The Worst Pen Ever

[marigolds]

Lamy is in the middle for me. The nibs just don't do it for me. Its the same nib on every pen and each time I am just underwhelmed. The styling promises more than what I personally get out of the nibs. If the pens looked more bland, I wouldn't notice as much...

 

I kind of agree. I LOVE my Safaris, but I am not even that big a fan of my 2000. :embarrassed_smile:

[Pterodactylus]

My worst pen is also the Noodlers Ahab.

I imported it from the US as I thought it could be a nice pen as I like flex pens.

I read good and bad reviews of it and thought it couldn't be a complete flop.

5 seconds after I put it out of the packaging I had the strong wish to throw it away.

I never smelled something like this from a pen.

This penetrant sweetish chemical smell almost made me puke.

Ok, some people might judge the smell different.

I found it absolutely terrible, even when it was not in the surrounding of my nose.

I could smell it even in about 1.5 meter away.

I've got it now 3 months and it's getting better, but I still can smell it from 10-15 cm away (hope this is nothing toxical).

When I inked it up it wrote, ok, but you need a huge amount of force to flex it.

Sorry, but this is no flex pen as I understand a flex pen.

It is announced as a flex pen, but at least my exemplar did not work when flexing it.

Railroading, railroading, railroading,........ Railroading.

Ok I gave adjusting the nib and feed position a chance, but nothing worked.

I looked at the videos from Brian Goulet how he tried to a adjust it, but if you are honest also Mr. Goulet could not make it write good when flexing it.

After several hours frustrating position adjustments the feeling inside me was very strong again to throw it into the bin.

I do not need a stinking pen with a nib as a nail, not working when flexing it, made of a very soft material which can be penetrated by my finger nails, and a overall very cheap look and feel (sorry but my 7€ Jinhao 159 has subjective a much better quality)

Some people might be satisfied with a flex pen that writes out of the box with only a fine line.

But when looking at their writing samples most of the time you hardly see any line variation.

Sorry but this pen is announced as a flex pen, just writing a fine line is not enough.

So I looked at the video from Mr. Tardif, ok he is the manufacturer and wants to sell his pens, fair enough.

Beside a huge amount of advertisement it contains some valuable information what I could try to make it work (before throwing it into the bin).

Information was, cut feed fins to increase the flow..... Interesting, but unfortunately he did not showed it how.

Also I could not find any useful pictures from people which actually did it.

Ok.... So I started cutting off whole fins all around the feed. Additionally I deepened the ink channel.

After cutting of 3 fins completely, deepening the ink channel and smoothing the nib you finally can flex it (if you have enough force in your fingers to do it) without railroading.

Now it is almost too wet when flexing it, together with the poor quality, cheap material, the nail like nib and the terrible smell I still won't call it a decent pen.... It's still my worst pen.

 

What I could not understand is why no pen manufacturer these days is selling a good flex pen.

With all the new alloys this can't be too difficult .

Only when looking at Spring steel alloys it most be possible to create elastic nibs at a level which (vintage) gold nibs could never reach. Thinking of nibs you could never spring and which are easy to flex.

 

I read in a German pen forum that the question regarding producing a flexible nib was answered from the big German manufacturers that there is no market for such a nib as people write different these days (with a lot of force which might damage a elastic nib) and they won't buy it.

I can't believe this....

[jkbd52]

For me, with my limited experience it has been Hero 616. I know they are loved here but I just didn't care for the one I purchased. It just didn't work well for me and was very scratchy with bad ink flow.

[vibin247]

The Zebra V-301...I had high hopes for making it a pocket pen, but it's just too darn unreliable. Zebra's other pens are great, but they need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the V-301.

Edited February 4, 2013 by vibin247

[Aysedasi]

For what I paid and lost in time for repair before finally ditching it, the Parker Sonnet.

 

FPN is filled with complaints and praise for this particular pen.

 

 

I would have said the Sonnet too. Three times I tried them and three times I got intermittent ink flow, stopping and starting with all the nibs and inks I tried. I gave up. Sold them all as dead losses.

