I've managed not to purchase any new pens since last November in the hopes of ending my acquiring phase (ok so Valentine's day and my bday presents didn't count) but now I've gotten it into my head that I need a Pelikan. The pretty Place de la Concorde has been prancing in my head since Saturday (again!).
Someone tell me it's not as nice in person! Or that it was a bit scratchy out of the box! Or that Pelikan is planning on releasing a new pastel coloured fountain pen sometime soon!

The nib might suck out of the box.

Not me - I've liked every Pel that I've ever purchased. Hope that helps...

Pelikans are addictive, 1 bought one last year and now i have 12 of them. I sold off most of my other pens just to buy Pelikans. The variety is nice, the nib interchangeability is nice.

The Piston filler is super smooth!!!

You might have about 5% of Pelikans out of the box that have scratchy nibs (in my experience) but a quick swap for another nib and you will get 100% perfect performance.

Chartpak (Pelikan's distributor) is wonderful with customer service and will bend over backwards to help you. They are by far the friendliest people in the world and their service is super fast.

I had a problem with a Pelikan and they overnighted me the part I needed replaced at no cost to me. I recommend Pelikan!!!

This pen is so nice and expensive , you've got to love or hate it. Before or after the purchase. Good luck!

Darn it! I was hoping you'd tell me their customer service was the pits

One more thing:

Pelikan M200s can be found for $55 USD
Pelikan M400's (with a 14K gold nib) can be had for as low as $120-$140 USD

They are well priced. Many other pen makers want you to pay $120 USD or more for a cartridge pen with a steel nib, but not Pelikan, they are great value for your money. Also, they have not changed drastically for more than 50 years, so a modern Pelikan looks/weights/and feels like a classic vintage pen (except that the modern nibs are somewhat stiffer than the vintage ones)

My last Pelikan was an M400 White Tortoise, brand new in the box for $100USD. Not bad for a solid 14K gold nib, celulose body, and 14k gold plated trim and a super smooth piston filler that holds a ridiculously large amount of ink!

How badly would your budget be hurt if you bought a Pelikan?

If the answer is that your budget would be blown to Hades, then I will report that Pelikans are made by aliens from hostile foreign planets whose goal it is to take over earth and convert it to a resort for their leaders, with us earthlings as their slaves.

If the answer is that you might have to give up a couple of dinners out but you would really love the Pelikan greatly, then I'd be hard pressed to come up with an excuse not to.

I bought a white Pelikan 400. I like it. Filled it with some wild ink. PERFECT.
And I'm a Waterman fan!

Haha
What if my answer was that my husband already owns a few and I'd like one of my very own? I think my problem is that the price on the one I want varies so greatly. It's going on Ebay for 185.00 (but with $35 shipping - OUCH!!) but some stores are still wantin $300.00 + for it.

I think the real answer is that I'd have to give up any other ideas for a wedding anniversary gift. Now that's a tough one! A little bling or a Pelikan? lol

No way, man. I like Pelikan and I think it is one of the very best FP brands. Good quality, good Q/C, good prices, good service, good range of models. What do you want more?
If you no like, then they'll still live from me and thousands of others here.
So! There, I said it!!

Mike

Pelican are incredible, I have four, there service is incredible always buy from them. They have interchanging nibs, a poet's dream! They are one of my oldest pens I bought and work even better. Conklin has been very good too.

Hi,

You are asking the wrong people I think, if we could resist would we be here??

Basic answer if you have to ask for help, you must really want to buy it, so if it doesn't mean selling any body parts (yours not someone else's), or kids starving to feed a pen habit, then buy, I know I have.

Andy

Val,

I am the last person to ask since I own 16 Pelikans and I will be your worst enabler. You want one, you know you do and all the cool kids have them

Seriously though, regardless what Pelikan you get, you won't be disappointed, while you are lusting after a Place De Concorde, if funds are an issue, look at the M400 as they are pretty reasonable in cost and they are super writers and way more practical than your conventioal bling.

