Kaco Edge Black Makrolon Review- It's a steal at $20 !!

[punjabi]

                                             

 

Kaco is a young Chinese Pen company based in Shanghai which has been making Fountain Pens since 2011. Kaco pens are generally very well made and are readily available in many countries.I have reviewed their Master 14k gold nib recently & it was an amazing pen, it simply surprised me with its quality. So, I decided to review their models. There is very little information available on the internet about their products.Kaco just follows minimalistic design principles. This “Edge Pen” is their popular model & is made of Makrolon which is not so common material but popular material.

 

“Makrolon,” is a very popular material , Iconic “Lamy 2000” is made of this material. Makrolon is a polycarbonate material known for its strength and lightweight. No other manufacturers make pens in Makrolon , Kaco has done a really good job with their choice of material.

 

Pros-

• Unique Design 

• Brushed Makrolon Finish 

• Good for long writing sessions 

• Well Balanced (both capped & uncapped)

• Very nice Schmidt nib! 

• Snap Cap 

• Very Nice Grip Section 

• Great Pricing 

 

Cons- 

• Converter isn’t included (it uses standard international converter)

• Clip Design is good , but it's hard to use the clip !

 

Specifications-

• Weight:26g 

• Material- Makrolon

•  Diameter:12.5mm 

• Length with Cap:138mm

• Uncapped length - 127 mm

• Length Posted- 151 mm

• Weight Capped- 24.33 grams 

• Weight Uncapped- 12.65 grams

• Grip Diameter - 11 mm

• Body Diameter- 11.9 mm 

• Nib Sizes Available: Extra Fine / Fine /Medium Nib (About 0.3-0.4mm/0.4-0.5mm/0.5-0.6mm) 

Packing- The Kaco Edge pen comes in a simple plastic pen box with one cartridge included in the box , the packing is simple yet better than most of the penmakers who make pens at this price. The converter isn’t included in the package which is disappointing but its not a dealbreaker especially for the price this pen comes at…

                     

 

Appearance & Design- This Kaco Edge looks amazing.This looks similar to Lamy 2000.The Makrolon looks solid and is very comfortable to write with.The combo of Makrolon and stainless looks as sharp as on the L2K, and it seems just as solid in the hand. I have no doubt this pen will last a long time.The Edge uses a snap cap with a clutch ring like the Lamy. It takes some force, but we get a snap when the cap closes.The section is made of brushed aluminium which is very comfortable and convincing to hold. 

 

This pen clip is like a wedge of aluminum which operates via spring. It looks good but it's a bit hard to clip the pen to my pocket. The pen is very well balanced , so it's very comfortable for very long writing sessions too.

 

Construction- The construction of this pen is top notch.The pen has a brushed Makrolon finish which looks better even than Lamy 2000.The pen is elegant & is a perfect minimalistic office pen. You will get many compliments when you carry this pen to the office because of its unique clip & material.

 

Filling System- This is a simple C/C system.Any standard international converter will fit this pen. 2 standard long cartridges are included with this pen , inks look very nice & are of high quality. 

 

Nib Performance-

 Kaco Master has  #5 nib made by Schmidt, nib is smooth out of the box. I found Kaco has good quality control,as most of their nibs which I have tested turned out very well. The flow of my pen is on the wetter side.

                                                          

Conclusion- 

This is totally worth the $20 price, to be honest it's a loot for this price. The pen is very well made & has a good steel nib. It has a minimalistic look,which is amazing. This pen comes in 3 colors- black , brown & blue . I really can't expect anything more at this price. It is true value for money given the quality, ergonomics and writing experience.This is a value for money pen but it would have been better if Kaco would have included a converter with this pen.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I am a fan of the Lamy 2000 and use it intermittently depending on my frustration with the sweet spot, and bought one of these impulsively after reading your review. It seems like the cap cracking issue is quite inevitable though, so hopefully it is durable. 

[carlos.q]

I love my Lamy 2000 but I'm too frugal to buy the brown model. So I sent for one of these instead. 😉

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for the review.

 

I have Kaco Edge pens in all three colours. As far as my experience as an owner and user goes, the EF nib — which is only available on the black Kaco Edge — suck. They write too wetly and are too broad to qualify even as F nibs, when I compare them with the F nibs on the blue and brown Kaco Edge. The gold-coloured F nibs (manufactured by Schmidt) on the blue and brown pens are as fine and precise as I find the Schmidt F nibs on Moonman M100 and M200 pens, which I love and of which I have many.

