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Pelikan M205 Blue Marble


visvamitra

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Pelikan is one of the few companies manufacturing fountain pens known to a lot of people outside our little fountain pen aficionados world. Even folks whose knowledge of the fountain pens is limited to the direction in which to point the nib, had a chance to hear about Pelikan and maybe even see one with their own eyes.

This is because the company promotes its products very skillfully and sensitively and applied reasonable segmentation to their portfolio: school articles, youth writing, premium products. I have a feeling that most fountain pen makers know little about their customers and aren’t really interested in understanding market and their consumers needs (even companies as Lamy – take a look at limiting access to bottled ink because they don’t know there’s interest in them in Europe, Lamy being surprised by amazing success of Dark Lilac color etc). Pelikan is active in social media, initiates a great event allowing company’s fans to meet (Pelikan HUB), organizes competitions allowing consumers to choose next Ink of the year color. to sympathizers of the brand to choose the color the next ink series Edelstein. I believe only TWSBI tries to engage consumers in such a way, but they work on much smaller scale.

Of course, there’s nothing perfect in the world. Pelikan doesn’t offer too many innovations. They don’t experiment with the nibs (where’s titanium? where’s flex?). It seems their development strategy is based on the customers ready to pay a lot of money for new color variants of old models. Can you blame them? Probably not. They deserve their position on the market.

Pelikan M205

M205 is, basically, the Pelikan M200 without golden accents. Not everyone likes golden trim and Pelican decided that it is worth to offer an alternative for such individuals. Thank you Pelican. I appreciate it. I would never buy one of your GT pens because I sincerily dislike golden accents (with small exception made for amber Pilot Namiki 823). Anyway Pelikan M200 was introduced on the market in 1985. The pen went through some changes over the years, but remains faithful to the tradition and its design remains almost unchanged.

Blue Marbled strikes back

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The series 205 Blue-Marbled was once in the assortment and now it is back to drain some pockets.Marbled finish has some serious panache, it's really cool. It shows a pearlescent (in direct sunlight) mix of different shades of blue, that gives the pen nice depth. In combination with the silver rings and trimmings, the appearance is a well defined.

The cap, section, and piston knob are made from a black resin. There is a single trim ring at the piston knob and the section lacks any ornamentation. The cap has a single cap band with the inscription “Pelikan Germany”.

Impressions / observations

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Pelikan M205 is elegant pen. The same can be said about packaging – a hard box inside a white Pelikan sleeve. Inside the box we’ll find the cream false leather pouch with plastic seals that hold the pen. Underneath the bed Pelikan placed warranty booklet. While it’s not the best box I’ve ever seen I think it’s well done and quite classy. As for the pen itself, well, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Pelikan pens design. I like to try new things, which is why I bought this pen. A lot of people are impressed with it, so I thought that it would be reasonable to check it myself. After some time of using M205 I can see a lot of the strengths of this model, but its appearance still doesn’t convince me. I find it rather boring.

Blue-Marbled is back again – brighter than ever

The series 205 Blue-Marbled was once in the assortment – now it is back - brighter than before. An intense color of bright blue has the familiar swirl of the well-known Green-Marbled version. It shows a fascinating mix of different shades of blue, that gives the product a certain depth. In combination with the silver rings and trimmings, the appearance is a well defined „wow-effect“ and complements the marbled Elegance series.

 

The pen is quite small and light, which isn’t bad, especially when you write fast and for a longer time. Chrome-plated elements (ring, clip, end tags) blend nicely with black body.

Te Pelikan logo on the top of the cap is hard to miss. While I really like animals and animal motives I never really liked Pelikan logo. It didnt change. This one is printed with some silver coating and depicts two Pelikans, maybe mother a child, maybe not. I wonder whether the logo stays intact in heavily used pens or if it fades with time? Anyone care to share their experience?

The traditional pelikan's beak clip is strong and works well, it has a nice swoop at the business end, and it's very easy to clip the pen to a case, pocket, bag, whatever comes to your mind.

Another feature of the Pelikan M205 is the translucent ink window just beyond the threads in the body of the pen. The smoke colored window looks really nice on black and glossy barrel. In my opinion it does enhance the look of the pen and is functional.

I don't think Pelikan M205 can be used as every day pocket pen - I may be wrong but the material doesn't make impression of being veryresistant. I guess Kaweco Al - Sport can be sure it won't last the place in my pocket.

