End of the road for Pelikan?

[rochester21]

I was never a Pelikan fan, but when i heard it here they are going to change the design by using a standard opaque plastic for the section I went ahead and ordered a classic, translucent black-green M400 with F nib and a discounted M200 with EF nib. 

 

As a mere observer of the brand(don't consider myself a customer), i'il say this: if there is anything to like about these pens, it's the design. 

 

Once you take away the piston, the screw on nibs and that translucent body you are left with just average looking and performing pens. The nibs aren't exactly to die for, are they? But people love that piston and make due with the factory misaligned, excessively broad nibs. 

 

And yeah, 5 years from now they might take away that piston too, because it would cost less money to make the pens without them. 

 

And the move to changing the plastics is also motivated by money, not design. 

 

I don't think there is a single pelikan user out there that ever wanted them to change the barrel transparency so that you can't even see how much you got left. 

 

So this is about money. 

I don't care either way, since i have already ordered the M400 green stripped with the old plastic and the plain black M200 to match, so i'm all set. 

 

Too bad for all the people who don't have any old styled pelikan, i guess. 

(same discussion might apply concerning old style vs new style nibs). 

 

So my question would be: when does a pelikan FP stop being a real pelikan FP?

 

Those translucent green strippes are very relevant to me, and i'm not even into the brand! 

 

 

[Strega]

For me, the Pelikan m600 is my favorite pen, though until the opaqueness announcement, I had never gotten around to buying “conventional” ones (ie: models that weren’t limited/special editions or discontinued) since I could buy those at any time.  So now, rather suddenly, I have those as well.

 

Hopefully they’ll figure something out.  So far, I have no idea if this is part of a long-term declining trend or just an annoying response to one of those famous supply-chain issues.  Or even a trick to get people like me and you to buy more Pelikans! 😀

[TitoThePencilPimp]

For me, Pelikan was my favorite brand. One of the things that I liked about Pelikan was the translucent barrels. Since I write for at least 6 hours a day, so gauging ink capacity is very important for me. However, this can be remedied easily by experience. The removal nib unit is great, since it allows one to lubricate the nib easily without requiring a special tool, which can lead to breaking of collars if not done correctly. Or voiding warranty. Cough. Montblanc. Cough.

 

Design is classic, and aligns with my personal aesthetics. Not into flashy things.

 

You are correct about the nibs, they have no character, besides the current m1000 nibs. But to say that the nibs are misaligned is a bit of a stretch. Pelikan has one of the higher QC when it comes to nibs, apart from the big three Japanese manufactures. Im sure it was a rarity that you experience a bad nib, since I own about 35 Pelikans now, and only had an issue with one nib, which was purchased second hand. Im sure, many peoples experience will reflect this. But yes, there is always a possibility of getting a bad nib, but a bit rare for it to be a Pelikan. Visconti on the other hand. Yikes.

 

Pelikan hit the sweet spot, or usto, with reasonable priced pens that require minimum maintnenace (lubricating the piston every few years), and long lasting. However, the price increase over the last two years? questions whether they are still great value. I think so, if purchased from Europe. 

 

Personally, I got tired of Pelikan as a brand, and I am mostly buying Pilot pens. Due to the many nib offerings. 

[Misfit]

The one thing about Pelikan pens is reliability.  They can sit for days and weeks, and still write the first time you try to use them. To me, nibs are nibs. Unless they are stub and italic nibs, which I love, and try to buy exclusively. I’ve made that sound simplistic. It’s just once you’ve found the nib size made for you, no other nib size is quite as good. At least for me. 

[Karmachanic]

About the Binde

 

 

[senzen]

I'm on my tenth Pelikan, soon to be eleven, which I would have thought impossible when I started out; from an Ibis 130 to a 140, to a 400 and an M605, each perfectly paired with a specific ink. If I have to leave in a hurry I know I'll reach for one of them first, rather than almost any of my other 52 pens: reliable, ink colours don't change with time, comfortable, smooth, bigger ink capacity, it's a combination that few other pens can match, particularly at my self imposed max budget.

 

I have plenty of pens which don't show ink levels unless you take them apart, not a huge problem. There are also plenty of Pelikan finishes which I don't like, but others do, again I won't be crying myself to sleep over it. If I didn't already have way too many pens, soon at 56, I would be looking for the new M205 Apatite which as a demonstrator shows the ink level.

 

As an aside, the value of FPN as a community falls with each unhelpful rant. Don't like 'em? Why not tell us about what you actually like? It's pretty sad to see reddit, usually a cesspool of toxicity, become a better community, at least with /r/fountainpens/.

[Harold]

15 hours ago, senzen said:

As an aside, the value of FPN as a community falls with each unhelpful rant. Don't like 'em? Why not tell us about what you actually like? It's pretty sad to see reddit, usually a cesspool of toxicity, become a better community, at least with /r/fountainpens/.

This mindless positivity at the cost of honesty and reality doesn't do anyone any good either. Pelikan has spent the last twenty-five years removing all of the unique things that their former staff carefully designed to make them stand out, and the company needs to hear it before people stop buying Pelikan fountain pens altogether. First the nibs became stiffer, then they cut half of the nib selection, now the barrel translucency is being phased out and it wouldn't surprise me if they start dropping the piston on the lower end models in the future. I would've bought an M800 years ago if they had still offered 3B nibs by the time I was old enough to afford one, and I'm sure there are plenty of lost sales like that.

[pix]

While the transparency is a nice feature to have, I personally think that *specific* models (i.e. the recent Brown-Black M800 and Tortoise-Black M605) do indeed look better with the opaque stripes. As for the nibs, yes, their past ones were much better.

[Fawate]

Does anyone know if Pelikan will also eliminate the ink window from the All-black Souveran pens?

[quattro98]

I think it’s just the striped models. I think the black and Toledo models will still have the green window.

[Paul-in-SF]

On 9/17/2022 at 2:53 PM, rochester21 said:

So this is about money. 

 

It's a business. It's always going to be about money. If they are making poor business decisions, then they will lose money, and you won't have the chance to not buy their products any more. 

 

On 9/17/2022 at 2:53 PM, rochester21 said:

So my question would be: when does a pelikan FP stop being a real pelikan FP?

 

When you no longer want to buy one?

 

On 9/18/2022 at 10:28 AM, senzen said:

As an aside, the value of FPN as a community falls with each unhelpful rant.

 

Sorry, but what a load of rubbish, unless you think the value of FPN as a community is to coo in awe over every pretty new pen that someone has bought. Even if the OP was an "unhelpful rant" (which as an expression leads to a lot of questions by itself), it has triggered a conversation which can be helpful. The value of FPN as a message board is the free flow of information and opinions about fountain pens and related stuff. The community, whatever that may be, can take care of itself.

[Fawate]

1 hour ago, quattro98 said:

I think it’s just the striped models. I think the black and Toledo models will still have the green window.

Thank you. I will keep my fingers crossed. I still want to buy a M1000. And perhaps add another M800.

[USG]

Here's my 2cents.  Barrel translucency is only important if that's what you're used to.  If you're new to Pelikan, it is what it is because you don't know any different.

 

As for me, OTOH, it's a big disappointment not to be able to see my ink level.

 

Many years ago my favorite Blue M800 (F) fell down and broke.  I transferred the fine nib to a green Pelikan, and put the broken blue body and the medium nib from the Green pen in a plastic baggie and put it in my desk drawer.  I took to a pen show later that year and the Pelikan rep was gracious enough to exchange it for one he had in his case.  I screwed in the Fine nib and I was back in business.  A couple of years later the replacement blue pen caught on something and flipped out of my pocket and fractured in exactly the same place as the first one.  I transferred the fine nib to the green pen again and put the broken blue body along with the medium nib from the green pen into a plastic baggie and into the desk drawer.

 

 

It sat there for about 10 years, until a couple of weeks ago when I impulse bought a new blue body from Germany.  It arrived in Jig time and I happily screwed in my fine nib and was back in business, or so I thought.

 

As I was writing, I reflexively held the pen up the the light to check the ink level and Bam, I couldn't see a thing.  I wasn't used to that and found it really annoying.  It was like I had a counterfeit Pelikan.  In my opinion it was a big mistake to change such a distinguishing feature but as it's been pointed out, Pelikan has been slowing dumbing down the Souverans for years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mana]

"Aaaaaaaagh!" was my instinctive reaction to the pair of photos... 😳 I needs mah translucency!

[Ron Z]

Pens that break that way can be fixed.

[txomsy]

I think the translucency is relevant and not a matter of being used to it. On a current non-piston-filler, i.e. a cartridge/converter pen, one can always check the ink level by unscrewing the body. One of the reasons I disliked -and still do to some extent- eyedroppers and sac pens was you never knew how many ink was left and, by Murphy's Law, it would always run out of ink just when you needed it the more.

 

Piston fillers with an ink window, cartridges and converters came to fix that issue and, in my most humble opinion, that was one of the reasons for their success.

[ljz]

9 hours ago, USG said:

Many years ago my favorite Blue M800 (F) fell down and broke.  I transferred the fine nib to a green Pelikan, and put the broken blue body and the medium nib from the Green pen in a plastic baggie and put it in my desk drawer.  I took to a pen show later that year and the Pelikan rep was gracious enough to exchange it for one he had in his case.  I screwed in the Fine nib and I was back in business.  A couple of years later the replacement blue pen caught on something and flipped out of my pocket and fractured in exactly the same place as the first one.  I transferred the fine nib to the green pen again and put the broken blue body along with the medium nib from the green pen into a plastic baggie and into the desk drawer.

Did you feel déjà vu? 🥲

[rochester21]

3 hours ago, Ron Z said:

Pens that break that way can be fixed.

Doesn't look like rocket science if you have the right type of glue.... 

[wtlh]

A huge mistake by Pelikan in my honest opinion to change the Sovereign series to non-transparent.  The transparency through stripes was an ingenious design and one of the biggest selling point of their pen for me.

 

I am pretty sure it will be reflected in sales of their high end pens and I hope they will realise the mistake and switch back very soon.

 

Pistons, I don't think they will remove it.  Their entire brand started with the differential piston, a same design they have consistently kept and changed little from day 1.  The piston is their DNA, it is their brand.  If they do it (I very much doubt so) then whoever in charge of the company needs to be fired.  They need to follow the trend and make the pistons more maintainable by introducing screws, not snap fit tabs to their smaller and regular lines.

[rochester21]

On 9/18/2022 at 7:28 PM, senzen said:

As an aside, the value of FPN as a community falls with each unhelpful rant. Don't like 'em? Why not tell us about what you actually like? It's pretty sad to see reddit, usually a cesspool of toxicity, become a better community, at least with /r/fountainpens/.

Unhelpful rant? Oh, was i supposed to embrace the drop in quality while prices are on the increase? My bad. 

 

Besides, when it comes to Pelikan pens everybody knows i am the only person who doesn't really like them, this is like saying FPN is a dictatorship where complaints about Pelikan quality are not allowed, even if it's just one guy. 

 

One thing i like about Pelikan M series? The oldtimer design. Removable nib and screw on caps. 

 

So they are nice to admire while writing with a Pilot or Parker, that kind of deal. 

 

PS. Too bad only pelikan makes nibs for these pens, if i could swap them for something else(like it was in the good old days, plenty of nib makers around), maybe i would have made something out of them.