Parker Ingenuity

[danthemann5]

So after doing some reading, I have come to the following conclusion:

 

This is a felt-tip pen with a plastic point disguised as a fountain pen.

 

I hope Parker does well with it; I personally won't buy one, especially with a starting price point of $160.

[Colorado Pen]

Hello to all.

 

We've been monitoring the chat in your forum and wanted to say we love this new technology and wanted to provide a way for the users here to get some unbiased opinion from your own. We will send the new Ingenuity to the first three forum members to contact us. All we ask is that you write a review to inform the forum of your opinion.

 

Please send your email address to:

cpdirect@coloradopen.com and we will announce the three responders and send a pen.Please place Fountain Pen Network in the subject header.

 

Keep in mind, this is a new technology. It's not a fountain pen. It strives to gain new converts to the fluidity of wet ink on paper as opposed to a ball point or roller ball. The vast majority of the fine writing market won't purchase a fountain pen for reasons like inky spills, messy cartridges, smears on paper, et cetera. The 5th is aimed at that market. The 'hood' on the pen is what gives the refill the flex you desire. A light stroke gives a fine line but a firmer stroke allows you to make the mark you wish. The refill is not in any way related to a fineliner tip of old.

 

We have sold and shipped several hundred Ingenuity in the first two days. Being a completely new technology it will be controversial we're sure. Send your contact information and be one of the first to try the new Ingenuity.

 

Here's a link to the pen: http://www.coloradopen.com/category/parker-pens

 

 

Best!

Edited October 3, 2011 by Colorado Pen

[Scrawler]

edited - no longer relevant

Edited October 3, 2011 by Scrawler

[Colorado Pen]

Regarding our offer to supply three Parker Ingenuity for test drives....We have our three winners! We will be shipping their choices ASAP and look forward to their insightful feedback. We will post (if they don't directly) the feedback here.

[danthemann5]

My reply was too lat by a matter of a few minutes (120 or so). I am really intrigued to see what the reviewers have to say.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I am apparently #2 on the list. I will be working out my objectivity muscles to provide the best possible service to all involved. :hmm1: <-me in training.

[kmik]

Hello all!

 

Parker IngenuityRelease has started last friday in Germany.

The Writing System /the cartridges/tip looks like a fine liner. The writing itself seems like writing with a fine liner. There is some variability in Stroke with depending on pressure to Tip. I prefer writing with fountainpens with broad tips, rollerballs are my second option, then ball points. positioning the new system in my personal charts requires further testing.

 

The pen itself, espec. the large model has a good weight and size, it ranges between Pelikan M800 and Lamy Dialog 2 – Sorry, I know, these are two very different pens, it is my first empression of a very new pen and the Try to provide Comparisons.

 

Regards,

kmik

[ParkerQuink]

Does anyone know if this pen is made at there France factory or elsewhere around the globe?

[Darius Widjaja]

i'd stick to the traditional fountain pen mechanism.....

[dmalesky]

i'd stick to the traditional fountain pen mechanism.....

[/quote

 

I just received the Parker Ingenuity Large Daring Pen. I want to emphasize I am NOT an expert concerning any type of pen. I only have a Pelikan Souveran 800 as my sole fountain pen. My experience with the Parker was quite satisfactory. The writing is extremely smooth. There is some variability in line thickness depending on the pressure that is applied. It does not have the same range as a fountain pen, but it is more expressive than a ballpoint or rollerball. Very little pressure was required to put down a consistent line with no skipping. I have no experience with any felt tip pens or any other tip. I felt the pen was well balanced and writing was effortless. Ink flow was excellent and there was no smearing; although I am right handed. I wrote a few words and tried to smear the ink; no smearing. I will use this pen on a daily basis. My model is the all rubber version which I found to be very comfortable. I'm not thrilled about the cost of the refill; however it is very easy to change. It's the same process as a ballpoint or rollerball. Lastly, this is not a fountain pen; however it is a different instrument in comparison to a ballpoint or rollerball.

 

Dave M.

Edited October 7, 2011 by dmalesky

[ticoun]

i understand this pen is of a completely new kind, but then, what's the point of disguising it into a fountain pen? i would like it better if it didn't have that ugly nib lookalike thigny...

[lewertowski]

Does anyone know if this pen is made at there France factory or elsewhere around the globe?

 

In France.

