Hong Dian 525 vs Black Forest The Light of Hope - Fountain Pen Showdown
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- In this video I am comparing two Hong Dian pens.
The Hong Dian 525 with Van Dieman Apple Island Green ink
The Hong Dian Black Forest "The Light of Hope" with Noodler Navajo Turquoise ink.
Join me as I look at both these pens. Which one will come out on top?
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The opinions are my own, based on my own experiences with the product. Not to be used for reference or as gospel.
Nice review. I've got them both as well, and enjoy them both. Like you, I favor the LofH (it's out on the desk ready for a couple of postcards I'll send today).
Good comparison job
Have a nice day
I enjoyed the comparison. I just got the Blue one with a full fude nib. The Forest Series now comes in many colors. I love Navajo Turquoise, got a 16oz bottle. How do you find 4K for videos? I haven't upgraded to 4K. Haven't found a compelling reason.
I hope you enjoy the pen, I love the colouring of it. I use my iPhone to record the footage using the Filmic Pro app. This lets me set the iPhone up and then control it using an iPad. I also edit on an iPad using LumaFusion, which handles 4K really well. The biggest issue is the upload to UA-cam. A 15 minute video is about 7GB in size and takes several hours to upload. I have thought about only using HD but decided to stick with 4K for future. As I improve my lighting setup I am hoping that will improve the video looks.
Personally I really love that green colour, I'm a sucker for a good British Racing Green, and it matches a suit I have perfectly (I'm rather tempted to buy it). I also love the design of the Black Forest Series, and the Light of Hope name. It reminds me of Superman, which I like as a big DC Comics fan, and of course it's a lovely name and a lovely pen to bring a bit of light into this bleak world right now.
A very good review of two pens I had not heard of.
Thank you
Thank you so much for the helpful video! I also love green. Im intrigued by the Noodlers ink. But I'm with you- the Light of Hope is beautiful and reminds me that those who believe find hope in The Lord Jesus. 🌷
Lovely review. Thanks!
Thank you.
Everyone has their own style, but I have to disagree with yours a bit. I personally think the 525 is simple, clean and elegant in looks while the black forest looks more like something that belongs in a ratchet set or a mall-ninja's fake batman belt than a pen collection. Reminds me more of a penlight than a pen. But hey, if you enjoy it, go for it! :)
I agree with you on the light of hope sentiment, though.
Thanks for the comment. This is one of the things I hoped to get with my videos - providing a way for people to share their views so we can all look at out pens differently. I agree with you that the 525 does have an elegant look. The “industrial” design of the Black Forest is a bit off-putting when you see it, but I found that it grew on me over time. Thank you for your comment, I really do appreciate the alternate view.
@@GarryEves If you haven't already seen it, Hongdian also makes another beautiful, sturdy pen.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZQN1VWM?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image
I'm waiting for one to arrive in the mail as we speak. It'll be my first fountain pen.
I'm also looking at the scribe sword pen on amazon. Similar, but it fits international converters and probably takes more universally sized replacement nibs, etc, whereas I don't think Hongdian does.
And as for design of a pen, the subjectiveness of our opinions is half of the fun. I can scratch a quick note with anything that makes a mark, but I tend to get picky if I'm planning something crazy like copying the Torah out by hand in the original Hebrew. (actual hobby) In those long-term cases, I want the tool *just* right.
Mostly it's about the first kind of cool, functionality, and it's pretty easy for people to agree on what does or doesn't work as a writing tool. For the Black Forest, it's perfectly cool in that respect, so long as it performs the way you need your pen to perform. Any nicely-working pen that isn't a pain to write with fits here.
But for the second kind of cool, that personal style which fits the owner and leads to a more personal connection between the user and the tool, it gets a lot more abstract and sometimes even random, and we can never all agree on this side of things. I personally go for either rustic, ancient designs (I believe a hand-cut reed/quill and inkwell is an epic way to write, though not the most efficient) or modern, strong, simple, functional, clean designs which still have a tasteful, artful elegance to them and which lend to longevity. I also like impressive workmanship in the simple details and I love cool colors, but I dislike garish things like marbled celluloid patterns or overly-busy, intricate, designs or patterns and symbolism all over things or unnecessary features. In the fountain pen world, that excludes a lot of options for me, as there are a lot of ostentatious, gaudy or downright weird designs out there.
For reference, I'm a long-time lover of the Fisher bullet space pens when it comes to writing. They're simple, clean, reliable, uniquely quirky in an artistic sort of way, and nearly bulletproof. They have been my one-and-only pen for years until now. It's the perfect back-pocket pen. Go anywhere with a space pen. Mountain hiking, the middle of a hurricane, flying in planes, I've done it all with them, no problem, never think twice. Practically maintenance-free. Clean them once a year, change the ink every other year. Writes on almost anything, anytime. Wood, plastic, greasy paper, etc, *but* it's not the perfect pen for writing Hebrew vowel points or for longer journaling sessions, so it's time for me to move up in the pen world for things like that.
And so here we are, searching for that one pen that works well and somehow also appeals to us in an inspiring way, trying to figure out what that pen should even be...
Have a good day :)
@@GarryEves Okay, I am officiallly a fountain pen convert! I love my new pen for writing at home. I don't think it will replace my space pen for an everyday pocket pen due to the hassle-free nature of the space pen, but I definitely am going to be buying a few more of these nice pens for writing Hebrew and taking lots of notes at home in my studies.
Thanks for your helpful content.
@@hitekrednek7664 I'm glad you're enjoying it. Welcome to the wonderful world of fountain pens.
Just a thought ...The liht of hope is now available in green now...
Cool. I'll have to start sweet-talking my wife to purchase it.
What's the point? Bad ink? Even fine bib ink not drying?
I find that this pen struggles to write on my school note books, for the most part the ink doesn't seem to take on the page after one pass and subsequent passes apply way too much ink. It seems to work fine on index cards though. Is there a type of paper that might work best?
I have used these on Spirax notepads, Rhodia paper and Clairefontaine paper. I sis the review using Oxford Optic White paper.
It may be worth trying different inks in the pen to see if that helps at all. I used Noodlers Navajo Turquoise in the Light of Hope pen and Pilot Iroshizuku Shin Ryoku in the 525.
@@GarryEves thanks I’ll give those a try and I’ve used that ink before on my medium nib montaverde
@@GarryEves I have found that topflight wired note books work well with these fine point pens. No bleeding issues with the ink and it takes well to the paper, unlike 5 star notebooks. This also has lots of sheets which is great for college classes.