Search the Community

I believe this is the first(and currently only) piston filler in Gama's lineup. The cap, barrel, section and the blind cap are made of ebonite and are well done. The piston mechanism is similar to that of the Click president. The nib is a standard Gama no.35 (i went with the 0.65mm tip for general writing, as that's what I'll be using it for) the piston mechanism isn't the smoothest in my collection, it does get stuck in between and requires a little persuasion for it to go all the way up, and I wished they'd have put some grease on the mechanism. Hopefully it'll get smoother after the break in period, but it works and holds approx. 1.75ml of ink. Overall, for around 3500 rupees (which is what they're asking on their website), I'd say skip this and buy some of their eyedropper pens instead. The Gama Eagle in Olive ebontie The pen has a black cap section and blind cap made of ebonite and a transparent acrylic window. It's actually a normal sized pen, here it is with a Beena Lincoln, airmail 71JT and a Kanwrite Desire Writing sample. The feathering was because the pen was freshly inked and was a tad too wet. Plus the ink used is a bit on the thinner side. Hope this helps.

PLP are the initials of Mr. Poona Lakshmi Pathi, An age old name in the handmade pen business from Hyderabad India. He has been OEM for various pen manufacturers across the Indian subcontinent. Currently him along with his son Mr. Satish Kumar has entered into the Indian pen market with their own brand ‘PLP Pens’. My Introduction to the Brand It was during one of my casual surfing in the “Fountain Pen Club India” group in Facebook, I bumped across this pen and the brand. A few user reviews and the pictures posted in the group were enough to convince me to go for this pen. I contacted Mr. Satish Kumar via WhatsApp and received the pictures. After ogling at the selection of pens made by the father Son duo, I decided on procuring a couple of eyedropper pens both with size #35 friction fit Ambitious nibs on ebonite feeders. One was a yellow capsule shaped acrylic and the other was a green bi-flat Indian ebonite costing INR 2200/- and INR 1400/- respectively. The pens were shipped on the promised date and the shipping details were shared on WhatsApp. Overall a hassle free buying experience. First Impressions The pens arrived in a couple of PLP plastic boxes. Though I am a die hard fan of the ebonite eye droppers, it was the acrylic pen that won my heart. The pen was solid built and was perfectly balanced with an impeccable finish. Both the pens came with chrome finish clips with “PLP” engraved at the top. During the side by side comparison of the two pens, the acrylic pen was short by few millimetres compared to its ebonite counterpart. On trying to clip both the pens in the shirt pocket the acrylic pen sat sung compared to the ebonite. Both the pens sported a tapered section with the acrylic pen sporting an additional step up at the end of the section. Overall both the pens were well crafted and were ready to be inked. First Write After drooling over these well crafted beauties, it was zero hour. Time to fill the tank and take the first baby steps on the paper. Though both the pens had a slim variation with regards to the dimensions, both had a barrel capacity of 2.5 ML approx. The choice of ink was a concoction of epitome royal blue and aqua blue which I call “Brilliant” (Named after the brilliance in the hue of the final product). A “juicy imprint” is the apt word to describe these pens first letters on the paper. Both the pens were flawless, wet and well-balanced writers. The acrylic pen was the heavier among the two with a marginal yet significant difference in terms of balance. Both the pens fared well on long writing sessions with the cap posted and unposted. Among the two, my pick was the acrylic pen. The pens did not dry up on overnight storage nor burped on long writing sessions. Final Word At this price point both the pens are in my opinion a true VFM. The finish on these pens are in par with the pen offerings from major players in the Indian pen market for half the price. Though both are excellent writers my pick was the acrylic pen over the ebonite pen for its weight, built and the step up at the nib section providing a sturdy and enjoyable writing experience. Though Mr.PLP has been manufacturing pens and served as an OEM for various pen brands across the Indian subcontinent, it is only in recent times he has started selling his creation under his own banner. We Indians root for the underdog too! The Ebonite pen specifications: Total pen size is 150mm Un-Capped: 135mm Body size: 14mm Cap size: 15.5mm Section size: 12.5mm The Acrylic pen specifications: Total Length: 145mm Uncapped: 130mm Section Dia: 12.5mm Body Dia: 14.5mm Rating Ebonite Pen INR 1400/- Looks - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Build - 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nib - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Value for Money - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ As an EDC - 👍 Acrylic Pen INR 2200/- Looks - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Build - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nib - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Value for Money - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️ As an EDC - 👍 PLP pens Contact Mr. Satish Kumar +91 96522 76914

