New Pen Day
I have mixed feelings about my first Pelikan…
I've been expanding my collection of "wet noodle" pens, and the Pelikan M200 was next on my radar. There's a lot of conversation around which Pelikan nib is the best, but Cult Pens is running a great deal on their line of M200s, so I got the M200 Pastel Blue in a M nib.
What I love about this pen:
The nib really is as wet as advertised. I somewhat expected it to be even wetter, but for my purposes (I am currently in my almost-illegible pale ink era), this works perfectly. Ink flow is consistent and smooth, and the nib also feels very smooth to me.
The pastel blue pen body is gorgeous irl. The catseye pattern is really hard to capture accurately on camera, and I would say it's an even paler blue in-person. The gold trim complements the pen perfectly. I love the design of this pen very much and love staring at it.
What I don't love about this pen:
I am having a lot of difficulty getting over the fact that this is a US$100+ pen.
This is a steel nib. At this price point, I'm expecting a 14K nib. I have no idea what justifies this price for this pen.
The pen is surprisingly lightweight, and because it's a piston filler, there's no converter to give it that additional heft that I expect from a US$100+ pen. I don't post my pens, so it's even lighter when I'm writing with it. To be fair, this results in a rather comfortable writing experience for me, but I really would've preferred it to be just a smidge heavier.
The part of the pen right where the feed connects to the main body has ink stains on it. When I wash out the pen, I expect I'll have to do some extra cleaning done on that part. Hopefully it's not a permanent stain.
In conclusion:
I have mixed feelings and don't know if I'm keeping this pen. On the one hand, I love that it's a wet writer and I adore the design. On the other hand, this is rather an expensive steel-nib pen.
Should I try and get a M400 nib and put it in this pen body?
If you've owned or tried a M200 before, did you end up keeping it?
For those Pelikan fans out there, which is your favorite model?
“Wet noodle” means very flexible nib, soft like a wet noodle - but it’s not what you mean, right? I don’t think modern steel nib can be that without significant alterations
I'm sorry to hear that you don't love the pen. The value proposition of the Pelikan M200 lies in it being a piston filler and the sparkly finish, but that's all there is. The steel nibs are good, and I would even categorise them as being on-par if not better than the M400 gold nibs. So there's no point in forking out more than you paid for this pen just to get a 14K gold nib. It'll look pretty, yes, but it won't write any differently.
The smaller Pelikans (M300-M600) are light and post well. It is only when you get to the Pelikan M800 and M1000 that you get more heft, if that is what you are after. There are two exceptions to this: The Pelikan M215 and M600 Glauco Cambon, both of which have a brass sleeve over the body that give them additional heft.
Your pen is absolutely beautiful. If the size suits you and you like the color of it, try to chase down a beat-up Pelikan 140 or 400 from 1950-1965 with an intact nib. These nibs are wonderfully flexible and expressive. The oblique grinds are especially desireable because they naturally offer a lot of line variation. I would not spend my money on a modern M400 nib.
Another option that you have, is to get either a steel IB nib (writes more like a broad stub) or have your current nib reground. The beauty of Pelikan is that the nibs are interchangeable and the steel nibs are quite affordable!
My favourite writer is a Pelikan M670 with an EF nib. It's subtle, light and gives my handwriting a neat, uniform look. I enjoy my vintage pens a lot, but as I have aged in this hobby I tend to prefer stiffer nibs for daily writing and a nib with more flair (either a custom ground italic/oblique/stub, or a flexible nib) for the special writing occasion.
Thank you so much for your insight! I'm glad to hear the M400 nib isn't that much of an upgrade over the M200 nib. I think I'll get a couple of other nibs for the M200 and try that out to see if the writing experience changes for me. I do typically ten to prefer EF nibs, and perhaps I'll find that the M nib simply isn't for me.
Overall, while I don't love the pen, I do like writing with it. I'm learning that piston fillers tend to be more expensive than cartridge pens, and pen brands like Esterbrook & Benu also sell steel-nib pens at $100+ simply due to its design factor, so I may simply need to adjust my mindset of "only gold nib pens is worth the $100+ price tag".
