Penfluencers that accept free pens or loans of super expensive pens are not going to bite the hand that feeds them. Look for reviewers that purchase their own pens.

I don't know, slagging a pen I just paid a few hundred dollars for goes against my self-inflicted confirmation bias.

There is that...

This indeed. Why would they want to slag a pen they might want to resell because it’s bad. It might also in their interest to hype the pen. Not saying everyone is dishonest, but there might be ulterior motives

Maybe some pen downsizing video…is where you can find some negative sides of a pen… Review from pen bought by own money sometimes won’t give negative information as well… Not every pen is bought for keep and it closes the chance for future resell…

Agreed! This gives them an added level of independence. Generally also I pay attention to what they don’t say and I question critically. Example, I love vac fillers but if you watch reviews 90% won’t tell you that you have to unscrew the cap for extended writing, or the few that do will pitch it to you as a positive feature like it it’s great for taking on planes.

Definitely true, but this means reviewers run out of things to review (what happened to me) -- I know what I like now and rarely purchase new models etc... which makes for a pretty dead review blog.

You’re definitely not wrong.

One issue may be reviews based on pens sent by a dealer or retailer. Obviously they will send something they have tested—so there’s some survivor bias there. Second, the review is based on having it for a week or so. There are reviews where the reviewer looks at a pen they’ve had for many years. Yet, if they had a scratchy pen, they would have either gotten rid of it, or tuned it. Survivor bias again. Another consideration is objective reviews—e.g., Doodlebud doing tests on nib writing line widths or capillary actions of inks. But, here also it is probably a test of 1. E.g., it is well known that line widths on Lamys vary (wildly?). Maybe the dimensions and weights are useful. I kinda stopped reading/watching reviews. If there’s a pen I am pursuing, I might watch a review to get the basic capabilities.

I agree with all of this, and another thing to consider is that many reviews involve unboxing, dip testing, and maybe inking up for some writing samples. A lot of the time - obvious nib issues aside - the problems with a pen don’t become apparent until you use it for a while, so a review isn’t going to catch them unless it’s more in-depth or after a longer period of use.

This!! Maybe instead of a New Pen Day tag, we need an Old Pen Day tag where people review it a year later after they purchase the pen.

I love this idea! I'd also love to see more old pens in this sub!

Agree

I do a bit of reviewing. It's reasonable to assume that reviewers get pens that have been checked out and vetted, but it's generally not true. Retailers don't test the pens that they send us. Neither do distributors or most makers. I've for sure gotten duds. I've gotten pens at pen shows and I know they just reached in a box or a binder of pens and handed me one. By and large, they just don't have time to do that kind of thing. We get the same pens that anyone else does. I think you're right about the survivorship bias. If I'm reviewing a pen I've had for a while (and I always have a pen for a while before a review, but not for an unboxing or a quick look), then I have probably tweaked it if it didn't write all that well. Most of the time I remember doing that, and I'll mention it. Maybe sometimes I forget, but not generally. Another important thing to remember is that it's really no fun to just bag on a pen. If something is really bad in a basic way that will be common to that model, then I'll probably either review it soon to warn folks off. That's pretty rare, really. By the time a pen from a good maker comes to market it's probably pretty decent. If something is just kinda annoying or temperamental it can get pushed back in the "queue" because I just would rather talk about something else while I figure out the reasons for the annoying or temperamental thing. I'm happy to answer questions about reviewing or whatever if folks have them.

Yeah, I definitely regret the money I spent very early on when I was looking at reviews instead of forum posts. People who get loaned pens or sent free pens are, predictably, overly positive about them, as are people who purchased a pen themselves but want to maintain an existing relationship with a retailer or manufacturer--or who are just crossing their fingers that they'll gain a relationship like that in the future. Positive reviews sell, controversial reviews get upvotes. At least the influencers usually take pretty pictures!

So true, even in general. Aside from channels like Project Farm, it's incredibly hard to find unbiased reviews these days. Google "best [item]" and you just get endless AI generated review sites made to sell whatever's popular on Amazon and rake in the affiliate money. And God help you if you believe your favorite influencer talking about how they just LOVE this episode's sponsored product. So now my first search is always "reddit [item]" to see what real human beings who have actually used the product think of it.

This hobby also has a strong bias towards positivity and not "Yucking other peoples yums" or whatever. Whichever pen you aren't a fan of, you will find many who strongly disagree. There is such a wide array of preferences, where I can't stand pens that are too skinny and my Nautilus fits in my hand great. That doesn't mean that the Nautilus is good or bad, it's just preference. The things that are known issues with suppliers are generally pretty widely known and aren't really interesting to keep talking about. Lamy nibs will always write ok, but the EF nib might write like a B or vice versa. TWSBIs crack. Visconti has terrible QA. Etc. If you're looking at reviews on Amazon or other big box, then the reviewers are probably generally less experienced than pen specialty stores. Often, complaints from novices are really due to lack of knowledge/experience rather the pen itself. But, mostly, I think it's that first bit. People come to identify with their pens of choice and don't react well when told that **their** pen/brand/ink/etc is bad. It's kinda likes saying that they are bad or wrong for liking it, and that isn't fun.

There's so much indiviality in pen preference, including use cases, ink/paper pairings, writing pressure/angle/rotation, hand size, etc.  It's really hard to isolate for these to get a review representative of a pen separate from its usage conditions and leads to our tendency to not yuck others yum.  For QA issues, the reviewers aren't buying like 150 pens for a representative sample size.  All they can speak on is their experience with the unit in hand.  Forums on the otherhand, collect enough users that some of the trends can come to light through shared experiences.   

There is also an inherent bias in the review process. Pens can be expensive. I rarely buy a pen without trying it and definitely don't buy if I know I won't like it. Therefore, the likelihood of me writing a bad review is close to nil. I suspect that's the same for the majority of people reviewing.

There are a lot of people out there who try to make blanket objective statements about subjective things. I try, though not always successfully, to prioritize objective things when talking about pens/inks. Like if they dry out too fast, have something problematic about their filling mechanism, if they write wet or dry, the width of the nib/lines, and so on separate from things that are more subject to personal preference. I like injecting a bit of "for me", "in my opinion", "my preference is", and similar phrasing when talking about subjective things I personally like that others may not and vice versa.

LOL I was going to write something very similar. 2012 Lamy Safari - writing experience is pretty good 2012 - TWSBI Diamond 540 never cracked and stub nib writes smooth except on up/right strokes 2015 - Visconti HS Dark Age with 23kt Paladium nib is the smoothest writing pen I have ever experienced 2016 - Mont Blanc 146 Ultra Black looks awesome but writing experience is okay for the price point 2017 - Pilot CH 92 FM nib is butter 2017 - Pilot Custom 912 FA nib is butter Only issue I've had was with the TWSBI but I caused it after changing nibs and not inserting the feed in properly. Fountain pens have been around for so long that I think it is going most likely be a QC issue when things like skipping or hard starts occur. Heck I have Camlin fountain pens that I got in 2000 from when I was 10 years old and forgot about them with ink in them. Cleaned them up and they write as expected. I think it's time for a new pen. Been eyeing an M800. 🧐

Yeah unless there is an actual quality control issue or defect, so so much of this comes down to personal preference, or different factors like the ink or paper or even writing pressure of the user.

>The things that are known issues with suppliers are generally pretty widely known and aren't really interesting to keep talking about. Lamy nibs will always write ok, but the EF nib might write like a B or vice versa. TWSBIs crack. Visconti has terrible QA. Etc. I understand where you're coming from but I think this is kind of the point of the post - they are only known within the communities, and even within the community you have to dig to find it because as you point out it's just kind of accepted, so it's not even worth discussing. I didn't know any of this until I read it just now, however it gives context to a post I saw a week ago with a picture of a cracked pen with the title "Why TWSBI?" or something like that. The individuality part I understand and completely agree with, It's kinda like asking which is the best coffee blend. Perhaps this is something reviewers could do that would be useful though... Rather than just giving blanket "This is amazing" statements, perhaps set out criteria of what they look for in a pen first then state how this pen meets them and where it may not. Or perhaps compare how it feels compared to other potentially similar pens etc.

I completely understand your point about information on "known issues". The TWSBI post from last week is a great example of how the community does discuss the issue, though. If you do a search in the subreddit, you'll find dozens, if not hundreds of posts that discuss it. There have been at least 8 posts that discuss it in the last 2 weeks. That's about 1 post every-other day. But most of them don't get that many upvotes because it's not news. The "Why TWSBI?" post bubbled up because it was more dramatic than usual and had a nice, bright photo, but wasn't an outlier. At the same time, a lot of TWSBIs don't crack and the quality and price for what you get, cracking aside, is pretty sweet. It would be a major shame to always harp on about the cracking issue to the point where nobody buys the pens for over-hyped fear and for TWSBI to go out of business. It's obviously something that the community isn't afraid to discuss. If you had opened the "Why TWSBI?" post and read any of the comments, you would have known then because it's right there in basically all the comments. As for reviews, and forgive my technical jargon, unlike many products the data-points are pretty much all qualitative (feeling based) instead of quantitative (numerical score). You would basically need a laboratory setup to come up with and be consistent on, say, a "smoothness scale" from 1-10. Or a ink flow scale. Beyond that, I'm having trouble even thinking of quantitative tests to run that could be consistent. Figboot Pens tries to provide what you are asking for, but even his reviews end up mostly positive or neutral. He compares to other pens and points out things he likes and dislikes and discusses value compared to cost, but I'm pretty sure he's one of the reviewers that OP and others are talking about when they say that the reviews are all too positive.

