What killed the Pelikan Level series?

[OCArt]

I have a Level 5 and was pleasantly surprised at how great a writer it is! The top of the ink bottle unscrewed rather easily and I dumped the ?Royal Blue? ink and refilled the bottle with Noodlers 54th. Massachusetts. I'm currently on a long trip and the huge ink capacity has been a real boon.

 

I agree that the looks are a bit strange but hey, I'm a fan of googie!

[Tweel]

"Googie" Back in the day of Googie (1965), Tom Wolfe named it "Boomerang Modern".

[Bo Bo Olson]

If I recall it was considered slow to fill...............I was into vintage semi-flex pens then, so never gave new a thought..............new is $$$$, used is more affordable.

[hari317]

I've come really close to buying one several times at the 30 dollar price range. That price usually includes a bottle of ink too. But I know I wouldn't want to use the ink in the bottle and would want to fill it with something else.

 

I want to know if you can fill the Level pens with a blunt tip syringe instead of using the bottle. If that is verified, then that would make this pen much more attractive to own and use -- and I might just buy one. But then the question becomes: Level 65 or L5? The 65's are much cheaper, but they look it too...the L5's are too expensive for me to take a punt on not knowing if I'll like it or not...would be nice to see one at a pen show.

I can confirm that. I used to fill my L65 using a syringe. Just file the tip smooth.

 

The L65 bottle is also easy to open to refill.

 

I only wish they had designed the section to unscrew off barrel to flush the barrel and section clean to change ink colours.

 

The L65 cap posts well too.

[TorPelikan]

Pelikan Level pens are my favorite, and as you can see in my photo, I use two L5 pens.

 

One is silver/red with 14C B nib filled with Edelstein Smokey Quartz which writes very smoothly without any flaw.

But another one, black/blue with M nib filled with Edelstein Aquamarine, suddenly start leaking. I don’t know why.

 

They surely are my favorite but traditional piston fillers of Pelikan are far more reliable I think.

 

Tor

[Nyanzilla]

I think there were several reasons for the failure of those models:

1. Overpriced (the L5 was not premium enough for its price and the L65 was too expensive for a school pen).

2. Quality issues (especially with the silver and the golden version where the coating was too thin and corroded quickly).

4. Design.

5. Ergonomics (Cap cannot be posted, thin grip section with a big step to the barrel (L5) / cap too bulky (L65).

7. Needs special ink/bottles. The roller needs special refils (not identical with the other Pelikan roller refills)

8. Hard too clean/ disassemble by user.

9. Only two inks available (blue & black).

 

I always preferred the L65 over the L5, but in the end I did not use them more than maybe a year or two.

What I did like was the Level DuoPen with the ballpoint pen and the pencil in one.

[sirgilbert357]

I can confirm that. I used to fill my L65 using a syringe. Just file the tip smooth.

 

The L65 bottle is also easy to open to refill.

 

I only wish they had designed the section to unscrew off barrel to flush the barrel and section clean to change ink colours.

 

The L65 cap posts well too.

 

 

Thanks for confirming that Hari317!

[Roig]

OK - what killed the Pelikan L5 Level Pen...

First off - I am really sick of the super duper high priced fountain pen mentality - of many hundreds to many thousands of $$$$$.

Once you have the functional pen design sorted, then it's a matter of punching them out by the millions and keeping a tight lid on quality control.

Secondly - fountain pens number one issue is how easily then are brought to a screeching halt - is when they are dropped nib first onto a hard enough surface to damage it, be it wood or concrete and it's usually by accident.

Excluding the arty farty nibs, in terms of the "daily writer", no one as far as I know, sells fountain pens with a set of spare nibs in different thickness's, what would with a little care and consideration, last the life of the pen. Non of them are smart enough to do this, but they expect you to damage your nib, and then make extra trips to the store to buy new ones or park your pen for a while - until the new nibs arrive by mail.

I mean spare the (bleep) for christs sake.

AND the Pelikan Level 5 pens WERE really good in some ways, because the double chambering, of the main sealed LARGE CAPACITY reservoir that controlled the air expansion inside the chamber, which drives the ink out... Yes - the cool pen on the desk, going into your warm hand, will cause quite a lot of internal air expansion, which if not sealed - will cause a small hemorrhaging of ink everywhere.

And by keeping a small vented feed chamber exclusively for the nib, that could be topped up by the opening and closing of a feed valve from the main reservoir, is an excellent idea.

But setting aside the issues of the over priced arty farty mega dollar fountain pens, the utilitarian pens, the every day writers, for people who need to write quickly and in large amounts - the Level 5 was introduced as a good entry level / student / every day fountain pen, that was practical for one and all - but it's pricing point was SO far out of the range of reasonableness - no one in their right mind should be asked to pay that much for a decent no frills fountain pen.

I am going to make this up - because I bought / priced the new ones initially SO long ago, I cannot be really sure any more, of the true price, but retail in Australia I think they went for $85 to $120....

And then after a few years, because they were not selling well at all, I think I picked up a few at $15 or $30 each.

