Pelikan M800 (In Blue)

[Morphling27]

Pelikan M800 (in blue!)

 

Hello everyone! This is my first fountain pen review on this forum. It'll be a little different than any other future ones I may plan to do and I'll touch on that later. Also, I've written gobs of reviews on places like Amazon and such and do not find having a 'grading' system helpful. I find it even less helpful in reviewing an item that can be as personal as our love of fountain pens. Anyway, on to the review.

 

Box, presentation, etc:

 

So, I took many pictures actually unboxing, but I think this shows the best representation of the whole thing. You get the pen which comes inside the lovely off-white pouch and the faux seal on it. It's a very handy pen holding pouch too! I constantly put the M800 inside it when done for the day. It sits on that little white pillow thing many pens seem to come with. It sits inside a nice sturdy cardboard and wood like box. There is also the written material wrapped nicely in some tissue paper. Overall, this is one of the better if not the best boxes and presentations for a fountain pen I've had yet. What really throws it over the top is the included pouch which is the only useful accessory I can think of coming with a pen. Most of the time, I keep the box for a bit and when I clean the office, into the trash it goes to save room.

 

Pen and feel and looks:

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Pelikan M series of pens and their looks. I got mine in blue (I'll touch on that later) because it was what was available and also blue is a great color to me. The more traditional green they come in, while nice, does not do it for me. The green looks... I don't know? It reminds of something old and not in a good or retro way. Just ugly. But this blue is nice and has some pearly shine to it. Obviously the cap is black and this being the 800, comes with gold trim. I'm a fan of both gold and silver trims (honestly anything shiny!!)

 

The feel of the pen is nice and it's weighty but not like holding a brick. It's obviously meant to be held and make its presence known, but it won't fatigue your hand writing a letter to grandma. The cap and body are smooth, you do get the bands before the piston knob as one of the few tactile experiences outside of smooth. The grip is great, it's flaired at the end and the threads stay out of the way (or at least they didn't bother me for my grip and hands. I have large, large hands too).

 

Pen and its functionality:

So, I'll touch on a couple things in this section quickly. The filling mechanism is a piston and you turn the black knob to activate it. It is the best piston filler I've used by far (I've got a Lamy, Visconti, some TWSBIs, and maybe others). It is effortless and sucks up almost the whole capicity on the first go, which is uncommon. You can do a couple fills to ensure every drop, but it holds enough the first time to keep you writing the next NYC Best Seller. I will say, unlike my TWSBIs and Lamy (due to its shape), I did accidently start to turn the knob slightly upon removing the cap after I posted it on the back. It isn't a deal breaker, a bit of thought or at least being aware when you start to feel it move, you stop, no mess should occur. I haven't had my Visconti long enough to have it really happen, but the Pelikan did fall short here compared to other piston fillers.

 

So, since the cap being removed caused a bit of an issue, let's talk about it! The cap is nice, but so-so overall. It is a regular threaded cap onto the pen type of affair. It's easy enough to remove, no issues, no cross threading, etc. I prefer not to have a traditional twist cap, things like slip caps or other innovative methods appeal to me more. I like easy of use and feeling like I'm putting together Ikea furniture with an allen wrench isn't ideal. Also, I don't know exactly what plastic they used to make the cap, but mine obtained some small scuffs quickly after purchase. It's black and only visible if you get the light on it right, but I've had pens for years with no marks on a cap that seems otherwise similar to the Pelikan's. It could have been abuse, I am not gentle with pens but I'm not a ham-fisted dolt with them either.

 

Overall the pen as a whole is great, but has some basic flaws. It's the best pen I've ever used though, despite that. It's my grail pen honestly and I wasn't expecting it to be.

 

Nib:

This is really the main attraction to most pens. Pelikan is known for their nibs and mine didn't disappoint. It is a Medium if you cannot see the picture well. Also, it's a regular, round nib despite looking at the picture now that seems to indicate it being some type of oblique cut. I'm no photographer, so sorry. The nib is 100% smooth. The whole nib is a sweet spot, honestly. It's a wet, very European style medium, but not a gusher and never dry. Starts every time. I honestly can't say enough good about the nib and it's why I don't care if the pen even has a small flaw as mentioned above or it had an actual major one (which it doesn't).

 

I can't say enough about the nib on this pen. I'm usually ho-hum about a medium point. Give me an exact fine nib to make crisp lines or give me a bold nib to fire-house the page with lovely ink. It's such a perfect nib to me, I don't care if every word it wrote caused a fairy to lose its wings - tough luck, I'll transcribe the whole bible to just write with this nib. Also, it's a very nib-creep prone nib but it likes to say in the elegant swirls Pelikan put on it. So, with say a blue ink it's very pretty.

 

So, you want to see a writing sample? You'd think there'd be one! My praise of the nib, me actually trying to take OK pictures of a pen. Well, you don't get one. There's a sad, sad story here. I got this pen as a gift right after Christmas of 2016. I was given some Amazon giftcards and was tooling around on my days off wondering what to do with credit burning a hole in my digital pocket. I'd heard of Pelikan, I'd want the M800 or the M1000, but they were more than I was willing to spend. I then saw the lovely blue, knew it wasn't the ugly green! I knew I wasn't going to spring even more for a limited edition type color. So, on the blue version, Amazon Warehouse had a dent box. For a VERY low price. I've had great or terrible experiences with Amazon Warehouse. Mostly, the 'dent box' is a slash or small hole on the box of a new item. The other times, it wasn't even used. It was dirty, obviously returned well past any sane return window, and if it was sold back as used, it should have been trashed. So, I got lucky when I ordered that obviously this had some small scuff on the outer white sleeve.

