Pelikan Changing to Non-translucent Binde

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'd heard a red or blue stripped new issue was coming.......

Looks like I'll buy them old and used. Couldn't afford them new back in the day, couldn't afford them used either.

Still can't.

But I got a 5-6 green and three tortoises.

 

Black 140/250/old small 600/1005..... I'm not going to look to see if they have an ink window or not......and I'm not going to weigh a pen before going out the house.....

 

If one has ones little gray plastic box with index cards telling what ink is in or was in which pen, just fill with that ink.

Got to do with Pelikan Edelsteain cartridges as is, in they don't label them. I've  a 381 and two Celebries that are CC pens.

 

I always thought it a pain to look out the window in sunlight or have a lamp on to see my ink level............so I'm not going to buy a blinding light to see ink levels in new cheaper made pens.....and only cheapness is why they went away from something that worked.

Now.....I guess Pelikan will go broke after all. Too bad.

[goodpens]

Disappointing. I have an M400. The translucence is one of my favorite aspects about it and have been tempted to buy an M600/605. Off my list now, unless I find a used one.

[carola]

Not good.

 

I am quite happy I have already bought the translucent striped Pelikans I really wanted when they were easily available. I am not going to like that change.

 

@A Smug Dill:

Your M815 Metal-Striped doesn´t need a translucent barrel. It has a big ink window. (At least mine has.)

[Calabria]

I just see it as a sign of bad brand management. Decisions like this will put off enthusiasts and reduce sales. Similar things happened at OMAS before it was shut down for good.

[langere]

I agree.  My M600 Striped Tortoise Red from 2020 is not translucent.  I just put it into rotation a few days ago.  When I tried to see the ink level (lots of grading papers!), I was unable to discern it, even with the strongest light.  Too bad.

 

Erick

[Aether]

The owners of the Pelikan brand is not Pelikan (as i are led to believe).  therefore i think that this is another of those corporate buyouts that go to cut costs even if it means ignoring the traditional values of the original brand, all to satisfy short-term profit for shareholders.  

[N1003U]

1 hour ago, langere said:

I agree.  My M600 Striped Tortoise Red from 2020 is not translucent.  I just put it into rotation a few days ago.  When I tried to see the ink level (lots of grading papers!), I was unable to discern it, even with the strongest light.  Too bad.

 

Erick

Though it is not particularly convenient, I find backlighting the Red Tortoise with a mobile phone light (a bright LED) is enough to discern the ink level in a pinch.

[langere]

Ha!  Good to know! 

 

Thanks, @N1003U!

 

Erick

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, Aether said:

The owners of the Pelikan brand is not Pelikan (as i are led to believe).

 

I see nothing to support that statement, on any of the following pages:

• https://www.pelikan.com/int/company/pelikan-group.html

  Quote

  Pelikan Group GmbH is headquartered in Berlin and is a leading brand-name company of quality paper, office and stationery supplies. 

• https://www.pelikan.com/images/docs/reports/annual/Pelikan_Holding_AG_AR_2020.pdf
  which speaks to how Pelikan Group GmbH is a subsidiary company of Pelikan Holding AG, which in turn is a subsidiary of Pelikan International Corporation Berhad
   
• https://archive.pelikan.com/picb/Pulsar/en_MY_PICB.CMS.displayCMS.41095./our-brand-and-business

  Quote

  Pelikan International Corporation Berhad, a public listed company on the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, owns the rights to the brand and distribution of Pelikan products worldwide. Pelikan, an ink and paint company founded in Hanover, Germany since 1838, is a well recognised German brand that produces writing instruments, stationery supplies, art and hobby paints for use at school, office and homes. Pelikan Group under the helm of Pelikan International Corporation Berhad manufactures and distributes Pelikan products to over 160 countries and runs 5 manufacturing facilities worldwide.

So there is every indication that the Pelikan brand is still owned by Pelikan the company, whether you regard the latter as meaning Pelikan International Corporation Berhad, or Pelikan Group the German company that is owned, and must do as directed, by its Malaysian overlords. There is no other Pelikan than the current owners of the Pelikan the company.

