Pineider Avatar Ur Review: A “Pen-Eider” Recommend? Let’S See...

[TheDutchGuy]

So how is the pen holding up almost two months later?

In a nutshell: excellent. Not a scratch on the barrel. Not a scratch on the section. Cap still fits securely (my little wood glue mod is holding up). Ink flow is consistent and generous. Nib is very nice, making me forget what it is made of. No, it isn’t as feathery as my Leonardo nibs, but it’s a very good nib that is far superior to the nib in the Visconti van Gogh and even to some gold nibs in my small collection. One drawback: the cap seal could’ve been better; after a day or two of non-use, the ink will have dried on the nib. One quick wipe with a paper towel and it’s fixed, but that shouldn’t be necesary. I can still very much recommend this pen, but obviously I’ve got only one pen and that’s not much to base statistics on :-) .

[TheLostOne]

Ink flow is consistent and generous. Nib is very nice, making me forget what it is made of. No, it isn’t as feathery as my Leonardo nibs, but it’s a very good nib that is far superior to the nib in the Visconti van Gogh and even to some gold nibs in my small collection. One drawback: the cap seal could’ve been better; after a day or two of non-use, the ink will have dried on the nib.

 

That sounds like an amazing nib!

[LuckyKate]

I just got this pen in abalone green. It is beautiful, and the nib is spectacular. Also the cap on mine doesn't rattle at all.

[jameswatts]

I have the Neptune Blue. Yes, the cap can spin but everything else about this pen is great. The section is not slippery at all -- and this is after a week of using to draft a new novel during a writers retreat. I'm impressed.

[Algester]

I think what they can do is to engineer a c-clip that would enable to lock the magnet in place

 

I would have yet to find a Italian pen that speaks to me or perhaps its because their barrier of entry is steep

Edited June 8, 2019 by Algester

[TheDutchGuy]

Update. This week I used this pen to write 50 Christmas cards, each with a personalized message. Took me several hours of steady writing. No fatigue, perfect performance of the pen, a real pleasure.

 

This pen has one real big drawback however: I need to use it every day, if only briefly. If I don’t use it daily, then ink will dry in the feed and getting it going again can be a real pain in the you-know-what. This is not a pen that I can grab and take to work after a week of non-use. Which is a shame.

 

The cause of this is easily determined: there is no inner cap. At least, there is no inner cap on my pen.

 

If you have this pen yourself, could you please have a look inside the cap to check if there is an inner cap...?

 

Thanks!

[RM2]

Mine also does not have an inner cap. It dries out fairly quickly - though not quite in a day. After two or three days the first sentence comes out quite dark, and after four days I get a hard start. It writes so nicely that I don't want to leave it unused for much longer than that.

[TheDutchGuy]

Thank you, RM2!

[Ravi Gautam]

First time reading about this brand. Nice pen though.

[northvandave]

 

Pineider Avatar UR Review - Riace Bronze – Fine Nib

Full Disclosure: I bought this pen because it is the same colour as my cat. She can use it to work on her meowmoirs.

Raison d’acheter:

I've been trying to reduce/narrow my collection to pens I know I will use on a regular basis at the office, and this one fit the bill. The bronze colour caught my eye and I pounced. I’ve justified purchases with worse reasons than fur colour, trust me. I found a discount code, ordered the pen from Pen Boutique, and got a free bottle of ink, a free vial of ink, and a free leather pen pouch thrown in. They shipped USPS to Canada, which didn't hit me with import or handling fees, where as DHL or FedEx always do. Nice. Pen came in a box with converter, manuals, nothing special.

First Impression: Pow! The resin is lovely. This is the Riace Bronze version, and mine lands more in the blue-grey spectrum, with some tan and orange streaks and patches. There is a bit of shine, a bit of depth/translucency, and a lot of swirl. Nothing too distracting though. There are very fine tiny sparkles in the material… maybe this is the mother of pearl?

