Pelikan M101N Lizard

[Driften]

"""Sugar Cane paper from Office Depot''''''

I'd have to fly into the states...and that is no planned. I did finally order some 80&100g Rhoda after years of never getting around to it. Also finally getting some Clairefontaine Triumph.

 

For too long it was Whoops...another pen! Whoops more ink....and I do have some 30-40 papers** but feel like a paper 'noobie'.

 

**I was looking and somehow ended up with more 100% cotton than I need ...in I chase shading and 100% cotton swallows shading.

 

 

Yea... I expected there was no Office Depot out where you are, but local office supply shops might have so cheep paper meant to be more "green" that is made from sugar cane. It is not as smooth as Rhodia/Clairfontaine but does not bleed or feather like other cheep papers. Maybe where you are Rhodia/Clairfontaine is cheeper then when it gets imported to the US. It is a better paper, it's just too expensive for me to use for general notes.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'll let you know what it costs when it comes in to my B&M.

 

Lots of things are more expensive in the states. the old C'dA inks*** were said to be so very expensive in the States, so I never looked, until discontinued. It was only E8.50.....I got 6 of the 8...should have gotten all 8. Had I known the Euro price, I could have gotten some of that ink over a time and have more.

 

Humm as soon as I get down from 19 pens inked.....got to go used some of it.

 

 

***The new ones are much too expensive even here in Euros.

 

I know the basic E25-30 ink is coming....but E20.00 is for me . To rich for my blood.

[sansenri]

nice buy Driften, I'm after this one too... sooner or later

 

I have the green/brown tortoise and it's my absolute favourite IMO it does look quite close to the vintage ones

I also have the red brown tortoise but the red resin looks a bit too red vs the vintage models

I do like the Lizard despite being quite different from the vintage ones, it has a modern look to it, more than the others, perhaps the shiny silver trim, that makes it look less vintage but rather elegant

I am waiting for the right pricing...

 

I do like the nibs too, they have a particular shape and mine are rather wet, but that is something I like really

[Calabria]

Glad to see this small pen getting love. I also have moved beyond the M8xx size to other sized pens.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I don't think of them as small...the 100n, posted they are standard length. It balances very well as all pens had to back when folks wrote all day. The medium-short 140, Geha 760 or Kaweco Dia all have longer caps, and end up the same sized posted as their standard sized pens.

 

I grew up with standard and medium-large pens back in B&W TV days, so find most large pens, outside the Snorkel and P-45 to be rather clunky.

 

I find the 146 (slightly clunky) to be light and nimble for a Large pen, but prefer the balance and better nib of the '50-60's medium-large 146. I can and do use both, but it takes me a good minute to get use to the Large 146.

 

I find oversized pens to be a waste for me. If given one, I would sell it.

But if someone grew up thinking Large pens .... standard, then going up in size would not be much of a problem. Balance is a 'fremd' word, with most Large or Oversized pens. IMO.

But enough folks have grown up with big pens, that there is a market for them.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[invisuu]

Who has the money to grow up with a Pelikan M800...

[Bo Bo Olson]

There are very many Large pens that are cheaper.....standard sized pens are now rare in modern makes outside the 200/400. There are all sorts of Crosses, Parkers and Chinese Large pens.

A P-51 & 600 are medium-large pens.

[invisuu]

Really? That's very different from my experience. Considering "everyone loves big pens because they grew up with them", this means that they had these huge pens available at least 20 years ago! The only thing available over here 20 years ago were cheapo Parkers (vectors I think?), Jollies, and Lamy. Chinese products weren't even a thing yet, at least not en masse and at such low prices.

 

It's the same situation over here still now, can tell from second hand as a partner to a person, who oversees hundreds of primary school kids. No cheap huge pens in sight yet!

 

Edit: Since shes a certified expert for various mental issues for kids, as well as developing fine motoric skills, I asked and was told it would not only be impossible for people to grow up with big and heavy pens, but also negative for ones motoric skills development. Something doesnt quite add up here, but Im inclined to believe a certified professional over your opinion, sorry.

Edited June 1, 2018 by invisuu

[Glenn-SC]

There are very many Large pens that are cheaper.....standard sized pens are now rare in modern makes outside the 200/400. There are all sorts of Crosses, Parkers and Chinese Large pens.

