Cross Townsend 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.)

When I was in high school, I carried a Cross Classic Century for a while, which met an untimely end when it was run over by a truck in the school parking lot. Nevertheless, I enjoyed using the pen, despite the mediocre refill. It added a touch of class to my notes and essays. The one thing I always held against it when writing, however, was how thin and slippery the grip was.

After developing a taste for finer pens, Cross completely fell off my radar. The pens they sold in the big-box stores never appealed to me, and I had a bad taste in my mouth from the ballpoint refills they used. But, that changed when I got the Cross Townsend fountain pen. To be honest, I was not impressed upon opening the box — so much shiny! Cross is known for their chrome, but it was surprising still.

But, after writing with it, I immediately fell in love with how it writes.

Look and feel

First off, if you're not a lover of chrome, this pen probably isn't for you. To be fair, there are other finishes available from Goulet if you aren't into Chrome. Due to the chrome finish and shape of the pen, it has the look of an executive pen. And, turns out, it's sometimes used by U.S. Presidents to sign bills, so that executive look and feel isn't just for show.

When I first looked at this pen, it triggered an association with the Hughes H-1 Racer — it wasn't made of chrome, but stainless steel is close enough.

The pen feels perfectly weighted in my hand as long as it's not posted. The cap of the pen weighs almost as much as the pen, coming in at 18g compared to the 21g of the body. If you like to post, it does an exceptional job by clicking into place on the back of the pen. It doesn't rattle, wobble, or shake.

The grip section is made of plastic, but it feels nice. Honestly, I don't think I'd like a chrome grip section, and the black plastic helps break up all of the shiny chrome.

The clip is sturdy, but not too stiff. There's "CROSS" branding present on the nib, the clip, and the top ring of the cap. It's not obtrusive, though, and I even had to look carefully to find them all.

The nib is a tad small compared to the rest of the pen, but not in an awkward way.

Overall, it's a really sharp pen to look at.

Writing performance

If it's good enough to sign a bill, it must write pretty well, right? Oh yes. For my tastes, it writes like a dream — exactly how I would expect an executive pen to write. The ink flows freely, the nib is extremely smooth, and there's no feed issues with starting or skipping. Even better, this pen has never had any issues with starting after being stored for over a week with the nib pointing up in a Dudek Cube.

The nib didn't require any adjustment at all, which is something I didn't expect. I had the impression that Cross dealt in such large scale that the nibs wouldn't be perfect out of the box. Maybe I got a perfect fluke, but if all of the Cross nibs come in this condition, that's an extremely good thing for the brand and their fountain pens.

As far as ink goes, this pen takes proprietary Cross cartridges. It comes with 2 black cartridges, but I'd highly recommend picking up a Cross cartridge-converter if you snag this pen.

Worth it

Overall, I really love this pen. At first sight, I didn't think we'd get along at all. I'm glad it proved me wrong.

Goulet Pens sells several models of the Cross Townsend, as well as the converter to go along with them. The model I have here goes for $145, but the price can go up to $450 depending on the body and nib materials.

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

Cross Century II in Royal Blue: 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.)

I've never owned a Cross fountain pen. So, I was excited to try out the Cross Century II when Goulet Pens sent it to the Pen Addict for review. I love blue pens.

The Cross Century II is a small, thin pen. It is 5.35 inches capped, 6.06 inches posted, and 4.84 inches unposted. The barrel diameter is 0.38 inches and the pen weighs only 23 grams. The cap and barrel seem to be made of lightweight metal, (aluminum, perhaps?), coated with a pearlescent blue finish. The color of this pen is fantastic.

The grip is black plastic with vertical ribs that make it easier to hold than a metal grip.

I haven't had much luck lately with stainless steel nibs (see here and here), but the Century's is smooth and trouble-free. I've had no hard starts or skipping with this nib. I really like how it writes.

The pen requires Cross cartridges or the Cross screw-in converter. The converter works well.

