Kosmos Ink - Magnetic Fountain Pen

[panna]

This popped up in my inbox recently:

 

https://tinyurl.com/y3mcjdvy

 

I like browsing through Indiegogo for fun, although most projects (including this one) are far too expensive for me to consider backing.

 

Would you back this? Why or why not?

[SoulSamurai]

I'm not really fond of faceted pen bodies, and I prefer to minimise the use of magnets in stuff I carry around to avoid unexpected interactions, so it's not worth it to me personally. The magnetic feature isn't really adding anything to the pen functionally after all, it's just a gimmick in my eyes.

 

Having said that it looks like a fun little pen to fidget with, so if I saw one in front of me for a low price I might have picked it up just to play with.

[SpecTP]

Pineider has a bunch of magnets in their pens too.. My Visconti Van Gogh pens also use magnets to hold the cap in place.

[inkstainedruth]

It wasn't clear from the link what the price of this will be.

While the "turn the cap to disconnect the magnet" part was amusing, I'd be a bit worried about putting something with a magnet in it into my purse anywhere near my wallet and credit cards.....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LeakyInk]

I frequent kickstarter a lot. I really go on for board game projects. I have backed a few over the years, friends have backed more for me than I do. I look at the value of the project to me and how much I am willing to pay for that value. I have definitely gotten my share of great value for price and a couple of meh games that luckily were not too much money.

 

I think I seen the project you posted on kickstarter. I gave it a quick look over and it did not excite me at all, especially at the price. I find a lot of "every day carry" branded stuff tends to be over priced for what is offered. It's more about being in the cool crowd than backing a good project.

[SoulSamurai]

I frequent kickstarter a lot. I really go on for board game projects. I have backed a few over the years, friends have backed more for me than I do. I look at the value of the project to me and how much I am willing to pay for that value. I have definitely gotten my share of great value for price and a couple of meh games that luckily were not too much money.

 

I think I seen the project you posted on kickstarter. I gave it a quick look over and it did not excite me at all, especially at the price. I find a lot of "every day carry" branded stuff tends to be over priced for what is offered. It's more about being in the cool crowd than backing a good project.

 

I back a reasonable number of projects myself, and I'm always checking Kickstarter for the latest pen projects (as well as some other categories of projects). I've seen very few pen projects that interest me; most of them are a basic metal tube with a standard ballpoint refill or fountain nib unit, usually with a metal grip and a big step (two things that I don't like) and often without a pocket clip (something that I do want).

 

I feel like their prices are usually around the price of an American made metal fountain pen like a Karas Customs, so I won't say they are overpriced, but... yeah, they usually aren't really offering anything you can't already get for less from an established pen company. Except maybe if you love titanium I suppose; whooooooole lot of titanium on Kickstarter.

 

There's been a few pen projects that have caught my attention though; recently there was a project with urushi Parker 51s (including an abalone design): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yukheiwong/your-urushi-lacquer-parker-51-fountain-pen. That was very cool but outside of my budget.

Edited September 4, 2019 by SoulSamurai

[hbdk]

Looks nice, but - no clip, no deal

[Storch]

Sorry,but no.

This looks less interesting than the Chinese N9 for 2x the price.

Both are machined aluminum and theirs is a Bock nib versus a generic nib but, when you get down to it, there really isn't that much there.

Of all of them the titanium one with a titanium nib would probably be the most interesting but at almost $180 (not even accounting for the wait) there is plenty of stiff competition.

[smitbret]

I have one of these in aluminum. It is generally well made and writes just fine but a few things have left me uninspired:

 

#1 - I am just not a big fan of Bock nibs

 

#2 - The magnet assembly came loose within a couple of weeks so the cap and body no longer aligned when capping. I fixed it with some JB Weld and it's fine now but I shouldn't have to do that on a $70 pen.

 

#3 - The clip options that they promised never materialized. When I originally backed it, they had designs and photos of a black wire clip, similar to a Lamy Safari's and I liked the way it looked. It never happened.

 

#4 - Once I had it in person, the section/grip seems weirdly proportioned and just doesn't seem to fit the pen very well. It's something I can see now in the pictures but didn't appreciate it until I had it in front of me. Too long and skinny and the little ring at the end (magnet) just seems to break the lines of the pen.

 

I actually have some high hopes for this one:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2072772343/italia-fountain-pen

 

I have had one of their Piuma's for about a year and it is a great pen.

Edited September 10, 2019 by smitbret

[Honeybadgers]

I'd buy it if it had a segment to post and came with a clip.

[Braxfield]

Bad experience with Kosmos pen.

The magnetic ring worked loose after a few weeks so the cap no longer aligned with the body. The cap stayed on but it spun round.

 

Then I dropped the pen and although the titanium body was relatively unscathed the magnetic ring sheared.

 

For me Kosmos was a costly failure.

 

Without the magnet to secure the cap the pen was a total write-off. I hate to say it but I fear these guys may be better at marketing than making. .

Edited April 25, 2020 by Braxfield

[Bill P]

Stilform, the maker of Kosmos, did stand behind their Kosmos Fountain pen.

 

They had issues with the Magnetic ring not being secured sufficiently, and they had customers ship them back to them, and they repaired them...as stated above "The magnetic ring worked loose after a few weeks so the cap no longer aligned with the body. The cap stayed on but it spun round."

 

Unfortunate that they had issues, but they did fix them...I sent my Kosmos back , they fixed it, and I have had no issues since.

 

Braxfield...you might consider contacting Stilform and returning the Cosmos for repair.

[Braxfield]

Thank you Bill.

 

My first Kosmos arrived with an already loose Magnetic ring. They very kindly replaced it. The replacement pen was the one that worked loose and then broke (when it fell out of my pocket).

 

I simply don't trust the magnetic system. It may work well enough on the aluminum models but there seems to be insufficient surface to attach to the TI. The second pen came loose after very light use.