Kaweco Piston Sport - A Quick Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Those of you who know me, know that there are a few brands where I am a little crazy about and the Kaweco Sport is one of them. I have them in gold trim, silver trim, clear, frosted, and aluminum (the other metal versions don’t really appeal to me), so I was super stoked about the Kaweco Piston Sport fountain pen when it was announced over a year ago. It was only released in Black and as of this writing, there aren’t any other colors announced either. So I finally caved and asked the Bossman if I could borrow the one he used for his review of the AL Piston Sport. He said no because he had already given it away, but he ordered the Classic one for me from sponsor Pen Chalet so I could review it.

In looking up details for this pen, I realize that vendors had different names for this pen, so I went to the Kaweco website for the definitive name, which is the Kaweco Piston Sport Classic. There is also the Piston Sport AL (aluminum) which is what the Bossman reviewed, but this review is for the Classic, aka plastic, version. Classic also means that it has gold-colored trim, as opposed to Skyline, which is silver trim (other series also have silver trim, like Frosted or Ice, etc.).

Kaweco Piston Sport Classic.

The way to tell that you have a Kaweco Piston Sport (left) as opposed to a regular Kaweco Sport (this one is Honey), is the gold ring by the blind cap.

At the beginning of April 2025, I inked up the Kaweco Piston Sport with Franklin-Christoph ATL ‘23 ink, and I’ve used it 8 times over the last three months. It wrote without issues upon inking with the F-C ink, which has average flow, and I’ve had no issues with it despite not using it consistently during that time. It would write immediately regardless of how long it had been since I last used it - I’m sure there was at least a one month stretch in there (also, another shout-out to Fountain Pen Companion for making it easy to have these stats).

Uncapped, you can see that there is an ink window, which makes it easy to see ink levels.

Inking the pen requires removal of the blind cap, the presence of which prevents users from accidentally turning the piston knob.

I had wondered if the piston filler would make the nib write wetter/broader, but it gave me the expected line width for a Fine (it is available in Extra Fine to Double Broad). I was able to remove the nib unit from the Piston Sport, which also has an o-ring to prevent leakage. As I am currently traveling, I don’t have any of the non-plastic Sports with me to confirm, but it looks to be the same nib unit that is swappable with those models. You can also pull the nib and feed from the housing and swap it with other Sports as well (I don’t generally do this since I have other Sports I can swap from, and the Piston Sport is still inked up).

The Piston Sport’s nib unit unscrews easily. (Pardon the “fancy” backdrop, aka paper towel, lol.)

The Piston Sport nibs (left) next to the regular Sport.

Used both the Piston Sport (Fine) and the Honey Sport (Broad) to continue writing out Hamilton lyrics. The line widths are what I expected for both. The ink in the Honey Sport is Diamine Candlelight from the 2021 Inkvent.

With the regular Kaweco Sport costing around $28-30, I expected the Piston Sport to cost more, and it does, coming in at $75 MSRP. I know that there are other piston filler pens that cost less (TWSBI Eco/Swipe/Go, Nahvalur Original, Monteverde MP 1 are some that come to mind), but if you really like the form factor of the Kaweco Sport with the added ink capacity (1.2ml vs 0.7 ml cartridge or 0.5 ml mini converter), the Kaweco Piston Sport is a pretty good choice, especially when the AL Piston Sport comes in at $160. If Kaweco starts offering this pen in other colors, my wallet will be in trouble, but until then, I’m good with this one.

(Disclaimer: The Kaweco Piston Sport was purchased by the Bossman at a discount from sponsor, Pen Chalet. I purchased the Honey Sport separately.)

Pelikan Pelikano Magic Ocean 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Pelikan is a brand that does a good job meeting the needs of pen addicts at every experience level. The Pelikano has a reliable reputation as Pelikan's student pen--perfect for schoolkids, beginners, or gifts for the fountain pen curious. And now, perfect for mermaids.

The Pelikano Magic Ocean Fountain Pen is made from molded resin. The body is in a pearlescent blue with a fish-scale texture all over. The body tapers toward the end and has an open ink window in the side. The cap snaps to close, though it's a tough snap. Very secure. The cap is silvery metal with a unique clip design that hugs the lower cap and wraps over the top. The clip is functional, but it's extremely tight against the cap and isn't very flexible. It serves more as a roll-stop than a clip. The top finial does have the classic Pelikan logo.

Under the cap, there is a pink rubberized grip section. The grip section is molded to direct your hands to a "proper" grip of the pen (since this is intended for student use,) and the pen is available in both right-handed and left-handed variations. There is a textured target pattern that sits against your finger when you're holding it as intended. It is comfortable for me to hold and write with, as I use a traditional grip, but if you have a more individual way of holding your pen, this might be very annoying.

