New For Men Pens on Ebay

[karcirate]

What's the deal with the eBay store New For Men. They are selling all these sometimes nice looking pens really cheaply.

 

Anyone bought one or know if they're any good?

I know I won't be getting anything awesome, I was just wondering if I could pick up a few cheap pens to take to work. But if they won't write well or will dry up quickly, it's not worth my time.

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

[andru]

Hi Jonathan,

I tried one, and it doesn't write worth a damn, but then isn't this true of most of the fountain pens I've bought? To its credit, It was inexpensive, stylish, and shipped promptly. Provided you don't seriously need to write anything down it's a good deal. Possibly, some flossing or other tweaks could make something of it.

-Andrew

P.S. A post of this nature would normally go to the Writing Instruments forum.

Edited January 16, 2008 by andru

[Rique]

Provided you don't seriously need to write anything down it's a good deal.

 

That's funny... the most unexpected recommendation I've ever seen for a fountain pen - a good deal, provided you don't want to write with it. :ltcapd:

Unfortunately, there's a large number of pens like that, isn't there? Particularly among the 'blingy' ones...

[karcirate]

Provided you don't seriously need to write anything down it's a good deal.

 

That's funny... the most unexpected recommendation I've ever seen for a fountain pen - a good deal, provided you don't want to write with it. :ltcapd:

Unfortunately, there's a large number of pens like that, isn't there? Particularly among the 'blingy' ones...

 

Very true about blingy pens not writing, but I never buy/keep pens that don't do what a pen is supposed to do.

[dcwaites]

Looking closely at the nibs, these appear to be the Chinese Fuliwen pens.

The ones with iridium tips say their nibs are made in Germany.

 

 

 

[Lexaf]

Looking closely at the nibs, these appear to be the Chinese Fuliwen pens.

The ones with iridium tips say their nibs are made in Germany.

 

Hi there,

 

Reading this tread about Fuliwen pens sold by 'NewforMen' at E-bay inspired me to write something also as I just happened to buy one of their pens a week ago.

I was attracted by the pen they offered for its elegant design and because it was a sort of 'limited edition': The Sheakespeare Pen #45 as they name it. For a description I quote from their ad. (the ad. I bought from is e-bay no. 350012977087 wich is closed now of course, but they have more of these in their E-bay shop).

"This pen has a sheer black acrylic body. The tip of the pen cap has a resin profile of William Shakespeare; the same profile is engraved on the pen nib. The 18k gold plated medium nib writes effortlessly and can be refilled with either cartridges or via the included twist converter system"

I can add to this that the pen is very well made, nice medium weight, good balance capped or uncapped, and last but not least: its a very comfortable writer. No skipping, a fine to medium semi wet line. Euro-Cartridge filled but also a simple but effective screw type converter is included as well as 5 free cartridges.

For less then $ 20,00, shipping included (!) BTW, shipping from Canada to The Netherlands took less than 1 week. I think this is a very good buy! And I must say that some statements earlyer made in this thread about not being able to write with it is far byond the truth. I'm very happy with it and I can recommend it to anyone who likes a modern looking elegant pen that is certainly not looking cheap and defenitely not blingy! I hope Mr. Darren Mclean is continuing his 'NewforMen' bussiness for a long time because I certainly want to buy more pens from them.

To give an impression of this pen i'll try to attach a set of pictures I took from their E-Bay ad.

 

More positive or mayby more horror stories about New for men or Fuliwen pens? I'd like to read more!

In the near future I'll try to make a more extended review on some other Fuliwen and other Chinese brand pens I recently purchased on E-bay.

I think these new generation of original design Chinese pens deserve some attention.

:clap1:

 

 

Lexaf

 

[birdy]

Looking closely at the nibs, these appear to be the Chinese Fuliwen pens.

The ones with iridium tips say their nibs are made in Germany.

 

Hi there,

 

Reading this tread about Fuliwen pens sold by 'NewforMen' at E-bay inspired me to write something also as I just happened to buy one of their pens a week ago.

 

.....And I must say that some statements earlyer made in this thread about not being able to write with it is far byond the truth.

 

Lexaf

 

With all due respect, I'm glad you had a favorable experience with the pen you purchased, but that in no way means the previous poster's comment about his pen not writing is "far beyond the truth." In your view, you bought a good pen. In his view, he bought a bad one. Simple as that.

