I'd never heard of ONLINE pens before, until I happened to see them displayed at a pen booth at the DC Pen Supershow. The pen that really struck my eye was the Newood model. The shape reminded me a little of the Waterman Serenité (although straight, not curved like the Serenité). I test drove the dry nib on paper and was amazed at how smooth it was. It turned out to be a calligraphy set including 3 polished stainless steel nibs and a bottle of ink. MSRP at $70, but they had them for 50% off. Can't beat that! In retrospect, I should have bought 2 of them.

The set comes in a bamboo "Venetian-blind" style box with magnetic closure. Very nice presentation.


The barrel and cap are made of Wawa wood from the Ivory Coast, in a beautifully smooth matte finish. The design is tapered in the center, extending slightly wider towards the ends. The furniture is a smooth matte silver metal, perhaps an anodized brass. Everything fits together perfectly, from the threading of the section to the snap of the cap. You can't post the cap, but you don't need to. The pen feels great in the hand. My only complaint is that the section has a noticeable ridge that you touch with your fingers when writing. But you get used to it.

The "calligraphy" stainless steel nibs (cursive, not crisp) are really smooth with a touch of spring, though they lay down a rather wet line--a little wetter than I typically like on paper like Claire Fontaine. If the paper absorbs a little more, it's fine. The type of ink you use will likely make a difference, too. I wouldn't use these nibs for professional calligraphy work (which demands a crisp chisel nib), but they're great for every day writing.

The filler is a converter type that works well, although it doesn't stay in place unless you really force it on. ONLINE could stand to improve that part. I also wish they'd chosen a different name. The name "ONLINE" is imprinted on the cap lip (fortunately discreet) and the barrel/section are free of markings.

Value? I would have paid $70 for this set as well. You can buy them from a few sources on the web, such as The Writing Pen Store. Also, it appears that there's a FleaBay seller offering up other calligraphy set models in brushed aluminum for about $40 shipped.

[EDIT: I'm really enjoying this pen--a more detailed review with writing samples will be forthcoming. ]

Great review! Makes me want to add a set to my collection.

Is it just me -- or does it seem that the pen manufacturers are coming out with an excellent selection of great calligraphy nibs all at once? The Lamy people put out the italic nibs, the new Sheaffer Viewpoint is excellent, and Hero Pens have a new italic nib that I am just dying to try out. Even Pelikan is offering a good italic once in a while.

If you like to take a small risk, you can always touch up those nibs to cursive grade. Just break out the old smooth hone stone and away we go ...

Thanks.

Lamy, Pelikan and Sheaffer have had calligraphy nibs available for many years. ONLINE is a relatively newer company. They claim 17 years of experience, but I guess that is of the nib master(s) working there.

I do plan to experiment with nib grinding at some point, but I'm still not quite getting the geometry of it all. I don't want to take a chance of screwing up nibs until I've gotten a better sense of what needs to be done. I read your write-up, which seems good, but the diagrams throw me off. I've seen a number of people on FPN post of successful nib grinding, so it's probably just me (dyslexia likely contributes).

That looks a rather pretty set - I may need to investigate - thanks for the review!

nice review and nice pen. thanx for pointing out about the section ridge issue. that is a turn-off for me.

enjoy your pen!!

...I don´t know in what year ONLINE appeared on the market here in germany, but I started seeing them last year in stores and now they are everywhere... lots of pens, FP´s, Rollerballs, Ink-Rollerballs... the also have their own inks, but I would rather call it "colored water"... o_O ...

FP´s have nibs in M... I dont know if they have B´s or F´s!?! Never loked at it, because I was mainly interested in their "italic" nibs... they have nibs in 0.8 / 1.2 / 1.4 in their regular cheapie calligraphy FP´s and they are nothing special but very good for the price (about 5-6 Euro for a FP with an italic nib)...

I didn´t know that they also have some higher priced calligraphy sets... got to check them out

I got me lot of the 0.8 Italic nibs for experimenting and regrinding (because they are so cheap), I´ve made some really nice crispy left oblique italics! (after few weeks of learning and after i ruined few nibs )

Thnak you for this informative review. It's good to read about "new" brand names for a change.