I have been an exclusive fountain pen user for more than a decade. My first introduction to fountain pens were in my school days with 'N' number of pens being lost or broken or replaced with new launches at the local pen shops. During my college days, it has been an array of ball point pens. It was only during my internship days as a doctor, I shifted back to this exquisite experience of using fountain pens. Since then I have been trying out various brands from across the globe from Parker to Montblanc. Though I was aware of a few Indian fountain pen makers, I have always had this preconceived notion about the quality of Indian pens and have never opted to own one during those times. Finally finishing my post graduation and masters successfully with a steel nib Waterman Hemisphere I took a nose dive into the global fountain pen market accumulating a few more fountain pens to my collection and later dealing with the post purchase guilt. Still my prejudice towards Indian pens was strong and couldn't reason out with myself into buying one. It was in one of those early COVID lockdown days, druing a long phone call with a good two decade old friend Dr. Gautham Srinath, my prejudice was shattered. Though being friend for over two decades we never knew about our mutual interests in fountain pens. It was him who suggested to me about Ranga pens By Mr. M.S. Pandurangan along with his son Mr. M.P. Kandan, A company with over 50 years of experience in making hand rolled fountain pens catering to the needs of fountain pen enthusiasts across the globe. Me being myself, was still reluctant in giving it a shot, came up with various reasons to push aside the group buy offers from Ranga pens put forth by my friend and him being himself got fed up with me and gifted me one. The pen arrived. First Impressions As per the epic Mahabharata Abhimanyu was a young legendary warrior, who with his valiant skills in combat proved to be a worthy opponent to his enemies, the mighty Kauravas. In my view the Ranga Pens Abhimanyu is in its own way a legendary warrior. The pen was made in premium acrylic with a clean flawless polished finish and with no clip. A screw type cap on the barrel enclosing the Schmidt K5 converter. Uncapping the pen, the section along with the barrel reveals an hourglass shaped pen. The nib section came with a Jowo threaded nib unit with a size #35 dual tone Ranga steel nib fine tip with a plastic feeder. A well balanced, aptly weighed pen for my medium sized hands (Glove size 7.5). A closer inspection revealed mild lathe marks on the barrel but over all this pen was an eye candy! and the legendary young warrior from Ranga pens had proven himself worthy. Score:- Abhimanyu vs Me 1-0. First Write After watching the pen over and over again and laughing at my ignorant preconceived notion about the quality of Indian pens, it was zero hour. A dip in the ink bottle and after a few twists and turns of the Schmidt convertor, the chamber was full. The first stroke of the nib on the paper was exquisite. Another couple of my self conceived myth busted, plastic feeds can be tuned to provide wet and flawless writing and Indian steel nibs are in par with their global counterparts. Abhimanyu was winning again. The fine tip was a tad thicker than than the Japanese counterparts but nothing to complain. After draining the ink in the convertor and I decided to take a walk down the memory lane, Eye-dropper. I remember the initial days of my fourth grade when I was first introduced to fountain pens, ink stained fingers were a proud way of showing people that I've started using fountain pens and have grown up. The last time I used an ED was in 9th grade shifting to CC fillers later. So going through some preliminary videos about ED filling on YouTube, I moved forward. Applied the silicon grease and took up a syringe and filled the barrel with ink till the threads, Primed the nib and put the pen to use. Not requiring to ink your pen for a considerable amount of time was definitely a nostalgic experience and NO LEAKS NOR BURPS!! my wish of showing people that I am a fountain pen user was flushed down the drain. Score Abhimanyu vs Me 4-0. Advantage Abhimanyu. Final Word Time to concede defeat. I surrender! Hailing from the state that houses Ranga Pens and being a fountain pen user/enthusiast and not owning one for a long time was a reminder to myself of the saying "Never judge a book by its cover". It was my irrational preconceived notion on Indian pens that had forestalled me in owning this gem of a creation. It is one of the few rare instances in my life where I was glad to be proven wrong. This young legendary warrior Abhimanyu won me over the battle of my preconceived notions on Indian pens. PS: Roll stopper clip from Magna Carta Pens.

My handwritten review of the Ratnamson 302 - 12 years after it was bought! Have fun! Take care! Stay safe!

