Warning: Rant. Pen Unusable Out Of Box

[rwilsonedn]

It's a weird sort of irony that what I respect most in a nib is the idea that the nib is hand-finished by an expert. But in reality it appears the odds of getting a near-perfect experience out of the box are much better with entirely machine-finished nibs. Uniformity seems to count for more than attention to detail until you get to the really, really high-priced pens where a master spent an hour with the nib before it went in the box.

ron

[OcalaFlGuy]

one of the most reliable out-of-the-box pens I've ever tried is the Pilot V-pen, and that's a disposable cheapie! Must have had twenty or more, and every one wrote straight of the (purely figurative) box.

 

100% a valid statement IMO.

 

Some time ago here, there was a thread on Varsities where I think there was either a survey or I simply counted the positive posts. There were A LOT of them, over 100. I recall the Works First Time Every time on the Varsity to be > 90%.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[ziptrickhead]

Is this like an experience I have been through? Yes. Several times. Does it surprise me? No.

 

I ponder this question: What is the the minimum price set by pen manufacturers for a product forcibly undergoing human examination and testing before leaving the factory?

 

Honestly that doesn't matter in my opinion. What one person expects from a pen will vary from one person to another. I've gotten several pens that were claimed to be human tested and tweaked before they leave the shop and as of now I still haven't gotten a pen that writes well enough for me where I don't have a hand in adjusting it myself. This includes nibs coming from nibmeisters. Sure, there are times when nibs are close to the point where I think about not touching them, but then something just nags at me as I'm writing and eventually they get tuned. I used my Pelikan M600 for over a year after some slight tine alignment and it wrote well enough but a few weeks ago I really sat down and adjusted it because after all this time there was still something about the feel of the nib that was bothering me.

 

I've read so many reviews where people claim pens write perfectly and buttery smooth. At first I thought that maybe I just had bad luck but as I've acquired more and more pens I've finally decided that my standards for how my nibs should feel is just different from others. I recently bought a Levenger True Writer as a gift for a friend's birthday. I spent close to an hour adjusting the flow, alignment, and changing the sweet spot and smoothness of the nib to where I was happy. I doubt any company is going to hire someone to sit for a straight hour adjusting one pen.

[FloatingFountain]

Well... after 2,5 days unused as a test, the pen performs flawlessly. When uncapped, it writes immediately and smoothly. Now it's at least as good as the Sapporo or Duofold. (I actually like it a bit better than the Duofold, because it's somewhat shorter and fatter.) I'm still of the opinion that a pen in this price range should write like this out of the box.

[torstar]

agreed with the Sonnet drying out after sitting there for 20 seconds...