[Easy Writer]

The new Parker Ingenuity looks like some type of roller ball/felt tip hybrid? Doesn't look like any kind of fountain pen? I hate ballpoint pens generally, though the Itoya roller ball pens are tolerable. I have had nothing but, problems with gel points and other ball point type pens. Felt tips are ok for marking clothes or writing a big note for posting on the fridge? Thus far nothing I have tried compares with the fluidity and ease of a good fountain pen! Can't beat the lines!

[weemeng]

[ I'm not thrilled about the cost of the refill; however it is very easy to change. It's the same process as a ballpoint or rollerball. Lastly, this is not a fountain pen; however it is a different instrument in comparison to a ballpoint or rollerball.

 

Dave M.

 

How much are the refills?

 

When your refill is empty, do u mind sending it my way pls? I would like to see if there is an easy method of refilling it that doesn't destroy the refill in the process like like the syringe vacuum method that I came out with for the Pilot Varsity pen. If the felt tip is worn through then there is nothing much that can be done.

 

Just from reading text, it sounds like a Montblanc rollerball type of construction. A felt like tube to soak/hold the ink in the refill body and a fibre rod that sticks into it.

 

Thx

Weemeng

[Ernst Bitterman]

Whatever we might say about this pen, it seems Colorado Pens does not mess about with shipping delays. I got mine last Friday, and I've stuck a review up in the Reviews forum. I'll synopsize here; it's comparable in general niceness with other pens of its price, it writes very much like a fountain pen, and its writing portion is up to slightly more jamming than the old hard-tip fineliners. A weekend is hardly a long-term review, so more pointed questions of durability I can't answer. As a fountain pen chauvinist, I find it far preferrable to a ball-point, slightly better than a roller-ball, but still not quite on par with fountain pens. Apart from a lingering doubt about a replaceable writing portion, I will henceforth forebear from any name-calling on this line of writing instrument.

[algabatz]

Whatever we might say about this pen, it seems Colorado Pens does not mess about with shipping delays. I got mine last Friday, and I've stuck a review up in the Reviews forum. I'll synopsize here; it's comparable in general niceness with other pens of its price, it writes very much like a fountain pen, and its writing portion is up to slightly more jamming than the old hard-tip fineliners. A weekend is hardly a long-term review, so more pointed questions of durability I can't answer. As a fountain pen chauvinist, I find it far preferrable to a ball-point, slightly better than a roller-ball, but still not quite on par with fountain pens. Apart from a lingering doubt about a replaceable writing portion, I will henceforth forebear from any name-calling on this line of writing instrument.

 

Interesting. Moving up from the roller ball in writing experience, it really sounds like a sort of an innovation after all...

I signed up for the Parker Expert Users Group and a couple of times per year I get a questionnaire mostly regarding what I like about the pens I like. I remember the question if I thought it was important that the pen had a nib "like a fountain pen". I, being a FP-nerd, of course answered yes. Well the Ingenuity sure has a nib "like" a fountain pen, but that's not really what I ment. Evidently there were a lot of people answering this question with a "yes". Which is kind of interesting in itself....

 

/Tony

[Ernst Bitterman]

(Ersnt's head makes roaring noises)

 

Interesting. Moving up from the roller ball in writing experience, it really sounds like a sort of an innovation after all...

I signed up for the Parker Expert Users Group and a couple of times per year I get a questionnaire mostly regarding what I like about the pens I like. I remember the question if I thought it was important that the pen had a nib "like a fountain pen". I, being a FP-nerd, of course answered yes. Well the Ingenuity sure has a nib "like" a fountain pen, but that's not really what I ment. Evidently there were a lot of people answering this question with a "yes". Which is kind of interesting in itself....

 

/Tony

 

I'm in the Waterman version of the same thing, and I also recall the question. Perhaps the Marketing Department doesn't quite get that what is being offered here is a nib UNLIKE a fountain pen. I may have sworn off deriding this pen, but I will never give up on calling "GIT!" at navel-gazing marketing wonks (mainly due to the trouble they give me in my own work-- "Here's an unworkable promotion with four internal contraditions. We're all on vacation the moment it gets out into the world and people begin to call in for clarification. Thanks!").

[danthemann5]

Thanks for posting that great review. I'm still not entirely sure how this "5th Mode" is in any way different than the Pilot Razor Point disposables we have at the office.