Bill

I am so sorry, knitbug, but there is no way I am going to talk you out of a Pelikan purchase. Pels are some of my favorite pens, and, like many of the others, I have multiple examples. My taste runs to the larger M-800 and M-1000 sizes, but I have M-600 and M-400 sizes as well. My Pels have proven to be highly reliable, durable, and consistent, fun writers. - But, if the hubster unit has several Pels already, I suspect you know all this.

If you get a Pel as an anniversary gift, then use it to write notes and cards to hubby. One more point of enablement. Sorry.

Ditto what southpaw said.

I started off with one Pelikan 3 years ago, stopped using it for about 2 years, started up again last year and now I have 10 more

I seem to be one of those for whom Pelikans just don't usually click. I've had seven, but now have only two.

I've seen the Concorde, and it never made my wish list. Why does it appeal to you?

OK, I'll talk you out of it! (buy a Pelikan) They are ugly (prettiest pens on the planet). The nibs are dull (best variety of available nibs in the world). The place series is the dumbest thing I've ever seen! (ooooh those subtle beautiful blue shades...) I wouldn't have one! (cus I already have 10)

There that should convince you to stay away from Pelikans! (buy, buy buy....)

Best post I've read in a while! The color use is especially witty.

I like it because of its subtle rainy-day tones that seem to blend together, and the coolness of the silver clip. Some have suggested the white tortoise but the white and gold combination just doesn't appeal to me as much as the subtle greys, blues and silver of the concorde. BUT I've only seen it in photos, maybe it's rather flat and uninspiring in person?

Haha, I concur! Wonder if the brightness of the subliminal messages is a coincidence ...

I can't help you. I just received my 1st Pel and I'm hooked. Hey....if you don't buy any, that leaves more for us!

It's the closest color I could find to one of the Concorde stripes My place Pelikan is a Grand Place but I looked several times at the Concorde!

I think it looks bland and uninspiring, but then it looks pretty much in person like it looks in photos. Admittedly, I like wilder pens, which is why I now have a Piccadilly Circus, and have left the more staid members of the Pelikan family in the hands of people who can appreciate them more.

You should hold out for a nice Montblanc. No point in paying good money now for a lesser German pen and then wanting a new pen in a few months. Just think much better the anticipation will be if you wait another couple months for a beautiful MB.

Montblanc is all about the name. They are scratchy, inferior writers compared to Pelikan. Don't buy a Montblanc unless you are just looking for a status symbol. If you want a pen that is a great writer, buy a Pelikan.

I own the M1000, M800, M400, and M250.

Love my pelikans! (6) Go on, buy it!

Heck you've convinced me! Now I want one.

I'd love to talk you out of it....

...but just can't. Talk someone out of buying a Pelikan? That's a big NEIN! If I knew where to get a Pelikan T-shirt and cap, I'd buy them and wear them every day (does anyone have web sites, seriously...)

I've personally used 5 Pelikans, and out of them, 1 happened not to agree with me entirely, but was far from a lost cause (it was a fine, and I generally don't like fines anyway). I did a little tuning myself and it fell right into line.

Some say that Pelikan nibs can be rubbish (as in, have the potential to be)...but I really can't see that, not at all. Plus, if they do turn out to be turds, do like others suggest and ring up Chartpak...problem solved.

Stay with the Pelikan!

I have been dissapointed by modern MBs. Hoped they would be like the vintage MBs I really enjoy (14, 252, 342) but I cannot get myself to like the 144. And this was a pen I really wanted for a long time!

I have never been dissapointed by a Pelikan. Maybe because it is basically the same pen that it has been 60 years ago. I do prefer vintage Pelikan nibs because of their flex and the ebonite feeder but I have several modern Pelikan nibs that are also great writers.

But beware: Pelikans tend to be addictive!

Did you already check the size of the pen? Maybe you are lucky and it doesn't fit your hand. Then you don't have to buy it.

