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Thread: Pelikan M205 review

  1. #21
    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    I agree that the M2xx pens are great value, especially used ones for half MSRP. It is my ongoing experience that EF-nibbed Pelikans in the M2xx (and M4xx/M7xx/M101) size will write for a very long time before requiring a refill. Of course, that applies generally to other EF pens, too!

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  3. #22
    Senior Member azkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    Fair point about my ink capacity adjective. I guess I will have to measure and compare some cartridges and this pen. I will put it in the queue.

    As to the nib drying out, I suppose more scientific experiments are needed here too. Maybe a couple of specific inks, and a few different pens. I'll put it on my to do list. Meanwhile I will qualify the statement further.

    As for my statements about size, this is a review. It should go without saying that anything that isn't fact is opinion. And since it's a review, I am allowed—expected, even—to state my subjective opinion. I even explain why I hold the opinion about size.

    I thought surely all readers who favor different sized pens would take my statement as personal opinion.

    My experience of having bought a set of three Wing Sung 3003 pens was that all three broke within hours of use. The sections cracked and leaked ink. Bad batch perhaps. Or poor materials. Or poor tolerances.

    I am impressed with the Wing Sung nibs above and a few standalones (one is in a Pilot Metro) plus a different style in the the 3008 (which also cracked at the section after about 8 months). The converters seem fine.

    The fit and finish of the 3003 pens was pretty poor compared to more expensive pens as one would expect. It is moot if the pen breaks.

    Anyway, hopefully you have better luck with your Wing Sung pens.

    I am not saying low cost Chinese pens can't be nice. My 4 Jinhao 51A pens have been a good value.

    Maybe you should do a review on the 3003 pens.

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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    Quote Originally Posted by azkid View Post
    Fair point about my ink capacity adjective. I guess I will have to measure and compare some cartridges and this pen. I will put it in the queue.
    Lots of people have measured. It comes out usually at 1.2ml. A Pilot cart is 0.9 and a Parker is 1.4. Pelikans have wet nibs and run broad, so in practice a Pilot cartridge pen will probably write further. People assume expensive piston fillers are large capacity, but it just isn't true.

    As to the nib drying out, I suppose more scientific experiments are needed here too. Maybe a couple of specific inks, and a few different pens. I'll put it on my to do list. Meanwhile I will qualify the statement further.
    I think it's another example of confirmation bias, I'm afraid. It's entirely human and happens to all of us. If you pay more for a pen, you're more prone to noticing how it behaves and ascribing any favourable surprises to the extra whack of moolah you spent. I use my pens for making design notes, which means lots of long pauses for thought and research. I've stopped worrying about capping during these pauses because I've never had a pen dry out. (I use Pilots, Chinese Pilot clones, and the Baoer 100.)

    My experience of having bought a set of three Wing Sung 3003 pens was that all three broke within hours of use. The sections cracked and leaked ink. Bad batch perhaps. Or poor materials. Or poor tolerances.
    It sounds to me like you bought from someone who was selling QC rejects. Buy on ebay from a reputable seller, get your money back if there's a problem. Of the 5 I've bought, one came with a damaged finial: that was it. And I use them as very roughly treated workhorse pens. The total cost was about $15 compared to, what, $700 for that many Pelikan M200s? And Pelikan isn't exactly known for faultless build quality, either. In fact, all of the 3003s came with better nibs the M205 reviewed seems to have done. It's very hard to see where the extra $685 I'd have spent with Pelikan would have gone. Even if I wanted a piston filler, there's the Wing Sung 698 - full size, easy to clean, can use the whole range of Pilot super quality nibs including cursive italics from the Pluminix, very well reviewed - and $20. Reviews should be objective considerations of pens for people who might want to buy them, and the big objective question for the M200 series is why would you buy one when they're something like ten times the cost of very high quality competitors? You need to consider readers who are looking for pens and don't know much about them yet.

    I thought surely all readers who favor different sized pens would take my statement as personal opinion
    Yes. Everyone will take everything you say as your opinion. But if someone new to fp's finds this page by google, he or she could easily be mislead by merely "perfect size" - because people don't expect pen size to be such an issue when they're starting out. I think when you're talking about a pen in this price range you need to remember people like this and write "Perfect size for my whatever-size hands and tastes (eg I tend to like slimmer pens than most people with my hand size.)" I'd simply never, ever say "perfect size" and leave at that - it's never useful to anyone else unless they know the hand size you left out, and it can be harmful.
    Last edited by ilikenails; April 7th, 2020 at 04:46 AM.

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    Senior Member grainweevil's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    Quote Originally Posted by ilikenails View Post
    I think it's another example of confirmation bias, I'm afraid. It's entirely human and happens to all of us.
    It certainly does.

    Interesting review, azkid - very much appreciate you taking the time to come back and update it with your opinion after a period of time.
    In the words of Paul Simon, you can call me Al.

  7. #25
    Senior Member azkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    Quote Originally Posted by ilikenails View Post
    Lots of people have measured. It comes out usually at 1.2ml. A Pilot cart is 0.9 and a Parker is 1.4.
    In the spirit of certainty and avoiding misinformation online I plan to measure them myself. I already found conflicting information about a couple of cartridges.

    Quote Originally Posted by ilikenails View Post
    Pelikans have wet nibs and run broad, so in practice a Pilot cartridge pen will probably write further. People assume expensive piston fillers are large capacity, but it just isn't true.
    My Pilot Stargazer writes wetter than my M205 which was writing quite dry out of the box. I have quite a few wetter writers. Yes, the dozen higher cost Pelikans I've tried all wrote pretty wet. Not this one.

    Anyway I've updated my post to correct the information about ink capacity. I agree that is misleading to new and old and prospective fountain pen users alike.

