Traveler's Company Brass Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Traveler's Company is already well known for their fantastic notebook systems and line of stationery products with a classic, vintage aesthetic. I've enjoyed their notebooks, accessories, pencils, and writing utensils before, but this is the first fountain pen of theirs that I've used. I'm really quite happy with it. It isn't perfect, but it does its job well.

The Traveler’s Company Brass Fountain Pen pen is made from - you guessed it - brass, so it has a hefty weight to it, despite its small size. They've kept it quite thin, though, so it's not as heavy as many other brass pens I've used. When capped, it's very small and resembles a brass bullet casing, but when pulled out of its lid and posted, it's the size of a normal fountain pen. It has a flexible steel clip that is removable, and a lanyard loop on the top of the cap. The top unscrews to allow you to remove the clip, if you like. There are some decorative grooves hammered into the top, and the words "Traveler's Company Made in Japan" are engraved on the barrel. Otherwise there are no decorations to distract from its minimal design.

The pen is uncapped by pulling on the bottom of the pen. The cap is friction fit with some ridges that grip the pen body. The bottom part that you pull is a bit small and has no texture, so it is sometimes hard to uncap. If you've just put lotion on, it's probably not going to work. The pen body is short and narrow, similar to a Kaweco Liliput. Large hands may struggle with the narrow grip, but I found it comfortable to hold, even without posting. Keep in mind that if you use it on a lanyard, you won't be able to post it very easily, which might be a problem if you have larger hands. Or even regular sized hands.

The section unscrews from the body for inserting a standard international short cartridge. I'm not aware of any converters that will fit this wee pen. It does come with some cartridges, though, that can be refilled with bottled ink if you have a blunt syringe.

The nib is a fine #5 nib with "Traveler's Company" engraved in it. Mine writes very well. It's firm but not too scratchy and has excellent flow. It's not too wet, and the line is fine enough that it works well on scrap paper or in pocket notebooks that don't typically handle fountain pens well. Which is perfect, as that is what I typically use my pocket pens for.

The best part about this pen, besides its excellent portability, is that it ages with character, much like the Traveler's Company notebooks do. The brass begins to patina almost immediately, and even after just a few weeks of use, it's starting to look more like a family heirloom instead of something I just got in the mail. If you like to keep your pens shiny, that might be a downside, but I love it.

At $57, it's a reasonable price. It feels a bit steep for something so small, but the brass is very nice and it functions well. I love that it's small enough that I really can fit it in my pockets--which I can't actually do with a lot of pocket pens, because I have girl pockets. It's been great to have with me at work, and its ruggedness means I'm not worried about damaging it. I think it could use some texture to make it easier to pull open, but otherwise I think this is a fantastic little pen.

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

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Cult Pens x Caran d'Ache 849 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 Caran d'Ache 849 ballpoint pen is a classic design that catches nearly everyone's eye. It's prevalent enough to be seen on Amazon, but still difficult to discover unless you happen to be in the right circles with the right browsing and shopping habits for a recommendation to pop up. Once you see one, it's easy to see why they're popular due to the unique barrel shape and vibrant color options. Plus, they're not terribly expensive in terms of premium ballpoint pens.

The 849 I have the pleasure of using today is a custom color provided by Cult Pens. The dark blue on the pen matches their online branding, but it also happens to look particularly handsome on this hexagonal body. Aside from the color, you won't find any other differences on the pen itself to distinguish itself from the regular lineup of color options. But, it does come in a nice case that features a hinge and small magnets that keep it shut. It's satisfying to open and close, and I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out even though I have a pretty ruthless rule of always throwing out or recycling packaging. The case is the only object that has any branding on it, with a prominent "Cult Pens" logo on the top side of the tin.

