LOL well we'll see how it holds up. I think the seal is better now but not great. Pretty sure it will bomb in the capless nib dry out test. Im still tempted to get another one LOL. I really like the pen!
That little extra material is called flash. In injection molding, it occurs when the two sides of the mold don’t quite align properly. It should be a pretty quick fix for the tool builder, hopefully narwhal is watching. Great investigation video as always!
@@Doodlebud I really appreciate this review from the perspective of a regular customer (i.e. one of us) as opposed to a manufacturer sending you a pen _(that has potentially been tuned and tested)_ to review. Thanks, you absolute legend!
I tried that pen at a recent pen show. The faceted finish has some sharp edges. My middle finger that's under the pen when I write, and the sharp edges pressing against it was very unpleasant. I gave my feedback, and the representation indicated that I'm not the only person to have that same problem.
If by "working as intented" they mean that the door will open under the weight of liquid and allow it to leave, I guess I could understand that. But you showed very clearly the remnant from the manufacturing process that caused the door to not be able to fully close. That's not as intended, it's a clear manufacturing defect that should be addressed.
I'm glad I found the culprit and hope they see the video to be aware of the issue that can be present so this can be caught in the future on other pens. The "working as intended" response was quite surprising LOL
If they address it for Doodlebud, they'll have to address it for the mountain of other people who are super angry that they rushed out so many defective pens. It's too bad they were willing to destroy their brand name for a gimmicky defective pen!
Hi DB! Isn't it fascinating how that TINY little bit of flashing on that injection molded part caused such a huge difference in the performance!? Back when I used to build plastic model kits, cleaning up the flashing on parts used to drive me nuts!
Doesn't take much sometimes. I spent 3 days hunting down the source of an issue on a precision motion system. I built 200+ then one of them had this strange issue. So I built another one from the batch of parts and that one had the issue too. After endless checks it ended up being the polish on some guide shafts just weren't as good as previous batches and cause a slight increase in break-out friction which messed everything up. Depending on design, sometimes there is little room for part variance and everything has to be just right for things to work.
I hope mine is a one-off and other pens are working great. Its a shame since I really do like the pen a bunch! But I was surprised at the response I got when I reached out to them
Form over function pen, probably made by a company selling the parts for 1/5th the price (Nahvalur uses majohn parts, right...?) doing a better job. Snarky support. Cheap materials that scratch from use und sharp edges from production... Thanks for the review Bud. I think this is a solid PASS for me. :)
@@Doodlebudwhile the parts are different for the respective models, the factory making both are one in the same. Different companies ordering from said factory with different specifications.
@HistoricGentleman very well could be the same manufacturer. Happens in every industry. Same place makes the same parts for different brands all with specified differences in their parts.
I was thinking of purchasing one, now, I think I will wait. Thank you very much for your excellent videos! I hope they will watch and listen, but most of all act on the information and correct it. Please let us know what happens and keep up the awesome work!
I am having the exact same problem with two of my Narwahl pens. They write very well, look great, just constant hard starts. On one of them the blind cap has detached from the threads on the shaft underneath it too. Annoying! Anyway, I am going to give your fix a try to see if I can rehabilitate these pens!
yh me neither - had a triple dose of bad nahvalur/narwhal qc with my original plus. nib was misaligned from factory, realigned it, was ok, replacement nib was misaligned from factory, plunger for the vac fill came out after c. two months :/
I’ve been waiting so long to see Doodlebud post a video ab the Eclipse. I got mine from my local pen store a couple weeks after they came out, and I instantly fell in love with it. It was the smoothest writer I’ve ever gotten out the box and I was all over the novel retractable mechanism they implemented. However, not long after buying, I encountered a leaking issue every hour or so during use and a big glob of ink would blot my page. I tried to fix it myself and make sure everything is properly seated, but nothing worked. Changing inks make it a bit better bc I was using quite a thin ink. My hypothesis is that since it was already inked when I got it at the store, so maybe the owner accidentally did something that caused the issue. So I ended up contacting Nahvalur and they sent a replacement right away. Have had the new one for a couple weeks now, and it’s still great. The Eclipse is the reason I finally pulled the trigger on a Nahvalur, and it was initially disappointing to run into this issue as I thought their QC would’ve been better. Hopefully all the kinks have been resolved. Sad to hear about Doodlebud’s experience with this though
Great video. I tried the blow test on my capless pens, all of them passed. Pilot, Moonman and Jinhao. I was looking at the Eclipse so thank you for the review. I am passing the CS not great.
