I love fountain pens. I hate wondering about pens before buying them. I hate even more when there is a lack of information on them. I hope I can help you decide on buying or not buying pens in these cases. I also hope to provide you with information in a fun and "pen-tertaining" way that makes watching a review more than just informative noise coming out of my face.
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Man I cannot WAIT for Sailor to be done with glitter. Ugly.
Doesn't quite scream "Cthulhu" to me. They should have done this in a King of Pen version, since Cthulhu is a giant monster. Some swirls or waves to imply the ocean or tentacles would have been cool. But I like the color and the touch of the sparkly transparent ends and grip section. Call of Cthulhu is a great story. Check it out.
The pen looks beautiful but I would love a comparison with the Pilot 743 Verdigris before making a decision about which one I prefer. I'm definitely more a fan of pilot nibs because of the smoothness but I have never tried a sailor 21k nib. RIP Stewie.
If you like that Pilot smoothness, my advice is to stick with them and get the 743. I prefer the Sailor for its greater precision.
I would have preferred a Benu which really leans into the tentacled abomonation of the the alien god of madness. This pen does not capture it, sadly.
Sorry about your little cat.
The story was called The Call of Cthulhu. I'm not sure why the ink and pen shifted the position of "the".
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn Sorry about your loss.
An injection mould seam in a $400 pen..... that is creating my insane madness.
It's much better to get the basic black version from Japan. Buying a colorful one domestically doesn't make sense.
I’m hearing sound fine 😊
No sound(
Really? Im lookin at it now and there's no audio issues...
I can hear it fine!
What kind of ink do you use?
Thanks for the video. It's natural for a person to do a little soul searching after going through a traumatic experience involving people that you love.
super company super pens
I usually buy from the retailer that has everything that I need at the time. But if I want an exclusive pen or ink or whatever, then I have to buy from the retailer that has it. It's not complicated for me.
Thanks for the video. I haven't tried a Bock feed, but I have the other two. I also have an Ebonite feed and it is hands down better than the other two that I have.
Uncle, please don't open a restaurant. Just become a stand upper 🤣Love ❤️
Finally, new review video from Penboyroy!!
Thank you. I hope it helped. Forgot how much I liked doing them.
Call of Cthulhu: Kuh-thu-lhu although at one point in a letter, Lovecraft also wrote that it was pronounced it as Kuh-luh, so don't fret it. I think the current pronunciation came over time.
You were supposed to say braided wire cable, just like automotive hoses , that is why it’s Formula M!
Oh, for the love of Cthulhu’s tentacled beard! I have 4 Innova , ballpoint, rollerball, and a blue fountain in Fine, and anniversary special in EF ! Love them. Girth, heft, metal grip and price! Monteverde EF and Lamy EF nibs are both broader than Sheaffer ‘regular’ fine nibs
I have this pen in the rainbow with a stub nib. I'd have to say I have a general beef with black nibs on any pen. the coating on the nib used to make it black causes the pen to be too slippery and does not provide a crisp line but a mushy line that is not cearly defined. I've only ever been disappointed by black nibs and will make a point to never buy another.
Excellent review. I have a number of pens from Monteverde / Conklin. The nibs have improved over the years in my estimation., with the exception of the Omniflex. I do wish they would use the Jowo Elastic nib in its place. Also, Jowo makes a #8 nib, I believe. The All-American model could easily handle such a nib.
No problem with my carbon fiber Innova, nor any other of my other Monteverde pens. Thanks for the review.
I have the new 25 yr Anniversary Lightning edition of the Innova Formula M in rainbow with black trim and LOVE IT. Mine has a black JoWo Omniflex nib that is the best nib yet for me... super smooth writer. My first FP was a Monteverde Olympia "tiger eye" with a triangular grip that I also love, but after nearly 25 yrs it's closure no longer snaps aka too loose and pen dries out. This cap is VERY tight, in fact hard to pull off but snaps back on very nicely. Maybe MV over-compensated given the problem over time? I'm delighted with mine, not too "flexi"... near perfection. Call it my heavy metal pen. Best unposted for me (woman with smaller hands.) PS -- I agree with your thoughts in Ep 191 and jotted down some response. I'll post later today on that video. Thanks for all you do, especially teasing Oddo! Write ON 🖋
First, I am so so sorry for the loss of your beloved Stewie. 😢 This pen is super cool. I don't have one in my own collection, but I will purchase one for my son, who recently discovered fountain pens (YAY!). He's currently serving our country and has a Lamy Safari, but he wants something a little more substantial. THIS may be the pen for him. Thanks for another great review!
Ku-thoo-loo
I agree with you, I started a similar journey to you, reviewing fountain pens, always increasing in price. Now I have so many 'beginner fountain pens' which I don't really use. I have accepted I'll use my favourites for penpals and journaling but otherwise I'm no longer in the loop of looking at new releases, of checking the Goulet site my next purchase. I want to continue to make content but will also most likely pivot away from reviews aside from the odd new ink. Pen pals is my main recommendation to get back to the basics of why you fell in love with writing with a fountain pen and using nice paper. The tactile feel, the slow methodical act of writing someone a letter, it's so personal compared to an email or text. Now I don't care if I'm using a Lamy Safari or Montblanc 149, I just write with what I feel like on the day.
