Honestly Can't Decide - S. T. Dupont Vs. Caran D'ache

[sla797]

So glad I found your post, am battling precisely the same decision! Tell us, which did you choose and how did it work out for you?

[ArchiMark]

I don't have either an Elysee or a Leman but I do have a couple dozen ST Duponts and a few Cd'As. I see no way you could go wrong with either but I tend to use my Cd'A Varius pens and Hexagonal more often than any of my ST Duponts.

 

Yes, they are very slim sections, among the slimmest of any pens I own and I do tend to prefer wider sections but Caran d'Ache did it right and feel great even during extended sessions.

 

 

Know it's been some years since your post.....but what is it about the Cd'A pens that is why you tend to prefer using them over your ST Duponts which have the wider sections you prefer?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[jar]

 

Know it's been some years since your post.....but what is it about the Cd'A pens that is why you tend to prefer using them over your ST Duponts which have the wider sections you prefer?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

Yeah, surprised me too, and honestly, I'm not all that sure.

 

The Cd'A Varius Metwood on paper should be a pen I absolutely hate. I get it out, usually to use just during a photo shoot or comparison review and full intend to then immediately flush it and put it back away. It gets almost empty and then suddenly it's been refilled and I just can't throw that ink away and as soon as this gets empty I will put it away but ...

 

Do I prefer them over so many of my others? No, not really. But in particular the Varius Metwood is like a few other of my pens that seem to be able to get into rotation even though I really, really, really mean to put them away and let others out to play. Some others that tend to fall into that category are my Sheaffer Legacy stubs, my Nakayas, my Platinum Izumos, my Delta OS Dolcevita and my Montblanc 147 and 234½s.

 

How do they do it?

 

AbE: There are a couple of my ST Duponts that also far into the above category, one you are familiar with. It's gaudy, certainly not subtle, garners stares and certainly not what anyone expects to find in my pocket but every once in a while I go to pull my pen out and there it is.

 

http://www.fototime.com/79F2FA362AB379C/large.jpg

[ArchiMark]

Yeah, surprised me too, and honestly, I'm not all that sure.

 

The Cd'A Varius Metwood on paper should be a pen I absolutely hate. I get it out, usually to use just during a photo shoot or comparison review and full intend to then immediately flush it and put it back away. It gets almost empty and then suddenly it's been refilled and I just can't throw that ink away and as soon as this gets empty I will put it away but ...

 

Do I prefer them over so many of my others? No, not really. But in particular the Varius Metwood is like a few other of my pens that seem to be able to get into rotation even though I really, really, really mean to put them away and let others out to play. Some others that tend to fall into that category are my Sheaffer Legacy stubs, my Nakayas, my Platinum Izumos, my Delta OS Dolcevita and my Montblanc 147 and 234½s.

 

How do they do it?

 

Think I understand.......

 

Certainly, can understand about the Sheaffer Legacy stubs.....definitely one of the nicest stub pens I've used and I've used quite a few.....

as well as Delta OS Dolce Vita and your MBs.....Nakayas are nice, but I found it way too featherlight feeling and it bugged me....

 

But how do they do it....indeed.....

 

 

Thanks.

[rwilsonedn]

...

 

But how do they do it....indeed.....

 

 

 

Sometimes for me the whole is entirely different than the sum of the parts. There are a few pens that I can criticize on many specific details, but when I pick them up and start writing with them they create an overall experience that is far more pleasant than my feelings about the individual features. The Parker 51 comes to mind. I can't think of a single feature of that pen that I particularly like. And in fact I find the pen on the whole boring--a foreshadowing of the ballpoint era rather than the pinnacle of the fountain pen era. Yet there is one particular gold-filled P51 F nib that gets into my hand, and I just keep reaching for it again and again. It's not a conscious thing at all.

ron

[ArchiMark]

 

Sometimes for me the whole is entirely different than the sum of the parts. There are a few pens that I can criticize on many specific details, but when I pick them up and start writing with them they create an overall experience that is far more pleasant than my feelings about the individual features. The Parker 51 comes to mind. I can't think of a single feature of that pen that I particularly like. And in fact I find the pen on the whole boring--a foreshadowing of the ballpoint era rather than the pinnacle of the fountain pen era. Yet there is one particular gold-filled P51 F nib that gets into my hand, and I just keep reaching for it again and again. It's not a conscious thing at all.

ron

 

Exactly, Ron.......

 

Guess some pens just feel right to us....even though there are aspects to them that we wouldn't have thought so.....

 

Hmmmm.......think we're onto something.......