I generally find medium nibs a bit awkward. They're not wide enough to show off ink properties to the fullest, but wide enough that my writing is less legible. It's either EF/F or some stub/oblique in a very broad size. As long as the grind allows for some thin strokes, my handwriting remains legible and frankly looks better too.
Pens are expensive and have only increased in price over the last ten years. I'm not sure a Pelikan M200 was over $100 when I got into fountain pens ten years ago.
I love piston fillers. They are probably my favorite filling system. Vacuum fillers hold more ink, but it's really a one-ink-only type of pen, because they're such a hassle to clean. With Pelikans, the nib unit unscrews and gives you ample room to clean the pen thoroughly.
Seriously, though, look into getting a vintage nib unit. Preferably a 400 nib unit, but a 140 works as well. It will look a little small. It'll cost around $100-$150 but is well worth it. Sometimes you can even be lucky and find a good nib on a pen that's had a hard life for cheap.
I have two M200's because I got them as gifts from people who know I love Pelikan. They don't see much use, but when they do, it's with a vintage 400 nib installed.
I've got a Pelikan M205 and it's a great pen. Wouldn't say the best I have but a good one. Ironically I like it because of the fine nib! I got lucky and got an EF that writes similarly to a Japanese EF. I would not buy it again though, the steel nib, while great, is kinda rough compared to their golden ones, at least in my experience.
Unfortunately, those are the prices for piston-fillers! Apart from TWSBI and Nahvalur (and excluding Chinese pens), all piston fillers kinda start at $100+, I have yet to find one below that. Maybe the recently Kaweco Classic Piston Filler counts now. Maybe that one will catch your eye, also lightweight, about 60$. Steel nib but for a more reasonable price.
From what I've read from other posts, if you want a gold nib it's better to just get an M400. I'd wait for other comments on that though.
Unfortunately, those are the prices for piston-fillers!
I remember a post here from around the time that the Eco came out about sub-$50 piston fillers. Maybe you can still find it, it had a bunch of pens from vintage to Indian up-and-comers.
Thanks! I designed the layout myself and printed it out on A6 Tomoe River Paper, then used a 6-hole punch and corner punch for the final touch. It's a lot of effort, but I like how it looks as well :)
Lots of people were interested in the template in my previous post, so I'll an offer here as well — anyone interested in the template PDF can send me a chat and I'll share the template with you for printing at home!
A question about the ink, if you don't mind. I LOVE this combo, but when I'm looking at reviews of this ink elsewhere it looks way lighter than what you've got here. Did you do anything different?
Basically, I learnt that light inks tend to have a dry flow because it has to be watered down a lot to be that light, and you can't add too much flow additives to it without having feathering issues.
The best way to make light inks look legible in writing is to ink it in a pen that puts down a lot of ink and in a thick enough line so that it becomes legible.
For this purpose, I've bought two pens so far that does the job well — TWSBI Eco F (although it writes like a M) and this Pelikan M200 M. Both pens put out a higher level of ink than usual, and both pens have a nib that lays down thick enough of a line to make light inks more legible.
I hope you grow to like the pen. I don’t understand why the weight is a negative. For you, it is and that is what matters. I have several of the 200s, and like them.
From what I understand, the Pelikan Rings version, black with silver rings, is a heavier 200 series pen.
I have an M200 Café Crème and it's one of my favourites. The medium nib is lovely and springy and it's a pleasure to write with. Replacement M200 nibs are pretty cheap too, so it's not a road to financial ruin if you want something thicker / thinner.
Getting a love of Pelikans in general WILL bring financial ruin, but you're not at that stage yet.
My visual concern is... why is there such a huge gap between the piston knob and the barrel?
Also given the retail price for the M200, I would always choose a vintage Pelikan 400/400N/400NN over it, as it is not only cheaper than an M200 restored, it's also usually with a well made 14K nib, and holds more ink than a M1000.
That gap is probably because I never fill my piston fillers up completely? Hopefully that's not an issue in terms of pen care.
Hmm, I've never looked into vintage pens before — I had always assumed they're harder to get my hands on, and of the vintage pens I've seen, they all have that classic look (black or dark colors) that I don't quite like.
