Worst Nib Ever? The Simplpens Ventura
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- Reuters article: www.reuters.co...
A look at an eye-catching pen I found advertised on Instagram? It is worth the $28 price? Or does it have one of the worst nibs I have ever reviewed?
#simplpens #figboot #fountainpen
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I love when you review awful pens because you always talk about them in a very neutral, objective fashion. You point out the good things even if they don't deserve it
Annoyed David is the best David. Although "Not Annoyed, Just Disappointed" David has his moments, too.
My favourite figboot is a figboot showing the truth! Great review and video.
Wow, not anywhere near the league of last week’s pen: Phoenix Rising! Thanks agin for a that review, I bought the BENU only a couple of hours after the review aired, nice Pen.received it Saturday and still in the ink testing phase to decide the ink I will assign to it. Thanks for this spl review too. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the review. I bought one and didn't think it wrote horribly, but I had an iridescent # 5 nib that I put in the pen because it looked cool with the colors.
I think it was a Schmidt. Anyway, it now writes very wet and smooth with no false starts or skipping. I'll dig up the original nib and see how it looks. With the new nib, I like it.
Thanks for reviewing this. I’ve gotten ads for it on IG, and people have pointed out that even in their own ad videos, the nib writes horribly. I just hope most people who would be interested already know they can do better with a lot of other brands.
Definitely "Eye Catching" which is the strongest marketing point, no doubt. Without review I probably would have been enticed to further interest. Thank you for the reveal.
As an American who lived and worked in Germany for a number of years, it doesn't surprise me a Chinese company would try to pretend they were founded in Karlsruhe, Germany. Karlsruhe is the site of the German Supreme Court (post WWII, the three branches of the German Federal government were put in 3 different cities; executive branch in Berlin, legislative branch in Bonn and judicial branch in Karlsruhe). As a result the city is overrun with lawyers (some of whom would likely be happy to set-up a " company headquarters"). Also, Karlsruhe is close to Heidelberg (the home of Lamy and Kaweco).
...trying to shed some additional light on the apparent obfuscation
Wow, David, you took a hit for your viewers, with that pen. I'm actually surprised that it wrote at all, after seeing close up shots of the nib. It IS a pretty pen on the outside. