Levenger Fountain Pens

[Seaboss]

Good Morning,

 

Just wanted to post a few thoughts and comments regarding the Levenger brand of fountain pens. Granted, I don't have decades of experience with these items, however I truly enjoy writing with these pens. Levenger as a brand doesn't seem to get much press on these boards. I simply wanted to express my great satisfaction with this pen brand.

 

Thank you, and enjoy your day.

[tonybelding]

I discovered fountain pens by way of the Levenger catalog, and the first I got was a Sheaffer-Levenger Mediterranean.

 

I bought that and a Waterman Rhapsody through Levenger, but never an actual Levenger fountain pen. (I did get a Levenger rollerball, which is now languishing since I lost interest in rollerballs.) They went through an experiment for a while of only selling Levenger-branded pens, but now they're back to carrying other brands alongside their own.

 

Levenger has some amusing quirks, such as claiming most of their fountain pens have flexible nibs. But on the whole, I don't have much bad to say about the company. If they don't get much attention, I suspect it's because we now have so many other makers and sellers of fountain pens.

Edited June 5, 2010 by tonybelding

[DanDeM]

I find them to be presentable, reliable and, with the exception of their stub, boring.

[ajcoleman]

A Levenger Truewriter was my introduction to fountain pens when I got it with a Levenger gift card a couple of years ago. I have the black Truewriter with a fine nib. The nib is super smooth and has been trouble-free. For me the pen works best converted to an eyedropper, because the ink gets hung up in the narrow converter. The pen is very nice looking and comfortable to hold. It is currently filled with Noodler's Borealis. It makes a beautiful combination.

[StyloBug33]

I have at least half a dozen True Writers. They are a great size, attractive, and very reliable. I don't think they are boring at all. Ball points are boring, but not fountain pens. And the True Writers come in such great colors for not a lot of money, especially on the Levenger ebay outlet. I think they are lots of fun.

[Seaboss]

Good to hear the mostly positive feedback. Certainly we can spend quite a bit of money for a fine fountain pen, however, I think the challenge for an everyday writer, is to find a brand that represents good quality at an affordable price. I think Levenger fills this need. I recently found the Levenger Outlet on Ebay. The prices for returned/refurbished items is quite good. If I could only find a way to win some bids. I always seem to get out-bid at the last second. It's all a learning process.

 

Take care.

[FrankB]

I think Levenger has been a portal to the realm of FP's for a fairly large number of people. I have bought several FP's from them, and found that those contracted from major pen makers are very good quality. Levenger seems to have proprietary nibs, both steel and gold, that are good quality.

 

I find the True Writer to be an exception to this general trend, however. Yes, I have several, but I find them to be ordinary. They do write well enough, but the overall quality is, well, I hate to say "bad," so I will stick with "ordinary." I have a couple TW's where the material feels tacky, as if the material did not solidify and harden properly. The cap rings have fallen off several of them. Little things add up and contribute to some questions about their manufacture - at least for me.

[debraji]

I love my three Levenger True Writers. They're very comfortable in the hand, reliable writers, and the Kyoto in particular is simply gorgeous.

 

Two of them have stub nibs, because generally their F nibs run very wide. I have an uncharacteristically fine F nib on my third True Writer, which is a pleasure to use. (I thought that was the standard, and when I bought my next pen and the F nib wrote much wider than I expected, I asked the folks at Levenger to exchange it for a "real" F nib. It took some back-and-forth to discover that the "real" F nib was the wider one, and my thin F nib was a fluke.)

 

I do wish that stub nibs didn't cost $60--sometimes more than a whole pen--or I would have more True Writers by now.

[tru]

Good to hear the mostly positive feedback. Certainly we can spend quite a bit of money for a fine fountain pen, however, I think the challenge for an everyday writer, is to find a brand that represents good quality at an affordable price. I think Levenger fills this need. I recently found the Levenger Outlet on Ebay. The prices for returned/refurbished items is quite good. If I could only find a way to win some bids. I always seem to get out-bid at the last second. It's all a learning process.

 

Take care.

 

Have you tried eSnipe? (www.esnipe.com) for your eBay bids? I really like it because I don't have to watch my bids and it also takes the emotion out of bids, so I don't get crazy at the last second. It's very possible you're losing out to eSnipers.

