Moonman Pens?

[Rosendust]

What are your thoughts about Moonman pens? Are they worth it in your opinion?(in terms of nib quality and durability, specifically)

 

Thanks!!

Edited August 11, 2020 by Rosendust

[TSherbs]

worth it, yes

 

there are many thorough and positive reviews of the models on youtube

Edited August 11, 2020 by TSherbs

[sciumbasci]

Moonman, along with Wing Sung and PenBBS, really stepped up the game for Chinese pens

[Uncial]

My experience would suggest some are junk. The wooden models have a significant design flaw. Sadly I had to dispose of the nib in the demo. I thought I'd been unlucky but trying a couple of others friends own pointed to issues of very spotty nibs, although I did have one in my hand last week that wrote very nicely. Some folks rave about particular models too, so a thorough read on a particular model you like would be advised.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Uncial

[corniche]

Hi Rosendust,

 

I have found Moonman/Delike pens hit and miss. I have a Duofold copy that I might as well use as a dart, (tweaking the nib didn't help); then I have a Delike celluloid that looks like an Esterbrook J that is a fabulous writer. Those are the only two I own. No experience with BBS.

 

 

- Sean

[langere]

Moonman pens, PenBBS and Lorelei are all quality pens. There are some misses, such as with the wooden M6s, but generally these are quality-built pens, with good, if not impressive nibs.

 

They tend to be more expensive than other Chinese brands. But they are generally worth it.

 

Most of the time the nibs are good. Rarely they are not.

 

I just finished using a Moonman M600S. The plastic on the pen is great and a looker. However, the nib was not well adjusted - the pen had hard starts and it was necessary to press down hard to get it to write. I finally took the nib off and expanded the space between the slit. That did the trick and now it writes really well - almost a gusher.

 

But that was the exception. Overall, very good quality pens, ones that come perfect out of the box and will last a lifetime.

 

Erick

[A Smug Dill]

What are your thoughts about Moonman pens?

My wife and I have a few Moonman pens. On the whole, I like the brand, and it is more likely to get my repeat custom than, say, Parker or Cross whose prices are an order of magnitude higher than Moonman's. Many of the models are gorgeous.

 

Are they worth it in your opinion?

Worth what specifically? (What you wrote next doesn't really inform me of the answer to the question, sorry.) The asking prices of the pens? There is no single asking price for any given Moonman model, or variant (e.g. colour or finish) of a model; and I don't even know which model(s) you have in mind. The (uncertainty and) wait of having your orders shipped directly from China, from sellers with whom you haven't established a trusting relationship, with little recourse for anything short of major defects? The effort of doing due diligence?

 

(in terms of nib quality and durability, specifically)

I'm very happy with the nibs on our Moonman M100 and M200 pens, of which we bought eight in total, on account of the Schmidt nibs on them. We gave one of the M100 pens to a friend who is already a fountain pen user with a small handful of (all sub-$100) pens of 'Western' brands; I think the pen is visually attractive, reliable and durable enough as an exemplar to introduce her to Chinese brands, and sufficiently rival what she already had. However, I have read comments from others on FPN that they dislike(d) the writing experience and/or outcome with the Schmidt nibs.

 

My Moonman S1 has a Moonman-branded nib. It's Fine, and it's fine; it performs close enough to the Schmidt nibs (which I think are slightly better), and I have no complaints about it.

 

But I'm primarily interested in Moonman pens for the attractive looks and construction quality of their bodies. The Moonman 800 pens look lovely, and given my experience with my (one and only) Leonardo Momento Zero — which came with a defective German (Bock?) nib that was juuust usable out-of-the-box, and it seems I wasn't alone in being disappointed by Leonardo's quality control with regard to nibs — I'd sooner chance buying a Moonman 800 with a Bock nib than giving Leonardo Officina Italiana more of my money. Is the typical asking price for one of those — and I still consider it a Moonman pen all in all, just as a Leonardo pen with a JoWo or Bock nib is still a Leonardo/Italian pen — worth it? That depends on how much one really wants a (or another) pen of that styling, and possibly weighing it against other purchase candidates that look/are altogether different; I think the HongDian Black Forest offers much better bang for buck and costs a whole lot less, but that's a completely different animal, so to speak.

