Pilot Metropolitan White Tiger Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

The Pilot Metropolitan is one of those pens that caused quite a stir when they first hit the U.S. market. Why? Well, for me it was the price, the quality, and the feel of the pen that made it seem like such an excellent value. It's a fantastic everyday pen, a vey good choice for a first fountain pen, and a pretty good choice for a gift pen. I guess I've overlooked it in my reviews because it's just so ubiquitous and standard nowadays. But, I recently ordered a new one due to my recent predicament of only having one fountain to use. The Metropolitan seemed like the only right choice when I was trying to pick an affordable pen to use as an everyday writer for the next few weeks.

I went over to JetPens and picked out the white Metro with a fine nib, and also got a pack of Pilot Blue-black cartridges for good measure because their blue-black is one of the best. In a couple days, I was back to using a regular size pen as my everyday writer. The Liliput is a great pen, but a little too small for my taste when it comes to longer writing sessions.

Now, I purchased my first Metropolitan back in 2013 and used it heavily for several months. This review is for a new pen, but one that I've used a lot in other forms.

First off, there's the exterior of the pen, which is very simple and balanced. The original pens only came in three colors (black, silver, and gold) with three pattern options for the band (dot, zig-zag, and plain). Later on, Pilot released other designs that featured fake animal skin textures and more colors. I went with the white body and tiger print band. Personally, I love this design, but I know it's probably polarizing.

The pen has a fantastic weight since the insides of the barrel are supposedly brass. The outside is metal, probably aluminum, and I'm a huge sucker for metal bodied pens in general. In my opinion, Pilot hit a home run with this particular line of fountain pen. It's also very comfortable for me when I write — I've never had any complaints or aches when using the pen.

Apart from that, it's all about the nib. And, like I have come to expect from Pilot, it's smooth and error-free from the beginning.

My first Metropolitan has a medium nib because that's all Pilot offered in the first round. Later, they also introduced the fine nib, which is what I got this time. I've gotten to the point where I love both sizes and I pick them based on my mood. This one is no exception. Thin, crisp lines come out of this nib at a steady rate. The blue-black excels with this size nib, as you get a healthy dose of blue with just enough business feel.

For under $20, I don't think you can do better than the Metropolitan. It's a crowd-pleaser. It's about 4-times more than a Preppy, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of the Preppy in feel and performance. You can toss the Metro in the bag and not worry about it, while the Preppy will soon crack or break with minor wear.

It's also neutral compared to the Safari since it doesn't have a unique grip. And, now that they offer more color and band options, you can get one that offers a little more personality as well.

If you haven't tried out a Metro yet, you owe it to yourself to try out the fountain pen that offers the most value! It's an excellent beginner fountain pen, but it also hangs with the more expensive pens as well. It's a win-win.

Staedtler Intium Lignum Fountain Pen Review

Staedtler makes fountain pens?

That was my first reaction when Staedtler PR reached out to me asking if I wanted to take a look at their new fountain pen lineup. Ok great, this will be a school pen along the lines of the Pelikan Twist, right? A good pen, no doubt, but aimed at the beginner/student market.

Oh how all of my assumptions were wrong.

Staedtler has introduced The Intium Collection, a premiun linuep of pens which contains two fountain pen models: The Resina, with it’s sharp, irridescent resin barrel, and the one they sent me, the Lignum, a wood barrel fountain pen.

When unboxing it for the first time I was immediately impressed. The plum wood is a warm caramel color and is set off nicely by a brushed steel cap and section. The feel of the pen is rock solid as well. You pick it up and you call tell it is a well-constructed writing instrument. Every bit of it is tight and on point.

The clip design on the Staedtler Lignum is a knockout. It’s wide and long, running nearly the full length of the cap, but is set at a low profile to give it a clean, sleek look. It is tight, but not overly so, giving it the perfect pocket tension when attaching and removing. Very well implemented.

