New Parker Jotter Models 2016

[uetzi]

So no more old jotter with plastic barrell?

I saw the new Jotter with the plastic shank in the large Galeria Kaufhof department store here in Germany. So it will continue to be available as the standard version.

[Jobesmirage]

Can someone update with threads info and weight if they get it. Id be very curious

[Mike 59]

Hi Jobesmirage, I bought one of the first 'new' style Jotters last month as soon as it appeared in our shops, and I posted some photos in this thread;

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/309511-parker-jotter-2016-refresh/

 

If you scroll down through it, there are several images and information that you have asked for.

It seems that the plastic barrel types are still going to be made alongside the 'new' versions, the prices in the UK are currently, £6 - 10 for the old style plastic barrels, then £14 for the new style, and £16 for the gold clip version.

The premium 'new' versions have not been seen yet.

(I could have included all the same photos here, but it simpler to post the link to the original.)

Edited July 19, 2016 by Mike 59

[Flounder]

Has anyone noticed that Jotter pencils are absent from the Parker site? Or that those special erasers for them are unavailable in any store!

[Mech-for-i]

It seems like the pencils are being phased out. Look like they take the Urban clip design and further simplify it and applying that to all the new production models. On the urban it look good but not on the more retro Jotter and certainly not on some of most other models. I think I would stick with the 60th Anniversary , their aesthetics just, oh so well, captured the feel of time and period of the original.

[Mike 59]

I have seen the plastic barrelled Jotter ballpoints in a popular UK general store, with the new style clip on.

This was in the 'blister' type pack and not the new grey boxes.

[Drone]

Mini-Review:

 

I finally got one of the new "Premium" Jotters. I was spending-down a windfall gift certificate at jetpens.com and picked up a "Parker Jotter Premium Ballpoint Pen - Bond Street Black with Gold Trim - Medium Point" for $18.50 USD. See the pen here:

http://www.jetpens.com/Parker-Jotter-Premium-Ballpoint-Pen-Bond-Street-Black-with-Gold-Trim-Medium-Point/pd/18746

Yeah the Jetpens price is high (it often is), you can find the same pen for around $15 elsewhere. But don't forget, Jetpens has free regular USPS domestic shipping for orders over $25.

The pen arrived last week. First thing I did was replace the included Parker ballpoint refill. That's SOP as I have several refill options that are much better. What's worse is the included Parker refill would not retract properly. But extension and retraction did work properly with all the other non-Parker refills I tried, it even clicks like a proper Jotter mechanism.

The pen looks and feels rather "cheap". The pen is light compared to "real" Jotter pens from the distant past, even though the new Jotter seems to be all metal. The rather thin aluminum alloy barrel parts are obviously impact-extruded and roller-press formed.

The "gold-tone" Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating on the top-half of the pen and clip looks too yellow in my opinion, adding a bit of "fake" to the "cheap" description of the pen. The clicker is gold-tone PVD coated as well, and it rubs on the barrel when operating. Only time will tell how long it holds up.

The rest of the pen has what looks like a matte-black thin paint or baked on powder-coat finish. Again, only time will tell how long this holds up. The new "arrow-fletching" on the clip is obviously stamped on. It looks and feels cheaper in person than it appears in pictures. Besides the lightness of the pen, it's the clip that disappoints me most.

The barrel threads unscrew in one and a half turns and feel loose but fairly smooth during operation. On my pen, the barrel threads tighten with a mild clicking sensation, but it doesn't happen every time. I don't think the click when tightening the barrel is by design. Aside from the looseness and occasional clicking, the threads do seem to tighten down OK. When the threads are tight, there's no appreciable misalignment in the barrel parts.

Conclusion:

This Jotter is not your Father's (or Grandfather's) Jotter, even though it looks similar in the ads. Is the new Jotter a bad pen? IMO no it's not bad, but it's nothing special either, especially if you've never owned a Made-in-USA vintage Jotter before. Is this pen worth $18.50? No, at that price there are no more Premium Jotters in my future. At half that price, maybe but with a simpler and more-robust finish.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Drone

[mitto]

I saw the new Jotters yestrday in a stationery stores. Not impressed.

[rminj]

Yeah, I think the Jotters still have more metal on them than say the Urban (which was all plastic inside). But I agreee at almost $20 US dollars for a Jotter one would think its anodized aluminum and the click may hold up

well to use. The stainless steel ones remain the most durable Jotters.. Not sure what happened with their refill technology.