Hi, This review has been posted in my blog at https://inkpensblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/asa-tangerine-nauka-review/ . Please check it for my other reviews. I was casually browsing ASA Pens’ catalogue at asapens.in one day and I noticed a new listing for a Nauka in tangerine acrylic. It was a bright orange version of translucent Nauka (TransNauka). It was a limited edition (only 250 pens) according to the listing and so I made an order the next day itself. I already had one in ebonite and and one in translucent clear acrylic. I loved those pens and thought it would be a nice addition to that set. Even though the website said it would take four weeks for delivery , the pen reached me in a week’s time (Subbu of ASApens told me the reason later). It came in a nice looking ASA branded wooden box as opposed to the regular bubble wrap. It was a gorgeous pen. The acrylic was bright orange and the body of the pen had a brushed finish. The golden coloured clip augmented the beauty of the pen very well. It came with a golden coloured medium Jowo nib. Okay. The pen is beautiful. But, what about writing performance ? It is one of the best nibs I have used. It is tuned very well and wrote very smoothly. It came a close second to my Lamy 2000 in the smoothness contest. The best Jowo nib I have written with. Hats of to Subbu sir if he has done some magic to this nib. I tried a few inks in this pen. J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hermatite and Private Reverse Orange Crush were the first two I tried. But, I settled with Diamine Sunset. That ink matched the pen in colour and in character. ASA Nauka has been made in various materials and has been reviewed a number of times in FPN. So, I am not going to the details of the design, filling mechanism etc. ( These are the Nauka reviews in FPN that I have seen. Sagarb's review , s_t_e_v_e's review, Pen_andy's first impressions, bobje's review of ebonite nauka, bobje's review of dartmoor nauka, mehandiratta's review of TransNauka, amk's review and the latest touzeen's review of "Dolce" Nauka) The cap finial is a big bulbus part which almost glows. I wonder how it would have looked if it was polished well instead of the brushed finish. Like a Mont Blanc Starwalker kind of finish !!! who knows.. The Tangerine Nauka is slightly bigger than the ebonite Nauka in girth and length. Actually, it is slightly longer than the clear transnauka as well. I don't know if it is by design or it is just this pen's peculiarity as all of them are handmade. Below are some comparison photos. Out of this, the ebonite Nauka continues to be the most comfortable pen to write for long sessions due to its slightly slimmer grip section. But, that does not in any way mean that the Translucent brothers are not comfortable. They are also very nice to hold and have very good balance. I have one gripe with the transNaukas. The cap threads are at the end of the section and they get exposed to ink when filling up and it gets stuck there. The ink can spread to the cap threads as well. It take a bit of effort to clean up those threads. You can see blue ink in the clear transNauka's pen threads and cap threads. When I thanked Subbu for this beautiful pen, he gave me another pleasant surprise. My Tangerine Nauka is the first one in the limited release set. So, it is 1/250. I wish if the serial number was stamped in the pen as well. That was the reason for the fast delivery as well. Overall, it is a very nice pen in all aspects and I carry it everyday along with my other Naukas in my backpack.

Hello FPN! This is only me second FPN post, so I am going to reintroduce myself- My name is Sanay Shah, and I am a 21 year old mechanical engineer and the co founder of a brand called Syahi, that handcrafts wooden fountain pens(from scratch-these are NOT kit pens. The brass parts, section, rings etc are all made in house). We are only a year old, and have released a few models in this year, taking feedback from customers each time and implementing the same. We have now arrived at a few models that we are very excited about.. there are no pictures anywhere though-they will be shown at the DC and SF pen shows this year! You can have a look at our website (www.syahiindia.com) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/syahiindia/?hl=en ) to look at some of our older models and get a basic idea of our pens. This is my first time to a pen show, and I am slightly disappointed about the fact that a lot of you are not too keen on the DC Supershow.. Anyhow, I will be at both DC and SF, with a full range of pens. Do keep an eye out for me and pay a visit

