Monami Olika

[Stuporman]

Has anyone had any experience with the Monami Olika? This is Monami's inexpensive FP (along the lines of Platinum's Preppy)

 

 

Comes with a steel fine nib...

 

 

...and proprietary cartridges. The diameter of the cartridge opening is slightly larger than that of an international converter (Faber Castell converter on the left for comparison).

 

 

Has anyone had any luck finding a converter that would fit?

[studiohead]

We purchased a pen from the local popular book store to do some research and found that the cartridges are exactly the same fit as the Parker/Aurora size. We tried a Parker slide converter and it fits.

[ink-syringe]

That is great info. These pens are all over here in Korea. I have avoided them b/c of the proprietary looking cartridges and well, the Preppy and Varsity are so freaking good why bother, but if it will take Aurora carts than that is a major plus right there.

[Euljiro]

uh Hi everyone, I just joined today and this is going to be my first post. Was just browsing around and found this thread. I have some experience with these Olikas.

 

They are the cheapest disposable fountain pen I could find in Korea at 3,000KRW a piece. Comes with the pen and 3 cartridges (one inside the barrel and 2 spares). FYI, 0.3 Preppy costs 3,300KRW with 2 cartridges. 0.2 Preppy costs 3,800KRW and also comes with 2 cartridges. Pilot Petit1 costs 4,000KRW and only has 1 (tiny) cartridge. Never tried Pilot varsity. I have 3, blue, yellow, and green. Only 1 nib option as far as I'm concern, the fine nib.

 

So the first impression I thought, man these nibs are not fine at all. Not even a medium, but more like a broad. This what I could see on the Tomoe Paper (Midori light weight refill). The yellow ink has great shading, thus the color was more orange, great saturation especially for a yellow ink. Green was also bright and vibrant. Blue was just so dark, I would say it's on the dark side of a blue-black. Apart from it writes very broad for a fine nib, the ink behaves well, no feathering, no bleed, dries reasonably fast (considering it's on Tomoe paper), and no smearing. So I thought they were great, best of the bunch. They are full-size pens, thick rubber grip. Size and ergonomic they are better than the Preppies for me. But compared to the Preppies the plastic feels cheap and brittle. The finish just isn't as refined as the Preppies or the Petit1s. Still, so far so good.

 

Then, when I started writing on different papers, I found their true color. On Midori MD paper, they feathered, bled, no shading, you name it, just terrible. So to make this brief, the ink is rubbish, absolutely terrible. it took the best paper in the world (Tomoe paper) to withstand this badly behaved ink. The consistency is just not viscous enough, so on any other paper it will feather, bleed, no shading, nothing good. On Tomoe paper, it spread/expanded that's why it writes more like a broad rather than a fine.

 

So in the end, I washed out the ink in the cartridges. Couldn't find an international cartridge to fit. The mechanism is similar to the Petit1. I could remove the "cotton feed," I don't know what you call that thing, similar to what's in the Petit1s. I removed the nib, couldnt managed to remove the feed though. Using a syringe, I filled these pens with my favorite bottled inks, Diamine Autumn Oak, Diamine Asa Blue, and Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun. Then they do write more like a fine, Western fine, not Japanese fine. Moderately wet, nibs write quite smooth.

 

So as a conclusion, I would suggest people to avoid them. They just aren't worth it. You could turn them into an eyedropper, but the plastic doesn't feel good enough for me to do that. The fit and finish aren't as good as on the Preppies. The price isn't that much cheaper either. Prefers the Olika's nibs to the Peppies and Petit1s though. Grip and ergonomic is excellent, I actually prefer the grip and comfort of the Olikas than my Twsbi Eco.

 

Monami produces cheap pens for the Korean market for a long time, with the Olika, its their first foray into the disposable fountain pen. Sadly, they hold true to their root of making cheap pens. They have a cool concept store in Seoul though.

[ink-syringe]

again, just to reiterate, these are rumored to take Parker/Aurora cartridges. I have not tested this out since I have tried the pens in stores several times and not been all that impressed. I like the Preppy and Varsity. If I needed a cheap option that is what I would get.

[Drone]

We purchased a pen from the local popular book store to do some research and found that the cartridges are exactly the same fit as the Parker/Aurora size. We tried a Parker slide converter and it fits.

 

I just picked up one of these in Jakarta, Indonesia at Gunung Agung Book Store in Senayan City Mall for Rp 40,000 (around $2.75 USD before 10% tax). I say more about the pen in my post here:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/312616-monami-olika/?do=findComment&comment=3827107

 

My pen definitely does not take Parker/Aurora or International size cartridges or converters. The cartridges that came with my pen are proprietary. The pen version you received may be one intended for the EU market. I understand there's some sort of regulation in the EU that cartridges are supposed to be swappable between manufacturers. I think that's why there are versions of the Pilot Metropolitan/MR that take International size cartridges instead of the Pilot proprietary cartridges.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Drone