only concern with the replaceable nibs is that the threads are quite fine.

When viewed under a loupe, there are 7 or 8 fine threads on the nib.

As long as you don't put a lot of pressure on them when installing, it should be fine.

 

The section on this pen is made of plastic and tapers gradually towards the nib.

 

The 2011 version of the ONLINE VisiON features indents in the grip area, which may or may not appeal to you - really depends where you hold the pen.

 

Weight & Dimensions: 9/10

 

The pen with cap and a cartridge installed weighs in at 25 grams. The cap itself weighs 10 grams.

 

Lengths:

Capped - 137 mm

Uncapped - 126 mm

Posted - 167 mm

 

The weight of the pen is almost perfect.

Depending how you hold your pens, you may find the pen a bit top heavy when posted.

 

I hold my pens towards the top of the section and don't find it too bad, but my wife holds her pens closer to the nib and finds the pen to be a bit top heavy.

 

One thing I can say is that it's definitely not as top heavy as the TWSBI 530 when posted.

 

Nib & Performance: 10/10

 

As mentioned above, there are 6 different nibs available for this pen.

We have the Medium and the Broad, but have only used the Medium so far.

 

The steel Medium nib is very smooth on Staples bagasse (sugarcane) paper, Mead 24 pound lined loose leaf, and Rhodia pads.

 

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a154/bgclarke/Writing/ONLINEVisionWS.jpg

 

Writing example using a Diamine Orange cartridge.

 

Filling System & Maintenance: 8/10

 

The ONLINE VisiON Classic is a cartridge/converter pen and takes international cartridges, which also includes the short and long Pelikan cartridges.

 

A converter is available from ONLINE, but it's rather cheap looking and costs several dollars more than the Pelikan C499 or Schmidt K5 converters.

We opted to order a Pelikan C499 converter for this pen.

 

 

Cost & Value: 9/10

 

This is a very high quality pen at a bargain price.

 

This pen cost $51 Canadian at a Brick & Mortar store, which is comparable to prices seen online, but costing less due to shipping costs.

 

Considering that the Lamy Safari is priced at $42 and the Lamy Al-Star costs $61 at the same store, the ONLINE VisiON Classic is not badly priced at all.

 

Conclusion: 9/10

 

The ONLINE VisiON is a comfortable and great writing pen with a lot of configuration options.

It's too bad that these pens do not get a whole lot of publicity.

In Ottawa, Ontario? Check out The Ottawa Pen Posse

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That looks like a nice well made pen that is in the same class as some Lamy pens. I tried searching for them on the web a while back but you can guess how effective it was with a company name like Online. :D

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Yeah, definitely not the easiest pen company in the world to Google for :D

 

The company name probably made more sense 20 years ago when they were starting out.

In Ottawa, Ontario? Check out The Ottawa Pen Posse

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+1. Great review of a great pen. I've got a red version of this pen and I keep going back to it. Glad to hear about the converter options.

The key to life is how well you deal with Plan B.

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I have one of these, and my only complaint so far has been the posting end where the shiny chrome is wearing off to reveal a copper color.

Increase your IQ, use Linux AND a Fountain pen!!http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk11/79spitfire/Neko_animated.gif
http://fedoraproject.org/w/uploads/5/50/Fedorabutton-iusefedora.png

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I got an Online with the .8 nib for Christmas. It's a great pen, I especially like the weight of it, though I use it unposted because otherwise it's a bit heavy for me. Nice review, thanks.

"Life would split asunder without letters." Virginia Woolf

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I have one too, however I found the nib a bit too "toothy" for some reason, the tines aren't misaligned either. I'm not really sure why.

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  • 1 month later...

I have one of these and I quite like it. I would like to order a different nib for it but haven't really been able to find a source for the noted bad googling name reason.

Thanks for the review, at least now I KNOW there are other nibs out there and I will keep looking.

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  • 4 years later...

I do have quite the eyes for an Online Vision Calligraphy set (comes with 3 nibs) - it's also a cartridge/converter set... does anyone have any good/bad experiences with them? Thanks.

http://www.luxusne-pera.sk/fpngallery/products/middle/5184.jpg

Edited by tritrek
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  • 6 months later...

Possibly worth noting.

Goldspot sent out an email this a.m. with the ONLINE

Mediterranean Sunny Beach Orange Broad Pt Fountain Pen

It is on sale for $21 (Normally $64)

 

Regards, MrBooo

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