Why I Love Cheap Indian Parker Vectors

[springrainbow]

A lot has been said of Indian fountain pens. They're cheap. They're low maintenance. They're fun. Unfortunately, they're not easy to come by in the modern times.

 

The usual Indian brands - Camlin, Airmail, Oliver, Chelpark et. al. are pretty much restricted to two categories of shops in big cities - specialized stationary shops and general stores near schools where fountain pens are still used (or mandated).

 

I was wandering in remote India over the last month, and I did not find any conventional Indian fountain pen anywhere. I did however find the cheap Indian Parker Vectors which are manufactured in India by Luxor no matter where I went.

 

And to think about these Parker Vectors, I've come the love them. For one, they keep the spirit of fountain pens alive. They're still given as gifts at high school graduations and to celebrated academic excellence. And they're still available everywhere - in remote shops, and easily accessible through online ecommerce which has taken up in this country.

 

They're by no means cheap in the local currency. A good Airmail costs anywhere between Rs. 60-100 (USD 1-2). A Parker Vector costs anywhere between Rs. 250-600 (USD 4-10) based on the style and trim. That makes them atleast four times as expensive as an Airmail ED.

 

But what's important is that these Parker Vectors still end up getting bought and used - and create potential fountain pen users - which is a good thing!

 

To me, the Parker modus operandi for India is a good economic model to emulate. Profitable, replicable, repeatable and ephemeral. Pricey, but still affordable. Easily pluggable into traditional distribution and retail channels. Also works pretty well will new age ecommerce.

 

I'd love other Indian fountain pen manufacturers embracing this model - it sure would herald a new fountain pen revolution in India.

 

I love these cheap Indian Parker Vectors, don't you?

 

Cheers!

 

 

P.S.: I did buy a couple of these cheap Vectors just for kicks - and to keep the local economy running in remote India

 

 

 

[mohan]

Well done Kapil.You made a very important point.Apart from FPNrs the fountain pen market is kept alive by these little pens.The function done by Heros some two decades earlier.

[rochester21]

The function done by Heros some two decades earlier.

 

Unless the vector is priced the same as hero pens, and is available with xf nib, hero pens, especially the parker imitators, are pretty much irreplaceable.

 

I like the vector, but i had to stop using it because the fine nib writes too broad. And the vector costs at least 4 times more(in my country) than say, a Hero 616.

Edited December 13, 2013 by rochester21

[mohan]

During my school days, if you ask a student which is your ultimate pen, we say a hero.Hero was not affordable to all at that time. Now great great economic boom happened, but price of hero pen have not increased accordingly, and hero became a cheap pen. Now that position is taken over by Vectors.

Here in India Vector nibs are made by Ambitious, and fine write as fine and medium write as .....fine itself! Probably the staple food of Indian writers is fine.

[hari317]

I am not a fan of the Indian made vectors. TBH, they are very very poorly made to carry the name Parker on them. sad but true. I am not sure if this is true about the other international low cost modern parker offerings as well, have not bought one in a long while.

 

However I am fond of the vector and bought up all the remaining 18 pens in a shop in Mumbai dealing with "grey market" pens that had the Made in UK variety, all Fine nibs, all in maroon. and best part, just 100/- each!!

[subbucal]

I am a BIG fan of China made Parker Vectors (full steel) ones available here for Rs.30/- each....they are extremely smooth writers and comes with a Parker Converter too..

[Vendome]

Seeing as you can still buy new old stock of U.K made Vectors from Amazon and E-bay for 4 or 5 quid, that's dirt cheap, as the cheapest Tesco stock them is £7.50.

[mohan]

subbucal,

That china make 30 -40 rs vectors coming with out boxes? They are not original!

[subbucal]

subbucal,

That china make 30 -40 rs vectors coming with out boxes? They are not original!

 

Yes, they come without boxes....but not sure on their legitimacy,....If I have to go by writing..these are my favourites....

[mohan]

Of course some batches writes extremely good. But some other batches do not write at all!

[only_moin]

yeah vectors are a hit or a miss , most of the time. i have read in this forum of people having to return their vectors three times before landing with a good enough nib. i used a steel vector several years ago and the nib was nothing special. On the other hand the Frontiers are quite good. they cost just a hundred or two hundred more and are way better than vectors. i have the steel frontier in medium nib and its one of my dependable everyday carry pen. would recommend that to anyone in a heart beat.

 

p.s -- can anyone hook me up with the matt black GT frontier in medium nib through some online indian retailer...have looked everywhere but cant seem to get the medium nib...bummer

 

[s_t_e_v_e]

yeah vectors are a hit or a miss , most of the time. i have read in this forum of people having to return their vectors three times before landing with a good enough nib. i used a steel vector several years ago and the nib was nothing special. On the other hand the Frontiers are quite good. they cost just a hundred or two hundred more and are way better than vectors. i have the steel frontier in medium nib and its one of my dependable everyday carry pen. would recommend that to anyone in a heart beat.

 

p.s -- can anyone hook me up with the matt black GT frontier in medium nib through some online indian retailer...have looked everywhere but cant seem to get the medium nib...bummer

 

20170408_224436-1.jpg

Did you try eBay? I see some sellers from India selling Frontiers under $15 shipped. They have high feedback rating so it's worth a shot.

 

I agree with your assessment of the frontier and I've also been lucky with the vectors I've bought from India. All worked pretty well just like the frontier. The writing characteristics are quite identical in my experience.

[Funkmon]

Same with the Frontiers. You can basically only get them in fine, unfortunately. My best luck was to buy like 4 dozen nib units from USA, UK, and France Parkers (Sonnet, latitude, inflection, Frontier all use the same shaped nibs), and just shove them in when I want a broader nib.

[vijaych]

 

Unless the vector is priced the same as hero pens, and is available with xf nib, hero pens, especially the parker imitators, are pretty much irreplaceable.

 

I like the vector, but i had to stop using it because the fine nib writes too broad. And the vector costs at least 4 times more(in my country) than say, a Hero 616.

Could not agree more! I too like fine writers....