The resin feels thick, solid and sturdy… probably 2mm thick in the body, and 1.5mm in the cap, so I am confident it could take an above average beating. The finish does have some tiny tiny indentations/finishing marks, but it feels like a well-engineered material, and it’s probably worth the hype.

 

The Cap (and here my troubles began…): The cap is loose…up and down, side to side, spins easily, and rattles like a maraca when I shake the pen even slightly. The magnet holds well, so the cap won’t fall off, but the issue is that the cap magnet is loose in its place in the cap. Pen Boutique confirmed that a wiggle of some degree is present on all their pens, and they contacted the distributor Yafa, who said, “a little bit of play on that cap should be considered normal, but if the customer feels it’s excessive please have them send it to me and I’ll take care of it.” I do feel it’s excessive, but I’m not sure if the problem is with my pen or the design itself. Propagations to Pen Boutique customer service on this matter, as they were quick to respond and solution-oriented.

GlueLess and ClueLess: So why the wiggle? You can see above they’ve secured the magnet in a ridiculous way… a thin, stamped metal lock ring, that A. can clearly allow too much wiggle, and B. has sharp edges that will scratch anything it touches! I am already seeing small scratches on the section, and scuffs on the body from posting. So the tragedy is they have created this problem in the name of going glueless. They should have used a strong friction fit for the magnet, maybe a rubber coating on the magnet would do it, or else just used some glue! Ironically, I may just tear out the metal lock ring, and glue the bloody magnet in myself. (Edit Spoiler: I did this shortly after writing this review… see following post.)

Moving on... The cap band’s imprint isn’t the crispest, and while the metal band feels strong enough, it’s thin, and you can see in the photo above some of the chrome has already chipped off to reveal a copper colour underneath. The band is fit and aligned well on the cap, though (no gaps, no looseness).

The Clip: near perfection. Love the design, tension’s good, it’s fit well with almost no wobble, it has the perfect upturn at the end that allows is to slide smoothly onto your pocket, pen pouch, notebook, etc. Notice there are two seams near the top of the cap, running to the clip pin holes. First I thought these were cracks, but they are symmetrical and can be seen in other photos online, so I am thinking they are molding seams of some kind.

Overall Fitness: Things are tight, yo! No unsightly gaps, joins between materials are smooth, nothing loose besides the magnet, section threads hold great and tighten very well.

Let’s Get Inked: The pen fills with a good quality, snug-fitting, branded, standard international (likely Schmidt) converter. The tip fits perfectly into a generic blunt needle that I use as a snorkel!

The ink started flowing after a few taps, and has maintained perfect flow since. I've had a few faint horizontal strokes like on the "t" in the writing sample... could be me rolling my pen though. The fine nib draws a fine line leaning towards western XF, with medium wetness. I don’t have much experience with other Bock nibs, but I would say I prefer this nib’s flow and feel over Jowo fine nibs I’ve used. There is what I would call medium-level feedback (pencil-like), but it is consistent on all strokes and letters, so it never feels scratchy or toothy—impressive for a finer nib tip.

The tip appears to be mostly spherical, with a slightly flared out and flattened writing surface. This shape looks and writes like ST Dupont fine nibs I have, and this is a very good thing. I dislike hearing that a nib is excellent or very smooth “for a steel nib,” so without qualifying I can say this nib has a touch of spring, and is an overall fantastic writer by any measure.

I like the nib design – it has no breather hole, and an imprint that is deep, crisp and visually unique. It may not be for everyone, but I feel the geometric pattern and mirrored “Pineider” lettering gives the nib a postmodern look that helps keep the overall pen from looking too dainty or outdated. Also, I left this pen uncapped for 15 minutes, and it only missed one stroke (the top of a capital ‘T’) before it picked up writing perfectly again. This is a valuable benefit for note-taking in lectures or meetings.

