Matte Black Forest Fountain Pen Extra Fine Nib Classic Design with Converter and Metal Box Set by Hongdian

This whole "series" of fountain pens are truly excellent and well worth the price. I made the mistake of buying a more expensive brand before this but it came as a broken kit of parts for a pen. This is a far better bet and I have so far bought 4 in different finishes. I'd have to say this is probably the best looking and has the best feel in hand. I'm 100% happy with this pen as well as the others from the same manufacturer.

I know close to nothing about fountain pens, but I decided to get this for note writing and exams at Uni. The idea of buying bottles of ink and refilling appealed over the plastic throwaway gel pens I had been buying (which were fantastic in every other respect). One warning - it's a gateway drug. You may find yourself watching fountain pen reviews on YT and wondering about investing in a gold nibbed Montblanc when you graduate - something that would never have crossed your mind a month ago. You might start actually thinking about penmanship, instead of just being satisfied with barely legible chicken-scratch handwriting. It's a slippery slope, kids. Like, who knew that handmade blown glass dipping pens were a thing. I didn't need to know that, but I blame this pen for the fact that I now do. As for the pen, when the ink cartridge has ink in it, it writes smoothly and the ink flows well. I bought the Waterman ink, which seems decent. It's solid without being too heavy. There isn't much flex in the nib, but it's smooth and writes well - no blotches or smears to speak of. I expect the paper and ink has something to do with that as much as the pen. If you leave it uncapped for a few minutes without writing, the ink can take a little persuasion to start again - something which isn't a thing with disposable gel pens, but I fairly quickly got into the habbit of capping it when I wasn't writing, which is not a bad thing since I have a lot of gel pens without their caps since I forget to replace them after use and they part company. See - this pen will make you a responsible adult. As far as criticisms, the edge where the lid and body join is a little bit of a sharp edge and can get slightly uncomfortable after a long period of writing. 2 hours in exam conditions is fine. Much longer and it gets a bit sore where that part rubs against your finger.

Mostly the pen is as described: metal construction, provided with a reusable cartridge adapter; and it writes well enough. I just can't see or feel a noticeable difference between the provided "extra fine" nib and the medium nib on another pen I already owned. Maybe it's me - I'll try to get some images for you to make up your own mind. It is definitely finer than my Jinhiro 159 (with a replacement nib that claimed to be fine, but I couldn't see a difference there either), so maybe it's a localisation issue (people always say Japanese fountains are finer than western, maybe Chinese are wider?) Or it might just be down to quality - the internet seems to think Waterman is a relatively good brand. Also, it has a lid 'click' on close. This is a good thing, and some might find it satisfying, but, so far it always feels to me like I'm bending the nib (I'm not, I checked, but still disconcerting. It does post firmly. If I was buying it because I thought it was a cool looking metal construction pen with a case I would probably be very happy. At that price point I wasn't expecting very much and, in most regards, this pen has exceeded my expectations. But, I specifically wanted to try a significantly finer nib, and, while this is by no means an expensive fountain pen, there are plenty of cheaper options available. Having paid, relatively, more for this specific feature I feel let down to find the pen lacking in this regard.

HongDian produce some high quality, excellent value fountain pens. They're ergonomic, well balanced, they post well & have very decent nibs. Even their EF nibs usually run smoothly in my experience, producing neat EF lines which are at least equal to most Western brands. This certainly applies to the excellent Carbon Fiber Black Forest 1861 fountain pen. It's a genuine pleasure to use even over longer writing sessions. I was so impressed with it that I also bought the Silver Stainless Steel & Raw Brass 1861 editions. All three came with smooth, consistent EF nibs. An added plus for me is that the step above the grip section on these "1861" models is less pronounced than on the regular "Forest" pens in the same series. Also, the grip section on the 1861 editions has a 2mm-to-3mm larger circumference, allowing me a more comfortable grip. See photo showing three Black Forest "1861" fountain pens as stated above compared to a standard "Forest" pen on the right. - All three "1861" editions in this series come highly recommended!

A fabulous pen! I am so glad that I read the reviews and ordered this pen, it's perfect! I hadn't heard of the brand before and would have skimmed past, but there were so many positive reviews that I gave it a go. On a more superficial level the colour is gorgeous, it looks lovely. Not garish, but a bit different. It arrives in a silver metal tin which is useful for storage. The pen is very comfortable to hold and to write with - I have damaged hands so this is really important. The ink flows smoothly, for the first use I gave the cartridge a gentle squeeze and a shake (over scrap paper) and from then on it's been great to use. I ordered the ink cartridges from the same brand, and there are sets with mixed colours and sets with different sized nibs. As you can tell I'm delighted with it! Thanks for reading, I hope you find this review helpful.

Ein sehr gute verarbeiteter Füller aus Metall mit sehr feiner Feder. Auf dem Bild ist er mit Patrone gefüllt aber es gibt noch einen Konverter dazu indem sich eine lose Feder befindet. Die lose Feder hat mich irritiert sie nimmt die Oberflächenspannung von der Tinte. Den abgeschnittenen Kopf vom plastikfreien Wattestäbchen habe ich eingesetzt, damit die Patrone nicht zurück rutscht, obwohl diese stramm sitzt; aber man weiß ja nie. Einziger Wermutstropfen ist Made in China.

Pióro z bardzo cienką stalówką, dobrze wyważone.

Pioro 10/10 jest dobrze zapakowane i zaopatrzone. Pisze gładko i bezproblemowo. Polecam.

I like to take notes wherever I am, something I don't like doing on my cell phone. I don't find it practical. This pen, along with a pocket notebook, are the ideal tools for that. Of course, I look like an alien on a terrace full of people glued to their cell phones. What does it matter? The pen comes with an ink dispenser, but without ink. I already bought ink and tried it. Everything is fine, except for one detail: the writing is fine (I like that), but the writing feel is a little "rough," with a bit more friction than I would like. But nothing that prevents me from putting my ideas on paper. The pen is beautiful, and it seems robust. We'll see.

it has an interesting design but somewhat simple. This however, does not take away from the design. The cartilage standard seems to be propitiatory which can be annoying, however, it does come with a converter which is a plus. The problem I encountered was with the tip which just didn't work at all. The ink did not flow. Overall a disappointing experience.