Asvine V-200: on Amazon first!

[Dan Carmell]

I saw this new Asvine model mentioned on Reddit and was like huh? when I found it was already on Amazon but not AliExpress. I take that as being rather significant, another sign of the growing confidence of Chinese pen makers of the quality and appeal of their newest models. 
 

Doodlebug has a video review on YouTube with an advance copy provided by Asvine. When he posted the pen to show that it wasn’t a good pen to post, one of the two O-rings on the outside of the piston knobs came off with the cap, another reason not to post this pen. 
 

Using essentially the same materials as the P36, it’s a more angular, squared off look than the P36 and smaller as well, I think. I felt uncertain about the pen’s looks overall and won’t be rushing to buy it. It’s $47 USD with an Asvine nib and $57 with a Bock nib, both available in several sizes. 

[Shanghai Knife Dude]

Yes, do not buy a new China pen on release, you will be well ripped off. 

 

The guitar man paid usd 65 for a Majohn P138, which was released in the end of Jan, and he hated it, mostly due to ridiculous high price （in the spectrum of China pen price). If he paid the amount I paid for this pen, under usd 30, he would be right over the moon about this beautifully engineered replica grades LORENZO! 

 

For most wage earners, MB Lorenzo at usd 5000 is much more than a grail pen, it's a grave pen. 

 

65-30, is a lot. But it's so minimal compared the joy it brough. It's a joy of usd 35. The choice is yours. But i wouldn't buy early release, as i know the “normalisation” price will be at least 50% off after 2 months maximum. 

 

Back to the topic, the price of v200 vacuum, IMHO, should on par or slightly higher than p36 piston, given 99% identical specification. 

[we58890]

I think the V200 is comparable to the CONID Belgian fountain pen.

[Miles Hand]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:37 AM, Shanghai Knife Dude said:

the price of v200 vacuum, IMHO, should on par or slightly higher than p36 piston, given 99% identical specification.

This suggests that the V200 is much more expensive than the P36. In fact, it's merely slightly higher in price at £39.99 against the P36's £37.00 (Amazon UK 22/3/24). Not such a gulf as you might be led to expect.

 

In other news, Asvine are selling three nib units for the V200 for £9.99 on Amazon, in EF, F and M. It's not clear from the listing on Amazon which insists they only fit the P range of Asvine pens. I checked with Asvine and was assured by Sally that they fit the V200 as well. These are Asvine branded nibs, by the way, not Bock.

[Karmachanic]

On 3/21/2024 at 10:10 PM, we58890 said:

I think the V200 is comparable to the CONID Belgian fountain pen.

 

You have both?

[Dan Carmell]

3 hours ago, Miles Hand said:

This suggests that the V200 is much more expensive than the P36. In fact, it's merely slightly higher in price at £39.99 against the P36's £37.00 (Amazon UK 22/3/24). Not such a gulf as you might be led to expect.

 

In other news, Asvine are selling three nib units for the V200 for £9.99 on Amazon, in EF, F and M. It's not clear from the listing on Amazon which insists they only fit the P range of Asvine pens. I checked with Asvine and was assured by Sally that they fit the V200 as well. These are Asvine branded nibs, by the way, not Bock.

Does the P-36 nib screw out? Mine came with an F nib and I’d like to swap it out for an EF, but the nib unit didn’t want to give and my luck in forcing things isn’t great…

 

The much-lauded P-36 hasn’t won my heart yet, so I’m afraid I’ll have a similar ‘meh’ experience with the V-200, even though I do like vacuum fillers. And I’m a little dubious about the O-rings on the piston knob, first because they are just decorative, it appears, and I’m struggling to see black plastic rings as decorative. Secondly because I’ve seen/heard of two instances so far in which the user dislodged an o-ring—not functional, not my idea of decorative, and something that can dislodge from the pen isn’t appealing to me. 

[Miles Hand]

1 hour ago, Dan Carmell said:

Does the P-36 nib screw out?

I don't have a P36, but given that Asvine sell replacement nib units on Amazon and AliExpress for the P36, I would expect that it does. It may be that they've been fitted with a bit more force than necessary and breaking the seal will require a similar firm jolt to get them out. But in your shoes I would ask Asvine if they unscrew. I used the customer service contact from their Amazon shop to get in touch. Or maybe a P36 owner can help us out with their experience.

 

I understand your reservations about the O-rings on the V200, but since posting appears to make the pen stupidly unwieldy I doubt if many users will be doing that anyway. They didn't look hard enough at how the Conid posts. And even if the rings fall off after a while there will still be two grooves to decorate the end. 