This is a minimalistic pen design. The Cross name is engraved on the clip and on the barrel (but you have to look closely to see it there).

The cap has a chrome ring and an elegant finial.

The barrel is smooth and unadorned except for the chrome ring where the barrel meets the grip. Another ring provides a grip stop near the nib.

The cap pulls on and off and can be posted. I rarely post my pens, and when I tried writing with the Century II posted, it felt off balance. It's such a small pen, however, some may find they need to post it.

My main criticism of this pen is how thin it is. The grip is only 0.31 inches. Even though I have small hands, I like thicker grips, otherwise my hand tends to cramp while writing.

Still, I think that the Cross Century II is a great mid-priced fountain pen. You can purchase it from Goulet Pens for $110.00 (converter and two black cartridges are included). This pen would be best for people with small hands who prefer slender, lightweight pens.

Pros

• Light, well-balanced pen (unposted).
• Beautiful finish.
• A reasonably inexpensive pen.
• Excellent steel nib.

Cons

• The pen is thin and lightweight, so it may be unsuitable for people who have larger hands or for people, like me, who need wider grips to avoid hand-cramping.
• You need a proprietary Cross converter for this pen (or cartridges).

(Thank you to Goulet Pens for providing this pen to Pen Addict for review at no charge.)

Cross Click Star Wars Stormtrooper Gel Pen

I was a huge Star Wars fan growing up. All the movies, all the toys, all the everything! I'm still a big fan of course, and now I get to share the awesomeness with my kids, as evidenced by the cool toys I get to use for these pictures. Or are those my Star Wars toys? I'll never tell!

Regardless of whose toys these really are, the pen is definitely mine. The Cross Click Star Wars Gel Pens were released a couple of months ago as all of the merchandising around the release of The Force Awakens ramps up. I assumed we would see some pens involved, although I was admittedly surprised to see Cross was the chosen brand.

Cross has a long and storied history, but they aren't exactly known for cutting edge amazing pens. The designs for their Star Wars lineup don't break any new ground either. In fact, the Gel is based off the Cross Click, which is based off the Classic Century, which is also known as the graduation gift pen. The fountain pen and rollerball are based off of the Townsend, which is know as the President's pen. So, the barrels are typical Cross fare. The paint jobs though? Cross really stepped their game up here.

The designs for the Star Wars pens are based off of three characters: C-3PO, Darth Vader, and the Stormtroopers. Each one of these designs on each one of these pens is really well done. Like big grin across my face as a Star Wars fan well done. Goldspot loaned me the Stormtrooper model for review, and the Imperial White lacquer barrel with black details and satin black clip are spot on. There is even a Stormtrooper emblem on the clip to boot.

The Darth Vader model looks equally impressive, if not more so with the hint of red in the click, and while the gold of C-3PO is not my personal style, it turned out wonderfully. As great as these designs are, the fountain pen and rollerball models are even nicer and more detailed.

But let's get to the Emperor in the room with the Star Wars pens. They are expensive! The fountain pen prices sent my head spinning, and even the click gel models are steep for what they are. The standard Cross Click, which is a good pen in its own right, is less than half of the price of the Star Wars model. Of course there is a premium to be added with limited edition pens, especially when the designs are as nice as these, but the Star Wars branding blew these up like the original Death Star.

Writing wise, the Cross Click Gel is very nice. This is an 0.7mm refill, so it is wide, but it is dark, smooth, and skip free. Readers have been wanting me to review the Click for a while now, and I can see why. The only slight hangup is there is a bit of clicking when writing from the tip, which happens when the metal refill hits against the metal barrel. It's a common thing, and not too bad in this pen. The Click is probably the best pen Cross has released in years.

So it boils down to how big of a Star Wars fan you are with this release. I've had several readers mention they have bought one of each character, even the fountain pen model, and price doesn't seem to be a real hangup. Star Wars branding trumps everything, even in pens. May the Force be with you, and your wallet!

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