Bargain Innovation? Tales of a .38mm Capless

[J120]

I love hooded nibs because more often than not you are forced to write on our domestic paper offerings in the office and the hooded nibs write on nearly anything.  That is why the Lanbitou 3088 with the "dark pen" unit got me excited. That has faded due to issues with the inner mechanism jamming or the seal being very poor at best. The nib unit itself is amazing but it is useless if the body mechanism fails. Fear not though. They do not do just tribute pens in the People's Republic. Thanks to the magic of Google translate I present to you the Shipton Crystal Box. If it turns out to be a workhorse whatever it is actually called is beyond irrelevant. This along with the Majohns and other pens are scheduled to arrive on the 20th.  With the current state of shipping a holiday miracle I will not hold my breath for. Updates pending arrival. 

$5.50 price tag

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by J120

[jekostas]

This actually looks really interesting.  Is there an Aliexpress or Taobao link?

[J120]

5 hours ago, jekostas said:

This actually looks really interesting.  Is there an Aliexpress or Taobao link?

09，于他来过他去说里对能是微 https://m.tb.cn/h.f7OKbrA?sm=3640f1  希普顿水晶盒装按动钢笔按压式出尖练字书法小学生用成人商务

[penzel_washinkton]

Honestly this looks very interesting besides the rosegold color (of course subjective pov)

The mechanism seems oddly original since I have not seen a mechanism like this in the current retractable fountain pen state (CMIIW).

 

OP please keep us posted if it's available in either Aliexpress / Etsy.

[J120]

I equally do not understand nor care for the gold coloring.  It is fugly at best but they also were never intended for the western market so that might be part of it. I'll post a full review once they arrive. 

[Licue]

The rosegold is indeed pretty fugly 🥴 (tho in the 2nd pic it kinda looks like regular chrome/silver (??)), but if we put that aside, this is by far the most ballpoint pen looking fountain pen I've ever seen.

Compared to the weird alien pens from Pilot and Platinum (and their clones) and Lamy's fat roll, this one here looks slim and -as I said- almost like a normal ballpoint pen.

 

Very much looking forward to your review!

 

If they somehow managed to get this cheap thing to seal well, I'd be very interested! (I'd need an Ali or ebay link tho - I don't think I'm ready for Taobao 😬)

 

 

Edit:

Speaking of Taobao, I can't access the link anymore 🤨😕

It worked once, but when I try it again now I get redirected to some sort of error message and/or login ???

 

[essayfaire]

I'm intrigued - I love capless pens. Now if I can track it down.

[essayfaire]

I bit - it looks like a Curidas, and I didn't buy one because I thought it wouldn't suit my taste.  If it turns out I actually like this pen in hand, I'll end up going ahead and buying a Curidas down the road.  I had been excited when I heard Platinum was going to make a retractable pen, but then when I saw and read about it....

[J120]

The package in in CA right now waiting on FedEx and USPS to do their magic. Hopefully it is here by Friday or Saturday because there is some unidentified white object in there which I cannot fathom what its purpose is. If the thing seals, even more amazing. If not, I put it on the shelf with the Lily and the Lanbitou 3088 as far as useless do to sealing issues. For $5 it was worth multiple buys to find out what they have in the pipeline. 

 

Licue, probably because I pulled the link from my account. The package in in the states so fingers crossed we only have to wait a few more days. 

Taobao seems way more scary that it is. After you set up your AliPay and the Taobao account it is really smooth. Your google translate does most of the heavy lifting. Open up a separate bank card so that if you are worried about anything it is an account that does not have access to anything more than what you need for you pen hobby. That is what I did and its been smooth sailing. Even the shipment process is straightforward because they notify you when you need to pay the overseas shipping freight, which as long as you buy in buck is never excessive, or at least mine has not been. The fact you are buying from the "source" so to speak helps because you aren't paying the $10-$15 markup you would pay waiting on the AliExpress, Ebay, Etsy sellers. The key is to buy in bulk, be patient in the age of Covid, and do not use a credit card or debit card linked to any account of significant worth. I also have not been able to get the Inks out of the country for some reason because of "saftey" issues so for now it is just paper and pens. Happy hunting if you dare

[Licue]

17 hours ago, essayfaire said:

it looks like a Curidas,

Huh? I don't think it has much similarity with the Curidas at all 🤔 ❔

 

 

 

17 hours ago, J120 said:

Licue, probably because I pulled the link from my account. The package in in the states so fingers crossed we only have to wait a few more days.

Eh, not sure that's the reason. I'm on the PC right now (instead of on the phone yesterday) and can see it again..

EDIT: And a few minutes later I'm back at the login screen on the PC too 🤦‍♀️ - seems you're only allowed to view it once 😆

 

I'm also wondering what that white thingie might be 🙂

 

 

(still not feeling daring enough for TB 😬)

[J120]

Update on the mysterious white thing in the package. Once again thanks to the magic of Google translate,  it appears we have a preliminary first answer on the sealing question on this capless model. It explains it is maintenance water for irregulaur pen use when the pen will not start. So basically water for hard starting. Will it be an issue for regular use or just absentee use? My tracking says the pens will be here by the 14th so we wait. This might be the most random accessory but a B for caring? Your thoughts....

