On Modern Pelikans - The Pelikan M805 Blue/black

[georg84]

As you might see from my profile, I'm new to the FPN (as an active writer) and this is my first review. Usually, I'm not a writer of reviews but in this special case I felt the need to drop in my two cents.

 

A sentence or two about me so that you know where I stand fountain pen wise - I have always written mostly with fountain pens and over the last couple of years I have started to build a small collection, mostly because I find fountain pens quite enjoyable and utterly fascinating. They tick something off in my engineering brain. I have and do enjoy quite a range of pens, from the 10 - 20 euro Lamy safaris and al-stars, pilot metropolitans to the more expensive Lamy 2000s and Montblancs. I do not prefer a specific brand and tend to like nibs that are on the finer side as they suit my handwriting more.

 

As I perceive it, there is much talk lately in the fountain pen world about Pelikan pens, especially with the release of the M805 Stresemann. I want two review its (somewhat) older brother, the M805 blue/black striped model with rhodium trim. I find this color perfect, much ore pleasing than the grey Stresemann and with the silver clip and bands, even better than the regular M800s.

 

I ordered this pen from Amazon, simply because they had it at a steep discount at around 280 euros. The pen was brand new and the order was fulfilled by amazon directly. I ordered the pen with an M nib with the intention to possibly change it later to an F or EF, depending on my impressions. My pen came with an single tone, rhodium plated nib instead of the advertised bicolor nib, I do not know why. Personally I would have liked a two tone nib more.

 

The pen itself is absolute stunningly build. The quality feels solid and the pen has a decent size - it is big, but not too big. The size and weight is more comfortable than that of a M200, at least for my hands. Regarding the size it is almost exactly on par with a Montblanc 146, although the Montblanc is a bit lighter. The piston operated smoothly when I inked up the pen.

 

Coming to the important point: The nib and writing experience

The Pelikan nibs, oh dear. I inked the pen with Pelikan 4001 blue as this is generally a well behaving ink and hey, it's Pelikan like the pen, so surely this should work, no? Pelikan 4001 blue is not the most saturated blue but in my other pens I never had an issue with this ink.

What to say about the nib of the M805? Well, it writes, but barely so. It lies a very dry, very light line on the paper. It has a very narrow sweet spot - rotate it by 1 or two degrees in between words and it will refuse to write at all. Suffice to say that I'm not a happy camper.

And I did it all: I used different types of paper, from Clair Fontaine to printer paper. I flushed the pen (multiple times). I tried different inks (eg. Sailor Sky high and Diamine Asa blue, both inks that are absolutely WET in all my other pens). Nothing helped.

Do not misunderstand me: The nib was buttery smooth, among the smoothest or the smoothest I ever used. The tines were perfectly aligned, it did not have babies bottoms. It just writes like (bleep). Of all the pens I own and owned, there are only two wo write worse: A Noodlers Ahab and some Parker 51 copy from Hero.

 

On modern Pelikan nibs

What I experience with this pen might be an exception, but I don't think so. I think this more has to do with Pelikans quality control or with the way they construct modern Pelikan nibs and feeds. I have experience with several older Pelikans, M200s and M400s and none had these problems. The first modern Pelikan I bought was a M200 Cognac some time ago. The nib on this was a pain. It was dry, scratchy, had misaligned tines and was asymmetrical cut. I got it to work, finally, and now it writes beautifully. Now, I paid 100 euros for the M200 and even at this price I normally would expect the nib to work straight out of the box. I might also send the M805 to Pelikan to exchange the nib, I might get it perfect if I work on it, make it wetter, etc. But for a pen in the 280 euro price range (and keep in mind, the recommended price is 460 euro), this is not an option. For such an expensive pen there is no excuse for such problems - so the pen is already cleaned, packaged and goes back to amazon.

 

As a German and an engineer (who is proud on "Made in Germany") it pains me to say this: Until Pelikan resolves such issues on its pens, there are only one final verdict I can make: Overpriced and overrated.

 

[Notgatherox]

Hi there,

 

Welcome to FPN.

 

M805s have a single tone rhodinated nib - model numbers ending with a '5' have silver coloured trim, and correspondingly, a single tone nib. The M800 has a two tone nib and gold trim.

 

Did you flush the pen when it came? Some pens have oils left from the production process (Lamy tests their pens with Lamy Blue before they ship too, for example) and so flushing is usually recommended on first usage.

 

Hopefully you'll solve your issues out with Pelikan! I have a few birds myself and I absolutely love them as daily writers - they never fail me.

 

 

~Epic

[migo984]

 

Did you flush the pen when it came? Some pens have oils left from the production process (Lamy tests their pens with Lamy Blue before they ship too, for example) and so flushing is usually recommended on first usage.

 

~Epic

The OP says he has flushed his pen multiple times, but doesn't say whether he did so "on first usage".