It’s cool u find out what the problem was, but it was very bad move by Nahvalur as they didn’t accept that fault. As a customer I don’t have to disassemble the pen and fix it by myself 😢
It was a bit frustrating when they said there wasn't a problem because it was working as intended but then offered to repair and said the team would like to learn what was wrong with it. Just say to send it back and send me a new one and call it a day. They can look at the returned one on their own if they want to see whats up. Such a hassle so thought I might as well look into it.
Thanks for the video. I recently bought one of these, but have not inked up yet. I will try your tests before inking and see how it performs. Will let you know.
great video. my A2 majohn came apart after leaving it in my car on some hot days, now i know why. i glued the tip back on. other than being too skinny, and a little short, it's one of my most used pens. have a great week, and prepare well for this winter, it looks to be a stormy one!
And the a2 is longer than all my pens besides maybe the sheaffer snorkel Crest 😄 (Most are vintage so maybe not suprising) If you like the a2 but find it a bit to narrow i can really reccomend the a1 one or maybe the a3 (but i have not tried that one. The a2 is fatter where you grip it than all my vintage pens at the section i think.
My friend used to import Narwhal and I managed to buy 7 and some spare nibs from him, they all were totally flawless and the nibs much better than any other brand. But then he stopped doing business with them, he never told me why, just that their treatment was not fair and nothing else. I've read many stories on Reddit about them never replying to emails and horrible customer service. It's a damn shame on them, they could easily be the best fountain pen brand out there but they just don't want to 🤷
They have always been sketchy. but they really crossed the line with the first Nautilus release where they screwed over retailers to a faretheewell, except certain equally sketchy retailers
After half of the original founding pair left the business at the coincidental same time said company also ventured into rebooting Omas pens under the involvement of the now bankrupt Pen Family…I am in no way surprised at the direction things have gone.
Wow I am so glad you posted this. I was at the Tokyo Penshow and saw this pen and loved the way it wrote - I would have bought one on site but they did not have any inventory of that model with them due to a suppler or supply chain issue and encouraged me to look online when I was back stateside. I ended up buying a pilot vanishing point, because if you are in Japan, when better to buy a Pilot and absolutely love it (much higher build quality, feels solid in hand vs kinda janky like the Nahvalur). I still probably would have ordered one because I like this idea of self capping a lot for being in meetings and not constantly screwing and unscrewing my caps. But after hearing the customer support response to a clear problem / design flaw. No way. I don't support companies that don't treat the customer as god.
It truly feels like no one has been able to beat Pilot in terms of a retractable nib fountain pen design. They’re either oversized and overbuilt (Lamy Dialog), overly complex and unrefined (Platinum Curidas), or just don’t work properly (the pen in this video). Of course I’m biased here, since I own a Pilot Capless.
Thanks for the review. I had the same issue and was disappointed with the experience and the investment. I’ll try the fix out, otherwise I’ll return it.
I have had two instances where I needed to contact Narwharl. I bought an Original + and found the nib was wonky. I spoke to a representative at a pen show and he told me to send an email to the company and mention his name. I did and was sent a new nib, no problem. The secons time i jad a problem with the Nautilus model. There is a plastic piece at the end of the barrel that allows you to screw in the piston assembly to the barrel. It came out when i pulled the piston out. I contacted the comapny to see how to fix it. No reply. A couple of weeks went by and i sent another email. Still nothing. I tried gluing in this piece and it wouldn't stay put. So i inserted this piece onto the piston and slid the entire assembly back in. It works but the maintenance is of the piston is out of the question. I would give thumbs down on the customer service.
Honestly I was super interested in the pen, but now that I hear on how the response was to a customer complaint. Thinking I can pass on this pen, 100 bucks for a pen that I need to work on does not sound very appealing. On a happier note thanks for your vids, been a tinkerer and seeing more people like me makes my day.
That's too much like the handle of a Sonic Screwdriver from Doctor Who for me, while not being enough like a Sonic Screwdriver to keep me happy. The replies from the company, and the length of time it took for them to reply, were inadequate. The people answering the messages might not know how the pen is supposed to function, but someone at the company should.
I always love your "how things work" videos, very informative DB. But I have questions. Would tap water with just the hot water running be enough to loosen the adhesive holding the front nose piece on, or should it be hotter? Once you fixed it, did you just heat it back up then seated the nose piece, or did you use additional adhesive?? Do you think you could have used silicone grease around the perimeter of the opening would work to help seal the door flap?? Would it be better to use something like 12000 grit or greater (like jewelers rouge) to smooth the face the door flap rests against? Yes, I have the same Eclipse Iridium model and it does dry out!! Now that I've watched your video I'll have to do the water test. I'm also thinking of trying to get a look, from the nibs perspective, down the barrel towards the door flap with my Endoscope. I swear I'm a closet Engineer without the formal training - I learned a lot from my dad.