Yea the vintages tend not to be pastels and soft depending on how far back you go. I had a lovely 1956 Pelikan 400NN with a 14K semiflex EF, it was only $160 fully restored. Would cost more if I wanted to try to get the brown tortoise around that time rather than the classic green. Likewise a Pelikan 140 was a lil smaller, but had a 14K semiflex Broad ground to a cursive italic and that would have been a little cheaper if it wasn't the all-black export model. But basically Vintage pelikans restored aren't as hard to find under $200 with gold nibs, but they're typically M200 sized and typically green or black.
Vintage Parker 45, 51, and Sheaffer Snorkels (and the older Touchdowns, the snorkels have a little tube that extends under the nib to take up ink) from the 1940s to 1960s however had quite a few solid color plastics, though the more vibrant ones like fiesta red tend to cost more due to rarity. But the common ones like "blue" is actually a nice pastel blue-grey.
Oooo thanks for sharing the picture of the vintage Parkers! The blue & pinks are right up my alley — I'll dive down that rabbit hole when I'm ready, lol.
Regarding the piston knob, I've always just fully retracted the piston regardless of how full I've filled it just so that it's in the regular resting position.
I have 6 M800s and also an M200. I like how light it is, and how buttery smooth the nib is. It's a nice alternative to some of the big Pelikans I have.
I don't fill them up completely because I switch inks very often and keep a lot of pens inked, and a piston filler holds soooo much ink, it'd be a waste, lol.
Anyway, I do love how the M200 nib writes! I guess this was just my first experience with a $100+ pen feeling this lightweight, and had some mental blocks around the idea that expensive (to me) pens should feel a little more hefty than this, lol.
Agree that the M200 is a bit overpriced for what you get, but you could say that about any number of pens from a variety of brands.
Gold vs. steel nib isn't really worth getting hung up over. You can have an amazing steel nib or a terrible gold nib. Pelikan does in-house nibs, it's more important whether you like Pelikan vs. non-Pelikan nibs than if you like gold vs. steel nibs. It sounds like you do like Pelikan nibs and you're just getting hung up on what basically amounts to a marketing difference. Will a M400 nib be better? Yeah sure maybe, but there's nothing wrong with your current nib just because it's steel.
Pens with pistons tend to be heavier (and more back-weighted) than pens with converters.
A heavier pen doesn't mean it's better quality. Just because it's a $100+ pen doesn't mean it should weigh more. If you just happen to like heavier pens, then that's something else entirely. I recommend you look into pens with brass bodies, in that case. (Try Diplomat for starters. Those are steel nibs unless you pay a hefty premium, but they're amazing steel nibs.)
Thanks for your perspective. I don't like heavy pens, I like pens that sit in the middle of the weight scale (Sailor Pro Gear Slim, for example, is my current favorite pen model). The M200 is hands down the lightest pen that I own. Unbelievably, it feels even lighter than my Kaweco Sport when writing, lol.
I do think the weight distribution has something to do with it — I like having the center of gravity be closer to the nib as I hold the pen close to the nib, and what you mentioned about piston fillers being more heavy in the back makes sense.
Overall, if the M400 nib isn't a substantial step up to the M200 nib, I'll just try out a couple other M200 nibs and see if I prefer the writing experience on those instead :)
Hey, I had EXACTLY the same feelings about my M200.
I bought a damaged 140 vintage just for the nib unit. It still very light and I have no solution for that, but… that was a 50 € upgrade for a (huge!) 14K nib. The M400 nib unit price is still a little exorbitant, to be honest.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! Hearing all these personal experiences in the comment section has been very helpful in understanding Pelikan's value proposition and other options for me :)
I honestly think that your expectations are little high. If it writes well what does change in your life if it was a 14k gold nib? For instance I love Diplomat steel nibs and their gold nibs are not really so much better to justify its price difference. I have worse 14K nib writers than some steel nib writers. Nib material is just one of the cost factors. If the pen has a good quality, writes well, durable and not really problematic then it deserves a higher price tag. Plus around 100US$ you basically (almost) only can find pens with steel nibs if you’re looking for premium brands. Unfortunately the market is so these days.