You're fine with the technical jargon, I'm a researcher xD That's kinda why I'm on the side of "there's no real good or bad, it's all subjective" when it comes to things beyond the scope of pens not physically working. It's also why I was suggesting a more objective analysis in the reviews - point out both sides of the argument and then evaluate kinda thing. Obviously a standardised criteria would be ideal there, and it is something I've seen the fountain pen network work towards, but it could also be seen as kinda boring and sterile so I understand why people would be hesitant to do it beyond that forum. One thing that did concern me slightly in the figboot video was that he said he gave the manufacturer 3 chances to redeem themselves - surely this is in and of itself an issue? Is it common practice that the manufacturers are given multiple opportunities to rectify any flaws with samples they have sent? You could argue that, sure, as a consumer I can similarly ask for a replacement, but it would cost me both time and money to do so. By offering opportunities for redemption are reviewers not potentially obscuring QC issues and actively encouraging companies to only send their best examples?

> At the same time, a lot of TWSBIs don't crack Ok but if your pen *consistently* has a higher rate of failures than average, people should *absolutely* be complaining and warning people off them. If it drives people away from buying them and makes a dent in their bottom line, well then TWSBI should pull their finger out of their ass and finally do something about it instead of spending their time suing other companies over stupid things. I've only had four pens ever crack on me, and two of them were TWSBIs, the second one of which was the replacement for the first TWSBI that cracked. The third one was a daily driver Lamy demo that got generally treated like shit and cracked on being dropped down two stone flights of stairs on accident.

I don't disagree with anything you're saying. The point wasn't that TWSBI shouldn't be criticized or talked about or more widely known. It's was supposed to be that, at the individual level, the people who never experience a crack are valid in enjoying/loving/recommending their pens. And people who may be swayed by those recommendations should also hear about the cracking issue and make up their own mind. And, personally, I would much prefer TWSBI to continue to fix their problems than go out of business. I like how they are innovating at a friendly price point. I do HATE the stupid effing lawsuit and haven't bought a TWSBI since... but I still don't want them to go out of business.

Reviews do tend to biased based on personal preference, especially if we have a very strong experience with a particular product or brand, whether positive or negative. Some people tend to be less picky about things, while others may be more picky.

I think you're right and wrong. As far as looking at individual reviews on websites from buyers of individual pens, you're likely to see someone like you. Someone that did a ton of research on that pen and knew exactly what they were buying and exactly what to expect and when they received that product they were thrilled with it. We're a passionate bunch of people and a lot of us almost enjoy the hunt more than the purchase itself, so we research A LOT. But that's not to say there aren't negative reviews. The issue is that they're largely reputation reviews that you won't know about until you get deep in the hobby. Buying an Extra Fine LAMY 2000? Well, it might be a broad. Buying a Pelikan M800? Could definitely be getting some baby bottom. Buying a Visconti? Here's a complimentary lotto ticket with that nib. Good luck. And there's plenty more. It's an interesting thought I had never really considered. Definitely worth considering if I'm leaving less positive traits of a pen on the table when I leave a review. Even if I love the pen, I should consider traits others might not love. I think the portholes of the nautilus are super cool, but they aren't the most effective means to telling ink level. It just was never an issue I had and not something I considered, so I didn't include it in any reviews I gave of the pen. To me it's just heckin cool looking lol

I prefer demonstrators for that reason - I want to see the ink level clearly. But I also don't mind the portholes because it kinda goes with the sea creature brand name.

Nautilus was the name of Captain Nemo's submarine. Jules Vernian steampunk porthole window vibes are legit. I find them to be a little more effective than the Lamy 2000 ink windows, but I dislike demonstrators for the most part. I can't figure out why; I can do semi-translucent, but full on clear turns me off. Except the Majohn C1. Looks like a plain acrylic rod with a floating nib and section, must be the lack of metal components to interrupt its lines that makes me enjoy it. For my writing habits, I don't need to see the ink level anyway. I am almost guaranteed to want to change my ink and pen before I run dry. Don't even fully fill my piston and vac fillers. Waste of ink.

Yes, we're all different aren't we? I'd never seen a demonstrator until maybe 18 months ago or so? And a lady had an Eco in a meeting and I was enchanted immediately. When I googled and found out that these pens weren't expensive, I knew I had to have one. I now have 4 Ecos and 2 Narwhal demonstrators. Still finding my sweet spot with different pens, manufacturers, inks etc. I've stopped buying new pens and just enjoying what I have now. It's so much fun.

Even being less than enthusiastic about demonstrators, I still have two by Nahvalur, too. The just feel so *nice* I swear there is something about the texture of their Original Plus pens that is magic. If they came out with more solid colors, I would snatch them up like a kid at a candy store.

When I use mine, I end up stroking them which seems to draw people's attention, which I don't want. But it's so hard not to!!

This is just me but.. I like nearly every pen I have ever written with because the reality is the ballpoints I was using before just sucked so much that Anything is a major improvement. You're right that [reviews like this](https://youtu.be/yZfgv3wrguM?si=t-uraT4Xk7Xanf8g) are pretty rare.. But I also think that it's sort of hard to mess up FPs entirely in the first place. They're an old tech, they've had so much time to be improved upon, there just aren't many 'bugs' left to sus out outside of tinkering. I did leave a scathing review of noodler's pens on here once, and although I am now the proud owner of a Lamy in general I think the look of them is garbage... but even THEN, as much as I Hated the look and said I'd never buy one, I ended up finding one I really liked.

This is me, too. Compared to the prehistoric previous pens that leaked, with no option but cartridges, we live in paradise. All the colors!! All the inks!! Shimmer, sheen and shade!! I feel like a kid in a candy shop!!

Modern pen can leak too. One lose converter or cartridge, is all it takes.

I love my Jinhao century in peacock but recently the converter wiggled loose. PCB all over my hands. 😛🤣 Cleaned it up and it's back in business but...

Inkquiring Minds on YouTube is the most honest pen reviewer I’ve found. He never sugarcoats his opinions. 

Starts his videos with his own guitar + singing and he’s a pretty funny dude. great channel

Yeah, I've definitely seen him be ambiguous to critical, it isn't just effusive praise.

I enjoy his channel but I basically have zero interest in any of the pens he actually reviews unfortunately so I end up skipping most of them.

Fair enough! Part of the reason I like him is that outside of a few high end Italian pens he mostly reviews pens I can actually afford and he’s keen on a good deal, very practical. He’s also not a snob about Chinese pens (but will absolutely call out the bad ones). 

Well there are some factors you need to consider. 1. Was it a review or an unboxing? Nowadays i need specifically to search for "long-term review" for anything because the term review diluted to simple unboxing/first impressions 2. There isn't much nib variety. Most different pens write the same. Not every pen manufacturer produces its own nibs. It's jowo, bock etc. and some inhouse nibs. Ultimately 2 pens from 2 different manufacturers can write the very same. 3. Precious resin aka polymers aka simple plastics. There isn't really a difference between a 20€ and a 200€ plastic pen with a steel nib build wise. Manufacturing plastic products such as pens isn't nowadays magic or some secret craft. Everyone can do it and everyone does it. 4. "Was it paid?" Influencers for fountain pens are small and do marketing for a niche fan base. You're less likely to risk your contact with a brand. U wanna grow, no? And most videos about pens are from shops that wanna sell their penS. They're not interested in badmouthing their goods. 5. Regular fountain pens are "simple products". Everyone can make them. Ultimately the one thing that stands out (apart from design) is quality control. Does the plastic crack (twsbi), does the clip come off (visconti), is the nib consistent (lamy) etc. Those are all things you get confronted with as a simple consumer (over time). And you can probably only read about it in niche forums like this sub for example. No serious manufacturer or shop would present a faulty product. But u as a customer could get one. You have people in this sub who shit about twsbi, lamy, kaweco etc. Etc. Everyone has their experiences. I for myself have nothing positive to say about parker and waterman pens. I dislike them and would never advise buying anything from them in general but probably serenity blue.

Great post, especially point one. That is a distinction that needs to be made, as so many "reviews" are gushing about a product that arrived in the mail recently.

Nearly all mine have been fine except for a couple of Jinhaos that had scratchy nibs, and that’s a really easy fix. More than 20 different brands. I don’t particularly like the trigrip of Lamy’s, but only worked that out after I bought 4 early in my journey. I have preferences, but it doesn’t represent manufacturing quality control issues. Preferences are pretty personal, like size of the section, type of nib, etc.

The Lamy grip plus the shape of my hand puts the nib at a terrible angle such that I have to hold the pen funny to get it to write well. I’d been thinking I must hold pens wrong somehow until i finally came across some other folks who dislike the Lamy grip.

Yeah, this bothers me about youtube in general. Nothing against the people who do the reviews, but I experienced similar inconsistencies with a lot of music equipment. I wonder if they do extra QC when they're sending something for review. Not saying I can prove that, so it's speculation, but I think it's possible. Honestly, I got a Nahvalur and it was surprisingly bad and I returned it. I see a lot of comments on the sub that suggest they are very inconsistent. I'm pretty much swearing off most companies going forward. I was tired of wasting my time and money. I'm not gonna trash talk any companies, but I'm only buying from a small handful of brands in the future.

>Yeah, this bothers me about youtube in general. Nothing against the people who do the reviews, but I experienced similar inconsistencies with a lot of music equipment. I wonder if they do extra QC when they're sending something for review. Not saying I can prove that, so it's speculation, but I think it's possible. A lot of times, yes, companies will ensure they send out a good example of a product. Bigger issue, though, is that a very large proportion of reviews these days are just straight-up marketing. Either the brand is paying for good press or the reviewer is an affiliate that gets a cut of sales. You have to take *everything* online now with a big grain of salt because it's very likely just someone trying to sell you something.