[Harold]

14 hours ago, Miles Hand said:

I understand your reservations about the O-rings on the V200, but since posting appears to make the pen stupidly unwieldy I doubt if many users will be doing that anyway. They didn't look hard enough at how the Conid posts. And even if the rings fall off after a while there will still be two grooves to decorate the end. 

Exactly this. The pen seems to be solidly made, but it's a bit visually incoherent in places and they missed some of the finer design details of their source of inspiration. They'd have been better off not tapering the knob and just making it so the pen can't post; that would've made it look much better as well.

[we58890]

I received my AsvineV200 pen today from Amazon.  The delivery took 7 days.  The pen is an exceptional value.  The pen has a Asvine fine nib.  Titanium trim is very nice. As Doodlebud said in his Utube post it is a very good quality pen.  Writes smooth, no skipping and starts write away.  It is very similar to the Conid pen which is no longer available.  This is my 2nd Asvine the p126 is my first.  This is a great pen company.   

 

I have a variety of pens in my collection from companies in Germany and Japan.  This pen is of comparable quality or better .  My thought is that as collectors we should be more value oriented.  For example,  I watch the Timeless Watches on UTUBe and the host is always buying $10,000 Rolex watches.  This makes no sense to me since  I own a $75 Orient Capitol quartz watch that keeps much better time than a Rolex and Orient is a sub division of Seiko.  My point here is that if you want a Conid pen you should certainly consider this pen.

[we58890]

On 3/24/2024 at 7:09 AM, Harold said:

Exactly this. The pen seems to be solidly made, but it's a bit visually incoherent in places and they missed some of the finer design details of their source of inspiration. They'd have been better off not tapering the knob and just making it so the pen can't post; that would've made it look much better as well.

It is solidly made to be sure. The titanium accessories and quality acrylic used give a solid feel to this pen.  Because of the bigger body of this pen it is not ideal for posting.  That said the Asvine nib is an exceptional writer and that certainly compensates for the draw back in posting.  It is a very good quality pen.

[Karmachanic]

11 hours ago, we58890 said:

My point here is that if you want a Conid pen you should certainly consider this pen.

 

And if you want a Montblanc you should consider a Jinhao?  That aside Conids come in various shapes and sizes.  None of which are vacuum fillers, and none of which feature bits that fall off the piston knob.

 

Happy that you are enjoying your V-200, and hope you continue to do so for years to come.

[we58890]

I do not own a Montblanc but I do own a Jinhoa 9019 which writes fabulously. The V 20O rings are well placed in the knob of the vac mechanism but with most vac pens it is usually advisable not to post for several reasons one of which is that the O rings might at times help as well as hinder posting.  The O rings do not simply fall off as you suggest. The point in question is choosing  v200 or a Conid? The answer simply is that the Conid is not presently available but the reasonably priced v200 is. 

[Harold]

1 hour ago, we58890 said:

The O rings do not simply fall off as you suggest.

If you try to post the pen, which is the entire reason the O-rings are there in the first place, they do simply fall off half the time when you remove the cap. It is a failed design element, but it's sort of irrelevant because you wouldn't want to post the V200 anyway. If you think about it, the entire posting is a failed design element because the cap doesn't post deeply enough to begin with, whereas the Conid has an ugly step in the barrel to accommodate a deeper post. As I said earlier, it would have been better if they didn't taper the barrel, didn't taper the knob and just made the pen not postable. That doesn't mean the pen is badly constructed or anything, but let's be honest about its minor flaws.

[we58890]

I received my AsvineV200 pen today from Amazon.  The delivery took 7 days.  The pen is an exceptional value.  The pen has a Asvine fine nib.  As Doodlebud said in his Utube post it is a very good quality pen.  Writes smooth, no skipping and starts write away.  It is very similar to the Conid pen which is no longer available.  This is my 2nd Asvine the p126 is my first.  This is a great pen company.   

 

I have a variety of pens in my collection from companies in Germany and Japan.  This pen is of comparable quality or better .  My thought is that as collectors we should be more value oriented.  For example,  I watch the Timeless Watches on UTUBe and the host is always buying $10,000 Rolex watches.  This makes no sense to me since  II

4 hours ago, Harold said:

If you try to post the pen, which is the entire reason the O-rings are there in the first place, they do simply fall off half the time when you remove the cap. It is a failed design element, but it's sort of irrelevant because you wouldn't want to post the V200 anyway. If you think about it, the entire posting is a failed design element because the cap doesn't post deeply enough to begin with, whereas the Conid has an ugly step in the barrel to accommodate a deeper post. As I said earlier, it would have been better if they didn't taper the barrel, didn't taper the knob and just made the pen not postable. That doesn't mean the pen is badly constructed or anything, but let's be honest about its minor flaws.

