Wing Sung 698, 83% Defect Rate

[Mech-for-i]

I am not sure that's the case, its more about what's being provided at what price point. Principle case is that Mfr do not actually need to offer piston filler which is of course more expensive to manufacture when they can just keep re using the same basic parts for all the C/C filler. Economy of scale is here. And if they do they would have to price it higher than their C/C models ( else the C/C models would look over priced )

 

And IMHO this is prejudice / misunderstanding as far as the " having issue " goes, the filling mechanism itself both of them are sound, Its the QC and assembly that's letting them down. And in term of issues with these fountain pens .. it does not matter if its aerometric, piston, C/C or even just Cartridge only or ED; experience I have is 1 in 4 of them ( usually ) give me trouble and that usually actually have nothing to do with the filling mechanism and most had to do with the assembly and nib usually. Personally having use Chinese fountain pen for decades and literally hundreds of them, the filling system is usually the least of concern , they generally just work, the issue is in getting them to work properly and that lie in the QC and assembly part .

[Mech-for-i]

 

Add me to the list of fountain penners disappointed with my Wing Sung 698 demonstrator piston fill for exactly the same reason - the nib doesn't quite fit - and I've tried swapping in a Lingmo nib and encountered the same problem. The nib refuses to fit snugly and there's skippage when I write. (The Lingmo demonstrator converter fell apart on first use, by the way, and I purchased a Sailor converter and ink cartridges and couldn’t get either to work.)

 

I purchased the 698 because I was happy with my Wing Sung 3008 demonstrator purchases - but I should have waited. The 3008 is a PERFECT fit for my hand. It has a great feel. And I enjoy writing with both the F and EF nibs. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of daily writing, both 3008's started leaking by the grip.

Anyone have any insider tips or tricks on how to stop the leaking? I'm not talking gushing, about the head of a thumbtack on my the index finger of my writing hand.

I’d be very interested in other piston filler fountain pens. (And yes, I tried TWSBI and didn’t like it, go figure.) Pelikans, aside from pricey, are too small for my hands – but I’m open to other suggestions.

Why say you Fountain Penners?

 

 

My recommendation is the Caliarts EGO-II

[bobje]

My experience with the seller jewelrymathematics, over a three-year period with almost a dozen purchases, has been uniformly positive. I would not hesitate to order again from this seller.

[inkstainedruth]

So short answer, the only manufacturers who appear to offer cheap piston-fillers right now are based in China.

 

That isn't strictly true. I have a Dollar 717i (which is, IIRC a Pakistani brand) which someone gave me. It's a demonstrator piston filler, and while it does not make me want to chuck my TWSBI 580-AL in the trash (let alone my Pelikans) it is a decent writer -- even with a plastic feed. And, unlike the TWSBI, the piston does go all the way down to the end of the feed (which, in my opinion is a design flaw on the part of TWSBI).

I would not have gone out of my way to buy it (I'm not a huge fan of "demonstrators", especially when the descriptor is used to equate to "just a pen that happens to be clear/translucent plastic"), but it does write well enough (I do have to move the piston up at times -- but I have to do the same thing with the piston converters on a lot of my c/c pens, too...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AndWhoDisguisedAs]

One suggestion for the newbies: if/when you suggest other piston fillers, it would be great if you told us WHERE you purchased it.

[Ted A]

Fountain Pen Revolution has Indian made piston fillers