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Foray Fountain Pen


kadymae

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The Office Depot in a somewhat trendy shopping center carries a selection of upscale writing instruments including fountain pens.

 

I decided to take a chance on the $40 Foray Fountain pen.

 

Note: This pen costs more than a Waterman Phileas.

 

The packaging is spartan, but at the same time is designed to look minimalistic and "slick".

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h305/tartymae/pens/ForayFountain1.jpg

 

As you can see, the pen itself is quite attractive in a sleek, clean lined way.

 

The pen it self had a nice heft. It appears to be made of solid anodized aluminum. Not as heavy as brass, but not easily dentable, either.

 

I unscrewed the cap to discover:

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h305/tartymae/pens/ForayFountain2.jpg

 

What The Frell?! Was it some sort of semi-hooded nib? Nope, it screwed out to reveal that it was an IPG, with no marking about nib width. It looked like a medium when compared to my Lamy and Pelikan. It takes international short cartridges and comes with one.

 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h305/tartymae/pens/ForayFountain3.jpg

 

It really looks pretty ... and the section is a nice width.

 

But, the pen is a way overpriced roadapple. For all of the "oooohhhh, shiny" of the design, a closer look at the nib and section tell the tale.

 

Note the off center alignment of the feed.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h305/tartymae/pens/ForayFountain4.jpg

 

 

And if that wasn't bad enough:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h305/tartymae/pens/ForayFountain5.jpg

 

The width of the gap was wide enough for me to wedge a straightened paper clip (medium guage wire) in there. :headsmack:

 

Which means as I attempted to write, the inner mechanisms were flopping back and forth against the outer metal sleeve.

 

(Also, note the word "attempted" in the previous statement.)

 

The pen did not write. Just scraped a few furrows in the paper and even deposited trace amounts of ink in a few of them. And this was with me squeezing the cartridge, giving it a shake, etc.

 

But the capper?

 

You cannot screw the cap back on the pen with the nib fully exposed!

 

You have to disassemble the pen and get the nib back down to "semi-hooded" to screw the cap back on!

 

:roflmho:

 

So: Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

 

Unless you want to give a $40 (plus tax) gag gift to an FP loving friend of yours.

 

Because, seriously, the craftsmanship of the most important parts of the pen? It made a Pilot Petit/Varsity look like a masterpiece.

 

---

 

And I've had my laugh and will be taking the pen back tomorrow and getting a refund.

 

But, I'll keep the $5 off of Select Purchases over $25 coupon that I got for buying this Dren in the first place. There's some paper I want to try. :thumbup:

 

Katherine Keller

Culture Vultures Editrix

Sequential Tart

(A webzine by women who love comics and pop culture.)

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I'm glad that the people who designed and built this aren't working on World Peace.

 

Oh, wait, that might be a bad assumption...

 

 

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Sorry about your bad experience and thank you for the warning.

I probably wouldnt buy this anyways but after reading this I wouldnt take it even for free.

Respect to all

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Wow, that's pretty brain damaged. Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be lumped in with engineers that come up with nonsense like this. On the other hand, I can hope that no engineers were involved in the creation of this pen. :roflmho:

Quite likely, unless they were NSW Road and Traffic Authority engineers. These guys tilt our country roads the wrong way when you go around a bend.

 

 

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Wow, that grip section looks really uncomfortable and ugly. I guess this is what happens when non FP people design FPs...

Montblanc 145, F nib
Faber Castell E-Motion in Pearwood, F nib
Montblanc 149, F nib
Visconti Divina Proporzione 1618, S nib
Montblanc Cool Blue Starwalker, EF nib
Montblanc Solitaire Silver Barley BP
Montblanc Rouge et Noir Coral, M nib

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Man. What junk. It makes a minimalist Parker Frontier look kinda wonderful, doesn't it?

 

So many worldwide products today are made to simply "be sold," not to "be used."

