"What Is It?

A very small fountain pen. The Birdie fountain pen is thicker than the pencil and ballpoint versions - 8mm diameter instead of 5mm - but is still very small for a fountain pen. The size is just about right for fitting in the pen loop in a Filofax, but probably not the very tiny ones some notebooks come with."
http://pigpog.com/node/2444


Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

Moderator Note: Moved it to the Fountain Pen Reviews section

I bought a Birdie for 15$ canadian and it's really a good deal for such a nice little FP.
It's a steel medium nib which runs fine. I've use mine with the Pilot cartridges that I bought for my Pilot Knight.

The pen feels really small, not exactly the pen you would use to write a novel with, but for note taking on the go, it's nice. My Birdie made friend with a small Miquelrius notebook that looks like a mini-Moleskine, they are happy in any shirt pocket.

Thanks again, Chris!

I'm loving the little Birdie. For the moment, at least, I've stopped worrying about carrying another pen everywhere - it's not the most comfortable thing for a lot of writing, but works just fine (as Samovar said) for taking a few notes and keeping lists and such.

I'd be interested in how other people have found the nibs - wet or dry? Of the two we got, the medium is a bit on the dry side, but the fine is quite a wet writer, which I prefer. Having discussed it with Simon (at Cult Pens) the medium is probably more typical - they tend to be on the dry side. Possibly by design - if it's intended to be used for quick notes more than for lots of writing, they may have thought that drying quickly is more important than stronger colour, so the notes can be shoved in your pocket quickly, or the book snapped shut again without getting ink on the opposite page.

Hi,

This is probably the pen that I would use for day to day use. If I get this right, it is a bit too thick for me to use to write a lot. Pilot pens are nice. I have the Cavalier which is about 8MM too. I prefer my grip a few millimetres thinner.

Dillon

You want something thinner than a Birdie, Dillon? Maybe dipping with a toothpick?

I'm guessing you're not a fan of the Pelikan M1000?

The medium nib I got is kindda dry, but perfect for the Moleskine paper.
A pen shop owner I know tried it and said that it's a perfect pen for a left handed person. I'm right handed, so it's hard for me to judge. According to him, the nib of the Birdie is very well made and not scratchy at all and just dry enough.

Where's the cat?

I've had some of these tiny pens for a while. they are very handy for pockets and not taking up too much space, travel bags etc. They were of novelty value to me for a while
but got fed up as the ink sac only takes up a small amount of ink so it runs out too frequently. I'll keep it handy for travel etc though.

Armchop

Very cute! I just picked up an NOS Sailor that looks similar. Fits nicely in the small loop of my wallet. (Which is good, as I forgot my pen case this morning and would otherwise have had to write with ROLLERBALLS all day.) Something to be said for a wee pen that can follow you everywhere.

I wonder if they've changed the converter, then. The ones we have here came with full size squeeze-sac converters, so they take as much ink as most modern pens. Not as much as a 'real' pen, but not bad.

I've not run it out yet, but I've been filling every day. I'm a bit paranoid about running out of ink, and non-see-through sacs don't help - no idea how much ink is in them.

Another nice review, Pigpogm! (oh and thanks for pointing it out to us, Chris)

I've read all the fountain pen reviews on your site and am looking forward to reading more in the future. Oh, I just wanted to point out that there are more reviews of pens (and other interesting items) under the "Museum" part of your site here: http://pigpog.com/museum/list

(ie. those are in addition to the pen review page here: http://pigpog.com/node/1973 which is already in your FPN signature)

No problem, you've got a great site! ;-)

Can anyone report on the flexibility of the Birdie nib? It looks long and capable of flex.

I don't find it very flexible. It's a simple steel nib. My only experience with flexible nibs comes from dip pen nibs, so it's not really flexible in comparison.

It's a little more flexible than most modern pens, I'd say - no real flex to it as such, but it gives a bit more line variation with pressure than a Lamy Safari, say. Still very little - enough to give a bit of character to modern writing, perhaps, but not enough to do the beautiful swirly stuff some people here can do.

What we need here, is a Richard Binder Special modified Birdie flex italic

brings back memories when i had a pilot birdie about 20+ years ago

Hi,

Press the converter bar briskly four or five times, and it should give it a good fill. If you fill it this way, it holds more ink than a full Pilot twist convertr. It sounds silly because the pen has no breather tube, but it works.

Dillon

saw this pen in an old store.. cost around USD4, can somebody please tell me if this pen uses the international cartridge or pilot has a special cartridge size? thanks!

It's Pilot's own cartridges. Look for IC-50 or IC-100 - same cartridges, just in different pack sizes. We sell them at Cult Pens, but assuming you're in the US, you should be able to find them a bit closer to home.

well, boy i'm glad i didn't buy one today.
i live in the Philippines, and it's pretty hard to find FP materials here. I doubt if the pilot distributor here has any.. coz i don't even see the Pilot VP in any bookstore.

thank you!

I have a Birdie OB, an oblique broad nib. I love it for notes and for signatures. The nib felt a bit scratchy at first, but it has gotten smoother as I used it more. It's a pity the pen has such a small diameter, While it is fine for a note or writing a check, the Birdie is just too small to be comfortable for extended writing. I can comfortably write a couple of paragraphs, but its smooth sides and small diameter make my hand cramp if I have much to write. I would love to find a pen that had the same nib in a much bigger diameter.

It must be good though, I keep hoping to get another and can;t find one.

Zomba

Well I like them.

I bought some Birdies for me, as they were selling for a very low price. According to my memory, they tend to be dry performers, but with a little tweaking, can become very good pens. Maybe it was me, or perhaps a bad lot but I am in my third sample and they all tend to crack at the plastic barrel, near the nib. In fact, the pen develops two distinct cracks, each one aligned to the sides of the nib. Perhaps the plastic used is too brittle, or my pens left the assembly line with the nibs seated too much. I don´t know.

I was surprised to read that the Birdies were going extinct, because I live in the Middle East and found Pilot Birdies (with the squeeze-ink sacs) at the supermarket, and there seemed to be lots and lots in stock. At 19 QR (around 5 USD) it seemed like a reasonable starter pen, so I got one in a fine nib to check it out.

My first impression when I wrote with the Fine was "Wow they really weren't kidding when they said it was fine." Almost like writing with a .38 tip.

The medium nib is the one I carry around more often. (Yeah I came back for another one. ) As mentioned elsewhere, the ink from the medium does dry pretty quickly, more so than the fine. So it's handy for quick notes. It's so teensy though that I worry about misplacing it.

No problems about the barrel cracking so far.. Oh and I'm a leftie, and it seems 'normal' enough writing with it that I wonder what all the fuss about lefties and FPs was all about. So yay for the Birdie.

I agree, I don't find the nib flexible at all, but then again I usually use gold nibs with a lot of more flex in them. The Birdie is a nice pen, but it's simply too thin for me.

Regards
Undersköterskan

That's my biggest problem with the Birdies myself, Underskoterskan: if they did the same nib in a fatter body, it'd be damn near perfect.

It's a pen meant to write short notes with and usually when you're out and about.