The WORST Fountain Pens of 2023 

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Hilarious! Thank you for making my day. The film clips are brilliant. Hey I have an idea for a good way to dump these stinkers. Put them in an Amazon box and let the porch pirates enjoy the spoils….”laughing like Renfield.”

Love your end of year review videos! I can't wait for the next one. I got the joy of trying the Majohn V1 at a pen meet. It was so back heavy, and absolutely ridiculously long cap that I was worried about damaging the nib. It was so back heavy that you can leave it standing on the back metal piece upright like a weird desk pen. I'm disappointed that the Parker Jotter made the list, because it's still a recommended pen on some forums. I didn't realise it had such sharp edges. Loved the phrase "entitled to your wrong opinions". I'll have to try that one out one day. :D

Nice AC DC intro 🤠.. yeah there are very few may be :) , I wasn't expecting this worst list this year considering most of the pens being witnessed in the channel were of good quality..

Thank you Doug, your misery was our pleasure 😊

Parker Jotters are basic builds, and work well in cold climes. Also Canadian, I have it inked with Noodler's Polar Blue when the temperatures drops below -25 degrees Celsius. Not having to worry about brittle fracture, or hard starts.

Hi Doug. Always nice to watch this annual horror show of pens that didn't quite make it! Thanks for warning me to steer clear of this pathway to fountain pen Hell.

Oh dear: "I'd rather sit in the dark with a pencil in my eye." You're so cool, Doug.

For our anniversary my girlfriend got me a Parker IM - Metallic Pursuit . While I don't doubt your experiences with the Jotter were terrible, my IM has become one of my favorite pens, looks great and writes great with a really nice slip cap, and I'm more a screw cap guy.

Someone must have been drunk while designed the V1.

Other than the Ti500, I have not had the pleasure of possessing any of these pens. I guess I was fortunate of having my Ti500 work very well, though I will consider getting the Asvine wrench and grinding it to fit the pen for maintenance.

maybe the Hush Eyedropper is built from Pailie/ Wing Sung 3013 bodies, thus the removable end cap.

Hey Doug, enjoyed this review also love the back n' black intro . Would like to hear police truck from the dead Kennedy's or the hellion from Judas priest. I had a Visconti Claudio Mazzi ( Apache ) and would not write AT ALL! Had a less expensive Indian pen where the nib unit's threads aligned perfectly with the Visconti barrel. Long story even longer the feed matches with the nib and ink flow is smooth. The Indian fountain pen I believe costs around $8 us. Also on the review of the Oaso k106 retractable... Hey, watch your language!

Amazing! How sad the depths to which Parker has fallen. How is Shaeffer?

Thanks Doug cool review & AC/DC intro.👍🇦🇺

Entertaining and funny, thanks Doug, I've never had any luck with Majohn.

Great video! Mic quality has gone down with the wireless unit, and it was noticeable before the cut at 7:05. Regardless, watched it happily anyway :)

some additional comments about the Parker Jotter: it looks like it has the vibes of made in China, but that this is a Made in China from 15 or 20 years ago. Probably because the tooling to make it is at least +10 years old. The western company that owns the brand name "Parker" either doesn't want to or cannot invest in new(er) tooling that would give you the same kind of quality we are now seeing from the latest Chinese model of pens made today (which are made with brand new tooling because they are new models). The second point is about the price. Of course it's stupidly overpriced because in part of the brand name, but there is also nuance here too. The thing is that you can find the jotter in any large stationary store in a western countries because the company can get its product onto the shelves along with other big western brand names. The Chinese brands are still locked out of the mainstream stationary western markets. I guess we will eventually see them appearing along side the other cheap pilot pens and tragic Parker things as the China brands are doing what the Japanese did 30 years ago. What Parker is doing of course is just lazy and they will probably die out.

Nice to see you on the electric today! I'm going to have to take that as a lesson and use those fingerings. (Thank you!)

I'd like to say a word about TWSBI. TWSBI, you'll never see another cent from me. Four pens; four failures. Each one has cracked. In one case the pen literally disintegrated. Which pen? The top of the line VAC-700. I bought them about 7 years ago They all failed within two years. I hope things have changed at TWSBI. I'm not willing to take the chance on them again.