Inking it up, I was a little nervous putting the nib to the page, not knowing if the steel nib would live up to the standard the rest of the pen had already set. Once again, my worries were quickly brushed aside with the first stroke. This is one of the cleanest, sharpest writing steel extra fine nibs I have ever used. I was so impressed, I emailed my contact at Staedtler to find out more. I asked point blank who made the nib:

“Our nibs, along with all other components/articles within our Premium Collection with the exception of the inks, are manufactured in Germany. As the nibs are manufactured specially for the STAEDTLER Premium Collection, this is proprietary information.”

I figured that was as good as I was going to get. ;) It’s a splendid nib though, and it better be due to the cost of the pen.

Price is one of my main concerns with the Lignum. MSRP is $279, street price is closer to $225. For a steel nib pen at that price it better be good, and this one is. Still, perceived value will be at the forefront of most buying decisions, and many will balk when they can get a gold nib pen for half the cost in some instances. In situations like this, I always like to refer people to Brian Gray’s excellent article “In Praise Of Steel Nibs.”

My other concern is minor, and more of a question in my head than anything. The plum wood barrel is unfinished. Meaning, there is no coating, lacquer, etc. on top of the wood to seal it. It’s essentially raw, smooth wood. It feels great, but I wonder if natural oils in the hand will stain it, or, more concerning, stray fountain pen ink. To be determined.

The Staedtler Intium Lignum impressed me. I know this because as I was using it I kept stopping writing to look at the pen quizzically, as if to say "is this really happening?" I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never did. It was an enjoyable experience, and I think Staedtler has something nice on their hands here.

My thanks to Staedtler for sending me this pen at no charge for the purposes of review.

Familiar looking ink bottle...

Titanium Konstrukter Retract - Mark 1E Review

Image via konstrukter-pen.com

The Konstrukter Pen hails from Jesenice, Slovenia, a mining town nicknamed the “Town of steel and daffodils.” From a town named as such, you would excpet many metalworking companies, like the parent company of the Konstrukter. They manufacture industrial machinery, automotive parts, electrical components, and more. You can now add pen maker to their list of skills.

The Titanium Konstrukter Retract - Mark 1E is the result of company engineers wanting a pen that met the standards of the other work they were performing. It had to be strong, simple, and reliable to handle the various working conditions of the company’s employees, and a retractable titanium pen fit the bill.

All of the parts of the Mark 1E (along with its twist retract sibling the Mark 1P) are made locally in Slovenia. This includes the retractable mechanism, which is the key function of this pen. Taking it apart, you can tell there was a lot of work to get this design right. I haven’t seen a mechanism like this before in fact. Design doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work, and this one works well.

The barrel is kept simple with no adornments other than some thin grooves for the grip and the Konstrukter logo. The clip is really well done with just the right amount of tension and enough of a flange to get it in and out of a pocket easily. The entire pen is well balanced and easy to write with.

One complaint I have - and it’s not unique to this pen - is the barrel tip opening is wider than the chosen refill. The Parker compatible Schmidt EasyFLOW 9000 ships with the pen (Correction: G2 is apparently the international abbreveation for a Parker compatible refill. TIL.) and when in the writing position it clicks against the side of the barrel. If you have used a variety of pens for any length of time you know the sound a metal refill against a metal barrel makes. It can be annoying.

Interestingly, while I feel the tolerances aren’t tight enough, it is mentioned on the product page that the pen tolerances are loose on purpose to help with the reliability of the pen. I’m not sure how that makes sense as titanium shouldn’t wear down with frequent use. I’d rather have the pen quieter. I tested the Fisher Space Pen and Moleskine gel refills and they didn’t close the gap either.

Despite the clicking, this is a good overall product and I enjoy writing with it. It feels great in the hand and will certainly stand the test of time. At €148 ($166 USD) this is an expensive pen. I think a price point closer to $100 would be fair, considering the quantity and quality of other titanium pens in that range. It's great to see small batch products being made locally though, and I love seeing a company branch out like this.

My thanks to the Konstrukter team for sending this pen to me at no charge for review purposes.