M400 Tortoise Re-Edition And New 205 Blue-Marbled

[dms525]

Thanks for posting the photos, Lynx! I can hardly wait to get mine. That looks like a grown up nib, for sure!

 

David

 

P.S. Right on cue, I got an email from Novelli. My pen is there and will ship tomorrow (18 Sept.)!

Edited September 17, 2016 by dms525

[tragique]

I'm waiting for the new M400 brown tortoise as well. Very excited to see how it compares to my 80s M400 brown tortoise.

[LuckyKate]

Thanks for posting the photos, Lynx! I can hardly wait to get mine. That looks like a grown up nib, for sure!

 

David

 

P.S. Right on cue, I got an email from Novelli. My pen is there and will ship tomorrow (18 Sept.)!

 

 

To those who got the Italic, could you share the nib width? Is it comparable to the M800 broad (this was way too wide for everyday use for me) or is it more like a Binder .9 italic grind for a Pelikan(my favorite nib width?) Thanks for the info in advance!

[twdpens]

 

 

To those who got the Italic, could you share the nib width? Is it comparable to the M800 broad

Yes. It's a broad italic. Lovely nib, but very wide.

 

We have a photo on our IG page: https://www.instagram.com/p/BKbIwZKhPfE/

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[dms525]

 

 

To those who got the Italic, could you share the nib width? Is it comparable to the M800 broad (this was way too wide for everyday use for me) or is it more like a Binder .9 italic grind for a Pelikan(my favorite nib width?) Thanks for the info in advance!

 

Package tracking indicates scheduled delivery of mine on Monday. I will certainly post impressions, measurements and writing sample. However, all three of my M800IB nibs have been modified to make them crisper and, probably narrower, so you will have to take that into account when comparing nibs.

 

David

[dms525]

Yay! My M400 Tortoise Shell with an IB nib arrived today, rather than next week. It's purty.

 

This reply is to keep my promise to review the M400 Broad Italic nib that Pelikan made available for this special edition.

 

As italic nib aficionados should all be aware, the width of italic nibs can be according to the physical width of the nib tip or according to the width of the line the nib writes. In my opinion, the latter is more meaningful, recognizing that ink and paper variables make this a bit less helpful than one might wish. The IB nib Pelikan made for the M800 was said to be 1.5mm. I have not seen any specifications for the M400 IB nib. In any case, these are hand-ground and are not all exactly the same, I am sure.

 

I have compared the writing widths of some stock italic nibs from different manufacturers. With the exception of the last example, these are all un-modified. The paper is the same for all, but there are some ink differences. Also, my scanner tends to make fine lines less fine, so all the nibs write crisper lines than appear on my computer monitor. I hope you can appreciate the differences qualitatively, at least.

 

 

 

The Pelikan M400 IB nib and the un-modified M800 IB nib, as I remember it, are nearly identical in width and crispness. I have had the M800 IB nib made crisper, but it is still a hair (maybe 0.05mm) wider than the M400 IB nib.

The M400 IB nib is a bit less crisp, but certainly usable for italic script. It is very smooth and is usable for Palmer-type cursive without any difficulty, if you write large enough script. I expect I will eventually have it made crisper. If memory serves, I used my first M800 IB nib for over a year before finally deciding to have it ground to give more line variation.

 

 

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

Edited September 24, 2016 by dms525

[Monbla]

Glad to see they have brought the Tortoiseshell/Dk. Brown back but I'm not a fan of today's Pelikans with all the blingy rings and nail nibs prefering the older style of 400 like this one;

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh215/michaelintexas/Fountain%20Pens/Pelikan%20400%20tortopshell%202_zpsmtb1mllx.jpg

Edited September 24, 2016 by Monbla

[Matlock]

I have a few 400s, a couple of 400NNs and several M400s. They all have their good points and, the best part, the nib units are fully interchangeable. Whilst the nibs on the 400s are really superb, I quite like the modern nibs for some purposes. Horses for courses.

[LuckyKate]

Yay! My M400 Tortoise Shell with an IB nib arrived today, rather than next week. It's purty.

 

This reply is to keep my promise to review the M400 Broad Italic nib that Pelikan made available for this special edition.

 

As italic nib aficionados should all be aware, the width of italic nibs can be according to the physical width of the nib tip or according to the width of the line the nib writes. In my opinion, the latter is more meaningful, recognizing that ink and paper variables make this a bit less helpful than one might wish. The IB nib Pelikan made for the M800 was said to be 1.5mm. I have not seen any specifications for the M400 IB nib. In any case, these are hand-ground and are not all exactly the same, I am sure.

 

I have compared the writing widths of some stock italic nibs from different manufacturers. With the exception of the last example, these are all un-modified. The paper is the same for all, but there are some ink differences. Also, my scanner tends to make fine lines less fine, so all the nibs write crisper lines than appear on my computer monitor. I hope you can appreciate the differences qualitatively, at least.

 

Pelikan M400 TS italic001.jpg

 

The Pelikan M400 IB nib and the un-modified M800 IB nib, as I remember it, are nearly identical in width and crispness. I have had the M800 IB nib made crisper, but it is still a hair (maybe 0.05mm) wider than the M400 IB nib.

The M400 IB nib is a bit less crisp, but certainly usable for italic script. It is very smooth and is usable for Palmer-type cursive without any difficulty, if you write large enough script. I expect I will eventually have it made crisper. If memory serves, I used my first M800 IB nib for over a year before finally deciding to have it ground to give more line variation.

 

Pelikan M400 TS italic002.jpg

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

David,

 

Thanks so much for this beautifully written note and especially for the information. I've been all over FPN and the web looking for exactly this. Really helpful and appreciated.

 

It did make me change my order to a broad nib that I'll send to Mike Masuyama or Pendleton brown to make into a cursive italic as the 1.5 isn't quite practical for me

Edited September 24, 2016 by LuckyKate

[dms525]

Glad to see they have brought the Tortoiseshell/Dk. Brown back but I'm not a fan of today's Pelikans with all the blingy rings and nail nibs prefering the older style of 400 like this one;

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh215/michaelintexas/Fountain%20Pens/Pelikan%20400%20tortopshell%202_zpsmtb1mllx.jpg

 

I like the older Pelikans too, but, since you bring it up, the IB nib on the M400 I got is quite springy. It's not as springy as my 140 or my 400NN, but much springier than the M600 and M800 nibs I have. Since this is my first M400, I cannot generalize beyond this one nib.

 

David

[dms525]

David,

 

Thanks so much for this beautifully written note and especially for the information. I've been all over FPN and the web looking for exactly this. Really helpful and appreciated.

 

It did make me change my order to a broad nib that I'll send to Mike Masuyama or Pendleton brown to make into a cursive italic as the 1.5 isn't quite practical for me

 

You are very welcome, Kate. I think you have a good plan. I have thought about swapping in one of my customized M600 italic nibs, in order to use the M400 TS as an EDC.

 

That said, this M400 IB nib is wide and juicy and really brings out the shading in inks that shade. It wants me to use it and is very persuasive.

 

Happy writing!

 

David

[mandrbeck]

I don't think the rollerball will be much of a compromise since you already have an R250 and will likely be left with the same problem, infrequent use. I'd either pass on this one or jump on the fountain pen. The best price you'll find right now is about $270 for the fountain pen. That makes it about $70 more expensive than the roller ball. Everyone has their own threshold but I'd upgrade to the fountain pen for a finish like this and less than a $100 price difference between the two.

Where are they $270!? That's a great price!

[sargetalon]

Where are they $270!? That's a great price!

Gone....Deals like that are best snatched pre-release.