[dennis_f]

 

I'm in the Waterman version of the same thing, and I also recall the question. Perhaps the Marketing Department doesn't quite get that what is being offered here is a nib UNLIKE a fountain pen. I may have sworn off deriding this pen, but I will never give up on calling "GIT!" at navel-gazing marketing wonks (mainly due to the trouble they give me in my own work-- "Here's an unworkable promotion with four internal contraditions. We're all on vacation the moment it gets out into the world and people begin to call in for clarification. Thanks!").

 

 

I answered in the affirmative as well. Never thought it would lead to a nib like this.

 

Thanks for the review in the other thread Ernst!

D.

[Scrawler]

My Ingenuity arrived a couple weeks ago and I have been using it to get a good impression of it for a review, which I will post on the review forum when it is done. Unfortunately my offspring has absconded with the camera, and good photos are needed for a proper review, so it will have to wait a little. I have been using this pen almost exclusively since it arrived, with the exception of an Esterbrook SJ, which I need for the violet ink in it, and an old Graphomatic, that I am currently working on to get the flow right, so that I have an alternate flex nib pen to write to my mum with.

 

----

 

Parker Ingenuity

First Impressions

 

Upon opening the package I was presented with a very nice solid and strong feeling pen box. The lid is colored gold with the Parker symbol in the middle. The lid is attached to the base of the box by a good spring which ensures that when the box is shut it remains shut and when it is open it remains open.

 

Inside the box is a velour lining. It has the appearance and general feel of suede. The pen is attached by a ribbon to a base inside the box, which lifts out to reveal papers and a refill. In the box the pen is an unasummimg black and gold. It has the general appearance of a moderrn pen design. It is broader than the Vector family of pens. It is also heavier. The first thing you notice when you take the pen out of its box, is its weight. I do not have scales and cannot get an exact weight, but it is definitly more dense feeling than many of my pens. It is however not as heavy as many Chinese made, brass tube pens.

 

The flat top and bottom contribute to a very modern appearance. The bottom of the barrel has a highly reflective gold accent disk.

 

When I first picked it up, I tried to unscrew the cap. The general appearance is of a fairly substantial and high quality item. It looked like it should unscrew, not pull off.

 

When it first arrives the pen has a dummy refill in it. To prepare the pen to be used, you lift out the base of the box, and remove the refill that is supplied. Both the dummy and real refills are stamped and shaped near the tip to look like a fountain pen feed. Without this shaping the "nib" would look most odd. The fake nib gives it the look of a fountain pen, and the fake feed adds to that appearance.

 

There is very little doubt that this pen has been designed so that the casual observer would perceive it as a fountain pen. The fact that a pen company like Parker would do this implies that they see a special cachet in being seen to be writing with a fountain pen.

 

One of the nice things about the fiber tip is that it has no "sweet spot". It can be used at virtually any angle that a person could write at. The tip writes quickly, even with my very fast signature, it had no skipping or dry spots and wrote everything I scrawled. The point is about as fine as a Hero 616. From there on it differs wildly. There is no scratchyness or hesitancey. The writing tip is very smooth. I thought that I had smoothed of several of my pens, but after using this pen, I realize that I have become dependent on a small sense of feedback that my metal nibs provide. I will have quite a bit to say about the sensation of writing in my full review. I will be interested to see if this changes as the tip wears. You can darken and widen the line by pressing, but in normal use no pressure is required to write. I do not suspect that most users will be using this pen with fine caligraphy in mind, so I doubt whether most people will feel the need to press it to the paper. The lack of pressure to make a mark on the paper is a real change from conventional ball pens, and I would choose one of these over a ball point any time. Unlike the fountain pens I am used to, with a bit of spring or flex to the nib, this does not make me pause to shape my letters carefully and I can see that if I used one of these exclusivly, my handwriting would probably suffer, until I was used to restraining my hand, rather than relying on the nib to do so.

 

I have taken to carrying this with me for all my non-work tasks, so I write on cardboard, note paper, or in my notebook, on cheques and bank stubs. At some point I will conduct water resistance tests as well.

 

When I have finished, I am going to hand it to my daughter to use at university, so that I can have her impressions. Her opinions on pens and inks are important to me, because she is left handed and so have different requirements. I suspect that once she is used to the weight, she will find it quite serviceable because the ink dries quickly.