Liy / Live In You Future Mini Review

[BaaadSheepie]

So, I took the plunge and ordered an LIY Future pen from eBay.

 

"Plunge?" you may ask? Well, it's $56.98 US... which may be considered a bit steep, maybe? I mean, a MoonMan demonstrator (that I also really like) is $16 or so...

 

I got the blue resin version with the extra fine nib, and sat back and waited....

 

It arrived in an attractive box with a sort of felt sleeve thing and some cartridges. Not a huge deal, but if you were thinking of giving one as a gift, it does add a bit? It includes a full size converter as well inside.

 

 

So, as you can see it's a smooth spindle design with quite a nice little roll stop on it. The resin has a subtle 'soft' feeling to it... and it does have a bit of weight to it. The manufacturing tolerances are quite good in the one I received. The roll stop is fitted closely and solidly into the frame, and the cap closes tightly and smoothly. There isn't much of a gap in between the cap and body when it's closed.

 

It's 4 3/4 inches long closed. A bit less when writing, because I wouldn't really want to post it.

 

The resin itself is just beautiful. The pics I took don't do it justice, but it has a silvery sheen to it as well as the colours you can see. The yellow is actually translucent, and it adds some depth to the appearance of the barrel.

 

 

The extra fine nib is a Schmidt nib, and it's pretty hard with a little bit of tooth. The pen itself flowed perfectly out of the box.

 

It's sort of a broad body to the pen even though the length isn't huge, which is perfect for me... I find it much easier to hold for an extended writing session than a thinner pen.

 

One online review noted that the step from the barrel down to the grip (very nicely shaped) has a bit of a sharp edge... mostly so that it closes nicely. I didn't find it to be an issue while I wrote with it, but I can see how it could be an irritation for others.

 

On the whole, I'm very happy with the purchase. The nib is nice for me to write with and it's a beautiful, well made pen.

 

For someone else, the lip may be an irritation... so I can't recommend without any reservation. But that's just about the only one for me. I'll be watching for other colours of this model pen, but also watching the other models that are being released by this manufacturer. This one was well worth the asking price for it, from my perspective and their other offerings look interesting as well.

 

That's my 2 cents!

[jekostas]

I have the same pen and I agree with just about everything you've said. The resins that LIY uses are quite unique and I quite like the inset medallion as a roll stop.

 

The one thing I would say is that I've never been particularly happy with those Schmidt-branded #5 nibs. I've gotten them on pens from several makers (Ohto, Schmidt and LIY), and they've all had the exact same issue - the inner tines are never properly polished. In contrast other makers that use rebranded Bock nibs like Faber-Castell and Levenger have always been really well-tuned. I'd prefer to pay a few dollars less and get one of the "export quality" Chinese made nibs that come on Moonman pens. Hell, even my Jinhao-made #5 nibs are consistently better.

Edited June 5, 2018 by jekostas

[BaaadSheepie]

So, just as a quick update on this review...

 

I have two more LIY Future pens that I bought after this one, and I'm very happy with all three.

 

 

I've found them to be very consistent writers even after a long break, and the EF nibs are ideal for note-taking.

[penzel_washinkton]

Would you consider the build quality to be good? Remembering this is a pen that is on the cusp of on par price wise with a 3776 Century or PTL-5000A

[BaaadSheepie]

I think the build quality is very good.

 

Is the price on the high side, especially compared to some other pens from China? Yes, I have to admit it probably is.

 

If I didn't already have a few pens already that, appearance wise, are very similar to the Platinum century, then I'd probably get one of those first, especially since those have the slip/seal mechanism in them that will keep them from drying out.

 

For me the upsides of these pens in comparison with some similarly priced options are:

 

• Design: In materials (particularly their appearance) as well as in their design, they're something a bit different from the usual.
• Nibs: The extra fine nibs I buy them with are very consistent performers, starting every time easily. I also find them good on cheaper paper, and useful for taking notes in meetings, etc.
• Portability: I find them easy to carry around. I'm sure that someone will have a horror story or three about leaking, etc but I haven't had any issues yet.

Really, the Moonman M2 is likely just as useful, has a larger ink capacity, and almost the same nib... and you can get one for much less. But the material doesn't feel as good in your hands, I have to say.

 

So... the recommendation is probably more of a sentimental one than a purely practical one?

 

[penzel_washinkton]

The design is undeniably beautiful, I can say that but seeing a reviewer claiming that the LIY have flaws in their finishing quality makes me think twice.

But the complaint was in their other model (Shiyou), as for the Future, I can only remember some guy saying that the grip section is quite short.

Edited March 17, 2019 by penzel_washinkton

[BaaadSheepie]

Yes, I think I saw that review...

 

The grip is quite small and because the cap fastens with only a hairline crack between it and the barrel, the 'step' from the grip to the barrel is quite obvious.

 

Plus, in order to ensure that there is only a hairline crack (especially true on this blue coral version) the edge is pretty sharp.

 

I personally haven't found it to be an irritation. My hands aren't particularly small either... so I don't think that's a contributing factor. But I can see that for some people, it might be a deal breaker and render the pen uncomfortable to use.

 

While I can't speak to the Shiyou, I can see how expectations would be pretty high due to the even higher price.

 

And I guess I would have to say that while I would say the build quality on this first pen I got was 100% and just as good as any other pen manufacturer I've seen (as an example, while it doesn't come through in the picture, the barrel, the cap and the grip are all turned from the same piece of resin, and the patterns on them all align when the cap is fastened), the second two pens were... maybe 99 or 98 percent?

 

Nothing tangible that I could see, but... just didn't feel quite as 'sharp'. Maybe part of that was the material though, because the second two were sort of translucent acrylic rather than resin.

 

The 'Rose' pen is fairly similar to some of the PenBBS models, and while I still like it, it's less distinctive.

 

The 'Grassland' or savanah (or something... it's green anyway) is again, fairly unique with tiny sparkles of green and gold suspended in the translucent acrylic matrix. It's a bit more 'Christmas' than 'grassland' actually, but still a very cool pen.

 

Don't know if that's helpful at all!

 

If you like, I can post pictures of the other two pens as well...