What Pens Wouldn't You Buy Again?

[ibrahim]

42 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

My post launched regarding your HS experience, which is now a well-documented model,

could you please give some links to articles on the documented issues regarding HS?This way, we can only hope, I stop lusting after that pen with its dream touch nib, knowing my weakness for buttery smooth nibs. 

[JonSzanto]

59 minutes ago, ibrahim said:

could you please give some links to articles on the documented issues regarding HS?This way, we can only hope, I stop lusting after that pen with its dream touch nib, knowing my weakness for buttery smooth nibs. 

It is not a pen I've ever wanted, so I don't keep track of this. I was probably pretty regular here on FPN when the pen was first coming out, and it is likely within the pages of FPN that I saw some of the issues. A dedicated search should bring up topics, as well as general Google searching on the web. The main thing? Skip past any "fanboi" threads and posts and try to find those who are outside of that circle. Not every person who has a problem is to be trusted, of course, so read carefully and see if you find multiple examples of a problem with a pen.

 

With a good pen company, iterations of a model will see improvements. They sell a lot of these. Sometimes you do need to take a chance, but if unsure, buy from a reputable dealer who will refund if the pen does not meet expectations.

 

I can't address your weaknesses. Only you can do that. 

[maclink]

1 hour ago, JonSzanto said:

It is not a pen I've ever wanted, so I don't keep track of this. I was probably pretty regular here on FPN when the pen was first coming out, and it is likely within the pages of FPN that I saw some of the issues. A dedicated search should bring up topics, as well as general Google searching on the web. The main thing? Skip past any "fanboi" threads and posts and try to find those who are outside of that circle. Not every person who has a problem is to be trusted, of course, so read carefully and see if you find multiple examples of a problem with a pen.

 

With a good pen company, iterations of a model will see improvements. They sell a lot of these. Sometimes you do need to take a chance, but if unsure, buy from a reputable dealer who will refund if the pen does not meet expectations.

 

I can't address your weaknesses. Only you can do that. 

I agree with your comments.  I confirmed my concerns being not specific to my pen through my search and reads here.  FPN is a great resource to find out user experience.  Of course, I agree with being careful with a single person's experience.  Your best experience is your own, I'd say in that after experiencing a lot of pens in terms of size, contour, materials, filling systems etc., manufacturer, I get a good idea of what to expect from the raw description of what the pen has to offer.  Additionally, if you get to know a pen reviewer's opinion by actually comparing your own experience with the reviewers, you get an even better idea of what to expect including the nibs performance.

 

What's a gusher for me, may be a nice wet writer for you. 

 

I too agree that these HS have been around for a long time and I'm sure, have been modified/improved with time.  Albeit, I will try one first before getting another one.

[Karmachanic]

3 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

 

Sanity, actually.

 

True, but it takes a few years to get there.

[JonSzanto]

18 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

True, but it takes a few years to get there.

 

And, in this arena, more than a few pens. 

[A Smug Dill]

7 hours ago, maclink said:

This pen is a vac filler and holds less than a ml of ink for goodness sakes!  No ink window to get to the bottom of the ridiculous ink capacity for such a fancy filling mechanism.  Why not a cartridge converter.

 

Perhaps because more than a few fellow hobbyists have expressed, in forums such as this, that they think and/or feel a pen that is a “piston-filler”, or has some other built-in filling mechanism, is inherently a superior pen to another that has a detachable and cheaply user-replaceable ink reservoir à la converters and cartridges, warrants a higher price on account of the more complex (or “fancy”) design and production costs for the mechanical parts required, and hence is worth more either to themselves subjectively or in the market more generally?

 

I have yet to come across someone who asserted openly that they require a larger ink capacity in their fountain pen as a writing instrument, and would thus gladly pay more for an eyedropper-filled pen with the same body or shell because of it, in spite of less design effort, fewer parts and lower production costs on the part of the manufacturer. Or that, because refilling a 0.7ml-capacity ink converter daily is such a chore, that they would gladly pay $15 extra for a 1.4ml-capacity converter of the same (‘cheap‘) construction with a longer tube — assuming it would fit inside the barrel of their pen — because the convenience of halving the refill frequency is worth a non-trivial amount of  money spent from their perspective, without requiring the manufacturer to offer them more (in design effort, material costs, ‘eye candy’, prestige of ownership, etc.) in exchange.

