New Moonmans And Delikes ? Aliexpress Link

[MuddyWaters]

I just pulled the trigger on one of these Ondoro's copy. I will let you know how I find them. I got the straight nib because not the biggest fan of the bent nibs

[MuddyWaters]

Disappointed with the Delike Times to be honest. For the price, I expected a better nib, body-section screw fit, nicer metal of section and cap, nicer clip and wider/bigger pen. I own multiple Chinese pens that were better deals (my favourites being the WS 6359 in the cheap category and Moonman M2 in more costly). Given that this pen was more expensive than both by a good margin relative to Chinese standards, I wouldn't recommend it to others. I am even inquiring into sending it back. Again, no defects, just not impressed in general.

[A Smug Dill]

Late to the party by over a year, but:

 

Disappointed with the Delike Times to be honest. For the price, I expected a better nib, body-section screw fit, nicer metal of section and cap, nicer clip and wider/bigger pen. I own multiple Chinese pens that were better deals (my favourites being the WS 6359 in the cheap category and Moonman M2 in more costly). Given that this pen was more expensive than both by a good margin relative to Chinese standards,

I don't "get" that reasoning at all.

 

I just received my Delike Times in "rosewood", because I like the look of the Faber-Castell Ondoro with wooden barrel but won't pony up even the discounted price (say, on Massdrop from time to time); the Delike version is roughly a fifth of the price. Yes, I was a bit disappointed by it, because:

• the cap rattled against the section/barrel as soon as I pulled the pen out of the box;
• posting the cap on the end of the barrel when writing (not that I generally do that) just wouldn't work, as there was a significant gap between the top end of the barrel and the inside of the cap and there was no friction at all to hold the latter in place; and
• one edge on the hexagonal mouth of the cap was jagged enough that I'd feel it sharply every time I ran my fingertip across it, and the corners on either end of that edge were effectively tiny burrs that were apt to catch on fabric.

Any of that would still be disappointing on a Japanese Big Three brand fountain pen at the same price. Any of that would still be disappointing on a Chinese fountain pen at half the price. There is no excuse for flawed design and inferior machining, even if a pen is a cheap (or "cheaper") example of its ilk. Now, I could be disappointed by my poor decision-making, and that I spent (or "wasted") $X on something I don't like, but then it's about my false assumptions and misguided expectations, including the expectation that I'd make better choices than that.

 

Anyway...

 

I don't have any proper adhesive 0.2mm spacers handy, and so I just used a strip of filament-reinforced packing tape to line the inside of the cap near its mouth. That stopped the rattling, and now the cap will post fairly quietly and securely on the end of the barrel as well if I want to; and in fact, even though I generally don't like the altered balance and that's what I typically won't post caps when I write, the cap on the Delike Times does not make it as top-heavy as, say, a Faber-Castell Ambition or Rotring Initial with their respective caps posted. From reviews of the Faber-Castell Ondoro, I get the impression that the Ondoro has a liner in the its cap, and nobody seems to have reported problems with the cap rattling in place, or coming loose when posted.

 

Then I had to smooth those the jagged edge and burrs on my pen with an emery board and nail buffer block, and (due to my lack of practice as the nail technician that I'm not) marred the appearance of the cap slightly.

 

The EF nib is as dry out of the box as any other Delike steel EF nib (say, on my A$25 Delike Alpha and my A$7 Delike New Moon 3 pens), feedback-y but not scratchy, and I'd say "perfectly" in line with what I'd expect (since it's essentially the same nib as in other Delike models with EF nibs, irrespective of the price "premium" you pay for either the design or the barrel material).

 

Edit: I've since flushed, flossed and smoothed the nib, and now it writes very much to my taste, with pencil-like feedback and akin to a "Japanese Fine" that's neither dry nor wet. Now it's a good pen that sits very comfortably against my hand without posting the cap (the edge of the cap bothers me, more than the supposed "top-heaviness"), with a nice weight and balance, and writes beautifully.

 

In my opinion price is never a valid means by which to infer the characteristics of the nib, barrel material, and much less size of the nib of body, across all fountain pens from a particular country of origin. The price is simply what you agreed to pay and/or what you have to pay to get a particular good, but it doesn't form any part of the product specifications.

 

A larger or "girthier" pen is not inherently better; neither is a big (or bouncy) nib nor wet ink flow. They may be someone's personal preferences, and I respect that as such, as long as it's framed as, "it just doesn't suit me," as opposed to, "it's objectively not good and so I have reason to expect better for the price or "standard"." Delike EF nibs tend to be dry "nails", but this one isn't scratchy and didn't come with misaligned tines, so as far as quality is concerned it delivered.

 

Would I buy another? Probably not, given the other options available. I'd have liked the quality control to be better so there were no burrs and jagged edges on the metal cap, and the pen could have been easily but significantly improved with a thin liner near the mouth of the cap to protect the wooden barrel and make it possible to post it securely (as well as prevent rattling), but I don't want the section or clip themselves to be different or the pen to be any bigger for the price. The Wing Sung 7250, which also sports a wooden barrel and a metal cap but cost me much less, is a bigger pen but sucked in so many ways; the dozen or so other "multiple Chinese pens" are hardly a platform on which I can make of valid conclusion of what "Chinese standards" are in the industry.

Edited July 4, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[panna]

+1 A Smug Dill