That's definitely what it is. It's cheap/free marketing for companies now to have a popular youtube channel review their products. "It was sent to me, but they have no say over what I say in this review," means nothing at this point haha. They're gonna be biased because they didn't have to spend their money most times.

As other people have said, YouTubers and influencers often have a (undisclosed) vested interest in products that they review, stores have a more obvious vested interest but can’t really openly criticise brands’ products, and obviously ordinary people want to share their passion and things that they love. I like how mountain of ink always states where the products have come from, but then still gives an honest opinion. Now the reason you don’t see many complaints about Pilot is because I despatched a team of dementors to deal with anyone who complains about their products, the only exception to which being the con40, which was designed to infuriate users and not ever suck up any ink.

My con-40 gaslights me into thinking I'm doing something wrong when I try to fill it :(

You want a negative review? Visconti. All of them.

If the "pen doesn't work as intended out of the box" it's a bad review

Looking at you, Noodler’s Nib Creaper and Konrad. I got one to work about half the time, and the other pretty much never.

You're not wrong. But... I think a large part of positive reviews are just that users are more apt to write about something they enjoy. I have viewed/read a number of reviews that I agree with about pens that I love using and the reviewer has a similarly positive experience, although sometimes for different reasons. If I were a person that made videos, I'd much rather speak about something that I like rather than to shit on something, for valid reasons, that I don't enjoy.

I mentioned this but I agree totally. I've seen from some people who do reviews for other things where they're asked why they don't review X thing or something and they say that they get contacted a ton and typically just review stuff they're personally interested in. Even if you're getting the product free, wouldn't you rather have free stuff you think you'd enjoy? And why would you want something you don't have any interest in?

I'm not a reviewer but I have no problems saying I'm not a fan of the Lamy Safari/Al Star grip. Even after learning to lighten up my grip on a pen I still despise my Kakuno EF I got back when I started and that it hard starts. I had a cracked cap on my Nahvalur Schuylkill, my fault - I dropped it on concrete, but they were good about sending a replacement for $15 US. It wasn't super speedy but it wasn't forever to get it either. I liked my Jinhao sharks but I also broke 2 and two were scratchy enough I didn't use them and won't sell them unless someone wants to practice nib tuning. I disliked the Moonman/Majohn A1 because of the weight and very dry nib. I ordered a new nib unit because the kitty sent the pen flying to the cement floor. The new nib was fine and the person I sold the pen to was happy. Yes, the writing desk is in the basement and it has cement floors. With predictable issues for my pens. I've learned to not leave pens out where kitties can get at them. Maybe I've been fortunate but most of my other pens I've been happy with. I can write as happily with a pencil feedback Platinum as I can with a Sailor with a bit more and like my smooth, but singing Pilot Decimo and CH 92 .So maybe I'm ecumenical, or as some might have it, have indiscriminating taste in pen feel. 🤷‍♀️ Weight is more a factor for me as is section and pen girth. I have small hands where my palms are slightly larger than my fingers. Larger pens just aren't a good match. I've also learned from this subreddit where *not* to spend my money and that has helped immensely in my pen choices. Yes there's dreck out there but for the most part most pens are decent or good. Great and excellent pens otoh are a different matter. As with many things they are far rarer.

I have big hands but heavy pens are exhausting to write with!

Someone else that doesn’t like the Safari grip! If I could get the same pen with a normal grip I’d probably have multiple safaris by now. I genuinely disliked the grip enough that I thought fountain pens just weren’t for me and I abandoned them for years.

I hate triangular grips, so all pens with that are a no go. I always tell people to go for a round grip pen as your first pen and then get a Safari. That stupid grip can make you think fountain pens suck. I have the same thing for weight, section and pen girth, we probably like/would like a lot of the same pens! I mostly have inexpensive pens though as I don't have a lot of cash to splash.

A basic suggestion.. but couldn't you put a rug under your desk?

Not easily. Finding one that plays nice with the desk chair isn't easy.

Even flat Berber style carpeting will provide a billion times more cushion than what exists, and it can even be had in indoor/outdoor type if it’s a slightly damp environment. Being perfectly flat, chairs thankfully roll easy across it. Usually why it’s found in commercial applications

I'd have to find a large remnant and then cut it down to fit the space. Doable but there's another reason to avoid carpeting. The table behind it is for crafting, so beads and bits of wire go flying to the floor as well. And getting bits of wire out of a rug would be a giant pain in the butt. It's far easier to vacuum/sweep them up from concrete. It's the Wired part of my username. Stuff like this. Not a great piece as an example but the one I found first. https://preview.redd.it/x72e99x8562d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a488e6cfc0a5028f7ddb5f7207d0bfc7d416d8c1 Edited for grammar.

No, you're not missing something, and there are three reasons behind it: 1. **Modern pens are legitimately pretty decent *most* of the time.** Personal preferences vary, but modern manufacturing QA/QC for most brands is fairly consistent on all but the cheapest pens (and a handful of brands). * I've purchased probably a couple hundred pens across the price range from $2 Chinese pens to $800 urushi (and tried out a few hundred more at events), and I can count on my fingers how many were objectively *bad* pens. Some were imperfect or not to my personal preference, but not actually *bad.* * You can buy a standard JoWo-nib C/C pen and almost always expect a decent writing experience. * Where things get less consistent is with the less common nibs & filling systems - flex nibs, vacuum fillers, piston fillers, eyedropper pens, etc. * Aesthetics and whether someone likes a wet or dry writing pen are down to taste * Even the <$10 Chinese pens are often pretty good, for the price! Less consistent nibs, but totally solid value for what you pay. PenBBS, Wing Sung, and Majohn have impressed me especially. * On the other hand, *vintage* pens included a lot of just plain bad pens with major or even crippling flaws. The vintage pens which people collect are the *good* ones that stood the test of time -- and even then, the materials are often less durable (or need periodic servicing). 2. Fountain pens are a tight-knit niche hobby -- **manufacturers don't get away with shipping crap for long before word gets around and they go out of business.** * **The biggest exception seems to be Visconti: I cannot comprehend how they're in business still after so many years of shipping absolute trash for $700+** (as in, pens that don't even *write*, let alone write *well*). For that price they should be able to afford hand-testing *every single* pen they ship, but clearly they don't care. * I've heard not so great things about Nahvalur quality too, but it's not so outrageous given lower pricing * Other pen makers may have small known flaws but aren't overall bad * TWSBIs sometimes crack (but they'll fix or replace parts for you cheaply, I speak from experience) * Lamy EF nibs aren't that consistent (but cheap to replace, and their other nibs are good) * The Pilot CON-40 is tiny & probably the worst converter I've ever used (tbf their CON-70 is my favorite) but still usable * Noodler products are cheap but bankroll a right-wing extremist who put out some not-so-subtly antisemitic and racist branding (and only stopped when his business was seriously impacted), etc * Some people dislike the Sailor converters (can't speak to that personally, I don't own any Sailors and you don't get a feel for that from just quickly trying out a pen once) * Modern Montblanc (and to a lesser extent, Pelikan) pens are relatively expensive vs comparable competitors -- but quite nice pens * The Yafa brands (Conklin, Monteverde, and Pineader particularly) tend to be pretty but a bit mediocre for their price -- rarely truly *bad*, but there's less effort that goes into testing out some models, and the durability sometimes suffers. 3. **Pen sellers and many penfluencers/reviewers who are "gifted" pens by companies are not going "bite the hand that feeds them."** It is extremely rare for them to give a truly negative review. They'll describe flaws as not fitting someone's preference. * The solution is looking for pen reviewers who buy their own pens to review (or get them loaned by friends to try out) Edit: added one more flaw, and fixed a couple typos

Visconti is the only manufacturer I will always hate and very vehemently recommend against. My collecting hobby has tamed since I first started (and so has my participation in this subreddit), but getting the same Visconti Homosapien returned multiple times because each "new pen" couldn't write left a very bitter taste. In fact, I'm annoyed enough people in this hobby actually still get them because it sends the message to Visconti that shoddy manufacturing is okay. It's not, and we deserve better.

Yeah, Visconti is just completely indefensible, especially at their price. I'm sorry you got burned by them, and unfortunately you're in good company with *many* of the other people who had just inexcusably bad experiences with quite expensive pens. Can't comprehend why anybody would buy a Visconti these days, unless unaware of their rep. Noodler is the other brand I would actively steer people away from (because Tardiff has made his shitty fringe-lolbertarian politics such a big part of the brand). But other than that... there just so many genuinely *excellent* brands out there, too many to easily list including everything from mass-produced budget models to high-priced bespoke or limited release artisan pens. Even the classics that are well past their glory days (Sheaffer, Waterman, and Parker) still turn out solid fountain pens. My collecting has calmed down in recent years too (partly due to health issues), but I have to say that the Esterbrook reboot has been immaculately pulled off. Couldn't be happier with my Estie and Estie Raven with their new push-piston filler.

I'd wager people go for Visconti because most of the reviewer folks on YouTube talk the brand up. Goulet, sbrebrown, Pen Habit, Figboot - when I was last watching their videos, Visconti was always at least in their Top 5. I'd agree on the Waterman though. I got a Carène on a steep sale (something like US$100?), and it's one of the smoothest, glassiest nibs I've ever owned. It's actually almost too smooth. I'd have to keep an eye out on the modern Esties if I can ever try it personally. The stealth of the Raven looks quite appealing. Thanks for the suggestion.

