i've been drooling for a long time over the Mega but wonder if it is just another pretty roller ball or does it really give a fountain pen type experience - the feel of ink flowing, the sense of the paper etc.
any users out there to help either quell or whet my appetite?

While my Mega Ink Ball (Burgundy) was my reintroduction o fountain pens I leave it in its box now. It is not very smooth at all and in no way replicates the sensation of a fountain pen. I find even my Shaeffer Schol pen in a fine nib preferrable to the MegaInkBall. It s advantage is that it will make carbon copies (what do you call them these days) and you can change ink color. I find even the cheap drugstore variety ink balls write more smoothly.
Barry

My experience is limited but much the same. When a local pen shop got some in last year thay were pushing them hard, had one on the counter to write with. I was thrilled with the larger sized one and wanted one. Everytime I went into the shop, I'd of course stop and play with with the Mega and over time realized I was more taken by the looks of the thing (a fault I have )than how awful it wrote. It wasn't very smooth at all which surprised me. I since found a $7 Pelikan roller that could be filled like the Mega (converter had to be bought seperatly @ $5) and writes beautifully, saving me a bunch of money and heartache.

My Mega Ink Ball is the only pen I have that I regret buying. I love the size, weight and feel of it, but the performance has been pretty poor. It's a great concept, I just think their design could use a little work - the wick that feeds ink to the ball is questionable at best from my experience. Mine hasn't been that rough of a feeling while writing, but it's definitely no where near as smooth as a decent fountain pen, or even a nice disposable roller ball.

I will admit though that once the ink is flowing well, it is a fun pen to write with - it's slow to dry out, put down a nice line (albeit a bit wide for my taste), and is really convenient. Unfortunately, flow is often the problem, and there is a bit of feedback with it. Thankfully, their customer support is superb and the tips I have had trouble with were replaced without question and the folks I spoke with were wonderful.

If the price was lower, I would say it's a great deal. But even if you find one around the $100 mark, I would say it's too much for their level of performance compared to other pens in that range. Of course, the same argument could be made lower since there are so many superb inexpensive fountain pens out there.

Definitely try to find one to try out though. While there is a bit of a rough feeling, I don't find it to be that bad - it's just not glassy smooth like a good nib, and you may enjoy it if you are used to dry nibs. All in all, I think it's a pen that needs to be experienced before bought, and if you get it, be patient as it sounds like there are some tips out there that aren't quite right. Also, if the pen has been sitting tip-up for a while (I noticed this because I would store it tip up over night), ink can drain from the feed and the flow will be horrid - at that point you basically need to recharge the tip and let it sit for ink to collect in the wick feed system. So now I store mine horizontal to help keep the feed problems at bay, and it seems to work better.

Anyway.... long response to say that it's kind of a different pen and seems a bit quirky. I've heard of folks absolutely loving them and it becoming their go-to pen, and there have been folks who hate them. It's like every other pen, the best thing you can do is try one for yourself.