Noodler's Charlie, Love Or Hate It? What Do You Do With It?

[dragonmanus]

So, a lot of people have received the Noodler's free pen, either a platinum preppie or a "Charlie" and claim to hate them. I've read this in numerous reviews and posts, yet I have been enjoying the Charlie pen and other free noodler's pens. So I wanted to ask. What are your thoughts on the Noodler's free pen or pens you have and do you use them? I have 1 Charlie and 1 Preppie and enjoy using both. So please, let your thoughts be known on this. To make it easy for others viewing your own thoughts and reviews try the following format.

 

Do you use it or not?

Like it? love it? Hate it?

Which one(s) do you have?

Why Do you feel as you do?

What will you do with yours?

 

so I'll start us off.

 

Use them often

Love to use them

Preppie & Charlie

They are smooth writing free pens with clear bodies and perfect for writing a letter or enjoying a sample ink.

I'll Keep using them till they all apart and hope for another one when i re-purchase ink. (oddly enough bought 4.5oz bottles last month and now 1/4 is used up. plus a lot of paper.)

 

Feel free to post pictures of your free noodlers pens and what their used for. If you have some you don't want or want to get rid of just send me a PM. I'm also curious to know if anyone knows of a way to buy the pens cheaply without the inkm perhaps from owners who don't want them?

[Starguard]

I have a Preppy that I got with a bottle of Blue Ghost and a Charlie that came with my bottle of Heart of Darkness. Never have had a bit of trouble with the Preppy, the Charlie burps and drips and I think is just too small to be a good eyedropper pen, unless you keep it clear full all the time once the warmth of you hand heats up any little bit of air in the barrel you're asking for trouble. Pity too 'cause I like the way it writes!

I use the Preppy, I've given up on the Charlie. I keep it because I keep hoping it's operator error not a pen error.

[dragonmanus]

I have a Preppy that I got with a bottle of Blue Ghost and a Charlie that came with my bottle of Heart of Darkness. Never have had a bit of trouble with the Preppy, the Charlie burps and drips and I think is just too small to be a good eyedropper pen, unless you keep it clear full all the time once the warmth of you hand heats up any little bit of air in the barrel you're asking for trouble. Pity too 'cause I like the way it writes!

I use the Preppy, I've given up on the Charlie. I keep it because I keep hoping it's operator error not a pen error.

That's the same combo I have. The Charlie does 'burp' But there is a good youtube video on fixing that. However mine probably burps because there is barely any ink left in it. Emerald of Chivor in it right now. Thanks for the submission and info. If I take the time to cure my Charlie I'll let you know what it took. may help others too.

[goatgolfer]

Identical situation as Katherines. I put Charlie away because of bad burping manners with HoD. I have 3 dead preppys that were killed by death from BSBlue clog. Traded my other unused Charlie to LindaM. The pens were free an interesting first try at eyedropper and HoD is my absolute go to writing ink. I especially liked it for addressing Holiday cards to be sure of legibility after USPS abuse.

 

Thus, I feel that I got exactly what I paid for with Noodlers HoD and BsB with gift pens.

[dragonmanus]

Identical situation as Katherines. I put Charlie away because of bad burping manners with HoD. I have 3 dead preppys that were killed by death from BSBlue clog. Traded my other unused Charlie to LindaM. The pens were free an interesting first try at eyedropper and HoD is my absolute go to writing ink. I especially liked it for addressing Holiday cards to be sure of legibility after USPS abuse.

 

Thus, I feel that I got exactly what I paid for with Noodlers HoD and BsB with gift pens.

Ditto on that. USPS Destroys everything here. Sometimes my cards arrive in bags saying "we care" but at least the HoD is still nice and clear. Also the Baystate blue would be better in a removable nib pen like a jenhao. even teh thickest inks are easy to clean out the pen and get it back writing. If need be a new feed and flex nib for a jinhao 450 650 or 250 is only $10

[inkstainedruth]

I'm apparently in the minority here, but I rather like the Charlie pens. People complain about burping, but that's just the nature of eyedropper pens (all fill systems have their plusses and minuses -- for eyedroppers you have to weigh the "pro" of huge amount of capacity vs the "anti" of being susceptible to changes in air pressure, particularly as the pen empties.

