Fountain pens thoughts: Pelikan m205
My Pelikan m205 is a bit drab. I purchased a taupe-colored pen on sale; in retrospect, it’s nice for it’s understated, non-flashy appeal. And, honestly, I was happy to get the pen for less than its usual cost.
Aside from looks, I have a love-hate relationship with the pen. As my first big-purchase pen, I had high hopes that it would amaze and delight. I enjoyed it’s bouncy nature, and I wanted to love it. But it felt scratchy, as if it were digging into the paper, so I set it aside for a long while.
I’ve come back to it with knowledge on checking tine alignment and performing minor adjustments, and I feel that today it is a decent writer. I enjoy that it has an ink window, that it isn’t ostentatious, and I appreciate its rather understated design. However, I don’t enjoy its small grip. And no matter how much I write with it, I can’t get out of my head that it once was a scratchy writer; I keep waiting for it to dig into my paper again.
As far as pens go, I like how it looks, even if it appears drab. I appreciate that it isn’t flashy, and that if I wanted to, I can find many other colors available in the m205 line. It features a nib and feed that are easy to swap, very similar to bygone Esterbrook model J pens, with a nib and feed unit that you unscrew to remove from the pen.
On the other hand, I admit that I regularly reach for less-expensive pens without bouncy nibs. A first among many lessons, this pen helped me understand that a more expensive pen doesn’t necessarily mean a more enjoyable pen.