I purchased a FPR Jaipur sometime ago from India and around labor day got notice of FPR's new US site, so decided to purchase their new Himalaya. FPR is a great business, but like any order from India, slow to ship, so it's fantastic they now offer some US based Inventory. The new web site is great, it shipped immediately and arrived within 3 days at the lower cost first class mail and the site have email tracking updates with a map showing where the pen was at each juncture. I really like FPR pens, to me, they are quite comparable to Noodler's, but without that funky nib and I feel that they are better made. FPR is not as buzzworthy in respect to branding, no trendy names, packaging, and less variety in colors, but a solid product. My Jaipur for $18 is a pretty solid performing piston filling pen. The Himalaya is $29 and comes in acrylic or ebonite, with a 5.5 FPR nib and 5.1 ebonite feed. Unlike Noodler's pens, where this one directly reminds me of the Konrad, FPR offers a variety of nib sizes and types.It has a threaded converter like the Ahab, or can be used as an eyedropper. The nib and feed and can be adjusted to taste like the Noodlers pens, but a significantly tighter and more consistent nib seating, where my Noodlers pens are all over the board. But for people who like the ability to tinker with the ebonite friction fit feeds, can achieve the same, but a better experience. Although I know most lower cost Indian pens typically need a good flushing, nib seating and tinkering to get them working well, I did try it out of the box out of curiosity, but had some flow issues. However once flushed the pen and seated the nib, it writes fantastic just like my Jaipur did. The cartridge had a bit of seepage into the barrel on my first out of the box inking, but after flushing a little silicon in the converter and lower section threads solved that easy enough with the next inking. Not sure on ink capacity, it's certainly more than a typical international cartridge, but possible slightly less than a Ahab. My Jaipur occasionally creeps some ink in the cap, which gets on the threads, hence, on your fingers when writing, believe other reviewers experienced this, so I don't use it as a shirt pocket pen for work, but the Himalaya so far seems to avoid this problem and looks sharp for use in meetings. It's an ebonite pen, but at the $29 price point, not quite a nice in quality and finish as more expensive hand turned ebonite pens, but found it to be a well made pen. The clip is strudy and the cap is banded with the FPR logo on it. Excellent writing pen, ink flow is good and the line is consistent. I like the Duofold look of the Jaipur, but this pen in ebonite has more of Sailor pro style and is a little dressier of a pen. Great pen and really happy with the purchase. I recommend this pen over the Noodler's Konrad, the acrylic and ebonite are the same price and lower than comparative models of the Noodlers pens. I have no connection or endorsement from FPR for this review, just a happy customer. Give one a try, you will be pleased.

This is my first topic in FPN and first fountain pen review. https://inkpensblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/guider-large-acrylic-in-brown/ Planning to review some more pens in the future. Some pictures of the pen below. thanks, Dinuraj

Hi, Please have a look at my review of Ranga Bamboo fountain pen in blue ripple ebonite. https://inkpensblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/ranga-bamboo-pen-in-blue-ripple-ebonite/ Few photos from the review are below. thanks, Dinuraj

Hello everyone. I am a young fountain pen user from Mumbai, India, and this is my first post. Being in Mumbai, my first encounter was with the Airmail pen company, already well documented here, especially by Hari317. Their factory is my second home-I am there every week, looking at how stuff is made and going through all the pens they have. Although I now know everyone there, I am closest to Mr. Nirmal, who humbly tells me he knows less than half of what his brother does! Very often, we talk for hours over 'chaai'. Recently, while we were discussing Deccan pens, he removed a very old box of ebonite pens made by them, and I am going to document this pen. It was made entirely on a lathe machine in two colours-brown and green. The pen has been out of production for many years, and I got what were the last few pieces. I have requested Mr. Nirmal to make these pens again, and it should be available to everyone soon(but in very small quantities). If not, I have the last few models and will consider myself very lucky! These pens have the standard monotone yellow wality nibs, tipped fine. They are average nibs, and usually require minor adjustments. After scraping the feed channels with a pocket knife, and aligning the tines, this pen writes decently well, putting down a wet, fine line. It does have a fair amount of feedback, which, to be honest, I do enjoy sometimes. Whenever I want a buttery smooth pen, I always have my Deccan and Kim Jumbo! As compared to other Indian pens(Gama, Deccan and Kim), this is actually a small pen. I like the size, and find it to be perfect, comparable to the medium sized pen by Prasad Pens(Tenali-documented by shrujaya) Along with this, I have a few other wality pens that are quite rare, and I will document them soon. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please excuse my horrible photography and any other mistakes I have made, as I am fairly new to this forum. Do take time out to appreciate the effort that has gone into making this pen-it was made ENTIRELY on the lathe, by hand. I have seen the making of the 69A(documented by Hari), and boy, it is a time consuming process.

Hi. I am from India and this is my first post at FPN.. Kindly pardon me for any mistakes as am a newbie and trying my hand at reviewing pens.. What i have is a pen from Indian manufacturers William Pens (http://www.williampenn.net) and named Pennline orion PL730 (http://www.williampenn.net/pl730-red-chrome-trim-fountain-pen-1). Got it on sale for 600₹ (About 10$) The Name: Orion, sometimes subtitled The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky. Now about the pen... Its a metal pen with a medium size 4 nib. The clip is hard and not that springy to my liking. The cap pull on cap with logo on the top and mentioning "PENNLINE" at the bottom end. The section is black in colour and comfortable to hold. It is a standard international cartridge convertor filling mechanism. The nib per se is a bit feedbacky... It is not scratchy but just gives a feedback which some may like and some may not. There is no skipping at all on this pen. The pen is fairly wet. Line variation is not much and reverse writing is surprisingly smooth and writes extra fine. The ink i used was Noodlers Navajoe Turquoise I was really happy with what i got from Pennline and will definately give a try to other ones they have.