[dcwaites]

With all due respect, I'm glad you had a favorable experience with the pen you purchased, but that in no way means the previous poster's comment about his pen not writing is "far beyond the truth." In your view, you bought a good pen. In his view, he bought a bad one. Simple as that.

One of the problems with the cheaper Chinese pens is the inconsistent quality control. I have two Huashilai 3000 pens. One has been trouble-free from the start. The other has taken a lot of tweaking to get the tines parallel and just the right distance apart to write fluidly without flooding. If I had only bought one the impression I would have had would have depended on which one I got. (That last sentence is ugly. Any suggestions for a more elegant re-wording?)

 

 

[karcirate]

One of the problems with the cheaper Chinese pens is the inconsistent quality control. I have two Huashilai 3000 pens. One has been trouble-free from the start. The other has taken a lot of tweaking to get the tines parallel and just the right distance apart to write fluidly without flooding. If I had only bought one the impression I would have had would have depended on which one I got. (That last sentence is ugly. Any suggestions for a more elegant re-wording?)

 

And that's exactly why they are cheaper.

[Lexaf]

Looking closely at the nibs, these appear to be the Chinese Fuliwen pens.

The ones with iridium tips say their nibs are made in Germany.

 

Hi there,

 

Reading this tread about Fuliwen pens sold by 'NewforMen' at E-bay inspired me to write something also as I just happened to buy one of their pens a week ago.

 

.....And I must say that some statements earlyer made in this thread about not being able to write with it is far byond the truth.

 

Lexaf

 

With all due respect, I'm glad you had a favorable experience with the pen you purchased, but that in no way means the previous poster's comment about his pen not writing is "far beyond the truth." In your view, you bought a good pen. In his view, he bought a bad one. Simple as that.

 

 

Right you are, so I wrote a comment. As you do...

That's the fun of this forum!

Enjoy!

Lexaf

[Lexaf]

One of the problems with the cheaper Chinese pens is the inconsistent quality control. I have two Huashilai 3000 pens. One has been trouble-free from the start. The other has taken a lot of tweaking to get the tines parallel and just the right distance apart to write fluidly without flooding. If I had only bought one the impression I would have had would have depended on which one I got. (That last sentence is ugly. Any suggestions for a more elegant re-wording?)

 

And that's exactly why they are cheaper.

 

:clap1: Hi,

 

I agree that's where the problem is. I think the quality control is (must be) of another level as with the 'big' brands. But on the other hand, we are not talking about > $200,-- Pelikan's, Parkers or Watermans. In my case I bought some Fuliwens, a Hero 2060, 3 Huashilai's and a Zhenjue 209 for an avaridge of < $12,-- each, shipping included. So my impression is not based on just one that happend to be ok. By and large, all these pens write at least reasonably well and some of them are just plain excellent quality. Compared to the plastic school pens from my local stationary shop that cost the same, these pens look better, feel better and particularly write better.

I must admit that I do not have experience yet with the behaviour of these Chinese pens on the long term. What happens when you put it away, filled with ink and do not use it for some days or even weeks? (No problem with my Sheaffer Balance 2000...) What if you leave it open on your desk for an hour or more? How do they look after a year of use and carrying around? Are they not leaking after changing cartridges for 20 or more times? What is the quality of the converters that come with it? In the case of my Fuliwen Sheakespeare pen it was useless... the ink leaked out of the pen the same speed as I could pump it in... but other converters, especially the sqeeze type ones, worked fine. But for how long? Is the gold trim on the end of the section strong enough to resist the ink stains and can they easily be cleaned? Maybe there is someone on this forum who reads this and has some answers. I'd be glad to read about it then.

So far I will be gladly experimenting with these pens. They do not only give me the pleasure of writing with a fine pen, but also the fun of collecting, and buying (on e-bay) new models from far away (Chinese?) sellers, with offices in UK, USA, Canada, Hong Kong and Shanghai. For a very affordable price. Correspondence and communications is almost always friendly and efficient. When I started I was a little reluctant using Paypal, having very negative experience with them in the past, a few years ago, but since Paypal has an official European branch and a site in Dutch, my native langguage, it seems to work OK, providing I only do payments now, I do NOT receive money on my Paypal account.

I hope this was a useful contribution to the discussion. Always curious for comment, of course.

