{"id":15584,"date":"2025-07-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=15584"},"modified":"2025-07-31T14:25:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:25:25","slug":"never-buying-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/never-buying-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Buying These Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you’ve been here for a while, you know I like to keep this space as positive as possible. But, every once in a while, I let in some snark. Today is one of those posts, which you probably already knew from the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m sure some, or all, of these will be unpopular opinions. However, I have valid-to-me reasons for my opinions. So, I hope you enjoy the honesty and sprinkles of snark I chose to indulge in for this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s most of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Aurora
Beautiful, yes, fantastic writing experience… not so much.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I jumped on the Aurora bandwagon for a while. But, the nibs were just meh \u2014 I know, blasphemy! Once I decided that I was no longer buying pretty ink sticks, that was it for Aurora pens. Well, that and the 100o<\/sup> Anniversario pen thing<\/a>. To me, Aurora pens really only have their looks going for them, and that means they aren’t worth their premium price. I want more than just surface beauty, I want depth<\/em> \u2014 AKA an excellent writing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bexley<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Bexley
That material was almost<\/em> enough to make me keep it. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My first and only Bexley was a disappointment almost from the first moment. It was dry, the cap finial band wasn’t glued on, and it was a bear both to take apart to clean and to put back together. Tolerances seemed to be less than normal because I had to be super careful when reassembling the pen, or it would leak. It was just a captured converter; it should have been easy to disassemble, clean, and reassemble. Very annoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caran d’Ache<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Caran
The culprit!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That objectively pretty year of the dragon pen was the genesis of my grudge against Caran d’Ache. If you don’t already know the story<\/a>, this pen was delivered in crappy packing, and I was gypped a box, among other things. I know that’s not a huge<\/em> issue, after all, the pen was just fine and it functions well. But, at $50 plus $12 shipping, it seriously<\/em> pissed me off. Did I mention that I bought direct<\/em> from the Caran d’Ache website?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal “swirl” pens<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"close
This is an cutout of a photo from PenPaperPencil.net<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Think Additive Pens<\/a>, Hex Pens<\/a>, etc. Pens like these really need a full fill or close to it to function properly. They don’t keep the ink flowing with minimal fills like I prefer. They are also a pain in the butt to clean. And hard-to-clean is a deal-breaker for me, as you’ll see below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lamy Safari\/Al-Star\/Lx<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Lamy
The only lower-level Lamy I’ve kept, because of the memories<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After trying so many other nibs, I realized I don’t really like the “standard” steel Lamy nib. It’s also rather dry, not a favorite. On top of that, since the feed and section don’t come apart, it’s also annoying to clean. Ain’t nobody got time for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montegrappa Fortuna<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Montegrappa
I can’t really regret getting this beauty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve tried 3 different Fortuna models, one in wood<\/a>, one in metal, and one in some kind of plastic. I’ve sold two and retired one because I couldn’t stand the hard starts. It didn’t matter if I’d left a pen untouched for a couple of days, or just been writing a few minutes before. Neither weather nor storage position \u2014 laying on its side or nib up \u2014 mattered either. I’m pretty sure that the issue is the thick threads, exacerbated by only having a couple of turns to close the pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noodler’s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Noodler's
Nothing can properly prepare you for the smell of a new Noodler’s pen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I know that, depending on who you talk to, there are many reasons not to buy Noodler’s products. However, these reasons are entirely based on the products themselves. The pens stink. Yes, the smell eventually mostly dissipates. But, the pens aren’t special enough \u2014 in my opinion \u2014 to bother dealing with the smell. The writing experience is adequate at best, and I can ger much prettier materials elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opus 88 Mini<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"OPUS
What should<\/em> have been an awesome pen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I’ve enjoyed my Opus pens and will probably pick up another soon. But, after waiting ages to find the “right” mini to purchase, when I finally bought one, it was a terrible disappointment. At $80+, it’s about $20 more than a standard TWSBI Mini AL, but it feels cheap in comparison. If you handed me both pens and told me the prices, I’d assume the TWSBI was the more expensive one. I don’t think the price matches the construction or tactile experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilot Vanishing Point<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Pilot
Yes, I actually had the coveted Crimson Sunrise. Had<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I know, I know. Put away the pitchforks and torches. The Vanishing Point \u2014 any clicky fountain pen, really \u2014 is just fine. It writes beautifully, as I’d expect from a Pilot pen. It looks pretty. But, IT’S A NIGHTMARE TO CLEAN!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First you have to get the nib unit clean. It’s not a simple procedure, especially for one, like myself, who changes ink color family with every pen fill. But, and here’s the real clencher, the stupid little trap door<\/em> gets ink on it and you cannot<\/em> get it clean! So, with each new pen fill, when you first click the pen to start writing, you have contaminated ink. And it takes a surprisingly long time to get all of the ink off of the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pineider<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Pineider
Only took about 30 seconds to decide to return this guy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh, Pineider. I’ve owned three Pineider pens, if you count the half a day before I returned the Black Prince as owning it. The Keys of Heaven was nice, but the M nib was incredibly wet and wrote more like a B, so I sold it. The Arco Oak had a “soft” F nib, but it wasn’t particularly impressive, despite all of the marketing around that quill nib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the Honeycomb Black Prince. With a whopping $798 price tag \u2014 I traded work for it \u2014 I assumed that the body was metal. Maybe an anodized aluminum. Nope, it’s plastic. And it felt<\/em> like plastic \u2014 cheap plastic. I didn’t ink it because I knew I was sending it back, so I have no idea what the nib was like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retro 51 fountain pens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Retro
Kept for the theme, but no longer used.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There isn’t anything wrong<\/em> with the Retro 51 fountain pens, they just aren’t for me. I can’t even really put my finger on what the issue(s) is\/are. Something just isn’t right for me. I’ve kept the Wings of the Monarch for the design. If anyone has the rollerball version and would like to trade, let me know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWSBI Eco<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"TWSBI<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve owned 22 TWSBI pens \u2014 9 580 series, 7 minis, 2 Eco series, 1 Go, and the three “special” piston-fillers (e.g. Aurora, Draco). Out of those 22 pens, I’ve had problems with 2 of them… no bonus points for guessing which ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Eco series pens had crap nibs. They were scratchy and dry. I could have excused one as an anomaly. The second one was it for me, especially since the nibs on every other pen were fabulous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m aware that this one is probably bad luck. I’ve heard from people who have had the exact opposite experience I’ve had. But, I’m not going to bemoan a reason to not purchase a pen that has multiple colorway releases each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vintage filling mechanisms<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Parker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