Edited December 9, 2021 by J120

[Licue]

😞 this can't be a good sign 😪

 

 

Oh well, this seemed too good to be true from the start 😑

[penzel_washinkton]

On 12/9/2021 at 4:42 AM, essayfaire said:

I bit - it looks like a Curidas, and I didn't buy one because I thought it wouldn't suit my taste.  If it turns out I actually like this pen in hand, I'll end up going ahead and buying a Curidas down the road.  I had been excited when I heard Platinum was going to make a retractable pen, but then when I saw and read about it....

 

Uhmm... what?

Please elaborate on your take why this looks like a Curidas. It doesn't look anywhere like it besides from its retractable mechanism.

 

10 minutes ago, J120 said:

Update on the mysterious white thing in the package. Once again thanks to the magic of Google translate,  it appears we have a preliminary first answer on the sealing question on this capless model. It explains it is maintenance water for irregulaur pen use when the pen will not start. So basically water for hard starting. Will it be an issue for regular use or just absentee use? My tracking says the pens will be here by the 14th so we wait. This might be the most random accessory but a B for caring? Your thoughts....

 

Sounds like a red flag to me. They seem to be worried with their sealing mechanism and experienced frequent hard starts during the testing, hence the need to advertise these water containers.

 

Still waiting to see how your experience will be once you get your hands on one of these.

[J120]

Keep the pen faith and hope they did send some unknown liquid concoction all the way from the east that magically solves what a few wrist thrust have done for ages. If nothing else they are trying which I personally find better than people shilling "precious resin" among other things. It's $5, it may be a paperclip or we might have a workhorse capless you finally can hand out like candy and truly not care if it is lost or stolen. Dec 14 or sooner hopefully I will review 

[J120]

The Curidas and the Labitou 3088 set the bar so low if this thing even half way seals for 3-5 days it is a win. There was no "over engineering" in the making or this model and it is not in the same company as the A1 or VP. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by J120

[essayfaire]

8 hours ago, Licue said:

Huh? I don't think it has much similarity with the Curidas at all 🤔 ❔

I pulled up a picture (and ordered the Lanbitou)... which does look like a Curidas.  

[J120]

6 minutes ago, penzel_washinkton said:

 

Uhmm... what?

Please elaborate on your take why this looks like a Curidas. It doesn't look anywhere like it besides from its retractable mechanism.

 

 

Sounds like a red flag to me. They seem to be worried with their sealing mechanism and experienced frequent hard starts during the testing, hence the need to advertise these water containers.

 

Still waiting to see how your experience will be once you get your hands on one of these.

 

Just now, essayfaire said:

I pulled up a picture (and ordered the Lanbitou)... which does look like a Curidas.  

Hopefully you get a recent batch model that seals because if it came out of the original batch I can promise you it will either dry out routinely or jam....or both. They dropped the ball on that one, terribly. The thing is a joke at this point. It's bad enough Platinum sells a kinda decent sealing one for 80-90 but Lanbitou made a tribute pen with worse sealing.  

[penzel_washinkton]

I don't have the Curidas, almost pulled a trigger on it but the interest faded out over time.

I was just asking the previous poster why they see this pen to be similar to the Curidas but it seems that the poster was referring to a Lanbitou tribute pen.

 

To iterate, I am still curious on how this pen will fare. $5.5 dollars is dirt cheap in the current fountain pen market and if it does not frequently hardstarts then I could see a future for this pen, it might potentially appeal to the masses.

[Licue]

7 hours ago, J120 said:

Keep the pen faith and hope they did send some unknown liquid concoction all the way from the east that magically solves what a few wrist thrust have done for ages.

Sometime earlier this year I read Private Reserve has a new ink line - called Infinity Ink - which is supposed to allow for longer cap-off time without drying out.

Maybe this ink could be helpful here.

(I've not tried Infinty Ink myself though and there are hardly any reviews out yet(?) (which might be a bad sign as well, I dunno) 🤷🏼‍♀️)

 

Back to the pen: Yes, it's commendable that they try something new - and really try for themselves instead of simply copying other pen makers' innovative pens.

But if this water dip thingie is so necessary that they decided to supply it directly with the pen, this fountain pen innovation is probably not ready for release. Hopefully just not ready yet, but maybe not ready ever 😶

 

[J120]

It is randomly unexpected but we all need a good laugh about now so I hope unveiling "maintenance water " to the people is just that. Of all the things that could have been 😆  It had to be the natural progression from "pen flush" I suppose)😂😂😂😂It has late night infomercial energy for sure. I am going to dip my Lanbitou 3088s in it to see if It truly has healing powers. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by J120