Below you’ll find links to all of my pen reviews, organised alphabetically by manufacturer, grouped by price.
Last updated 20th March 2022
Roundups and recaps
Myu, M805, Pro Gear, Pilot 91 and 92, Pilot 912, Jinhao 992, 3776
Platinum 3776, Pelikan M1000, Lamy 2000, Sailor Pro Gear, Kaweco AL Sport
Under £100 (UK RRP)
Esterbrook Phaeton — a slimline pen that isn’t up to Esterbrook’s usual standards.
Faber-Castell Ondoro — a distinctive hexagonal design with large shiny cap
Gravitas Entry — a slim machined pen made to the highest standards
Gravitas Pocket Pen — a flat-sided wonder from Ireland
Herbin glass dip pen — a decorative, fluted glass pen ideal for ink testing
Jinhao 992 — the infamous $2 pen, one of many
John Garnham JG5, JG6 — amazing, simple pens… if you can get hold of one.
Karas Pens Starliner and XL — small, aluminium pens with slip caps and curvaceous sections
Karas Pens Ink (reviewed with premium gold nib) — the old version of Karas’s super machined pen.
Kaweco Dia2 — Kaweco doesn’t just make the Sport. Arguably, the Dia2 is a better pen.
Kaweco Perkeo — a full-size entry-level pen from the German giant.
Kaweco Sport — the classic plastic Sport for your pocket.
Kaweco Skyline Sport Fox — a fetching orange version of the pocket Sport.
Kaweco Art Sport — a premium version of the Sport in acrylic. Super.
Kaweco Special Blue Limited Edition
Lamy Aion — a large all-aluminium pen designed by Jasper Morrison.
Lamy Studio Aquamarine — Lamy’s limited edition Studios are beautiful.
Milim pen — pocket pens don’t get any smaller than this.
Muji round aluminium fountain pen — for a budget price, this is a great little pen for work or kids.
Narwhal Original — a piston filler with an in-house nib for £50. It’s so comfortable.
Namisu Ixion — a hexagonal-capped pen in a variety of finishes.
Opus 88 Koloro — an unusual eyedropper with ebonite accents
Pilot Prera — proof that good things come in small packages
Rotring Newton — an abomination
Schon DSGN Pocket Six and again
Taccia Spectrum — a colourful C/C pen with steel Sailor nib
Wing Sung 601 — a vacumatic with hooded nib, all for about £15…
Over £100 (UK RRP)
Applied Pens Streamline — A large ebonite handmade pen from Wales
Benu Euphoria Dream — Benu adds a multi-layered hand decoration to the Euphoria
Benu Talisman Mistletoe — a limited edition that glows in the dark
Edison Beaumont — a midsize, classically styled steel-nib from this small US manufacturer
Esterbrook Estie and Estie Honeycomb
Franklin-Christoph Pocket 66 — a clipless acrylic pen with F-C’s distinctive design
Franklin-Christoph Model 02 — a large acrylic pen designed to post deeply
Gioia Alleria Nuvola and Amaranto
Karas Kustoms Decograph 1801 Sleeping Beauty — a limited edition of KK’s first non-metal pen
Lamy 2000 — the iconic gold-nibbed piston filler
Leonard Slattery A Se pocket pen
Onoto Scholar — a new entry-level design by the English manufacturer
Pilot 91 — a small gold-nibbed pen with #5 nibs
Pilot 912 FA — a flat-topped pen with the iconic flex nib
Pilot 92 — a piston-filler version of the 91
Platinum 3776 — available in a bunch of unusual nibs, with a tight-sealing cap
Rockster Troubleshooter 1313 — a smart and comfortable pen from a Welsh maker
Sailor Pro Gear — short, fat, with Sailor’s great 21k nib
Schon DSGN Pocket Six and followup
Schon DSGN full size and engineerd plastic
Silverburl Pens hybrid pens — hand-turned pens from Cornwall
ST Dupont D Initial — Dupont’s entry-level steel-nibbed pen.
Ystudio portable — an unusual high-design pen in copper
Ystudio desk pen — a large brass pen with distinctive desk stand
Over £250 (UK RRP)
Graf von Faber Castell Classic
Graf von Faber Castell Intuition Platino Ebony — the flagship pen from GvFC, with wooden barrel and unusual converter mechanism
Hahnemuhle FineNotes Slim and Bold — the first pens from a 400+ year old German paper manufacturer
Pelikan M805 — a versatile piston-filler workhorse with 18k nib
Pilot Myu — a vintage pocket pen with integral nib
Pilot Vanishing Point / Capless LS
Radius Superior — vintage style Italian piston filler with great comfort
Visconti Homo Sapiens — Palladium nib, bayonet cap, vac filler, made of lava
Over £600
Montblanc 149 — needs no introduction
Montblanc 1912 — a piston filler with bouncy retractable nib and classic safety pen styling
Montblanc Geometry Solitaire LeGrand
Montblanc Le Petit Prince LeGrand
Nakaya Portable Cigar Toki-Tamenuri 17mm
Namiki Yukari Royale / Urushi 20
Onoto Great Court Vitreous Enamel
Onoto Heritage Simpole Overlay — handmade silver overlay by the late Henry Simpole
Otto Hutt designC (reprised here)
Sailor 1911 Naginata Cross Concord
Santini Italia Giant Cherry — the biggest in-house nib you’ll find short of Tohma