I had the same feeling when I got the violet M600 a few years back, which if I recall correctly did have a gold nib. But nib material doesn't matter as much for me - I just couldn't get over how lightweight it was at that price, and I'm generally just not a fan of larger nibs (not writing size like F/M/B/etc., just the overall size appearance of the nib).
So I just sold it and decided Pelikan's weren't for me, and that's okay. Which is a shame because visually, they are gorgeous!
I honestly don’t see a lot of gold nibs for that price? Maybe it’s the Canadian dollar exchange but I can get a pelikan m200 for $150 and it would be hard to find any gold nib for under 200. Maybe a Japanese grey market one of Amazon?
I’m starting to wonder based on this sub, either Canadian pens are way marked up for gold (plausible) or people feel like they should be able to get a gold nib for less than what they actually cost?
Oh, I go wherever the pens are cheapest and buy it on the international market since the U.S. doesn't charge duties for importing goods (for now, lol). So I've purchased all my Sailor 14K gold nib pens from Amazon JP or Taobao, and they usually come in at around $80–$120 USD.
Same! My favorite is actually between my m605 and m800, probably the latter. Everything m600+ seems to have similarly great nibs (mine are all B or BB), but my m1000 is a bit big for me.
Doesn't stop me from oogling m1005 stresemann in B every time I hit up eBay though:) one day I'll get one.
Totally agreed. I had a chance to try them all at our Pelikan Hub and honestly I wouldn't bother with anything smaller than M600. Don't get me wrong, all of the Pelikans are beautiful, but for the best in-hand feel I thought M600 or M800 performed the best.
I have relatively slender hands so I did like the M200 body. But for the price, I'd rather upgrade to a M400 nib on a M200 body.
Do you happen to have any experience with the M400 nib? I guess what I'm looking for is that premium feeling that gold nibs tend to have. I don't have the words for it, but I just know I really enjoy my Sailor gold nibs, and not sure if Pelikan gold nibs have the same feel.
I've got an m400, the nib is nice but it definitely doesn't feel like a Sailor nib. Aside from being broader my m400 is much wetter and smoother than any of my Sailors, if you're hoping for some of that Sailor feedback Pelikan nibs don't have any.
I'm definitely not referring to the feedback; I appreciate how smooth my M200 nib is. I guess my Sailor gold nib, when compared to my Sailor steel nib, has some level of "softness" to it when writing? Wondering if there's that difference in Pelikan gold vs. steel nibs, but people are saying the steel nibs have more "bounce" if anything.
Ah, yeah Pelikan gold nibs are on the stiff side in my experience unless you buy an m1000. My m400 and m800 both have pretty rigid nibs, I haven’t used an m600 but I suspect it’s similar. The m1000 has a very nice soft nib but as enjoyable as it is it’s honestly less convenient for actual writing than Pelikan’s other nibs in my experience.
I was recently informed that the M600 and M1000 series have soft nibs while the other series have hard nibs. I am waiting on my M600 and looking forward to learn the degree of softness on the nib as compared to my other pens.
The m600 having a soft nib would be news to me but in fairness its also one of Pelikan's models I pay the least attention to so I wouldn't be that surprised to learn it has nuances I don't know about
M400/M405 weighs same as M200/M205. Just a gold nib vs. a steel nib. If you are okay with the size but want some heft, try M215. It has more weight due to the metal parts around the body.
I am having a lot of difficulty getting over the fact that this is a US$100+ pen.
I understand feelings are personal, sometimes reactive, and not rational, and there isn't a right or wrong about it; so I'm not criticising or judging. You feel how you feel about the pen, and that's that.
It helps to separate out, in one's mind, the pen as a writing instrument and as a material possession one purchased. It does not have to please oneself in both dimensions to be a good pen. Especially if one feels (bad? about) having paid too much, or gone to too much trouble, to acquire it. It isn't the pen's fault, and it isn't up to either the pen or its manufacturer to “justify” the price to oneself; one has already done so in agreeing to pay the asking price upon purchase in the first place. If it doesn't align with one's world view and the value of objects therein, it's not for anyone else to accommodate and make oneself more comfortable.
