Tesco Cartridge Pen aka the Tesco ‘Comfort’ Pen

Um yes, I have been away, for 5 months that is. Hey, I'm a busy guy, deal with it :p

Following the responses I got from the Pilot 78G review I wrote not too long ago, I’ve decided to do yet another pen review (actually, this will be one of 2 reviews I’ll be doing, now that I’ve actually have some time to myself to write these things) I’ve recently been discovering that the price of a fountain pen does not necessarily reflect on it ability to write. My Hero #299 (which I also found in Tesco) and my RM3.00 Youth Pens from China are good examples of these. Recently, I came across a posting in FPN that spoke about a mysterious ‘Cartridge Pen’ that could be found on the cheap from Tesco. Very Intrigued, I made a point of looking a bit more carefully the next time I was there. Suffice to say, I found one that cost me a grand total of…RM2.50. I have to apologize in advance because I’ve thrown away the packaging for this pen. It comes with 3-4 generic Short Standard International Cartridges of Blue Ink. Absolutely no idea what make the ink actually is by the way. I just threw away the cartridges and slotted in a Pelikan Violet. Here’s a first look at the said pen:

Unposted (without the cap on) it measures about 12.2cm, Posted the pen measures about 16.3cm. The cap is a clip on type and is transparent with a one piece black tip and clip unit. The rest of the pen is made of plastic (all of it actually, except the nib which seems to be made of stainless steel). No clues as to what converter it will take. But I’m not too anal about using cartridges anyways. Its RM2.50 for god’s sake! Takes both long and short International Cartridges. On to the weight factor, it’s the lightest weight pen I’ve ever used. Hardly feel the weight as I’m writing. The barrel has a rubberized feel to it and the business end of the pen has grooves cut into the grip (which is made of shiny black plastic) and does not slip in any way while writing.

The nib is stainless steel and has a slight flex to it. (Thin Iridium Stainless Steel I’m told) As far as the point is concerned, it’s an ‘F’ Nib. Absolutely nothing engraved on the nib too. The underside of the nib is the now familiar black but smooth with no vertical nor horizontal grooves. The inking system makes use of cartridges. I doubt I can find a converter for it. Then again, I ain’t no snob when it comes to inking systems :P

So, unto the actual writing bit. This time around, I used some really nice Conqueror paper and wrote a few lines. I noticed that while it was an ‘F’ Nib, it was a bit thicker than my Sheaffer No-Nonsense’s ‘F’ nib. Writing was smooth, uninterrupted (I did flush the pen out before slotting in the cartridge). Writing sample as below, Tesco Pen in Violet and the Sheaffer No-Nonsense in brown.

Ok, last thing that needs mentioning, this is a pen which is made in China. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I do have a post written up about Chinese made pens, but I’m still tweaking it so wait for it. Chinese pens are either very good or very bad, it can be a crapshoot sometimes. A few months after I wrote this review (yes, I take ages to write one blog post, that just shows how dedicated I am to my art :P) the pen began to leak rather badly from the cartridge part. I suspect that this had to do with a little rough handling the pen took in my bag (yes, this was BEFORE I discovered RM5 faux-leather 3 pen cases from Daiso), so do take care not to handle the pen too roughly.

Final Impressions:

Pros: Cheap, lightweight, slightly flexible nib. Smooth writing performance.

Cons: No converter so you’re stuck with whatever International cartridges that comes your way. (long or short), dubious durability.

PS: This entire blog post was written as usual in long hand with the subject of this review, the Tesco Comfort Pen

Hero Blue Black Ink Review

Well, following a pen review, I'm following it up with an ink review. My favorite color when it comes to writing ink is Blue-Black. I spoke to my Mom some time ago and she told me that in the late 50s and 60s, Blue-Black was the choice of ink for many people. She told me about giant Parker Quink bottles that will be in the corner of the office and people coming up to fill their individual ink wells/bottles. I have seen those bottles for sale by the way. Seems like I'm stuck in that era too :P

So, since I already have the Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black (it comes out Grey when it dries) and 2 bottles of Vintage Parker Quink Solv-x Blue-Black, I thought the Hero might be a good thing to try. The Vintage Parker Quink Solv-x Blue-Black by the way is my favorite Blue-Black but its getting harder to find. I had reservations about the Hero. (I mean, it costs RM1.90). So I searched through FPN to see if there were any reviews. There were 3 and they all looked pretty ok. I took the plunge and got myself a bottle.

The ink comes in a cardboard box, not really that attractive, (I was hoping for some Communist-ish box art but uh..it was just plain). Its volume is 59ml and has the words "Treated with anti-oxidant and corrosion inhibitor" printed on one side of the box. The bottle is very old looking and is capped by a light blue cap. Smells like...ink. So instead of doing a custom handwritten review, I downloaded a review form off FPN and filled it up. Here's how it looks like:

Click to see a larger image.

A proviso here tho, scanners brighten up pictures a bit so, the actual image is slightly darker than this. What do I feel about the ink?

