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This is what I call the "2017 Daiso Fountain Pen". The pen being reviewed here is different from the other (earlier) Daiso pens that have already been reviewd on the FPN as of April 2017. Daiso is a Japanese "Dollar Store" that has managed to spread successfully beyond mainland Japan. http://www.daisojapan.com Daiso sells these pens online. But it is hard to tell for how much. Depending on how you interpret the description on the Daiso page, these pens come in boxes of 20 packs for $0.84 USD each, or boxes of 10 packs for $1.68 each. Here's a link: http://www.daisojapan.com/c-181-fountain-pens.aspx I purchased the Daiso fountain pen for 22,500 Rupiah including 10% PPN (tax). That comes to about $1.54 USD before tax (call it a buck-fifty). I bought the pen at the small Daiso store above the Papaya Supermarket on Jalan Melawai No.28, South Jakarta, Indonesia. The pen came with one international short cartridge filled with what the package says is filled with "Blue-Black" ink. While I have heard of Daiso also offering inexpensive packages of refill cartridges, none were to be found at the store I visited. The pen in question is identical to the Daiso pen currently sold by Goulet Pens at $10.00 for two pens ($5 USD each). Here's a link to the Goulet Pen Web page so you can see what the pen looks like (the Goulet photos are good). N.B., I am not affiliated with Goulet Pens. https://www.gouletpens.com/daiso-fountain-pens-set-of-2/p/Daiso-FP2 There is a separate independent review of the same pen here: http://kiriska.com/blog/2015/05/daiso-brand-fountain-pen/ 1. First Impression: 8/10 My single White Daiso fountain pen came in a peg-hole blister-package with one short international sized cartridge. According to the package the pen has a Medium nib and comes with a blue-black ink cartridge. The pen supposedly comes in gray, silver and white. I have only seen it offered in white. The packaging is Daiso branded and labelled in four languages, Japanese (primarily), English, Spanish, and Portugese. After reading the package, it is apparent the Portugese language included for importation into Brazil by Daiso Brasil. The packaging is good, minimalist, and relatively easy to open. There's not a lot of wasted pastic left over. The labelling says the pen is Made in China for Daiso. My first impression with the pen in-hand is that it is rather light. However, the pen doesn't feel or look cheap at first glance. I expected another one of those heavy brass Chinese pens. Nope - not this time. We're not talking about a precious writing instrument in a fine hand-crafted pen coffin here, it's just a blister pack cheapie. But it is done well, and the price is amazing. So 8/10. 2. Appearance & Design: 8/10 The pen is presentable. It has an even semi-gloss finish that looks like it might be an epoxy paint or maybe even a plastic powder coat. On further examination, the barrel and cap appear to be made of thin aluminum. The barrel and cap are seamless. I can almost guarantee the aluminum parts were made by cold impact-extrusion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_extrusion See this video starting at 1 minute and 4 seconds (1:04): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvK6LCwQYpA All the furniture and the nib are chrome-tone. The clip is securely attached by a crimped cap penetration. The clip is not flexible enough in my opinion. But once clipped in your pocket, it isn't going anywhere. There are three decorative cuts at the top of the clip. Looking at the clip straight on, it has an attractive double tapered shape. The cap seems to have a plastic cap liner! But unfortunately, the clip penetrates the liner where it penetrates the cap. Therefore, the cap is not air-tight. This is a common mistake by Chinese pen manufacturers. They seem to have no clue that a primary function of a cap liner is to seal the nib when capped. I might have a simple solution for this problem. Read my comments below in the Conclusion section. There is a threaded chrome-tone metal (likely steel) insert in the open end of the barrel where the section screws in. Just above this on the barrel is a single chrome-tone ring. The ring looks like it is cut into the barrel through the white coating. Regardless, the ring looks well-done. But only time will tell if it holds up with use. On the other end of the barrel there is a substantial chrome-tone metal finial. The finial is rather attractive and the weight seems to help balance the pen. The black plastic section screws into the barrel. The plastic threads feel mushy when you screw them in, but they do bottom-out securely so the section doesn't move at all when stressed. Where the section meets the nib there is a chrome-tone metal collar. The collar helps to balance the metal finial. There is a small ridge on the collar where the nib meets it. I rather like the small smooth step up at the end of the collar (I know, some people hate that sort of thing). The cap posts. But this is where I see a problem. The cap doesn't post securely unless you really jam it on. The barrel just doesn't seem to mate well with the cap liner. Also, the cap sometimes doesn't post squarely without some fiddling with it. Again, this seems to be because the barrel and liner are not quite the same shape. Note however, this problem isn't so bad that it's a deal-killer for me, even though I always write posted. In-fact for $1.50 each, it's a miracle this and the cap not being sealed seem to be the only annoyances I've found so far with this pen! The cap posting issue may get better over time as the liner deforms to fit the cap. I've got more to say about this in the Conclusion section below. Again, this isn't a pen to write home about. But it is attractive and feels decent in-hand given the price. A few of points come off because of the way it posts and the fact that the cap isn't air-tight. 