 

Lexaf

[dcwaites]

One of the problems with the cheaper Chinese pens is the inconsistent quality control. I have two Huashilai 3000 pens. One has been trouble-free from the start. The other has taken a lot of tweaking to get the tines parallel and just the right distance apart to write fluidly without flooding. If I had only bought one the impression I would have had would have depended on which one I got. (That last sentence is ugly. Any suggestions for a more elegant re-wording?)

 

And that's exactly why they are cheaper.

 

:clap1: Hi,

 

What is the quality of the converters that come with it? In the case of my Fuliwen Sheakespeare pen it was useless... the ink leaked out of the pen the same speed as I could pump it in... but other converters, especially the sqeeze type ones, worked fine.

Lexaf

I wasn't clear with my original comment about cheaper Chinese pens, but I was only talking about the set of Chinese pens. I have only had problems with the cheaper of the Chinese pens I have bought, and then only with a couple of them.

 

Of those problems, one of them was ink leaking out of the pen and blotting on the paper. I read somewhere else on the FPN that it might be due to faulty sealing of the converter, and air leaking in. Firm re-seating of the converters fixed that problem. It it doesn't, you may want to consider a new converter. Which would be annoying if the converter then cost more than the original pen...

 

 

[sdonahue]

I got one of these fancy-shmancy things from New For Men for around 5 bucks. There is just one word for it: DRECK.

I threw it out.

[lalindsay225]

How did I miss this thread??? Finally, a Shakespeare LE I can afford!

 

Lisa (Shakespeare nut and Asian pen fan)

[Sam P.]

I just got my Shakespeare pen a while ago and can tell you that it writes VERY SMOOTHLY for its price.

[Richard]

The ones with iridium tips say their nibs are made in Germany.

At least some of them are indeed Fuliwen pens. Others are not.

 

The nibs imprinted IRIDIUM POINT GERMANY are referred to as IPG nibs. Note carefully, they do not say they are made in Germany, and in fact they are made in China. This misleading marking is how they skirt the edge of legality. And they typically have very poor tipping, not nearly so hard as German tipping. The annoying thing about this, beyond its deceptive aspect, is that there are also IPG nibs that really are made in Germany (by JoWo, in Berlin). They're what Taccia uses, and when we were carrying Taccia I found them to be well made of good materials -- quite good nibs.

Edited March 21, 2008 by Richard

[rollerboy]

Based on the picture Lexaf posted I wouldn't call them "blingy" looking, but rather "dress pen" looking. The writing quality, fit and finish, and durability will determine whether they succeed beyond "imitation dress pen". But ... my sense of aesthetics sees the profile of Shakespeare on the nib and cap immediately classifies the pen as a novelty item rather than a dress pen. Shakespeare or Homer Simpson ... same thing ... neither belong on a "serious" pen.

[lalindsay225]

Well, to each his own. I love my Shakespeare pen, "serious" pen or not, and used it just this weekend to write in my Shakespeare journal. Mine writes quite nicely. As I could never afford a Shakespeare pen from Krone or Conway Stewart, this will have to suffice.

 

Lisa

[Effin1]

Positive or negative impressions will depend entirely on whether the pen functions adequately or as with many of these cheaper Chinese FP's fails to perform at all. I received a Fuliwen FP in a job lot and I can't get it to write at all. Soaking for about the 10th time in case it is dried ink. I've purchased about 30 pens in the last few weeks all of them vintage with the exception of the Fuliwen. It is the only pen that it not now writing. The list includes Parkers (mostly) Sheaffer Waterman and Burnham. Some required a new sac others more extensive repairs. I sent a couple with complex filling systems eg The Burnham to Peter Twydle and they write perfectly. I won't give up on the Fuliwen IT WILL WRITE

[Pickwick]

Positive or negative impressions will depend entirely on whether the pen functions adequately or as with many of these cheaper Chinese FP's fails to perform at all. I received a Fuliwen FP in a job lot and I can't get it to write at all. Soaking for about the 10th time in case it is dried ink. I've purchased about 30 pens in the last few weeks all of them vintage with the exception of the Fuliwen. It is the only pen that it not now writing. The list includes Parkers (mostly) Sheaffer Waterman and Burnham. Some required a new sac others more extensive repairs. I sent a couple with complex filling systems eg The Burnham to Peter Twydle and they write perfectly. I won't give up on the Fuliwen IT WILL WRITE

 

Have you checked the feed? Sometimes I find the feed needs cleaning up particularly the channels to allow the ink to flow.

 

Regards,

 

Pickwick