Hello,
I know at least one person here has the short, telescoping version of the Rotring Esprit. I'm kind of thinking about tracking one of these down, and am curious about the telescoping part... How does it work? Meaning, does the telescoping feel nice or does it feel cheap and poor? Is using it a pain, making you wish you had the non-telescoping Esprit? And did anyone ever determine if any convertors will fit in it?
Thanks in advance,
brian

Anyone called me?

I have telescopic Esprit (in gunmetal finish). Telescopic part consists of short "inner barrel" - plastic tube which slides inside the proper barrel. My Esprit is about a year old. Sliding it out and in feels quite solid, it has nice friction. I hope it won't wear out with time...

I don't think any converter will fit inside. There's barely place for short cart.

Design issue: section (metal) screws in this sliding inner barrel (plastic).


Regards,
alex

Thank you much for the response! I almost missed it after that tidal wave of polls came roaring through.. Glad to know that the telescoping mechanism is solid feeling.. Does the extra step of having to telescope it out annoy you ever?

thanks,
brian

It feels like uncapping is just a bit longer then usual. When you pull the cap first the section slides out from the barrel and then the cap pops off with nice click. After short time of getting used to I could do it unconsciously

Regards
alex

Thanks! That's way more interesting than I had imagined... I thought you had to manually telescope it.... Definitely gonna hunt down one of these.

-brian

a fountain pen with a built in telescope??

That's totally awesome!!

Can someone post a picture of it??

Hi Kissing,

The nib section on the mini Esprit 'telescopes' out from the body.. I believe that the cap is about the same size as the body, and then the section pops out (when you uncap it, as I just found out..) and then it's pretty much the size of a Japanese pocket pen... Post it and it becomes pretty much normal in size. Neotiger posted some shots of one of these here, in silver. I'd like to track down one of the funky brown ones, myself!

-brian

Family photo:


Side by side - capped:


Side by side - posted:


Side by side - unposted:


Nibs:


Some Esprit measures:
- capped: 11.4cm
- unposted: 11.9cm
- posted: 15.6cm
- cap is 4.5cm long

Regards,
alex

Thanks for the photos! Hadn't seen black before, only silver & brown.

-brian

I purchased a brown version of this pen in July 2006 from a department store in Berlin. The salesmen said it was a special edition finish. Beautiful little pen, I gave it to my sister as a graduation gift. The action is pretty solid-feeling. You uncap the pen and it telescopes on the way out of the cap. When you put it away, you just press the cap on firmly and the pen telescopes back.

It was a great first fountain pen for her. The pen actually just suffered a fall and needs a bent nib repaired/replaced.

I'll dig up a picture to post.

Today I'm at the local (independent) art supply store, just looking around... I needed some blades and other such small things... I'm all ready to go, and I wander over to their wee little case of pens. Most of these pens are old Reform calligraphy pens. Aside from these, there are a couple of Quill (brand - anyone heard of..?) pens. But then I spot some Rotrings in the case - Quattro ball pen things... I'm about to walk away, the lady behind the counter asks if I need help... I look up over the case to respond, and I spot two brown tubes sitting with a bunch of boxes etc. on top of the case - Rotring Mini Esprits, in brown! So I pop open the first tube, hoping it's an FP... No such luck. Still excited that I get to play with one though, so I do for a few minutes. I expect the other tube to be a ball pen as well, but I check anyway, and lo and behold - it's an FP! Medium point (too broad for me usually) but I buy it anyway, because it's the sort of pen that will be more of an every-once-in-a-while poetry pen, not an everyday note-taking pen. Best part is that I got it cheaper than I had found (other new) ones online - this art supply store gives a 15% student discount!

So how do I like it? Quite a bit. I'll probably write a full review at some point, but for now, know this... It's not as compact as I expected. It looks better than I expected when capped. It looks as I expected it too when uncapped. The pattern on the brown is great. Overall it feels very solid, and is well balanced (a trifle thin) in my hand. It writes a bit finer than I expect a medium to write (hooray!) and is buttery smooth, without any of the pickiness others have noted.

Oh, happy day.

-brian

(thanks to all who helped me spend multiple times more than I expected to today. )