MUJIAluminum Body Fountain Pen - Fine Nib - with 2 Refill Ink Cartridge

When I was a kid we were only allowed to use pencils in elementary school, which makes sense because ink pens can be so messy. In middle school we were first allowed to use erasable pens then later permanent pens. You may remember erasable pens were basically ballpoint pens, which used that sticky, shiny, thick, ugly ink. I thought all pens were crap until a friend let me borrow his Pilot V5 rolling ball. Man, let me tell you that pen changed my world (which was admittedly small because I was 10). I cast away my bic pens and paper mates and wished to only write with rolling ball pens. Uni-ball, Pilot, it didn't matter but it had to be either of those.Fast-forward 20 years to the day when I purchased my first fountain pen, the Muji aluminum body fountain pen. I'm not sure where to start with this one. I've always had an affinity for fountain pens but never sought out to own one. Maybe I was too busy in college or to busy at work to cast away my content for the rolling ball. Maybe I was scared I may not like the summit of human communication, was I worthy? Who knows, that question may remain unanswered for another product review.The Muji is beautiful, well balanced, simple, elegant, stylish, and writes wonderfully. It feels great in my hand and is engineered so well. At the end opposite the nib, there is a thin gap between the aluminum body and the center of the pen. This is where you snap the cap to the back of the pen when posting it. The precise fit on something so thin is, to me, remarkable. This design would be no feat if the pen were plastic, but this is aluminum. The tiny inscription and design on the nib is barely perceivable with the naked eye, but Muji didn't care, it's still there and if you look closely, it's beautiful. There are no logos or stamped trademarks or visible seams on the pen body.The ink flow from the pen is very smooth, constant, consistent, and dries in a reasonable about of time - probably slower than a rolling ball but not slow enough to where it would be an issue for a right-handed person. If you press hard the nib will open up and give you a fatter stroke, but this isn't a calligraphy pen so I wouldn't recommend doing that constantly. However, the nib can handle the force and snaps back to its designed threshold and stroke. Replacing the cartridges is very easy and surprisingly not messy. One reviewer stated that a spare cartridge can be stored in the body of the pen which is correct.The pen comes with 3 cartridges that can be tossed away or refilled with a syringe after watching a few youtube videos. I'm still on cartridge number two because I don't use my pen all day long. I only use it to practice my cursive handwriting, to write checks notes to friends, or whatever else I'm jotting down around the house. If you're still reading this, just buy the pen. It's relatively inexpensive, it writes better than any pen I've owned, and I'm always smiling when I use it. Another testament to the awesomeness of this pen is length of this review. Just get it and you won't be disappointed.Note: I also purchased the Pelikan Ink Converter as suggested by many Muji users on amazon and the Internet but haven't filled it with ink just yet. It seems to snap into place (I tried it empty) and hopefully I will be successful as many others have been.

I purchased this pen because it is minimalist and the same width all the way through, in contrast to many other pens I was considering. The weight of the pen is perfect for me, and I prefer to use it without posting the cap. The knurling on the grip feels lovely and, as another reviewer states, a bit engineer-y as you would find on drafting pencils and pens. The nib is a solid fine nib, though sometimes it does seem to twist off a little bit and I have to re-tighten it.I used a couple of the included ink carts before deciding to put in a plunger converter, and there were no issues. It is compatible with International Standard Converters.

I purchased this pen on a complete whim.As a little bit of background, my collection of fountain pens range from cheapo (Platinum Preppy/Pilot Metropolitan) to less cheapo (Vintage Sheaffers, Edisons, Montblanc, Pilot Customs) and of course, pretty much everything in between.I have never seen this pen before nor even heard of it. The design of the pen really caught my eye, and it was the fact that I hadn't seen such a clean, and engineer-y pen in such a long time which pushed me to impulse buy this pen. In person, it's even nicer. The body is milled from a single piece of aluminum. The cap has a flange which extends out. Unlike most other pens, the seal between cap and pen isn't due to the grip sliding against the cap. This flange actually slides into a very thin circular gap around the nib of the pen. Similarly, the cap can be posted, there is a similarly thin circular gap around the top of the pen. This lends to such a slick-looking pen. When capped, uncapped or posted, the pen's diameter remains constant.The grip is similar to ones found on architect/artist/engineering pencils. It's got a nice feel and works well. I sort of wish that they'd make this pen hexagonal instead of circular (makes grip a tiny bit easier), but for the price, the build quality of this pen is just marvelous.The pen comes with 3 ink cartridges, filled with a nice, black ink. I've been using a syringe to refill them and it works just fine. Unfortunately, the pen cannot be converted into an ink-dropper pen because the circular gap on the top lets the ink/air through.The nib is smooth, precise (like any Japanese nibs) and holy cow does it flow well. The nib outperforms all of my other nibs under $100.I seriously recommend this pen for both beginners and collectors alike. It's just fantastic.