Which Is The Worst Sheaffer Fountain Pen?

[de_pen_dent]

Sheaffer Intensity. It is a heavy metal pen, nail of a nib, but smooth and well finished. Intense, definetively not. Really cold thing, not meant to generate passion or synergy.

 

I got it for about $60 while on a work trip to Thailand. Initially, I was a little blah about this pen, but once I put some Caran d'Ache Storm in it, that pen just went from being "meh" to "magnificent".

[DRP]

There was a particularly bad pen made in the BIC era. I don't recall what it was called -- actually, I think that my mind was able to blot out all memory of the name.

 

I bought a couple of them on clearance. At first look, they are actually pretty good looking pens. Mine are transluscent amber colored plastic and the design is actually appealing. Balance is a little off when posted but not bad for the price.

 

But workmanship? Horrible beyond belief. Nibs are particularly bad. I looked closely and the capillary slit is way off center. Plus, it doesn't draw ink. Quality control is an example of how not to do the job.

 

This was a pen in which various parts were outsourced to different vendors, none of which cared in the slightest way how the pen was put together.

 

This isn't a marketing failure. This is a bad pen which was put together in the poorest possible way. I haven't bought a Sheaffer pen since -- at least no BICs. And, I never will.

 

Do you know of a restaurant where the food is so bad that you will never go there again, no matter what they do? This pen is like that. It is so bad that it turned me against BIC forever. No respectable company could put out any product so disgustingly poor and expect customers to ever return. I have no idea what these people were thinking.

 

Just a comment on the Royal Selangor ..................

 

This is a weird pen which I find myself capable of liking from an intellectual perspective, but just not using it.

 

The actual pen is a Connaisseur (have I spelled that correctly?). The nib is especially good and draws ink smoothly and evenly. The Royal Selangor body is just too heavy. The pen is imbalanced and ungainly.

 

Writing with a Sheaffer Royal Selangor pen is a pleasure. However, the unequal size, weight, and balance problems are such that I become tired writing far too quickly. Royal Selangor pens are good for signing Christmas cards but you won't write a note with the pen. After one note your hand is tired, even though the nib is exceptionally good.

 

If you're a collector, you should get a Royal Selangor. There is a lot to like. The pewter barrel and cap are truly works of art. Your eye will be drawn to the pen instantly.

 

Unfortunately the total product is less than the sum of its parts. I still like mine and recommend it to collectors who can afford to have a few pens around they use only rarely. For that occasional use, the Sheaffer Royal Selangor is a delight. Just not very often.

[bob_hayden]

In the sixth post in this thread, Ernst offers a picture of a light blue Sheaffer pen. I have one of those in black and this is the first sign I have seen that there was another in captivity. Anyone know the official name of this model? Or when it was made? I was into Sheffer pens starting roughly in 1960 and I do not remember it being a current model. I do remember a pen some call the "295" which sold for $2.95 and the similar but more spartan Dollar Pen that came along later (and still later was just called Sheaffer Cartridge Pen).

 

"Sheaffer school pen" is used to describe a variety of different Sheaffer pens, though I am not sure it was the name Sheaffer used for any of them. In any case, my example of this model looks awful because the soft plastic acquires gouges where another Sheaffer might acquire a minor scratch or no injury at all. But its main sin in my book is that it writes quite poorly. In my book it is runner-up for "worst Sheaffer".

 

The winner is the Reaktor. I am not sure in what sense this is a "Sheaffer". It seems like it was outsourced to the lowest bidder. The crimped nib is very rough and offers much more resistance to lateral than vertical movement. My handwriting came out looking like the cursive equivalent of Arial Narrow. The only nice thing I can say about the Reaktor is that the cap looked classier than the caps used on the predecessor that began life as the Sheaffer Dollar Pen. It does fit the older pen, though I don't think anything else is interchangeable.

 

I should say that my criterion is whether the pen was good for writing. On that count I think Sheaffer USA had a 0.995 batting average and they are my favorite pens. By the end of the last century they were starting to have some quality control problems even in the USA-made pens but the basic design was generally excellent, and that includes the Dollar Pens.

 

I think others are using different criteria, such as whether the pen was a success in the marketplace, or aesthetically pleasing. No problem with that as long as we know we are talking about different things;-)

[georgeb]

I don't like the Agio.

