What Was Your Biggest Disappointment With An Expensive Pen

[Scarfman]

My biggest disappointment is pretty much any pen over £300. I think it has to do with the expectations. I love My Diplomat Esteem despite the grip section getting scratched due to the design flaw. But same was true of Waterman Edson and I couldnt bare it. I guess I kinda can overlook such flaws in £40 pen but not £800 pen.

My heart sank when I read that there was an issue with the Waterman Edson, is it the cap which causes the scratches? I had been considering the Edson, its a gorgeous pen, but Im not sure I could tolerate this.

 

The Waterman Concorde is a pen which has disappointed me recently. With a design inspired by the iconic airliner, I immediately pictured it alongside my Pan Am 51.

 

Funnily enough, one turned up not long after Id found my way to eBay having had a little too much to drink. But when it arrived, I didnt find the brushed gold finish appealing at all, nor did I feel that it suited the pen. After holding it for a few seconds I found that I wasnt keen on how it felt, either, and beside the Legacy II which Id been writing with that morning it felt pitiful.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Scarfman

[pajaro]

I still think Pelikan could have afforded to supply five years of ink with some of the pens, especially since they supply a bottle of yellow or green ink with the highlighted BB demonstrator M2XXs. Bah. Humbug.

 

You would think that, with all the advances in modern technology, these schmucks could make something better than a Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial or than a Parker 51. Do they, though? Do they. No, they only make kitschier stuff.

 

The Chinese did make an imitation 51 Vac that might be the only improvement. Might be. Time will tell, based on the longevity of its filler vis-à-vis the 51 vac. Eighty years and maybe the first version 51 might be surpassed. Seems like a joke.

Edited November 18, 2018 by pajaro

[4lex]

I still think Pelikan could have afforded to supply five years of ink with some of the pens, especially since they supply a bottle of yellow or green ink with the highlighted BB demonstrator M2XXs. Bah. Humbug.

 

You would think that, with all the advances in modern technology, these schmucks could make something better than a Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial or than a Parker 51. Do they, though? Do they. No, they only make kitschier stuff.

 

The Chinese did make an imitation 51 Vac that might be the only improvement. Might be. Time will tell, based on the longevity of its filler vis-à-vis the 51 vac. Eighty years and maybe the first version 51 might be surpassed. Seems like a joke.

If you look at the fountain pen as the writing instrument than yes, nothing can beat pens made towards the end of the era when fountain pens were predominant writing instruments. But if you look at fountain pens as toys for adults or collectors items I would say modern pens are better with unlimited choice of limited editions. Before 1965 you couldn’t even get a limited edition.

[tsdesai]

The Lamy 2000. The fine nib writes like an architect's nib which I do not like. It will rest in it's coffin until I find someone who can grind the nib in India. This is my most expensive pen and is useless.

[Retro-user]

Biggest disappointment would be the chiseled tartan Parker Sonnet that had skipping and ink flow problems out of the box. it had to be sent back to France for Parker to repair.

[JulieParadise]

The Lamy 2000. The fine nib writes like an architect's nib which I do not like. It will rest in it's coffin until I find someone who can grind the nib in India. This is my most expensive pen and is useless.

 

What about swapping it with someone else? I am sure there are other folks out there who gladly take an architect-y-ish nib in a Lamy 2000 with joy.

[miwishi63]

Please understand that this is personal experience and not a reflection on the brand. I've owned three Pelikans - all less than $250 in cost - and all of them have had issues. Two broken caps and one that leaks incessantly around the section. I would love to love them, but they are unusable. I'm assuming that I have simply had a string of bad luck.

 

-Mike

[4lex]

I think I bought 24 pens I would consider expensive. Visconti Homo Sapiens, Waterman Edson, Sheaffer Legacy, Porsche Design 3310, Montblanc M, Montblanc Classic, Montblanc 146 Doue, Montblanc 149, Pelikan M400, M600, Pelikan M1000, Lamy 2000, Lamy Dialog 3, Sailor 1911 Naginata Togi, Parker Duofold Centennial, Parker Sonnet Cisele, Cross Townsend, Edison Herald Grande, Platinum President, Nakaya Long Cigar Aka-tamenuri, Visconti Opera Elements, Pilot Custom 823, Delta Capri.

 

Of these 24 all except four (Delta, Pelikan M400, Pilot Custom 823 and Lamy 2000) had issues. The only expensive pen I DONT regret buying is Montblanc 149. It had a bad case of babies bottom when I got it but I managed to get rid of it and now I use it regularly.

Edited December 14, 2018 by vonManstein

[Pingu]

Platinum Briarwood pen. It came with a small gap where the clip comes out of the wood. The retailer sent it back and I waited months for a replacement. When it came back the replacement pen was worse with an even bigger gap. The retailer said they were told by Platinum that was just how it is during the manufacture process as wood is a natural product. I expect the finishing to be better... unless it is deliberate to allow for wood expansion with temperature change and prevent cracking? I dont know.

 

That all said, the extra fine nib writes wonderfully just how I like it. 🙂

[beboy]

As a metallurgist, I would say standard corrosion on expensive pens.

 

For example, the inner cap of my Montblanc Heritage 1912 bought few years ago seems to be made of standard brass that is probably composed of 60Cu/40Zn. However, it has been known for decades that this cheap brass is prone to degradation by corrosion of the zinc rich phase in wet environment (here: condensation on this part of the cap). As a consequence, the brass components at the top of the inner cap of my pen now start to show the typical damages of dezincification (dark red, copper rich, web and white powder from the zinc oxidation).

 

Other examples are the steel or cheap stainless steel plated rings at the extremity of the grip sections on some other expensive pens (Parker Sonnet, Pelikan M400 and Montblanc 144 all have shown cases of corrosion of that ring) that have a high tendency to degrade by pitting corrosion within few years.

 

Corrosion is a well known problem and manufacturers of "high end" pens should know and use the right material options to avoid this problem.

[PAKMAN]

Another one dissapointed in the ease of scratching for the Waterman Edson both the huge inlayed nib and the cap itself. The nib was an absolute nail.

[A Smug Dill]

Platinum Briarwood pen.

Are you talking about one of these? http://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/fountain_briar.html If so, which specific model?

 

It came with a small gap where the clip comes out of the wood. ...‹snip›...[/gray] The retailer said they were told by Platinum that was just how it is

I have both the PTB-30000BN-61 and the PTB-50000BS, and I don't see much of a gap in either of mine.

 

That all said, the extra fine nib writes wonderfully just how I like it.

Hmmm, how did you manage that? I thought Platinum only offered those models with F nibs at the narrowest.

[edlazarus]

Most recent disappointment is the Visconti Mirage. Not that it was REALLY expensive, but still. A pen, at any cost, should write. I loved the styling, size, feel, magnetic cap. Felt so good in my hand I bought two of them. Then got them home to find out the supplied converter didn't fit. My bricks and mortar retailer (Bertram's inkwell -- great place, great owner, great service) replaced the converters with ones that actually fit. Then found out no matter what you did with the pens, ink does not flow from converter to feed. Fill it and it writes beautifully till the ink in the feed is all gone. Prime it and it writes beautifully till the ink in the feed is gone. Flush it, clean it, try again. Same result. Take it to a nibmeister (Tim Girdler, also highly recommended), let him work on it for an hour, and still no improvement. Never had an experience like this except with $3 pens from India.

[Handschreiber]

A Visconti "van Gogh" I bought in 2008. A beautiful pen, celluloid, vivid green colours. My second "good" pen at all, and I thought for quite a while, that it was all my fault: The nib was the worst I ever had, the quality of the chrome plated grip was literally painful. My fingers still hurt when I recall these days. I will gladly give it away as soon as possible for a bottle of my favourite ink...