I recently sent an email to Retro 51 Fountain Pen Makers requesting "How about making a fountain pen to commemorate WWII U.S. Army 442nd Japanese American's contribution to our freedom? " Hoping you can agree to support this request to create a fountain pen to commemorate U.S. Amry 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
My Retro 51 Tornado Exclusive Coffee pen just arrived! I have #170. I love it! Inked with Noodlers Shikior Muruai. It is a blackish green for the win!
As for the XMusk, looks like a Jinhao cartridge--and I have a few converters from Jinhao that have a resemblance to Lamy ones as well. As for writing...a right-handed person will slant right, particularly in cursive. Slanting left for a right hand person takes effort--perhaps intentionally. I think the size might have something valid, but the rest ...I'd say its in the eye of the beholder.
Most young people I know have hideous, unintelligible handwriting despite being otherwise neat and tidy people. So their sloppy writing reveals ignorance, a lack of knowledge or concern over how their writing looks or what it might inadvertently reveal about them. Speaking only for myself, my writing reflects that I am old, that I grew up in time where good penmanship not only mattered but was a line item on my school report card. When I’m excited my writing is fast and not as neat. When journaling I’m in a slower and more peaceful headspace and my writing is at its best. I take my time over the letters for the sheer joy of writing. I feel happy when I see beautiful handwriting and I feel sad when I see sloppy handwriting and very sad for those who are adults and do not even know how to write cursive.
I feel ya! I feel like you speak for me as well!! I wonder if it’s adults with poor hand writing simply don’t try, or simply don’t know how to write cursive nicely? Maybe both?
6:26 - I had to rewind a couple times. I thought you said twerk filler.
Thanks. Now I can’t in-hear it.
It's funny as I just came across some videos here about Graphology. Your current emotional and physical state undoubtedly influence your writing just as they would influence any type of physical performance. So maybe there some validity in that it could be useful to gauge how you're doing at a particular time. Now I'm not a medical professional or scientist, but I have a hard time believing that this could in anyway be accurate in performing an in-depth analysis of someone's personality. Especially when based off of a cold reading without knowing anything about the writer or how the sample was collected. Perhaps with a larger writing sample collected under controlled or at least supervised conditions maybe.
Sounds science-y sir. I think you may be on to something.
I just though my erratic hand writing was due to poor posture when writing combined with several decades of poor writing muscle memories. Since beginning seriously the fountain pen and with many hours of practice my writing is becoming more legible. Whit hot cherrie picking a few point, I call bunk. I am not a podcast type guy, but this was fun. On pens, what’s up with black nibs? I have a few, most, but not all, are esthetically pleasing, but they are all nails, some I am not a fan. Maybe I just haven’t experienced the right one.
Could be the coating of the black nib is on the tip causing the scratchiness?
It sounds very horoscopey to me
Agreed. Horoscopy indeed… I got good words.
It not obvious to me how much of "graphology" is actually data based (correlating actual handwriting and personality tests/assesments) and how much is just made up. I suspect a lot of it is just made up.
I agree. I feel like it’s all too vague and often applicable to anyone that thinks about it. It’s like “if you write too fast, it means you’re tired when you wake up” type of thing.
I have found over the yeas that handwriting analysis is about as useful as astrology charts...on the upper examination i would consider your handwriting a #1 and #4
Thanks for the feedback. I am not convinced with most of it. But #1 and #4 sounds right.
I think that maybe 50-90% of office jobs are redundant and that the person who was employed for this work was among them. There probably are _very_ general insights to be gleaned from handwriting but I don't think they would be revealed to the general public and I'm very confident that they're not horoscope-type "you do this thing. THAT'S GREAT!" vs. "They do that thing. THAT'S GREAT!" platitudes. I've seen studies of the handwriting of serial killers and mass murderers that are kind of similar to what you relayed from the article: a list of like 20 features that any randomly selected member of the public also probably has. What I do think could be determined would be mood, focus, attention to detail, willingness to dedicate effort to mundane tasks, and those sorts of things. It takes a degree of effort to learn and then to perform consistent cursive, with each lower and upper letter the correct height, at the correct angle, and with the right loops. You might also determine creativity; I've noticed that some artists invent their own capital letters, for example.
Haven’t watched yet but my handwriting says “must try harder” about me.
Lol
Hey Roy, you threw me a curve ball. The way you were talking I thought you were going to rag on the Monteverde Innova Formula M. I was thinking gosh, I like my Innova Formula M. As for the Visconti Homo Sapiens, I've always wanted one of the Lava pens, but have avoided buying one due to their inconsistency in quality. Instead I bought a Waldmann Titan with a fine point nib and i'm very happy with the Titan. Roy, your Esties you showed in the video looked like they are the rose gold version. I wonder if this is something inherent to the rose gold?
They were not rose gold. But I’ve seen it in yellow gold and rose gold.
"... and it can be yours for the small price of all your organs!"