 

7 hours ago, Detman101 said:

Oh wow...that's awful! Those are some expensive pens to hold such a small amount of ink.

 

I don't see any logical basis for equating a higher price for a larger ink capacity. Even if you're going by statistical likelihood, what proportion of “expensive” pen models on the market have larger ink capacities

 

7 hours ago, Detman101 said:

That is a ridiculously small amount of ink.  Do they mention the paltry ink capacity in their advertisement of the pen?

 

Did the buyers and users who now have a problem with it assert prior to purchase what minimum ink capacity they consider to be a critical requirement, and actively confirm with the supplier (by way of published technical specifications or express enquiry) when doing due diligence that a candidate pen model will fulfil that requirement?

 

4 hours ago, maclink said:

I had two pens with vac filler systems before my HS.  They are the TWSBI Vac700 and a Pilot Custom 823.  Both with large ink capacity.  Of course, when I read the spec's that it is a vac filler, I purchased expecting a high ink capacity.  Reasonable.... no?

 

About as reasonable as Jerry (Seinfeld's) expectations of a night with Katya, the gymnast he was wooing. Or that the next seedless Valencia orange one buys will be sweet and juicy, on the basis having had a seedless navel orange and a seedless Jaffa orange that were sweet and juicy.

 

It's absolutely your prerogative to form and maintain whatever beliefs in terms of logical equivalence, but to appeal to “reason” and elicit support from other consumers for your beliefs is apt to be confronting and disappoint yourself.

[ParramattaPaul]

14 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Or that the next seedless Valencia orange one buys will be sweet and juicy, on the basis having had a seedless navel orange and a seedless Jaffa orange that were sweet and juicy.

Try a Cara Cara orange when you can find them.  It's what people who don't watch re-runs of 'Seinfeld' eat.

[Retro-user]

Parkers have been hit and miss, in my experience. The primary problem seems to be ink starvation. I bought a Sonnet in 2005 with an 18K nib that wouldn’t write out of the box or after flushing. (Back then, I had no knowledge of how to tweak a nib.) I sent it back to Parker for adjustment under warranty at their factory in France, after which it wrote but not to my liking; it wrote like a fine but it was a medium. I had a great experience with one of their cheaper stainless steel and gold tone pens bought in 1990 and had no problems whatsoever. I have an IM with steel nib purchased a couple months ago that I had to shim and micro mesh and now it’s one of my best writers. My recently purchased Parker 51 revival is exceptional, and wrote spectacularly out of the box. 

[Detman101]

I guess I have to add my favorite pen, Penbbs-355, to this list...since they apparently making them or the parts any longer.
I guess it's time to move on to a more stable and long-living "japanese eyedropper" maker...
I'll try Opus-88 next.

[ENIAC]

Sheaffer Balance II.  I bought two of them.  I sent both back to Sheaffer because neither would flow ink at all.  Clearly the feeds were defective from the factory.  I got them back with the same feeds but with both nib tips rough-sanded, not even close to being polished.  Oh, but I can understand the confusion; they thought by "won't flow" I meant "would like these to feel like I'm writing on sandpaper, please."  So, now I have two beautiful-looking pens that not only don't feed ink, they also sport factory-trashed nibs.  Nice job, Sheaffer.

Edited February 28, 2021 by ENIAC
EDIT: fix typo

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I absolutely would not buy another "Inoxcrom Agatha Ruiz De La Prada Tutti Fruitti Fountain Pen Multi-Color Stripes" 🤢. I was appalled when I got this fountain pen. It's about three inches long! The plastic is that translucent orange plastic that is used in some forms of packaging. It is the same color as a particular plastic used in pill bottles, but it is much less strong. Cheap junk! Really, it feels as if it would break just from normal use. The cap creaks a bit as the flimsy clip, also of that plastic as is the rest of the cap, rubs against the cap. And the great, artistic decoration by this Agatha Ruiz De La Prada person is just printed on a plastic decal! And the decal was not aligned on the flimsy barrel. I got this from a vendor who is no longer in business. I had done business with him for years, and then some other people were partners or something.