Depends on how hot your tap water is but most likely need hotter than what your faucet puts out. Greasing it might work but thats more of a temporary solution as it will move over time and possibly be wiped away and could even get on to the nib/feed of the pen causing other issues. Sanding this material can be tricky. Its soft so deforms if you put pressure on it to sand. So if you do manage to sand it there's a good chance it will get a bit deformed.
I had two of these pens and had the same issues as you, both pens used with several different inks and in under 30 minutes both pens had dried out, sent both pens back and received a full refund. I’ve experienced hard starts will all cap-less fountain pens I have purchased, all have eventually been sent back, the only one that’s has not had this issues and works really well is the cheap and simple designs pen from Writech, there cap-less fountain pen works brilliantly, for the money I’d say the best on the market.
Customer service is something else, at least in my eyes. On the other hand, that's why we were able to enjoy the video and your clever attempt at repair. However, I don't think this is just a malfunction of your pen. I'm afraid the manufacturer received, installed and shipped a whole lot of these incorrectly shaped plastic tubes. Hopefully the Nahvalur team will see this video and be prepared.
@@Doodlebud , after watching your informative video, I checked my pen and it does seal properly. I believe my hard starting experience was caused by the WD-40 I used to make the mechanism work smoother. Their CS was awful for you and would cause me to never purchase another of their pens. Thanks again for your wonderful video.
Excellent review. I think some of the issues with the pen they were aware of but they wanted to release the pen in time enough to do the release at a big pen show. They had a new release of a pen last year. They should deal with any issues of a pen first instead of trying to meet a deadline to release it for a show. As for customer service with Narwhal I think it depends on who at their end one is dealing with. I have contacted them before and sometimes great service and other times get ignored. I worked retail for many years and customer service is extremely important. It can make the difference between growth and success. Again great review.
I own this pen. Mine has light coming through the seal also. Mine is also very rough on all of the edges. Absolutely not a “quick draw”pen for me. I was wondering if you were doing a video, and here it is. I want to like the pen, but not if it dries out instantly. It is not interchangeable with the Vanishing Point. The nib unit in this one is just a hair larger.
I have the identical model / colourway ... Being a lizard, I live in the desert, and mine dries out in a few minutes, as well. I have a VP and a Curidas, and have never had this problem with *them*.
I will never buy a pen again from them again, I purchased a Nautilus from them and the piston broke the first time I tried to clean it and they wanted me to pay them half the value of the pen to repair it!
My Eclipse seals ok, not as good as a Pilot VP, but it can go a day without use and write ok. I did, however, switch out the nib as I don’t like fine points. I put in a Pilot VP stub nib. The pen is now tolerable. Definitely not worth $100.
Did you have to re-glue the end cap? If so what glue did you use? I have been enjoying my Eclipse and have not noticed a dry out. I have the black and silver. My only complaint is the mediums nib writes a very fine line.
I had a Pilot VP that didn’t write properly. It would just not deposit enough ink. Always scratchy. Drive me nuts. One day it fell on its nib and since then it writes perfectly
Apologies for this completely off-topic question; do red inks oxidise and darken over time within a pen? I've noticed something like this a few times recently: refilling a pen with new red ink often produces a lighter shade of red in the same ink.
I hope this isn't an indication of QC issues across the board at Nahvalur. Have a Nautilus coming the next couple days, and stuff like this just makes me worry.
I don’t own this pen. I own an Ēnsso that vanishes its nib. It too dries out. A lot. My wife’s Pilot Vanishing Point never dries out. Cool sidebar: When I review documents & see errors, I also ask if apparent errors were intentional. Glad I’m not alone in that ask.
The pen honestly looks great. It's such a shame it dries out like that. I'd be irritated if a pen dried out in less than a week, not to mention less than an hour.
I honestly do not understand how this brand became so popular in such a brief period of time. It always felt like a glorified knock-off or just a wanna-be with inferior resins and little attention to details.