Best pen review of 2023, IMO. 👏🏆 These clips take me out every single time. (Also, you must not have had the misfortune of trying to enjoy a Ferris Wheel Press Carousel this year. 😱)

Great video, Doug. I'm glad my pens weren't on that list. KB

Strongly disagree about your Jotters: at least the barrel here is all-metal and not plastic like on my Jotter Originals CT that cracked under some pressure in the pants pocket, and the nib is really smooth even in the F option. Overpriced? Yes. Piece of crap? No. I also have an all-metal BP version and it's totally fine for me, but I still need to find an all-metal FP version to replace the Originals CT. I just don't want to pay more for it than I paid for a Pilot MR Euro + a Schmidt euro-size converter (this combo is my current EDC option along with a pocket notepad). Other pens on the list though, yes, look a bit... strange.

Doug, you are the best. You continue to be informative and entertaining. I actually laugh out loud watching your videos far more often than when I watch someone like David Chappelle. And so in that regard, you are a rare entity. You can educate, and do so with humor. Keep up the good work.

The steel Parker Jotter was my first decent enough fountain pen in school after some old Jinhao models and a Parker Vector which cracked all over, it cost about £10 in the UK then so I considered it a good value pen. It writes quite nicely, it is indeed very thin spun steel, not aluminium, with some sharp edges. The clip was not secure and became wobbly after some use but the finish was nice at least, it wrote well and was otherwise a great pen for that price but my biggest issue always was that it only takes proprietary Parker cartridges, they have a nice capacity but Parker ink is incredibly lack-lustre in appearance and filling with a syringe each day would have been a pain. $30 in the US is an extreme price for it though, it's definitely not worth that. It's really very sad to see modern day Parker pens considering what the company used to be, their vintage models are stunning and unique in performance and aesthetics, modern Parker isn't even a shadow of that. Parker themselves done a worse job then their Chinese competitors at reviving their own 51, the modern attempt is almost an insult to the vintage icon. And the Ingenuity comically enough lives up to the origins of its name by indeed being rather ingenuous.

As I mentioned in another video, the Majohn S5 belongs on this list... Unless it's always on a previous list and I missed it. It's a pretty pen that doesn't write for more than 4-5 sentences before it gums up and turns into a scratchy, hideous mess. I tried with multiple nib units (they include 3, but I bought 3 more), and the section, while a somewhat-attractive piece of molded plastic, was squishy and too thin to support the nib assembly. The tail of the barrel was a swooping, tapered thing that flared out again at the end, making it difficult if not impossible to post. I threw it away. I wasn't going to foist it on anyone else.

Maybe it's because I'm Australian but that second pen is the stuff of nightmares: trap door spider.

Another rockstar FP video, Doug. You are the OFFPRE (Old Fart Foutain Pen Reviewer Extraordinaire) on RU-vid. You keep us informed, entertained, save us money, rip some licks and help keep this hobby fun. Merry Xmas to you and those you care about. D I can't wait until your “best pens” video lands.

wait until Franklin Cristopher makes a copy of majohn v1 and puts 300 American dolar price tag on it wait they already did even before majohn probably

Nice music choice!👍

Haha, I guess I am the old fart for not noticing. Thanks for the heads up. My pocket book probably subliminally made me miss it.