    Quote Originally Posted by ilikenails View Post
    It sounds to me like you bought [the Wing Sung 3003] from someone who was selling QC rejects. Buy on ebay from a reputable seller, get your money back if there's a problem. Of the 5 I've bought, one came with a damaged finial: that was it. And I use them as very roughly treated workhorse pens. The total cost was about $15 compared to, what, $700 for that many Pelikan M200s? And Pelikan isn't exactly known for faultless build quality, either. In fact, all of the 3003s came with better nibs the M205 reviewed seems to have done. It's very hard to see where the extra $685 I'd have spent with Pelikan would have gone.
    Like I said before, I think you should write your own review of the 3003 or 698 including why you feel it is a good value and how to find a reputable seller out of the sea of Wing Sung sellers on eBay.

    Quote Originally Posted by ilikenails View Post
    Reviews should be objective considerations of pens for people who might want to buy them, and the big objective question for the M200 series is why would you buy one when they're something like ten times the cost of very high quality competitors? You need to consider readers who are looking for pens and don't know much about them yet.
    You seem to claim the 3003, 698 etc. are high quality competitors. As I said that wasn't my experience. I can only write from my experience.

    Maybe I will change my mind about Wing Sung pens if only someone (hint: you) were to write a few good, objective reviews with tips on how to avoid the QC rejects you mention.

    I think when you're talking about a pen in this price range you need to remember people like this and write "Perfect size for my whatever-size hands and tastes (eg I tend to like slimmer pens than most people with my hand size.)"
    I will correct it.

    I look forward to your pen reviews and critiques of other reviews.

    Thanks for the input!
    Last edited by azkid; April 7th, 2020 at 09:06 AM.

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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    I appreciated the review, and I know how to use my mind to filter empirical data from subjective opinion. I like getting both.

    Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

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  10. #27
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    I just want to give my two cents on this pen; when I first got the M205 (EF, clear demo in silver tone)... I never felt so giddy with a pen before.

    I even like it more than my M805 (also EF in clear demo) - while the M805 writes a bit better with the 18k gold nib (one might say a lot better), it is so (relatively) expensive that I feel like I have to baby it... but I don't have this worry with the M205.

    Yes it is still expensive, especially when you are in the beginning of your FP journey, but relatively speaking, it isn't. [I would say I am at the near-end or middle of my FP journey - I've played with almost all brands now).


    Ok, some facts:

    - piston filler, great ink capacity - a big practical and aesthetic plus imo
    - nib writes very well, but not as well as the Pilot Metropolitan/Lamy Safari - but that is only my opinion - that only goes to show how good Pilot Metro and Lamy Safari is
    - stroke-wise, the M205 EF writes more like a Pilot Metro medium, and is about the same as the Lamy Safari steel EF (using the same ink, but then again this may vary depending on the ink used)
    - smaller pen, a good one and a half centimeter smaller than a Lamy Safari, but it's endearing and cute that way
    - fairly lightweight and portable, good for travelling or taking quick notes; I personally wouldn't use it for extended writing as I am used to a wider grip size
    - the size is just right (length-wise anyways) when you post it - and this pen posts perfectly; how to describe this, you feel that the cap just gets sucked in like it was designed to be posted
    - it is a screw cap, and the threads are beautifully smooth

    It's kind of hard to defend it when I just said that the M205 nib [EF] writes a bit worse than the Pilot Metro [M] and Lamy Safari [EF] (but as you know nibs are not always that consistent even within the same brand and model... so this may be different for you, and comparing nibs is such a tricky subjective thing, because you'd have to try all inks and papers etc.). Also, it is possible that I just haven't "broken-in" with the pen yet.

    Could it just be a giddy crush "love at first sight" thing that comes with having a new and fresh pen? Maybe... but I didn't have this feeling with the Lamy Safari or the Pilot Metro. With the Lamy Safari and Pilot Metro, when I started using it, I was like, oh yeah, it writes well, and that's it.

    When I filled up my M205 and wrote with it, yes technically it doesn't write as well as the other steel nibs out there, somehow it still manages to give me a better writing experience. This just seems so irrational, but I guess aestheically the pen has become one with me. Just the small things like how well the cap posts, the balance of the pen, the beautiful design...it makes me forgive that it doesn't write perfectly (but it still writes very well! We are just so spoiled with perfection nowadays we don't appreciate good enough). I love clear demonstrator pens (I believe I have every single one currently and previously released in the market - thankfully clear demos are relatively less expensive than other bodies like urushi), and this is by far the best one for me.

    Sorry for the ramble, but I just had the urge to give my opinion!

    P.S. this is coming from a guy who previously swore by only getting Japanese fountain pens... oh gosh I am so fickle. I am losing all credibility lol. This just goes to show that tastes do change as you go on your FP/stationery journey, not necessarily because you have changed, but because you learn more about yourself and what's out there.
    Last edited by jace; December 1st, 2020 at 08:57 AM.

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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    I have one M200, a post '97 Blue Marbled with a steel F-nib. I really like the pen (great form factor, ergos etc.), and the nib especially. It is slightly stubby, puts out a narrow line for an F, has a nice amount of feedback, no real flex to speak... but it really is so pleasant to write with. No hard starts nor skipping either.

    I mean, it ain't no 14k special sauce vintage Pelikan nib, but... it really does have a charm of it's own, a soul if you will. It feels alive instead of being a dead nail or some other random thin piece of metal with a point.

    It is currently retired (have too many inked pens already including three vintage Pelikans) and to illustrate my point further, it is one of the rare pens that I simply must dig out of storage every now and then for a sip and a spell because that nib is just that good, and also different from the others. Variety is the spice of life.

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  14. #29
    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pelikan M205 review

    Pelikan's steel nibs are among my favorite steelies.

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