How good are Bexley fountain pens? I've only seen pictures of it but the BX701 Onyx (dark grey with caramel swirl) really looks nice.

Do they write well?

Bexley pens are frequently discussed here. If you do a search you will no doubt find some threads.

I have been buying Bexley pens since they opened their doors for business. I have never been disappointed in one of their pens, whether it has a gold nib or a steel one. Mine are all made with good materials, and crafted with good fit and finish. My nibs have all written perfectly out of the box. I have a BX701 in the onyx color you mention and it is a good, solid pen and a good writer.

Ditto. If you like the look, it will not disappoint!

My Bexleys are among my favorite pens. They have excellent writing characteristics, are comfortable to hold for long writing periods and Bexley stands behind its products.

I only have a Bexley Continental, which has a steel nib, so I can't speak for the gold-nibbed Bexleys. However, the Continental writes as well as any pen I have except for my Sailor 1911 that was tuned by Mottishaw - but naturally nibmeister pens aren't in the same category.

I have over a dozen Bexleys and they write between very well to very poorly.
The good ones are silky smooth with good ink flow.
The poor ones run dry when writing in one direction and flow normal in another.

I have sent some back to Bexley for rework, a couple several times.
Some have come back and are working.

The last pen I sent to Bexley was a Poseidon which went in because it would run completely dry on the up-stroke.
It was returned and wrote as poorly as when it left. It was suggested by Bexley that I send it to a "nib-meister" to get it to write the way I want it to.
WHAT?

Consequently I will buy no more Bexley pens and even sold a Prometheus.

I have about 10 Bexley's and just purchased another. They are excellent writers with fine design but I have had problems with the steel nibs. The gold nibs seem to be pretty much flawless.

Are you kidding me? That's a horrible response! I'm guessing they didn't offer to pay for having a nib-meister actually get the pen working.

I have an Onyx BX701 that I purchased from Richard Binder. It was pretty scratchy when it arrived, and would also begin to skip on the downstroke. Last week I shipped it back to him for warranty work on it. So perhaps try to have your dealer work on it for you.

I love Bexley's pens, but sometimes I wonder...hearing this, along with the whole yellowing cap and offset FPN logo on the FPN LE and an email reply from Howard Levy that didn't answer even half of my questions...I have to admit I'm losing some faith.

my first fp was and is a bexley b701 in grey with carmel swirl i also have a pelican and a pencraft now
still the bexley is a great writer and i love the look and feel it is very comfortable to use i have tried seveal inks
and each ink seems to work with it

i bought mine thru mr binder he tested the nib before sending it and its smooth to use

marc

How good is the lower end "Fun Time" model? I see those on eBay quite often and have been wondering how good they are for the money...?

I have the Grape Cooler version of Funtime and it is a very nice writer and light weight.

I own around ten* Bexley pens, across most of the price spectrum- from a Continental and a Simplicity, up to the DeluxeII and Poseidon models. I've never had one with a problem. All have written well right out of the box. The only issue I've had with any of them is the discoloration in the cap of last year's FPN LE. Functionally, all have been top-notch!

Regards, greg

* have another 6 somewhere, but they have not surfaced after a recent move. The missing 6 were all functionally excellent as well.

They are not 'impressive' looking pens from my perspective. If you look at a Bexley next to your typical Italian or German pen, it doesnt look like a $300 pen. With the exception of the nib, and some of the LE's, they have 'metal' trim.

But.........as most others have said, all of mine have been very good writers, and seem to be bullet proof. Another aspect that is not obvious-from what I have read about the history, they try and stick to design cues from earlier pens, and as such, they tend to be very light weight (which I love), and very long when they are posted. Normally, I hate long pens, but Bexley is one brand where all of their pens tend to be so well balanced that they feel good whether you post or not.

Also, I have seen the comments from others on the service, but the one service issue I had was overwhelming positive.

So Bexley bx701 or Pelikan m215? Which would you choose?

There's a big difference in size between the two pens, isn't there? If I were you, I'd base my decision on which pen will be more comfortable for you to write with.

My Bexley FPN LE never leaves my pocket. The gold nib is flawless. You do have to watch however, as they tend to run wide on nib sizes. I'd recommend one in a heartbeat! In fact, here it is:

Well, I have both, but I chose to add the Pelikan to my stable before the Bexley.

How do you write with it?

I only have one and it writes like a dream. The nib is perfect. I bought the She.....something. I got a great deal. However, their retail prices for these pens considering the material of construction I would not pay. Acrylic is not that tactile to me nor pretty. Although I am tempted by the LE that Mottishaw currently has.

Well, I just bought the Bexley BX701 Cappuccino. We'll see how it does. I couldn't pass on the price, though. Another Pelikan will grace my collection eventually, but I'm looking at the 400 or 600 for that acquisition.