For the uninitiated, the 849 is a fantastic ballpoint pen, and it also comes in a variety of other formats as well, including mechanical pencil and fountain pen. Across the lineup, the design language is identical. They all feature the sleek hexagonal body with a smooth tapered cone. The body is uniform in color and is one solid piece, so the only accents come from the recognizable clip and the nock on top. In most models, these are a shiny chrome color, but you'll see some slight variance (like a completely black version) in some models. There is some small branding on the body of the pen: a small "SWISS MADE" stamp between the top of the clip and the nock, and a small "849 Caran D'Ache" logo underneath the clip arm. It's easy to miss if you aren't paying attention, and I've always enjoyed the minimal branding on this lineup of writing instruments.

So, if the body is one piece, how does one access the refill? Great question! To swap out the refill, you unscrew the nock. The entire retractable mechanism/assembly comes out and then you can just tilt the pen forward to drop out the refill. Thankfully, the spring inside the body stays in place when gravity would otherwise pull it out of the pen, undoubtedly getting lost on the floor. To reinstall the refill, just drop it into the body, put the retractable assembly back in place, push the nock down and twist slightly to let the threads gain a hold, and then screw it back down until it's tight. It's definitely a unique method for switching refills, but I love it if it means the pen body is one piece!

Speaking of the refill, Caran d'Ache uses their own proprietary refill for these pens — the Caran d'Ache Goliath. It's roughly the same size as a standard Parker-style refill, but it uses a proprietary ink formula. The ink is actually really good, and it's come to be one of my favorites. It always has a little trouble with cold starts after being stored for more than a day, but once it starts writing after a couple of squiggle lines, it's smooth, dark, and consistent. It's one of those dependable refills that never lets you down, and I love it for that. You can swap in a standard Parker-style refill in this pen even though the refills aren't the same length. The Parker ballpoint tip protrudes an extra millimeter or two in this pen, but you could either ignore it, or trim it down fairly easily. This is an easy way to use different types and colors of inks in this pen since Caran d'Ache only offers Fine, Medium, and Bold styles of Black, Blue, Red, and Green ink in their Goliath line.

The Caran d'Ache 849 by Cult Pens is a fantastic ballpoint pen for any occasion. It's a super dependable pen at a great price, and you really can't beat the unique aesthetic the 849 offers.

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

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Sharpie Pen S-Gel 0.7 mm Pen Review

Back to School season often brings new pens to the store shelf. While Sharpie’s newest entrant, the S-Gel, has been around for months, only over the summer did we seem them infiltrate the stationery world at scale.

I grabbed a 4-pack of 0.7 mm pens from Amazon (two black gel, one each of blue and red,) to test, but if my grocery store shelves are any indication, you should be able to easily find them in the 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm tip sizes as well. Sharpie’s new Roller is also available as part of the big push we are seeing from the brand.

As many of us pen addicts already know, and as Sharpie is about to find out, the long-time stalwarts of the gel pen section of the store occupy that space for a reason. The Pilot G2, Uni-ball Signo, and Pentel EnerGel are household names, so Sharpie has their work cut out if they want to displace any or all of that trio.

So how does the Sharpie S-Gel stack up against some of the best gel ink pens of the past decade? Not very well.

The worst thing a pen can be is inconsistent, and that is what I am getting from this batch of pens. The black 0.7 mm is especially poor, with a nose cone I can feel scratching the page as the tip rolls across it. This makes for a scratchy, wide line, and a poor experience.

The blue gel pen is the antithesis of the black. In fact it is quite good and reminds me of the Pilot G2, which is a good experience to shoot for. The red gel pen is close to the blue - a little more scratchy, but nowhere as bad as the black.

With the variance I am seeing between the three colors and how they feel on the page, I would be hesitant to recommend these over any of the three excellent choices I mentioned above.

Being under the Sharpie umbrella gives these pens a leg up in marketing, but the performance isn’t there. I think the style is lacking a bit as well. I understand that making a great $2 gel ink pen at scale is difficult, but how about letting loose a little bit?

Sharpie doesn’t hesitate to do that with their permanent marker lineup. How about bringing some of that aesthetic into the gel pen world, instead of designing a pen that looks like every other pen it is competing against? Or maybe design something completely different and off the wall. We already have what they are trying to sell us, and better versions at that.

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Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!