 

I'm with the OP. I would be furious too.

 

It really bugs me that a pen costing this much money, (or a pen of any value actually), should require effort to get it to work properly. It should work straight out of the box. Period.

 

This has been previously discussed, ad nauseum, on pen forum everywhere, and here we still are......

[georg84]

The OP says he has flushed his pen multiple times, but doesn't say whether he did so "on first usage".

 

No, I did not flush it on first usage as I generally don't do this with any pen unless there are visible oil residues. And as you said migo, one would expect that this is not necessary for a pen this price. If buy an expensive tech product, eg. an Iphone, what would you do if it would require extensive cleaning to be usable?

 

I did however flush it directly after the first try and multiple times afterwards and it did not change the problems with the nib.

[overwriter]

I am sorry to here about this. All I can say is that this must be an isolated incident. I bought a

P200 late last year and an M405 about a month ago. Both have worked flawlessly right out of the box.

 

I do know from experience that Pelikan and their distributors are very good about warranty

adjustments. Unlike the current gong show I have going on right now with Pilot and their Canadian

distributor.

[Lynx3008]

I just bought a M805 Blueblack with 3B nib three weeks ago and had the same Problem as the thread opener...

after three days I sent it to Pelikan and they solved the within a week.

 

And what shall I say: It's a really wonderful writer now, I really love it.

 

Good luck with your pen!

 

Mimi

[fplover01]

I am more of a lurker than a poster... Also more a user than a collector. i am a long time Pelikan user and i have to say this. Have been using the M200 series exclusively for a decade and I dont use ballpoints or other wriitng instruments. Never had any issues with them, have owned more than 10 of them and all of them were exceptional. I dont own other fountain pens apart from a Cross century II. The M805 had been my grail pen. Saved enough to buy the black one at the end of 2014. Had the same problems. extremely dry, with my beloved Lamy blue ink (as well as with all the inks i tried), starting problems, as well as refusing to write at some strokes. The nib was smooth but it didnt reflect the experience i had with the cheaper m200 series. I am sure that Pelikan will make this right through their excellent service if i send the pen in, but at this price level, I would expect it to be better out of the box, especially when pens of the same company at 1/3 the price write better. In the meantime my M200s are everyday with me, while the M805 sits idle.

[nickmazur]

Thanks so much for an honest review. I am also pretty new around here. I joined the forum seeking advice on a good first pen. I didn't want a throwaway, I wanted a pen that I could keep forever and enjoy writing with. I had read dozens of reviews and other types of threads. I found that most reviews of pens are rather positive. On the other hand, there are many threads that discuss faults and defects of even the premium pens, including Pelikans. I found it odd that the new owner has to go through a series of cleaning, smoothing, and testing procedures to get the new pen to work. A lot of people advise buying from a nib meister and have them adjust the nib. To me, that sounded preposterous. However, I also became increasingly worried that I am going to end up with an expensive pen that is a lemon and needs work out of the box. It's kind of crazy, isn't it? The whole buying a fountain pen thing.

[adyf]

But for a pen in the 280 euro price range (and keep in mind, the recommended price is 460 euro), this is not an option. For such an expensive pen there is no excuse for such problems - so the pen is already cleaned, packaged and goes back to amazon.

 

 

 

I understand your disappointment, it's a very reasonable expectation that the pen should write well out of the box particularly at this pens price point.

 

You mention it's going back to Amazon, is that for a refund or an exchange? Hopefully an exchange, because if you give up on the M805 in my view you will be denying yourself. The M800/M805's (I have 3) are great pens and have a huge legion of fans here on FPN.

[RitchieMac]

My M800 writes slightly dry, by Pelikan standards. It is still pretty wet compared to other pens. This dryness is an advantage on poor paper and taming wet inks, so it is a reliable daily writer. However I find its nib rather uninteresting.

 

Pelikan makes excellent pistons (the best in my opinion) and beautiful barrels, only to be let down by its nibs. This is in relation to its high price point. The nibs are perfectly serviceable and reliable, but lacks the "wow" that I want to see a pen at this price.

 

Until I got a vintage 400NN and modern M1000. Much has been said about the 400NN and it semi flex characteristics, which I agree. As for the M1000, I love it because it is springy, wet and has a lovely large nib. It is unlike any other Pelikan nibs that I have tried. Do note that the EF that I have writes like a medium. The steel nibs on the 200/205 are good too.

[fplover01]

mine is so dry that it produces a fading line while being scratchy. I like the wetness my M200s have, they all produce a beautiful wet line with Lamy blue ink as well as the Edelstein Onyx I use. It is one of the things I like in Pelikan. At the M800 price level I do expect quite a lot more from a pen (and it is not the pen I care a lot, if it writes on the cheapest copier paper available). Its looks are stunning, and i am sad everytime i see it just sitting there. As said, the service will probably make this right, but the value for money thing sucks a bit. esp. for someone who has written with Pelikans practically all their adult life and has been always happy with them. I cannot justify the expense of it, when my 200s are writing page after page... A flex nib is not something that is important to me. So the M805 nib, would be just right, if it just worked out of the box like my M205 does or like my M605. I have a 205 which is about as old as my 805, that one has written about a 100 A5 pages. The 805 just 3.

