Kaigelu 220, Revisit

[apkayle]

I made a post a long time ago about the $6 Kaigelu 220. Summary of my former opinion of the Kaigelu 220:

 

Pros:

• beautiful aesthetics
• made of metal, feels durable
• not too unbalanced when posted
• cheap. $6 with free shipping for those who live in USA. UK buyers probably won't find this ebay deal
• came with a good converter (easily disassembled and reassembled, no leaking), accepts international ink cartridges

Cons:

• a little heavy
• somewhat scratchy nib (I was able to smooth it with a little grinding)
• stiff nib (this isn't always a BAD thing, but those who like line variation should not buy this pen)
• stiff clip (not springy at all)

-----

Here is the new review.

 

some details about the pen:

• price is between $5 and $10 on ebay
• barrel and cap are made of metal
• steel nib, some gold decoration but I dunno if it's real gold (looks beautiful though)
• pull off cap
• accepts cartridges, comes with a screw converter that works very well and holds a day's worth of ink

--

For this review, the K220 was inked with a Montblanc Toffee Brown ink cartridge. It's a nice well behaved ink that does everything well (from flow to shading) except survive the slightest bit of water contact.

 

Onwards to the pen's blurry photoshoot!

 

 

If you look closely at the clip, you'll notice the Kaigelu kangaroo engraving.

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/6145d09515cd41fe5b7661c77bbb4b08/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o1_500.jpg

 

The pen is about 6.5 inches long when posted. A little less than 5 inches when unposted.

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/1b1c7ce6144daa75ed77e938a00b8344/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o2_1280.jpg

 

 

More kangaroos! I thought the nib section would be slippery since it's made of metal, but the engravings provide all the grip I need to write comfortably.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/c751cf3877eef088d19e4bdfcda03ab1/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o3_1280.jpg

 

 

Here is the pen when it's disassembled. It's really easy to clean. The converter comes fully apart with a little effort, but I wouldn't recommend disassembling it a lot since it feels a bit flimsy.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/9d8f03c963e7beeb3d5b62c4fc3ce64a/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o4_1280.jpg

 

 

 

Writing Sample:

 

Lots of pressure needs to be applied to get some line variation out of this pen. Without pressure, you get a little line variation between vertical and horizontal strokes.

 

http://24.media.tumblr.com/2f980cd61e2b79c1942758b36b13d80a/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o5_1280.jpg

 

 

This pen advertised as a medium nib. Like a lot of other Asian nibs, the Asian medium is pretty equivalent to a "Western" fine nib.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/58519936e9559222553b3f13d45f7ba5/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o6_1280.jpg

 

The fast writing part of this review suggests that the K220 won't keep up with extremely fast writing. Either the feed won't keep up or the writer has to pay close attention to how the pen is held. I thought some of the skipping on upstrokes was due to the feed until I paid attention to my hand position. When holding the pen in proper position, I would get a skip after writing several cursive f's and e's.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/98ea1f3fdd21751718112ae0888f3f50/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o7_1280.jpg

 

I did some more fast scribbling and had less skipping when I was holding the pen properly. This pen isn't exactly friendly to shaky or wobbling hands.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/9572f88cfd90386832f8b6045160cfe9/tumblr_mnuk0xd47R1r4c920o8_1280.jpg

Verdict:

This is a good pen for its price, but I have mixed feelings whether this is a good pen when price isn't an included factor. The pen seems to skip a bit on upstrokes, but again I cannot fully tell whether this is due to my posture or the feed. To be fair, I just reclaimed this pen (temporarily) from my girlfriend so that I may give it a long (several weeks) overdue cleaning. This pen wrote away just fine until I got to the fast writing section of the writing sample. I'll come back with one more update on this pen's fast writing capabilities after it has been cleaned.

 

Buy this pen if you're not afraid of having to do a little nib smoothing. It's a remarkably smooth and durable knockaround pen for the measly price of $6. For now, it seems to me that its ability to handle quickly-written upstrokes is limited by either a lagging feed or its somewhat limiting writing posture.

Edited June 4, 2013 by apkayle

[apkayle]

Sorry about double posting.

 

Update on the pen's upstroke problems: Kaigelu is definitely a good pen brand.

 

I cleaned the pen and wrote a few quick cursive f's and e's. The feed kept up nicely and the pen laid down a fine yet smooth and wet line of ink. I should note that I'm using Montblanc Toffee Brown, I don't know if MB ink typically has a wet flow characteristic.

 

I can confidently say buy this pen if you're willing to risk putting up with a slightly scratchy nib. Not even taking its low price into account, this is a great edc pen. I might post pics of a new writing sample if enough people demand them.