 

I haven't been at all impressed with the #6 Moonman-branded nibs on our M6 and M600S pens, but given how common #6 nibs seem to be, especially as candidates for nib-swapping, it's easy to make a better "Moonman pen" by swapping in a JoWo, Bock or Nemosine nib into the eye-candy, glorified #6 nib holder. However, if what you're really asking about is Moonman nibs, not so much Moonman pens for which the bodies account for the better part of the price, you can easily buy those nibs as standalone items from Chinese sellers. Why you'd want to do that, I wouldn't know; there are much better (for "nib quality and durability") #6 steel nibs you can buy with which to write, and cheaper #6 steel nibs at almost throwaway prices if you want to practice and hone your nib-grinding skills until you're ready to work on nibs that are pricier.

 

Buying a Moonman pen primarily to get a Moonman #6 nib and hoping for a great writing experience out of the box isn't something I'd recommend. Why bother going down that path?

Edited August 12, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[MadAsAHatter]

I have several Moonman pens. The resins that are used appear to be of good quality and the manufacture and fit an finish are done well. The included converters (for those that come with them) are ok. They're not bad or anything, but they're nothing special either; just your standard converter. They use standard plastic feeds which provide a good ink flow. I find where they are lacking are in the nib department. Their nibs seem to be hit or miss and lately and I've experienced more misses. I don't know if they've switched up nib production, have slacked on the QA/QC or I've just been that unlucky. The first few Moonman pens I got had superb nibs that wrote perfectly to my liking out the box. The last 5 or so I have received were scratchy and had poor ink flow. Of those 5, 2 of the nibs I was able to adjust and get them writing well, the other 3 were flat out duds and I swapped them out for another brand (Edison and/or Goulet).

 

Don't let my experience with some bum nibs deter you from trying one out. Because of the good quality on everything else I still find them an excellent value even when factoring in the price of a new nib if the pen came with a bum one.

[Cyclohexene]

Buying a Moonman pen primarily to get a Moonman #6 nib and hoping for a great writing experience out of the box isn't something I'd recommend. Why bother going down that path?

I actually did that, ie. buying a standalone Moonman #6 nib to swap onto an existing pen. I wanted a fine nib, and in the part of world I reside in I can't get Jowos or Bocks at a reasonable price (shipping costs twice the price of the nib, and I only needed one).

 

The nib that I received actually had uneven tipping on both tines, but I didn't notice it because it wrote well enough out of the box. If I'm honest the main reason I got the Moonman over say a PenBBS nib unit was because I liked the cresent-shaped breather hole, but from my single sample I can see there is a QC problem. I haven't seen anyone else raise a similar issue though.

[MuddyWaters]

The #6 moonman nibs have been lacklustre to poor for me too. I thought for a while they would be a cheap upgrade over jinhao nibs that are so wide, wet and blobby, but realized it wasn't worth the money nor the energy to have it shipped all the way here. What was more frustrating was that the flow when I put jowo nibs into those moonman pens (600s and c1) was poor, like the fit was not right.

[sansenri]

In terms of nib quality they seem to be hit and miss.

I own 3, a M100 that had a very bad Moonman nib that needed a lot of work to get it to write, one M600 with a good Jinhao fude nib, but the pen was defected and had to be replaced, the replacement pen came with a bad fude nib (scratchy), luckily I was able to keep the defected pen with the good nib which I switched into the replacement pen, and one M600 with finally a good nib.

 

The pens generally seem good quality vs other Chinese, but the nibs seem to disappoint in many cases and I can see a lot of attempts to swap them out with German nibs.

Edited August 12, 2020 by sansenri

[peroride]

I have 2 Moonman M8s:

 

I did a lot of YouTubing to check reviews as M6 first appealed to me but had issues with dry out so I went with the plastic M8s

• Gold flake a la MB 146 Solitaire Calligraphy Gold Leaf
• and Multicolor green abalone shell a la Sailor KOP Maki-e Raden Sakura Nagare

They are both beautiful and well balanced like Sheaffer Balances and feel well made along with the converter than has a lil spring to break up the surface tension.

