The Level L5: taboo pen?

[Namo]

Dear FPNers,

I've recently acquired a Pelikan Level L5, and I find it a great pen. The look is a bit strange (and I love it), it is true, but if you like stiff nibs (and it is not my case), it seems to me that it is a great pen, even if you don't mention the innovative filling system. Furthermore you can get a L5 at a very decent price (about 50$)

 

So is there a taboo on the Level 5? And if so, why?

[runnjump]

I loved my Pelikan Level. It was a great writer. Quality nib, quality feed, consistent flow, no skipping, smooth as can be.

 

Unfortunately I have retired my Level because it was such a pain to clean. Taking apart the whole fill-and-valve assembly just to flush some cool water through your pen? Why make a trivial matter into a complicated one? I didn't flush the pen for 5 years and finally it clogged up irretrievably.

[J English Smith]

Not "taboo," but the filling system is a love it or hate it kind of thing. A lot of people don't realize that the top of the L5 ink bottles unscrew, so that you can put in your own ink instead of the wimpy Pel blue or black.

 

The original price points were set fairly high for the 5 series as opposed to low end 65 model - I think for the steel nib the original MSRP was about $80 or $90 - and with the more radical design of the pen - it just didn't sell very well and Pel discontinued it after only 3 or 4 years.

 

I like my L5 for what I paid for it (about $35) but I like to post and it frustrates me that this one doesn't post. Also I managed to break the little "three dots" insert on the cap in the first five minutes (I was trying to figure out why it wouldn't post, because there is nothing in the literature that tells you it won't post). Fortunately, only one of the dots broke off and it's hard to see that flaw once I got the cap back together.

 

The fine nib is nice but not very distinguished one way or the other - I have a L65 in broad that has a pleasant but fairly toothy nib. I tend to pick up my Pel 200 to write with over the Level for that reason, more than any other. I use the L5 on a day I need to write a lot and don't want to worry about running about of ink. The capacity is the pen's largest selling point, really, but I don't think Pel played that up. A redesigned L5 for about $40-50 with steel nibs might have sold quite well, but we'll never know, I guess...

 

P.S. So far, neither of mine has clogged, which may be due to the wimpy Pelikan blue ink in them more than anything. I try to just write a few lines with the levels each week to keep things moving a bit...so far so good. Flushing yes is too much of a pain with these - if they clog they clog is my attitude.

Edited December 9, 2008 by J English Smith

[gds]

I've actually had my Level 5 in rotation for a little while now, and I am enjoying it a lot. I remember some comments on this board complaining that the L5 had a problem with the feed. When I first got it I had some problems with skipping (it's certainly a dry writer), but when I filled it up with PR tanzanite (which is a really nice colour match for the barrel, by the way) it became very reliable.

 

I really like the looks of the L5 (I have the "ceramics" edition with a nice EF nib), and I find it comfortable to write with. As you say, the nib is stiff (or firm, if you prefer), and nice and smooth. The huge ink capacity makes it an ideal pen for when you might be traveling. I picked up a "Level 65" as well (they are easy to find cheap on ebay), but I didn't find I liked it as well as the L5.

 

There are a couple of negative things about it -- as runnjump says cleaning it was quite a chore. I will stick with the ink colour that's in there as far as I can, but I'll have to clean it. You can give it a clean by using the bottle to suck water (and excess ink) back out of the pen, which helps a little. I've never taken it apart, but it looks like a major job of engineering. That, and the fact that the cap cannot be posted. At least on my Ceramics posting would tilt the balance quite a long way back but it would still be nice to have the option.