on saleNoodler's Ahab Flex Fountain Pen - Clear

I gave this pen 2 stars because I do like how thoroughly it comes apart and cleans easily. The design feels smooth in my hand. The feed is wet and kept up well.

That said, I'm pretty disappointed in the pen. I do not recommend it. Here's my gripes:

1. The smell. IT IS BAD. And it does NOT go away. Folks who say it does are getting used to it, IMO, and/or keeping it somewhere with lots of airflow. The smell is a result of ongoing degrading of the plastic. You can wash it with soap to get rid of it for a day, but it will come back. If you are a person who likes "stinky" cheese, though, you might not mind it... some people do seem to perceive scents differently.

2. Nib creep. And feed creep. And creep from the feed into the barrel, and then along the threads and onto the section. Everything is so wet and loosely fitted together, and the ink is like a zombie horde at the windows, just waiting for an opportunity to break out. I constantly have ink all over my hands. I tried using oil to prevent it, and that helped, but I have not yet been able to stop it without greasing up my whole pen with lithium. Which I guess I'll try next. Of course, that's assuming I can even still use the pen, because...

3. The plastic is too brittle. Sick of ink creeping out of the reservoir and into the barrel, and seeing it had a rubber O ring that was supposed to stop that, I thought maybe if I tightened it a little more than I had been, it would compress the O ring and actually seal. So--as a woman who is not particularly strong, and using my fingertips--I applied a little more torque, and POP! I cracked the cylinder. Currently, the pen is held together with literal Scotch tape.

4. The nib is too stiff. The whole reason I GOT the pen was for flex. But this flex is not usable as-is. Applying enough pressure to make the tines flex at all (and I do mean AT ALL, I'm not asking for much here) gouges and bruises the paper so badly, it instantly bleeds through. It also makes the paper absorb the ink along those bruise lines, so if the ink isn't super dark, you'll see extra-dark railroads.

I've tried and tried to use it for flex, thinking surely it's me, surely it's just user error, surely I just need to fiddle with nib placement, but no. It is too stiff. I cannot use it for handwriting except as a regular fine nib pen. Attempting calligraphy with it produces shaky and unnatural writing because I'm using so much force.

I haven't tried modding the nib with a rotary tool yet. I will try that next. I figure, the pen is already broken, so there's not much left to lose. But frankly, even if modding it makes it perfect, I'm still annoyed. A product should not require using power tools to make it accomplish its most basic function.

Also, and maybe this one IS me, but... When I do spread the tines, and then let them spring back together, the line doesn't snap back to being narrow. It tapers off slowly over the course of half a letter. Which means, functionally speaking, using it as a flex pen just means extra-bold writing with occasional thin bits. I think the feed is maybe too wet? But attempting to tweak the flow doesn't fix this issue. I have no idea what's causing it. All I know is, other people's pens don't seem to do this.

I've been able to use the pen to ink outlines onto drawings. Strathmore drawing paper is thick and sturdy enough to withstand more pressure than writing paper, and I've been able to get a bit of line variation. And I'm the sort who likes to fiddle, so I've gotten enjoyment out of the fiddling, even if I haven't been able to get it to work.

But I still wish I hadn't bought a pen that stunk up my entire pen box.

Looks nice, smells bad, feels cheap

I like the pen, which is a great way to start with flex nibs while leaving your bank account intact. The steel nib seems tougher on the osteoarthritis at the base of my thumb than a gold nib.

Bought with a doubt that I would like it, but so far it worked amazing! For it's price and functionality - great money investment. Writes smoothly, really to achive line variation, good as writing tool and a sketching tool too! Love it, and didn't had any problems with it.

While the fountain pen writes decently, the main reason I purchased this was the flex nib itself. I won't sugarcoat it, it's awful. You have to really put in a lot of pressure to get a different line variation every time you write, which is tiring.