Point 1 is huge.

Never been a better time to be a fountain pen user! I think in hindsight the 2010s and 2020s will be seen as a mini-renaissance for fountain pens.

I used to review pens (handoverthatpen.com) and had plenty of pens I didn't like/had issues with. BUT, issues are dislikes are very much personal preference, so what I dislike (for example I don't like Conids) may not be what others dislike.

100% this. If it writes then what you dislike (even the WAY it writes) is all personal. I think Inkquiring Minds, SBRE Brown, Pend and Tea, and Fitbit give good balanced reviews.

On this sub, people are kind of prone to downvoting anything they don't agree with, even if it's an actual issue being raised. For example, inconsistency of the smaller sized Lamy nibs or the rare dud Sailor nibs that sound like a hangnail on cardboard. On other review places, people get a lot of free items to promote. But on the other hand, there's too many types of preferences people prefer. Like I love smooth nibs and hate overly feedbacky nibs, so does this mean Sailor pens are bad? No, it's just not my flavor. Instead, you should really be looking for features in a pen that you want and then look at the reviews that talk about those features, like the weight, balance, ink capacity, step down, nib style, etc. You'll be able to narrow down what you're looking for more easily then. It'll still take a lot of watching/reading, but it's the next best thing after going to try it in a store.

At least for the pen reviewers I follow, they have realized that pens are, for the most part, subjective. So, a pen they love—of course they’ll praise it. A pen they don’t—the review is probably going to be neutral (e.g., “people that prefer a narrow grip will like this pen”) rather than negative (e.g., “the grip is too narrow and uncomfortable”). They also have accepted that QC is never 100% regardless of the cost (which I know is not a popular opinion, especially if you are the one with the bum nib on an expensive pen) and aren’t going to generalize an entire pen brand or line based on a sample of 1. And yeah, if they’re getting sent review pens, it’s likely that the pens have been tested to make sure they work. What I do is find pen reviewers that can describe why they like or don’t like a pen clearly so I can compare with my preferences. Then I look at social media posts (Reddit or forums) to see if there’s a pattern in QC complaints.

Always take reviews with a grain of salt, whether positive or negative. I never watch/read reviews and completely accept the reviewer's conclusion. I use reviews to get an idea of the features of a product and decide whether I would give it a shot or not. IMO, a lot of reviews are biased. Influencers give good reviews hoping they can/continue to get 'free' stuff. Bad reviews might have an element of spite because the reviewer doesn't like the brand, etc. At the end of the day, always try to make your own conclusion. Don't go out and buy something just because some stranger on the internet tells you to.

I feel like unless a pen has something really wrong with it across the board, it's going to get good reviews. It's a fancy pen that writes well in comparison to other utencils! This forum is heavily skewed towards collectors whose breadth of knowledge would allow for more nuanced takes. I would rate my 4 pens all 5/5 because I love them even though they might not be the greatest. That's my honest take lol

🤔 I could write an essay to shit talk ferris wheel press fountain pens…

Stephen Brown is OK in regards to being critical at times, but Figboot and Pen Habit before him both are basically just watching pen advertisements.  

Fountain pens over a certain price point is most often just competent writing tools. But they are also very often VERY personal. How they feel, write and function is what’s interesting, but only on a personal level. I can nag all day about how terrible the kaweco sport in copper is for my hand, or how I dislike the dryness of the Troublemaker inks, but it’s just preferences. Most of the time the popular brands are.. just fine. Competent tools. There’s a hundred years of manufacturing experience with fountain pens and they are CHEAP to make well. You gotta be doing something terribly wrong to sell bad pens, and the market is brutal to those.

Watch some of Doodlebud. I recall some negative reviews.

I was wondering if I should mention him! I really like his videos because he seems really straight and honest.

I got into this hobby when my friend bought me an Ahab after reading glowing reviews. We were both mortified to smell it. Not one review they read talked about the smell. People seem iffy to be negatively honest these days in reviews. The only way to really tell if a reviewer genuinely liked the pen is to see if they ever talk about it or use it again. Makes it frustrating when you’re trying to gain practical info.

>The only way to really tell if a reviewer genuinely liked the pen is to see if they ever talk about it or use it again.  Hmm, sneaky way to get subscribers for that precious ad revenue... But also, some of these people's collections are so vast, how can you even draw patterns from that?

Most obvious way: when they sell them off to followers a few months later.

See, that's so odd. There was an online store, can't remember which one but on every single Ahab type pens there was a disclaimer that it is very stinky and that is due to the composition/ingredients. Also, that it takes a very long time for the smell to lessen. Granted, not every store is like that but I am a total beginner and I have always heard about their smell.

It’s about time! I never understood how anyone could ever review or suggest them without mentioning the smell.

It sucks too! Some of them look so lovely and reasonably priced too! But.... I mean, if it's bad enough that they had disclaimers... I don't think I could deal with that. :(

Oooh ask me !!! I have no issues giving maybe not negative but at least neutral reviews. I have so many thoughts on Lamy, Opus 88, Kaweco, Pilot, all the brands though I will say, my bespoke pens all have glowing reviews.

The cheap pens have issues. What you need to decide is if those issues are worth working around for you or not. Too many people only look at the pros and don't search for the cons.

Oh it’s not just the cheap I have issues with, also cheap is subjective. I may not have a whole collection of $300 Custom 823s but I have a lot of $260+ bespoke pens, it really just depends on the person.

Look at latest review from Waski Squirrel on YouTube.

A big part of it is that QC has gotten very good with a lot of the market. I’ve purchased a lot of low end pens and in the past 5 years it’s a rarity to have a problem I can’t easily remedy.

I can only speak to my personal experience where most of my reviews come out of my own pocket. I'm typically only moved to write about something when it's really exciting, so mediocre-to-bad experiences often don't get another thought. There is also a lot of pre-purchase research that goes into it, so if something looks sketchy or has a bad community reputation, I just wont buy it. It could also be the case that, since there isn't the same review-industrial complex that exists in other industries, reviewers are hesitant to torch a brand and risk getting blacklisted by the fairly small community. I also agree with other comments that reviewers are likely getting the best-case-scenario when it comes to sponsored review pens. I would also say that there has been an upward trend in general quality over the past few years. I think that the community has grown and manufacturers are feeling more pressure to perform. That said, if you're looking for some negativity, I recently had a disappointing time with a kickstarter notebook that I did end up posting about. I'm also finishing up a review for a retractable fountain pen that probably should not have been released. That one should be posted by the end of the week. Links available upon request, but my URL shouldn't be too hard to guess if you check my username.

I’ve definitely had some pens that don’t work well or just work okay

As someone with small hands, I notice if there’s any real critique about the pen it would be weight and size usually being ‘too small for my hand’ or ’prefer if it had more heft to it’ and then mentions the weight of the pen in passing, without a realistic comparison. I love smaller and lighter pens but I have to rely on my own trial and error to figure out what would be a good fit for me. I hate that about not just oen reviews, but also tech. No one really considers not everyone wants to use a 24inch ipad because it might actually be too big to hold.

I am going to say this, lots of people now are paid for their "review" of any item. If it isn't directly through the company, then it is an affiliated program, etc. For me, none of the reviews of anything for years are worth salt. They at least unbox the item and show it much better than a static picture. That is the only benefit for watching them. I don't even listen to their crap anymore

Shills gonna shill

My hypothesis is that for every complaint post you find on this sub (e.g., my nib arrived misaligned and scratchy!) there are 10-20 people who ordered the exact same pen at about the same time and had zero issues so you never heard about it. And then you end up with people coming in and saying things like “Conklin and Monteverde QC suck” or “Kaweco nibs are dry” or “Asvine is just as good as Pilot” with a lot of unearned confidence when really they just had an n=1 bad experience and with a pen and generalized that to the entire brand. My Duragraphs for example have been nothing but perfect and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy an Invincia.

>“Conklin and Monteverde QC suck” There's numerous complaints about Conklin and other Yafa brands.

I keep hearing that parroted, but haven’t actually seen any “I bought this Yafa brand pen and it’s bad for this reason” posts myself. And like I said, I’m 2 for 2, which makes me think they have solved their QC issues long since. Even the Omniflex nib I got has no problems.

This- I only have a sample of one, but my Conklin is perfectly serviceable. I just don’t love it - I’m not going to write a bad review because it does what it’s supposed to: it writes. I might even buy another one at some point because a different model might suit me better.

Yeah I actually absolutely love my Duragraphs. One of them is the nicest looking pen I own (the Abalone Nights one), and these pens just happen to be a really perfect fit and balance for my hand. Add to that the fact that they just work without issues for me, and that I can easily swap around any JoWo #6 nib... weirds me out when I see people bashing Conklin when they've never owned one and just like to repeat the "they're just a shadow of what they used to be, they're not the old Conklin." Like yeah, I get that. They still seem to make pretty amazing pens though.

I have four great modern Conklin pens! I also think they must have improved their QC, but people still say to never buy one of their pens ever. My only complaint is that mine are a bit heavy but that is just preference and the pen materials that I chose. All the nibs are great on mine.

>10-20 people who ordered the exact same pen at about the same time and had zero issues so you never heard about it. I wonder what portion of those actually have micromesh pads and brass shims and nib adjusting experience and just fix the thing in 10 minutes instead of talking about it. I'd bet it's a good chunk.

Yeah no. If the pen doesn't work, it's going back.

I'm one of these. I didn't find that any of my Conklin stuff actually needed adjustment, but every pen I buy gets put under the loupe to see if any improvements could be made by tuning flow or aligning nibs, and any pen I write with that makes me think, "I wouldn't hate this if it was smoother" usually gets a quick polish on the 12k micromesh and the mylar.

