NOODLER'SInk Piston Fill Flex Nib Clear Demonstrator Medium Point Fountain Pen - ND-17000

I love this! Mine had a horrible smell at first, but after I washed it and let it air out, the smell went away. But the flex nib at affordable prices? Sign me up! I want to get an Ahab with a flex nib next!

I've read a lot of the complaints (unreliable, smells bad), AND the glowing reviews (a flex pen for cheap, a tinkerer's pen), and here's my take after one month of consistent use. Yes, it works well when it works, and I did enjoy the "tinkerer's" aspect of heat-seating the feed, and fine tuning the nib. And I loved having a relatively flexy pen for my fun inks.However, for me, that novelty ran out. I've had ink sputter onto me (and my clothes) while writing, random blobs of ink bleed through my papers, ink leaks, rapid drying-out, and I'm pretty sure the section isn't machined correctly to even fit the metal nib because it has to be pushed so far in to stick, it's barely usable. Cosmetically, the section-to-barrel area is definitely crooked. So while this was truly fun for a few weeks, and I even came to endear the acrid smell, the thought of getting it out for another use turns me off.For the low cost, yeah, why not enjoy a few weeks of "tinkering" and fun flex writing. For me, that lasted a month, and then the word "tinkering" started to seem like a fancy way of saying "this pen was poorly made, please fix it yourself."I may try again with a Konrad or Ahab down the line, but for now, the Creaper is fondly remembered but has been laid to rest.

I do think the Konrad and the Ahab are better pens, but if you like thin and small and still want a piston filling demonstrator pen with a flexible nib, this is where the money's at.I have two, one that I ground the feed out to gush ink, and this one, which I kept stock.Noodlers pens DO REQUIRE SOME FIDDLING. DO NOT BUY THIS AS A FIRST PEN. You will have to likely adjust how deep the nib and feed are in the body (further out = more flex, closer the feed is to the tip of the nib, more inkflow) and maybe use a razor blade to cut the ebonite feed a bit, but this will take any standard #5 nib as well, and is a proper piston filler.The biodegradable vegetal resin isn't as crystal clear as a TWSBI's plastic, but it's still quite clear, and it's tougher than any other plastic you can think of. Nathan Tardiff of Noodlers has a video of himself driving over a konrad (Same material) with his car twice and it wrote fine, and then firing one out of a shotgun (it survived) It does have a VERY strong odor out of the box, some people HATE the smell, so if you don't like the pen's odor, stick it in a drawer for a week and it will dissipate quickly.It's a very thin, light pen with a good posting cap.The nib is nice, will flex very broad (western EF to about a 1.1-1.5 stub) though it does require way more pressure than a "vintage" flex pen, if you want to write bold and broad, this will do the job, no problem. It will get tiring to do after 10-15 minutes, unlike a vintage flex pen, but that isn't this pen's intent. It does write like a slightly springy gold nib when writing normally, which I really like (not like a soft nib, but softer than regular steel nibs)Piston mechanism is smooth, simple, and reliable, and it holds a good amount of ink (2.5ish ml)The only issue I have with these nib creapers is that the cap has no inner seal, so it can't be sat in a drawer, inked, like a platinum with a slip and seal cap or even a jinhao. The konrad has an inner cap and the ahab seems to not have much issue (my neponset is ebonite without an inner cap but seems to not have trouble either) it will dry out if left for a week inked and unused. So only ink this pen up when you want to use it, and the rest of the time, keep it empty, and you won't have any issues.Overall, if you have a few dollars more and don't desperately want the thinnest pen you can find, I suggest the ahab, or if you need something a little smaller, the konrad, which are a bit more versatile and have a more easily swapped #6 nib. But for what it is, this is a solid little flex pen.

This advice comes from the wife:Whatever you do, do not buy this pen. I thought it was figure of speech, exaggeration. You cannot imagine how bad and how persistent the smell on this pen is, it is currently sitting 3 ft from me and I can smell it, my hands smell of it, my cat has been sitting on the furthest end of my apartment as far away from me as possible since I opened it.The cover feels cheap (and I bought a Pilot Metropolitan for maybe a couple dollars more that looks and feels way better!). To make matters worse, the flex tip is not that flexible and needs some pressure. Save your money and your nose, or send a shipment of these to your worse enemy.

This is a very nice pen with great features -- piston filler, nice weight, elegant and classic design, flex nib -- and at a bargain price. But, unfortunately, the awful (almost nauseating) smell makes it unusable. Even when washed with warm water and a mild dish soap the pen's bad smell did not go away.Note to manufacturer: PLEASE use a different material -- this pen would be wonderful if it did not smell bad. As it is, it sadly cannot be recommended.

I prefer writing with fountain pens, even though my penmanship has been on a steady decline since 2nd or 3rd grade. Most fountain pens have some heft to them. This is the first Noodler's Ink pen I have tried, and I was pretty amazed at how smooth it was, and to be honest, how fun it was to write with. This is a feather light pen. It is like writing with a rigid soda straw it is so light. The ink flows easily and fast. I purchased the clear pen, because I wanted to see how much ink was left. This pen is kind of skinny, which I prefer. Many fountain pens are quite chunky. I admit I have not used many different fountain pens, but this one really glides on the paper, doesn't leave too much ink for my writing, and doesn't struggle to keep up with my pace (which is not too fast)Playing around with this pen got me looking for some videos by the vendor, and I wound up making my other fountain pens perform a lot better.For me, this pen is fun to use. Anything that makes writing fun will make you want to write more. If only they could make a keyboard so I would be as enthusiastic about improving my wpm accuracy.