@@paolopellegatti5686 I have several of their pens and they have all been great. This is the first time I've had any issue. I've heard from many their Eclipse has even fantastic. This was my experience but doesn't mean this will be everyone's experience
Capless pens aren’t my thing (I’m not a fan of the whole long clicker sticking out of the back look), but I do think that one is visually appealing. Their reaction when you first contacted them, however, is making me wonder about whether they should remain on my list of pen manufacturers I’m interested in for the more conventional pens that are my boat. (Because my Dad worked in various QA/QC roles for more than half of his career I look at QA/QC stuff in a bit of the same light that you look at engineering stuff - if you’ll allow me to draw what we both know is a false distinction between the engineering and QA/QC sides of things.)
I heard from some that theirs have been working great. Mine had a part with a defect which can happen. But I wasn't very please with the response to fix the issue that they said wasn't an issue but they would like to see whats wrong with it to fix it. Mistakes happen but what happens next is more important
The design looks interesting and... rough. Especially with the QC problems. I really like the idea of capless fountain pen, but VP is quite heavy to my liking. I wonder if the vintage one is on the lighter side? It's design is amazing and I like it way more, than the modern ones. Are you planning on coming to Vancouver Pen Club later this month? Cheers!
The vintage one is lighter and my favorite of all the capless pens I have. You can try a Majohn A2 to get a bit of an idea of what the older model is like, but still nothing like the real deal. Not sure if I'm able to make the meeting, just have so much going on. Only been able to make it to 1 meeting so far this whole year!
@@Doodlebud I hope you’ll make it there. I’d love to show you my burgundy Sheaffer Snorkel Autograph from 1955. I haven’t seen it on your channel, very cool over-engineered pen 😊
@abrvsk I doubled checked my calendar and unfortunately I can't make it 😕. I forgot it's on Saturday this time instead of Thursday and that weekend is fully booked up with all sorts of events my kids have going on. Unfortunately I'll be missing that one. Sounds like a super fun time! Last time I did the gold VS steel nib test at Buchan's and had a blast.
Ok, so you’ve got a rather distinctive voice, you’re top 5 fountain pen royalty and these guys don’t have your email on auto flag??? That makes their response both shady AND stupid.
I didn't use my Doodlebud email, I used my personal email as I wanted to be treated as a regular customer. I didn't want to have any "special treatment" so I could see how things went. Went I sent the video it was posted on my DB channel as unlisted so thought they might have picked up on that but guess not LOL
What a terrible example of customer service! The average pen buyer is not a MacGuyver like Doodlebud. Had this pen been sent to the average person that individual would have been stymied to the point where the pen would have been thrown in a desk drawer never to be used again. Any fountain pen, especially one costing $99.00, should write right out of the box with no ensuing problems. When are these pen companies going to realize this. A disgusting company indeed. 🤮🤮🤮
Doodlebud makes a Silk Purse out of a Sows Ear. What an Odyssey! Every pen lover's Super Hero.
LOL well we'll see how it holds up. I think the seal is better now but not great. Pretty sure it will bomb in the capless nib dry out test. Im still tempted to get another one LOL. I really like the pen!
That little extra material is called flash. In injection molding, it occurs when the two sides of the mold don’t quite align properly. It should be a pretty quick fix for the tool builder, hopefully narwhal is watching. Great investigation video as always!
Such a shame that they refused to acknowledge that as a mistake, but rather said it's working as designed. 20 minute dryout would drive me nuts.
Yeah it was driving me nuts too. Seems better so far but time will tell how it does
What's the point of a capless pen if it dries out in 20 min? I could just get a $10 Jinhao 80 UEF and leave the cap off and save myself the $80
@@Doodlebud I really appreciate this review from the perspective of a regular customer (i.e. one of us) as opposed to a manufacturer sending you a pen _(that has potentially been tuned and tested)_ to review. Thanks, you absolute legend!
I tried that pen at a recent pen show. The faceted finish has some sharp edges. My middle finger that's under the pen when I write, and the sharp edges pressing against it was very unpleasant. I gave my feedback, and the representation indicated that I'm not the only person to have that same problem.
If by "working as intented" they mean that the door will open under the weight of liquid and allow it to leave, I guess I could understand that. But you showed very clearly the remnant from the manufacturing process that caused the door to not be able to fully close. That's not as intended, it's a clear manufacturing defect that should be addressed.
I'm glad I found the culprit and hope they see the video to be aware of the issue that can be present so this can be caught in the future on other pens. The "working as intended" response was quite surprising LOL
If they address it for Doodlebud, they'll have to address it for the mountain of other people who are super angry that they rushed out so many defective pens. It's too bad they were willing to destroy their brand name for a gimmicky defective pen!
Hi DB! Isn't it fascinating how that TINY little bit of flashing on that injection molded part caused such a huge difference in the performance!? Back when I used to build plastic model kits, cleaning up the flashing on parts used to drive me nuts!