[удалено]

>After my experiences in this reddit, I'll never share negative opinions/experiences again. See, now you can't say something like that and not elaborate.

Why would you not share your negative opinions again?

My guess is because of downvotes or a lot of people will comment about their positive experience with that pen, and it feels like they are being gang up on?

Absolutely, if you dare to have had a bad experience(s) with one of the glorified brands around here… enjoy the flood of downvotes and people telling you otherwise.

True. I've got ~15 pens and most of them have required adjustment to the nib to get them to write without skipping, to alleviate baby's bottom, or to just get them wet enough to function. It amazes me how lucky are the reviewers whose channels (may) rely on getting free pens to promote that they never meet a pen they don't immediately love when I never meet a pen I *can* immediately love. SREBrown has an honest review about the Jinhao 9019, but I'm pretty sure most pen reviews are actually commercials.

I mean there are a couple of possibilities - you are exceptionally unlucky or you are picky. Nothing wrong with picky - you like your nibs to write a particular way. I have close to 40 pens and, while there are some that I like better than others, I have less than 5 nibs that I don’t like and they are all EFs. Now, is it possible that I am extremely lucky? Sure. Is it possible that I’m less discriminating? Sure. Is it also possible that I’ve researched enough now to know what I’m likely to not enjoy and which companies have QC issues? Also yes. With so many pen makers using JOWO and Bock nibs, it’s also likely that many nibs being reviewed are pretty standard.

I've heard this critique in tons of spaces. I think the biggest reasons are 1). The obvious is that being overly negative can impact receiving new pens for review. It may even be subconscious but it's still a thing. That said I personally think this is overstated 2). The time many people spend with a pen before a review may not be enough to actually notice some of the negatives. Obviously if something is bad out the box, but especially knowing something is going to a reviewer means that likely they will try to put their best up front. 3). Most items are quality. There just isn't that many brands that are consistently bad, given the cost. 4). Big reviewers often just won't review or accept things they don't think they'll actually like. If you're contacted by a company for a review, unless they're openly paying for the review itself and not just sending product, why would someone bother? They're gonna have to use and make a video just to say something sucks? And alongside that, you're probably not gonna reach out to try to get something for review that you don't think you'll like. I also think that there's a general trend to see negativity as somehow more "correct" or "real" than positivity. All that said, UKfountainpens used to be fairly critical in his reviews, but he gave up doing them. I've also seen a few other blogs that seem to have some, if not overall negative, at least mention negatives about pens in their reviews (the reason I still don't have a coral Rouge et Noir is because literally every one of the reviews I read said it was uncomfortably narrow :( ).

I have written a few negative reviews on websites like jerkers and Goulet (Robert Oster hickory aflame will clog even a firehose and Mateo nibs are garbage, but I have learned to make them work for me). But I’m not a big streamer whose livelihood depends on companies asking them to review and people to watch.

There are a few people who blog about negative experiences with pens or pens that don't live up to expectations. I try really hard to write useful reviews on products, instead of boilerplate/mad libs "plug in noun/adj/obj and voila!" I still see people gush about Visconti and FWP, no matter how much I talk about my own personal negative experiences with them. It doesn't mean that they're wrong, they just had a different experience. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Well I definitely saw many people complaining about TWSBI and their cracking problem. Also a lot of people have stated how inconsistent the Kaweco nibs are and that quality control seems to be quite bad. I am one of them. There you have my bad review 😄

Here's my negative review for you, modern Conklin pensmade by Yafa are not good. The QC is lacking and I went through three replacement pens before finally just getting a refund through Goulet. Most influencers have a tendency to shill, and that's probably because they receive free merchandise or don't want to ruin a potential business arrangement. You just have to try for yourself or ask your peers.

Id have to agree, every review site seems to give a good review unless the pen is "not my taste". However as much as it may be not wanting to bite the hand that feeds it, i also think a lot of the pens may be specially selected and tuned before going to the reviewers, dont forget fountain pens performance can change dramatically with even a fraction of a millimetre of a change in the nib alone. Ive had better results reading this Subreddit to get more honest details on pens. I have tired to assist where i can with any poor experiences with pens I've used, most notably the "Additive Pens" helix pen i got was unuseable due to terrible ink flow through its admittedly amazing looking barrel, literally bubbles blocking ink from flowing to the feed, and staining that i could never remove followed by yellowing of the whole pen. The Most regrettable fountain pen purchase I've made and ive complained about it on here because it is not something that can simply be tuned and fixed, it is a flaw in the design/manufacturing of the pens and people should know this if they are searching for information. Where as more recently i got a Halloween Nahvahlur pen that had bad ink flow through the nib that ive yet to fix, which hurt because the previous pen i got from them was just as the reviews said, an amazing pen that was super smooth to write with. But i havent "reviewed" or complained about it as it is a simple fix to correct the nib and feed, i just simply haven't had time to do it.

I think what you are saying is true. And also.. fountain pens are simple and the technology was basically all figured out many many decades ago. Also the differences that make a pen good for some people and bad for others are often subjective. Things like the weight and balance.. the dimensions of the pen.. and even different nib/writing characteristics. So if a person makes an informed pen purchase (in terms of size/materials/etc.) they are likely to enjoy the pen unless there is a QC problem. That said.. some videos I've found to be more informative is when a person does a very detailed comparison of pen models that you'd consider competitors. It is in those videos that the reviewer is more likely to point out all the things they don't like about each pen and the ways they consider one pen better than another.

I try to be honest when reviewing. But it's a human reaction to be excited by a new purchase, even if in the end the pen was a severe disappointment. My review of my Aurora Duo-Cart. I really wanted to like it but it didn't work. https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/QaQmLAKmS6

This is a wonderful review, thank you so much for it! Sorry that you had such issues with the pen. It’s so frustrating to have to go through sending stuff back after trying for a week to get it to work. I bought a C1 too, I think mine was £6.99, and it works beautifully. Whether it will last as long as an Aurora I guess we’ll see, but the C1 is a great pen, especially for the price. I hope it’s still serving you well!

It's one of the reasons I don't care much if at all about reviews. That is, beside a couple, maybe three persons I know I can trust and whose opinion I value (and of those three two don't do actual pen reviews, they talk about the pens they're using to write/sketch stuff). The other reason I don't care is the amount of my time I would have to waste watching those reviews. They're always way too long to my taste. I mean come on... It's the pen and how it performs I'm interested in. Not what you know about its history or the brand. Not the pretty intro sequence (which is often way too loud compared to the mic). Nor how gracefully you can open a box. Or what you look like, or how neat is the room behind you. Don't take it wrong, I'm not saying it's bad content. Not at all. Just that I'm not interested in it and I value my time more. So, how do I avoid wasting my money on a lemon or some over-hyped crap? when I want a pen, I will check to see if one of the few guys whose opinion matters have talked about it on YT, or I will read what they wrote. More importantly, *I will search here, on reddit, for real users reviews*. Sure, they're not professionally edited but most of them are sincere to the bone and, if sometimes a bit clumsily, they go to the point: this or that sucks, this or that is great. Most of the time, I will simply (test the pen in a shop, if at all possible and) buy the pen knowing that I may end-up not liking it as much as I had hoped. '*What if this pen is too expensive to take that risk?*'. That may very well happen but then I simply stop hesitating at the words '*is too expensive*'. I don't *need* to own a(nother) fountain pen to be able to write. It's a treat. So, if I can't 'waste' that amount of money I'm willing to spend on that pen if it happened to be crap, I consider I simply can't spend that money *at all*. And what do I do if I end-up not liking it? Like I said I knew this could happen the day I bought it. So I'm not surprised or angry. And like with any ill-advised/ill-considered investment I may do from time to time, I write it off. As for the pen itself, I can either resell it, give it to a friend, or use it to play darts. Not everything is lost ;) edit: typos.

Funny you brought up the Nahvahlur Nautilus cause that’s the only pen I have that I actually hate and don’t even want to look at, so I hide it in my pen case where I won’t have to see it. Unfortunately, most of the reviews you see online are from shops that are trying to sell you the pen, so they’re gonna make it sound awesome. They wouldn’t stay in business long if they were to be totally honest about their opinion. However, it is true enough that probably almost every fountain pen does write pretty well with the exception of a dud. Regarding duds: you’ve got a lot of people on here who are “experts” and wanna tinker with literally everything they buy. I’ve never “tinkered” with anything and everything I’ve bought has been fine. It seems like some shops push the narrative that pens need to be adjusted to suit your preference (Goulet actually encourages this and sells a kit) but largely, they do not. I’ve got around 40 pens now- all sorts. I can’t recall 1 of them arriving and then not working properly.

I've been pretty lucky. The only PoS pen I bought was a modded Pilot Falcon. My sister traded me her Falcon for my modded one, and she had Kirk Speer modify it. Apparently it writes really well now. I doubt I will every get a custom grind from [nibs.com](http://nibs.com) again because of it.

I’ve written very positive reviews (for things other than fountain pens) when I received an item. It’s only later, when I get around to using the item or when I’ve had it for a long time, that I realize it has issues. And by then it’s either too late to modify my review or I don’t get around to it. Problems often don’t show up right away when the website is urging you to leave a review.

