Ohto F-Spirit Fountain Pen with Fine Nib Gold Clip

Ohto (a lesser-known Japanese brand that specializes in roller ball pens and mechanical pencils) F-Spirit Fountain Pen is one of the most affordable non-disposable fountain pen in the market. It didn't take me long to make the buying decision as there are so many positive reviews on the Jetpens product page.

The pen as a whole is solid and substantial (not so much that it becomes a burden to hold) as it's made of metal barrel with some sort of resin (or lacquer?) over it. I am not too crazy about the cigar shaped design, since it not only screams 50+ year old corporate lawyer (another way of saying that it looks kind of expensive), it's also a little too big and heavy for my small hand.

The lid (along with the rest of the body) is also solidly constructed (with metal inner cap-like thing) and shuts a little too securely. The weight-per-length is consistent with the body so it doesn't throw the pen off-balance once posted. The model name, number (printed on the other side) and country of origin are printed by the edge and it didn't take long for me (the OCD scracther/peeler) to get it off. There is a ball at the end of the clip which is suppose to facilitate the attachment. However, the clip itself is so stiff that so the ball barely helps.

Choo Choo by Jetoy Illustrated Planner & Cash Book

Three years ago, an exchange student from Korea (who also happened to be an agreeable colleague, friend, short-term roommate of mine) gifted me this planner/cash book to help me, the openly crazy cat lady to,  "organize my spending habit". Wait, maybe it's her passive aggressive way of telling me that I needed to stop cluttering our room with random craps I buy. It's meant to a diary/planner that's specifically designed to help one to track his/her spending (since I can't understand Korean, I just ended up using it as a general planner). 

The squarish shaped planner comes with thick, textured cover that's coated with a thin film of plastic (for some water-resistance). A Google/eBay search tells me that Jetoy is actually a fairly well-know brand that specialized in this kind of cutesy stationery with cat illustration.

The inner cover/title page with a quote by T.S. Elliot. While there is no inner cover on the back, the flab is also illstrated and has a cute paper pocket thing attached to it (Of course I have no clue what it's for).

Another illustration

The first 12 pages (or 24 if you count both sides) are self numbered monthly calender with line for short notes on the right. This is just "what is going to be on the astronomy final" as I forgot my actual notebook on that day.

 

The next 50 flips (100 pages) are cash spending one like this with places for item, amount (I am guessing) and add up total. I never use it the way it was intended (because I bought too many little and cheap things at drugstores, grocery stores and Michael's and I never wanted to keep a record (in case the total is too scary).

After the spending-keeper, there are a few pages as phone books and wish list-keeping, with areas for name of shop, price and importance. I wish there are more pages like that, because every woman has a never-ending to-buy list. The rest (rough same number of pages as the cash-keeping part) are really cute,  illustrated pages (the illustrated repeat once at the most?) with no line or grid. 

The quality of the paper is really good (smooth, thick and the ink never bleeds on the page), the only down side is that it doesn't work well with fountain pen that leaves out a smooth and too watery line. In that case, the nib just slips on the page and the writing would just take longer than usual to dry.

Overall - According to eBay, these kind of planner costs around 15-20 a piece (including shipping from Korea) and I would definitely repurchase after I filled this up completely.

J. Herbin Vert Olive Fountain Pen Ink

Vert Olive is the one of the first J. Herbin Ink bottle ink I have (OK, I only own two at the moment) and luckily, I didn't have to go through any internal struggle while I was picking it out (they do have a handful of greens in the line up)...Because this was the only green that wasn't sold out at the time.

Each bottle comes with 30ml of product and retails for 9 dollars at Jetpens (where I bought it from) and 8.91 bucks at Isellpen.com  (where they also offer some "official" shades like black, blue and purples in 100ml bottles for 18.75). There is a little groove in front of each bottle that works as a pen rest. I suppose it would be perfect for testing out ink with a glass dip pen but the groove it's too narrow for most of my pens.

 

Vert Olive/Olive Green is a golden yellow green that is "not unlike olive oil", according to many reviews.  With a heavy swap or a very wet nib (like this Lamy Safari Broad), the color is rich, warm and comforting but since normal fountain pens leave out a much thinner/drier line, I usually get something that's a little lighter, browner (like I am writing with pickle juice). 

As with most J.Herbin inks (which have medium to low intensity), this does shade nicely with wet nib. At the same time (as expected with watery inks), this flows very well, dries quickly and/but has no water resistance whatsoever. Since I am a cold-soda addict with a cluttered desk (more like cluttered room), I always found my entire note page smeared off completely where I have placed a cold glass/plate on top of this. 

What I think olive oil should look like (yes, I am aware that olive oil comes in all sorts of colors)...

What Vert Olive reminds me of...Watery, light and with a strong yellow/brown lean.  

