Pelikan M620 Grand Place

June 12, 2008

(See disclaimer here)

1. First Impressions - 5/5

Ah... the M620 Grand Place, my first Pelikan. I have been prowling the Pelikan section for a few months, digesting the FPN review section as well as website like M Binder and Mottishaw for details, picture etc. I went to b&m store and numerous time held and tried Pelikans but I was still hesitating. I knew I wanted to get one to discover “custom” nibs since it is so easy to switch nib on these. Then I saw a Grand Place, let’s say it was love at first sight...

2. Appearance & Finish 5/5

Many people have reported that picture do not do justice to its beauty and it is true. In the “flesh” the resin has an iridescent quality when the pen is rotated with bright light which coupled with the blue swirl is quite mesmerizing. If I had to chose which is my most beautiful pen it would be a hard fight between this one and my beloved Patrician...

3. Design/ Size/Weight 4/5

It is a typical Pelikan, piston-filler and very light pen. At first it was too light, but now I have adjusted and enjoy this pen very much. It is usable unposted but it is on the short side; posted it is just about perfect. I tend to prefer larger pen but this one feels very good in hand. This pen has one flaw design wise: it is impossible to know how much ink is left, there is no ink window and the body is opaque.

4. Nib Design & Performance 2/5

This is where things get ugly... The medium 18kt dual-tone nib was simply atrocious, the tines were seriously misaligned which left the nib very scratchy and ultra dry, they had another M620 (a Place de la Concorde) in store and I switch nib with that one. That nib was not very good either, very very dry and scratchy. After reading instructions I proceeded to augment the flow myself following the instruction provided on nibs.com and pulling apart the “wings” of the nibs. It actually helped a lot but the nib still has a lot of tooth. On addition to that the nib was marked as M but even with the adjusted flow (6-7 on 10) the line is less than half the size of my Van Gogh F nib, which itself is roughly half the width of my Patrician M nib. Still following me? Let’s just say that this nib is on borrowed time and will eventually see a nibmeister once I got a replacement for it.

5. The Filling System 5/5

The legendary Pelikan piston! This is my first piston-filler. Before this pen I thought “ok piston = bigger capacity what’s the deal?” I was surprised to realize that piston is actually less messy than a converter: since the pen is easier to hold during filling and the fingers are not as close to the mouth of the bottle. I’m a convert!

6. Cost/Value 4/5

I paid close to 400$Can in a local B&M for this beauty, it is a limited edition and the color was just to impressive to not jump on it despite the nib.

7. Overall Opinion/Conclusion 4/5

With everything said on the sub-par nib I still love that pen very much! I guess my biggest frustration was that I wanted to experience the Pelikan “smoothness”. I have an Aurora on my wish list ever since trying a Talentum which, despite the tooth, was very smooth (if that make sense) so I don’t mind feedback and even toothiness in a pen.

Now that I have adjusted and that I appreciate its weight and balance and came at peace (at least temporarily) with its nib it has become one of my favorite pen. I have no doubt in my mind that once I’ll replace the nib it will be stellar!

June 12, 2008

Very nice review!! I absolutely love mine it is a real looker! I ended up with a very smooth fine nib in mine. It currently has a Binder 1.1 Crisp Italic installed and I used it this weekend to ink up some Certificates for a Deacon Ordination at church. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine!!