Sheaffer Pop Star Wars Darth Vader Fountain Pen Review

Star Wars fans rejoice - there are now inexpensive fountain pens to add to your collection! The Sheaffer Pop Star Wars series features fountain and rollerball pens of three beloved characters: Darth Vader, R2-D2, and Yoda.

I picked the Darth Vader fountain pen for this review, although all three designs represent their characters very well. The Vader pen was just too slick to pass up with its black base and silver accents.

The barrel itself is made from plastic, and the cylindrical shape has a nice feel. The cap snaps on solidly, and posts on the back equally as well. The grip section is rubberized, which I’m fine with. It’s not slippery at all. The clip is a little thin, buts seems strong enough to last, and of course features Sheaffer’s famous white dot.

I’m in love with the look and feel of the pen, but as you know, that is only part of the story. The writing experience could be better, like the Phantom Menace if you erased all of the Jar-Jar Binks scenes.

The medium steel nib - the only size choice - is a smooth writer. Very smooth in fact. There is no scratchiness, and no skipping. But it is wet. Far too wet for my tastes. It writes like a 1.0 mm or wider rollerball pen.

I think it is the ink to be honest. The pen ships with a standard Sheaffer black ink cartridge, and it flows like a sieve from the nib. The way it spreads as soon as it hits the page - even on fountain pen friendly paper - makes me think the ink is the issue. You have to write fast to keep ahead of the ink pooling. It’s a proprietary fitting too, and I don’t have a Sheaffer converter to try other inks, and I wasn’t going to drain my only Sheaffer cartridge either.

So, what to do with this pen, and this series of fountain pens? If you want to buy this pen for someone who has never used a fountain pen I would choose one of the rollerball pens instead. Yes, it looks amazing, but the wetness of the ink could frustrate a beginner. If you want to buy this pen for someone who has experience with fountain pens then I say go for it. They can change things up as needed.

For me, I like this pen so much I’m going to buy a converter and see if I can get the performance more to my liking. The outside of the pen is cool enough to make me want to work on the inside. Plus, my son says it has have red ink, and I think he is right.

Lightsaber mode initiated.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Platinum Balance Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Platinum Balance fountain pen is made of resin with gold-plated accents and a gold-plated steel nib. The pen is a simple cigar shape with a snap on cap.

It comes packaged in a rectangular box with a clear plastic top. One blue-black cartridge is included with the pen.

The pen is quite light (18 grams) and is small to medium-sized at 5.5 inches capped, 5.0 inches uncapped, and 6.0 inches posted. People with larger hands will probably find this pen much too small, but I think it will suit most users well. Posting the pen adds a bit more heft, but it also throws off the balance in my opinion.

I like the pen’s classic styling with gold-plated trim around the cap’s base, around the tip of the grip, and where the grip and barrel meet. These are nice details on a pen at this price point.

The resin is a deep green with beautiful chatoyance.

Although the pen comes with a cartridge, I had an extra Platinum converter, so I loaded it up with Robert Oster Peppermint (review here). For those of us who like matchy ink and pens, the Peppermint is a perfect choice.

I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this medium steel nib, but it is incredibly smooth and juicy.

Although it doesn’t have the springiness of gold Platinum nibs, it does offer a bit of line variation if you press into the nib. Overall, it’s a fantastic writing experience.

This is an elegant pen at a reasonable price (under $40). If you’re looking for a great starter pen for yourself or as a gift, the Platinum should be on your list. It would make an excellent stocking stuffer or gift, especially if you pair it with a bottle of Robert Oster Peppermint ($17.00 at Jet Pens).

The Platinum Balance is available in several colors: green, blue, wine red, black, shine crystal, crystal blue, and crystal rose. It comes with nibs in fine or medium. You can buy it at Jet Pens for $36.50. I suggest picking up a Platinum converter as well for $8.25.

Pros

• The Platinum Balance is elegant and beautiful. It reminds me of Visconti Van Gogh pens (which, of course, are much more expensive) with its shiny resin and shape. The Platinum lacks the heft of those Visconti pens, but it’s hard to argue with its price in comparison.
• The cap is easy to snap on and off, and it posts securely.
• Although the clip is simple, without any adornment, it is quite functional and will clip easily to a shirt pocket or tablet.
• The best part of this pen is the stellar steel nib. I can’t get over how nicely this nib performs. It isn’t rigid like the steel nibs on Lamy Safaris and other pens. Rather, it has some give to it and even offers a bit of line variation. It is smoother than many of my very expensive, gold-nibbed pens.

Cons

• The Platinum Balance does not come with a converter, and adding a converter to the cart will put this pen over the $40 price.
• I wonder how well the gold-plated trim will hold up over time. I’m especially concerned about the trim near the nib, since it will come in contact with ink. Will the trim corrode over time?

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A.G. Spalding & Bros Brass Ballpoint 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 A.G. Spalding & Bros ballpoint pen has been around for a while, and I've recently had the opportunity to try one out. I've been using the Brass version of the pen for the past couple of weeks, and while it looks and feels great, I'm not sure I can recommend it for most people.

The brass version of this classic design has a tumbled and aged finish that looks great on any desk, and the balance of the pen when handling and writing is fantastic. And when you consider the price (less than $20), it's an even greater value. But, for me anyway, it all falls apart with the refill they've chosen for this pen: the Zebra F-Refill. While this isn't a bad refill in its own right, it's a severely limited choice. With the number of fantastic ballpoint, hybrid, gel and rollerball refills available today, it's a true shame to lock a pen into a refill format that is so unyielding. It's so similar to the ubiquitous Parker-style refill, but just different enough to make them unusable in this pen without major modification.

Sure, you can probably find a suitable alternative if you're also game for cutting, filing, or possibly ruining another refill to make it fit in this pen. To me, it seems like the designers of this pen lost a great opportunity. To most people, it's fair to say that most writing instruments have 3 major factors that influence purchasing: writing feel, aesthetics, and ink options. In the case of the A.G. Spalding & Bros Brass Ballpoint, it definitely has great writing feel and aesthetics. It could easily have fantastic ink options as well if some minor changes were considered during the design. What a shame!

Aside from my major disappointment in the refill choice, I've really enjoyed this pen. Like I said, the Zebra F refill isn't a bad refill at all — it's just limited to three colors in the same tip size (black, blue, and red in 0.7mm). If the Zebra F refill is a favorite of yours, this is a great option.

The size of the pen is very comfortable; it's a bit chunky compared to your standard ballpoint pen, but not too thick to make writing uncomfortable. It also lacks any texturing on the grip area, but I haven't had a problem holding onto it when writing. According to the JetPens description, only the nose cone is brass, while the rest of the body is aluminum with an aged brass-like finish on the outside. I'm not a metals expert, but this looks right to me. Either way, the extra bit of weight in the cone makes it easy to control when writing and doodling.

The click mechanism is smooth and sturdy, making a noticeable, but subdued noise when operated. The rounded top of the nock feels good on the thumb and features an A.G. Spalding logo on the top. Apart from the nock, you'll find branding along the clip band and on the side of the pen barrel. Even though branding exists in three places on the pen, it's all very well done and non-intrusive.

I'm not sure how they've achieved the finish on the barrel, but it looks fantastic in person. It pairs nicely with leather.

You can also choose from a copper version of this pen (which has more of a red/pink tone), a silver version, and a hexagonal navy body.

Overall, I really want to love this pen, but the limited refill options will probably mean this pen doesn't see as much use as I'd like. I guess I can keep my fingers crossed that someone might manufacture an aftermarket refill for this size at some point!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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