Grip Gripes: Yes it’s metal, yes it’s a bit slippery, but the curved shape helps your fingers lock in a bit. If anything, it’s TOO curvy though, and narrows too much, so my fingers get a bit crowded and feel like they’re gripping a pretty steep angle. If the slipperiness starts to bother me, I may coat this section in ProtectaClear, a semi-permanent brush-on resin coating that improves grip and could help prevent scratches and fingerprints. I wish companies would start to knurl, brush, etch, engrave, or clear coat their metal sections… slippery sections are a deal breaker for many, and a pain to all. If the Avatar’s section were engraved with the same diagonal lines the cap band has, it would be a work of art. I’d even settle for an inexpensive laser job. Dream on, I guess.

The balance of this pen is excellent, posted and non. When posted, the balancing point is right below the cap band, where the pen rests on my hand when writing. It’s right on the line of being back-heavy though, so if you have smaller hands you might not like it posted.

You can see the Avatar compares to the Safari and Michelangelo in size. Just personal preference, but I would go Avatar over Rembrandt, and call it a draw between Avatar and Michelangelo. Avatar is way cheaper and has a finer nib, but Michelangelo has a sturdier magnet and cap band, and a slight edge in the finishing. Of course, if you’re comparing to Visconti’s newer edition pens with the weak #4 nibs, then it’s Avatar all the way.

Wrap-up!

 

Cons:

--Loose cap magnet from bad lock ring design

--Metal grip section: hourglass shape helps prevent some slipping, but can be awkward to grip.

--Cap band could be stepped up in quality

 

Pros:

--Fantastic writer

--Magnetic cap (despite the loose magnet, it holds well and posts well)

--Neat-looking size 6 nib in fine, and overall design that combines classic aesthetics with modern touches

--Versatile size, with a good, balanced weight

--Reasonable price, costing less than comparable pens and even the previous Avatar

--“Unbreakable” resin: If you’ve watched Goulet’s video closely, Dante actually cracks the pen when he hits it with the hammer, but they cut away quickly. So this is not a miracle material, but I am convinced it will have added chip and crack resistance from impacts or time. I also like that Dante is at least paying attention to engineering and trying to advance the craft of pen making by simplifying and strengthening, not just adding frills.

 

Who should buy this?

If you’re looking for a mid-priced pen with a superb nib and some stand-out features (great clip design, coolvenient magnetic closure, stylized nib) or a pen that looks classy but can still take some abuse (UltraResin body, simple design, few parts, no glue), then this is the “Pen-eider” buy, if I were you.

 

Final Word: If you're prepared to live with a potentially wobbly cap, or you are game to fix the wobble yourself (very easy to do...see my post below), then I would highly recommend this pen.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this excellent, thorough review. I impulse bought an Avatar at the Vancouver Pen Shop earlier this month (great service and price). I was originally looking for a Leonardo, this shop didn't carry them, and the Pineider was suggested as a worthy alternative. If at all possible, I prefer to sample a pen before purchasing. After the first dip I couldn't put the pen down (M nib). Perhaps Pineider read your review, the magnetic ring on mine is totally secure. I highly recommend this pen as an every day writer.

[Time-Traveller]

Can anybody tell me how to remove the nib from the section? I want to make the nib a teeny bit wetter. Is the nib friction-fit, and can I just pull it out? or is it part of an unscrewable nib section?

 

Sincerely, the Time-traveller

[HobbitLife]

You can either pull the nib and feed out or unscrew the nib unit. It’s a standard Bock housing and feed. 
 

Btw, I just picked up an Avatar Traveler (their vac fill version) and it seems they have fixed all the issues named in this review! I might do a review on it soon. 

[Chimera01]

Think I might be the outlier here, but the nib on my Pineider Avatar UR Demo Black EF is an absolute nail. Beautifully constructed pen for the money but impossible to write with. 

 

Everybody here seems to report on a smooth writing experience. Would love to get some suggestions as to what to do with mine. Sadly the pen isn't valuable enough to pay for the services of nibmeister.

