Which Noodler's Flex Pen?

[BookCat]

UPDATE:

The Konrad has been a huge disappointment. It's very pretty to look at but its usefulness stops there. When filled with ink it just drips....and drips....and drips until there is no ink left to write with. I had a tissue full of blue ink when I first used it. No amount of fiddling with the nib and feed will stem the flow. Any ideas welcome. (Other than hold it over an inkpot!)

 

The replacement Dilli arrived from FPR and this writes far better: it actually writes, doesn't drip and flexes with some effort. It does tire my hand a little and the ink-flow is dry, which entails adjusting the piston so that it pushes more ink through the nib, but I can write one side of A4 before needing to do this, but it's far better than the Konrad imho. So I would recommend this as a low price flex pen and recommend the company for good after-sales service. Just don't expect ease of flex or uber-flex, you do have to use some gentle muscle power. Also, adjusting the feed and nib for flow and flex is easy.

 

I'm waiting with bated breath for an Eversharp Skyline which an FPN member has kindly sent to me. It will be interesting to see how this compares. It will be my first truly usable vintage pen, the only other one being my CS Dinkie, which is very cute but far smaller than expected. (I'm considering how to turn this into jewellery without losing the fountain pen function; unfortunately it isn't a lanyard type.)

 

I hope the others who bought the Konrad Red State had better luck.

Catherine

Edited September 17, 2014 by BookCat

[Polanova]

I have a rather disgusting number of Noodler's pens. I started with the Creaper. I tried the Ahab, and mostly own Konrads. Here is my experience:

 

You will be told that Noodler's pens are not true flex nibs. That may or may not be true. I like mine, and they compare decently to my Pilot Justus 95. The Pilot is a nicer pen, of course, but it better be at that price premium!

 

I used to own a number of Creapers. They were a bit small for my taste. The Ahab was a bit large for my taste. The Konrad was perfect. I found that the ebonite and acrylic versions were just a little bit better. The Konrad is an attractive model and it seems to me that this model got right what the other models did not.

 

In my Noodler's experience, I found one pen that required work before it behaved. The rest were decent pens though some were improved with work. Don't expect a perfect writing experience with a Noodler's pen. But, I have been very happy with them, and several of my pens are years old. I usually carry a Noodler's Konrad as a daily writer pen.

 

I agree with most of the above! The Konrad Acrylic is the nicest of the bunch.

I do find that I`m using the Flex Creepers more, though.

The main reason being, that it`s very easy to swap all kind of nibs, also vintage ones, because the nibs are standard (& not oversize) size.

Also it`s smaller & I prefer smaller pens for drawing & sketching.

 

(These are my reasons why I seriously prefer the Creeper, besides the fact that it`s a piston-filler, to the Lamy Safari!)

Edited September 17, 2014 by Polanova

[tinysnail]

Whenever I encounter a drippy Noodler's pen (4/7), the fix had always been to slide the feed further into the section to reduce the number of exposed fins (=reducing air-ink exchange = flowing down flow and eliminating drips). Adjust methodically and you should be able to produce a perfect pen, personalized to your flow preferences.

[stephanos]

UPDATE:

The Konrad has been a huge disappointment. It's very pretty to look at but its usefulness stops there. When filled with ink it just drips....and drips....and drips until there is no ink left to write with. I had a tissue full of blue ink when I first used it. No amount of fiddling with the nib and feed will stem the flow. Any ideas welcome. (Other than hold it over an inkpot!)

 

I'd love to get an answer to this also: my regular Konrad does the same.

 

I have a few Noodler's pens - Ahab, Konrad Regular, Konrad Ebonite and Nib Creaper - and the only one I've had trouble with is the regular. Here are some thoughts, for what it's worth.

 

First, I'm happy to pay VAT, but I resent the hassle and fact of having to pay an extortion fee (handling charge) for importing goods from outside the EU, so I only buy from within the EU, unless the value is below the maginal import threshold (£15 in the UK).

That means my Noodler's-buying choices are limited to PurePens (.co.uk), which coincidentally has just had a delivery of Noodler's inks and pens (no affiliation, except being a happy customer). This may be relevant to you, as you identify as being located in Brum. I would recommend you check them out if you hadn't already done so.

 

Second, I expected the Nib Creaper to be too small for me (male, largeish hands), but it's surprisingly comfy, and I really enjoy using it. In fact, it's become a favourite because it's so hassle-free and fun to use. If you are willing to spend money on another pen, then you could do much worse than buying one of these.

I also have a Dilli flex pen, so I can compare directly: it's a nice little pen, but isn't as well-made as the Noodler's and it's harder to clean. Also, I bought it within the last year, and it's already starting to look a little worn.

 

Third, the Ahab may be too big for you, as you have pointed out. However, you may be surprised. I have more than one, and they all work well, no problems out-of-the-box (and when I dropped one on its nose, I was able to buy a replacement nib from PurePens). See if you can't try one out.

 

Fourth, the ebonite Konrad is the most aesthetically pleasing of all the Noodler's pens I have. And it does work well. But I didn't 'bond' with it in the way I did with the much smaller, cheaper Nib Creaper.

 

Fifth, I bought a standard Konrad some time ago, and have tried it with a few inks. Doesn't matter what ink I use, I always get the same problem. I hope it's an easy fix that I can do myself, but fixing it requires me to have time to sit down with it and really work through it. In other words, that's a project for later.

 

(Editing for spelling)

Edited September 17, 2014 by stephanos

[BookCat]

Whenever I encounter a drippy Noodler's pen (4/7), the fix had always been to slide the feed further into the section to reduce the number of exposed fins (=reducing air-ink exchange = flowing down flow and eliminating drips). Adjust methodically and you should be able to produce a perfect pen, personalized to your flow preferences.

 

I'll try this, but I'm loathe to waste more ink trying to get this pen to work. I'm sure I saw a Goulet vid in which is was mentioned that pushing the feed further into the pen increased the ink flow, but it's worth trying both ways.

 

Stephano: yes I am located in Brum (you must be local to call it that), thanks for the PurePen suggestion, I've bookmarked them.

 

Meanwhile, back at BookCat's den there's been a new arrival: the Eversharp Skyline. This is much softer and easier to flex than the replacement Dilli (I wasn't able to give the Konrad a true test before the ink began pouring out) and requires a much lighter touch. I'm very pleased with this and it's now my favourite flex pen. It doesn't railroad either.

[sharmon202]

I have the Creaper and Ahab.

 

Creaper is broken after a few months:

The barrel cracked far too much to be safe to use

 

Ahab broke after a year. One Ahab is left:

The broken Ahab ethier drips ink like a river or at times drops a ink drop from time to time.

 

So far they are hit or miss for me.

 

Not the FP version, But I have a Konrad Brush pen and the piston drove me nutts. It won't fill all the way by hand I need to use the pliers to bring the piston back fully.

 

Okay for the price Noodler's pen is fine. But compared to something like my Justus95. My Justus95 eats my Ahab for breakfast. But it is after all a 300 dollar pen and not a 20 dollar pen.

Love, Love, Love my Justus 95. I think the adjustable thing is a gimmick but I love writing with it. Smooth, thin line yet soft touch on paper.