Fine Points

[Mt.Roll]

Hi guys, first review and all and most of these pens are already done to death except the Super-Rotax.

The archetype is slim pens with fine points.

Disclaimer: I have small hands and don't post when I write.

I won't really assign any values to these as I don't believe they actually mean anything. Just general comments and notes.

 

Writing

 

Pen A is the Sailor Reglus I bought in person earlier this year from a nice FPN member in Australia.

Pen B is a Pelikan M205 blue demo that I bought off carpedavid's blog after deciding that I needed a Pelikan, blue demo too. Amazing custom nib by Ytland.

Pen C is a Super-Rotax from a real nice guy in Australia.

Instrument D is a Pilot Rexgrip with my lucky red tip which I've used for around 7 years now (which is pretty much all of my school life in Aus). The original red rexgrip's grip is long gone but I've transfered the tip across all the ones I replace it with.

 

Appearance and Design:

 

Pens

 

A: Nice pen, looks better in black. But I got this one kinda cheap, very minty. The grey is of a decent shade and colour, the silver furniture is quite appealing too. I like this pen.

 

B: Blue Demo, heck yes! Nice silver trimmings too.

 

C: The cheapest pen out of the whole bunch, emblazoned with "Super-Rotax" in a really large font. In a green which I'm not such a big fan of. Square cap jewel is also not the nicest touch. But overall, a nice pen.

 

D: Available in a multitude of colours, most of which I've tried. The light blue ones available in Asia looks the best, but red is nice too. The black translucent one as shown isn't bad either.

 

Construction and Quality:

 

A: Good heft to it, feels solid. Fair bit of metal used too. The best part about it is that it can be fully disassembled. Just unscrew every section and easy cleanings. Snap cap with a great click

 

B: Light, with decent plastic. To be honest, It's not the most well constructed pen. There's a few of scratches around the piston unit (wasn't me, I swear it) or it could be silicon grease, whatever it is, it is unsightly. These are the problems with being a demonstrator that cannot be disassembled completely. Interchangeable nib units are pretty cool though Twist cap.

 

C: Very light, cheap feeling plastic, a nice piston with it. However, if you uncap your twist caps with a nice twist like I do near the end, you might engage the piston that could lead to possible consequences.

 

D: Cheap thing, grip is nice. Can be fully disassembled. However, there's an obvious section around the grip where there's a circle reminiscent of the manufacturing process. This circle increases in radius over time and eventually ruins the entire grip and consequently the entire pencil.

 

Weight & Dimensions:

 

I'm going to be a little skimpy with these as I don't have a calliper.

 

A: Around 12.4cm uncapped. Decent weight to this pen, section could be a little fatter.

 

B: 12.3cm uncapped, very light, section is sufficient for me.

 

C: 12.4cm uncapped. Holding the pen closer to the back of the section works for me due to the section tapering.

 

D: 14.5cm, good grip, very light.

 

Nib and Performance:

Here's the interesting part.

 

A: Not the smoothest, but I kinda enjoy the tooth. Only available in Steel, F, Japanese F too. Quite fine, works well for me, rigid nail which I find to be desirable. When I bought the pen, it had to be smoothened out of the box. The nice lady provided the mircomesh too . Was one of my first pens and first smoothening. Still kinda toothy, flow was increased recently to something nicer.

 

B: Purchased this one second hand and had a very disagreeable M nib that I've also smoothened. Got that custom ground by Mr. Landau to a real smooth beauty, it's about the same line width as the Sailor but ever slightly finer. Great job on this one, super smooth, a joy to use. However, when I did receive the pen and nib again, I had to increase the flow to suit my writing angle. Jack was very helpful in aiding me to doing so. Could be finer but that may have adverse effects on the already amazing smoothness.

 

C: Nicest free pen I've ever received. Smooth enough nib, gold plated steel I believe, marked "iridium point", probably legit, good tooth, a tad rougher than the Sailor but it puts down a very comparable fine line. Dry writer but I'm quite okay with that.

 

D: Uber smooth. Hands down, smoothest thing you'll ever write with is a pencil. I'm sorry fountain pen people, but graphite is the better lubricant. Line variation is readily achievable by using one point until a tip is created then writing with that tip. Capable of hair lines with a good deal of feedback. Only problem is that the tip breaks sometimes.

 

Filling System and Maintenance:

 

A: Short story, as I was used to Lamy converters at the time, I dunked the newly bought Sailor into a Diamine bottle I brought along. Held the silvery converter bit whilst twisting the piston converter thingo. Converter came apart, dunked tip first into the bottle (it was safe landing, don't worry) but came with a nice plop of ink over the table and my hands. Embarrassing yes, expensive? no.

 

 

Remember guys, don't hold the silver bit too tightly or else the converter will disassemble. Which is kinda a good thing that leads to easier cleaning. Not bad ink capacity, decent stuff.

 

B: It initially came with the worst piston I've ever used. However, Jack fixed that up for me with some silicon grease, super smooth piston now. Cleaning this thing is horrible though. A cotton-bud cannot reach behind the piston where a nice ring of unsightly ink resides or the scratches or all that water trapped in there. Great ink capacity and has all the problems of a normal piston. As it is a demonstrator... you can see the ink level at all times whilst the regular M2XXs have an ink window. This might change tomorrow as I've left it out to dry, hopefully the unsightly water will evaporate away.

 

C: Has a nice stripy ink window, smooth piston, holds a decent amount. Cleaning isn't as easy as the Pelikan as the nib does not come out easily. But it's not so bad and you can't see all of its flaws.

 

D: Lead comes in, lead goes out. Fill from the top and mash the button like a maniac or stick it in from the front for speed. The worst erasers ever made are located on the tops of pencils. This one is no different, don't use the eraser. Barrel holds a fair amount of lead.

 

Cost and Value:

 

A: This one set me back $65, some inky fingers and a good deal of dignity. Great pen for the price, came with box and pretty much mint. Met a cool person too. :ltcapd:

 

B: This one set me back around $160 in total. No box, no papers. A decent part of the cost came from the regrind as M just didn't suit me. To be honest, I think that there are better pens around the same price point from Asian companies who are able to offer a stock F or XF that give a fairly thin line. Having said that though, the regrind on it is excellent (props to Jack again) and is very much smoother than the stock F nib from Sailor. However, it is a limited or special edition pen that looks great (unused) and would fit nicely into a collection.

 

C: This one set me back nothing except a promise to 'pay something forward' to someone when I'm older. So.. It'll probably cost me around $60. I think they're available NOS on the 'bay for around $20. Excellent pen, very nice fine line with an integrated piston. I highly recommend this one. Again, thank you to the gentleman who sent me this pen, it's a great writer.

 

D: It's cheap and it's readily available. If you enjoy the balance which I do, not much harm in buying one of these.

 

Conclusion:

 

All of these are nice pens for those who like a fairly slim pen around the 12.5cm length un-posted.

 

So yeah, that's pretty much it. I am happy to accept any pens that have similar qualities to these ones too :roflmho:

 

I hope at least some of you found this helpful or at the very least, entertaining.

Edited November 28, 2012 by Mt.Roll

[Nonsensical]

Sorry for the really late response...

 

Well, all I can say is that you weren't the ONLY one who left with inky fingers.

 

The Regulus is a nice pen, but mine isn't being used right now, either. I find myself favouring something a little lighter...