7/10 3. Weight and Dimensions: 9/10 Like I said before, this is a light pen., but it is well balanced, even when posted. I do not like heavy fountain pens in the first place - so I'm perfectly OK with this pen in terms of weight. In-fact I'm pleasantly surprised at how light it is given it's made in China. As for size, this pen is not a big pen, but it isn't small either - it's juuuust right. Unless you are The Incredible Hulk or Ant Man in ant mode, you're probably going to be AOK with the size of this pen. The pen comes with a short standard international size cartridge. The barrel has enough space to hold one long cartridge or a short cartridge plus a spare short cartridge, and still close properly. A standard international twist-piston converter fits OK too. I'm gong to be naughty and lift these spec's from the Goulet page. The Daiso pen they sell is identical to mine. Diameter - Body, 10.7mm (0.42in) Diameter - Cap (without clip), 10.9mm (0.42in) Diameter - Cap (with clip), 13.5mm (0.53in) Diameter - Grip, 7.7mm (0.30in) Length - Body, 124.5mm (4.90in) Length - Cap, 53.9mm (2.12in) Length - Nib, 18.7mm (0.74in) Length - Overall (Closed), 134.2mm (5.28in) Length - Overall (Posted), 158.7mm (6.25in) Weight - Body, 12g (0.42oz) Weight - Cap, 3g (0.11oz) Weight - Overall, 15g (0.53oz) I almost always use a fountain pen so I like light pens that won't cause fatigue. This pen works for me, plus it's well balanced when posted, something you almost never see in a Chinese pen. I think we can thank Daiso for that. 9/10 4. Nib and Performance: 9/10 I inspected the stainless steel nib under magnification upon first uncapping the pen. The tines were aligned, the slit was centered and the tipping appeared normal. The times seemed to be spaced OK. The nib sits securely in the section and the feed is properly positioned and aligned. I can't seem to read the stylized stamping on the nib, it says something like "BRILLO". There is some nice filigree surroundinig the brand on the nib plus the word "Medium". There's no "IPG" to be found anywhere on this nib. The letters and filigree are stamped, not laser or machine etched. The stamping quality is not the best, but it is presentable to a casual onlooker. The feed is your average ribbed plastic job. The feed sits securely in the section and came aligned perfectly with the nib. The feed is about 5mm in diameter (#5 size) and the nib protrudes 17.5mm from the section. The nib measures 7.0mm at the widest part of the wings. The nib and feed are friction-fit and pull out with a little effort. No tools or heat were required. If you use common-sense, you can pull the feed and nib with the cartridge or converter inserted into the section without anything messy happening. I cleaned the pen with a bulb syringe and some warm soapy water. After a rinse and dry, I inserting the "blue-black" cartridge that came with the pen and primed the feed. I decided to write on generic virgin 80g/sqm office bond paper as this is probably what this type of semi-disposable pen might encounter most-often. The nib says Medium, but I would put this nib at between a Western Fine and Medium; maybe closer to to a Fine. I consider this nib to be a nail. However if you push it, you can get a little bit of variation. The nib was fairly smooth in its untouched state. A bit of feedback, but it's not at all scratchy. Ink flow was flawless. I had no hard starts or skips, even after leaving the pen sitting uncapped flat on the table for a few minutes. The ink that came with the pen is more blue than blue-black, but it is fairly saturated and flows OK. After a page or two of writing. I decided to work on the nib. With a bit of smoothing and tweaking under magnification, the nib now has a much broader sweet spot and it is noticeably smoother. That's not to say the nib was bad to begin with though. The nib is perfectly serviceable right out of the package. (Remember, this is a sample size of one!) I can't find anything wrong with this nib other than the questionable quality of the decorative stamping under close inspection. I hope all the nibs are this good right out of the package. 9/10 5. Filling system: 9/10 This pen takes a standard short international size cartridge/converter. As mentioned previously, it will hold one long cartridge or one short cartridge plus a spare short cartridge. A standard international size twist-piston converter fits OK. Meh, a C/C filler. But there is plenty of room for a converter or a spare short cartridge. I like C/C fillers. They're easy to clean and maintain. And cartridges take the risk of flying down to zero. 9/10 6. Cost and Value: 10/10 Given what I have found so-far - at $1.50 I think this pen is a steal. That of-course is based on a sample of one. So YMMV. I'm going to stick my neck out and assume all the pens like this are as good as my example. So at this price it gets a 10/10 7. Conclusion: 8.8/10 It is pretty amazing that there is so little wrong with this pen considering it costs $1.50 USD and the potential for the dumb mistakes you so often see in many dirt-cheap Chinese-made fountain pens. I may go back to Daiso and pick up some more of these. They would make nice hand-outs to new FP users, or maybe even stocking-stuffers. It would not be a stretch to argue that this particular Daiso Fountain Pen is within striking distance of the Pilot Metropolitan - and at one tenth the cost. There are two minor problems with this pen: The first is that the cap isn't sealed due to the clip mount penetrating the cap liner. I think this could be cured by injecting some sort of glue into the end of the cap-liner to seal it. But afterwards, there may not be enough room left in the barrel to hold two short cartridges. The second problem is that the cap doesn't post securely without some effort. This is because the cap liner and the barrel don't seem to mate-up well. This isn't a deal-killer for me given that the pen does actually post and the pen costs so little. Plus, the problem may get better with time as the cap-liner deforms to accommodate the cap. Heck, you might want to try heating the barrel to see if you can make it fit better in the plastic liner. At worst you'll be out $1.50. 53/60 = 8.8/10 Have Fun, David