[sciumbasci]

The or new Quinkflow are supposed to be hybrid ink. That black and gold Jotter is really excellent, and possibly the only one I do not find... Unpleasant, with the due respect to those that actually like it.

 

But for that price, I'd just buy a Sheaffer Sentinel GT or for a fraction of that a Pelikan Jazz

[tamiya]

Touched them at a local store this week... yeah they felt lightweight and hollow, nowhere near tempted to own one at A$39 retail price.

[Drone]

Touched them at a local store this week... yeah they felt lightweight and hollow, nowhere near tempted to own one at A$39 retail price.

 

@tamiya, Your description of "lightweight and hollow" sums-up my impression of the new Premium Jotters nicely.

[Mike 59]

Hi, The new style Jotters seem to be basically the same design as the all stainless steel version, except for a lacquer coating in a colour, and the change of clip design. 'Old' Jotter=14g, 'new' Jotter=14g.

[Drone]

Hi, The new style Jotters seem to be basically the same design as the all stainless steel version, except for a lacquer coating in a colour, and the change of clip design. 'Old' Jotter=14g, 'new' Jotter=14g.

 

Yeah I dunno, maybe it's the paint or lacquer finish that makes the new Premium model "feel" less substantial. Also, the clickers are different. The clicker on one fairly late all stainless version Jotter I have is recessed with a nicely embossed Parker Arrow & Halo logo in the middle. The clicker on the new Premium model is domed with no marks or logo at all. I'll bet the domed clicker on the new Premium model dents easily if dropped. That won't easily happen on the earlier version clicker.

[Mike 59]

Hi, I think the big difference in the 70s and 80s Jotters, was the brass threaded insert in the steel cap, which made the cap stronger and heavier, and it feels like that. The threads were finer pitch, which seems to be better engineering, but cost more of course.

[dennis_f]

 

Yeah I dunno, maybe it's the paint or lacquer finish that makes the new Premium model "feel" less substantial. Also, the clickers are different. The clicker on one fairly late all stainless version Jotter I have is recessed with a nicely embossed Parker Arrow & Halo logo in the middle. The clicker on the new Premium model is domed with no marks or logo at all. I'll bet the domed clicker on the new Premium model dents easily if dropped. That won't easily happen on the earlier version clicker.

 

 

I lost my mid-80s jotter sometime at the end of the 90s and took quite a while to replace it. I finally picked up a new stainless steel version sometime between 2010 and 2013 (in Toronto). It has the domed clicker that you're describing, which is to say that that design feature has been around for a while now.

 

While I was disappointed at first that the new one did not have the recessed arrow and halo on the top of the clicker (I'm still disappointed by that), this one has been working just fine. No dents to speak of yet, and no failure in the mechanism.

 

I picked up a new jotter this past weekend (I don't mean "bought". I mean, literally, picked it up to test it out at a pen store). The clicker looked and felt the same as the one on my 2010-2013 pen. Fwiw.

 

D.

[Mike 59]

Hi, A comparison of the 1980s Jotter button and 2011 version.

 

[Drone]

Hi, A comparison of the 1980s Jotter button and 2011 version.

 

Thanks for the pictures...

 

My brand-new Premium Jotter in Bond Street Black with Gold Trim has a domed clicker like the picture on the right.

 

My "Made in UK" stamped Jotter in all brushed-stainless finish with a gold-tone clip bearing the date-code IIIQ (1990) also has a domed clicker like the picture on the right.

 

My "Made in USA" stamped Jotter in all brushed-stainless finish with a chrome-tone clip bearing the date-code IIE (most likely 1988, not 1998) has a clicker that looks like the picture on the left. But the build quality of the clicker on my pen looks much better than the one in the picture. For-example, the Arrow & Halo logo on my pen's clicker has a crisp-clean stamp that is correctly centered.

[Mike 59]

Hi, True enough, the stamping would vary from hardly there to near ideal, and seemed to affect the datecode stamping more than anywhere else. I have at least one Jotter where it is so shallow that a 10x loupe is needed to see it.

The Jotter in my photo on the left side, has no clip at all, I think it might have left the factory like that, as the metal that would hold the clip on has not been 'formed' over. Don't know if that's unusual.

[AL01]

He. It looks better than the early ones. Lets see what else will be done to the Parker Pen Co. There's a lot going on now.