Nib

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Steel medium sized nib gives some feedback. I had two of those pen - first with EF nib that was horrible - stiff and scratchy. I've exchanged it for medium and while it writes better, it's surprisingly dry and stiff. It's not the first Pelikan steel nib I try and I must admit I find the fact that their nibs lack consistency distrurbing. Example - some time ago a fellow pen enthusiast in Poland organised group buy for Pelikan M205 Cafe Creme. Three people ordered medium nibs - each of those gave different line: one was wet and actually medium, second marked as M wrote like dry EF, third like medium wet fine. It's a shame, really. I appreciate what Pelikan does for the community but I firmly believe they should focus more on their nibs quality issues / lack of consistency.

Filling system

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Inking up the pen couldn't be simpler— turn the piston knob counterclockwise to push the internal piston in, dip the nib in a bottle of ink, and then turn the piston knob clockwise to pull the piston back and ink into the pen. What to do when you have a sample or there's not much ink left in the bottle? Use syringe :)

The piston mechanism is smooth and works perfectly well. It can contain around 1,4 ml of ink.

Summary

Pelican M205 is not really a cheap pen - in Poland it costs around 110 dollars. It offers quite a lot - good ergonomics, piston filling system, proven design. On the other hand, I don’t think that this birdie is much better than much cheaper TWSBI 580. Personally, I prefer to write with TWSBI, mainly because it’s larger and more comfortable for me. Also it’s reasonable to rememeber that it’s possible to buy Pilot CH 92 for this price (maybe 10 – 15 $ more) and compared to Pilot, Pelikan feels cheap.
Basically it’s good pen but I’m not in love with the design and the section - the “lip” around the section near the nib annoys me – I usually hold pens very close to the nib. The price is too high. This pen isn’t, in my opinion worth, it’s regular price. Maybe if I really loved the design I would say something else, but for me this design isn't particularly thrilling. On the other hand the material looks really great in the daylight. It really does.
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Nice review. I too considered buying this pen but couldn't justify the price increase compared to the usual M200. However, I found my M200 to be very smooth and decently wet.

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That marble blue does look sexy, but after my Cafe Creme I'd be nervous to buy another Pelikan without trying it first.

 

On your note about innovation ('"where's the titanium nib"), OMAS went that route and my understanding is that's why they were losing money hand over fist resulting in their need to seek out investors and then carrying on the experimentation and money losing, hence them being closed down (I should add I love my OMAS 360).

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I too hold my pens close to the nib, and unfortunately the newer M2xx pens are not as comfortable out-of-the-box as they could be for those of us who do. It seems to me that Pelikan would do well to adjust their mold and add a chamfer -- if they can no longer justify the cost of polishing off the section's sharp edge in production.

 

And I am very sorry to read about the issues you encountered with M200 nib consistency! Within the past year I also attempted to purchase what was advertised as a new M200 italic but it arrived with seriously munged tipping. I've been a huge a fan of the M205 nibs, and the M200 F I purchased a couple of years ago is fine, but it's sure starting to look like something may have gone wrong recently with Pelikan's M2xx nib production and/or QC. Very disappointing.

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I'm glad they brought the blue marble back to the M2XX line up. It seems it's more brilliant than ever. My first M200 is the blue marble from 7 years ago. I wish they would bring back the red marble too.

 

In regards to the "Pelikan doesn’t offer too many innovations", why would Pelikan innovate the M2XX line that is a proven success and iconic design. Don't mess with success. TWSBI and the like don't have an iconic design, so they need to continuously innovate their lines to keep interest up with their customers to survive. How many different Pilot CH lines are there now?

 

It is dissappointing to hear their nib QC may have fallen. Hope they resolve that quickly. Might be a good idea to get M200's from a retailer like Goulet who provide an added level of QC checks on the nib before sending them out.

Edited by max dog
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ooooo nice :puddle:

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

www.SFPenShow.com

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That is a beautiful pen. Agreed that the price point can be tough to justify, but considering no one makes a less expensive pen that looks that good I'm kind of limited in my options.

 

Although the nib inconsistencies are a bit worrisome.

Sometimes I'll pull out a notebook and write down total nonsense just because I love to feel a pen move across a page.