1. It sits between the Parker and the Pelikan
2. No Feathering, I like that a lot,
3. Drying time is rather decent, could be better tho
4. Water test hardly took off anything. This is very important as I (being the clumsy doofus that I am) am prone to knocking water all over what I write
5. The price! its cheap as chips! (cheaper lar)
6. Availability - I can get in many shops nearby
7. Flow is really good, I like the fact that it worked very well with my buttery smooth Hero 331 Nib.
8. Saturation - With a Fine point, this comes out very close to a real Blue black. When I wrote with the Pilot 78G-BB tho, the end result looked grayish.

So, Fine points work very well with this ink. This ink has also restored my faith in Hero inks and I might get a bottle of red and a bottle to black to make my long overdue Burgundy ink. If I was to rate this over 5, I would definitely give it a 3.8. Now, I gotta go find more of these. Just in case the inkocalypse breaks out. You just might never know. :P

Hero #331 review

Hey there! its been some time but um...I did a handwritten review of the Hero #331 that originally was posted in the Fountain Pen Network forums. A little different this time, its all in pictures. Enjoy!












PS. My photos are squashed for some reason. Click on 'em to see it in its entirety.

Pilot 78G

Hur hur...had to start off blogging again with a pen review didn't I :P.

I've been hearing a lot about the Pilot 78G from the FPN forums and how great they were and all that. I had previously seen a few in my secret pen lair (stationery shop, shall remain unnamed :P ) But was put off by the fact that the only nib size they had was a BB (double Broad). After an extensive review reading session, I decided to get myself one. Meanwhile, someone was offering a 1959 Sheaffer Snorkel trade in the FPN forums for a BB 78G. So, I roll up to the shop and I get myself a Black BB (to trade with) and amazingly found a maroon F nibbed 78G which I promptly grabbed. They look like this by the way:

So, pens in hand, I got home and looked the pen over. Unposted (without the cap on) it measured about 12.5cm, Posted (the cap on the end of the barrel - do this carefully, some pens won't take too kindly to this kind of treatment. Cracks in the cap lip are common specially when you cram the cap on the barrell) the pen measures about 15cm. The cap is a screw on type, the pen itself is made of plastic. Rather light weight but not as light as the China made copies of the Parker 51 (Hero and Youth pens).

This review by the way, focuses on the Maroon F nibbed pen as I want to keep the BB for trading purposes (either for the Snorkel or for a bottle of Noodlers or something) As far as decorations are concerned, the clip is squarish,metallic and gold in color. Not sure what its made from tho. The word "Pilot" is imprinted on the clip. The pen itself is colored uniform maroon without any marbling (unlike my Sheaffer No-Nonsense Vintage) and 2 gold bands are imprinted on the cap itself with the word "Japan" breaking one band.

Ok, the nib itself is gold with the words "Pilot. Super Quality. Japan. printed on it. A closer look with a jewellers loupe, revealed perfectly aligned tines (that the point of the nib) and a feed section that was dead center to the nib. Interestingly tho, the feed (that black section beneath the nib) had vertical instead of horizontal slits that I'm more used to. Moving on the inking system, this Pilot sports an aerometric style converter (them squeeze type fillers that you would find in older pens - lazy to go find a pic :P) I am told however, that this pen can take International cartridges.

Filled it up with Pelikan's Brilliant Brown (my new bottle of ink as voted by the good people of Plurk) and grabbed my usual generic notepaper to start scribbling some lines. A very fine line developed on the paper and this is the place to explain an important distinction in nib sizes as far as Western and Japanese are concerned. Both Japanese and Western have the same designations for nibs. They run from BB (double broad) stubs to XF (extra fine). Japanese nibs however are actually a size smaller from what is advertised. So a B (broad) will write like a M (medium), M like a F and so on. So my F 78G writes like a XF.

I was very disappointed that instead of evenly colored lines, the 78G started to write rather erratically. The ink looked like it was being spread very thinly. I attribute this to one of 2 reasons:

1. Paper was crap. Most paper these days are not made for FP use.
2. The Ink. Pelikan Inks are known to be 'dry'

So, I tried writing with other type of papers but I got the same results. In the office this morning, I unscrewed the barrel and noticed that the filler was not very snug with the main section. Pushed it in, grabbed another notepad (yes I have many notepads) and presto! It wrote like a dream! The pad was made of heavier paper (think somewhere in the region of 80gm). I've yet to try this on my 100gm paper journal but for now, I totally love this pen! For RM18, its not too bad actually.

Writing Sample (no apologies for penmanship):


Image seems to be blurry cos, scanner was crap. (Click on the image for a clearer pic.)

First Line: Pilot 78G, Pelikan Brilliant Brown (F)
Second Line: Youth 303, Parker Quink Solv-x Vintage Blue Black(F)
Third line: Rotring Core Coridium, Pelikan Violet (M)

Side Note: Pilot also has another division called Namiki (named after Ryosuke Namiki - Pilot's founder) that makes gorgeous pens sold at very high prices. They specialize in the maki-e type lacquering that goes on their pens. Drool at this:

PS: This entire blog post was written in long hand with the subject of this review, the Pilot 78G :)