Picasso Art Collection fountain-pen review by Shangas

[Shangas]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a215/Fruffles/DSC04510.jpg

 

My first impressions of this pen were: "Wow, that looks...expensive..." and "Damn that cap is heavy!" This particular fountain pen was bought by my father as a present for me, while he was in China last month, on holiday. I thought the pen must've been really expensive. My dad said it was just under 200 Yuan. He estimated that to be about $40-$50 Australian. I was impressed by the pen's colourful presentation-box and the silk lining. I thought the ink-bottle was cute and quirky. I later found out that the same ink-bottle was going to prove a pain in the ass when it starts getting empty.

 

APPEARANCE AND FINISH.

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a215/Fruffles/DSC04511.jpg

 

According to papers which came with the pen, the cap is solid brass. It feels like it, too. I liked the design on the cap and it took me several minutes to finally figure out that the thing on the cap was actually a portrait, presumably one of Picasso's works. The metal banding, the cap and the nib are all nice and shiny and all parts of the pen are nice and smooth. There is one MINISCULE chip on the cap-lid, but otherwise it's flawless.

 

SIZE & WEIGHT.

 

The pen is just over five inches, capped, and about six inches posted. This means that it's about the same size as all my other pens. The pen in general is quite light, but the cap, which, as I said above, was solid brass, was really VERY heavy. When posted, you could feel the weight of the cap on the end of the barrel, trying to lever the pen-tip away from the paper. I had to take the cap off and lay it on the desk before I could write with this pen comfortably.

 

NIB DESIGN & PERFORMANCE.

 

The nib is a single-toned gold FINE nib. It writes very smoothly when held at the correct angle and it lays down a nice, consistant line. I was worried about the nib being unduly rough, for some reason, but these fears were not realised.

 

THE FILLING SYSTEM.

 

Like nearly all modern fountain pens, this is a converter-filler, although I noticed in the pen's accompanying booklet that the company still seems to make aerometric-filling fountain pens. The converter was easy to use, but it failed to fill all the way to the top of the ink-chamber. Is this characteristic of pens made by this company? I don't know. I tried everything - Cleaning, flushing, different inks...nothing. It just stayed the same. There are no leaks or cracks or chips that I could find, so there's no immediate danger, but this may mean more frequent refilling than normal.

 

COST/VALUE.

 

My dad said he paid "nearly 200 Yuan for it". He estimated this to be about $40. That's the ink-bottle AND the pen, together. The pen was on sale (20% off), so my dad got lucky. I personally think it's pretty good value. It looks very flashy and it writes well. The ink-bottle design:

 

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a215/Fruffles/DSC04514.jpg

 

...May cause problems and the converter makes me wonder, but otherwise I think it was value for money.

 

CONCLUSION.

 

I'd say about 7.5/10. It's very nice and it writes well, but the weight of the cap, pretty as it is, means that posting it makes the pen difficult to use. The converter that only seems to fill 2/3 of the way is another concern. I also noticed that the converter didn't seem to want to come out of the pen's section, and I didn't want to force it. Is it supposed to just STAY THERE, or are they supposed to be able to be seperated? I'm speaking about this brand (Picasso), specifically, not just converters in-general. It was value for money, I think, but at the same time, it makes me wonder if dad could've done better buying another pen as a present for me.

 

Yours,

 

Shangas.

[donwinn]

Shangas,

 

isellpens.com also sells Picasso pens, from $13.99 to ridiculous (actually, around $200). I didn't see one on their web site which exactly matches yours, but I was seriously thinking of purchasing one of the less expensive ones, because they look so darned nice. Good to hear yours is a good writer. I may move a Picasso up a notch on my "Next" list.

 

Donnie

[Shelley]

It looks like a very nice pen, and the packaging is superb-but you really made me laugh about that bottle, obviously not designed by a user...

[Renzhe]

I didn't see one on their web site which exactly matches yours

 

The PS-902 (bottom of the page) looks like it.

[Shangas]

It looks like a very nice pen, and the packaging is superb-but you really made me laugh about that bottle, obviously not designed by a user...

 

It writes well and the packaging really impressed me, but yeah...the ink bottle is...well...questionable.

[desertvox]

It looks like a very nice pen, and the packaging is superb-but you really made me laugh about that bottle, obviously not designed by a user...

 

I have the Baroque 919 in red, however, as flashy as it looks, and of substantial weight, the pen is a 'skipper'. The converter no longer works, and I am wondering what size refills it uses. I had trouble with standard internationals made by Levenger, USA.

 

I am still of the opinion that best pen for the money is the Lamy Safari-never skips, industrial design a trade-off for efficiency.

 

Would I buy another Picasso? Never- all looks, no substance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Crim]

Well so far I only have a Picasso, a Crocodile, and a cheap Hero. I'm going to get a Lamy Safari when I can but so far the Picasso is really nice to write with, with the exception being the cap making it feel heavy. But I also don't mind keeping the cap on the table, since the pen itself is very light and to my liking.