At the moment, I have Heart of Darkness in the one that came with the ink, and Blue Ghost in one of the ones from the LE inks from Commonwealth Pen Show last fall. I ran Miles Standish LE in the pen that came with it; I liked the ink well enough, but it did stain the barrel slightly. Going to try BSB in the fourth one because that way I may be able to control the feathering issues -- I may be able to add just the right amount of distilled water and that will be easier to do with the clear barrel.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[catbert]

Another vote for Charlie. (Detailed thoughts and pictures here. Summary: I like it.) Mine serves mainly to address envelopes. It's always topped up (Heart of Darkness right now, thinking about Hero 234) to prevent burping. Dipping the nib in water solves the occasional hard start.

I don’t have the Noodler’s freebie version of the Preppy. My regular Preppy is still on its first cartridge after almost a year of quick notes and supermarket trips. No cap lip cracking yet. I've taped it as a precaution, though.

Edited January 17, 2016 by catbert

[Tas]

I adore mine.

A basic, no nonesense, first time starter, handle any ink kind of pen.

Mine came with the large Heart of Darkness bottle and just a little while ago I filled it with some walnut ink powder mix that's behaving really well and producing some beautiful looking lines.

 

I find it my most reliable Noodler's pen.

[Gloucesterman]

Got a bunch of the "Charlie" pens at the Commonwealth Pen Show. Have given away several and used one for a while. This one had burping problems so I cleaned it out and put it away for now.

 

After reading this thread so far I am going to take a pen (or two) out of storage and give them more work time for specialized use.

 

Thanks for the thread and the information.

[goatgolfer]

I adore mine.

 

A basic, no nonesense, first time starter, handle any ink kind of pen.

 

Mine came with the large Heart of Darkness bottle and just a little while ago I filled it with some walnut ink powder mix that's behaving really well and producing some beautiful looking lines.

 

I find it my most reliable Noodler's pen.

Adoration is a trait where one can return adoration; admirable use of correct language. Did you finish the 4.5 oz HoD prize or add the walnut powder to tame down some unwanted characteristics?

[FOUR X FOUR]

I have both. I haven't gotten around to inking them, yet. Sometimes, I'll have a pen for a year before inking it. I don't know what it means in terms of how well the pen writes but when I got the Charlie pen, there was an included note, saying that the feed was ebonite.

[trun4rth]

I absolutely LOVE my charlie pen, especially the sort of story behind the pen. I love that. I love the way it writes, it's surprisingly smooth, and it fits my hand rather well, for being a smaller pen. But it burps so bad that I can't use it. I've tried many solutions including heat setting the nib, putting some silicone grease around the nib/feed, and keeping it full. Burps constantly. Big let down. Still love the pen though.

[Arkanabar]

The Charlie is the second Indian eyedropper with a clear barrel offered with 4.5oz bottles of Noodler's ink. The previous model was nicknamed the "Nikita" by FPN users for the ink it came with (review1 review2). But it could just as easily have been called the "Borealis", cos I got two, one with a flex nib, with my bottle of Borealis Black. I gave the flex nib to my wife, and kept the other for myself.

This is the most indestructible pen I have. I fear no FP ink in this pen. There is no filling mechanism to gunk up, and the nib and feed can easily be pulled from the section and scrubbed with a toothbrush. It's not a bad writer either, although it is very susceptible to the burping common to eyedropper pens that are half or more empty. Nota bene, the colder the pen is when you take it in hand, the more prone it is to burping.

