Penbbs 495 Piston Filler Unboxing and Review 2023 

just written this in the youtube search section: penbbs minds and it shows you mad a new video 21 minutes before; i just overlooked it 😂

I really want one of those 348s! They remind me of the Edison pens. I love penbbs, but wish their colors/models more widely available.

Thanks Doug, I just put the pen back together and the four turns of the knob and after that, kept on turning (I had been reluctant to force-turn the knob that last turn and a half). Worked like a charm. Thank you from the Island.

Thanks for reviewing this model Doug!

Firstly, thanks for the excellent interview with Joust and Dante. Your comments and questions led to the interesting and inspiring stories by Dante. I look very forward to your next interview with Joost. Thanks for yet another excellent pen review. Kudos to PenBBS for designing and improving their own filling mechanisms. The hollow cap finial is a thoughtful feature. I also like the ease with which the nib could be replaced. Thanks and keep up the excellent work!

Nice review Doug! Appreciate your efforts very much.

You’ve done it again! Just when I think I have moved beyond buying another pen, you give me great reasons (excuses) for purchasing a PENBBS 495. Ink capacity + the easier to use piston filling mechanism (at least easier for me, as even using all your hints, I still find the vac filler mechanisms on some less expensive pens to be problematic. THanks (I think) for your review! 😊

Just got mine yesterday. Love the look and the way it disassembles

Really interesting and nice looking pens. Thanks for the review, Doug.

I’m hanging out in Calgary next week.

There is an easy fix for the 309. When I had the same problem on mine I put either some CA or epoxy to secure the piston head to the threaded arm and it works very smoothly and I have never had the problem again after 2 years.

Great video, Doug. Just received my first Penbbs and of course I ordered the 495. Color is called Fairyland. You are correct, Penbbs produces very beautiful pens. Apparently , your 4 turns and mine differ. But I did get it back together. Thanks, KB

Made my morning! I've been waiting for this pen and I'm not disappointed. I'm looking forward to nib swap with either a Penbbs Calligraphy nib or FrankenLeonardo this with a M Leonardo nib. Great review! Thanks!👍🏾

I had actually ordered a 489, but was surprised when I pulled a 495 from the packaging. I've had the pen since June 2nd, and really like how smooth my copy writes. I've seen a number of your other PenBBS reviews, and they were the reason why I went ahead and ordered my own. I've since acquired the 489 I wanted but in #56 Blue resin instead of Black Tortoise, and also acquired a model 355. I liked this review because it confirmed that I had received a quality pen despite it being the wrong model ordered.

Massive improvement in piston design 👏🏽

Doug, great interview you and Joost did with Dante from Visconti and Pineider. That's like meeting a dignitary, or a famous personality. He is truly an artist genius, akin to Enzo Ferrari, Picasso, etc. I honestly can't think of another in today's pen design world akin to him

Sir Doug, another careful and detailed review. Chapeau! Looking at the huge number of PenBBs pens in your collection, I've got the impression, you alone kept this company up and running. It seems, you did convince me to buy that new PenBBS, despite my anger and bad experiences with the Year of the Tiger pen. I didn't touch it since then. I might go for a style called "Color 73 silver" with a "F blade" nib. Because Galaxy and Amber, as usual, aren't available with ALIexpress dealers. In general I would like to see that chinese manufacturer would expand their nib portfolio into B, BB, Oblique and Italic, cursive nibs. They are heavily targeting western markets and should follow demands and standards there as well. Last week I tried to fit a #6 Kanwrite B Oblique into a Fuliwen 017 (a pen with a chinese M round tip but more a western F line-size), which was writing from the beginning flawless. Stupid me. Kanwrite nibs are 6.4 mm at the shoulder. And Fuliwen feeds are different from Jinhao feeds. Nothing worked. only a constant hesitant flow of ink. In addition and of course, the Kanwrite-nib and the Fuliwen-feed got stuck in the much too small Fuliwen-housing. Only a 5 min bath in hot water enabled me to get feed and nib again out of the plastic housing. Previously, I had tried using sheer force, destroying the Fuliwen feed in the process (which is marked with "2" - the Jinhao feeds are marked with a 6 or 9 - I didn't see any difference, but there sure is). Reassembling the Fuliwen nib/feed/housing showed that the previously flawless writing pen had no more inkflow, only with reverse writing. Because I had destroyed the Fuliwen nib what I saw only after a thorough inspection with a x40 magnifier. Changing the feed, using a Jinhao-feed (marked with a 6 or 9) didn't help. Only another swap with a Jinhao M nib, Jinhao "6" feed and the Fuliwen housing brought the pen back to life. Result: the Kanwrite nibs (which are of excellent quality and writing very well) are only useable in pens which are supporting either Kanwrite nib units (I guess its a JOWO derivate) or housings with a 6.4 mm inside diameter and appropriate feeds. Maybe the PenBBS might be able to take them. Their feeds and nibs are around 6.4 mm width. Todays measurements are looking good, maybe even promising. This all is unpleasant, because simply swapping B-, BB-, Italic-, cursive-nibs from India or Europe into chinese pens seems to be very limited if not impossible. And chinese nib makers currently don't touch broader nibs than M, which are in most cases more western F sizes. Please excuse my trip from a PenBBS review to a totally different story. Now I still have to watch the Doug/Joost interview with Signore del Vecchio and your yesterdays Pen Resurrection video. OMG, I'm soooo busy.....

Great review - again! I couldn't pull the trigger on the year of the tiger model...it just didn't trip my trigger. But this 495 is, well like you said, elegant. While I like the Galaxy and Amber resins, I have enough. I went with one in Cordierite and one in Niangao. I love how the red plays with the Cordierite resin. I can't see the red with the Niangao. The 495 is another great offering from Penbbs! Thanks, Doug.

