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Picasso 907; Or, Nomnomnom


rebeltrouser

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So, I picked up one of these on ebay, because it was lovely. Yes I do tend to make snap decisions based on aesthetics, so what? Ahem. This is my first review of a pen EVER so be gentle, but I felt I had to because it really is the nicest of all my little pens I've hoarded so far.

 

You can see the attached photo for some general thoughts, but for the attachment-impaired, here goes.

 

Picasso 907, "Montmartre" (black and red)

post-97730-0-83033700-1363521961.jpg

(better photo coming when my camera decides to stop being an arse)

 

Intro/impressions: this one came in an actual box, which immediately was far far fancier than my other Picasso purchases on ebay! I immediately thought "uh, this grip sure is...tiny", but as noted later it doesn't make a big difference for writing. It looks very professional, whereas most of my other purchases have been for ones which looked a bit more retro (the 919 with its snazzy pinstriping, the pale green 916, and my ivory Jinhao X750). It also felt much lighter than any of my other pens, which concerned me because I need some good weight to a pen to control my handwriting going all over the place. The little red bands at the cap and grip look great, though close inspection reveals they're a bit plastic-looking (probably because they are, shush) and not quite as nice as the rest of the pen.

______________________________________________________________________

Appearance & Design - 8

Like I said, the red bits look a bit cheap compared to the rest of the pen. This is also why I went for the red/black and not the yellow/black, since that one you can tell from the photos that the yellow is a sort of weird mustard colour and not very nice. Please don't flame me if muddy mustard is your favourite colour of all time.

Construction & Quality - 8

The pen itself is very well put-together. I love the way Picasso caps snap into place and STAY snapped into place, since it means I can hang them from my lanyard at work and not worry about the pen falling out and disappearing into the library. However, the converter is VERY rattly sounding. I suspect this is a problem with this particular converter as I've not come across that before with any of my other Chinese pens, but the first thing I thought when inspecting it was "I think I might use cartridges with this pen", so perhaps keep that in mind. Hopefully though it's just my particular pen/converter combo and not a model-wide issue.

Weight & Dimensions - 9

Perfect length. It's very light, lighter than any of my others- but it sits perfectly in my hand when posted so that's not a problem for me. It's slender but not too thin. I knit a lot and have issues with pain in my hands and fingers sometimes, and a heavy pen isn't terribly comfortable at those times, but I think this pen won't give me any issues at all. I'll put my thoughts on the grip here since they don't quite fit in the other category, but the size of the grip does not fill me with joy. It's much shorter than other pens, and for some reason this really bugs me when it comes to unscrewing the barrel and rescrewing it back on. It's pure personal preference, but I'd have liked it a bit bigger. Makes no difference at all when writing with it though.

Nib & Performance - 10

This was the first ebay pen I've had to give a quick wash to when first bought, since the ink wasn't coming through at first, but now it's clear it's the smoothest writer I own. Again, the actual thickness of the line it lays down isn't at all as fine as my other fie (or even medium-nibbed) pens, but I'm learning to let go of this apparent inability I have to buy a pen which matches what I think it will be like. I like to use Diamine ink in my Picassos as I've found some other brands get a bit claggy in them (Montblanc I'm looking at you here) and so far it's performed as well as always.

Filling System & Maintenance - 8

It seems to do pretty well with being left and picked up again- it writes perfectly after over 24 hours of sitting unused, which is more than my 916 and 919 do.

Cost & Value - 10

£4.99 and £4.95 shipping; free shipping auctioneers have it around £10, which again seems more than reasonable. My 919 was £12.50 and this writes far better than that one; I'm going to disregard the converter for this score. I love my Jinhao's wetness and smoothness but the line is far too broad for my tastes; this is the perfect middle ground for a nice line and pleasurable writing experience but also with the fineness of line and easy handling of the pen itself.

 

 

Final score? 8.83333 ad infinitum

(sorry, being anal)

This feels like a keeper, and a definite recommendation- I just hope that the lightness of the pen doesn't translate long-term into cheapness and have it end up falling apart on me. It will undoubtedly be my most-used pen thanks to how comfortable it is to hold (and how damn snazzy it looks generally), and if I'm having a bad-hand-day I will absolutely go for this one first. Anyone with joint pain issues could do far worse than to plump for one of these little beauties.

You mentioned Kant and I was shocked, so shocked!

Where I come from none of the girls have such vulgar tongues...

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Nib & Performance - 10

This was the first ebay pen I've had to give a quick wash to when first bought, since the ink wasn't coming through at first, but now it's clear it's the smoothest writer I own. Again, the actual thickness of the line it lays down isn't at all as fine as my other fie (or even medium-nibbed) pens, but I'm learning to let go of this apparent inability I have to buy a pen which matches what I think it will be like. I like to use Diamine ink in my Picassos as I've found some other brands get a bit claggy in them (Montblanc I'm looking at you here) and so far it's performed as well as always.

 

 

Very good & helpful review - all the boxes ticked etc.

On reading this I got my 'orange' :rolleyes: banded Picasso Monmatre out - having not touched it for a week or so - and it started straight off.

 

I agree re the line thickness - HOWEVER have you tried the nib in reverse?

Try it - if it is anything like mine you will be amazed and very, very, pleased. Mine writes smoothly with a fluid fine to very fine line .... in spite of having the 'orange' bands -_- .... Thanks again for the review ....

John

 

Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow :-)

For All The Times That Might Have Been We Only Have The Now

www.africanconservation.org

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Thanks, I can get rid of the first-review jitters now. In fact I'm so grateful that I'll totally ignore your defense of the horrors of mustard. runs off out of hitting distance

 

(I'm told I can be very, er, fussy about colour. I prefer "discerning", myself...but I always was an opinionated child)

 

I've just tried the backwards writing- I'm not getting much fluidity from it BUT that's an interesting thing to know, because my husband draws and has been messing around today with my Lamy Safari which I've passed along to him- so for the purposes of doing fine lines and shading that's a good bit of knowledge for him to have.

You mentioned Kant and I was shocked, so shocked!

Where I come from none of the girls have such vulgar tongues...

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Here's a better photo, where you can see the neat little design of the clip; again, sorry for terrible photo quality. This is why I don't do ink reviews...

post-97730-0-60591100-1363610292.jpg

You mentioned Kant and I was shocked, so shocked!

Where I come from none of the girls have such vulgar tongues...

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the streamline design and the thick cap (comparing with the barrel) looks good~~

I have 3 Picasso fountains. but they are all cheap daily writers.

one did not write smoothly.

the other 2 were quite smooth.... but sadly i dropped both.. and they don't work well now.

 

Good designs and friendly price seems to be common characters among these Chinese pens. (Hero and Duke as well).

(Picasso is a brand registerred in French and based in Shanghai. Duke registered in Germany)

 

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

I have one of these but with the bands of another color;-) It arrived with a bunch of other Chinese pens and was by far the hardest of a hard-to-start lot to get started. That was days or weeks ago. Trying again just now was an ordeal as well. That was five minutes ago and it is already on strike again;-(

 

Weight and size remind me of the Parker Vector and Sheaffer dollar pens which I was fine with.

 

Picasso seems to be the only Chinese brand with a detectable styling department. The styling seems either goofy or distinctive depending on one's tastes. It (or something) seems to raise the price quite a bit above other Chinese pens that write as well.

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looks nice i dont mind having one of these by my side in case some coworkers wants to 'borrow' my pens for a day.

'The Yo-Yo maneuver is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.

So we left it at that. He showed us the maneuver after a sort. B*****d stole my kill.'

-Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. WWII China.

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