Just got a Javelin from Pendemonium the other day. It's the Argent colored one with a Medium nib. Well, I ordered a converter with it and PR American Blue ink. Wow! I am totally impressed with this pen. For $35 it is a GREAT writer! Smooth nib, excellent balance and feels like it is a solid pen. I just can't understand why it isn't more popular as it feels like a lot more pen than a Waterman Phileas.

Yes, I had tried this pen before. Its very smooth but unfortunately the medium is too broad for my writing. My local sheaffer distributor only sell their pens in medium nib. If they have fine nib, sure I bought it already. Last time they sell only $15! Great bargain.

The pen itself was $25 but I included the cost of the converter with it.

It seems like a nice pen for the price, and when I started getting back into fountain pens, I seriously considered it (my first fountain pen was a Sheaffer so I'm biased) but decided on a Waterman Philéas instead. The main reason is that I don't like rubber grips, and since then I've pretty much stuck to collecting vintage pens. I do like the Javelin, otherwise, though. I'm not sure why it isn't nearly as frequently recommended as the Lamy Safari as a good "starter pen" (whatever that implies), but given Lamy's recent, apparent quality control issues, perhaps it should.

I wasn't sure about the rubber either when I ordered it, but I don't even notice it unless I'm actually looking for it. I have to agree with you on this being a good option to the Safari for new writers, especially if they have a larger hand.

I really like the Javelin but it has two problems that occur with time. One is the rubber grip stretches and becomes loose - it is just a rubber "tube" stretched over the nib section and the other is the snap on cap as with so many others becomes rather too loose with time, Everything else about the pen is durable and I like these nibs

Good for you Deacon. I swore off Javelin's actually. I've had 4 from Staples and the nibs were so darn swatchy. I tried to adjust a few - but ended up with a very broad stroke. Must be luck of the draw. I've thinking that Staples must have got a bad batch. I've had better luck with the Parker Vector actually.
Bill

ps - on the other hand - I've had 2 Sheafer school pens that are smooth as silk. Go figure.

I have a blue Javelin and I love it, I use it mainly for correcting my students papers, and I am Old School: I use Noodlers Tiananmen red . (Actually I was 18 when that happened and that moment affected me very deeply).

But the Javelin is a great pen for starting a collection or for writing.

I hated handwriting until I started using a pen (my handwriting was so bad before than professors at University of Salamanca regularly asked me to write my tests and papers because they couldn't understand), and then, one day a cheapie Inoxcrom and a plastic Lamy came into my hand. I bought them on an impulse... and my life changed forever... I started to love handwriting... people could understans my scribbles (do you use this word? ) and now everybody envies my handwriting...

Thanks fountain pens.

I have some cheap school pens for my students and they love them , even if they get full of ink...

I suspect one of the reasons I like the Javelin is because it's very like one of the school Sheaffers I used in the '70s that's grown up and put on a nice suit.

Yes! The rubber grip on mine has just stretched out and it's annoying -- I've been considering trying to stick it in place with glue. But it was fine for a few years and the snap on top is its unusually tight self. It has a very nice left oblique nib from Pendemonium and gets a lot of use, so I'm bummed about the grip.


I liked it so much I purchased one with a regular nib somewhere else, but that fine nib has always been the scratchiest of my pens (but very fine), and then the pen started leaking (again, after a couple years, and the cap still snaps on very tightly). It was very inexpensive, but turned out it must've started out as a rollerball (I had to dislodge a spring from it's insides to fit a converter or cartridge in it) so it may just have been from a bad lot.

Didn't I hear somewhere that this pen was about to be discontinued? Anyone know anything about that?

I liked mine well enough, but it always seemed a little cheap . . . not quite a nice pen, not quite a school-type pen. They might have had better luck just continuing to make the lower-end Imperials, maybe in some cool colors or something.

Dave