 

My second pen that I'd never buy again is a Yafi that I got at a pen show years ago. I don't know where it is so I can't give any model name or anything. It just was junk, and wouldn't work. I've had other problematic fountain pens over the years but this Yafi was really badly put together 👎.

 

And then there are other fountain pens that I will not get, but I'm not as absolutely turned off by them as I am with the above two.

[como]

19 minutes ago, Ink Stained Wretch said:

I absolutely would not buy another "Inoxcrom Agatha Ruiz De La Prada Tutti Fruitti Fountain Pen Multi-Color Stripes" 🤢

I am surprised that you had bought it in the first place 😀. I would have run away upon hearing such an odd name. It sounds like a lollipop disguised in the shape of a pen!🤫

[Ink Stained Wretch]

2 minutes ago, como said:

I am surprised that you had bought it in the first place 😀. I would have run away upon hearing such an odd name. It sounds like a lollipop disguised in the shape of a pen!🤫

 

It was very hyped, and I had bought lots of pens and inks from that vendor. So I believed how great it was. I think that there was no image of the pen, just some verbiage about how super duper great it was. I think that my purchases from that vendor after that were restricted to steeply discounted inks that I like which were a part of a long, drawn out "going out of business" sale.

[Aysedasi]

The only pen I can think of that I would never buy again is the Parker Sonnet.  I always liked the look of the pen but tried at least 4 times to get one that would write properly.  Gave up....

[BinaEliora]

I don't think I will ever buy a modern Conklin again.

 

I bought the All American Courage in red with the stub nib. I was excited when it arrived, could hardly wait to open the box. I does look stunning, but the nib was kind of unpleasant to write with, it didn't feel right.

 

I also don't care much for the rather noticeable step from the barrel to the section. That's is something I could have seen in photos if I'd pay attention. I don't notice it when writing, but I don't care for the look.

 

I was rather disappointed by the whole experience with the Conklin pen. To end the frustration I got a fine cursive italic nib for it and now I enjoy writing with it.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by BinaEliora
Grammar fix

[Retro-user]

6 hours ago, BinaEliora said:

I don't think I will ever buy a modern Conklin again.

 

I bought the All American Courage in red with the stub nib. I was excited when it arrived, could hardly wait to open the box. I does look stunning, but the nib was kind of unpleasant to write with, it didn't feel right.

 

I also don't care much for the rather noticeable step from the barrel to the section. That's is something I could have seen in photos if I'd pay attention to it. I don't notice it when writing, but I don't care for the look.

 

I was rather disappointed in the whole experience with the Conklin pen. To end the frustration I got a fine cursive italic nib for it and now I enjoy writing with it.

 

I’ve been wary of Conklin All Americans for the reason of the barrel step. Where did you source the replacement nib?

[BinaEliora]

3 hours ago, Retrouser said:

I’ve been wary of Conklin All Americans for the reason of the barrel step. Where did you source the replacement nib?

Peytonstreet Pens. They have a few Jowo #6 based custom grinds. You will need to use the Conklin housing and feed. The nib fits perfectly.

[Bold2013]

Thanks for this thread (kept me from an impulse buy).

 

Lamy 2000 -small sweet spot is true (I don’t have issues with other hooded nibs)

Lamy dialogue 3 - drys out

Jinhao 51a -massive leakage

 

Pens with sacs (I use inks that eat them)

Modern acrylic pens (life is too short not to use ebonite and/or vintage pens...)

[samasry]

Pelikan !

 

Two in a row from two different retailers with different models, I get  a  pen that has unequal nib tines or tipping material, not just mis-aligned.

 

Were they selling the rejects in the year of covid, I don't know, and I don't care. I am done with that Pen maker.

 

 

[Detman101]

Sadly...Penbbs.
They were my shining star at one point...blame it on ignorance.
Now that I upgraded to Opus-88, I don't think I'll be going back to Penbbs ever.
Once I get a second Opus-88 for my brown ink, I'll turn the three Penbbs Flex-pens into gifts for others.