A P-51 & 600 are medium-large pens.

What?

The M800 is a Large pen (and the M1000 Huge)

The larger pen version of any pen is never "cheaper."

 

Really? That's very different from my experience. Considering "everyone loves big pens because they grew up with them", this means that they had these huge pens available at least 20 years ago! The only thing available over here 20 years ago were cheapo Parkers (vectors I think?), Jollies, and Lamy. Chinese products weren't even a thing yet, at least not en masse and at such low prices.

 

Edit: Since shes a certified expert for various mental issues for kids, as well as developing fine motoric skills, I asked and was told it would not only be impossible for people to grow up with big and heavy pens, but also negative for ones motoric skills development. Something doesnt quite add up here, but Im inclined to believe a certified professional over your opinion, sorry.

 

Just because Mr. Olson makes a statement doesn't mean that it is "fact", especially a statement that is a sweeping generality.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Glenn-SC

[invisuu]

Actually, in Europe kids learn how to use fountain pens (cheap, as light as possible fountain pens), then mostly switch to ballpoints as soon as possible, which are also thin, super light pens. I don't think I have ever seen anyone in real life use a big, heavy pen. I've seen probably thousands of Pilot G2s - 9 gram ballpoint pen with a thin grip section and completely standard 14.3 cm length.

[bbs]

The Lizard is my favourite M101N, it just seems to hang together as a design perfectly, the beautiful grey/black pattern with the black finials and silver nib and clip. Plus mine has a wonderfully expressive nib, always the best bit!

 

I do like the red tortoise and the Bright Red, but the colours of the piston and section seem a little, artificial? Not quite right? Which I think - for me - is even worse on the green/brown tortoise, which is why I never got one. But I seem to be in a minority in not liking that colour.

 

Although Sansenri's photo does make it look gorgeous, I have to admit!

Edited June 4, 2018 by bbs

[Bo Bo Olson]

Sigh, Cubed.

I read so often from what I think are younger members, how they find standard sized pens, tiny. (Of course they seem to have religious reasons not to post ....so by refusing to post....standard sized pens can be too small.)

 

Many are from the States, and some find a Large pen, Townsend, 800 or other Large Sheaffer's, Parker's, normal.....' a new standard'. I'm not into Chinese pens, but hear they too are often Large....heavy metal pens.

 

I've had countless discussions stating Standard sized pens like an Esterbrook DJ, or Pelikan 200/400 are not small pens.

They have their own opinion on that....so I have to 'assume' that they grew up with big pens.

 

20 years ago is a full generation. Skinny TV's are the norm. The Safari is a Large pen, and 'normal'.

[sansenri]

I'm with you Bo Bo, I mean, I think I understand what you mean.

 

I started writing with a Pelikan 120 in the 60s, and true, I was a kid then, but compared to available pens, the 120 was already quite a big pen at the time. Particularly other pens were thinner, I did try some of them. The 120 was quite a fat pen then.

 

To tell you the truth though I learned to write uncapped, and never learned to post (nothing to do with religion in my case... )

Still today I use the 120 unposted and does not bother me a bit.

 

Pens were not just smaller in width they were especially shorter in length vs today.

Consider all the vintage pens, some of them were tiny! Think of some of the Conway Stewarts...

I even still use an Omas 1930 (555/f considered a lady's pen, unposted...).

 

(The new 120 has solved that for me, it's somewhat longer and great to hold even unposted - but I'm not giving away my vintage 120s... or 140s for that matter ).

 

The m200s are daily writers for me, unposted, and they work just fine.

 

The 101N is a wonderful pen, new and old, I use it uncapped and just love it.

I have grown to like much bigger pens, and my hand has learned to adapt. The m600 is my average best size pen, but I am not alarmed by larger pens.

Perhaps I will pass the M1000 and MB149, but never say never.

 

You are right also in saying that large cheap pens can be found (chinese/indian) although it is also true that traditional pen companies usually ask for a rising price as the model gets bigger... (this topic has been discussed before, I will not go further, except mention that I believe - my opinion - that the growing size of pens has to do with the "bigger is better" idea, which of course is not always true).