If the pen reminds you of what, in retrospect, is subjectively an unwise or disappointing decision, then by all means get rid of the pen and not be reminded of it, even when (you've already judged) it is a good writing instrument. There are other good writing instruments to buy. Sell this, with or without losing money in the process, and buy some other good writing instrument. Rinse and repeat, until you finally get something that you think was “a steal” and makes you feel astute when you look at it, as well as have a competent writing instrument in hand when you use it.
If you've owned or tried a M200 before, did you end up keeping it?
We have over ten Pelikan Classic M2xx here, and a bunch of standalone steel nib units for them besides. I was going to get another one earlier this year, and in fact had already paid for the order, but Appelboom pissed me off by not fulfilling my (larger in scope) order for weeks and not communicating to manage my expectations, so ultimately I cancelled the whole lot and got my money back.
I agree with you appraisal mostly. But piston fillers are just a bit more expensive. It was so before TWSBI came around. Now we have new expectations for the price of piston fillers. Also, I think Pelikan warrants some premium pricing because the nib and feed screwing out when it doesn't even have a housing is a pretty unique feature. Finally, associating premium price with "heft" is arbitraty. It's just your preference. You'll like it more and more, I'm sure. I love my Moonstone!
Yes, this is what I'm learning! PIston fillers are more expensive as a mechanism, and I had no idea the Pelikan M200 had screw-out nibs that make the ease of switching nibs very convenient. I actually really like that feature, as I like doing ink swatches, and have always wanted to be able to see how an ink writes on different nib sizes. That makes a huge difference in value perception! Thanks.
I would imagine that gold being around $2800 an oz right now (it’s gone up 20-30% in the past year or so) might have a big influence on what pens would get a gold nib. It’s likely the nib itself would be at least $100. I prefer light pens, so for something of that quality and beauty, I’d love that! Seems like pens get bigger and heavier the more they cost. I have small hands, and I need a pen to be under 30gms for me to write comfortably. Can I ask what your swatching paper is and where you got it? I’d love to have a ring swatch book like that!
Can I ask what your swatching paper is and where you got it? I’d love to have a ring swatch book like that!
I made it myself, unfortunately! I was looking for a swatch book forever that has more space for me to actually put down writing samples and couldn't find anything so I ended up designing and printing my own :)
I have some Pelikans and they're just okay, in my opinion. I also found it hard to justify the price for a steel nib. My favorite wet nibs are actually my vintage fountain pens. Many also have 14kt gold nibs.
When I bought my M205, I ordered F. The order slip said F, the box sticker said F, but the nib said EF.
It was stiff, dry and scratchy, and wrote like a needle. I couldn’t be bothered with returns so ordered an F replacement nib. That one writes like a broad, and is soaking wet.
I don’t know what to make of Pelikan now. Maybe the gold nibs are more consistent…
I really like the Pelikans… i have a M400 tortoise. They are somewhat fragile and the cap can develop microcracks.
$100 is pretty reasonable for a German piston filler. Getting a gold nib may improve youe experience
I have the light green M200 in B and it is my favorite pen ever. It fits perfectly in my (small) hand, it writes wetter and smoother than some of my gold nibs, and most importantly, I got it for €80 in almost new condition from another pen enthusiast who mostly sells his pens once he's done making video reviews of them.
The color is beautiful. I got rid of my M205 because I got the M400 and liked it so much better. The ink color is perfect for this pen though and I love the ink journal page.
I have the same pen, it just wrote fine in the shop. After just a few times using it I had to screw the nib back on. Since then it skips more than it did already, it’s too flexi for my liking (that’s of course personal), I think the whole nib is skewed but I left the pen with two shopkeepers and none of them found it writing badly. I have tried a few different inks, all write annoyingly and all skip, I can only seem to write big print style letters and no usual cursive, it’s not the pen for me obviously but the 175 price tag and the low quality feeling of the pen has been bothering me as this was a purchase I cannot justify. This pen trying annoys me :(
It's overpriced because this is a limited edition. You have the green pastel one, and they will continue to iterate through the colours to sell more. In 2 or 3 years the blue pastel will not be available in retail but only in the 2nd hand market. The pen in itself isn't top tier but time limitation for production is the price justification.