OK, OK, it’s not all<\/em> vintage filling mechanisms. It’s mostly ones that fill using some kind of vacuum \u2014 button filler, lever filler, etc. Most of these are in pens where you can’t remove the nib for easy cleaning. See where I’m going with this? Do you know how long it takes to fully<\/em> clean a lever filler when your only option is to fill and empty using the lever? Waaaaay too fricken’ long!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’m not completely against them. I have an Esterbrook J and an LJ; they’re lovely \u2014 because I can remove the nib for cleaning. My Parker Vacumatic with a glorious factory stub? I sold it. The annoyance of cleaning outweighed the glory of the nib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

What pen(s) will you never buy again? Are there any on my sh*t list that you love? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure to subscribe to my blog<\/a> or follow me on Instagram<\/a> so you don\u2019t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Attribution: The image I used in the share images for Instagram and Facebook is a modification of “Yes and No<\/a>” and “Various emotional expressions<\/a>” by “miniwide studio<\/a>” on Vecteezy.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For one reason or another, these pens were duds for me. I won’t be buying any of them ever again. Find out why.<\/p>\n

Keep ReadingNever Buying These Again<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[201],"class_list":["post-15584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fountain-pens","tag-tags-and-challenges","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/neverAgain_featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-43m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4451,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/unpopular-opinions\/","url_meta":{"origin":15584,"position":0},"title":"Unpopular Fountain Pen Opinions","author":"Rachel","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Read about opinions I have that seem to be unpopular based on what I've seen and heard in fountain pen groups and gatherings.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ufpo-IGSm.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5723,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/fp-series-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":15584,"position":1},"title":"Fountain Pen Series + Updates","author":"Rachel","date":"November 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I finished my last Fountain Pen series post in October of 2018, I've written several updates. 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