Doesn't take much sometimes. I spent 3 days hunting down the source of an issue on a precision motion system. I built 200+ then one of them had this strange issue. So I built another one from the batch of parts and that one had the issue too. After endless checks it ended up being the polish on some guide shafts just weren't as good as previous batches and cause a slight increase in break-out friction which messed everything up. Depending on design, sometimes there is little room for part variance and everything has to be just right for things to work.
Thanks for the review. I was thinking about buying one but the QC and customer service are making me pause. I’ll stay tuned.
I hope mine is a one-off and other pens are working great. Its a shame since I really do like the pen a bunch! But I was surprised at the response I got when I reached out to them
Form over function pen, probably made by a company selling the parts for 1/5th the price (Nahvalur uses majohn parts, right...?) doing a better job. Snarky support. Cheap materials that scratch from use und sharp edges from production... Thanks for the review Bud. I think this is a solid PASS for me. :)
I actually took apart a Majohn A1 to compare and the parts are different. The seal, trap door, and spring are a bit different.
@@Doodlebudwhile the parts are different for the respective models, the factory making both are one in the same. Different companies ordering from said factory with different specifications.
@HistoricGentleman very well could be the same manufacturer. Happens in every industry. Same place makes the same parts for different brands all with specified differences in their parts.
I was thinking of purchasing one, now, I think I will wait. Thank you very much for your excellent videos! I hope they will watch and listen, but most of all act on the information and correct it. Please let us know what happens and keep up the awesome work!
I'll update if there's anything comes up
I am having the exact same problem with two of my Narwahl pens. They write very well, look great, just constant hard starts. On one of them the blind cap has detached from the threads on the shaft underneath it too. Annoying! Anyway, I am going to give your fix a try to see if I can rehabilitate these pens!
Good luck, hope it works. Sounds like if you get a good one its a great pen!
I’m not inclined to buy any pens from a company that ignores obvious flaws with their products.
yh me neither - had a triple dose of bad nahvalur/narwhal qc with my original plus. nib was misaligned from factory, realigned it, was ok, replacement nib was misaligned from factory, plunger for the vac fill came out after c. two months :/
I’ve been waiting so long to see Doodlebud post a video ab the Eclipse. I got mine from my local pen store a couple weeks after they came out, and I instantly fell in love with it. It was the smoothest writer I’ve ever gotten out the box and I was all over the novel retractable mechanism they implemented. However, not long after buying, I encountered a leaking issue every hour or so during use and a big glob of ink would blot my page. I tried to fix it myself and make sure everything is properly seated, but nothing worked. Changing inks make it a bit better bc I was using quite a thin ink. My hypothesis is that since it was already inked when I got it at the store, so maybe the owner accidentally did something that caused the issue. So I ended up contacting Nahvalur and they sent a replacement right away. Have had the new one for a couple weeks now, and it’s still great. The Eclipse is the reason I finally pulled the trigger on a Nahvalur, and it was initially disappointing to run into this issue as I thought their QC would’ve been better. Hopefully all the kinks have been resolved. Sad to hear about Doodlebud’s experience with this though
Would have loved to had that response. Problem -> Solution.... easy peasy. Glad to hear you're enjoying yours
Great video. I tried the blow test on my capless pens, all of them passed. Pilot, Moonman and Jinhao. I was looking at the Eclipse so thank you for the review. I am passing the CS not great.
It’s cool u find out what the problem was, but it was very bad move by Nahvalur as they didn’t accept that fault. As a customer I don’t have to disassemble the pen and fix it by myself 😢
It was a bit frustrating when they said there wasn't a problem because it was working as intended but then offered to repair and said the team would like to learn what was wrong with it. Just say to send it back and send me a new one and call it a day. They can look at the returned one on their own if they want to see whats up. Such a hassle so thought I might as well look into it.
Man this is why i enjoy your channel! Now i wonder, if you opened up the jinhao 10 if it would have a similar issue? Would love to see it!
Really good review, and really fair treatment.
By the way... I'm waiting eagerly for the Wingsung/Junlai 900 review 😉
I'd love to get my hands on one!
Thanks for the video. I recently bought one of these, but have not inked up yet. I will try your tests before inking and see how it performs. Will let you know.
great video. my A2 majohn came apart after leaving it in my car on some hot days, now i know why. i glued the tip back on. other than being too skinny, and a little short, it's one of my most used pens. have a great week, and prepare well for this winter, it looks to be a stormy one!