Good to know you can disassemble it without scratching the red piston unit!

Great Appelboom stuff. Interviews were great! The 495 In galaxy blue is a stunner. I’m not sure if it’s the best piston filler for the money, but it’s at the top of the list. Thanks 👍

I got mine today(galaxy is really hard to catch. It sells out fast), and it's my first PenBBS pen. I actually like the dryer nib because in my country it's hard to find paper that isn't meant for cheapo ballpoints.

Great review! Great pen! You are very lucky that you managed to find this pen in the Galaxy and Amber, now they cannot be found (((

When this pen came out early may, I pounced and a week later I got my Galaxy version in the mail. After using this for 5 weeks now I can say: I like this pen. It's rather large but not heavy. The F-nib is wonderful as always and this time the piston works flawlessly. The pen can be posted very well but for me it's already large enough. BTW I fixed my 309 by glueing the piston rubber to the piston rod with a tiny dip of superglue.

I have several 309s and I also think its the better looking pen. Of course thats just personal preference. A few years ago I posted about super gluing the rubber seal onto the piston rod and never had another issue issue with the piston sticking.

Fascinating video and disassembly demonstration. I have gotten my pen but have not attempted to do the initial preparation if the pen. Did you flush the nib and feed before filling the pen? I am looking forward to using the pen. It sounds like a winner and perhaps the best pen penBBS has made so far. Very innovative and yes not a company interested in mimicking other designs from other manufacturers. Dare I say they are the Pineider of the East? Fabulous review, Doug.

i like it; one day i will get one

Absolutely love your reviews! And I love the way you add clips to the fountain pens that are clipless! Where do you get these clips and what “searches” do you do to locate them?😊

Thank you for this great review. I particularly enjoy your clear demonstration of disassembling and assembling the pen. Important question: is the nib new in this pen? I have a 308 - if I bought a 495, would it come with a newly designed nib? That is, suppose it would be an "F" in both pens, can I expect the nibs to be different in the two pens? It does make a difference! -Thank you for taking the time to reply.

This one looks very good. And you even matched the chopstick rest with the galaxy pen. Where did you get it, I can't find one anywhere.

just a small complaint for penbbs - they would almost be better served to have fewer colours but actually have them available - often times I either never see that a colour was available at all - like the Amber is a Cat for your 495 - or other colours that show they were available but frequently are no longer in stock in short order

*sigh* I don't have the focus or concentration these days to haunt Beini's Etsy store until I catch a 495 in Amber REF. There's no real point in getting the Amber in another nib size and just replacing it with an REF nib from a charm, as it won't be the cat's paw nib. And since I am ultimately more interested in the REF nib writing experience than the appearance... I pulled the trigger on a 495 in clear glass with the REF nib. I'm not has enamored of the Galaxy acrylic as you, but I wish I could have caught the Amber or Black in an REF nib. Of course, it hasn't been 10 minutes since I hit "Pay" and I'm already thinking "Yeah, I should have got the black and spent the extra $8 for the REF nib charm..." Oh, well, I will be anxiously waiting for it to arrive so I can ink up one MORE pen that I don't need inked up and see how it feels and writes! Thanks for the review and the breakdown. Excellent as always, and as always, a highlight of my Saturday morning!

The piston filler is excellent. My only issue is the length, and the balance is better unposted. Still their best models are the 456, and 308. I am warming up to this model after my initial disappointment, which was based on unrealistic expectations. Also, I have been finding inconsistent quality in the texture and pattern of the galaxy blues. Mine has more banded striped of light and dark blue, without the interesting acrylic swirl textures.

What is your favorite filling system?

That’s a very good looking pen. And I think that galaxy is some of my favorite acrylic. Or with their naming convention is that galaxy is a cat?

Doug, I have a couple of questions about Penbbs, pens that you like a lot. I like medium nibs and have had difficulty finding them in Etsy for the 495 and 456, which are the two models that I am interested in. Am I looking wrong? Also, with respect to Penbbs piston fills, which wrenches fit the pens? I’ve had equal difficulty finding a wrench.

The 309 is the nicer looking pen, imho. A reworked piston for it would have been nice. Seems like they were mere angsrtoms away from a perfect fit. Cheers!

I wish they would productionize that test model

I wonder if a more conventional finial might be swapped from another PenBBS model 🤔 In your comparison, the clip ring seems to he a standard size across models...

Hello, Doug. Can you please help me to choose whether this pen in Hawaii or Small Blessing? I'm already trying to pick for three days😂

How to buy the galaxy one..

Tell us the trick to get these pens in amber. I always find them unavailable.

You must be really quick on the draw to pick up those Amber Is A Cat pens, because everytime I go to look for one, they are all sold out! Ugh.

With the size of the potential market in China the risk as regards experimentation is somewhat reduced. However, I do feel Western manufacturers have been somewhat timid. For years you either had the Lamys of this world or the niche luxury end such as Mont Blancs. I have seen innovative designs as one offs and then the manufacturer just seems to disappear. Mass manufacture (and associated price reduction) from the likes of Conid would be great but the concern is always maintaining the production quality when having to outsource manufacture. Fortunately, some mid sized manufacturers are starting to embrace variety if not innovation but Doug has proved that a range of manufacturers are using common standard parts while concentrating on the looks and aesthetics giving rise to Asvine, Nahvular etc. turning out novel designs.

I’m more a HongDian fan myself but I’m also a piston filler fan,so I’ve decided to tune in. This is all just too involved for me..good night.🫡