The nib is a plain stainless steel medium nib, though it writes a very bold line that I would consider more of a broad writer. But it is very smooth and has the perfect balance of wetness in its flow. Because of the light plastic construction, the guided grip, and the smooth writing, I can see why this pen is perfect for those learning handwriting. It's a very comfortable writing experience.

The pen takes standard international cartridges or converters, and it comes with one cartridge of blue ink.

This special edition Pelikano is currently available from Goldspot Pens for $25.60. That's a great deal for a very decent writer with a bit of fantasy flair. I like it now, but if twelve-year-old Sarah received this pen, she'd have absolutely lost her mind. It would have been precious. So I know exactly who I am gifting this to. As soon as I write a scary mermaid story with it.

(Goldspot provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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

BENU Daily Mate Creative Thursday 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.)

As if any of us needed more of an excuse to have a specific fountain pen for every day of the week, BENU has taken it upon themselves to make that personal decision an even more difficult one. And we love them for it.

The BENU Daily Mate is a collection of fountain pens that share the same physical design, but with a range of seven colorways — one for each day of the week — and they're all spectacular. Each of the colorway options is vibrant and energetic in their own way, and they're all paired with a great fountain pen shape.

After SO MUCH deliberation on which single pen to choose, I landed on Creative Thursday. This was a really difficult choice because I genuinely liked each of the seven options, and you never really know how a pen will look in person once you receive it. Luckily for me, BENU's photography did a great job of representing the true colors of the Creative Thursday pen. The mixture of vibrant purple and a swirl of dusty amber look great together, and then the glitter particles just accentuate the colors and bring it all together. It's such a pretty pen and I enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoy using it.

All of the color options use the same silver clip and nib, and they all have the same physical design. The pen is what I'd call "full size," though I can't point to a specification for that label. It's slightly longer and wider than a Lamy Safari, but very similar to the Opus 88 Demo and Nahvalur Nautilus pens. More specifically, the pen is 5.5 inches (14 cm) long and 0.70 inches (18 mm) in diameter at it's widest point. The grip is a nice size — just 10-11 mm in width — and has a gentle taper toward the nib with a nice lip at the end of the grip to keep your fingers from slipping onto the nib while writing.

Writing with the pen is effortless. It's balanced really well when unposted, and I can write with it for long periods without discomfort. The overall weight is low given the materials used (acrylic) and the modest #6 nib. After using the pen for a short while, it's easy to tell that BENU designed this pen to be a work horse. It excels at its job.

The nib on the pen is a #6 stainless steel Schmidt, and mine worked flawlessly out of the box. The fine tip on mine is true to size for a western nib, and it makes crisp lines while feeling smooth on the page. Since this is a ubiquitous nib, it would be trivial to swap it out for something else if you already have a favorite customized nib that you'd like to swap in for the fine, medium, or broad nib options that BENU provide.

The design of the pen uses a classic shape with almost squared off ends. Both ends of the pen have a slight convex shape that give the pen a softer look and provide plenty of space to showcase the gorgeous material. The cap of the pen is a simple shape with only the clip and the BENU logo on it. The body, though, has ten grooves that extend along the length of the pen body and add a nice, soft textured feel and provide plenty of additional surfaces for light to reflect from. When unposted, the grooves also serve to keep the pen from rolling away.

The grip section of the pen is the only deviation in terms of materials. It's a single color, and it's fantastic. In the Creative Thursday colorway, the grip is a vibrant purple color that is slightly translucent and also has some reflective particles suspended in the material to add depth. It's a lovely pairing with the richer colors of the pen body and cap.

My only complaint with this pen is that there are so many threads for the cap to screw onto the body. It requires 5-6 full rotations to uncap or cap the pen! That's a lot, and it's certainly a bit unusual. Most pens only need 1.5 to 3 turns to work the cap. 5-6 just feels tedious.

The pen comes in a standard BENU cardboard box along with a cartridge converter already installed. Two thumbs up for that decision, as I don't need any more generic black or blue ink cartridges! The cartridge converter appears to be a standard Schmidt converter and works well.

The BENU Daily Mate is $120 for any of the fine colorways. Seriously, the most dangerous part of this pen is that it's really difficult to only pick one. I'm really happy with the Creative Thursday option I got, and I'll practice some self control and avoid buying any more (for now). But if any of these colors speak to you, you can be sure that the pen won't disappoint once you get it in hand. For the price, it's difficult to find other fountain pens that offer this level of vibrant, unique material options.

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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