[Time-Traveller]

22 hours ago, HobbitLife said:

You can either pull the nib and feed out or unscrew the nib unit. It’s a standard Bock housing and feed. 
 

Btw, I just picked up an Avatar Traveler (their vac fill version) and it seems they have fixed all the issues named in this review! I might do a review on it soon. 

 

Thanks! That was the bit of info I needed to be courageous enough to turn the unit. It was a bit tight but came out without any drama.

 

Looking forward to the Traveler review!

[Time-Traveller]

16 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

[…] the nib on my Pineider Avatar UR Demo Black EF is an absolute nail. Beautifully constructed pen for the money but impossible to write with. 

 

Everybody here seems to report on a smooth writing experience. Would love to get some suggestions as to what to do with mine. Sadly the pen isn't valuable enough to pay for the services of nibmeister.

 

Sorry to hear that. I have two Avatars, one F (writes wonderfully) and recently got an EF (far too dry. I'm going to disassemble the nib unit and do some work on the nib).

 

I haven't had an Avatar with a black nib in my hand, and I don't know whether the stiffness is typical of the black nibs. One radical solution is to screw out the nib unit and replace it with a Bock 250 unit (thanks once again, HobbitLife! I had a spare EF unit lying around). Of course you won't have a black nib any more, but a steel or gold-plated one, depending on the nib in the unit you have. But that would be a relatively inexpensive solution.

[Chimera01]

On 11/3/2023 at 1:23 PM, Time-Traveller said:

One radical solution is to screw out the nib unit and replace it with a Bock 250 unit (thanks once again, HobbitLife!

Wow, that's really helpful. Here in the UK Beaufort Ink looks to have an entire page of 'Bock standard size 6 fountain pen nibs (type 250)'. Including black ones! I'm assuming this is the right thing. While I collect fountain pens, I'm always a bit loathe to do much more than basic disassembly. I've learned from hard experience that I am much more adept at disassembling things than reassembling them 🤣 

 

I would love to have a different nib on this pen. The one I have right now just slices right through paper. And I have a light touch. Thank you!

[Time-Traveller]

14 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

Wow, that's really helpful. Here in the UK Beaufort Ink looks to have an entire page of 'Bock standard size 6 fountain pen nibs (type 250)'. Including black ones! […]

 

Hey… that made me curious. With the help of my friendly search engine I found an online store here in Germany too that offers black ones. Looks like I'm going to place an order. 😊

 

By the way: VDGG is cool.

[amberleadavis]

On 3/30/2019 at 4:36 PM, Uncial said:

Pretty pen.

Prefer the cat though.

 

Ditto

[Chimera01]

On 11/5/2023 at 11:53 AM, Time-Traveller said:

By the way: VDGG is cool.

 

On 11/5/2023 at 11:53 AM, Time-Traveller said:

By the way: VDGG is cool.

It's not that often you meet someone who gets VDGG  Although I think they have quite a following in Germany. 'Man Erg' has to be one of my favourite pieces of music ever. Especially the new mix on The Charisma Years box set.

 

I've never purchased anything from Beaufort Ink but I may give this nib swap a go. And risk my somewhat haphazard disassembly skills! 

[LiquidInk]

Adding my "hack" to the pen, its a modification to the tape hack to keep the magnet from rattling. Instead of tape, I put a drop of thread lock on the saw tooth ring and used a toothpick to spread it around the circumference. It seeped in between the tooth gaps and glued the magnet to the resin. Used tissue to wipe away any excess before it dried. There's no rattle/rotation/wobble with the cap anymore, and somehow it's entirely airtight too. No more dry out after since it must have filled in the air gaps too.

 

I'm sure any glue would work, but I have thread lock on hand and use it for other pens with parts that rattle

 

edit: at above comments about cap liner, I have a silicone disk at the end of the cap to block the hole. It seals well, I can't blow through mine, no air comes out. Came with pen, so it wasn't an "addition" to it.