Each week I rotate 3 fountain pens that I will use during the week. Every day I will start with a new page in my journal and write down ideas, but also any objections I express during meetings. Some people are immune to advice and it’s always the same people that come crying later on. So I write date/time when I objected to a proposal or given advice on another direction. Working from home 100% so that’s a great help keeping me from fountain pen burnout.
That's a great idea! I should start recording the crybabies I deal with at work too.
What ruins a fountain pen for me is a bad ink experience. What ruins an ink for me is a pen that lets it down.
A double whammy right there!
As far as brand loyalty, I tend to bear a grudge. That's a character flaw on my part, I know, but for example, I will not give TWSBI any more of my money after that episode about threatening other pen makers over a stolen copyright that they didn't own in the first place, and the victim wasn't doing a direct lift of TWSBI's design anyhow. I don't like bullying, so I won't buy their pens, never mind that they are mostly ugly. I had a less than pleasant experience with a pen that failed right away, that I bought from a retailer you mentioned, which came from a brand you mentioned. I was given the wrong contact by the retailer and told to deal with them. The retailer abandoned me. Customer support? None. The person at the brand's owner gave me the runaround, too. I have bought a lot of stuff from them, but now I'm hesitant. I also have some pens that resemble high-priced models, though it's usually easy to spot them as imitators. Design elements from, for instance, the Safari, show up in pens with similar designs. For all I know, they may be made in the same factories. But they are not marked with the brand name and usually have a different brand on them. You might see something from a retailer who puts out social media and you ignore that, or buy from a different retailer when the guys who made the two and a half hour long video, about where they took their kids over the weekend, doesn't have the color or nib size in stock and you want the item sooner, you aren't harming them. It's advertising, just like ads with music that a creator worked hard to produce and now it's pushing deodorant or toothpaste is hurt if you get some other brand of personal goo. A retailer from whom I bought a set of Osmiroid nibs and pen took me into his office and introduced me to his gorgeous multicolor betta fish. Will I buy from him again? Yes. But I would have, regardless. Now that Tom has abandoned you to your guns and your guilt, bring back the pets. Way more interesting than tire tread or whatever's in the background. Ok? Ok. I'm finifhed now. Maybe this makes sense.
Rant received. Thanks! Good points.
My version (bought at the end of the last year) has a metal sleeve that protects the converter. I've never realized it wasn't always like that.
I will be disappointed if my new out-of-the-box pen doesn't write as expected; however, if I think that the problem can be fixed with my tinkering, then I'll make the attempt. The Homo Sapiens I purchased a few years ago wrote very well right after being filled, but a page or so later it would skip constantly, and at times it would not even start writing, as if the ink had run out. A very unpleasant experience. I tried tuning the nib, using different inks, different papers, but the results were always the same. I put the pen away. Last month I pulled the pen out of purgatory and gave it another go. Turns out the tines were not parallel but slightly splayed, as an inverted V over the paper. Pulled the nib out tweaked the tines and made them parallel to each other. I didn't see that flaw back then, or maybe I didn't know to look for it. Now the writing is glorious. The 23K palladium nib is truly a dream to write with. So do I value the pen less or more? Definitely not less. It writes as it was meant to write and I had a hand at making it so. I feel like I've strengthen the bond between that pen and me.
Yeah I have been going threw this right now with the visconti HS to. Its Very frustrating that such a expensive pen doesn't write out of the box due to tines being pressed so tightly together that shims aren't even helping. Lol but the worst part is this is a replacement because the original pen I bought had issues that I could actually live with, but because of how much money spent on it I decided to reach out and have them replace it. And now I'm in a worse position. So yeah it definitely ruined it for me, even if I get it fixed. But anyways thanks for your videos, I enjoy watching you! And I'm sorry about your friends. I will pray for them!
Thank you my friend. Prayers please.
Great How To PenBoyRot. What thickness is the brass shim? I’m think a few thousands of an inch.
Coming back to your thought experiment. If you have a fountain pen you love and that is also technically top quality, what do you expect from buying the same model again? I mean, aside from the collectors attempt of "owing all variants of this model". Let's analyze: 1) Your second pen disappoints you - for whatever reason: you regret having bought it and you take the discomfort of reclamation. 2) Your second pen has exactly the same properties as the first. What have you won now? In my subjective opinion, you have at least diluted the pleasure you had with the first. 3) Your second pen is different in the writing experience but is also of top quality. OK, you now have two variations of a pen where you have a choice of taking the one that fits best to your current mood. What I like to tell is: don't buy another model of a fountain pen you like, if you are satisfied or even happy with the first and if you are a user, not a collector. The chances are only 1 out of 3 cases where you may win something. And if the Japanese pens are so uniform, your chances are even worse.
I “fixed” 2 of nibs and I love that I did. I have not thought about it since. I will say though, I was a bit annoyed at how my Pelikan m600 did not write as I expected out of the box even after I tried the m600 with the same nib size at a physical store before pulling the trigger. Mine writes thicker and less smooth and maybe that is considered an acceptable level of variation but I remember I was a little disappointed.
I know this feeling for sure. This reason makes me buy the pen I try as opposed to the same pen even though it’s new.