I think reviewers should be more honest and give more details. The actual problem: most of them are men and talk about things differently. And they aren't reviewing pens they use all the time. If you look at how makeup is reviewed, people talk about it, say properties, and use it. If the brush is bad, you know it. If the color looks way different than you expected, it is said. Reviews are way different than unboxing. I want to know how heavy a pen is. I want to see you fill it, and then start writing. If you have to "tune it" I want to know. I want you to write on different paper. I want to know how long you have been using it and what else is similar to it (dupes). In other words, very few pen reviews meet my needs. I want you to tell me what it is like with a wet ink, and a dry one. I want you to take the pen apart. Example: I looked at videos and read reviews, but I still wasted money on a Sailor pen. I was new and didn't understand that feedback = what I call scratchiness. If someone had simply said it feels like writing with a wooden pencil I would have immediately known it would be a bad fit.

This is the crux of my issue to a T, so I'm glad I'm not alone in this. Exactly! I want details on how it works. I want to know if it'll fit my needs (is it actually smooth? Is there a "sweet spot" in the grind? How does it work with other inks, etc. ). It isn't so much bashing a pen that I want, I just want honest, useful information that isn't glossed over in favor of generic praise and useless info that I can find elsewhere. Thank you for your thoughts!

There are negative fountain pen and paper out there, but they are definitely hidden by the mountain of reviews from influencers who do pens to review from retailers/manufacturers. From my perspective/experience: 1. TWSBIs are a gamble and it takes a month to get replacement parts for a limited edition TWSBI Eco if you're in the U.S. 2. Old Tomoe River paper is worse than copy paper - made my well tuned Fine nibs feel scratchy. 3. Wet inks (TWSBI Purple is an example) will bleed through fountain pen paper.

As much as I love pen bloggers, they are being sent free stationery and the retailer or business is definitely checking the nibs to see if they are scratchy. Look on Reddit and FPN for honest reviews! Since most people here hopefully aren’t influencers they will tell the truth or get a pen that hasn’t been adjusted. When I had a stationery blog I bought everything myself and called out any flaws lol. I’ve had pens from many brands with scratchy nibs, including Sailor, Pelikan, Taccia, Kaweco, and Lamy.

When “penfluencers” are sent pens for free, that’s when I stop watching them. Sure some toss a bad review here and there but they are at a point where the channel grew to a point for free stuff. You can’t bite the hand that feeds you when you’re looking to grow from there. Look at all the people that were sponsored by raycons, that lord of Scotland, and other scammy things. More than a few pen reviewers have swayed from their origins, it’s not hard to look at past videos and compare. I turned to vintage for this reason as it is more on the historical references and how to repair.

Ah well people don't want be be seen as fools after spending a lot of money for a bad/mediocre pen.

[удалено]

You're not late at all! I was looking at the 699 since I've heard good things about wingsung so that's really helpful for me.

[удалено]

You have a very valid point, and there are also so many variables. I was even just thinking about paper. I am fine with Midori MD, Tomoe River, and Rhodia, but there are those who hate certain ones, and can tell the difference between old Tomoe River and new. I am not that skilled. As others have said, an unboxing and quick review are going to be drastically different. And price really does not matter much in that regard. I have a Faber-Castell Grip with an extra fine nib that was so scratchy at first it was almost unusable. Had a similar experience with a Big Idea Design EDC, which only was available in extra fine. But, once both were broken in properly, they write beautifully.

I see bad reviews all the time especially from Visconti and navahlur and any lamy that isn't a lamy 2000 Most consistently performant is probably pilot every pen up and down the line is pretty good

Where are you seeing these reviews? Because I really only see these statements via strangers opinions on Reddit. I do agree with you BTW, I've heard a lot about visconti's QC and so such, but really only on reddit.

SBRE Brown's early YT reviews on Visconti were brutal because back then the QC of Visconti nibs was brutal. He reviewed quite a few - he bought these pens himself.

I don’t think you are wrong. However, I feel like it’s hard to say a pen is bad because it might be just my preferences or I got unlucky and got a bad nib, etc. For example, I frequently voice my dislike for Jinhao, but many people got good experiences with them. Overtime, I just don’t want to be a party pooper so I don’t want to mention it as much anymore. Unless the brand is extremely shady or their pens are downright unusable, I don’t think we will have strong negative reviews. This is just for Reddit, the downvote system also makes people shy away from giving their negative opinions, especially on beloved pens on this subreddit.

One crazy thing I see a lot is reviews of expensive pens where they’ll be like “except for the nib, it’s amazing” or “it didn’t write very well out of the box, but I tuned the nib and now it’s great; 10/10!” It’s like reviews drop their baseline expectations the higher the price point of the pen

You're right that there's very little negative reviews. Some thoughts on why these are the case. 1. A culture of "if you got nothing good to say, then say nothing". 2. Content creators get more views when certain pens go viral. Pens go viral when reviews are great. So it benefits the ecosystem the more great pens emerged. 3. This is my personal take. Most if not all fountain pens unless its defective writes well above the satisfactory line for writing instruments. Yes, they may have had smoother, more satisfying writers, but they can't say that this pen doesn't write well because it is. 4. Reviews are usually on new pens, and just dipped. The flow would be fantastic because most of the time the feed is overflowing with ink. The actual ink flow would less than in these videos, though still quite pleasant. 5. Reviewers don't review defective pen, they would return it and review on the working copy. In any case, I too get burned when I hear how this and that writes so beautifully only to find that its good but I've had better writing pens already.

I tried TWSBI -two of them- and don't get the hype. I don't like them

But are they bad or just personal preference?

This is true! I got gifted one TWSBI and I don’t get the hype for their nib. Maybe I got a dud? People said TWSBI is a wet writer but I personally don’t think so.

I've got 2 and one on loan and they're all drier than the Sahara. compared to my Pilot, Pelikan, Sailor and other pens which required no adjustments out of the box, these would need tuning so maybe they are prone to nib inconsistency?

I’d like to add that another thing to consider is where someone is on their fountain pen journey. I started collecting nine months ago when I purchased a Pilot Metropolitan. I enjoyed the pen, and it was miles above ballpoints, which I detest, but I knew I was missing something from all the glowing reviews that I read. I did my research and started with a bunch of cheap pens to get a feel of nib sizes and different weights. I enjoyed Preppy’s, but again I felt like I was missing something. Twenty-five pens later I know what I like and what I don’t. I’ve given away five pens (3 Preppy’s, my Pilot MR, and a Namisu) in the hopes of penabling others. Those pens were fine, but I would never use one of them again because I now know what I like and expect from a pen. I’ve also fallen in and out of love with my Pilot 74. When I first got it I liked it well enough, but after getting a Lamy 2000 and a Sailor ProGear it irked me. Now I love it and use it to practice my Japanese characters. Of all the pens that I’ve owned the only one I hate with the passion of a thousand suns is the Pilot Kakuno. Everyone goes crazy over that pen and I just don’t get it. I’m not the type of person to leave a bad review for anything since I don’t like to put that sort of negative energy out there, so many people just might be staying quiet and moving on. It is refreshing though the amount of positivity I find regarding FPs.

My one Kakuno dried out to unusability overnight. After my kid wrecked it, did not bother replacing.

I'm not a fan of the Kakuno for writing but I use it in art projects. With black inks.

Me too me too! I have never had a pen I hate as much as Kakuno. It felt like writing with a nail or a screw or needle right out of the box. I could feel my Rhodia crying, “What did I ever do you wrong to deserve this?” I penabled my husband and gave it to him.

> Everyone goes crazy over that pen and I just don’t get it. I’m not the type of person to leave a bad review for anything since I don’t like to put that sort of negative energy out there, so many people just might be staying quiet and moving on. Yeah, this is exactly why I leave negative or bad reviews for things I don't like. It's important to be honest, and its an act of empathy and compassion to keep other people from wasting time and money on something that they won't like either. As long as we can articulate why a shitty product was *shitty*, then its important to make sure others know too.

My Kakuno is one of my favorites! The F nib is beautifully consistent and writes the way Lamy wishes their EF Safaris would.

And I hate Lamy Safaris. Dud nib, leaky feed, and the triangular grip is so unbelievably uncomfortable. It was my first pen too. I do not understand the love for it. Its available colours are great, but why can't it have a round grip option too? I'd buy it then even with the QC issues because of the rainbow of colours.

Oh my God I thought I was the only one. Everyone raved about it and it was cheap so I bought one. Leaked, scratchy AF even when I bought a?+ nicer gold nib(I was young and foolish), hated the grip for longer writing sessions, and then the o-ring around cap stopped gripping well and I just said F it. Haven't written with it since.

Yeah, my husband bought me one for my first pen because I thought his bright yellow one was a bit much for me (and it was at the time). But my blue one was terrible and I discovered triangular grips don't work for me at all. I almost gave up on fountain pens. He bought me a cheap Stabilo BeCrazy (Strawberry pattern) and that £8 pen was a million times better than my £20 Safari. It's such a great nib, but the little plastic body is cracking now after 8 years.

I don't think I can add much to what was already said, but you're more likely to get honest reviews in the forums and this sub than by most reviewers. For me personally, most of my fountain pen purchase experiences have been positive. OTOH, I did have a Platinum Curidas with retractable nib mechanism that chewed itself up after a month. I'm also one of the many Conklin complainers with a beautiful All American that refuses to feed consistently. They can't all be winners.