I thought the valving system was GOOD in a way, but it was overly complex, easy to damage or break, if too much force was applied to them and they did not come with an every day corner store 2 - 3 cc syringe type refill system, instead of the "clever tubed" style cap on the ink bottle.

IN dusty environments the back of the pen, it's refill hole, and the shielded needle in the cap were prone to filling with dust and blocking.

 

To be frank I have designed a much simpler system that does the same thing - without intricate and delicate and easy to break fiddly bits.

While the price at the factory door, might have been one thing, all the whole salers, distributors and retailers had their mark up's too.

Like I was privvy to the Tissot watch pricing about 30 years ago, and it went something like this:

The watch came out of the factory for $300 each, then the whole saler bough them and sold them for $600 each, then the distributors sold them for $900 each  and then the retailer sold them for $3500 each.

So I feel that all of these chiselling scoundrels over priced themselves out of a market, for what ought to have been priced at a decent ultilitarian price point - like $25 retail with bottle of ink and 6 spare nibs - in 2 x 3 of each size (fine, medium and large).

Then they could have swamped the market with decent functional pens, and made more in the longer term, by repeat sales and an expanding customer base, instead of gouging the market for as much as they thought they could get away with - which failed miserably - they got greedy and it served them right.

I saw some nice looking cheap chinese fountain pens - and it was affordable - even these idiots do not provide extra nibs and when asked can you a) supply them or b) tell me who can - they are guilty by their silence.

You only have to accidentally drop it on the nib once, rendering the pen into a non functioning item, and the whole penset is worthless.

 

And in regards to these over priced art works, they are only a step up from a charred stick or a quill stuck in soot and water, or a stylus poked in clay tablets, and they ought to never be regarded as over priced sacred sites.

Now that the retarded chinese have finally gotten the idea that the humble 2B pencil is not a case of sharpen - the lead breaks, sharpen - the lead brakes - for all 12 pencils in the box - and are finally making decent pencils for dirt cheap, these super duper over priced artifacts (the posh fountain pens) well for $1000 - I can buy 250 boxes of 12 x 2B pencils = 3000 pencils that always work and give no messing around for the same price as one arty farty fountain pen.

There is an enormous amount of writing in a 2B pencil... much less a box of 12 or hundred and or thousands of them.

One of the other factors in the demise of the L5 pen, is the use of smart phones, texting, emails, and computers, and a myriad of communication means and methods.

 

AND if you want to soak them and clean them inside and out, use the Windex type window cleaning / glass cleaning sprays... Squirt a bit of that into a zip lock sandwich / snack bag, over a dismantled pen, leave it for a while - over night or a day or two - depending - and it works a treat.

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

The Level 65s were sold here with a bottle of ink for less than $25 and they were worth every penny. I think the reason that the pens didn't catch on was the proprietary bottle. I loved my Skrip inks and I could only find Pelikan Level Royal Blue.

[Roig]

Yes I ressurected an OLD and almost new Pelikan Level L5 pen - soaking it over night in Window / Glass Cleaner... and then picked it apart.... and wiped the internal rubber parts over with a fine amount of silicon paste and it works like a charm.

I gave one with some ink away to a friend that has probably never used it and it's stuck in a desk draw with it's ink container somewhere - AND that was like 20 years ago.. and I was so thrilled to have a GOOD running fountain pen, and the Levels are not available anywhere, any more... I asked him 'If your not using it, can I get it back from you?"  But I can always got with a few extra cheaper ones.

This is what is on the market at the moment. I will try at least one each of the cheaper ones, but a "dip the nib in the bottle and refill like that" type pen is the number one preference... so I might spend up on that model.

 

Because I am so anti-big dollar for larger heavier pens - my next purchase is going to be a few of these:

 

They cost $10 and can be refilled by pulling out the nib and using a syringe - with I assume a rounded over 19G needle.

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/pilot-disposable-fountain-pen-black-pi637211

 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/faber-castell-school-fountain-pen-red-fc40149812

This pen can also be refilled with ink and a converter, which can be found under product codes FC40149854 for black, FC40149839 for blue and FC19148785 for the converter.

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/pilot-kakuno-begreen-fountain-pen-soft-pink-white-barrel-pi637204sp

It can be refilled - by refilling the cartridge - I assume.

 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/parker-jotter-fountain-pen-stainless-steel-chrome-pa1955312

You can refill this pen using Parker Quink Long Ink Cartridges, or with Parker Bottle Ink using a Parker Ink Converter.

 

 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/online-air-fountain-pen-medium-white-on81527bl

 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/faber-castell-grip-2011-fountain-pen-gold-edition-fc40140927

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/faber-castell-fountain-pen-ink-converter-fc19148785

 

[amberleadavis]

I still use my Level 5s they are always on my desk.

[OCArt]

I also have one constantly on my desk. It never fails to start no matter how long it's been sitting and has a nib that's just a pleasure to write with. Mine has been filled with Noodler's 54th Massachusetts since day one-- I opened the companion ink bottle and refilled it with the waterproof Noodler's ink.  Have been using the pen for eight years without incident.