I ordered a new Pelikan 215 from Fountain Pen Hospital this week. First a word about FPH:

This was my first order from them and I also bought a Taccia Ta-Ke as a gift for my girlfriend. Order placed via the internet Tuesday morning, and with standard UPS ground I had both pens Wednesday afternoon. Total price was $169. Nice service not to mention for the week of Thanksgiving!

On to the Pelikan. It's a 215, black barrel, and XF nib. If you read my earlier post, you know I intend to swap the nib, and also use the pen for crossword puzzles. So far, I've only been writing with the stainless steel XF and I give it mixed marks. I started it in Noodler's Blue-Black and I found the flow uneven - unacceptable in fact, so I changed to Noodler's Ottoman Azure. That worked better, at least the flow was good. However, I found the deep blue of the Ottoman Azure soaks through newsprint, making it a poor choice for even book crosswords. Back to the Blue-Black, which is now flowing better. Perhaps the nib needed some exercise first, though it's still wetter than the Rotring 600 XF that I have been using for puzzles. I'm not 100% thrilled with the ink performance, and may acquire a different ink just for this pen.

The pen itself is of very fine workmanship and indeed, the 215 black barrel is much more attractive in person than in any photo I've seen. It has a heftier feel than my m400, but not by as much as I would expect and it took my hand a few minutes to adjust to the different balance (cap posted). The nib is quite stiff, although I expected this. My initial concern before buying the pen was that the nib would be too stiff for long-term writing, and that's been borne out. I also have to add that the XF nib writes a substantially thicker line than the Rotring 600 it's supplanting. I may consider a special XXF gold nib from one of the nibmeisters. Having inked it with essentially three inks at this point, the piston-fill works flawlessly, and it took only about 4 fills with water to flush the nib, feed, and reservoir. The 215 is the same size as the m400 capped, but slightly longer posted.

Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase, and once I get the nib and ink right, it should be an ideal pocket pen.

Wow, now that's a diehard FP enthusiast. I still use a pencil for crosswords.

The m215 is one of my favorites. The nibs can be tricky though - especially at the XF size. Once you've got the right mix of ink and nib, I think you'll be very pleased. Right now, I'm trying to decide what Binder nib I want to match with my m215. After that, it will be a true writing machine!

mPundit,

What did you think of the Taccia?

My m215 is currently sporting a 15° left oblique italic nib. (At least I think it's about 15°...I ground it myself, so it may not be exactly that angle.) It is a narrowish italic, so it allows me to write in a fairly small hand.

The m215 is a great pen, once one figures out the proper nib for ones needs.

TMann

The 215 is a great pen. I fitted mine with a two-tone 400 nib from Richard, filled it with Stipula Dark Blue (awesome ink, btw), and it's become my everyday note-taking/all-purpose pen. For me, the size is perfect for an everyday pen, it's attractive but not ostentatious, and I won't cry if it's stolen or lost. Having said that, I've got a .6mm stub 400 unit coming from Greg Minuskin this week, so it may get a new nib soon. Have a great day,

David

I started using pen about a year or so ago when I realized I wasn't going through as many erasers as I used to. The Rotring 600 has a very thin line, so it was great for puzzles, but I was refilling it too often and the metal threads are beginning to lose their "lock" hence the need to retire it from puzzling.

The alternative, do fewer puzzles, was a non-starter.

I haven't written with it, but the girlfriend loved it right off. It has a medium nib and I got the black pearl color as she's very fond of black pearls. I did hold it and it has a nice weight for a relatively inexpensive pen. Workmanship looks very solid. She put Levenger's Gemstone Green ink in it.

I picked up a bottle of Noodler's Lexington Gray (OK, I've been wanting an excuse to get it for a while), and have loaded it into the 215. So far so good, but I need to work with it a bit more to form a viable opinion.

This surprised me too. When they are posted my m215 is longer than both my Lamy 2000 and Parker 51 - who would have thought? When they are capped it is a different story and the Pel is definitely the shorty of the bunch.

As the pens are all about the same weight they seem surprisingly similar in the hand - especially the m215 and the 51, which have much the same diameter at the grip.