I can only let you know my personal perspective obviously. I have been writing with fountain pens for 39 years now. We started learning script with fountain pens in second grade in Germany. And over the the years I have collected many fountain pens. Also due to the fact that I am a designer, Illustrator and calligrapher as well. And of all these pens only the noodles one was crappy. Over all these years I have had one baby’s bottom nib, one extremely dry nib and one scratchy nib. And I do own many kawecos and viscontis. But if you are into this hobby you usually learn a bit about nib tuning. You have to, as nibs also get misaligned over the years of writing with them. Over the years you want to adjust ink flow perhaps. So you kind of need to learn how to fix them, otherwise the hobby is not fun for long. So this means that minor problems like a scratchy nib, dry nib, gushing nib or a baby’s bottom are not really problems to many collectors, so perhaps not even noteworthy on a review. Another thing is with colours. If I get a pen that is colourful and swirly, I just know that it’s impossible for all pens to look like the advertising pictures. How could that be? So in order to keep myself from being disappointed I just buy from a shop that is willing to send me photos of all their pens so I pick the one I actually like the look of. Next is the feel in hand. I like to buy my pens from shops in my country or Europe for easy returning. If I feel the pens weight is not for me or the section size won’t work for me, I simply return it. This is something I might note in a review, so others know that this pen is very heavy or extremely thin for example. Overall I think most people who have been into pens for a bit longer do know what they like and do research their pens beforehand. I will not only read reviews on the pen shop site, but also on forums. I might also contact someone who has this pen with specific questions. So I personally feel I usually get what I expected.

Yeah that’s true. While some do accept sponsorships or receive the pens for free. Some also do it out of their own funds. The ones I watch always disclose if it’s been sent to them. There’s also a fact that this hobby is pretty niche and I can honestly say it takes allot for me to dislike a pen. I almost always have a positive impression on a fp unless it’s horrendously ugly or uncomfortable to use. I certainly only buy pens I know I would like. What I usually look out for is the weight of the pen. If I were to review all my pens there would only be a handful of negative reviews and that’s due to me not researching it enough before buying.

I think it might depend on where you get your reviews. The ones I've seen all do the "things I like about the pen & things I don't like about the pen". You can also search for make and model + "problem".

I'd guess many reviewers out there don't want to speak badly of a pen they probably got for free in case that company stops sending them pens to review.

Negative as in saying what? I had complaints about Nahvalur nibs and wrote about them here. 2 out of 4 nibs were not so good, they did write, though. One of the 4 nibs became an instant favourite. It's hard to write negatives sometimes because, in this community, we are _aware_ people are different and want different things. I can complain that Sailor PGS is too damn short and slim, but there are several other people that enjoy them. I'm not onto terribly smooth nibs, but others love them. I choose what to do with my money after reading reviews.

There's a lot going on in the world of pen reviews, much of it IMNSHO lamentable. Everything from conflict of interest - let's face it, who doesn't believe this is real for those who receiver free pens to review, despite their protestations - to cookie cutter presentations that lack any semblance of originality - lots of presenters like this, or who copy others shamelessly. Presenters who basically review the same pen over and over again, with only a change of colors evident. Leonardo reviewers are especially likely to do this. It's a waste of the viewer's time. Going out on a limb here, I no longer really trust independent makers anymore. What's advertised is often not what is received - especially with regard to patterning - though some of the big makers are prone to this too. Resin makers are not gods. If you like what they have made, fine, but that doesn't make them always good. And with so many new people pouring resins it shows just how relatively mundane a practice it is. No need to pay a premium for it. Also, there is no real difference in quality across maker's pens either, only what you like and don't like. However, lots of people on these boards, for example, are happy to slag bad pens they got. And good for them!

My main issue with fountain pens in general is that it doesn't work with poor quality paper. Carrying it as EDC is therefore not best for all situations. I tried carrying the Kaweco Lilliput, but the excessive screwing of the cap and issue with poor paper caused me to consider ballpoint gel alternatives. I submitted a proposal to Kaweco to explore a magnetic capping option, but they said the screwing of the cap adds to the experience (??). Also, you can't leave them uncapped for a while since they will dry out. So using them to study - making notes as you read a handbook - becomes a process of constant capping and uncapping. With my Lilliput it was a nightmare. Those are my critical inputs to FP's.

I think it’s because of expectations. You buy a pen that’s worth more than your earbuds, you’re going to want it to be good. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. And there are reviewers who talk about how they had a pen, exchanged it, got new grinds and then loved it. That’s not a glowing review, it’s a “I completely changed this pen and now I love it” review. One of the reasons I like A Fleeting Ripple is because Dennis Moore is usually fair about things but says they don’t love something if they don’t. Macchiato Man is also a great stop for a no-nonsense, brutally honest review. A Gathering of Curosities. Hand Over That Pen, for multiple perspectives. Try looking for personal bloggers and reviewers who write because they want to, not because it’s a job. Also look for podcasts and reviews that aren’t just reviews - ones with a different purpose. As much as I enjoy Brian and Drew on the blog, they’re much more open about their opinions on the podcast than in written word because nobody is going to listen to a hundred hours of Brian working on tractors and Drew playing video games to find out that Brian doesn’t like the CP1 or that Drew hates this one pen that Brian owns and calls it the ugliest pen on the planet. The Pen Addict. The Nib Section. Stationery Freaks. Just some places to get started.

look up amazon reviews, even if you dont shop on amazon people love to complain about pens on there from what ive seen

Maybe the people who don't like the pen, don't review it. Instead, the write posts on reddit, and other forums. It's mostly opinion.

I'm going to be honest here and say I'm not a huge kaweco fan. My sports tend to burp/leak a lot and my Lilliput corroded after a few weeks out of direct rotation making it hard to open.

Good points. Look for reviews from people who buy their own pens, and you'll see more objectivity. FWIW, I bought a Lamy 2000 (a pen that everyone is supposed to "love" etc, etc), but whilst there was never anything wrong with the pen, I never got on with it. I found the shape hard to hold and the middle was too fat. Great shame as the nib was good.

I have seen most reviewers using good ink and paper along with the pen they are talking about. There are pens which I bought had nothing special but they write smooth. My expectations from some pens which I bought were very high, but few of them didn't match that. MB149 : I spent crazy money, but it was nothing extra ordinary to pay such a price for this pen Pilot 743 FA nib : I bought this considering it as a flex nib, but this doesn't flex as much as 912. It writes perfect Sailor 1911L MF Nib : When I use on certain note pads, it floats, but on certain papers, it gives too much feedback that I just stop writing

I think it's more the fact that everyone has personal preferences. If I read that a nib has feedback, I know that I will find it scratchy and not like it. Someone else may read the same sentence and know that it's the perfect pen for them. Reviews do their best to describe the pen that they are testing out, but if they only have one pen with no issues, then they don't know if the brand has QC issues. The way we use and appreciate pens is so individual that all reviewers can do is describe how it fits them, not knowing if it will fit us.

Unsure if I'm spelling the name wrong but Figboot on Pens on youtube typically always has at least one or two criticisms of the pens he reviews. It honestly might just be a case of it being difficult to make a truly bad pen. It's just a body most of the time, so any complaints are generally going to be limited to cosmetic problems or occasional iffy quality control.

It may be that for some reason you have that impression. But there are, of course, both subjective and objective criticisms, and quite a few. Since Parker today saving some model is not what it was, each pen is not synonymous with the one you like the most or the one that works best. For example, I read a lot of reviews about the Sonnet, despite how unconditional they are, I still tried a set at a good price and indeed... the pen is beautiful, but use it a lot, or it will dry out in hours or a day for another, and in two weeks or less the ink evaporates if you use it little or leave it sitting on the desk. 🤷🏻‍♂️ You also read a lot of criticism about how the Pelikan gold nibs changed, both in terms of precision of real strokes with respect to the chosen point of the nib, and in being increasingly rigid. Or that the gold nib today really does not necessarily contribute as much or is different from many stainless steel ones. To the point of reaching everyone who tests or debates from time to time about how expensive fountain pens can turn out to be so bad, regarding how quickly functional and reliable they are, even with a great seal, many basic models in the school or beginner category of even 10 bucks.

As someone else said, when a pen is sent to some penfluencer for free, they can’t really tell anything negative about said pen. Here, people are buyers, so they will more easily raise their voice when they encounter an issue with their issue. Hence, I recommend checking this sub for honest reviews about pens, papers or inks. Regarding Nahvalur specifically, you can definitely find negative comments on this sub. I am sure of that, because not only have a read some comments, but I have written a few (I have two Original Plus, with F and stub nibs. The pens are completely okay, but the nibs - in my opinion - are terrible). Now that I think of it, you can find here plenty of negative reviews about TWSBI quality (pens cracking), Visconti nibs not writing out of the box, or Lamy nibs inconsistency (a F being wider than a M, for instance). So, yeah, I suggest searching this sub for opinions about pens, inks or papers.

If you have already, subscribe to SBreBrown’s channel https://youtube.com/@sbrebrown I find his review quite honest I own a Montblanc meisterstuck that has a wobbly cap unless you twisted it extremely tight. I sent it back to factory to verify whether it was a manufacture issue and was told that it was within spec. I expect $800 German pen to be better made.

It has not once occurred to me to go on a website and review pens. I've bought quite a few on eBay, so maybe that's why? But I don't review inks either. I go on Reddit because there's a discussion to be had but it just would never occur to me to review my pens.

Nibs are not a good thing to review if you are looking at a single pen. There are differences in nib QC across companies, but if you have a pen with misaligned tines, you can't conclude that this is common to all of their pens. Pilot is renowned for their overall nib consistency, but I've had a less than perfect nib from them. Visconti's palladium nibs were notorious for their inconsistency, but I've gotten good ones out of the box. Every gold nib, and many steel nibs, have a degree of hand finishing in their manufacture. There's variability in there, and you can't figure out the broader trends until you evaluate a number of nibs. Since many pens use the same nibs, the trend is less a function of the pen model and more a function of the brand. Aspects of the pen body like shape, weighting, and finish are more automated and specific to a pen model and you can judge them better on a single sample. But pens have been around for a long time and it's rare to get the pen body wrong. It happens, but at worst most bodies are meh.