And the a2 is longer than all my pens besides maybe the sheaffer snorkel Crest 😄 (Most are vintage so maybe not suprising)
If you like the a2 but find it a bit to narrow i can really reccomend the a1 one or maybe the a3 (but i have not tried that one.
The a2 is fatter where you grip it than all my vintage pens at the section i think.
My friend used to import Narwhal and I managed to buy 7 and some spare nibs from him, they all were totally flawless and the nibs much better than any other brand. But then he stopped doing business with them, he never told me why, just that their treatment was not fair and nothing else. I've read many stories on Reddit about them never replying to emails and horrible customer service. It's a damn shame on them, they could easily be the best fountain pen brand out there but they just don't want to 🤷
They have always been sketchy. but they really crossed the line with the first Nautilus release where they screwed over retailers to a faretheewell, except certain equally sketchy retailers
After half of the original founding pair left the business at the coincidental same time said company also ventured into rebooting Omas pens under the involvement of the now bankrupt Pen Family…I am in no way surprised at the direction things have gone.
Wow I am so glad you posted this. I was at the Tokyo Penshow and saw this pen and loved the way it wrote - I would have bought one on site but they did not have any inventory of that model with them due to a suppler or supply chain issue and encouraged me to look online when I was back stateside. I ended up buying a pilot vanishing point, because if you are in Japan, when better to buy a Pilot and absolutely love it (much higher build quality, feels solid in hand vs kinda janky like the Nahvalur). I still probably would have ordered one because I like this idea of self capping a lot for being in meetings and not constantly screwing and unscrewing my caps. But after hearing the customer support response to a clear problem / design flaw. No way. I don't support companies that don't treat the customer as god.
It truly feels like no one has been able to beat Pilot in terms of a retractable nib fountain pen design. They’re either oversized and overbuilt (Lamy Dialog), overly complex and unrefined (Platinum Curidas), or just don’t work properly (the pen in this video). Of course I’m biased here, since I own a Pilot Capless.
The Pilot design is fantastic. Simple, low cost, and works great! The ultimate design solution.
Thanks for the review. I had the same issue and was disappointed with the experience and the investment. I’ll try the fix out, otherwise I’ll return it.
Well, I would try the "blow test" to see how bad its leaking. They most likely wont take the pen back after you've tried to repair it
I have had two instances where I needed to contact Narwharl. I bought an Original + and found the nib was wonky. I spoke to a representative at a pen show and he told me to send an email to the company and mention his name. I did and was sent a new nib, no problem.
The secons time i jad a problem with the Nautilus model. There is a plastic piece at the end of the barrel that allows you to screw in the piston assembly to the barrel. It came out when i pulled the piston out. I contacted the comapny to see how to fix it. No reply. A couple of weeks went by and i sent another email. Still nothing. I tried gluing in this piece and it wouldn't stay put. So i inserted this piece onto the piston and slid the entire assembly back in. It works but the maintenance is of the piston is out of the question. I would give thumbs down on the customer service.
Honestly I was super interested in the pen, but now that I hear on how the response was to a customer complaint. Thinking I can pass on this pen, 100 bucks for a pen that I need to work on does not sound very appealing. On a happier note thanks for your vids, been a tinkerer and seeing more people like me makes my day.
That's too much like the handle of a Sonic Screwdriver from Doctor Who for me, while not being enough like a Sonic Screwdriver to keep me happy.
The replies from the company, and the length of time it took for them to reply, were inadequate. The people answering the messages might not know how the pen is supposed to function, but someone at the company should.
YES! I was trying to think of what it looked like!
My eclipse, vertical nib up during 2 days: no problem it writes well one shot (it was a pre-order then one of the first manufactured)
My Eclipse has never had a problem with drying out. Sealed perfectly out of the box. 🤷
Wanna trade pens!!! LOL Man Im super tempted to try for round two! I really like the pen and just want one that work
I also have an early model and it does dry out faster than I would like. More info on removing and replacing the nose cone would be welcome.
I always love your "how things work" videos, very informative DB. But I have questions. Would tap water with just the hot water running be enough to loosen the adhesive holding the front nose piece on, or should it be hotter? Once you fixed it, did you just heat it back up then seated the nose piece, or did you use additional adhesive?? Do you think you could have used silicone grease around the perimeter of the opening would work to help seal the door flap?? Would it be better to use something like 12000 grit or greater (like jewelers rouge) to smooth the face the door flap rests against? Yes, I have the same Eclipse Iridium model and it does dry out!! Now that I've watched your video I'll have to do the water test. I'm also thinking of trying to get a look, from the nibs perspective, down the barrel towards the door flap with my Endoscope. I swear I'm a closet Engineer without the formal training - I learned a lot from my dad.