Overall: I am on the fence about this one. This is certainly a very unique-looking shade that you don't come by very often (I have only seen one other pickle-looking ink, which is Wagner from Diamine's Music collection). Under yellow-lamp/by the candlelight, this looks luscious and warming, beautiful enough to make me overlook all the...pickle-ness. On the other hand, this is too light to be legible on most pens I use (I prefer fine nibs for daily writing) and the water resistance is a bit too low for my clumsy self.

Pentel Sunburst White Ink Gel Pen Medium Line

I picked this up a year ago at Michael's, simply because I wanted something to write on a colored surface. I don't remember the price but it was something under 2 dollars.  For its price it's a little light and cheap-looking, but it wasn't too horrible or easily-destructable. Unlike most other Pentel pens (or Japanese gel pen in US market), this (at least the body) is made in Mexico instead of Japan.

The pen features a somewhat slender refill (with the date 2011/08/08 on it) that's attached to the white rear cap (where you screw off to replace it). The pen consist of a single body barrel, with no parts that's removable in front of the grip section. Anyway, the grip section is rubbery and comfortable to hold but I don't think there is a need to use it for a prolonged period of time.

A writing (and doodle) sample Pentel Sunburst White Ink Gel Pen - The ink flows smoothly on a smooth cardboard paper, even though I find it a little thin and too ball-point-like (leaving a thicker glob of ink at the start of each stroke and within each line, the center (where the ball makes contact with the paper) is thinner than the two sides. On normal/softer paper, the flow seems to be greatly inhibited that writing small works on top of a water-colored part is out of question, at it's a little too thick and uneven. 

Overall: If you like drawing on dark colored cardboard paper, this does get the job done to some extent. I personally prefer smoother/wetter pens out there (even it means that the ink will run out much faster). 

Pilot Plumix Fountain Pen with Italic Nib

I wanted something thick and stylized (to add title to some of my stupid drawing) so I picked up Pilot Plumix at  because at the time, it seemed easier than ordering a broad 78G from Hong Kong (and let the US custom hold it for a whole week).  I mean, the nib on the two are supposedly the same...or not. 

If I am not mistaken, Pilot Plumix is a range that's available only in the west (found it on Target's site but didn't see them in store yet) as I have never seen or heard about it in other Chinese discussion boards or even on Pilot's main page. So far, I have only seen them in medium italic nib personally but I have seen double broad on Youtube (the person is based in Poland).

As soon as I received the pen, my first impression is that the pen looked and felt (still does!) rather cheap, as the plastic is lighter and thinner compared to their ink gel pen. Small internal crack appeared within one day of use, which didn't really surprise me...

The ergonomic grip section of Plumix is exactly the same as that of the Penmanship (love that one, will review later). With a good nib, it's comfortable and lets everything fall into places naturally but becomes somewhat of a nuisance on this particular pen. The drier-than-usual nib requires harder grip and the distance from the center of the grip to nib is a little long so it just feels awkward. (The ink flow on Penmanship is so good that I can just resort by holding near the thread).

 The Plumix's medium italic nib was very dry, requiring a lot of force for any ink to come out (semi-consistently) and I only get that bit of consistency when I write in a up-and-down vertical motion. Since I naturally write thing slanted, it's awkward and make my handwriting uglier (to me, defeats the purpose of a fountain pen and broad nib)...The flow has gotten better after several pages of (uncomfortable) note-taking but it still is an awkward writer to me. Maybe I shouldn't complain this much, consider it's actually smoother than the Lamy Safari FF nib (after 3 whole months of breaking in).

A writing sample of Pilot Plumix with J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune (the pretty ink distracts me from the hideous writing a little)- done when I was literally digging on the paper. If I use my standard writing pressure, this would be much uglier...

Overall: Maybe it's just my bad luck the quality control or my writing style but I dislike almost everything about the Plumix :  the design (always thought the squid body is alien-like and in a completely non-cute way), construction, material (light and cheap), nib (dry and inconsistent) ...I should have gone for the 78G in Broad instead.

P.S. I bought it at Jetpens, where you can also read other (negative customer) reviews (that are similar to mine). 

Hero 892 Fountain Pen with Red Body

 

Hero 892 Fountain Pen was another pick by my cousin in the stationery store, the affordable 20 RMB (but it was the most expensive Hero pen at the store though, the rest are all around 5 yuans) pen has a slender cigar shaped body that's made of aluminum and painted red. The pen is quite weighty, even thought it rests securely in my grip, it feels slightly uncomfortable after a period of use.

Now here comes the complaints - The first few times, the lid snap closed somewhat securely, maybe with a bit of slipping...Afterward, the spinning motion became more and more pronounced and finally, it stopped shutting altogether and the plastic insert comes off (on the grip of the pen) every time I open it.

I guess this should work as a desk fountain pen or I can tape it over? The clip on the lid is secure, basically too hard and tight to be remotely user-friendly. And oh, I find the gray band (with the model number and the dove) right in the middle of the pen, pretty ugly.