 

t.

[Thornton]

I recently purchased a used Levenger Clarion in the marketplace and have not been able to release my death grip on it. I would gladly buy another fp from Levenger in the future.

[OrchidUnicorn]

Levenger is also one of my favorite places to look and buy FP's and FP "stuff". I have several True Writers and I just love the colors. That said, I have found that some write better than others and I don't mean the difference between a medium and a broad nib. I have two broad nibs that are very different, one is great and one is just too wet. I have at least 3 mediums, two that I can think of are great and one is a dry, hard to start pen. I am slowly learning to adjust nibs to work better and these have been good to (gently) practice on. All in all good solid pens that I would recommend, but with the caveat that there are a few quirks. I have found Levenger service second to none for over 20 years of being a satisfied customer and oh lord yes, I LOVE the outlet store!

 

I also have several of their pens done in collaboration with other pen manufacturers. The Levenger/Sheaffer Seas pens I have have are some of my favorites and I am trying to put together the whole set, but that is proving to be difficult at best. I also have 3 of the Veronas made for Levenger by Stipula and I would like to add a couple more as these pens are great writers and are a size and weight I really like.

 

Lashelle

[phentrek]

Good to hear the mostly positive feedback. Certainly we can spend quite a bit of money for a fine fountain pen, however, I think the challenge for an everyday writer, is to find a brand that represents good quality at an affordable price. I think Levenger fills this need. I recently found the Levenger Outlet on Ebay. The prices for returned/refurbished items is quite good. If I could only find a way to win some bids. I always seem to get out-bid at the last second. It's all a learning process.

 

Take care.

 

 

I've looked for the Levenger outlet on Ebay how do you find it?

[StyloBug33]

Levenger Ebay outlet

 

 

Hopefully this will work. Otherwise google Levenger Ebay Outlet.

 

I have never been able to get there from the ebay home page. No idea why.

[Pippin60]

It looks like I'll be the only voice of dissent here. I find that Levenger sells excellent high quality office products and leather goods and I own quite a few of them, however I've been disappointed with the few fountain pens I've tried, every nib, medium or bold of the few I've tried have been very scratchy and disappointing and at the price of some I expected better.

[kpkelsey]

i think i have about 6 of them, and i like them a lot. my only complaint is that they are not as fine as i normally prefer. still, i would buy more of them. i give them as gifts to friends and family. great everyday pens.

[bookworm2109]

I like Levenger pens. They always have been great writers and very reliable. I have twenty-three fountain pens and my Levenger Chesterton is my favorite pen when it comes to looks.

[Jimmy James]

The pens I have gotten all came from the Outlet, which from time to time has (or perhaps had -- I haven't checked lately) really good sales.

 

I like the pens, but one quirk that may bug some is that the sizes marked on the nibs (at least among fine, medium, and broad) seem to have no relation to the width of the line the nib actually produces. I have a broad that is narrower than two of my mediums, and they're all True Writers. This seems to be reflective of the experience of others in this forum from what I have read. I personally think of them like I think of Hero, Reform, Noodler's pen, and any other variable/unpredictable width pen makes and don't worry about it too much.

[ailleurs]

It looks like I'll be the only voice of dissent here. I find that Levenger sells excellent high quality office products and leather goods and I own quite a few of them, however I've been disappointed with the few fountain pens I've tried, every nib, medium or bold of the few I've tried have been very scratchy and disappointing and at the price of some I expected better.

 

I'll add another, sort of. I bought a dip pen from Levenger 5 or 6 years ago, and it's horrible--easily the worst pen I own in terms of writing experience. I bought a Plumpster on a Diet earlier this year and hated it at first--hard starter, stopped writing if left uncapped even momentarily. After cleaning with soap and water, it writes much better. In fact, it has become one of my favorite pens despite the fact it still dries out if left uncapped too long. All in all, a mixed bag.

[dsatco]

The best pen I own (which includes a Sapporo, a Custom 74, and a Mont Blanc Boheme) is a True Blue True Writer that I bought from Levenger Outlet on eBay for $14. They are simply great pens.

[KeweenawArchive]

I suppose for me it's something like shopping with REI. They have perfectly serviceable stuff and carry a variety of other brands, but there's something about buying the house brand in such a manner that makes me uncomfortable.