Edited December 17, 2018 by Handschreiber

[A Smug Dill]

Flush it, clean it, try again. Same result.

Does the converter actually fill properly when you draw ink up from the bottle through the nib and feed?

 

If you remove the converter, then attach a rubber syringe bulb (the type used for irrigating ear canals) already filled with water to the section and squeeze, does water flow readily out of the nib, or does the pressure build up until the section is ejected with explosive force?

[Pingu]

Are you talking about one of these? http://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/fountain_briar.html If so, which specific model?

 

 

I have both the PTB-30000BN-61 and the PTB-50000BS, and I don't see much of a gap in either of mine.

 

 

Hmmm, how did you manage that? I thought Platinum only offered those models with F nibs at the narrowest.

Yes thats the one, the 3776 dark Briarwood.

 

The nib is definitely EF... 🙂

 

http://i68.tinypic.com/10gwu3r.jpg

[Pingu]

Slightly wider pic to prove the EF nib does belong to this pen...

 

http://i67.tinypic.com/i71w0h.jpg

 

I think you can order it in any grade. I imagine M or F are probably more popular, but I like EF.

[Tom_Moritz]

I really wish I had acquired those I have many years sooner.

This is something I think about and share with new people I meet coming into the hobby. Early in the hobby I never found more expensive pens to be silly, I just couldnt justify spending that kind of money on a pen. Now Im just glad I didnt wait any longer to take the plunge.

 

To answer OPs question, I would voice my dissapointment with any expensive pen I have itd be my Montblanc Bohème. First getting into the hobby I was immediately attracted to this pen for its aesthetic and mechanical design, doubly so for the fact the retractibility Id the nib was redundant and thus a needless complication. In short, its hilarious.

 

My dissapointment stems from one factor, and its that the gold plating around the sliding mount where the nib is connected to has been corroded. To be fair I bought it used at a pen show, at a very good price I might add, and didnt notice it until a few days later when cleaning the feed. Not a major issue, just not something I would have expected from a Montblanc.

 

Additionally I bought a Visconti Saint Basil from a local party in mint unused condition to resell. Somehow over the course of a few months in storage in its case the gold on the pen tarnished. I cant imagine why, I only handled it a handful of times.

 

Otherwise just read the reviews and really give a hard think of any higher end pen you look at in the future. Ask questions too, youll find almost everyone here will bend over backwards to help you out.

[A Smug Dill]

Slightly wider pic to prove the EF nib does belong to this pen...

Oh, but I believed you even without the photo to prove it.

 

I think you can order it in any grade. I imagine M or F are probably more popular, but I like EF.

From a channel such as Nibs.com, perhaps. I like EF nibs too, and would have preferred to order at least some of my 'special' Platinum #3776 fountain pens (two kanazawa-haku, one brown tortoise celluloid, the dark smooth briarwood, and the even darker briar root) with EF nibs, but at least from Platinum's Japanese web site it seems the company only offers those in F, M or B usually. (It does/did offer the smooth briarwood ones with the Music nib as well.)

[Pingu]

Oh, but I believed you even without the photo to prove it.

 

From a channel such as Nibs.com, perhaps. I like EF nibs too, and would have preferred to order at least some of my 'special' Platinum #3776 fountain pens (two kanazawa-haku, one brown tortoise celluloid, the dark smooth briarwood, and the even darker briar root) with EF nibs, but at least from Platinum's Japanese web site it seems the company only offers those in F, M or B usually. (It does/did offer the smooth briarwood ones with the Music nib as well.)

Those are beautiful pens that you have. I wonder if they only offer FMB on their website because they are the most popular options?

 

Ive had a look at retailers stock photos of the briarwood and it looks like there is a gap, the clip is not flush with the wood. That makes me feel better about it. I surmise it must be to allow for wood expansion with temperature change?