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I agree with your review. The M2xx line seems overpriced to me, and the pen is much too small for my hands. I find it uncomfortable to write with.

 

With Pelikan, I think it's best to save up some money and get the M8xx. It's actually quite affordable at some online places, and gets you much more pen for the money. But even here, nib production is somewhat irregular, with EF nibs running from M to F lines. Still, it's my favorite pen out there!

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."

– Lin Yu-T'ang

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I confess the M2xx is just about my favourite pen for size and shape, without the excessive blinginess of the M4xx, and I think this colour is simply gorgeous. The Café Crème has elegance, but this has buckets of pizazz. I fell for it the moment I saw it, and your lovely photographs are causing me to fall all over again!. :wub:

 

As regards the M2xx nibs, in several dozen examples I've had one that wasn't aligned, and one that was over polished. All the others were fine for my taste, and a couple truly exceptional. Perhaps it helps that I tend to look to my Pelikans for broader nibs, and when I want extra fine will tend to go Japanese, letting both play to their strengths. I do agree that Pelikan's current nib offerings are disappointingly middle of the road - I don't want innovation so much as just a return to what was available before; italics, obliques, and so forth. Although a springy/semi-flex nib in an M2xx body would be marvellous.

 

Anyway, this is likely to be my last Pelikan - they're pricing themselves out of my range with the Souveräns, and however much I like them I totally agree with you and others that the M2xxs simply aren't worth the growing price tag. Such a shame.

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Wow, beautiful pen and great review. Can't wait to get my hands on one.

Keep your nose clean and your nib wet.

-Mullen88

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Nice review, but I don't agree with you that Pelikan is know to a non fountain pen user. Parker and Montblanc, and also Hero. I have yet to find someone who knows about Pelikan.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Pelikan M2XX is just about the perfect size for me. Larger, heavier pens tax my old, arthritic hands. If I am going to write more than a page or two, I will always choose one of my birds or a vintage lady Sheaffer Balance.

 

I really love the new, blue edition and I don't find its price point too high.

Mary Plante

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Nice review, but I don't agree with you that Pelikan is know to a non fountain pen user. Parker and Montblanc, and also Hero. I have yet to find someone who knows about Pelikan.

 

Well, I suppose it depends on countries. Pelikan is a well known brand, here in Spain, if not for anything else for their school supplies.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I usually stick to Broad nibs with my Pelikan M2xx pens & out of the several broad nibs that I have, there is only one which is a bit dry for my tastes but writes alright. Once I ordered a medium nib just to check how well it performs & I was surprised that it wrote like a western EF rather than a medium. In general, the Pelikan steel nibs produce a thinner line compared to the equivalent gold nibs.

 

 

Nice review, but I don't agree with you that Pelikan is know to a non fountain pen user. Parker and Montblanc, and also Hero. I have yet to find someone who knows about Pelikan.

Well it might not be that popular where you live but it surely is in most other parts of the world.

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In Poland Pelikan is widely popular and known by most people who used to write with their school writing tools in primary school. Funny thing is many people here (who aren't interested in fountain pens) consider Pelikan economic school brand and are surprised to hear Pelikan is considered premium in our circle,.

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My first contact with with Pelikan was also the school equipment, however, this brand has (had?) a well established position in Polish market for the fine writing instruments yet in the pre- and post-war years. Facilitated by the neighbourhood of Poland and Germany, and despite all the antagonisms and complicated relations between these countries.

 

In 2011, the remainings of Cpt. (now, post mortal, a Major) Władysław Raginis, the hero commander in the Battle of Wizna, were exhumed together with his belongings, with Pelikan 101N Tortoise among them. Its restoration was one of the most important events within the circle Polish FP lovers in the recent years.

 

My grandfather claims he used one of the basic Pelikan piston-fillers at the beginnings of his doctor career in the 60s., until the nib got totally worn.

 

Nowadays, the brand is still quite well recognized here, however the policy of the representative is not very encouraging - all their FPs are around 50% more expensive than in Germany.

It may be worth to have a look at my classifieds :)

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...snip...

 

Nowadays, the brand is still quite well recognized here, however the policy of the representative is not very encouraging - all their FPs are around 50% more expensive than in Germany.

 

 

The prices in the US are also very much more expensive than in Europe. Too bad, they are wonderful pens.

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." -Pablo Picasso


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