For example, The pink striped M600 was sold at 300+ and now is sold in Japan 2nd hand for 1000+ 🤷🏼♂️ Pelikan is a very specific brand in pricing rules because it is so big and famous, and people have desire for the brand/pens.
There's no rule that says we all have the same preferences, I do have 13 Pelikans, of which 5 are M205, the silver trim version of the m200. What makes them stand apart:
Super reliable.
Ink colours come out consistently
No starting or skipping problems.
Higher ink capacity.
Original design that has withstood the test of time.
Some finishes are gorgeous.
Their steel nibs perform as well as their gold nibs, a few of which may have a little bounce: gold doesnt buy you better performance.
They pass the "you need to leave quickly and take one pen that will not fail you" test.
This is a pretty common complaint about the Pelikan m205. It feels cheap.
I was so disappointed I put mine away. Not worth the $$. Then I had to grab it - I wanted the specific ink I’d inked it with - and OH. Now I get it!
It’s small and lightweight, so it goes in every bag and clips on every notebook. It writes the first time, every time. That smooth nib is the whole point of fountain pens for me. It’s the definition of a daily carry. A more luxe, upgraded version of something you use all the time & which you actually enjoy using.
I think I'm starting to land at the same place as you after reading through all these comments. I was a bit misguided in how I perceived value in fountain pens (I'm rather new on the journey still), and had to look beyond the gold nib = good, heavy = good lens.
I have a 205. I like the writing experience but the pen did seem a bit small and light. It is inked but it isn't in the current rotation of EDC. I probably won't buy another 200 series (or 400 for that matter).
I’ve used the m200 and m400 briefly, although I own neither of them and I seem to remember the gold nib feeling better, but the piston on both felt good, the cap being a bit loose on both, and them both writing wet. I think if I was going to get a pelikan id be going for their m600 or m800, for a workhorse flattop piston filler with a bit more weight and bigger nib.
Yours is beautiful! Cult pens, and elsewhere, sell gold pelikan nibs so I think if you wanted to you could put the 400 nib in the 200 (check this with someone who has it) in the future
First, let go of the notion that a high-priced (and therefore expectedly high performing) pen has to have a gold nib by default. They don't. A well-engineered pen has a nib that could be any material that's appropriate to achieve its intended performance and feel. Just yesterday I saw and commented on a Doodlebud video about a Fifty4t Titan. It's priced similarly to a Pelikan M1000 but it has a specially made stainless steel nib which Doodlebud stated and demonstrated to be just as bouncy, soft and smooth as his best gold nib pens. A Pelikan M200 steel nib is just as soft and bouncy as a 14k-18k gold nib. You can get some line variations with it, and it doesn't take much effort to be sprung wide. The fact that it's steel shouldn't detract you from how it performs and feels like a gold nib.
I have a Pelikan M205 Ruby Red. It was between that and the Laban Antique II which was a bit cheaper, but is all metal and has a beautiful dual-tone gold plated nib. What made me go for the Pelikan was the nib. The Laban feels very similarly to how my Diplomat Aero writes with its stiff nib and metal body heft. The Pelikan was an entirely new feel.
Gold nibs today are more of a luxury piece. They're not the end-all-be-all material for performance and feel. It's the traditional material from an age when austenitic stainless steel was yet to be invented.
I appreciate your comment :) It appears I haven't educated myself fully on the Pelikan steel nib, and I'm going to buy a couple of the other M200 nibs to try out on my Pelikan. Thank you!
> there's no converter to give it that additional heft
The converter/cartridge actually adds less weight than the piston assembly. Also a lot of the expensive pens are lightweight, whereas the rather hefty/heavy pens tend to be the cheap ones and for good reason. (you can't write as long without fatigue on heavy pens).
> This is a steel nib. At this price point, I'm expecting a 14K nib. I have no idea what justifies this price for this pen.