 

Back to the 101N it's a lovely pen, and I think Pelikan has merit in believing in tradition and proposing such nice modern replicas (as they have done with the 120).

The Lizard is still under my radar...

[Driften]

@sansenri you have a nice flock of vintage 100N's!

I like my larger pens like the m805 but found the MB 149 to be too large and heavy for me to use very long. It's kept me from bothering with a m1000. It's nice how well the m101n and smaller Pelikan m120/m200/m400 handle. I enjoy these smaller birds as much as my m805. I still have not tried a m600.

[invisuu]

20 years is a generation, yes, precisely the point. If one uses big pens now because he grew up with big pens, like you stated, that means he was growing up with them at least 20 years ago.

 

Big pens have always existed. MB 149 is not a new model. Nor is it popular all of a sudden and was this huge hated pen nobody could ever use in the 60s.

 

Please.

[sansenri]

we are talking average, not extremes...

of course there were larger pens, but also many much smaller ones.

On average, 40-50 years ago (not 20) pens were smaller, and it was rather normal then to be like that.

Think of an iconic pen like the Parker 75, by today's standards no doubt it's a small pen, at the time it was not consider to be small.

Before then, probably pens were bigger (think some of the old ebonite pens), before the new filling systems enabled pens to become very portable.

Average size has grown again since then, but for other reasons.

 

 

Thank you Driften, as much as I do like M800s, the M600 is really a nice size.

It's a grown up M400, which makes it just right, being the M400 a tad small for some (by today's standards).

The M800 is different also in weight and balance, while the M600 really feels like holding a M400 that has taken some vitamins...

I find it extremely comfortable and light, which I do like.

Fortunately it's easy to try for size in most pen shops if you are curious...

[Driften]

I don't have any pen shops in the area anymore... even the montblanc boutique closed down.

No matter I expect I will try out a modern m600 at some point. Almost did instead of buying the m101n.

[sansenri]

just to exemplify sizes

here is a photo of the Parker 75 (released 1964) next to a Pelikan 140 (released 1952) and a Pilot Custom 823 (modern)

 

the 140 is not a small pen in terms of width (which supports my memory of experiencing the 120 as a big pen when I was young - being exactly the same size as the 140) but rather in terms of length.

 

The Parker 75 followed a different more modern trend of the times, mid 60s, which was to make slim pens.

 

By today's standard the 823 is a large pen but not considered huge (but it's practically bigger than a Parker Duofold Centennial...)

 

 

@Driften sorry to hear you are far off from candy stores...

Edited June 4, 2018 by sansenri

[invisuu]

MB 149 is a large pen that has been extremely popular for 70 years now. There is no reason or evidence for people to grow up with large pens, actually it is impossible and would be detrimental to kids fine motoric skills development. Which in turn means people OPT IN for larger pens (if they are even more popular, this isnt even a fact, just a muh feelings hear say opinion).

 

I have a feeling people are just turning this into back in my age argument. Nobody even has extensive connection to younger generation here, its all just hear-say.

 

Just like the opinions on modern Pelikan oblique nibs on this forum, which are completely wrong.

 

Theres a lot of misinformation being spread here. Which saddens me. Whatever. Keep shooing away new users, that will surely help the community.

 

If larger pens are indeed more popular (this is just an opinion, there are NO facts to back this up whatsoever), Id say is more because people simply dont write as much anymore and like a heavier feeling in the hand when they do write.

[invisuu]

Actually, I know for a fact youre wrong, because based on market research of Gouletpens, one of, if not the largest fountain pen retailers in USA, they found out only around 5% of people use fountain pens. Rest are ballpoints, which are almost all thin, light pens in standard size.

I will research this topic and find out with retailers which fountain pens are sold. I am almost positive the M400 outsells the M800 and M1000 by a significant margin, but I will do my research and put an end to this muh fellings arguments which are all completely unsubstantiated!

I paid out of my own pocket over 600EUR to find out about modern Pelikan obliques and realized infomartion spread here was completely false.

I am so fed up with these myths and fairy tales people spread here.

 

EDIT: I have contacted some of the largest fountain pen retailers in USA and EU and will update this thread with actual, factual numbers, if I get a response.

Edited June 5, 2018 by invisuu