Parker 5Th

[GOB Bluth]

Anyone ever used one of these?

http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Ingenuity-Daring-Technology-S0959240/dp/B005SA4Y4A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328994646&sr=8-1

[robofkent]

Yes I have two that I use at work for minute taking in meetings.......

[GOB Bluth]

Yes I have two that I use at work for minute taking in meetings.......

 

How are they? What are they? It is difficult to tell from the photos on the website.

[opus7600]

Yes I have two that I use at work for minute taking in meetings.......

 

How are they? What are they? It is difficult to tell from the photos on the website.

 

You'll have more luck if you search by their given name, "Ingenuity".

[asaha]

I have tried one in a local store. It is very smooth. But the lady in the store said it is not a fountain pen :roflmho:

 

To me it feels like a good rollerball pen.

Edited February 12, 2012 by asaha

[robofkent]

It is a fibre tip in essence. It is very smooth and although others dispute it the nibs on mine have definitely worn to my way of writing.

 

I have already had to replace one of the refills in my first Ingenuity after a month..........I'm not sure if these are going to be a long term success as the refills are expensive too.

 

I think Parker should lower the price of the overall pen.

[Ernst Bitterman]

A couple of us got review samples. My short version of the review; rather nicer to write with than a BP, non-refillable, and rather heavy in the modern "weight=worth" mode. I'm sticking with the FPs.

[robofkent]

Rapidly falling out of love with my Ingenuities. Another refill gone after just a few weeks. I have put one pen away now and the other will be used until this refill runs out then that will be going away too!

[JasonG]

Rapidly falling out of love with my Ingenuities. Another refill gone after just a few weeks. I have put one pen away now and the other will be used until this refill runs out then that will be going away too!

 

Hang on there!

 

All may not be lost as I have started my ink experiment. First step is to use stamp ink (reasonably cheap at £3 for 25ml) in a Schmidt rollerball refil - all seems well, with a nice dark line and pretty quick drying. It's not quite as fast as the Parker 5th (or indeed other fineliners I'm trying) but a few seconds. The slower drying is due to the glycol in the stamp ink, used to slow down the drying out of the pads, but it's acceptable. When the current refill in my Ingenuity is empty then I'll give it a go with the stamp ink and report back.

 

Now, if only I can find out what's in the Pilot fineliners then I might be able to cook some up.

 

ttfn

 

Jason

[JasonG]

Righty ho, time for a small report on my findings.

 

Firstly, I tried stamp pad ink in a Schmidt roller ball refill just to see what it was like for drying time and bleeding on paper; I can report that it works very well! Just as good as normal rollerball ink and dries quickly.

 

Next, as I've already emptied one refill for my 5th (!) I decided to give it a go refilling it. With the aid of a Number 8 woodscrew I removed the end plug and inside found a felt wad, just like in a rollerball refill. Feeling a bit experimental I decided to give it a go with some Noodler's Polar Black I've got spare (mainly as it doesn't work in any of my FPs and just blobs everywhere or clogs up) and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It works very very well, doesn't blob, drip or bleed and dries quickly. The only minor niggle is that the refil has a pair of breather holes in the plastic "feed" part, parallel with the flat faces, and if you put too much ink in then it will drain out through these holes, all over the desk, your hands and trousers! It might even be possible to refill it by popping the end plug and standing the refill open end down in the ink for a few minutes...I might give that a go next time.

 

As for wear on the tip, they do wear but you should be able to get a couple of refill cycles out of it if you aren't too heavy-handed, which makes the cost of the refill drop quite a bit.

Once the tip wears out on this one, I shall have a try at dismantling it and replacing the worn bit with one from another fineliner, perhaps one of the Stabilo 88 one I have.

 

The other thing I have noticed is that the refill isn't that different in end profile (fake feed aside) to the Schmidt fineliner refils, so it might be possible to use one of them if you feel like hacking it about a bit. Another option is to make a custom lash-up with one of the Copic SP fineliners with the replaceable tips and refill cartridges...all stuff for another day.

 

Hope this is useful to someone.

 

Jason

[welch]

As Ernst mentions, there was discussion in the Parker thread a few months ago. I got an Ingenuity and find that it is a good fiber-tip inside a badly unbalanced pen. The cap is too heavy. Further, the grip is so slick that I had to gunk it with nail polish.

 

If Parker put the refil inside a better-designed shell, the Ingenuity would be a handy pen. It is not a fountain pen, but it is about as good as the Levenger fiber-tip, at about three times the Levenger's price.

[robofkent]

As Ernst mentions, there was discussion in the Parker thread a few months ago. I got an Ingenuity and find that it is a good fiber-tip inside a badly unbalanced pen. The cap is too heavy. Further, the grip is so slick that I had to gunk it with nail polish.

 

If Parker put the refil inside a better-designed shell, the Ingenuity would be a handy pen. It is not a fountain pen, but it is about as good as the Levenger fiber-tip, at about three times the Levenger's price.

 

Do you have any pics of the Levenger?

[Bo Bo Olson]

The owner of my B&M said the re-fills don't last long at all. He's waiting for them to reach a mile or was that a half a mile?

 

It adapts to your hand inside a sentence.

 

But you don't have the fancy cuts and grinds you can get with fountain pens...counting vintage of course.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[CountryDoc]

Made to look like a fountain pen, but isn't. I'll pass.

[choen]

I was given one of these by Parker via a magazine's anniversary party.

 

In use it feels like a very heavy two dollar plastic felt tip technical pen. Except it sells for much more than two dollars.

I can't say that I like it at all for writing. Maybe I will use it for drawing.

Edited September 15, 2012 by choen

[CAG_1787]

As Ernst mentions, there was discussion in the Parker thread a few months ago. I got an Ingenuity and find that it is a good fiber-tip inside a badly unbalanced pen. The cap is too heavy. Further, the grip is so slick that I had to gunk it with nail polish.

 

If Parker put the refil inside a better-designed shell, the Ingenuity would be a handy pen. It is not a fountain pen, but it is about as good as the Levenger fiber-tip, at about three times the Levenger's price.

 

Do you have any pics of the Levenger?

 

The fiber tip is a refill option for the True Writer rollerballs. Link to Levenger.com