Depends on how hot your tap water is but most likely need hotter than what your faucet puts out. Greasing it might work but thats more of a temporary solution as it will move over time and possibly be wiped away and could even get on to the nib/feed of the pen causing other issues. Sanding this material can be tricky. Its soft so deforms if you put pressure on it to sand. So if you do manage to sand it there's a good chance it will get a bit deformed.
Awesome Doodlebud! I want you to design my next pen…
I had two of these pens and had the same issues as you, both pens used with several different inks and in under 30 minutes both pens had dried out, sent both pens back and received a full refund. I’ve experienced hard starts will all cap-less fountain pens I have purchased, all have eventually been sent back, the only one that’s has not had this issues and works really well is the cheap and simple designs pen from Writech, there cap-less fountain pen works brilliantly, for the money I’d say the best on the market.
Customer service is something else, at least in my eyes.
On the other hand, that's why we were able to enjoy the video and your clever attempt at repair.
However, I don't think this is just a malfunction of your pen. I'm afraid the manufacturer received, installed and shipped a whole lot of these incorrectly shaped plastic tubes. Hopefully the Nahvalur team will see this video and be prepared.
Mine had the same issue until I switched to a Private Reserve Infinity ink. Has not hard started since the change.
That is not a "solution;" it's a bandaid.
I have some of that ink and might have to use it on this one. But would be better if the seal just you know...... sealed LOL
@@Doodlebud , after watching your informative video, I checked my pen and it does seal properly. I believe my hard starting experience was caused by the WD-40 I used to make the mechanism work smoother. Their CS was awful for you and would cause me to never purchase another of their pens. Thanks again for your wonderful video.
@kevinlandon7578 oh damn yeah, WD40 is not something you want to get near the key pen parts.
@@Doodlebud it seemed a good idea at the time. cleaning the nib unit and converter while changing ink must have helped thing, too!
This thing is needlessly complex. Which of course is an attractive aesthetic in itself. Well done fixing it.
@@ichirofakename The black & gold one is tempting me to try again 😅
Excellent review. I think some of the issues with the pen they were aware of but they wanted to release the pen in time enough to do the release at a big pen show. They had a new release of a pen last year. They should deal with any issues of a pen first instead of trying to meet a deadline to release it for a show. As for customer service with Narwhal I think it depends on who at their end one is dealing with. I have contacted them before and sometimes great service and other times get ignored. I worked retail for many years and customer service is extremely important. It can make the difference between growth and success. Again great review.
I own this pen. Mine has light coming through the seal also. Mine is also very rough on all of the edges. Absolutely not a “quick draw”pen for me. I was wondering if you were doing a video, and here it is. I want to like the pen, but not if it dries out instantly. It is not interchangeable with the Vanishing Point. The nib unit in this one is just a hair larger.
I will be avoiding that one.
I have XS-S sized hands and with the defects, I won't be buying.
This one wouldn't be the best for small hands
Have you tried the Stipula capless pen yet? It looks like possibly a super cool variation on safety pens
Haven't tried those yet but would love to. Pricey but they look awesome
I have the identical model / colourway ... Being a lizard, I live in the desert, and mine dries out in a few minutes, as well. I have a VP and a Curidas, and have never had this problem with *them*.
I will never buy a pen again from them again, I purchased a Nautilus from them and the piston broke the first time I tried to clean it and they wanted me to pay them half the value of the pen to repair it!
My Eclipse seals ok, not as good as a Pilot VP, but it can go a day without use and write ok. I did, however, switch out the nib as I don’t like fine points. I put in a Pilot VP stub nib. The pen is now tolerable. Definitely not worth $100.
Did you have to re-glue the end cap? If so what glue did you use? I have been enjoying my Eclipse and have not noticed a dry out. I have the black and silver. My only complaint is the mediums nib writes a very fine line.
It seems like the two biggest problems were poor quality control and an even worse customer service.
I had a Pilot VP that didn’t write properly. It would just not deposit enough ink. Always scratchy. Drive me nuts. One day it fell on its nib and since then it writes perfectly
That has to be the quickest way to do a nib alignment LOL
Apologies for this completely off-topic question; do red inks oxidise and darken over time within a pen? I've noticed something like this a few times recently: refilling a pen with new red ink often produces a lighter shade of red in the same ink.
