I took this photo and the one below for my post about the Dialog, but did not wind up using it therein.
From left to right:
- Platinum Curidas
- Majohn A2 Press (Modified)
- Lamy Dialog 3
- Pilot Vanishing Point
- Oaso K016
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I’m very curious about retractable fountain pens. Which one is your favorite of the bunch? Price being no consequence.
Easily the Majohn A2, but only after I modified it to have an oblique nib. It was entirely too pointy before that.
Sans modification, probably the Curidas.
The worst of the bunch is the Oaso.
Just saw that the Majohn A2 has a lot of colors to choose from. God help me.
Check out the A1 as well, they have some different colour options that are really nice.
I have some Pilot vanishing points, and I still bought a yellow A1 since it’s such a beautiful shade of glossy yellow that I couldn’t find from Pilot. Also I was able to use my Pilot calligraphy nib with it, since they’re compatible (and I think that nib alone cost about 3-4 times the price of the Mahjohn lol).
Do it! You won’t be disappointed.
I’ve always been curious about a retractable but I don’t like to baby my pens at all, I think I would get lint or random debris into the mechanism too easily. I also don’t like pocket clips but every retractable seems to have them.
Well, there is a clipless version of the Dialog.
But if you would like to spend a lot less for a retractable, there are versions of both the Majohn A1 and A2 that are clipless as well. These are mechanical clones of the Pilot Vanishing Point, to the extent of even being compatible with its parts.
Edit: The clip on the Curidas is also removable. Duh. I forgot that somehow, despite it literally coming with a tool in the box to aid in removing it.
Those clipless Majohn clones look pretty nice. How well do you think they would survive a pocket?
They’ll probably be fine, although that’s highly dependent on what else you keep in your pocket.
I would conjecture that one of the metal bodied variants would probably be a little more durable, but if you’re going to have it sharing space with other stuff with your pocket maybe one of the silver, rather than painted, options would be a better bet. I’ve never found painted metal objects that have since had the shit beaten out of their finishes particularly attractive. But that’s just me.
I definitely have to get a retractable fountain pen to try out. These look sort of nifty.
I love Dialog 3s, the twist is so satisfying. Not too great as writers but they’re fun enough to make for it