[Rach31]

I have both types of pens. I do love them both. I gave the preppy eye droppers to my 16 yo daughter because she liked the really fine lines they produce. (And I have more than my fair share of preppies.) the Charlie pen I have is always inked with Diamine Syrah. It is a nice color, but yes it does burp ink when about 1/4 full. I am careful to keep it full when filling/cleaning pens every week. I was thinking about buying a bottle of ink I don't need just for another Charlie pen.

As far as the preppy clogging up- I'm sure taking it apart and running it through an ultrasonic might help. (Running a think blade through the feed to clean gunk out won't hurt it.)

[oldcards]

I have had 2 Charlie's in my traveling rotation for about 6 months now. I use a lot of HoD ink but I've only inked 2 different Charlie pens so far.

I have a number of the original flex and creeper pens and just never used them that much so I swapped some of the colorful caps out with the Charlie pens since they are the same caps. Adds some flair to the Charlie!

I write very little with them but draw with them everyday.

I have not experienced the burping problem some have had and I can't explain why that is but I'm glad.

They have been great so far when on the road as well.

I will let the barrel get low before refilling most times and the only time I've had ink burp out is when flying. And that was a small amount into the cap. And it also isn't everytime I fly.

These 2 Charlie's have somewhere around 15k air miles so far. They burp less when flying then any other Noodler pen I've flown with. Less than most pens I've flown with in general, except for my MB 149. Nothing fazes that 149.

I do try to make sure they are full before takeoff, especially if I'm going to use them in flight. Not fun cleaning up ink during a flight. Flight attendants give an odd look when your hands are black and you are asking for more cocktail napkins.

I thought I wanted these to have the "flex" nib but now I'm glad they have standard nib. I really love these for cartooning and getting fine lines. I love being able to go in about any direction with the nib and remain smooth. Just a good drawing steel nib and the plastic has been super durable. Certainly can't beat the price!

As for daily writing, I can't offer much of an opinion.

[TSherbs]

don't own it and have no interest: far too narrow for my hand

 

glad it works for some others

[zwack]

I have a Nikita (as does my wife,we got a pair with Borealis Black)

 

Hers has a "flexible" nib, and with a bit of tuning Is a reasonable writer. Mine has a standard nib and is a Very wet writer. I stopped it from dripping ink but it is still very wet.

 

If they were a bit more consistent they would be great, but they are definitely worth the price.

[alextkeane]

I got the 4.5 oz HoD that came with the free Charlie, and my Charlie has probably become my most used pen (over a Pilot Metropolitan and Cross Aventura). I like the smooth experience it gives when paired with HoD, and the dripping issues I had to begin went away when I heat set the nib. Granted, my issue was that the feed was pointed a little upward and ink was pooling in it before dropping onto my page, and dabbing the feed onto a paper towel once every couple lines had also helped.

 

It's definitely a wetter writer than my Fine nib Metropolitan, but a finer line than my Medium nib Aventura. It fits real well with my writing habits.

[inkstainedruth]

I'm currently having a bit of trouble with the 4th Charlie and BSB -- it gets drippy at times, so when I'm writing with it I have to have a tissue on hand to use to blot up the resulting little puddle. But if I write quickly I have less of an issue with it, and will probably top off with a bit more distilled water. And I don't care if it stains....

As zwack said, it's worth the price. And it frees up one of the FPCs to be a general purpose pen instead of being the "new" BSB-only pen. So even more worth it.

As for the other three Charlie pens, one is going to be the Blue Ghost dedicated pen, I think. The other two are probably going to be more in the line of tester pens (the original one, that came with the bottle of HoD, included -- I'm happy enough with the ink that I don't have to limit its use to one specific pen. Is HoD going into a Parker Vacumatic anytime soon? No. But I have plenty of pens that I would trust it in.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[bjh13]

I got one of these with a bottle of Kung Te Cheng. Honestly, I'm surprised just how reliable it is. I've had zero issues and it writes perfectly. No problems with drying out or burping, and the nib writes a nice and wet medium line.