Lanxivi Penbbs 494 Fountain Pen Piston Filling System, Clear Demonstrator Pen Fine Point with Paper Pen Case

I was browsing fountain pens and realized I never wrote a review for this one. I bought the pen back in Dec 2020 and this review was written in Aug 2024.Pros:This pen is a demonstrator, which means it has a clear bodyso you can see how it works internally. Personally I likedemonstrators, as in most of my pen collection consist ofdemonstrators.PMMA resin body. PMMA is used as a glass substitute, as inshatterproof glass window and aircraft canopy. I have noscratches on my pen after having it for four years. YMMV.It's also a piston filler which means you don't have to dealwith converters or cartridges. Piston works very well solong as you do a regular maintenance.The cap posts very well. The cap hasn't scratched the body(it's 2024 and I bought the pen in 2020). A chinese pen thatis a piston filler *and* post well is as rare as a unicorn.Bind cap "clicks" with resistance before advancing the piston,making it unlikely that the piston will move accidentally.Smooth writer. I remember it being very dry which I fixed rightaway. After tuning it was and is still smooth and needed noalignment.Cons:The nib was dry out of the box, but I was able to fix it in about30 seconds. Tutorials on Youtube on nib tuning.It takes three turns to uncap the pen. Annoying if you want toquickly jot down notes.The picture shows the pen, a wet "F" that look more like a medium after tuning, on Walmart's Pen Gear poly notebook paper (cheapest fountain pen friendly paper I've found). Ink is Noodler's Baystate Blue There is no bleeding; the lines are thicker because after tuning the pen is a very wet writer.Fixing the dryness for me was drawing a few long stright lines downward with pressure to spread the tines. After four or five lines the pen got noticible wetter. I did this when I was still new to fountain pens and pressed down a little too hard or did one or two lined too many. Wet writers rarely ever hard start.The bind cap on the back of the pen rotates about 1/8" before it hits resistence, clicks, and then moves the piston. This doesn't bother me because the knob doesn't rattle or wiggle side to side when writing. in fact, I don't notice it unless I need to move the piston.For the price of the pen, the value is amazing. This has got to be the least expensive piston filler on Amazon and it's a well made pen. Except the annoying 3 turns to cap the pen. That said, it's still the best of the inexpensive piston fillers.

Very subjective. This is like a poor man's TWSBI.What I liked:1. Well made, and not just a clone of another pen. Holds a lot of ink and does not tend to leak or drip on it's own.2. Silicone O ring ensure that even if it leaks due to you dropping it, the leak will be contained in the cap.3. The ink filler requires a lot of torque till the click and then the plunger starts moving downwards.4. Removable pocket clip.5. The grip is circular and ever so slightly triangular at the same time. I didn't even notice till it was pointed out.6. The cap posts without activating the plunger.What I didn't like:1. This was supposed to be compatible with Pilot nibs (not mentioned on this listing but it said so on other websites). Well, technically it is but the nib wiggles. I have to insert a thin piece of plastic in between the nib and body to keep it stable.2. It does not accept any Pilot feed. This was a huge con for me. The seller does not make any claims to it being compatible with pilot but I read this from other websites.3. It takes three complete turns on the cap to unscrew the cap from the pen.4. Really minor but still relevant: There is slight play in the plunger before the click when it starts moving downwards. It might be able to drip one drop under the right conditions.5. The nib is nice but I did not like it. The F nib is the same fineness as my Lamy Safari F nib.

Compared to the Parker pen I was recently gifted this pen, with its XF nib, writes smooth and rather dry, requiring no real worry over smearing if pages get turned. Beyond that the action - the wholly contained piston with screw drive - was a true surprise, and a welcome one. I've been using this as my daily driver since it arrived.

This is an attractive pen, I love the large ink capacity, and it was affordable. But my experience is just "meh".I bought two, one for myself and one to give as a gift, and one of them has cracks in the barrel. I think these are a cosmetic flaw and won't affect the function of the pen, but it's still not what you expect with a new item.I am also finding mine to be a dry writer. When I first inked it up, it was with a sample of an ink I'd never used, so I attributed the dryness to the ink. But now I have it inked with Noodler's Sequoia Green, which is a somewhat wet ink, and it's still writing dry. I will fiddle with the nib and see if I can get any improvement, but overall, I find this pen unexciting. If you're looking for an inexpensive piston filler that writes well, I'd go for the Wing Sung 3008.

Loads ink flawlessly, writes smooth flowing fine point of ink, does not dry out when set aside for a few minutes.

This is a cheap pen I was not supposed to like cause I planned to give it away. I kept it.

Great pen. Well balanced, smooth writing and posts very well.

This is an attractive demonstrator pen with unusual piston filling mechanism that is usually only found on much more expensive pens. The downside is that it is a very hard starter and delivers ink to the paper intermittently. Nevertheless, I am keeping it and holding out hopes that it will break in and work well in time.