 

i suspect the real issue, is not that Pelikan cannot make an 805 nib right, but that pens at this price level are nowadays more and more expected to be used for signatures and as status symbol, than to actually write anything long.

Edited May 13, 2015 by fplover01

[foamy]

Disappointed to read this as I am considering the 805 Stresemann. I'd have to get a couple of martini's in me before I could push the button (I have a hard time justifying $600+ for a pen), but that's no hardship and once it's done, it'd only take as long as it took to get to me to get over it.

 

My M605 writes like a champ.

 

Reading these things about the 805 is making me reconsider.

Edited May 14, 2015 by foamy

[dspeers58]

This problem with the quality control on Pelikan nibs has been going on for some time. I wish they would actually do something about it. It would seem a $400-$700 pen, depending on what you had to pay, model etc, should never suffer from this kind of reputation. I have had about 7-8 different pelikans and all but the vintage had problems, steel and gold nibs, including a m800 with the calligraphy nib. It did not write out of the box. I worked on it and it seemed to get a little better, but I traded it through Chartpak, for a fine which writes very well. Compared to the Japanese pens I have purchased, there is no comparison out of the box. The Japanese pens work and work well. I sometimes wonder where Pelikan is producing their pens. They are losing, on some levels the loyalty they had.

Edited May 14, 2015 by dspeers58

[ralfstc]

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I bought my 805 Blue/Black from Rolf at Missing-pen.de about six months ago and it is a stunning writer. The nib is even slightly soft. It's an EF but smooth as anything and satisfyingly wet. I hope that you get yours to that point-- they really are quite something when they are working right-- very much flying the flag for German quality!

 

Good luck!

 

Ralf

Edited May 15, 2015 by ralfstc

[TradArch]

I have a similar experience with the same model. It has sat for a year now, unused. Thinking I will take it to the Triangle Pen Show to be tuned, and keep my fingers crossed. It really is a beautiful pen!

[ragpaper1817]

This post makes me lean towards Pilot.

[Orange25]

Thanks for the responses on this thread. I was just about to splash out on the M805 but the feedback above is concerning .

 

True, they might be isolated incidents, but for the cost of the pen, I feel it has to work without issue from the start.

[georg84]

Sorry for the late reply, I was away from the internet for a couple of days. I think this discussion is quite helpful, as it shows that the experiences I had with the pen are not isolated occurrences of bad luck. Just to be clear: I don't want to bash Pelikan, I think that (with the exception of the nibs) the pens are well made and beautiful. It's just their quality control that is not up to par. I hope / would guess they are reading some of the forums and maybe change something to address this issues.

 

In the meantime, if you must buy a Pelikan, I would urge anyone not to buy such a pen online but if possible from a local store where you can test it. Just make them fill the pen (the one you are going to buy) with Pelikan blue and write half a page (just dipping won't do). If this goes well you are most likely good and can buy the pen. Or buy it from a reputable seller online if you must (Rolf Thiel has been mentioned, I'm pretty sure he won't sell you a bad pen but will test drive them himself). Even if it costs you a 100 bucks more, it will pay of in the long run.

 

As for my pen, I have decided to send it not back to amazon but give Pelikan a go on their customer service. I have send them the pen to exchange the M for an F nib, as this was my original plan anyhow. I will see how it performs then and will keep you posted.

[fplover01]

An update on my side too, this thread has actually made me do something about my pen instead of looking at it. Sent the thing to Pelikan along with my issue, and the customer service did correct my pen. Now it writes wonderfully with its M nib producing a nice wet line which I enjoy. It is about a week I have it back in my hands, have filled it two times with ink (written quite a lot) and it has become my most used pen. And while I was thinking of using it as a desk pen at home when i bought it (because of its cost, was afraid of losing it), I bought a leather case for it and carry it with me instead. And my 215 sits in the drawer.

 

Again I was sure that Pelikan would make this right, it is just that after 20+ Pelikans, it was the first one that was so expensive, and the first I had problems out of the box with.

 

ps... I have bought another M805 and one more M205 after this issue...

Edited May 23, 2015 by fplover01

[thiagojp]

Great review! I also have a m800, and had the exact same problem. It seems they no longer pride themselves on QC. I got an 1005, and it was a whole different league. Great pen, with a bit of baby's bottom, but a much better nib than the m800. I managed to get it to write well, but this shouldn't be necessary on such an expensive pen. Would recommend getting it from someone who tunes the nib prior to shipping

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