this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Fountain Pens

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I finally decided to try a Pilot Metropolitan... and I hate it :( (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by sillyhatsonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/fountainpens@wayfarershaven.eu
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[Image description: A white fountain pen with a silver clip on the cap and a silver zebra stripe band around the middle lies on a blue dotted grid desk pad.]

I impulse bought a Pilot Metropolitan (F) about a month ago and have had the worst experience so far. First it took 3 days of experimenting (squeezing the cartridge, flushing, cleaning, shaking, incessant scribbling) to get it to write at all. Then I noticed the nib was a bit off-center in the feed so I aligned it and it wrote pretty well for a while. This morning I grabbed it to take some notes and it won't start, even after a flush with water and re-seating the cartridge. This isn't my first fountain pen (not even my first Pilot!) but I'm really disappointed because the Metro seems to be such a popular recommendation as a solid, inexpensive starter pen. Did I get a dud?

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[–] Hizeh@hizeh.com 4 points 1 year ago

Pilots are usually great out of the box. I'd say your experience with this metro is not usual.

I don't like metropolitans because of the grips... But Pilots overall tend to write well without nib adjustments.

[–] notlookingfornemo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sounds like a dud. What surprises me was that reseating the nib made the pen work for a while, and then the pen stopped working suddenly.

A few troubleshooting questions: Have you tried a different ink? How about a different cartridge?

put a sheet of paper/napkin/tissue on the top of the slit. Are you getting any ink? Or is it dry? If it's wet, it might be something preventing the ink getting to the tip of the nib In this case, I usually try a different ink or gently adjust the tines in the case the tines are too far apart. If it's dry, I reckon it's more to do with how the nib is sitting on the feed. The best you probably can do is try to reseat the nib/feed.

This one will be messy. With the pen stored nib down with in the cartridge, wait like 20 minutes. Now pop off the nib and dab at the feed with paper/napkin/tissue. Is the feed saturated with ink? If it's saturated, once again it's probably something to do with how the nib is sitting on the feed. Reseat it and hope for the best. If it's dry, I really don't know what to suggest besides binning the pen. A Metro isn't worth enough money to buy a Kakuno just to transfer the feed over.

[–] techwizrd@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where did you buy it, and what kind of ink are you using? Metropolitans are really reliable, so it's be very surprised to see a dud unless it wasn't a real Metropolitan or the ink was India ink or iron gall ink. There are Lamy Safari fakes and other similar pens sold on Amazon. I've had better luck buying at pen shows and from trusted retailers.

[–] sillyhatsonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I did buy it on Amazon, but it was shipped and sold by them so I trusted that it was legit. The ink cartridge was included with the pen. After fussing with it some more and reading all the responses here I've decided to return it for a refund. Guess this is a lesson to stick with more trusted retailers, I've been lucky to never receive an Amazon fake but I guess there's a first time for everything.

[–] BZen@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

The problem with Amazon is that they sometimes just combine all of a single item, say the pilot metropolitan, from all sellers, including Amazon, together in one place in the warehouse. If some sellers send fakes and others genuine product, when you order, you can get a dud from a reputable seller and genuine product from the counterfeit seller.

Sorry about the long sentences!