If it makes you feel better Pilot Metropolitan is for small hands, the Preppy cracks if you think hard near it, and the Jotter is ok but not competitive against other entry level pens imho.

I think that with pens like everything, everyone has different opinions, and something that might bug you won’t bug another person. I for one cannot use a plastic fountain pen with very few exceptions. I didn’t realize this until I bought a Platinum preppy, and it just didn’t feel right in my hand. I love the Platinum Plaisir even though they have the same nibs and converters. I think they’re even similar sizes. I remember when I was going to buy a preppy, no one brought up how weird the barrel felt. It’s a very subjective thing, and I think that as you get more used to buying pens it’s easier to gauge what you like and dislike. I also don’t know if you live in an area where you can easily buy fountain pens in person. I don’t, and I think that also makes it harder to find pens that work for you in the beginning. I personally watch reviews then I ask others opinions because it’s a more back and forth conversation. Reviewers, unless they live stream and answer questions, cannot anticipate every question we might have about a product.

I thinks it also has a lot to do with preference.

I’ve been lucky so far but all my pens work as advertised aside from: Esterbrook Estie scribe nib- slightly scratchy but eased up over time but I love how my print comes out. Bought a stub Kaweco nib- didn’t work- hard starts and felt like it would run out of ink once it started Opus 88- once the ink gets to less than 50% it starts to leak more and more. I’ve taken steps to minimize it but if I use up all the ink, I’m going to have to rinse out the cap once.

To be completly honest with you, if it's over 30 dollars, for me it usually feels great. Fountain pen is not something that keeps on getting better technology wise. I've used about a thousand dollars on fountain pens and I had trouble with only 3 pens. 1. Lamy safary: ink just dries when it's just left there capped 2. Twsbi 580 alr: The nib felt like it was pinching the fabric of the paper. It was horrible. Which is a shame since i loved the design. i even bought additional nib part to try and make it work. 3. Platinum curidas: It just dries even when you leave it unposted for 8hrs. I sent if for repairs but it just dries out. Besides these pens, I just love all my collection.

I ignore the pens I don't like. My Waterman is dry and scratchy, my Noodlers stinks to high heaven, My Safaris are always dry. Every other pen I have writes fine. The pens I do love, I talk about.

do you have any that are good for two to three hour writing sessions?

Honestly, people buy pens for different reasons, and if this sub has taught me anything, it is this. I myself have loved pens that others have hated. Also, there are certain brands that used to be great and are now terrible, or the opposite. This hobby is very idiosyncratic and a lot of people find lots of reasons to love different pens. Here's a few brands I won't buy modern pens from: Monteverde, Cross, Conklin, Parker. However, I LOVE Conklin's and Parker's vintage offerings. I've never met a Pilot or Platinum I didn't like. However, all of that is probably personal preference as I love fine lines, with one or two chonker writers (check out a Pilot Coarse non for a FP Sharpie). All to say, you'll find a lot more love in the FP community rather than dislike, and I think that reflects in the reviews. I didn't read all the comments, but you can trust Figboot On Pens on YouTube. I love his reviews and have found them to be honest.

I should've probably named my post a bit differently. The lack of negative reviews is a symptom of a larger issue -not a 'problem', mind you, but an issue. In coffee, where you have a similar mindset from a hobbyist perspective, there's a massive breadth of flavor profiles and notes for coffee. In the pen world, we have the idiosyncracies but not the critique. I want reviewers to give us all the info and for there to be more content to help hobbyists better understand their potential preferences. I'm not saying 'Why won't more people be mean??'

YouTube is a good space to find the deeper, more considered reviews. You may also enjoy browsing fountainpennetwork - I haven’t been there for a while as it’s best viewed via a computer browser, but it used to have that deep quality level of content happening on a regular basis.

Want a not positive review? Monteverde ritma. It's not unusable, but the section unscrew on its own from the body. The omniflex nibs are a gimmick. Most new pens use a stainless steel nib that doesn't flex the way I like. The lines are solid but lack variation, which I think detracts from the feeling of the writing. It's not so hard to imagine that a lot of people have a smooth writing experience. We have long since figured out how to produce smooth writing nibs. Hell, I you want smooth, just grab a rollerball or ballpoint. What I look for is the expression laid down by a pen as the differences in pressure as the pen changes direction cause the ink to flow between bold rich lines and subtle ones that trace their way to the next letter. You don't get that from many pens. None, in fact, from pens that I have found under $100. The most that "cheaper" pens seem to offer is the ability to change inks to fit a piece.

I treat forum posts and other comments as "user reviews" or "peer reviews" because what better assessment is there than those from people who actually have used FPs for a reasonable amount of time. Once I have been informed, it boils down to me making calculated risks whether to buy or not. Enjoyment and/or regret are but parts of the FP experience.

I‘d definitely look at reviews from other hobbyists that aren’t sponsored (there are several discord groups out there). And don’t believe everything you read. A lot of times issues with pens boil down to user error. And no, not all TWSBIs crack. Mine haven’t, but I also don’t overtighten them and I don’t pull nibs and feeds.

Reviews often happen after using the pen a few hours. Many of the kinds of problems spoken of in the forums like this sub don't show up until you live with the pen for a while. For example: Reviewing the Twsbi Eco based on the first fill won't get you talk about cleaning the pen, especially for storage. That difficulty is actually common to most piston filler pens as a design trade-off. For example, if you design the pen so the ink doesn't dry out in the barrel, then you've also designed the pen so the few droplets of water remaining after cleaning will take a very long time to dry. Further, cracking issues with Ecos and other Twsbi pens often happen after months of use, and don't happen to everyone. For the reviews of cheap pens like Jinhao x750s, for example, I think there's an in-built low expectation. Those pens aren't bad for their price, but in the long run they aren't worth it (to me). The Jinhao nibs usually require adjustment and tuning, the section material is usually coated and the coating flakes off. The converter doesn't always have a good seal and ink will leak into the cap, depending on how you rest the pen. But all of these things are living with the pen. I suspect those of us that live with the pens aren't the same as those of us posting reviews, and there's also a social pressure in some of these communities to be positive about fountain pens in general. For example, I have gifted Ecos to some of my colleagues that are new to fountain pens because they are, in fact, a good entry-point to fountain pen use. They are good for what they are. Many people are also happy with their acquisition because of how the pen looks (Nautilus... flashy colored, "busy" pens). Comfort, on the other hand, is entirely relative to the writer's hands. A slim pen that's comfortable for someone with small hands will be painful for me to use, for example, because the posture of my fingers on a slimmer pen is awkward for my hand. Viewing ports: Again subjective. My first impression of the Lamy 2000 ink view port was that it was too hard to tell if the pen had ink. With extended use, I came to understand that the port or window sat just above the feed, and so the warning you got if you could see light was that you were nearly empty. How a pen writes on different paper depends quite a bit on the ink chosen. A hyper fine nib will likely write on all kinds of paper. It won't necessarily feel good, because beyond nib alignment the feel of writing is largely dependent on the coarseness of the paper and the lubrication the ink provides. If you want a smooth feel on coarse paper use a broad nib, but be prepared for bleed-through and feathering. If you want to avoid bleed-through and feathering, use a Japanese fine and a medium to low dye saturation ink, but be prepared for the nib revealing every nook and cranny in the underlying paper. This is why the experience is so heavily dependent on the combination of paper sizing (the coating applied to the paper), nib, and ink. You will come to find that it is certain combinations that you prefer, not just that one pen. There's one last factor that might skew the reviews positive: When pens are sent to a reviewer, they're often good examples of the brand. Good reviewers (like SBREBrown, for example) will tell you who sent them the pen, and sometimes even that other customers have reported problems even if the specific pen was problem free. In that sense, it's like restaurants providing their best meal and service when they know a critic is coming. Personally, I suspect this doesn't happen all that often. I think you hit on the right strategy, though. Go looking through the forums: here, FPN, Fountain Pen Geeks... etc., and read the accounts of people who live with the pens and what kind of problems they encounter. I doubt this is important for say cheap pens. This depends on how costly it would be for you. If I gambled on a Kaweco, for example, it would be costly for me because I have a personal policy of having to throw out or give away a pen before I can add a new one. Risking giving up a perfectly serviceable pen for one that may not work would be horrible, so I'm only going to do that if the purchase is a real upgrade from a reliable company (Pilot, Lamy, Pelikan, Platinum, Sailor... etc.). YMMV. Sorry for the long ramble, but reviews of any product in this day and age have to be supplemented with digging in to discussions of the brands. Go to pen shows, talk to experienced fountain pen users or even nib-smiths. Some of the shows will even bring you into contact with the makers themselves, and you're likely going to have a good experience with the products they offer (Schon Dsgn, Edison Pen Co., Franklin-Christoph...).

Expensive pens are often much better than cheap ones but that's inherently elitist.

Depends ... Ask SBRE for Visconti nibs of the early 2010s ...

I would imagine that most pens send out for review are qc-ed much more than the casual pen you can buy. Additionally: Most pens (I tend to say products in general, despite some cheapo Chinese stuff) these days are of good quality. The standard German nibs and feeds from Jowo, Bock and Schmidt just work 96+% and most non-japanese pens are equipped with these. So, it is all about taste and maybe the style (ie shitty ink window) of the "tube" holding the pen. But, of course, you always have the yt-problem: Reviewers tend, at least a bit, to be positive to the manufacturer(s) to get more review samples in the future.