The Ultimate Pen Showdown - Part 3
It's been a while since I've posted here, but I can assure you that I've tested many more pens. I actually started writing these reviews nearly 2 years ago when I received these pens, but never got around to finishing them. The upcoming blog posts will be about pens I received later. Anyway let's get straight to it.
Pilot Legno vs S20: These 2 pens have really beautiful wood bodies with a warm feel, and Pilot's lovely precise click mechanism. The wood seems to be identical, but the Legno is straight while the upper half of the S20 is tapered. The Legno has more metal, with a thicker separating ring, an integrated metal clip and button, and it comes standard with the metal BRFN-30 refill versus the plastic BRFN-10 of the S20. The S20 also has a wood cap on the button, versus the all-metal button of the Legno. Both have brass threading inside and feel high quality. Overall I like the Legno more, but the S20 has a more distinctive tip. Overall I'm not a fan of the BRFN refills. They're very smooth and liquidy like a rollerball, but they are slow to dry and have a tendency to skip.
The most interesting aspect of these pens is that the 2 halves are interchangeable! So you could combine an S20 with a Legno.
Pentel Lancelot Ballpoint - I bought this because it resembles some of the Vicuna line, which I love, and I wanted to test out the refill. It comes with a 0.8mm BK8SJ ballpoint refill, which is more or less a standard ballpoint refill, but not really like a hybrid. It has a nice all metal construction, and a solid but uninteresting click.
This model might have been updated since I bought these, but based on my first experiences I will not give them another chance.
Uni Power Tank SN-227 - This is one of Uni's lesser-seen pens with a pressurized refill, like the Fisher Space Pen. It feels a bit strange, like a beefier version of other Uni click pens with a hard rubber grip. The refill seems kind of cobbled together, because it looks like a standard Uni ballpoint refill that's encased in a big pressurized plastic tube. It writes like a standard ballpoint. I'll get more into it in my next review, where I'll compare it to a rare metal version of the Power Tank.
Montblanc Traveller 5201 - I originally bought this to see what Montblanc's take on a click pen would be and how the click would feel/sound. To my dismay this pen is a silent click (not sure if they were all like that, or just mine). I was quite excited about this one because I love the name, and the look of these pens is so cool with a mix of brushed & polished surfaces, and the Montblanc logo used to secure the clip. They also made a 5200 model which is all plastic. If someone has a Montblanc click pen that actually clicks (not sure if the Carrera ballpoints clicked for example), I'd love to hear about it. The ancient refill inside it still actually writes, but it's not very fluid.
Pelikan Celebry K570 / K565 - A couple years ago I was very keen on getting my hands on one of these, and ended up getting 2 from Germany. Not much to say about these, they're pretty nice (especially the glossier one) and feel extremely solid and well-constructed, made of thick metal with a solid metal clip. However, the twist mechanism sometimes doesn't engage, and the painted coating can chip off if you're not careful. I hear great things about the Pelikan refills, but so far haven't tried a brand new one yet.
Pilot Grance - Not much to say about this one; I bought it when I was exploring Pilot's high-end ballpoints. It's a beautiful, solid metal pen with a twist retraction mechanism and Pilot's BRFN-30 refill as standard. I don't think I'll be keeping it because it's not my style, but it would make a lovely gift.
Ballograf Epoca - A classic pen from Sweden that's been made continuously for years, I bought this because of its apparently unique and complex click mechanism. This pen is definitely a keeper due to its cool retro design, and the click mechanism doesn't disappoint. The click feels solid but quiet, and unusually you cannot feel the twist of the wheel that normally engages on click pens if you click slowly. The refill looked pretty old when I bought this pen, but it still writes will without skipping. The only thing I don't like about it, is that the materials feel extremely light & hollow. I wonder if it would feel more premium if I got a really old version of it.
Parker TI Classic Mode Laque - I got this pen from Japan in fantastic condition in its original box with instructions. It's a great example of a Parker in an exceptionally rare specification, made in France. It takes a standard Parker G2 international size refill which is nice. The click sounds so solid, metal and mechanical, and you can loudly hear the notches click into place. The down side to this pen is that it's so slim!
Pilot Metal Pens - Here I'd been testing Pilot pens with an all metal body.
Pilot Clutch Point BGWN-150R - There is little to no information about this pen online. I picked it up in Japan, and I believe they were introduced about 10 years ago and later discontinued. The click is a louder and more mechanical sounding click than the S20 and Legno, and it unscrews from the tip (despite its appearance of being divided into two halves). It takes the BRFN hybrid refills.