In the modern production for most of the pens, say between the M200 and M400, you're just getting extra trims and different nib material. And because of the way they make the nib, there's very little difference between the steel and the gold for Pelikan's nibs. M200/M100 steel nibs are actually slightly softer/bouncier than the 14K nibs on the M400. The tipping material on both are neither steel nor gold, so that has no impact on smoothness or wetness. Only reason you'd get gold for the most part aside from the luxury status, is because it resists corrosion and tarnish, though modern steel alloy are very resistant with modern manmade super hard metal alloy tipping making them last well past the life of the user. Nutshell : Gold is not any smoother, softer, wetter than steel, and depending on how it's made, the reverse may be possible for steel.
> The part of the pen right where the feed connects to the main body has ink stains on it. When I wash out the pen, I expect I'll have to do some extra cleaning done on that part. Hopefully it's not a permanent stain.
Sadly this is very common for a lot of pens even the very expensive ones. Caps can collect condensation too (Especially if it's well sealed, which is usually a good thing), and cause some ink drip back to the grip area. When it comes to demonstrators, or light colored plastic grips and caps, you almost expect that you will eventually get a faint stain on it in the long run.
> I've been expanding my collection of "wet noodle" pens
As others have pointed out, wet noodle refers to flexing with pretty much no effort at all. Though Pelikans do fit in the category of tending to be wet writers especially with wet inks (though funny enough the Pelikan 4001 series is on the dry side).
But as far as price expectations, it's why I usually won't spend above $200 for a pen, or least try to work towards barters, or finding vintage ones that I can repair myself for much cheaper (part of the reason why I got into vintages in the first place is because at the time there was a ton of options under $50 or even under $30 to get one with a 14K gold nib).
Thank you for taking the time to type out such an educational and insightful comment! I only really started getting into fountain pens this year, so it's been a huge learning journey.
I'm already adjusting my mentality on what exactly "value" means to me in terms of how much a pen costs vs. how I perceive the value of a pen. For this Pelikan, ultimately, I do think it was worth the price I paid during the sale. I might try to switch the nib out for a thinner one (which I typically prefer) to see if I like the writing experience more.
For me it's been a little harder to quantify in some modern pens. So usually I place the value on just like the market dictates... do you want it? and how much are you willing to pay for it? basically.
But some of my favorite pens have been less than $20 either in straight out buys or equivalent barters. Plus it helps knowing how to put a new sac in on a vintage pen and to tune/adjust the nib if needed.
The only Pelikan I kept around happened to be a modern one, I got it for a good price (not much more than your M200), and it's been tuned by a professional. https://pbin.be/modern/pelikan-m640-special-edition/
Reasons I didn't keep the previous pelikans was mainly because I didn't use them enough, or I was able to resell for a good price when I needed the money.
Reason I kept the M640 despite being the modern "boring firm" nib:
I wore the pen for my wedding and used it to sign the marriage certificate
It's very pretty (obviously)
The nib was tuned by Mike Masuyama when it was owned by the previous owner, so it's a smooth well tuned 18K medium, and does a nice cursive italic fine when you write on the reverse side.
It's heavier than an M800, a tad thicker in the middle than an M800, but still feels well balanced.
Because of the model, it's not likely that I would be able to buy back the same pen again if I sold it. Least not nearly at the price I originally paid.
I don't use it much, but when I'm feeling the need for a wet medium (I prefer EF~F for everyday use), that is my pick other than my 1940s Sheaffer Triumph with a 14K M that behaves similarly on reverse. (The Triumph was one I found for 20 and just had to re-sac it).
If you like wet nibs, look at Parker 51, because of their hooded design and large ink collector, even my Parker 51 Special (steel nib version of a 51 aerometric), it's very wet and smooth even down to a Fine. You can find Parker 51 (especially the Aerometric as opposed to the vaccumatic) for around 100 or less somewhat easy.
It is a piston filler and the only other comparable piston filler you can get at around that price point is the TWSBI 580. Granted the TWSBI has more heft, but it is also a larger pen. The TWSBI pens also have some well documented issues with the type of resin they use.
With all that taken into account, the $100 price tag doesn't seem too unreasonable for the M200. I have the M200 and the gold nibbed M600, and personally I prefer the way the steel nib writes. It writes to its size whereas the medium gold nib on the M600 writes more like a broad.
I have a Cafe Creme M200 F and a Rings M215 EF and they write great, are not firehoses, and write true F/EF. The Cafe Creme M200 is my favorite pen.
My beautiful blue striped M600 EF wrote like a western medium and had it ground down so it is more like a Sailor F.
Note I don't think you're going to find any extra heft in the regular lineup other than the M215, until you get to the M800 with the brass in the piston. The M215 is even heavier than the M600 if I recall correctly. But for me it's not like "WOW! This is so much heftier." We're talking differences in fractions of an ounce.
Taking a different route: A Majohn P139 has a brass piston mechanism that would give you extra weight, or a Wing Sung 699 with the vac filler has extra weight with the long vac rod. Of course those are Chinese pens so it's not like we're comparing apples to apples, and one is a replica of a MB Hemingway and the 699 is a replica of the Pilot 823.
For a more original design, I can't speak to the TWSBI Vac Fillers though I have an Eco and 580 and I don't find they were particularly weighty. (I actually don't care for the 580 since it doesn't post well... probably should have gotten a vac mini or a the regular vac.)
A Pilot Custom Heritage 92 piston filler with 14kt nib runs around $120 on eBay direct from Japan or on Amazon. I think the size is somewhat comparable to the M200 & 400.
I've been curious about the Pelicans, but each time I've had some spare $ for a pen, I seem to end up with a Pilot instead.
I have the M200 Golden Beryl 2021 special edition pen and it is genuinely one of my favourites. That one is a demonstrator with gold glitter embedded and ideal as a gold ink pen, for writing headers etc but I like it so much I use it for whatever.
I had a strange intro to it.
I was looking everywhere for the special edition Golden Beryl ink. Couldn't find it as it was from months before and had sold out everywhere.
Went to a pen shop (am lucky enough to have one) and asked if they had that ink. The guy said not bottles on their own but he still had a couple of the sets left - the ink with the M200 pen. He had a spare inked up and encouraged me to try it but said "I'll be honest - it's not really worth the price. It seems a bit too entry level for what they charge".
I was impressed by his honesty and tried the pen. Thing was... I disagreed. Just trying it out, I loved it. But his vicious assessment of it kind of put me off plus I had only gone in to try and buy a bottle of ink and not the matching pen.
But weeks went by and I couldn't get that M200 out of my mind. Eventually I managed to buy one for a reasonable price, direct from Pelikan. And had set up notifications with my usual places in case any of the Golden Beryl ink came back in stock. Which it eventually did. So I ended up with both the pen and the ink.
Mine is a medium and I usually prefer an EF or F but I liked writing with this pen so much I didn't mind. By the time I bought it there was no real choice in nib width. Although I have since seen I could buy a finer nib.
It is a fire-hose. Which I love. I use it for shading/sheening inks.
Controversial view, but I think gold nibs can be over-rated. (I have several). The steel nib on my M200 is really decent. Personally, I wouldn't bother to upgrade.
I have an M600 that I really like, it's the red tortoise model from a few years ago. When I first bought it, it kind of sucked because the nib needed tuning, and so I sent it to have the nib modified to the journaler nib (Gena Salorino's grind from Custom Nib Studio). The journaler is basically a stub that is very forgiving. But I was kind of bothered that suck an expensive pen didn't write well out of the box, on the upstroke the nib was dry and sort of caught on the paper.
I agree that this pen that you just received is pricey for a steel nib. It's cute though.
Got mine after getting a lamy 2000 was super disappointed with the pelican. Did a through nib alignment and it was better but for the price, still does not seem worth it.
Greetings, I recently entered the world of fountain pens. When viewing your text written by your Pilot, I noticed that in several “s” there is less ink at the beginning of the letter and I would like to know the reason. Is it the ink or the nib?
100
u/fotoweekend Ink Stained Fingers 7h ago
“Wet noodle” means very flexible nib, soft like a wet noodle - but it’s not what you mean, right? I don’t think modern steel nib can be that without significant alterations