 

As for the converter issue, some retailers AliExpress choose to offer the pen with a converter in lieu of ink cartridges (to avoid shipping ink or liquids in the post out of China), but it's a bad deal. I had one seller do that — specifically for the black pen — but they included a converter with the wrong calibre. (It's not as if they know as much about pens as the average hobbyist on FPN.) It ended up being a lot of hassle for me to prove that they were wrong about what fits the Kaco Edge, and ‘convince’ them to send me the two Austrian-made long ink cartridges described in Kaco's marketing images, which the seller used in their item listing.

 

The manufacturer's original retail packaging includes two long ink cartridges which, according to Kaco's marketing collateral, will last 600 metres of writing (i.e. ink lines/marks) in the pen. I think that's great for an introductory package, notwithstanding it encouraging beginners in the hobby to spend money buying more ink cartridges.

 

Unlike most Chinese-branded fountain pens, the Kaco Edge takes an ‘international standard’ 2.4mm-bore converter, which one can easily get from as little as €2, on account of the pen model using a Schmidt nib unit; so it's absolutely no hassle for the average Western fountain pen user to get one from local suppliers. It'd be worse if the user had to hunt for a 2.6mm-bore converter, which is the more prevalent of the two quasi-standards in China. Most hobbyists who are not absolute beginners will have ‘international standard’ converters on hand anyway, perhaps plucked from another pen if not outright standalone as spares.

[MuddyWaters]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Thanks for the review.

 

I have Kaco Edge pens in all three colours. As far as my experience as an owner and user goes, the EF nib — which is only available on the black Kaco Edge — suck. They write too wetly and are too broad to qualify even as F nibs, when I compare them with the F nibs on the blue and brown Kaco Edge. The gold-coloured F nibs (manufactured by Schmidt) on the blue and brown pens are as fine and precise as I find the Schmidt F nibs on Moonman M100 and M200 pens, which I love and of which I have many.

 

As for the converter issue, some retailers AliExpress choose to offer the pen with a converter in lieu of ink cartridges (to avoid shipping ink or liquids in the post out of China), but it's a bad deal. I had one seller do that — specifically for the black pen — but they included a converter with the wrong calibre. (It's not as if they know as much about pens as the average hobbyist on FPN.) It ended up being a lot of hassle for me to prove that they were wrong about what fits the Kaco Edge, and ‘convince’ them to send me the two Austrian-made long ink cartridges described in Kaco's marketing images, which the seller used in their item listing.

 

The manufacturer's original retail packaging includes two long ink cartridges which, according to Kaco's marketing collateral, will last 600 metres of writing (i.e. ink lines/marks) in the pen. I think that's great for an introductory package, notwithstanding it encouraging beginners in the hobby to spend money buying more ink cartridges.

 

Unlike most Chinese-branded fountain pens, the Kaco Edge takes an ‘international standard’ 2.4mm-bore converter, which one can easily get from as little as €2, on account of the pen model using a Schmidt nib unit; so it's absolutely no hassle for the average Western fountain pen user to get one from local suppliers. It'd be worse if the user had to hunt for a 2.6mm-bore converter, which is the more prevalent of the two quasi-standards in China. Most hobbyists who are not absolute beginners will have ‘international standard’ converters on hand anyway, perhaps plucked from another pen if not outright standalone as spares.

 

But the ef is made by Schmidt too I hope? That's the one I ordered. Maybe I should ask to change to a fine. 

[A Smug Dill]

14 minutes ago, MuddyWaters said:

But the ef is made by Schmidt too I hope?

 

Kaco's marketing images say so (in Chinese).

 

I was tempted to order a second black Kaco Edge with a polished, silver-coloured steel F nib with no plating for comparison, but then thought to myself, why bother? I really don't need to find out, when I can just order more units of the blue and brown pens (and I did); how the two variants of Schmidt F nibs compare isn't something I was interesting in ‘reviewing’ or ‘reporting’ for the benefit of other prospective buyers, when (it is my belief that) everyone can afford to make a US$10 purchase that subjectively disappoints, especially when objectively it's still a competent writing instrument that may just not be to someone's (e.g. my) individual tastes.

[markh]

On 10/28/2021 at 10:06 AM, punjabi said:

This pen clip is like a wedge of aluminum which operates via spring. It looks good but it's a bit hard to clip the pen to my pocket.