<i>"Most people go through life using up half their energy trying to protect a dignity they never had."</i><br>-Marlowe, in <i>The Long Goodbye</i>

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Yeesh! OMG thank you for taking this bullet for the rest of us and warning us! ^_^;;;

 

Whenever I go to that spinner rack at my Office Depot I drool at the Pilot Knight (I have enough Kulturs to take care of my Phileas craving---for now!), but they only have it in silver, and more expensive than Pendemonium et al.

Laura Fox ~

civil libertarian socialist, puppyshipper, seeker of the legendary Waterman Flex-Nib

www.shininghalf.com

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Thank you. I was just looking at this very pen today and wondering how it would write.

 

Looked interesting, but not all that glitters is gold...

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Foray is Office Depot's new name for its "store brand" products. They have pens, paper, folios, and more with the Foray brand. My advice is to avoid all of them and stick with name brand products. The Foray products are clearly inferior.

CharlieB

 

"The moment he opened the refrigerator, he saw it. Caponata! Fragrant, colorful, abundant, it filled an entire soup dish, enough for at least four people.... The notes of the triumphal march of Aida came spontaneously, naturally, to his lips." -- Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, p. 212

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kadymae wrote:

 

"And I've had my laugh and will be taking the pen back tomorrow and getting a refund."

 

I had to laugh out loud myself at the absurdity of this design and your excellent presentation of it. Thank you for the review. You saved me some time and money and I appreciate it.

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Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

I wish I'd seen your review before buying one of those a couple years ago. I hated it and it eventually went in the recycle bin.

<span style='font-size: 12px;'><span style='font-family: Trebuchet MS'><span style='color: #0000ff'><strong class='bbc'>Mitch</strong></span><span style='color: #0000ff'>

=======

http://exploratorius.us

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Foray is Office Depot's new name for its "store brand" products. They have pens, paper, folios, and more with the Foray brand. My advice is to avoid all of them and stick with name brand products. The Foray products are clearly inferior.

 

Careful about painting them with such a broad brush. I picked up some Foray rollerball refills and they are superior to the original Yafa and Rotring ones. The package says they are Swiss made. I suspect they source their "generics" from lots of places and some of them are ok.

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I almost picked up one of these on my last trip to the Office Depot, but, as they didn't have a fine nib, I passed. It sounds like I made a good choice.

 

thanks for the review,

French

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Thanks for the review. Every time I go into ODepO, those things semi-tempt me, but. No more, now that you've confirmed my suspicions that they are indeed Frelling Pieces of Dren.

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I hate that your pen was clearly defective. I have the black version of the same pen and after I tightened the nib back into the mount it has been a fantastic writer. The finish doesn’t hold up all that well at the mounts, but after 4 months of use it still writes very smooth and never skips. My primary pen is a M200 Pelikan but I keep the Foray loaded with red for work use.

 

Would I buy it again for 40.00? NO. Not when a Cross Century II or Waterman Phileas can be had for the same price or a little more. But it is a nice heavy, good looking pen. It might be a value if the price were around 20.00 IMO. It also takes long cartridges I have a long waterman in it now.

 

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Thank you for the review. I at one time was thinking about this pen. I didn't like it because of that "bumpy" section.

:happycloud9:

 

Cathy L. Carter

 

Live. Love. Write.

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I had the misfortune of buying one of these as my first FP. For better or for worse, I soon had to buy more, BETTER FP's.

 

I must say, though, I didn't really mind this pen all that much. It was sort of a dry writer for me but it was glass-smooth - as smooth as any great pen I now own, including Pelikans, Sailors, and DaniTrio. I didn't like the ink, but Waterman cartridges soon fixed that. I must say that these pens are not a total loss, at least sometimes - but I'm kicking myself that I could have gotten a Phileas for $5 cheaper. Between the Foray and the Phileas, the Phileas wins every time.

 

Summer Greer

"Can I see Arcturus from where I stand?" -RPW

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