Wing Sung 233, Leonardo, Wing Sung Lucky 2002

[mikej165]

I'm a very recent convert to fountain pens and have learned a great deal from reading the comments posted here. For the past several years I've had bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, which can sometimes make extended writing sessions on the computer painful. So, after 30 years of doing my writing almost exclusively on a computer, I switched to longhand for some tasks and this has brought relief, albeit at the expense of hand cramps induced by ballpoint pens. Once I learned that fountain pens helped relieve that, I was sold.

 

To get started inexpensively, I thought I would purchase one well-regarded pen and a few of the inexpensive Chinese pens. So far my results have been mixed and I thought I would post my findings since two of the pens I purchased have not been mentioned here before.

 

Since it seemed a safe choice, I began by ordering a Lamy Safari (F). Ironically, this particular purchase was anything but smooth. Out of the box the pen was scratchy and skipped badly. I ended up returning it to Amazon.

 

Suggestions here to have a look at isellpens.com led me to purchase a handful of the lower cost Chinese pens, as well as a replacement for the Safari. I'm happy to say that Todd at isellpens is a stand-up guy and a pleasure to deal with.

 

Here are the pens I purchased and my impressions of them:

 

Wing Sung 233 - This pen might be the biggest disappointment of the bunch. It was very scratchy but wrote an extremely fine line- perfect for my pocket Moleskine - until I refilled it. Now it's just a mess. I've flushed, soaked, dried, and refilled it and no longer writes a fine line. Worse, it seems to flood a bit. I only paid about $4, so no harm done.

 

Leonardo - No markings on this one other than 'Leonardo' with an etched image of the great master himself on the cap. This one wrote nicely out of the box, filled with Noodler's black. It writes a medium, wet line. It is quite well made. It is an all-metal pen, with a silver-colored body with gold accents. I believe I paid about $15 for it and have been very happy so far. I wrote ten pages in longhand the other day, and had absolutely no cramping. This was truly a joyous experience for me.

 

Wing Sung Lucky 2002 - This is the most interesting value of the bunch. It writes about as well as the Leonardo, which is to say quite well. The pen only cost $5. I'm not fond of the pump filling system, but for $5 I think it was a very good value, even if it does look like something a pimp would use for signing parking tickets.

 

The Wing Sung 233 is going to end up in the trash, but I think that both the Leonardo and the Lucky 2002 will end up in steady rotation for a while.

 

After my bad experience with ordering the Safari from Amazon, I re-ordered it, from isellpens, along with a Hero 616 and 329. I'm looking forward to receiving them.

[hardyb]

The two Hero 616s (from isellpens) I have are just wonderful pens. Enjoy!

[mikej165]

The two Hero 616s (from isellpens) I have are just wonderful pens. Enjoy!

Right now I'm hanging on the three little words everyone loves to hear: Out For Delivery.

[MYU]

Glad to hear that fountain pens have helped you circumvent the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome. Have you received the pens? What's your impression of them?