Pilot Hi-Tecpoint - This is the pen you see with the crosshatch grid pattern on it. It's a rare and interesting pen, which takes a proprietary needle tip refill (the original is still inside). It's a very complex pen, and it has a little door at the tip to prevent it from drying out, and when you twist the pen, it opens the door and the tip comes out. You can feel all the components engage when you twist it. Very cool, but not sure how to get a refill to fit it.
Pilot Murex / MR - This is a somewhat weighty pen for its size, feels like a solid lump of steel. It has an incredible and unique click, different than every other Pilot including ones from around the same era. The engagement on the click is so strong that it rattles the whole pen. The tolerances are so tight that the click button has zero sway. It also takes the BRFN refills and opens from the middle of the pen.
Pilot Steel and Aluminum - I'm not sure the model numbers/names on these, but I ended up with 2 of the pens from Japan, both identical except that one is steel and the other is aluminum. I find it funny that Pilot would offer that selection, but these are great pens with a silky smooth but solid, engaging click. Both of these open from the middle of the pen and take BRFN refills.
Pilot Steel Grip - Again I'm not sure of the model of this pen, but it's not of the same caliber of the others. It uses a plastic standard ballpoint refill, the thin Pilot BSRF, and the click has a strange way of engaging. The first press of the button deploys the tip without a click, and the second click retracts it with the feel like something is being haphazardly unhooked from something with a weird delay.
Lamy Accent - This is a beautiful pen, though a flawed one. I bought it because I wanted to hear/feel what the click on a Lamy would be like, after hearing that it was quite good on the Lamy 2000. I'm not a fan of the appearance of the 2000, so I thought the Accent would be the next best thing, and it looked like a beautiful pen. The pen feels fantastic, substantial, and solid. The solid metal spring loaded clip, the comfortable fat grip (with a choice of materials and designs), and the tight tolerances are all great. The down sides are that the metal tarnishes and it's tough to remove the tarnish (I'm not sure what metal it really is, but they call it a palladium finish), the Lamy M16 refill has a sluggish old ballpoint feel (even in the 1.0mm), and they decided to go with plastic threading. Also - it's a silent click! I tried some other Lamy pens which also use a silent click. I did eventually find out what a Lamy click would be like, but that's for the next blog post.
Aurora Style - I wanted to get an Aurora pen because the company is intriguing, especially their tendency to do things in-house, such as their fountain pen nibs and other components. I figured I'd try their "Style" model ballpoint which is actually a click pen despite its lack of a button (the entire top half presses down to click). I found this version from Italy, which looked very stylish. However, the pen just feels very plastic-ey and hollow, and is very light. The click is very loud but precise, and there are no wobbles to the pen, but the light hollow feel is a bit disappointing. I will give Aurora credit for their refill though. As far as standard ballpoint refills go, this one is very good and writes with a very dark black, especially compared to Lamy or even the Pentel.
Aurora Primula - More beautiful pens from Aurora, I had to get a friend in Italy help me obtain a batch of these, made in the 1960s. These have all the positive qualities of the Style model, but without the down sides. They feel totally solid. The click is really unique too. First of all the button slides down the side of the pen rather than protruding from the top. Second of all, you don't hear 2 clicks when you press it - it engages with a singular sound. I haven't been able to find a refill for these, so if anyone has any idea what these are, please do let me know. Also I bought these as a batch, so I'm thinking just to keep the blue and blue-green ones. If it's possible to get an Aurora refill that writes like their G2 refill, and that fits the Primula, then these are some seriously top-tier pens.
Conslusion - Over the past couple years I've been gaining increasing respect for Uni, as they seem to be the major innovators when it comes to investing in ballpoint technology. However, Pilot had a major head start in the pen world, so if you're going for vintage ballpoints, they're a top option in this category. I also like how their current BRFN refills are still compatible with them. I think if they update their refills again soon (if they haven't already in the past couple years) while maintaining compatibility with their other pens, they might become tied with Uni for first place because their selection of bodies and great click mechanisms are so nice.
However for now, the Jetstream 1.0 refills are still in first place for me, as they can managed to create something that's both incredibly smooth, but can also write well on a variety of surfaces and dries very quickly (important for a lefty like me). I can't judge Pelikan yet, but they seem to have good potential. I'm hoping to get a K405 or K600 click pen to test out, and a Pelikan 337 B refill.
Finally, the Pentel Vicuna refills are very underrated and I hope to see them in more pens, as they are up there with the Jetstream and better than the Zebra emulsion inks and many other comparable hybrid inks. Their reliability is top notch.
.jpeg)
Comments
Post a Comment