Pelikan Pelikano Jr. Fountain Pen, Right-Handed, Medium Nib, Blue, 1 Pen, 940874

I ordered this Pelikano Junior on Thursday and it was here Saturday morning (even though the shipping date est was a week away). That was a nice surprise.One of my children has been slower to write than his siblings. It was suggested to me by several other mothers that I switch him from his SumoGrip mechanical pencil (which we still love) to a pen. Not only a pen, but a fountain pen. Que middle school memories of bright pink ink leaking into my book bag all over everything, pages tearing as I was writing because the ink was stuck in the nib, nibs bending, inky hands….well, if you were a middle schooler in the late 80’s, early ‘90’s you know what I mean. After being reassured this would (probably) not happen again, I went ahead and ordered.We ordered the pen in indigo. All of the pens come stock with one cartridge of blue ink. I was a little nervous when I realized the box was open and the pen had been loose in the packaging envelope. However, it was fine. Just know packaging could be garbage.The pen is a sturdy plastic material. It is rounded at the top of the cap and bottom. It is 5” from the top of the cap to the bottom, 4.75” without the cap and 1.75” in circumference. The nib seems to be sturdy and well made. Other elementary school moms assured me they had not had any issues with the nib bending. As I mentioned, all of the pens come stock with one cartridge of blue ink. The ink cartridge is decorated with a cute, child friendly animal design. I didn’t think to take a picture prior to inserting the cartridge. However, it was very easy to insert, it clicked into place with virtually no pressure. The pen comes with a ridged, plastic triangle grip design to encourage a tripod grip. The positioning for the top finger (pointer finger) is clearly noted by a bulls eye like design.Moving on to the important stuff. I was surprised to find the pen wrote with virtually no pressure. It definitely glided across the page. I used a couple of different pens to show a comparison. I wrote out the type and brand with each one. I used a ball point pen (which felt as if I were going to push through the paper due to the pressure required -after using the Pelikan Jr.), a Pilot Uniball, which always writes quite smooth and this fountain pen. Beside the Uniball and the Pelikan, I conducted two streak tests. The first one, I drew a line and immediately ran my finger down it. The second mark, I waited ten seconds and then ran my finger down the line. You will see that after ten seconds the fountain pen was still streaking. Just something to be aware of. I also conducted a bleed through test with the fountain pen. You will notice the back side of the paper is free from any bleed through marks from the front.One thing I feel requires mentioning is I noticed was the exterior color (red, turquoise, purple, etc…) of the pens changed the price up to $15.00ish from one another. Some pens were as cheap as $12/$13 and some were as expensive as $27/$29. Same thing. Just different color casing. My observations are for the RIGHT HAND pens only.Overall, I really like the pen. My son seems to like it, as well. The ink does dry quick enough that his hand isn’t smearing it from row to row. He likes that so little pressure is required. It feels sturdy enough. I’m sure we will get a lot of use out of it. I am so sure that I am ordering another one tomorrow for pink ink.Ignore my atrocious handwriting. Thanks!

Was sold by Global Trend company and was fulfilled by Amazon. Made in Germany, according to the box and there is a raised word "GERMANY" at the top of the barrel, in small letters.The color of this pen on Amazon looks lighter than in real life. The explanation might be in a way how many companies take pictures of products on a backlit white matte glass in order to eliminate shadows. Well, they eliminate shadows but also make the color of the plastic lighter, since this plastic is partially translucent. As a result, in real life this pen looks less childish than in the online presentation.I love this pen! It is awesome! It does not have an annoying clip like many pens designed for adults. Those clips constantly hook on something and get in my way. And, very often, if they plastic clips they get cracked, brake off and make a nice writing instrument to appear ugly in a matter of one second.You may ask if this pen rolls off from a flat surface (since it is rounded and does not have a clip) or not... Well, it does NOT. The reason to it is the word "Pelikano" on the cap is not just stamped but is raised from the plastic. I love it!The ergonomic grip is comfortable (it is NOT uniformly triangular, all three facets are different) and is rubbery. It is slightly smaller than I would prefer for an adult hand, but I am OK with that. The plastic cap is a snap-on and not a thread-on cap. The cap has a white plastic insert inside in order to minimize the amount of air around the nib in the closed state.The nib is imprinted with "A", but to my eye is the same "Medium" as in Pelikan Twist that has a nib with imprinted "M." Also, without being scientific, to my eye they shape of the feed looks the same. However, I have not tried removing and swapping them. Also, they seem to be producing very similar lines.Some folks are wondering if this pen can be converted to an eyedropper fountain pen. Well, I have not converted it, but it seems to be possible. The barrel has only two small round holes at the top. If one fills them from inside or outside with glue and then adds an O-ring under the thread (with some silicone grease), then logically it should work. Personally I am not rushing with this idea because I would like to experiment with various inks first before committing to a particular ink. But it would be pleasing to see ink moving inside, plus use the pen without a worry that I have to change the cartridge in the field.Speaking about the field... I've tried sketching with this nib and unfortunately the line looks way too uniform! The rounded tip of the nib is producing a uniform rounded line. That uniformity is excellent for writing though. It writes excellently, even on a slippery tracing paper that I've used. And it did not require a lot of pressure during sketching.One aspect to note here. As I see from some reviews, some people perhaps were not patient enough to let the ink to saturate the internal capillary system and saturate the internal compartment with ink. I've experienced that and also got impatient. However, slightly priming the cartridge has helped to speed the process up. As a trade off, you will be able to write for quite a while even after the cartridge is empty or is removed. I was SURPRISED about how long I could use it for after removing the cartridge!

I have better pens, but I still like my Pelikano Jr. It is durable, lays down a wet, medium width line, and always seems to start, no longer how long it has been neglected for--hard starts while uncapped are rare as well. The pen writes fairly smoothly, with little "tooth" in the nib, especially on good paper. Yes, I wish sometimes that it came in more adult colors (a nice grey or black would be great) or that the grip was just a little bigger (I typically wear a size large, men's glove for comparison) but overall I enjoy writing with it and don't notice any real fatigue when using it. A bonus is the large, international size cartridges it uses. The bottom line is that the Pelikano Jr. gives me the opportunity to write with a fountain pen but also not to worry that my expensive pens are going to be lost at work or dropped or destroyed.