Pelikan M200 Cognac Review

I had bought the m200 cognac with its stock Italic nib to replace my old rotring ArtPen. I have to simultaneously admit that the only reason for going with an italic and somewhat flexible nib was to try it out and learn something new. The cognac was launched last year as a special edition and the dazzling golden hues allured me. These were quite vibrant compared to the earlier tones of a lighter Amber demo. 

DESIGN - LET’S DRINK TO THAT (5/6)

The m200 cognac shimmers in honey gold and its golden loops dazzle in absolute harmony. Lack of ambient light makes it adorn darker hues of brown. 

The cognac colours are remarkably darker and more vibrant than the amber hues of a Pilot Custom 823.

The radiance is matched throughout the pen starting with a golden gleam from the finial area and the pelican beak through the cap band before finally converging with the piston ring. When its an m400 the loops multiply into two.

The cap is light and unscrews with less than a complete turn which I like very much, revealing a slightly dullish golden nib. The gold plated steel nibs somewhat lack the lustrous enchantment of a 14k souverän nib, but again a 14k nib comes at a premium. The grip is simple and reveals interior threads of a screw fit nib. The section ends with a slight bump which is usually adorned by a loop in the souverän series. The transparency reveals the plastic piston mechanism.

A gleaming tassie decorated with a protruding plastic jewel painted with a golden pelikan logo adorns the cap with its signature pelican beak-shaped clip. The single cap band succinctly carries an imprint of PELIKAN GERMANY, which is common across the classic series. The logo on the finial is the one embraced by Pelikan post 2003, that of a mother pelican and its chick, in golden paint. You can also see the distinctive lines of the cap insert.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A piston filler with a smooth & sturdy knob is embellished with a golden loop. Apart from its looks, it's an utterly efficient mechanism. The piston end unscrews with three to four rotations and it draws ink quite quickly once the piston is screwed back on. The best part being you observe the thing in action probably through honey gold lenses. A plastic spindle connector in the M2XX limits its overall weight. A M2XX fills upto 1.3 mL of ink. However, given the wet & wide flow especially of the Italic nib, it may not last for a long time. I have found the 14k nibs of the same width running wetter & wider than the steel ones. 

           Keep in mind that these piston mechanisms for M2XX/M4XX/M6XX are not supposed to be dismantled as they are friction fit under heat. In case of problems other than lubricating the piston seal, it’s better to send the pen to Pelikan Germany/Country Authorized Service Center. Pelikan does have an excellent customer service.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

The steel nib comes in a classic m200 gold plated look across five stock widths - EF, F, M, B & I (1.1). Like all the pens in the classic series, the nib has standard pelikan logo with the usual convenience of a screw-fit section.

             With standard m2xx/4xx feed, the nib-section is easy to take out for swapping or cleaning. And this golden finish is meant to converge with the cognac glimmer of the pen as well as its gold-plated trims, although its shine is rather towards the dullish side of the golden spectrum. Below the circular breather hole it carries its brandname of Pelikan as well as an encircled logo of mother pelican with a chick. The nib started flexing its tines after some use and it was quite stiff at first. The nib is tipped.

A standard black plastic feed ensures a good ink buffer for the promised wetness and prevents hard starts. No skipping or hard starts in past few months, even if it is lying unused for weeks.

While cleaning the section area, I found some of silicone grease and water trapped between inner and outer walls. Initially I was scared at the thought of a crack, but thankfully the suspect crack-line seemed to move. There is a FPN thread on this.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

It’s comfortable posted with a bit of heft and length, since the cap contributes more than a third of its weight. The capped length is around 12.5 cm. The pen does get some heft from ink inside the barrel. Incidentally, it weighs a gram less even when it shares all its dimensions closely with a m400.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 14 g (without ink)

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

The m200 Cognac retails at around USD 170 with the stock gold plated steel nibs. It is also available with 14k nibs from the m400 series. As with all pelikans, the pen is dependable and could be an everyday writer.

OVERALL (5.2/6)

The tipped & gold plated steel nib is smooth and it’s graced with a wet flow. The Italic nib was quite stiff in the beginning, but within a month of ‘light’ use, it started flexing its tines like wings of a bird, even under light pressure. Very springy of course, the horizontal lines run thinner for the Italic nib. There is a lot of ink laid by the italic nib, which take more than 1.5 minutes to dry a wet Diamine Majestic Blue ink on MD Paper. 

In case you are wondering about the quote, it's by Swami Vivekananda.

REFERENCES

Pelikan M4XX

Patent

Piston mechanisms

Ink Capacities

Thank you for going through the review. 

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Pilot’s Pocket Pen: Elite 95S Review

The Elite 95S (or E95S in US) was released as Pilot’s 95th anniversary pen in 2013, sporting a Pilot 14k nib, which is larger than a standard Pilot#5 nib. The Elite S was originally a pocket pen designed by Pilot in 1968. The second run of these pens occurred in 1974. The 95S is more of a evolution of the Elite S fountain pen and as it was launched 95 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918) it does carry the first two digits of the model number as ‘95’ with the S and the third digit is by default ‘1’ usually refers price at launch of the pen (i.e 1 X JPY 10,000). It’s referred as the E95S in the US market due to copyright obligations.

                    The Elite 95S (for the Asian market, Model #FES-1MM-DR/B-EF/F/M) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which is usually more of a protection rather than presentation.

DESIGN - FOR YOUR POCKET (6/6)

The E95S comes in two standard designs of acrylic resin with a double anodised aluminium cap - Black, Deep Red (or burgundy) in gold plated trims. The acrylic resin material feels sturdy but light, I guess a defining feature for a light pocket pen sharing one dimension with your shirt pocket. You will definitely like the E95S if you like Kaweco Sport pens.

The tapered geometry starts with a flattened finial of a pearly cap (with a hint of red shade) with a gold plated clip syncing nicely with concentric cap bands and a differentiated ring from the section before it concludes with burgundy of the barrel. The glossy red resin shines moderately under light and creates a good contrast with the cap. This pen seems to preserve a vintage look both in terms of design and make. The cap is light and and can be pulled out quite smoothly, revealing a big dazzling gold nib.

The grip section is moulded from the same burgundy resin and a thick golden step announces its beginning as well as the end stop for posting the cap. But as usual, the nib dazzles out the rest. The posted pen gains considerable length and renders both beauty and a deep red contrast to the pearly finish of the cap. 

The snap cap with a slightly domed finial preserves a rather classical look. A few things etched across the lower band of the cap includes the model name of Elite on one side and PILOT & JAPAN on the other. Two concentric bands of golden paint render aesthetics to the entire pen, as the cap is quite significant for this pen. The spring loaded clip with an associate loop, has a rectangular top view with geometrical cuts. It’s engraved with PILOT vertically. The design of the clip is reminiscent of older Pilot pens. 

FILLING SYSTEM (5/6)

The barrel unscrews from the section which has a metallic insert carrying the necessary threads for syncing with the resin threads inside the barrel. One of those rare pens, in which the section is considerably longer than its barrel.

The pen takes only pilot CON-20 (0.5 mL) converter and pilot proprietary cartridges (0.9 mL) because of its size limitations.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

The nib is inset and comes in a 14k design across three stock widths - EF, F & M. The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. It has no other scrollwork apart from branding and nib specs. By the way, the productions are limited to 5000 pieces and that’s why you mostly see 413 (April-2013) as timestamp (or monthstamp) on these nibs.

     All branding and nib specs namely 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy), PILOT, along with the nib width & country of manufacture i.e JAPAN are imprinted below the breather hole. The tines are relatively short, given the longish nib. While this was not the best of nibs I had from Pilot, I have asked the seller for a replacement.

A partially enclosed or rather hooded bluish grey plastic feed with big feeder hole provides ink suction and a decent buffer.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

This is a pocket pen and measures only around 12 cm closed. It is meant to be posted for writing and in addition to the length the cap does add some weight. Though the cap itself is quite light and weighs only 6 grams, the snap mechanism does make it a quick note scribbler. The grip is comfortably tapered ending with a longish nib.

• Closed ~ 12 cm
• Uncapped Length ~ 10.5 cm
• Posted Length ~ 14.7 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2.4 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 17 g (without converter)

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a Pelikan m200 cognac go below for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE (6/6)

The E95S retails at around USD 136 in the US, although it sell at USD 100 or even less, in Japanese shops like Engeika or Rakuten. I had bought the first pen from Engeika’s Indian Arm - Pensindia. It’s a definite VFM pen. 

OVERALL (5.4/6)

The fine nib has some feedback but is graced with a moderate flow. Although pilot does not associate any softness with these nibs, these nibs are quite springy and have a decent amount of flex, the leverage coming from their unique shape. The verticals can grow thicker with slight pressure. The nib has a moderate flow, taking less than 25 seconds to dry a wet Diamine Majestic Blue ink on MD Paper. The paper grids are 5 mm squares.

PS - I got the fine nib replaced with a medium one, since I felt that it was giving more than the usual levels of feedback. The medium nib has the same springiness/softness but runs quite on the broader side. I am happy with this nib, though people who prefer pilot fine and medium nibs might find this width a bit too broad for their taste.

Thank you for going through the review.

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A Review of the rOtring Freeway

Rotring is a German company that never seems to need any introduction. Just for the sake of this post I am writing a few lines of history. It was started in 1928 with a tubular tipped stylographic fountain pen commonly known as Tiku and was incorporated as Titenkuli Handels GmbH. Later in the 1984, the calligraphic ArtPen was introduced, which was followed by the more famous and most sought after 600 series fountain pens (the architect’s fountain pen). There were a few changes in name in between and you can find their historical timeline here. In 1998, it was taken over by Sanford US, a part of Newell Rubbermaid Inc which also owns brands like Parker and Waterman. Rotring stopped manufacturing fountain pens soon after this acquisition. And yes of course, rot ring literally translates into red ring, which can be seen in almost all its writing instruments.

The Freeway was one such pen which was released when the company had already started diversifying into writing instruments. It is equipped with a rotring standard steel nib. A corresponding rollerball, ballpoint and a mechanical pencil were also released. 

DESIGN - THE BRUSHED METALLICS (5/6)

The Freeway comes in four different colours, all in matte finish - blue, ruby red, silver and black. 

An aluminium body renders substantial weight to this pen. The pen has a cigar shape with a rather conspicuous red ring at the finial. 

Once you pull the cap, it does come off with an audible click, and you have a beautifully brushed metallic grip section. The grip section is slightly tapered and at the end rests a stainless steel insert along with a steel nib.

The cap is substantial with a snap-on mechanism. A tension fit clip starts with the trademarked red ring at the finial. It has an engraved ellipse (no idea why!) with rOtring branding below. I had purchased a few freeways over a period of time and one of them had a slightly wiggly clip. A satin chrome trim gives the cap band some aesthetics.

The colours are really attractive but they can fade, come off over a period of time.

FILLING SYSTEM (4/6)

Nothing spectacular here as it’s an international cartridge converter system. A brass insert inside the section houses the feed system. The construction is simply solid. A Schmidt or rotring converter fits quite snugly with the freeway section vis-a-vis other standard international converters. 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is made of stainless steel and comes in a standard rotring design. I came across only F & M widths for the freeway. I never found any other nib widths for this pen, though the same nib had a wider variety of widths for the 600. All the nibs have been wet and smooth.

A no-frills design of the nib sans any breather hole gives it a characteristic industrial look, besides the metallic parts of the pen. 

The branding and nib specifications are imprinted on either sides of the nib.

A standard black plastic feed sans any fins and a big feeder hole define the minimalistic design. 

PHYSICS OF IT (4/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

The pen feels substantial by itself but posting it makes it difficult to wield. It might feel a bit short of length. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.5 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15.5 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 1.6 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 35-40 g

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a m200 runs below for your reference. 

ECONOMIC VALUE(6/6)

I have no idea of its original retail price. I had bought the first pen at a cost of USD 6, and the subsequent ones at even lower prices! Since it has been discontinued, a lot of offline pen stores in Mumbai carry at least a few pieces of the Freeway and the Espirit. 

OVERALL (5/6)

This steel nib is a winner and is very smooth with a wet flow. The fine nib is stiff and does not have any line variation among the horizontal and vertical strokes. These wet lines take almost 35 secs to dry a Pilot blue black ink on MD paper.

Thank you for going through the review.

You can find some more pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

REFERENCES

rOtring Timeline

Tiku

600 series

Newell Rubbermaid Inc