Noodler's FLEX NIB Fountain Pen, Piston Fill, Clear Demo

Took an age to arrive. Gently screwed the lid together. Popped it in my coat pocket and the screw thread snapped immediately. If the seller can send me a replacement lid, I'll give more stars for the pen section, but currently not really fit for purpose. Also it smells like someone has used it as a thermometer. (Not mouth or armpit)

This has the typical Noodlers smell. It's a bit like gone off cheese. This pen is all about the flex nib. That's why I bought it. Does if flex? Not really. As with any steel nib if you press hard you will get a bit of line variation but that's all. Is it a smooth writer? No. I needed to give it a lot of work with Micromesh to remove basic scratchyness. As it was a USA Amazon import it wasn't worth the hassle to return it.

This pen really smells horrible. Tried soap, washing up liquid, and bicarbonate of soda but it still smells and leaves the pong on your fingers. Poor quality.

This pen is suitable for pitman's Shorthand writing.

hace lo que promete. Punto flexible que da trazos gruesos y delgados.

I do think the Konrad and the Ahab are better pens, but if you like thin and small and still want a piston filling demonstrator pen with a flexible nib, this is where the money's at. I have two, one that I ground the feed out to gush ink, and this one, which I kept stock. Noodlers pens DO REQUIRE SOME FIDDLING. DO NOT BUY THIS AS A FIRST PEN. You will have to likely adjust how deep the nib and feed are in the body (further out = more flex, closer the feed is to the tip of the nib, more inkflow) and maybe use a razor blade to cut the ebonite feed a bit, but this will take any standard #5 nib as well, and is a proper piston filler. The biodegradable vegetal resin isn't as crystal clear as a TWSBI's plastic, but it's still quite clear, and it's tougher than any other plastic you can think of. Nathan Tardiff of Noodlers has a video of himself driving over a konrad (Same material) with his car twice and it wrote fine, and then firing one out of a shotgun (it survived) It does have a VERY strong odor out of the box, some people HATE the smell, so if you don't like the pen's odor, stick it in a drawer for a week and it will dissipate quickly. It's a very thin, light pen with a good posting cap. The nib is nice, will flex very broad (western EF to about a 1.1-1.5 stub) though it does require way more pressure than a "vintage" flex pen, if you want to write bold and broad, this will do the job, no problem. It will get tiring to do after 10-15 minutes, unlike a vintage flex pen, but that isn't this pen's intent. It does write like a slightly springy gold nib when writing normally, which I really like (not like a soft nib, but softer than regular steel nibs) Piston mechanism is smooth, simple, and reliable, and it holds a good amount of ink (2.5ish ml) The only issue I have with these nib creapers is that the cap has no inner seal, so it can't be sat in a drawer, inked, like a platinum with a slip and seal cap or even a jinhao. The konrad has an inner cap and the ahab seems to not have much issue (my neponset is ebonite without an inner cap but seems to not have trouble either) it will dry out if left for a week inked and unused. So only ink this pen up when you want to use it, and the rest of the time, keep it empty, and you won't have any issues. Overall, if you have a few dollars more and don't desperately want the thinnest pen you can find, I suggest the ahab, or if you need something a little smaller, the konrad, which are a bit more versatile and have a more easily swapped #6 nib. But for what it is, this is a solid little flex pen.

High quality fountain pen. The bock EF nib is fantastic.

Der Füller funktioniert. Aber er riecht fürchterlich! Misthaufen? Das hatte auch schon ein anderer Käufer bemängelt.