New Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen Review

Almost exactly three years ago, I reviewed the original Pilot Petit1 fountain pen. Needless to say, I was not a fan at that time, but I have learned a lot of things since then. First and foremost, Moleskine paper is not fountain pen friendly. I alluded to that fact in the original review, but never followed up on different paper - until now.

The new line of the popular Pilot Petit series just recently came out, and included the traditional Petit1 fountain pen, but also added the Petit2 marker pen, and Petit3 brush pen. I went with the Petit1 first because I wanted to give it another shot, and this time on some good paper!

Doane Paper has been my go to paper for years, and the Pilot Petit1 works like a champ on it. I chose blue black ink to test first (why is it that I think all fountain pens are supposed to have blue black ink?), and with its fine nib the Petit1 performed impressively, and I might even say flawlessly.

I got very clean and sharp lines on the Doane Paper. The ink dried into the page quickly, and while there was some show through on the back of the page, there was no bleeding through to the next page behind it. I also tested it on a Rhodia Dot Pad, and it performed superbly as well. The ink doesn't soak into the fibers of the Rhodia as much, so the line is finer, but doesn't dry as quickly.

Pilot has done a great job reintroducing the Petit line, making it fun and affordable for everyone to try out refillable fountain pens, marker pens, and brush pens. I can't wait to see more reviews on these.

Products used:

Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen - White Body - $3.00 from JetPens

Pilot Petit Pen Refill Cartridge Blue Black - $2.25 from JetPens

Doane Paper Writing Pad - $10.95/3-pack from Doane Paper

Pilot Vpen Disposable Fountain Pen Review

Pilot has a big share of the disposable fountain pen market, so despite the fact I am not a big fountain pen user, I thought I would give the Pilot Vpen a try. The Platinum Preppy is the disposable fountain pen which I compare all others to, and I thought the Pilot Petit mini fountain pen was one of the worst I had used, so where will the Vpen land on my somewhat out of kilter scale?

In the look and feel department, the Vpen is a winner. Pilot takes a simplistic approach to pen design, but they do it very well. If you have ever used a Pilot V5 pen before, then you will know how the Vpen feels in the hand, but just a fraction wider. You pretty much always know what you are going to get with Pilot in this department, and the Vpen is no different.

When initially putting the nib to the page, I was pretty impressed with how the Vpen performed. My preference would have been a fine or extra fine nib, but this medium nib wasn't all that bad. In fact, it was pretty darn good. The ink flowed immediately, the lines were solid and consistent, and there was minimal bleed or feathering. The blue ink was a really nice shade as well.

While the Platinum Preppy may still be my first choice due to the added nib options, the Pilot Vpen is an excellent disposable fountain pen.

Review: Noodler's Flexible Nib Piston-Fill Fountain Pen

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

Noodler's Flexible Nib Piston-Fill Fountain Pen is an exciting product unique to its price range.  It costs approximately $14 plus shipping from online retailers - if you can find it in stock.  Both Goulet Pens and I Sell Pens are out of stock at the time of writing but will put you on an email re-stock notification list.  

Besides the clear demonstrator model shown, it also comes in various colors.

In short, this pen is a little bit wonderful and a little bit a pain in the neck.

The body is simple and sturdy, certainly aimed more towards functionality than beauty.  The piston-fill mechanism is easy to use and loads up a fair amount of ink.  The nib leaks a little bit while not in use (note the splatter visible in the photo of the capped pen), but the cap seals well so there have been no accidents.  The tip can draw a very fine line all the way up to a super bold line, and man is it fun to use for making fancy letters.

The drawback of this pen is that there can be flow issues. Even after washing the entire pen out multiple times with soap and warm water, it was a struggle getting it to write consistently. This sample was made with J. Herbin's Poussiere de Lune, and I got similar results using Noodler's Antietam.  Note that some of the letters just... peter out.

This may partially be a matter of getting accustomed to using a flex pen, which requires some care to be taken with angle and speed.  After pages and pages of tests, I did manage to do the animal sketches below using Noodler's Antietam without quite so much trouble as is evidenced by the above writing sample.

 

After a lot of efforts to make this pen behave with the J. Herbin and Noodler's inks, I obtained Waterman's South Seas Blue ink, which is recommended as one of the most free flowing inks around. It did seem to help and enabled some casual sketching on the bus at something close to my regular speed.  Note that because this pen can lay down a broad line, it's especially susceptible to smearing.

After the above sketches I switched back to Antietam to confirm that what I consider a "regular" flowing ink has problems in this pen, and it was absolutely true - the sketch on the right was laborious to make.  I switched back to South Seas Blue to produce the small drawing below, and perhaps you'll see from the sketchiness of that drawing that I was moving much more quickly and it basically worked, though even then the pen ran dry a couple of times.  If your hand moves more slowly than mine as you sketch or write, you'll probably have an easier time of it, but it's still going to be a good idea to use an ink that is reputed to be fast flowing.

One other thing about this pen - it smells terrible, straight out of the box.  Before you use it, take it apart (remove the nib and the plastic feed behind the nib, and unscrew the body parts) and give all the pieces a good, thorough wash with warm water and soap.

The bright side of the Noodler's Flex is that the variable width of the line gives a very distinctive look to any drawing made with it, and that's a lot of fun.  With an ink that shades, the results are reminiscent of bamboo pen drawings but with a more precise minimum width.  This is a perfect pen for showing off a beautiful ink.

When you want a smooth, reliable line you can just go to town with, this pen isn't the one to grab - but if you want an intriguing style that will give your sketches or writing a different look than you've been able to generate before and you don't mind working slowly, the Noodler's flex will provide new and unique opportunities.

Note: If you own a Noodler's flex pen and don't have the flow problems I've talked about, please post a comment and let us know!  Maybe I got a bad nib; maybe there are a lot of other inks that will work well; I'd love to hear more happy stories about this pen especially regarding using it for drawing.