 

Then on impulse I bought another one cheap on eBay. It writes perfectly. I swapped in an OM steel nib from Lewertowski and it's magnificent. So maybe you get a good one in every four......?

Edited February 4, 2013 by Aysedasi

[TLab3000]

Then on impulse I bought another one cheap on eBay. It writes perfectly. I swapped in an OM steel nib from Lewertowski and it's magnificent. So maybe you get a good one in every four......?

 

Is my Firedance Sonnet one of the 75% or 25%, I wonder. The 18K gold nib must be EF or even thinner - is there a way to find out?

When I don't use it for a couple of days, it takes ages and a lot of shaking till it starts writing. Even after some hours, it takes some effort to get it going - which is really annoying. However, once it starts writing, it writes wonderfully. I especially love the nib's flexibility, it's absolutely perfect for me.

Edited February 4, 2013 by TLab3000

[de_pen_dent]

I am half-tempted to buy a Zebra 301 to see what the fuss is all about!

[Clancy]

I try to not buy bad pens.

 

Good god man! I'd hope we all try..........not to buy bad pen.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Clancy

[Keyless Works]

OMAS makes some of the worst pens I have ever owned. Expensive, bad quality, and horrible customer service.

[LionofdiSouth]

IMO Sheaffer Viewpoint

[Sandy Fry]

I am half-tempted to buy a Zebra 301 to see what the fuss is all about!

 

Nooooo!!! Don't waste your money! It truly IS a piece of garbage. I have a Zebra 301 ballpoint and pencil...great for what they are but the FP is just a total piece of $&@*

 

David

[caleath]

Funny I have 6 Zebras...all work fine for me...but I use a pilot converter or I refill the emptys...they work great for me. They are fragile...nib wise..I have 2 that I dropped...junk now. I ink them with samples of ink i get and put them in my bag...when I get bored...out they come to mess with..I put a sicker on the side of them so I will be able to remember what ink is in there. I havent had a pin so far that was unusable.

[Sandy Fry]

You must have bought all the good ones then! Mine is garbage. Even dipping it, it is scratchy and unpredictable. I would rather write with a nail!...lol!

 

David

[bassopotamus]

2 noodler's ebonites. Love the material, they both wrote smoothly, and they both puke ink like a freshman at his first keg party.

[MaddyMarcel]

My worst pen has been a Sheaffer Javelin. Horrible little monster. Heavy, badly balanced, uncomfortable rubber grip, and an uneven ink flow. It wound up in the trash, I'm afraid.

[Penne Stilografiche]

My worst pen is by far my Parker Vector, I'd rather write with a broken rusted steel nail as it would be smoother and actually write without getting ink all over my hands.

Edited April 14, 2013 by collectiblepens.com

[Vendome]

I hated the Parker Frontier series. They were an awful design and bloody awful to write with.

I went to the pub and supped a few pints in celebration when I heard the news last year that Parker had stopped making them.

[Anitropius]

Few years ago I've buyed a special Montblanc fountain pen on a business trip in Somalia, for less than 400 $ It was an 149 Pokémon Limited edition with plenty of little monster on it, the seller told me that it was a 23k plastic nib ! But the pen never write a line. Finally I suspect that it was not a 23 carats plastic, but 14 carats. Yeah Montblanc are crooks. SHAME ON THEM.

 

Being a huge Pokémon fan even to this day (I was a child of the 90's, so I got no shame admitting that) I sincerely, sincerely ask you to post a picture of the pen if you still have it, I would really, really, really like to see it! :roflmho:

[bernardo]

My worst pen is by far my Parker Vector, I'd rather write with a broken rusted steel nail as it would be smoother and actually write without getting ink all over my hands.

 

Agree. Parker Vector and Arrow are the worst pens I've ever tried.

[stevekolt]

Good move. At school, we used to laugh at the girls who owned Platignum pens. I never met one I liked, and they weren't at all robust.

 

The girls or the pens? :ltcapd: