Pelikan M205 Blue Demonstrator F Nib

[m13a8]

Let's get right on to it!

 

Introduction:

 

I ordered my pen from Pam Braun (no affiliation, just a satisfied customer, etc...) She was great to deal with, and the shipping was prompt. First thing right after I took this pen out of the box, I was even more happy than I thought I would have been with it! I was assuming a couple of things: 1. there would be a blind cap over the piston filler knob. And 2: It would be a slip-joint or click-on cap. At first I was a little worried about no blind cap, but then after fiddling with it a little bit I learned that the piston filler knob tightens well so it should not be an issue! Secondly, this is in fact a threaded cap. For me, this is a huge plus and just classes up the pen a little bit. I'm not a fan of click-on caps, but I don't really mind them either. Also, I'm more of a fan of darker blues as opposed to lighter ones, and I thought this pen was much to light at first. After filling this pen with black ink, though, the overall tone of the pen turned a little darker and I'm now completely satisfied with the appearance of this pen! I like the silver furniture, as gold would not look nearly as good with this color of pen.

Appearance & Design:

 

This pen looks great! I'm not much a fan of perfectly clear demonstrators, but this one being clear blue makes the pen look a little less "cheap" as other members have said in reviews. Right out of the box, the pen is closer to a sky blue, but after loading with a black ink I found the tone color to come down a little bit and now is perfectly what I like. This pen definitely stands out in a crowd, but not so much so that I'm hesitant to use it in class. As a person that doesn't really like to draw attention to my pens, as other people I go to school with simply don't understand the attraction, I try to keep my pens pretty non-flashy.

 

9/10

 

Construction & Quality

 

This pen doesn't feel cheaply made at all. I don't have much by the way of "expensive" pens to compare it to, but it feels very solid in my hands. I'm slightly worried about it scratching, but I'll be very careful with how it's stored and transported. This pen feels like one that will last if it's well taken care of.

 

9/10

 

Weight & Dimensions

 

I'm not a huge fan of super-light pens. I have never really liked them, and I suppose I never will. However, this pen is perfect! I don't have very large hands, and I find this pen comfortable to write with unposted. When the cap is posted, I feel like the balance is thrown off the slightest bit. Maybe I'll get used to it? We'll see!

 

10/10

 

Nib & Performance

 

I got the F nib on this pen. This pen comes with a stainless steel nib that's also available in M and B. There's a Pelikan made italic around too, I think. It's a very smooth writer! At first the line was a little funky on it, like the nib's flow is just the tiniest bit dry. However, this may just be some production oils that are cycling their way out as I only flushed with plain water instead of water with a drop of dish soap or ammonia or anything else. After writing with the pen a little while, I found it to flow a little more nicely but still not perfect. The flow could be a little more wet. Besides that, however, the pen is an easy starter. Ever since the firsts time I inked it up and put nib to paper it has started every time I need it to, and I don't have any real problems with skipping. The only time I've had a little trouble with it starting was when I left the cap off for about five or six minutes while looking up some information. Compared to my other pens that go uncapped for this amount of time without use, this one started right back up with very little issue. I think this is the first "fine" nibbed pen I own that actually puts down a "fine" line. I'm very satisfied with the width of the line this one puts down. Of course, this pen feature's Pelikan's easily replaced nib & feed system that just unscrews from the section.

 

9/10

 

Filling System & Maintenance

 

I just discovered how much I really love piston fillers. The only other piston filler I've got at the moment is a Dollar Student Pen. I liked that one, but this one is amazing! Right out of the box it moved smoothly up and down. Flushing this pen was a breeze because of how easily this one turns. As far as maintenance on piston fillers goes, I'm sure it'll be no biggie! I might lubricate the piston with silicon grease some time down the road, but I'm sure it won't need that for quite a while, especially because I'm using a Noodler's American Eel ink in it at this time. I thought there would be a blind cap over the piston filler knob on this pen to keep it from accidentally turning when you don't want it to, but the way the piston knob tightens down to the barrel makes this unnecessary.

 

10/10

 

Cost & Value

 

I bought this pen brand new from Pam at Oscar Braun Inc. I think the going rate on this one is usually around $80 or $90. I picked mine up for $69.98 or so without shipping. This is the first pen I've bought that cost more than $50. At first I wasn't sure it would be worth it, but after only a few hours of having the pen in my hands, I'm completely convinced that this pen was worth the money. The box it came in is very nice too! Great padding inside of it. I'm extremely satisfied with the caliber of pen I got for this much money.

 

10/10

 

Conclusion: Final score = 8 Buy it!!

 

You should probably take my ratings with a grain of salt, and I tried to reflect that by lowering my final score a little as I don't have much experience with "luxury" fountain pens. My experience so far is limited to the Lamy Logo, 20 minutes with a Safari, a Wahl ringtop, a Dollar Student Pen, and then this Pelikan. Overall, the Pelikan is my best pen so far. I really like the Wahl ringtop, but it's not nearly as comfortable to write with on a regular basis. I really do love this pen and it would be a great addition to any collection!!

 

 

Note: I don't own a very nice camera, but I know someone who does. I'll have access to it in a few days though and I'll add pictures then! I just wanted to write the review now while I have time as this week will be extremely busy. Good pictures will be added sometime, I promise!

[dwong]

Nice review, I was thinking about this pen myself, and as a student I can definitely understand you being drawn to the "non-flashy" pens. I ended up getting the Lamy 2000 but demo's look pretty neat.

[m13a8]

Nice review, I was thinking about this pen myself, and as a student I can definitely understand you being drawn to the "non-flashy" pens. I ended up getting the Lamy 2000 but demo's look pretty neat.

 

 

Thanks! I tend to be a little long-winded about this type of thing and it really doesn't help that I haven't got any pictures in there to break it up a little. I've heard lots about the Lamy 2000. It makes my "to-buy" list (along with like 20 others!). Non-flashy pens are really attractive in school because I think one of the worst things to happen in class would be "WOAH LOOK AT THAT PEN! WHAT KIND OF PEN IS IT?! I WANNA WRITE WITH IT!!!" As much as I love spreading knowledge about fountain pens, sometimes History class just isn't the place for it

[Ed Ronax]

Nice review, thanks.

[m13a8]

Nice review, thanks.

 

Thank you! I really do feel bad about the lack of pictures...if my edit button is gone by the time I get pictures, I'll repost with pictures and have a moderator delete my first one..

[dwong]

Nice review, thanks.

 

Thank you! I really do feel bad about the lack of pictures...if my edit button is gone by the time I get pictures, I'll repost with pictures and have a moderator delete my first one..

 

Include a writing sample when you do, I would leave to see how it writes

[m13a8]

Nice review, thanks.

 

Thank you! I really do feel bad about the lack of pictures...if my edit button is gone by the time I get pictures, I'll repost with pictures and have a moderator delete my first one..

 

Include a writing sample when you do, I would leave to see how it writes

 

OK! I will do that for you. I can't think of anything specific to do for a writing sample. Any particular quote you'd like to suggest?

[Pen2009]

As the price of this pen is reasonable, I decided to get one for myself.

[m13a8]

As the price of this pen is reasonable, I decided to get one for myself.

 

Excellent! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine over the past few days . Through normal use for a day or two, the nib has become more wet and pleasurable to write with.

[antleredguy]

I was going to order one from Richard Binder tonight but when I looked on his website I saw that he can't ship any orders til the 17! Ah well... I guess that gives me time to save some money for a bottle of J. Herbin Pervenche Blue!

[m13a8]

I was going to order one from Richard Binder tonight but when I looked on his website I saw that he can't ship any orders til the 17! Ah well... I guess that gives me time to save some money for a bottle of J. Herbin Pervenche Blue!

 

Ohh! That's no good! I really love Herbin inks...I wish they made a really dark royal blue. Do you possibly know of one? Eclat de Sapphire looks like it may come close in the q-tip swab test, but every time I've seen it on paper coming through a pen, it looks a little lighter than I'd expect it! Ah well, since I haven't got the money to go on the hunt for a grail pen (although I'm VERY satisfied with my small collection now!) so maybe the search begins for a "grail ink"!

[antleredguy]

I was going to order one from Richard Binder tonight but when I looked on his website I saw that he can't ship any orders til the 17! Ah well... I guess that gives me time to save some money for a bottle of J. Herbin Pervenche Blue!

 

Ohh! That's no good! I really love Herbin inks...I wish they made a really dark royal blue. Do you possibly know of one? Eclat de Sapphire looks like it may come close in the q-tip swab test, but every time I've seen it on paper coming through a pen, it looks a little lighter than I'd expect it! Ah well, since I haven't got the money to go on the hunt for a grail pen (although I'm VERY satisfied with my small collection now!) so maybe the search begins for a "grail ink"!

 

I'm definitely no expert on inks but maybe look at Blue Nuit or Bleu Myosotis. Those are probably too black. I personally prefer lighter colors and think Eclat de Saphir looks beautiful. (I like the hinting of purple)

Best of luck,

-Nick

[m13a8]

I was going to order one from Richard Binder tonight but when I looked on his website I saw that he can't ship any orders til the 17! Ah well... I guess that gives me time to save some money for a bottle of J. Herbin Pervenche Blue!

 

Ohh! That's no good! I really love Herbin inks...I wish they made a really dark royal blue. Do you possibly know of one? Eclat de Sapphire looks like it may come close in the q-tip swab test, but every time I've seen it on paper coming through a pen, it looks a little lighter than I'd expect it! Ah well, since I haven't got the money to go on the hunt for a grail pen (although I'm VERY satisfied with my small collection now!) so maybe the search begins for a "grail ink"!

 

I'm definitely no expert on inks but maybe look at Blue Nuit or Bleu Myosotis. Those are probably too black. I personally prefer lighter colors and think Eclat de Saphir looks beautiful. (I like the hinting of purple)

Best of luck,

-Nick

 

Thanks for your input! I have Bleu Nuit also, the Eclat de Saphir I tried belongs to my girlfriend. I actually find the bleu nuit to be a little lighter than the Eclat de Saphir! I'll have to continue looking around. I have Diamine Imperial Blue that really seems to be close to Eclat de Saphir, and I'm not sure if I like the hinting of purple or not yet. I guess I'll have a little while to get accustomed to it as I kinda messed up my only bottle of black ink (which I prefer writing with)! Darn, an excuse to go ink shopping

[antleredguy]

I was going to order one from Richard Binder tonight but when I looked on his website I saw that he can't ship any orders til the 17! Ah well... I guess that gives me time to save some money for a bottle of J. Herbin Pervenche Blue!

 

Ohh! That's no good! I really love Herbin inks...I wish they made a really dark royal blue. Do you possibly know of one? Eclat de Sapphire looks like it may come close in the q-tip swab test, but every time I've seen it on paper coming through a pen, it looks a little lighter than I'd expect it! Ah well, since I haven't got the money to go on the hunt for a grail pen (although I'm VERY satisfied with my small collection now!) so maybe the search begins for a "grail ink"!

 

I'm definitely no expert on inks but maybe look at Blue Nuit or Bleu Myosotis. Those are probably too black. I personally prefer lighter colors and think Eclat de Saphir looks beautiful. (I like the hinting of purple)

Best of luck,

-Nick

 

Thanks for your input! I have Bleu Nuit also, the Eclat de Saphir I tried belongs to my girlfriend. I actually find the bleu nuit to be a little lighter than the Eclat de Saphir! I'll have to continue looking around. I have Diamine Imperial Blue that really seems to be close to Eclat de Saphir, and I'm not sure if I like the hinting of purple or not yet. I guess I'll have a little while to get accustomed to it as I kinda messed up my only bottle of black ink (which I prefer writing with)! Darn, an excuse to go ink shopping

I think I might have found a good choice. Diamine Majestic Blue. Here's a review from a fellow FPN user: Majestic Blue Review.

-Nick

[Tora Pens]

Nice review, thank you! I'm in the UK where the pen is way overpriced. It can be had for nearly half the UK RRP from reputable sellers such as Pam in the US and Pen Gallery in Malaysia. Even when taking into account shipping fess, import duties and UK VAT it still works out cheaper than any UK dealer.

[vans4444]

I have been thinking about buying and M205 for a while and the review is very helpful.

 

I wonder if they are available with a EF nib?

[sjchun79]

Good review.

 

Pelikan M200 is definately better than a steel nib lamy. I use the logo as my main pen; a very dry pen. I needed to tweak the flow by adding dishwashing detergent to my inks.

 

Compared to the logo, the M200(my previous pen. I`ve used both M200 nibs, and a M200 with a M400 nib. Yes, they are exchangable. ) is a wonderful pen.

 

Also for a small pen (I consider the M200 a very small pen), the amount of ink this pen can store is quite a lot. Good for a busy writer.

 

Congrads on your new pen!

[sjchun79]

I have been thinking about buying and M205 for a while and the review is very helpful.

 

I wonder if they are available with a EF nib?

 

EF is available.

 

Pelikan EF is more "fine" than the EF from other makers (except for Sailor and Platinum), take notice.

 

Asian characters need more strokes per letter compared to the alphabet; probably why sailor and platinum make such fine nibs.

[sbruno33]

Thanks for the review, just received mine yesterday from Richard Binder with a .6 stub. Itching to ink it up.