I am confused. You just went through a list of Chinese pen companies, and you did not mention PenBBS. Are they defunct now? I did buy a few experimental PenBBS fountain pens (mostly things like another approach to filling a fountain pen), and some have worked; some have not withstood the amount of patience I have or brought me joy just because the filling mechanism was magnetic and somewhat unique. After awhile I just decided their is good reason to enjoy a good piston filler or the even more rare, good vac filler (my view is that I seem to always get a good fill with my Pilot Custom 823 but have to try and try to get a good fill with or good feed from some Chinese vac fillers. I keep them because I love some of the acrylics used, but I do often get frustrated. Some day I will likely begin to give or sell many of my Chinese pens not name “Jionhoa.” I do frequently marvel at how much I like some. I still give away most (not to get rid of…but to give as a gift the recipient will love…and does love) is the Jinhao Centennial 100 (whatever order those words are supposed to be in). I have an 87 year old brother (soon to be 88), who actually grew up with a fountain pen or two, but has not had one in over 40 years. I asked him which color Jinhao Centennial he wanted, and I decided to make sure it was going to be smooth, not hard-start, or dry out & skip. I inked the gift pen up and wrote with it for a solid week. It was smooth and a perfect writer! I have given a Jinhao 100 Centennial to two different retirees just this past year, and each of the recipients (one male; one female) have fallen in love with them. Each of them think I have spent a lot of money on their gift. I correct them because I do not want them to learn later the value comes in an affordable price. Of course, I love the Jinhao’s new, far cheaper fountain pen Montblanc style with a great converter, but they are not as big a hit as the Centennial aesthetically. Last: Do you just throwaway disgusting Chinese pens you might have bought? I am having trouble trying to make myself do that; however, some early inexpensive fountain pens with disgustingly stiff, dysfunctional nibs seem to need a landfill burial. I don’t know how I got some of them, but some are so bad that no amount of adjustment can cure the nibs provided.

Where is the BIC ballpoint?

I don't have the V1, don't plan on picking it up either. Yet, aesthetically, it does appeal to me. What do you think of the "Le Fleche" pen by Alexandre Duboc? (A similar kind of design, only in wood and acrylic.) And on a second point, I generally have no problem with the cheap Chinese knockoffs. No one is going to confuse a Pilot VP with a Majohn A1/2. It is nice for its cheap price point, but the quality of the VP outclasses it in every way. That Ti500 on the other hand, is definitely much too close to the LAMY 2000. They might have gotten away with it if they hadn't made it a piston filler. That is probably the biggest reason LAMY stepped in about it (and why they've so far ignored the Jinhao 80).

Best intro music yet.

I'll give Majohn credit for one thing on the V1 -- it is so hilariously bad, in so many ways, that there is room for everyone in the fountain pen community to discuss which of its flaws are the worst. For me, the back weighting issue is still a fatal flaw even if everything else was fixed.

I like you reviews of pens and guitar learn king of the hill song I play it on banjo its fun just saying keep up the pen reviews

The ti500 is no longer in production or sold anywhere. It has lots of ink pooling issues based on the Chinese market comments and whatnot. I abstained from getting it due to those reviews. And it turns out it they made only 1 batch. Something tells me it's either not cost effective to produce them or they are getting sued for the design. That's why they stopped making it. It sold out very quickly within 2 months of its release. So I am guessing it isn't a demand issue.

Interesting video.

I think I’ll stick with my Lamy steel. Thanks for the warning(heads-up - see I speak US).about the other 6 weaponised pieces of crap 💩.

Ah, yes! One of the most eagerly anticipated fountain pen videos in the entire industry and it didn’t disappoint. We thoroughly enjoyed every excoriation of each POS in this list. Thanks, Doug and Merry Christmas!

Your incorrect opinion about the v1 is quite interesting!

LOL, you should put a warning, do not drink while watching this video.

very funny and very true

What about the Parker IM fountain pens?

Ah yes, the POS de resistance! Afraid Majohn gives credence to the argument that they are mere copy hounds when their original works are so weird, wonky and woeful. Great fun, Doug! Where can I git me one-a them there red menace pens? Cheers!

I predict decent cheap retractables within the next 3 years.

V1 pen is so horrible I can't believe anyone uses it by his own choice. It is against everything that can be nice in pens!

What a disappointment about the Parker Jotter set! Even in the 1990s, they were fine pens. Still have my ballpoint, with actual brushed steel. The fountain pen I got a few years ago wasn't bad, but I like better the various iterations of the Wing Sung "homage" 601 and 601A. In fact, I recently got the Wing Sung 601A in brushed steel with a 14k nib, and love it.

No surprise really 😉

So much Chinese crap that I just avoid Chinese altogether. I’d rather send my money to Japan, Germany, Italy.

Let's be honest, Chinese pens are bought not because they are beautiful or extraordinary, but because they are similar to well-known models of well-known brands, while they are several times cheaper. And for the price of one well-known fp, you can buy a bunch of Chinese crap. This is where their advantages end. Most fans of fp writing would never know about the existence of these models if it weren't for your reviews with which you advertise them and at the same time they were feeling good))