So is this just a redesigned VP mechanism just enough to be different?
yes
You could say that for any cigar shaped screw cap pen LOL
I hope this isn't an indication of QC issues across the board at Nahvalur. Have a Nautilus coming the next couple days, and stuff like this just makes me worry.
I don’t own this pen. I own an Ēnsso that vanishes its nib. It too dries out. A lot. My wife’s Pilot Vanishing Point never dries out. Cool sidebar: When I review documents & see errors, I also ask if apparent errors were intentional. Glad I’m not alone in that ask.
The pen honestly looks great. It's such a shame it dries out like that. I'd be irritated if a pen dried out in less than a week, not to mention less than an hour.
I honestly do not understand how this brand became so popular in such a brief period of time. It always felt like a glorified knock-off or just a wanna-be with inferior resins and little attention to details.
@@paolopellegatti5686 I have several of their pens and they have all been great. This is the first time I've had any issue. I've heard from many their Eclipse has even fantastic. This was my experience but doesn't mean this will be everyone's experience
Capless pens aren’t my thing (I’m not a fan of the whole long clicker sticking out of the back look), but I do think that one is visually appealing. Their reaction when you first contacted them, however, is making me wonder about whether they should remain on my list of pen manufacturers I’m interested in for the more conventional pens that are my boat. (Because my Dad worked in various QA/QC roles for more than half of his career I look at QA/QC stuff in a bit of the same light that you look at engineering stuff - if you’ll allow me to draw what we both know is a false distinction between the engineering and QA/QC sides of things.)
It's unacceptable the response from the manufacturer for something that is clearly not intended.
Could not my tip off 😢
BOOM
Time and effort?!? This absurd pen should never have made it out of the earliest phase of R&D.
I heard from some that theirs have been working great. Mine had a part with a defect which can happen. But I wasn't very please with the response to fix the issue that they said wasn't an issue but they would like to see whats wrong with it to fix it. Mistakes happen but what happens next is more important
The design looks interesting and... rough. Especially with the QC problems.
I really like the idea of capless fountain pen, but VP is quite heavy to my liking. I wonder if the vintage one is on the lighter side? It's design is amazing and I like it way more, than the modern ones.
Are you planning on coming to Vancouver Pen Club later this month?
Cheers!
The vintage one is lighter and my favorite of all the capless pens I have. You can try a Majohn A2 to get a bit of an idea of what the older model is like, but still nothing like the real deal. Not sure if I'm able to make the meeting, just have so much going on. Only been able to make it to 1 meeting so far this whole year!
@@Doodlebud I hope you’ll make it there. I’d love to show you my burgundy Sheaffer Snorkel Autograph from 1955. I haven’t seen it on your channel, very cool over-engineered pen 😊
@abrvsk I doubled checked my calendar and unfortunately I can't make it 😕. I forgot it's on Saturday this time instead of Thursday and that weekend is fully booked up with all sorts of events my kids have going on. Unfortunately I'll be missing that one. Sounds like a super fun time! Last time I did the gold VS steel nib test at Buchan's and had a blast.
Not going to be buying any Narhval pens any time soon.
Disappointed with the attitude at Nahvalur, I will think twice before buying or recommending
what a way from the company to just lie about their product !!!! nothing new there, a hard skip for me 😤😤
This pen is on my Christmas list, or was on the list. I have a Lamy Dialogue CC and it's my favorite pen.
That's the only click pen that appeals to me.
My Lamy CC dries out as fast as your pen did. Eventually I'll have to fix it or get it fixed.
What a drag, especially since it has a premium price.
DB, they are SHARP, not crisp. Crisp is well-machined/cast with fine tolerances, but sharp is sloppy garbage.
Ok, so you’ve got a rather distinctive voice, you’re top 5 fountain pen royalty and these guys don’t have your email on auto flag???
That makes their response both shady AND stupid.
I didn't use my Doodlebud email, I used my personal email as I wanted to be treated as a regular customer. I didn't want to have any "special treatment" so I could see how things went. Went I sent the video it was posted on my DB channel as unlisted so thought they might have picked up on that but guess not LOL
What a terrible example of customer service! The average pen buyer is not a MacGuyver like Doodlebud. Had this pen been sent to the average person that individual would have been stymied to the point where the pen would have been thrown in a desk drawer never to be used again. Any fountain pen, especially one costing $99.00, should write right out of the box with no ensuing problems. When are these pen companies going to realize this. A disgusting company indeed. 🤮🤮🤮
May I suggest you just skip to the leak problem and fix. I haven’t heard of this issue before on the other numerous reviews. Thanks 🙏