Parker IM Fountain Pen Review

Another day, another pen review! This time I am reviewing the Parker IM Fountain Pen (with Gold Trim) It is sold at JetPens for a price of $28.50 USD.

If a pen were to be a car... this pen would be a Ferrari. 

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Parker IM Fountain Pen Likes

1) My first like with this pen is its build quality. Parker is known for their pens, and this pen is probably one of the reasons why their company has such a good name.  The pen is very heavy and made of high quality brass. It feels very heavy in the hand, with or without the cap posted to the top of it. 

2) My second like is this pen's nib. Unlike that Zebra pen which I reviewed previously, this nib is of high quality and does not flex or move at all. It is very solid and reacts smoothly to your hand movements. I would go close to call it almost like the tip of a knife in some ways.... but lets not go there. Pens are for peace not for war! Writing wise, the nib enables smooth writing, and is not at all scratchy or skippy.

3) The box has to count too right?  It comes packaged beautifully in a nice box that I see myself using it to hold other pens in.

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Parker IM Fountain Pen Gripes

1) Getting the ink inside this pen was a frustration. Half the ink came out on my hand because the pen failed to squeeze out the ink and let it flow. It took me a good 5 minutes to get it working.

2) The ink itself is way too wet. I am a fast writer, and the ink comes out fast, but too wet. My hands slide over my lettering and messes up my work!  Maybe this is due to the medium nib. I wish this pen came in a fine nib so my lines would be thinner and I would use less ink. The ink on this pen also bleeds through my paper. Copy paper, and lined Staples spiral notebook paper.

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FINAL VERDICT

Beautifully constructed and okay functioning. This fountain pen might not be for starters like myself. It is flashy and very nice, but its nib and function seems to be for long time fountain pen users. A wet ink and medium nib make this pen smooth for writing, but also causes smearing of letters. 

4/5 Pens

                                                                                   

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumio 4 Color Gel Ink Multi Pen Review

I am back with another review! This time I am reviewing the Pilot Hi Tec C Coleto Lumio Multi Function Pen (available from JetPens for $16.50 USD)

     

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IMPORTANT NOTE

As this image above from JetPens shows, When purchasing this pen, you are buying ONLY the pen body for the $16.50. You must purchase the inks separately to place within the body of the pen. (Covered later in this review)

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Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumo 4 Color Gel Ink Multi Pen Gripes

My First and ONLY gripe with this pen is its material. It is made up of this plasticity material that looks like brushed metal. Dont let it fool you, this is NOT a pen made of brushed metal. There is nothing on Jetpens that says it is made of metal, so at least to me it seems as if it it is made of plastic! For the price that I paid, I expected it to be a bit more heavy, but for long periods of writing, that is alright. The weight is light and that makes it easy to float in my hand when writing quick notes.

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Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Lumo 4 Color Gel Ink Multi Pen Likes

1) My first like with this pen is how smoothly is glides along the paper. The pen accepts proprietary gel ink cartridges that I find to work very well. The ink is very smooth and comes in various sizes. I prefer the 0.4mm ink because that ink produces a fine line that is perfect for journaling or writing in limited space. The nibs of the ink on this pen are also needle like, that means even less ink will come out, and the line will be very small. This 0.4mm extra small nib is one of my personal favorites because of said reason. 

                                                     

2) My second like with this pen is that it accepts different colored ink. Of course this is a Multi-pen, but it is simply not a regular multi function pen. The colors are not limited to the usual Red Green  Blue  Black. This pen accepts multiple colors. As seen here, I purchased a set that includes 10 colors. They're including but are not limited to the colors: Sky Blue, Pink, Brown, and Purple. It makes sense to purchase this 10 color set for the $16.50 because you'll get a variety of colors that will last a very long time! It has been about two months since I purchased the inks, and they have not dried out.  If you're opting for something more cheap to fill the barrel of this pen (times are tough aren't they?) you can purchase individual inks for a price of $2.20. 

3)My third like with this pen is its system! Loading the inks into the pen is also simple, simply lift the cap of the pen up, and insert the inks in. It is spring loaded, so you'll know when everything is secure and safe. The only minor issue is that the cap is hard to open... but you'll get it open eventually.  Be warned though, DO NOT SCREW THE PEN APART. I do not know why Pilot made the midsection of the pen screwable (as the picture in the bottom left above shows); the section that screws is made up of plastic, and can easily break. 

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FINAL VERDICT

For $16.50 you're not getting one pen... you're getting FOUR pens in one. Although cheaply constructed, this pen 100% is worth the money and works flawlessly.

5/5 PENS  

Zebra V-301 Fountain Pen Review

At the checkout line at a local Walgreens, I saw a Zebra V-301 Fountain Pen for $5.45 (US Dollars).

Although I am new to fountain pens ( I have a whole set of them coming from JetPens soon) I thought I'd try this out before my order from Jetpens arrives in the mail.

However, before I continue the review... and in case you're wondering, heres a look at what I am expecting to arrive, and will be reviewing soon!

Parker IM Fountain Pen with Gold Trim - Medium Nib - Black

Lamy SafariFountain Pen - Extra Fine Nib - Shiny Black Body

Lamy SafariFountain Pen - Fine Nib - Charcoal Black Body

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ZEBRA V-301 GRIPES

Back to the Zebra Pen now.  My main gripe with this pen is the nib of the pen. For starters, the nib is made of stainless steel, and in my opinion is way too soft. But I think that this is probably due to the fact that its supposed to flex to  how you hold the pen.

Secondly, my other major gripe with this pen is the ink. The Ink cartridges are proprietary and are not universal. Basically, once the ink is finished, you'll have to buy directly from Zebra if you want to refill 

it.  Getting the ink in however, is pretty easy. Simply push down on it, and screw it inside the barrel. Easy for a beginner to Fountain pens like me! 

Thirdly, my MAJOR gripe with this pen is the fact that it skips when you write. Right out of packaging, I expected this to work fine, but it did not. It was very scratchy and did not put down a nice line without extreme effort and scratching in my notebook to get it to work. I guess what this means is that the ink flow is very terrible with this pen. However, on plain copy paper, it seemed to have written better, maybe this is because the surface is smoother?  Also, the line it put down was very thick, and to make matters worse, the packaging did not make it clear what kind of nib it was. 

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ZEBRA V-301 LIKES

At the end of the day though, this pen is beautifully constructed, and that my friends is what I really like! The silver plasticy look is what caught my eye, and what made me purchase this pen in the first place.  It is constructed of stainless steel and has a durable plastic grip. (I find the grip annoying, it hurts my fingers)

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ZEBRA V-301 FINAL VERDICT

My final verdict is that for $5.45 this is what you get... a entry line, well constructed, but terribly functioning fountain pen. 

2/5 PENS