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Pens You Want To Like, But Don't


benbot517

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In my pen using and collecting experience there have been many, many good pens, pens that look, feel, and work amazingly. But on occasions, I come across a pen that is super attractive, but just doesn't end up working out. For me it's the Lamy 2000. I think the pen looks fantastic, mine wrote pretty well, but at the end of the day I sold it because it just wasn't comfortable for me. A pen I think would fit this criteria that I haven't tried is the lamy dialog 3. Again I love the design, but the weight gives me the impression it wouldn't work for me. Is there a pen you've owned or looked at that just doesn't work for you no matter how hard you want to like it?

Edited by benbot517

"Oh deer."

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Pilot Capless.

 

I like its sleekness, don't like the clip. The weight too, but I could live with that. The clip just gets in my way (of loving it!)

 

 

~Epic

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And I want before I die
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Like tears in rain.
Time to die.

 

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Anything over about 5.5 inches.

Anything over 25 grams.

 

Maybe I'm too uncompromising and missing out on a lot of good pens, but those two criteria affect my writing comfort and that's the most important "feature" of a good pen to me. If it isn't comfortable for long journaling sessions, it won't make the cut. Nibs can be tuned or swapped, but weight and size are there to stay...

 

Edit: Oh, this is about specific pens...my bad. Sorry, I'm tired. The Parker 51 comes to mind. Saw many at the recent pen show. Did nothing for me. I honestly don't understand the love they get. I'd rather have a Pelikan M200 at the moment...

Edited by sirgilbert357
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I am not sure if my first an only FP qualifies but it is how I feel about it for the most part. The Sheaffer VFM seemed like a good looking pen and wanted to try writing with a FP. To my disappointment, the nib has required some fiddling (of course climbing the steep learning curve of tweaking a nib). I like the design and weight of this pen and as much as I want to like it it's just not quite working out.

 

Hopefully my second pen will be a better experience and something that I enjoy all around, the looks, feels, and performance.

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Lamy 2000

Too FAT and too heavy. Slim the pen pen down a couple mm and cut the weight and I would love it. Then it would look like a Parker 45.

I used it for 3 months, trying to get used to the pen, then finally gave up.

 

Anything over 11.5mm diameter and 25 grams. Preferably, down at about 10mm and 15 grams.

Any pen that does not balance well in my hand, posted or unposted.

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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This sometimes happens with perfectly good pens. Montblanc 149, Pelikan M1000, Pilot capless and a few of their highly rated pens, Sailor any, Lamy 2000 (the little cap-holding nubs), Parker other than 51, Sheaffer Prelude, Waterman Carene (cap doesn't post and it's heavy), Waterman Laureat I, Esterbrook, Wearever. Ultimately I think I like the Pelikan M2xx/M4xx, but I never use them any more. No idea why.

 

Some of these pens don't work well (hard starts, dry out too fast), some have too much wanton bling.

 

I like and regularly use Parker 51s, Montblanc 144s, a Sheaffer school cartridge pen, a black Waterman Carene in a Sheaffer desk base, a Waterman Phileas with L'etalon 18K EF nib and a couple of Laureat IIs with EF nibs. Also a Sheaffer Cadet with G1 nib and one with the S1 stub.

 

The rest of the stuff I have, and it's a lot of pens, I don't seem to like using.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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the lamy 2000 heavy? It is lightweight, unless you are talking about the steel one.

 

 

Weight is relative to what you are used to.

My preferred pens are below 15 grams, and the L-2000 is over 25 grams. So yes, for me the L-2000 is heavy.

And yes I agree, there are worse pens that go up to 50+ grams.

 

I can "tolerate" a heavy pen, max 35 grams, for a few minutes. But for anything longer than a few minutes, I use my lighter pens.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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This is going to make some people cringe...a GvFC Guilloche.

 

Maybe my expectations were too high for the pen. Every time I use it I ask myself if I should just sell it because I don't really like the way it writes or the way feels in my hand. It's not that it writes badly or that it's too heavy, too light, too bulky or too thin. Every time I ink it up, I'll use it once, sigh, then flush it and put it back away. It never stays in rotation.

 

I really want to like it, but I just don't.

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Just about every Chinese and Japanese pen I have ever tried. Almost all are too fine a nib and the ink flow is inadequate for the broad-nib work I love to do. Great pens but just don't work for me. Hero is trying hard -- they have a new series of italic nibs, from 1.1 to 2.4 mm, that are definitely a step in the right direction. But the Hero pens in general have the same faults most Parkers and Sheaffers have. Too little flow, too fine a nib.

 

Best of luck,

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

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Pilot Vanishing Point. I love everything about it besides how it feels when I write with it. The clip just digs into me.

 

i wish other companies were as keen with engineering as Japan, so the damn thing had some legitimate competition.

Fountain pens forever and forever a hundred years fountain pens, all day long forever, forever a hundred times, over and over Fountain Pen Network Adventures dot com!

 

- Joe

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For me, it was a Sailor 1911m. Good size, but I wasn't in love with the nib or the clip, and it felt a little fragile to me. I wanted to love the nib, I heard nothing but raves about them, but it wasn't all that special to me.