The only negative thing I can think of concerning Pelikans is that the styling of the pens is somewhat dull. Other than that, they are some of the best pens you can buy. My favourite is the M800, which is perfectly sized for most users; I find the M600 a little too small, and the M1000 just that bit too big.

Do you not deserve this very special, fantastic, fabulous, gorgeous, wonderful writing instrument? You know you do ...

The only way I could divert you from Pelikan is to point you toward Omas or Visconti instead. And those wouldn't be great distractions if you want to save money.

Bling, you say?

OK, go to http://www.classicpensinc.com, and look for the Marguerite. I "think" it is a CP 6.

After you see it, don't buy it.

What is it about naming a pen that makes it that much more desirable?! I just love the looks of the Charlotte. THANKFULLY it's sold out (and there's that little matter about having to be able to purchase groceries sometime this month

I bought my first Pelikan a few weeks back - an old 400NN. The pen itself is quite beautiful, unfortunately the nib isn't in such great shape. But I still love the pen and hopefully if I can replace the nib, I'll love it even more!

Nope

I sold my M200 last year because of the size (and that's the only reason) but now am starting to get an itch. The only think stopping me is the cost as I would want an M600. Of course the Pura's are nice and closer to my price range...........cr*p, I need to shut up before I spend money I do not have.

A lot of people claim that the M200 is too small. Far from it!!!!! The Pelikan M200 is the same size as a vintage Parker Vacumatic Junior or your average Esterbrook. It has a classic size, and if you post the cap on it, the pen grows to a respectable size.

Rather than saying the M200 is too small I would say.... other pens are too big!!!! Have you seen the latest designs? Some of these newer pens are so large that if you actually plan to write more than one page with one your hand will cramp up and fall off!

I would personally recomend the M200/M400 family and the larger M800.

As the saying goes:

ONCE YOU DIP THE BEAK,
OF OTHERS, NEVER SPEAK!

If I may add one more thing, when it comes to vintage pens........buy American pens, but rest assured that when it comes to modern pens there is but one brand, Pelikan!!!!!

All worship the might bird! Once a Pel lands on your desk a whole flock of them will follow soon after.

My girlfriend bought me a Pelikan M200 and I am constantly refreshing the FedEx tracking page to see if, maybe, it will be arriving one or two or three days earlier. I can't wait!

How about a compromise: buy a vintage Pelikan instead....

Simon

I've thought of this, as I've heard vintage nibs have a bit more "bounce", but all the ones I've found easily rival the prices I've seen the concorde at.
But I'll keep an eye out!!

Haven't you been wanting the Place de la Concorde since at least February? If you don't get it, it will eat away at you! You know it will. It's a wonderful pen, and if you don't have a Pel yet, you owe it to yourself to get at least one.

Oh, sorry! I was supposed to try and talk you out of it, wasn't I? Hmm.

...

Coming up blank here.

Knitbug, don't buy one, you will only have a perfectly working pen, which holds lots of ink, can use interchangeable nibs and looks pretty. Besides the fact that it sounds cool when you say Place de la Concorde in your french canadian accent, they are wicked fine pens. You really don't need one, and hey if the nib is not perfect, it's not like you don't know someone who could grind an italic on it. Heck I hear that that fellow is getting some M200 nibs to grind into italics and stubs.

Nah, don't buy one, you will only feel obliged to get more, like the pretty 1000 years of Austria, or the Humankind, or Nature, or Technology limited editions. The Hercules is a bit big for your hand, maybe hubbie would keep you from having to heft that beast.

Pelikans are the most reliable, well perfroming pens I have owned. The benefits of the interchangeable nibs are huge, and they are easy to tune when a problem does arrive.


Sean

No.



Stop.



Don't.



Do it.







Wait, what?

Unless you get a shiny one... (hee):

Hey you could always go for this one! The styling isn't dull. I'm sort of biased towards someone buying it though :-P

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=67015