[virgilio]

The first Sheaffer cartridge pen design from the 50s was sort of nice; it had a semi-hooded, gold-plated nib and had adequate ink flow. But the second, open-nibbed design from the 60s was dry and scratchy, altho it did usually write. Only one pen in ten or so wrote as well as the earlier version out of the box, or rather bubble. That was probably the worst pen they ever made, but alas, the only one that the general public has probably ever seen...

[BillH]

Bob_H, I have one of those nameless soft plastic pens as well, in what has to be the second worst shade of blue known to pendom. Pretty close to the worst ever. You're right though, the Reaktor has to be the worst writing pen in my collection also.

 

The first one looks like a failed attempt to find a way to maximize profit as cheaply as possible while still producing a pen that looks like it might be something someone would want. The Reaktor however just says "we don't care". Sad little pen... which is why I keep one in the collection... they really did that.

[ThomasB]

The PFM...Everyone should quit buying them immediately

[Sandy1]

The PFM...Everyone should quit buying them immediately

 

 

+1

 

Hi,

 

I have a PFM One. It is so exquisite that there is no need for another.

 

While I respect collectors, kindly release your PFMs and let them run free into the warm welcoming grasp of other folks who will use them.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited October 14, 2016 by Sandy1

[JonSzanto]

I don't know about the worst (and I really, really wonder about why threads like this get posted), but there has to be some category for the modern Balance pens (Balance II?). The special category being the unstable acrylics that were used; it is my understanding that most all of them were prone to cracking, breaking, and often complete failure. While they are attractive, I have totally avoided even thinking about getting one of these.

 

OTOH, my Sheaffer Flattops from the early 20's and even the earliest Balances (late 20's) are still miraculously great pens, in material quality and writing excellence. I have a hard time finding a modern pen that surpasses them.

Lastly, they may not be the worst, but there is something about those dumb Dolphin pens that just squicks me the heck out.

And, yeah, I'm good with my one PFM III, so happy hunting to all the PFM stalkers!

[ethernautrix]

I don't know the worst, but Sheaffer vintage nibs rate very high in my Favorites.

[dan in montreal]

I placed a low bid on a new Taranis on ebay and I won it. I got it last week and even though I like the look of the pen (contrary to many!), it's a big disappointment. First, the medium nib was very scratchy - I managed to fix that by aligning the tines and smoothed it with micromesh. The problem is ink flow. Even with very well behaved inks, like Florida Blue, it is at best erratic. It's also a crappy design as you can't dissassemble the section and nib to get to the feed. As of today, it's my worst Sheaffer.

[pajaro]

The first Sheaffer cartridge pen design from the 50s was sort of nice; it had a semi-hooded, gold-plated nib and had adequate ink flow. But the second, open-nibbed design from the 60s was dry and scratchy, altho it did usually write. Only one pen in ten or so wrote as well as the earlier version out of the box, or rather bubble. That was probably the worst pen they ever made, but alas, the only one that the general public has probably ever seen...

After installing a Monteverde converter, the open nib pen from the 60s is one of my most reliable pens. It even came with an Esterbrook CX-100 cap that fits.

[AL01]

The VFM is an absolute piece of garbage if I do say so meself.

 

3 years of dreadfully cheap-no good-uncharacteristic writing and then what???

 

The section's threads wore off!! REALLY! (The threads on my prelude are 15 years and counting and look like brand new!)

[AL01]

The second contender, as many have proclaimed would be the Viewpoint. It's just not a Sheaffer. Nope. Never. Not built, doesn't write, nor gives me the same giddy feeling as any Sheaffer pen would to a nut like me.

[dragonmiroff]

i like my Sheaffer Agio, but i will say that the grip could have not had the grooves in.

[Toraaki]

I have a Stylist and the clip doesn't bother me at all, In fact I do like it.

The current incarnation of the Viewpoint is rather terrible, although the actual writing part is OK. I think, looking back, that soft-bodied quasi-hooded school pen was a similar thing; squalid, apart from the actual ink-paper aspect. Oh, here's a picture:

http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Sheaffer-0152.jpg

I've had some issues with the Stylist, in terms of convincing ink to pass along through the section, but when that's not an issue they're actually kind of nice to use. As long as one doesn't look at the clip too long.