 

[Aether]

3 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

So there is every indication that the Pelikan brand is still owned by Pelikan the company, whether you regard the latter as meaning Pelikan International Corporation Berhad, or Pelikan Group the German company that is owned, and must do as directed, by its Malaysian overlords.

 

There you go.  My opinion on the change to non-transparent bindes still stands.  It is also common for such companies (the big parts) to make cost-cut changes while keeping the customer price the same.   Common trend today for company's to pass on as much cost as they can to the customer.  It's a grind.

[Karmachanic]

35 minutes ago, Aether said:

Common trend today

 

??  Capitalism started several years ago.  Current owners of Pelikan acquired controlling interest in 1996.

[Aether]

Being older my 'today' is perhaps broader than what a whippersnapper may assume.

[Bo Bo Olson]

In '98 they came in with stiffer nibs with cross over fat blobs for tipping.

Saves cost.

 

I'll keep my eye open as I do for a live auction house, red or blue stripped 400/600.

 

Come Christmas there is always another pen; with a better nib.

That I have enough good vintage or semi-vintage nibs to 'up date' those 2000's  blue or red 400/600 ....is a good thing. I don't care for the 'new' post 97 nibs....the 200 was good until some 4-5 years ago.

 

I guess I have enough 200's also, (Have 2 W.Germany ones and a pre-97 one also, so no need of what ever new one comes up.

The new ones I have are the Amethyst, Ruby Star, Golden Brown and Petrol. Using the last one now.

 

 

 

[oregano]

I posted a comment/complaint on Pelikan’s IG about the upcoming  red m800 and their reply left me a little puzzled. They seem to distinguish between production runs—the first production will have semi-transparent stripes but they ran into “technical issues”, so the next few months will have more opaque material.
 

Another topic of question/concern is the nibs. I have found the EF and F nibs to be very inconsistent in the past few years, some of them more ‘mushy’ for lack of a better word than they were before. I am not referring to the thickness of tipping but to the feeling it gives me when writing, as if it the tipping was not as well defined. 

[langere]

53 minutes ago, oregano said:

I posted a comment/complaint on Pelikan’s IG about the upcoming  red m800 and their reply left me a little puzzled. They seem to distinguish between production runs—the first production will have semi-transparent stripes but they ran into “technical issues”, so the next few months will have more opaque material.
 

How interesting!  Could you share with us the exact wording of their reply?

 

Thanks!

 

Erick

[oregano]

Hi Erick, Yes, in reply to my statement saying that the new m800 was not a return to the 'old' as stated in the release promo, but a deviation, and 'what's with the non-transparent stripes?', they replied, "The first production of the Souveran 800 Black-Red will have the semi-transparent material, but due to technical issues, the opaque material will be integrated in the production process for the next production run of the Souveran Black-Red in the next months."

 

I have a feeling they mean that the initial run was transparent and the new one is opaque. But the wording and the future tense is confusing (and potentially misleading).

[Harold]

I could overlook this in isolation, but it is part of a now long list of bad decisions Pelikan has made. As mentioned above, there was the change away from softer nibs with the flat "disc tipping" or however you'd describe it, then there was the decision to axe half of the nib selection a decade ago, then I started seeing a disturbingly large amount of extra fine nibs that wrote like medium nibs, and now there is this. At some point, they'll have removed every single little detail former Pelikan employees came up with to make the pens stand out from all the other pens on the market.

[Strega]

This is sad.  Most of my Pelikans are city-series M620 pens with visible ink levels (I skipped the ones that were overly opaque) plus a black (green window) M600 and a blue (smoke/clear window) M605.  Just this year, I was getting back into acquisition mode and thinking of finally getting a "normal" striped Pelikan.  I guess I need to find an older one fast or hope for special editions in the future.

[Uncial]

I thought there were only two in the city series where you could partially see ink levels (the Athens and the China)?

[encremental]

In the city series, Berlin, Stockholm, Madrid, San Francisco, Chicago, Athens and Shanghai have translucent barrels . New York, Piccadilly Circus, Piazza Navona, Grand Place and Place de la Concorde are all opaque. No city pen has an actual ink window.

 

John