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Lamy 2000 for me also. It ticks off a laundry list of appealing characteristics -- lightweight, piston filler, reliable, somewhat girthy, tough ...

but that cap retention spring irritates my right thumb pad beyond all reason. I understand now that it can be removed without affecting whether the cap stays on, as its primary function is to provide a snapping sound, not to hold the cap on.

And Noodler's Konrad. I have one in Pequod's Smoke demonstrator. I absolutely love the weight and form factor; the section feels like it was designed to my hand. And even when capped, it dries out in mere hours.

And Noodler's Ahab. I have one in Jade (so pretty!) with a 0.8mm Nemosine stub, and I love the line, but it has too much girth for comfort. I don't remember noticing that when I was using one of the stock halflex nibs in my Mandarin Yellow Ahab.

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+1 on the Pilot Vanishing Point:

love the pen, hate the placement of the clip

 

+1 on the Lamy 2000:

I coveted the idea of owning this pen, but even the fiber glass version is too heavy and large for my hand to feel comfortable. It's a personal. My hands are rather small.

 

Then, low and behold I fell in love with a pen I never thought I would...the Pelikan Souverän M400 White

Planning on purchasing one in the exquisite White Tortoise, as soon as the budget allows.

 

So, you never know until you have it I your warm alive hand.

Edited by httpmom

"You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling.” "Forever optimistic with a theme and purpose." "My other pen is oblique and dippy."

 

 

 

 

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+1 on the Pilot Vanishing Point:

love the pen, hate the placement of the clip

 

+1 on the Lamy 2000:

I coveted the idea of owning this pen, but even the fiber glass version is too heavy and large for my hand to feel comfortable. It's a personal. My hands are rather small.

 

Then, low and behold I fell in love with a pen I never thought I would...the Pelikan Souverän M400 White

Planning on purchasing one in the exquisite White Tortoise, as soon as the budget allows.

 

So, you never know until you have it I your warm alive hand.

Totally agree on 2000 and VP.

 

For my M400 White tortoise, a lovely pen came in wrong time. I pursuit it for few months, bid at least 6 times and when the time it arrived, i already have a Nakaya. And the Pelikan modern nib kills the feeling for it. I use it only few times and sold it to a guy who treasure it more than me.

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EoC is amazed by how tight some of the tolerances are! Especially with regard to diameter of pens. EoC never realised that a 1mm difference could make a... well, a difference. EoC doesn't have very much (if any) experience of pens larger than 11mm diam though.

Edited by Empty_of_Clouds
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Lamy 2000 for me also. It ticks off a laundry list of appealing characteristics -- lightweight, piston filler, reliable, somewhat girthy, tough ...

 

but that cap retention spring irritates my right thumb pad beyond all reason. I understand now that it can be removed without affecting whether the cap stays on, as its primary function is to provide a snapping sound, not to hold the cap on.

 

And Noodler's Konrad. I have one in Pequod's Smoke demonstrator. I absolutely love the weight and form factor; the section feels like it was designed to my hand. And even when capped, it dries out in mere hours.

 

And Noodler's Ahab. I have one in Jade (so pretty!) with a 0.8mm Nemosine stub, and I love the line, but it has too much girth for comfort. I don't remember noticing that when I was using one of the stock halflex nibs in my Mandarin Yellow Ahab.

Love my Lamy 2000, but I agree on the Noodler's Konrad. I own two and I covet their looks, size, feel in my hand, even the odor--but it peeves me how fast the ink evaporates. I still use them--cuz they write great--but only with a cheaper ink.

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I'll jump on the Lamy 2k bandwagon as its one of my least used modern pens. It works when its in rotation, but I don't ever find an excuse to have it jump ahead of its turn.

 

And I'll also add the Visconti HS. I was originally excited about the material, a new material for a nib, and a nice cap retention system. My fine nib is extremely wet and often makes short work of even excellent paper. The filling system is inconsistent and unreliable, and it's tough to take this one away from the ink collection as I never have any idea what's left in the tank, even after a fresh "fill." The material is nice, but the pen is both thick and heavy. All in all, it may be one of the first that I decide to sell.

 

Buzz

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Personal taste is going to be a big factor. Never thought of a Lamy 2000 as a love it or hate it pen, but there's a lot of dislike for it here, I see. I like mine quite a bit, although it's not my very favorite.

 

But that wasn't the question, was it? My Edison Hudson was a fairly big disappointment. Just too large to feel comfortable. And it writes well enough that I can't really see getting it tweaked, while not standing out in any way from a number of pens which at least fit my hand and cost less.

 

And I don't know what I was thinking buying a modern Conklin Crescent. Very mediocre (hmm, did that make sense?) writer, and the "spearmint" version is cheap and ugly looking when seen in person; the pictures looked better. I have three vintage Conklins, which I like better.

 

There have been other disappointments, but perhaps not ones that I "wanted" to like.

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

 

- Benjamin Franklin

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Lamy 2000--The grip is way too slim and the body way too thick.

 

Pilot VP--Too heavy and grip too slim.

Walk in shadow / Walk in dread / Loosefish walk / As Like one dead

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