2016 Redesign Of Parker Urban And 'im'

[Mercian]

Hi,

I was just looking through the Fountain Pen Reviews board, and noticed that there do not seem to be any reviews of the 2016 redesign/'refresh' of the Parker Urban yet (as of 2017-04-13).

Or, indeed, any reviews of the redesigned version of the 'IM'.

 

As these are both mid-range pens, I am slightly surprised that it seems that nobody on here has either of them.

Even if no-one on here has gone out and bought one yet, I would have expected that they are the sort of pens that might often get gifted to people. So I am puzzled (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... )

 

Do any of you out there in FPN-land own either of these pens?

If so, what do you think of them?

I am particularly interested to read your opinions of their nibs, the appearance of which reminds me somewhat of the nibs on my Parker Frontiers.

Are these nibs 'nails'? Do they have any 'spring' to them?

The nib on my 2005 Frontier M seems to have just a teensy bit more 'character' than the nibs on my Vector, Jotter, and (old-shape) Urban. I was wondering whether the redesigned pens' nibs share that (illusory?) trait.

 

Or can it really be that nobody on FPN has either of these pens?

Have the redesigns of these pens provoked only a universal 'meh' from FPN-ers?

If that is the case, I fear that Parker may be in big trouble indeed.

 

Full disclosure:

I have just ordered a NOS old-shape Urban with a Fine nib, to complement my existing old-shape Urban with its Medium nib.

Why did I not order one in the new shape?

Becuase the 'coke-bottle'/'Gina Lollobrigida' curves of the older one please me greatly, and it is those curves that been redesigned out of the new one

Also, I know that its Fine nib/section will be interchangeable with the Medium of my existing pen.

[Noihvo]

Long post, bear with me. I do not do TLDR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rolina]

I have been a long user of Parker pens and am very fond of them. I love my older design Urban and have had no issues with it whatsoever and it has seen a fair amount of use as it is one of my favourite pens (I also have an older Parker, an IM and a Vector). When I heard about the new design, I took a look and think it looks very stylish and will be buying one (or two) in the future.

 

I do agree with Mercian, though, that the old shape, IMO, was lovely and it is a shame that they have softened the aesthetic curves that appealed to me in the first place, but maybe it just was too unusual and not selling well.

Noihvo, I love your review, especially as it is handwritten and you show some lovely eye candy in the photos!

[Valkyrii]

After a pretty bad experience with the new Urban as a roller ball, I almost gave up on this pen before I purchased one. I saw a Black Cab finish on Amazon for about $38 and figured I'd give it a go. I've only had it two days but so far I like it. It does suffer like the roller of not having a cap liner, so I would not recommend leaving it inked and unattended for any length of time.

 

I ordered a converter online as it does not come with one.

 

I have large hands and I find even with the shorter grip section, based on how I hold a pen, it is comfortable. It's long enough to use posted or un-posted. The cap seats on either end firmly but I must admit their is a certain satisfaction I get when I put the cap on do it's nice smooth resistance and then a crisp 'snap!'

 

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b251/scotkane/c31b9037-0f84-49d6-9fd6-3faa1be92881_zpsvgeiomv1.jpg

[mitto]

Look and feel 100% Chinese as well are actually made in China.

[Noihvo]

 

[ac12]

+1 on the P45

 

 

The new Urban looks kinda like the old IM

Is it as heavy as the old IM/Urban?

Edited April 25, 2017 by ac12

[Noihvo]

Yes, they do seem to be very similar, with only slightly different shape. The old IM weighs 17/29 g, the new Urban 17/27 g (uncapped/capped).

[one-legion]

Hi folks,

 

I wanted to add some images of my old and new Parker IM's for the record

 

Here is a set of my IM pens. The top pen is the old IM, the middle the new IM, the bottom a Wing Sung clone of the old IM, which oddly has the same clip as the new IM:

 

 

As y'all might guess, I'm a big fan of the chiseled pens. Here are the nibs on the old IM (left) and the new IM (right)

 

 

Here is a comparison of the nib on the Sheaffer 100 (left) and the new IM (right):

 

 

This nibs on the Sheaffer 100 and new IM aren't exactly the same, but interestingly similar in size.