 

The nibs are gold plated with the cute crescent and I think this Klingon in describing the Enterprise best sums up the writing experience

https://youtu.be/QsO-7ENKGP4

 

[Mech-for-i]

Just like majority of Chinese fountain pen Moonman / Delike tune their nib and feed to write the home language and they perform on that with sterling service but of course that means users coming in expecting a likewise writing mostly Latin based cursive or similar will not be happy about it

 

Its just the way they are and for my suggestion ( unless you are writing East Asian ) get the petite / mini fude ; by their very nature they suite the western writing better but if you are looking for casual day to day use and are not seeking expressive writing the Moonman EF work well enough

 

Just as others had stated I had found their pen of quality decent and some great , well per their price asked .. And the trick to all Chinese fountain pen usage - CLEAN THOROUGHLY before use and the nib need generally a full fill or two of writing to run in - again nothing special just the way they are

Edited August 13, 2020 by Mech-for-i

[A Smug Dill]

Just like majority of Chinese fountain pen Moonman / Delike tune their nib and feed to write the home language and they perform on that with sterling service

 

Sorry, but no. I'm generally happy with Delike nibs writing in Chinese, but the Moonman #6 nibs I have here are imprecise and therefore 'junk' in my book for writing complex Chinese characters in a tight space with clarity for each stroke.

[Mech-for-i]

 

Sorry, but no. I'm generally happy with Delike nibs writing in Chinese, but the Moonman #6 nibs I have here are imprecise and therefore 'junk' in my book for writing complex Chinese characters in a tight space with clarity for each stroke.

well I had to agree the no.6 Moonman was ( IMHO ) inferior to their No.5 ; personally I am ok with them writing Chinese though if asked I would go for the no.5 instead

 

And as per stated, it might also need to be noted that Delike and Moonman go through a few change in their nib grind / tuning ; the earlier Delike and Moonman nib are even less appealing to cursive writing and the very early Delike EF nib are so sensitive and EXTRA fine to the point that even their home market user find it too much so , they had since tone down on that.

 

And also it had to be noted that even among writing East Asian Language ; there is a big difference between them all, Delike and Moonman obviously cater more to their home market customers ( which really is an absolute majority for them ) and they the customers tend to write with the pen way more acute and vertical than most , again nothing special, just the way they are ( penmanship teaching since junior school ) and if you try to write with these Moonman / Delike with these high acute angle you will find that the nib perform with a noticeable difference

 

I had in my cache a few ( now seems out of production and out of stock ) of the Delike M nib , yes they once did offer M nib and surprisingly they write very wet and smooth , I wonder why they do not keep offering them , one reason I suppose is there simply is not enough order coming in asking for that and when the batch or batches sold off they just stop carrying it

[DonLeone]

I have a moonman, it smells like Walter White or Jesse Pinkman used it to stir up some meth in Breaking Bad.

 

People tend to like the way it looks and the smell doesn't carry very far. I can supposedly leave it uncapped and the smell should go... Maybe next time when I swap inks.

 

It's MoonMan M600S purple. People think it's a Parker Duofold.

[stephanf3]

I have three Moonman pens, an M2, an M600 and an M800. All of them look fantastic and are solid pens. The M2 and the M600 have good nibs which write flawlessly.

Both the M600 and the M800 have that distinctive smell of acrylics which will diminish after some time but never go away completely.

Other pen manufacturers (PenBBS, WingSung etc.) have found a way to avoid/reduce that smell.

 

When I got the M800 I was a bit disappointed as the nib was very dry and it had skipping. I tuned it with a brass sheet and then it wrote ok. I still replaced the nib with a Bock nib and now it writes very well. Moonman offers this pen in a version directly fitted with a Bock nib which (from my experience) I would recommend.

The M800 is often accused to be a rip off of the Leonardo Momento Zero but when comparing them directly you can see, smell and feel a lot of differences which make the LMZ the superior pen and also show that the M800 is not a "fake" LMZ but a close relative.

[MuddyWaters]

I have three Moonman pens, an M2, an M600 and an M800. All of them look fantastic and are solid pens. The M2 and the M600 have good nibs which write flawlessly.

Both the M600 and the M800 have that distinctive smell of acrylics which will diminish after some time but never go away completely.

Other pen manufacturers (PenBBS, WingSung etc.) have found a way to avoid/reduce that smell.

 

When I got the M800 I was a bit disappointed as the nib was very dry and it had skipping. I tuned it with a brass sheet and then it wrote ok. I still replaced the nib with a Bock nib and now it writes very well. Moonman offers this pen in a version directly fitted with a Bock nib which (from my experience) I would recommend.

The M800 is often accused to be a rip off of the Leonardo Momento Zero but when comparing them directly you can see, smell and feel a lot of differences which make the LMZ the superior pen and also show that the M800 is not a "fake" LMZ but a close relative.

I would say that being a cheaply made copy is still a rip-off btw.