 

I was so lucky! A grail pen I wasn't expecting at a fantastic price. I used it every single day. For one whole month. I left my office in a hurry one day to a meeting I had almost forgotten (I rarely have offsite meetings). I didn't need to bring anything to the meeting, so I naturally didn't as I hate lugging anything around. I left the pen at my desk. I work for a very well known company. They are very conservative though and only give offices if you have Chief something Officer as your title. VPs of whole regions/plans sit in a crummy cubicle right next to me (No joke, I sit next to my VP who makes probably 4x my salary). I left my pen at my desk, which isn't a high traffic area. My pen was not there when I came back. I searched half the floor in my area. Email was blasted out asking if a pen was found. I walked around to see if someone had snagged it maybe not knowing - although you'd be hard pressed even as a regular person to not realize an M800 isn't even close to a bic stick.

 

So, as a positive to end this on, the last thing of importance I remember writing with it was a nice letter to my grandma. She always sends cards for any silly occasion and I try to write a nice letter back. So, the pen at least got to write a very nice letter! Anyway, my mourning is over and it took me 4ish months to even want to write this review. Thanks all.

[RocketRyan]

I feel your loss. There are some bad people out there.

[adyf]

Terrible when it was potentially a work colleague.

[MHBru]

ouch and that would make me furious knowing it was a co worker! when people take stuff from you... ok when they steal from you... it's bad enough. but when they take something that has personal meaning it just makes my blood boil.

[TranquilTrout]

It's a shame that it was stolen because it really does seem like a great pen. I've learned the hard way on a few occasions to not leave anything that even looks valuable out, especially pens. People seem far more willing to steal pens than almost anything, even if they look like they look more expensive than a throw away Bic for whatever reason. Easy to pocket I guess.

 

Do you have any intentions of buying another M800 at some point?

Edited May 16, 2017 by TranquilTrout

[KellyMcJ]

What a beautiful pen!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm so sad to hear that it was stolen. As TT stated above, people are way more likely to steal pens. I think most people have no clue that a pen could possibly cost as much as some of ours. They probably thought they were stealing a $50 pen, not an $800 pen. Or maybe they did know.

 

It seems like nice pens are seen as a "low risk" kind of theft.

[Penman222]

Great review. I have the same pen with silver trim (805) and your review is right on. Sorry to hear of the loss of your pen, that is why I carry a Lamy Safari to the office and leave the Pelikan at home.

 

BTW, I don't find the green ugly!

[Morphling27]

Thank you, I'd wanted to start doing pen reviews (hence why I took a bunch of pictures for the first time) and was upset at what happened for a while.

 

I may purchase another in the future! I was very fortunate to get the deal on the dent box, so only time will tell. I'll say, if another deal comes my way, I'll jump at it 100% and I recommend Pelikan to anyone now.

 

bhbarto - Yeah, lately I've only brought my cheaper pens to the office, my two TWSBI Eco's getting the most use. I'm just not a huge fan in anyway for the color green. I own I think 1 green ink now? I gave away a bottle of Noodler's Army green because I'll never use it. I think the only green pen I own is the Lamy Lime Green, which is obviously more yellow than anything. Ironic, as my car is a metallic lime green color and I love it - but again a very, very bright green.

[TranquilTrout]

Thank you, I'd wanted to start doing pen reviews (hence why I took a bunch of pictures for the first time) and was upset at what happened for a while.

 

I may purchase another in the future! I was very fortunate to get the deal on the dent box, so only time will tell. I'll say, if another deal comes my way, I'll jump at it 100% and I recommend Pelikan to anyone now.

 

I'm pretty new and haven't seen too many reviews, but I thought this one was good and I'm looking forward to see if you have anymore come out. I wish you the best with finding another good deal like that.

[Tom Kellie]

~ The photos above appeal to me as I've been thinking about this very model.

It was especially satisfying to read such a positive review.

Who knows what might arrive on my writing desk in 2020, influenced by reading this review?

Tom K.

[WLSpec]

Thanks for bringing this thread back, it reminded me how much I actually want one of these! Beautiful pen.

[Tom Kellie]

Thanks for bringing this thread back, it reminded me how much I actually want one of these! Beautiful pen.

 

~ WLSpec:

 

It's a Pelikan which stays in my mind for days.

The blend of blue, black and silver has a low-key elegance which appeals to me.

I hope that one will find its way to your writing desk.

Tom K.

[bemon]

Tough go- that would make me all kinds of mad because there's no way someone who's outside of our circle could understand the cost of replacing an M800. Chances are whoever liberated it had their eye on it as a fun to use pen but had no idea of it's true value.

 

I made someone choke on her coffee telling her I spent $50 on a Cross ballpoint. Then I showed her ebay listings of fountain pens and she was absolutely floored at what people spend on pens. So not that it helps but I'd hope whoever took your pen didn't realize they were costing you hundreds.

 

I tend to leave decoys at my desk just in case. I have a couple of Parker Jotter ballpoints in my desk drawer and I always leave one on top of my desk under my lamp. I figure someone who's hunting for a pen will see it before they go digging around. There were also a few shiny Jinhao fountains in my desk drawer to act as the ultimate decoy for someone who's not just looking for a pen, but someone who's looking to steel something of value.

 

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but one of the Jinhao's has already gone missing. Joke's on them I guess? But I am carrying fewer high dollar pens to work because of that. The cheapies serve their purpose as loaners and/or decoys but I'm worried someone will come back looking for more.