Ellington Fountain Pens?

[Doc Dan]

I have been getting a lot of adverts in my news feed. What does the collective wisdom say about Ellington Fountain Pens?

 

I tried searching and apart from a couple of people who say they own them, there isn't anything. 

[OCArt]

IMHO they are Chinese made pens that sellers have listed at relatively inflated prices. You would be better served looking through our "China, Korea and Others" forum and reading reviews.  In general Wing Sung is making some very good pens as are Hongdian, Asvine and others. You can get a well respected Chinese pen for $30 or less, and there are some real bargains at under $10 if you do your research and read the reviews in our Chinese forum.

[Doc Dan]

I figured that they were made in China or somewhere like that and then marked way up. I wonder if they write well and otherwise are good pens?

[Penguincollector]

  The whole story sounds hella fishy.  I think there was a video somewhere on youtube about how it was the same pen as a sub $10 Chinese pen (it’s either that brand, Scrievner, or Dryden- which was started by the same dude behind Ellington, from what I’ve read online). I wouldn’t spend more than $5 on one, and I like Chinese pens.

[Karmachanic]

Does it play Creole Love Call as one writes?

[inkstainedruth]

I see what you did there, Karmachanic....  (I would have guessed "Take the A-Train" myself.... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Does it play Creole Love Call as one writes?

😂 🎹 

[Doc Dan]

6 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

Does it play Creole Love Call as one writes?

I think that is what the advert said.  😄

[Karmachanic]

22 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I would have guessed "Take the A-Train" myself.

 

I don't write that quickly....

[psimpson130]

I have an Ellington Stealth, fine point. I think I paid around $35 US for it. It writes fairly well and is a solid pen. By solid I mean it is a metal barrel and has survived in my pocket with my money clip and pen knife. Granted the finish is coming off, but let's face it, it gets abused. I normally carry a pen in the shirt pocket or jacket pocket, but when you don't them, in the pocket if goes. I'm retired and don't wear dress shirts that often any more.

 

I use their cartridges which are essentially the same a a short international. Ink flows well and doesn't dry up as fast as some of my other pens. I do find I need to clean the nibs a little more often. I have a couple of Pilot Metros that tend to dry out rather quickly. I do use mostly blue inks such as cobalt blue. I steer away from the blacks as I have had a lot of issue with them drying out (very rapidly) in my Lamys, Wartermans, and Parkers. 

 

My other go to daily drive pen is a Yookers Metis. It is essentially a felt tip and I use the 0.8 tip (their smallest). I would steer away from the Eros line with the magnetic cap as the magnet is not the strongest. I had the pen separate from the cap in my sport coat pocket on a regular basis. 

[Doc Dan]

Thanks. Good info.

[CSSD]

I just found this thread about Ellington, and will add my own comments/commentary.

 

Knowing absolutely nothing about Ellington, having never even heard of the brand, and for no good reason at all, I bought one because they offered a 20% discount.  Total cost $40 delivered to my front door on January 12, 2024.  The Nautilus model, Fine point.  The primary reason:  the dark blue color looked very nice in the ad, and the gold accents also looked very nice.  And Ellington provided a converter, I like converters much more than ink cartridges.

 

Once the shipping box was opened, the immediate visual impression was excellent:  the blue color is dark, deep, and even a little shiny.  A beauty.  The gold accents are likewise very "gold" and shiny.

    I loaded up the converter with some nothing-fancy black ink, set it into the section, section into the body, and I get to writing on my favorite paper, Clairefontaine.

 

I'm immediately impressed:   immediate ink flow, very very smooth, no nib noise on the paper.  Excellent feel in the hand.  I did not put the cap onto the back of the body:  the pen balance is very nice and comfortable, writing is easy.  Length is "right there" for almost too short in my large hand, fortunately not a concern.

    I then put the cap onto the back of the body, the overall length is of course excellent, the weight of the cap does not overbalance while writing.  Writing continues as excellent:  immediate ink flow, very smooth, good pen balance.