I think we are splitting hairs here.  I did say: "The V 20O rings are well placed in the knob of the vac mechanism but with most vac pens it is usually advisable not to post for several reasons one of which is that the O rings might at times help as well as hinder posting."  I thought I was explicit when I said it is advisable not to post.  I agree with you though that you would not want to post the V200 anyway.  Be that as it may this pen is a wonderful pen.

[Karmachanic]

5 hours ago, Harold said:

Conid has an ugly step in the barrel to accommodate a deeper post

 

One of the four models.

[Karmachanic]

6 hours ago, we58890 said:

The point in question is choosing  v200 or a Conid?

 

Conid Minimalistica was available last week.  All avalable were sold in one a afternoon ±  I choose Conid.  Saving my pennies for the Maximalistica.

[Harold]

17 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

 

One of the four models.

Well yes, but that model happens to be the one we are comparing the V200 to. If only the Slimline existed at Regular size.

17 hours ago, we58890 said:

I did say: "The V 20O rings are well placed in the knob of the vac mechanism"

The O-rings are by definition not well placed though, because they don't do the job they were intended to do, precisely because of their placement. They're supposed to sit against each other in the same groove to prevent them from rolling out, not in two separate grooves.

[we58890]

There is no definition here.  The Canid O rings are in the same place on the knob.  On the V200 as discused above it is best not to post so they do not serve that function.  The O rings can serve a purpose for grip on the knob.  I have not observed any roll out of O rings when using the knob for ink filling. I like the rings where they are.   Besides,  vac fillers for the most part are not will suited for posting with the knob filling mechanism.

[Dan Carmell]

2 hours ago, we58890 said:

There is no definition here.  The Canid O rings are in the same place on the knob.  On the V200 as discused above it is best not to post so they do not serve that function.  The O rings can serve a purpose for grip on the knob.  I have not observed any roll out of O rings when using the knob for ink filling. I like the rings where they are.   Besides,  vac fillers for the most part are not will suited for posting with the knob filling mechanism.

I don’t post a bigger pen like this V-200, but of course a vac filler can be designed to post deeply—posting only on the piston knob is a design choice, and apparently Asvine didn’t intend for this pen to be posted, making those o-rings ornamental in intent if not function. 
 

It sounds like those who know the CONID models are saying the o-rings are placed in imitation of a CONID pen, but it doesn’t matter because posting is unlikely. For myself, the look of the o-rings is fine. What bothers me is having an element of a pen that can fall or wear off. 
 

But the V-200 doesn’t really attract me after buying the P-36. The P36 is a quality pen, no question about it, and I was curious about it after hearing all the comparisons to CONID, one of which I knew I’d never own. But I found that as well made as the pen is, it’s just metal and plastic and not interesting to me in the way my favorite pens are. So I’ll stick with the V-126, which stylistically and ergonomically fits me much better. 

[Surlyprof]

I have to admit that the v200 is very tempting but it strikes a nerve for me.  As an Industrial Designer who’s had his designs knocked off in the past, I struggle with the idea of buying some of these pens from Asvine, Majohn, Jinhao and Moonman.  Other companies such as Lamy, Montblanc, Leonardo and Conid have invested heavily in research and development, and designers like myself, to create original designs only to have their designs copied by manufacturers who cost cut the materials and manufacturing processes to release cheap knock-offs.  Granted, they are leveraging cheaper labor, manufacturing efficiencies and government support that many companies in other countries can’t afford.  But, this strikes me as a race to the bottom that may put designers like me out of work or even bankrupt smaller companies trying to create original designs while paying living wages.  In my work, I’ve witnessed first-hand, companies (often government sponsored) using 3D scans or stolen CAD files of existing products to quickly turn around tooling for these copies.  They can create copied tooling in mere hours from original designs that have taken months or even years to develop.  
 

Just to be clear, I am not faulting any particular nation here.  I have the same issue with companies like IKEA who release very similar products as those displayed a few months earlier at international furniture fairs such as the ICFF and Salon di Mobile in Milan.  As much as I’m tempted by attractive, very functional and very inexpensive knock-offs like these, I’m forced to vote with my dollars and purchase original designs.  Purchasing original designs over less expensive quantities will probably mean that my pen collection will never grow overly large.  At least it will be easier to organize!  I am also not judging anyone else who purchases these pens.  Like I stated originally, pens like the v200 are SO tempting.  I am just stating my own, very personal (and maybe selfish) choices with the intent of safeguarding the future of my profession and companies whose efforts I genuinely respect.  
 

John (hoping he hasn’t really “stepped in it” here)