Bexley pens are my favorite. I love their weight (most weigh close to 3/4 ounces) -- to me the ideal weight for ease of writing. I like their perfect balance when posted. For me it's an ergonomic winner. I like that they recognize that half of us prefer silver to gold trim and the other half prefer gold to silver and so give us some choices.

At the moment I have two America the Beautifuls (including a chocolate ebonite LE), one grey piston fill Sheherazade, and one yellow Poseidon with silver trim on the way. I'm looking forward to what they will come up with next.

Stephen

My only Bexley is a Simplicity, which I purchased last summer from Richard Binder. The acrylic is very well fitted and polished, but some of the metal trim may not quite be up to the same standard. The steel nib gives a different sort of feedback than any of my other pens--it's smooth, but there's a definite feeling of contact with the paper. Over all, it's a very solid pen and one I always enjoy using, and I'll probably get another Bexley at some point.

As I wrote in another thread, I have an early Bexley button-filler (picked up from eBay). I can't tell you the name of the line. It's a beautiful pen with incredible color, but has a horrible leak in the section behind the nib that guarantees my fingers and the cap will be ink-stained. Bexley was no, absolutely NO, help in repairing it. In fact, their lack of help really turned me off buying more Bexleys (as a suburb of my hometown, I always thought I would own a bunch of them). It is currently in queue with Richard Binder in hopes that he will work magic upon it.

OTOH, I also have a large older rollerball (also from eBay), which is quite heavy but smooth, and a 10th anniversary pen in lemon. The latter is very lightweight, eye-catching, and a pretty good writer out of the box (have only used PR plum in it, so it may be an ink issue). I think I got these after the leaky one, but I can't recall for sure.

Sharon

I have 8 Bexley pens and love them all. The only problem so far is the 2008 Collector's pen writes a little too wet for this lefty. I'm sure one of the nib masters will be able to adjust that when I get around to sending it out.

AMP

I believe I currently have 14 Bexleys varying from Simplicites to LEs. I've had minor issues with maybe 3 of them. While the nibs are all the same, the variety of materials and colors is staggering. I'm not sure Howard knows how many variations he has.

Although the nibs are generally reliable (and a bit boring except for the broad stub), the ones that have STAYED in the rotation for a while have been reworked into interesting stubs and cursive italics.

My current favorites:

10th Anniversary Chocolate Ebonite, reground to a 0.9mm cursive italic with 2 degree left-foot - always inked;

Simplicity Custom Binder Jade, reground to a 0.8mm stub - inked 75% of the time;

2006 Owners Club (the best of the OCs in my opinion);

Poseidon (great for short pockets);

Columbus Pen Show Special - this looks similar to a Simplicity but with slightly different design cues that has never, or at least not yet, been placed into regular production - this is one of the 25 that is made of beautiful celluloid - the wet broad stub wrote well OOTB.

Bill

I have Many Bexley pens, last time I checked it was around 19 of them. I find them to be high quality pens and fantastic writers. Everyone will pitch in their 2 cents and you will have to make up your own mind. I have had wonderful experiences with Howard Levy, the founder of Bexley. I had some issues with a couple of my pens but all were solved and I am happy!!! Bexley pens are among one of my all time favorite pens in my collection.

TNS

I have a couple and they are ok. I find nothing special about them. Side by side, I usually reach for one of my Taccias these days. Personally, the only negative I have on Bexley is I find almost all of their designs just plumb ugly.

Thanks for all of the responses guys.

I just had a similar experience, which has left me a bit surprised. I've always had great experiences with Bexley pens, one of the few brands that has consistently worked wonderfully straight out of the box (I've owned 6). But the one time I returned a pen for repair (and it was returned still not working adequately), I was essentially told they'd done all they could (so I'll be sending it to a nib-meister to fix).

Mine writes very well, but I got it from Richard Binder. Though it does not bother me, some people have mentioned in the past that they don't like the "step-down" of the width from the barrel to the section.

I just took delivery of my fourth Bexley FP today: NOS piston-filling Sheherazade in tortoise with an 18k medium Bexley nib. I love all four of my Bexleys (Fifth Anniversary, Americana, Simplicity and now Sheherazade) and have a fifth on the way from Richard Binder: a BinderBex Sleeve-filler. All are fantastic writers and feel very good in my hand; in particular I think the Bexley 18k and 14k nibs are exceptional and as good as anything on the market.

=======

I have the "Lipstick", a hot pink color, and I really like it. I do not get nib work done on my pens, so I am speaking from "out of box" experience.

My best writer at present is a Bexley Tea Time from Mottishaw. Absolutely awesome!

I looked at one for the longest time, but couldn't decide if I liked the colour combination. With 20/20 hindsight, however, I regret not buying one.