 

Well, as much as I like the pen, I think you understate this. The clip is essentially impossible to pry away from the body and use, and it can't slide into a pocket with out first doing this. The clip is hard (impossible) to grip, the spring is very tight.

 

So... if clipping a pen in your pocket is important, this pen will sit in your drawer like mine does. Which is too bad....

 

.

[austollie]

Hi punjabi,

 

Your review caused me to buy a Kaco Edge to see for myself.  Well, I am over the moon with my Kaco Edge.  It writes beautifully.  Frankly, I had hoped for some time that Lamy would make a cartridge filler version of its Lamy 2000, preferably with Lamy's standard (not hooded) nib.  If Lamy did that, I would buy several.

 

The finish of the Kaco Edge is not as good as that of the Lamy 2000, which is hardly a surprise given the massive price difference.  That said, the surface finish of the Edge is far from poor.  My Kaco Edge writes wonderfully smooth.

[Aysedasi]

I bought one a while back, can't say I was impressed either with the finish or the way it wrote.  I sold it on pretty quickly.   A poor substitute for an L2K IMO.  

[Sailor Kenshin]

Mine (brown, F) looks cool, feels cool, and writes worse than any pen I can think of...scratchy, lays down a decent line on cross strokes,  dies on the upstroke.

 

Very disappointed.

[MuddyWaters]

1 hour ago, Aysedasi said:

I bought one a while back, can't say I was impressed either with the finish or the way it wrote.  I sold it on pretty quickly.   A poor substitute for an L2K IMO.  

 

Completely agree with this. A waste of money placed on a whim. Oh well. 

[A Smug Dill]

Well, I'm pretty happy that mine produced this even with a dry-flowing iron-gall ink:

 

Oops, that's an F nib and not an EF nib!

[Aysedasi]

13 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Well, I'm pretty happy that mine produced this even with a dry-flowing iron-gall ink:

 

Oops, that's an F nib and not an EF nib!

 

Certainly looks very good indeed!     Maybe I just got a duff one, the nib was pretty horrible.  But on looks and design, even for a cheapie, I wasn't impressed.  

[Gloucesterman]

Okay, you talked me into it. I just ordered a blue one of these. On the "Bay" the one I bought comes with a Schmidt converter too. Final price with MA sales tax and shipping was $16.50. Expected arrival - 12/28! I hope they mean 2021 and not 2022! 😃

 

P.S. thank you for the good review.

[austollie]

14 hours ago, Aysedasi said:

Maybe I just got a duff one, the nib was pretty horrible.

 

I think that's the nature of cheaper pens (including cheaper pens from more established manufacturers).  The budget isn't there to to control the quality of every nib.  I'm a real fan of Lamy pens, but I'm not the only person to have received a Lamy Safari with a dud Z50 nib.  Nine out of the ten Z50 nibs are fine, but if you get the tenth, you're going to be unhappy. 

 

One of the benefits of a forum such as this is that we can read about the experiences of many users so that we're not relying on a sample size of one, when receiving feed-back.

 

I can't fault the nib on my Kaco Edge.  It's just buttery smooth.  I'm glad that I got a good one.  At what I paid, the Kaco Edge is a steal.

[Aysedasi]

More than fair enough! 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Any ideas how t fix the general scratchiness (which I can feel with my bare finger), plus ink starvation on the upstroke?  The feed seems set correctly, the nib has a decent gap, and I am puzzled.

[ArthurPendragon]

At the time I bought my first one, it was the second best writing pen I had.  Better than all my Waterman's, Parkers, all except my Pilot Custom Heritage 91, my favorite pen.  But somehow, I lost it.  So I ordered another one, and that one wrote great too.  Then I found the one I lost, in a jacket, and now I have two.  Yes the clip looks cool but is functionally useless, and the macrolon cracked on one of my caps, no regrets.  Great everyday pen.

[mb146]

Greetings fellow pen lovers.

 

I had purchased two black Kaco Edge fountain pens about two years ago. These pens were very lightly used and placed in my draw.  Both pens were very nice writers. After approximately 30 days the caps on both of these pens started to crack.

 

I tried to contact Kaco customer service at least three times. The customer service would not even respond!

 

I see the new Kaco black appears to made out of a different material than the original. The new pen looks "dry" similar to the new blue and brown material. Perhaps Kaco fixed the issue?

 

Stay away from AliExpress because their customer service is non responsive as well.

 

Buyer beware!