Mike

I've noticed Online brand pens a couple of years ago, maybe 7 or 8. Only recently they started to make FPs other that these cheap school pens they are known for. I've seen a calligraphy set similar to a Montblanc Marlene Dietrich - black barrel, wide white cap - so there seem to be more designs.
Thank you for your review! I didn't know they were high quality pens.

This is a pen with an awesome feel to it. I got to hold one in my hands a couple of months ago.

Hi MYU!

Thanks so much for the review!
I, too, am the proud owner of an ONLINE calligraphy pen and nib set, but my pen resembles the Montblanc Greta Garbo LE pen. I saw the pen you own at a local pen shop (the woodgrain is lovely), but my tastes run to pens that aren't quite so tapered

The nibs on my own ONLINE pen are also really nice cursive italics, and the black ONLINE ink that came with the pens is quite nice---it's either really dark, or the pen is laying down *a lot * of ink (ie. a "wet writer")... I suspect it's a bit of both

I noticed that Swisher Pens ( http://www.swisherpens.com ) is selling the pens and their prices are about what I paid here locally.

Striking looks. Darn metallic section!

Oh well, not like I'm supposed to be buying pens right now anyway (another Al-Star doesn't count)

Thanks for the review - sure is pretty and a good price for such a set.

Interesting, Antigone & Sk2yshine - I didn't know ONLINE has been around for a while in Europe. I guess they're just recently making their headway into the US market.

Thanks, Maja - Was that the white and black version that Antigone mentioned? I haven't seen them around; how long ago did you get the set? Good point about Swisher, as they have even better pricing than the place I linked. Yes, I'd have to agree that these nibs tend toward wet writing. But the good thing is that the ink flows quite well; I find I can write faster without skipping.

KCat - the metallic section is in a matte finish, so it's easier to manage than with cold hard polished metal. But it would've been nice if they had rounded off that ridge on the section. Getting used to it is similar to adapting to the 'ears' on the Lamy 2000. So another Al-Star in your collection? What nib and color?

There's a one page story and full page ad on ONLINE in the July 2008 issue of Pen World. The pens are distributed by Coles of London and are available through Daly's Pen Shop. For the record, I am not associated with any of them.

I think so...but mine definitely looks more like the Great Garbo MB pen


I bought mine on Canada Day---July 1st---this year, but I saw some other ONLINE pens at another branch of the same chain (Perks) but I didn't see my pen type there, or the one you have. I think they had the single-colour (metallic?) ONLINE calligraphy pens.



True, me too...but I can't write *too* quickly, even with the narrowest calligraphy nib in the set, because my handwriting is naturally smallish. I love the pen and nibs, though, and I'm glad I bought the set.

Aww, yeah, I meant Greta Garbo too. We were talking about the same Montblanc-ish Online pen.

Here is their home page, though I wasn't able to find this pen there: http://www.online-pen.de/

I've been seeing Online pens (fountain and otherwise) in German stationery stores for several years now -- usually cheap'n'cheerful pens for the school crowd, a more colourful and less expensive alternative to the offerings of Pelikan and Lamy. I'm surprised to see them making higher quality pens.

Attached is a writing sample from my Online Blue Calligraphy Pen. The set cost
50$ and I think it is worth every penny. If only my handwriting would magically
improve.... ;-)

All in all, I enjoy writing with the pen. Last night was my "letter" night and this
pen performed wonderfully, once I found the right paper (see other thread
for info. basically, this + amalfi stationary is a formula for feathering).
It is more of a wet writer than I am used to and definitely requires a well-behaved
ink.

I had to pay extra for a convertor, as my set only came with cartridges
and as an earlier poster said, the convertor does not fit perfectly. Also,
the pen is a little heavy for extended writing periods (at least in my opinion).
Still, as an introduction to cursive nibs, I think this is a great pen and
a great deal!

Don't sell yourself short, Marc -- your writing sample is quite nice. Thanks for making the contribution.

Yes, I also tried out the full metal version and found them a bit heavy--reminded me a little of Rotring 600 weight. Fine for writing a letter or two, but you'd have to weight train for long distance writing. The Wawa wood is light enough not to notice, without feeling like it's made of plastic. They have a matte plastic version with swirled stripes--I picked up a set of that as well; *extremely* light, to the point of near weirdness. But the fit and finish is amazing--the cap posts beautifully. I bought it for my niece as a present. No converter--just cartridges (I think they're international size).