 

OVERALL:  I'm now a fan of the Ellington Nautilus (fine nib).  The pen sits right here on my desk and is my go-to writer.  Another plus:  the cap is a pull-off, push on ..... much preferred over the screw-on cap design.  I have been using the pen daily for 8 days and continue to be impressed, grateful, and happy that I bought it.

 

Even more:  I've looked at the Ellington website:  I can get an entire section with Medium nib, with a converter, for $24 delivered.  So I'm thinking I may just order one in the near future.

.

[Doc Dan]

Thanks. They seem nice, but one never knows. It is best to have a guinea pig. 😄

[CSSD]

Glad to add some cavia confidence to the Ellington brand of fountain pen.  I'm certainly plenty happy so far.

 

[CSSD]

UPDATE

 

In my longer post above, I mentioned that one could buy an entire Ellington section with Medium nib, converter included, for $24.  I couldn't resist, and I did buy one.  It arrived in this morning's mail.

    I immediately filled the converter with ink, installed the new section into the pen body, and got to writing.

 

I am once again very happy with the Ellington !!  The new medium nib writes just as well as the fine nib has been writing.  

 

[Doc Dan]

6 hours ago, CSSD said:

UPDATE

 

In my longer post above, I mentioned that one could buy an entire Ellington section with Medium nib, converter included, for $24.  I couldn't resist, and I did buy one.  It arrived in this morning's mail.

    I immediately filled the converter with ink, installed the new section into the pen body, and got to writing.

 

I am once again very happy with the Ellington !!  The new medium nib writes just as well as the fine nib has been writing.  

 

Where did you buy them for that price? I see them for twice that on their website and on Amazon.

[CSSD]

Here is the link to "Replacement Nibs" ......

  https://www.ellingtonpens.com/collections/replacement-nibs

 

Price is $18.95, plus $5 for shipping.

 

[psimpson130]

I have two Ellingtons - the black stealth and the red and silver one (along with the matching mechanical pencil). The mechanical pencil is a .7 mm lead although I prefer the .5 (not a big deal). Haven't really used the red one yet, but my Stealth is my daily writer (along with my Yookers). While it does take a universal cartridge, their cartridges do fit better. Not a big deal as the price is competitive and I like the blue color. Once I get a pen sleeve, my red set will be used a little more. Because I usually carry the pen in my pants pocket, I have rubbed a lot of the black finish off the pen down to the silver metal. Not a problem as it gives it character. I am thinking of getting the stealth set to add to my collection. (But don't tell my wife). 

 

I have always been happy with the lower priced pens and so far, Ellington's have been great. Their customer service is great and it is real easy to order and everything I have ordered has been shipped in a timely manner.

[CSSD]

With some humor, I'll sidestep off-topic a bit and comment on "lower priced pens" as mentioned directly above.

 

I've been lucky in the past few months and have purchased several new-in-box Cross Century II FP's for $35, delivered cost. 

 

Even better, just 3 weeks ago I scored two beautiful Jinhao FP's for $14.50, delivered cost.  That's $7.25 each !!  Whew, that's some kinda "lower priced pen." 

    They both look like new !!  And they both write fantastic, feel fantastic, I'm very very very impressed.

 

With that said, I'll sidestep back on topic:  Ellington (and by extension, Jinhao) are IMHO great FP's.  I've already used both this morning to write a few words:  no ink skip, as soon as I had nib-to-paper, ink flow began and words were on paper.  That is to me the most important performance characteristic:  instant ink flow.  

 

So far, so good !!!

 

[Claes]

1 hour ago, CSSD said:

That is to me the most important performance characteristic:  instant ink flow.

I do agree!

I have a similar test, which I call "the cold start test".

Every morning, i test each on the pens I have presently inked

and make a tick mark: does it start at once? Good!

If not: that's a bad combination of pen/ink...

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden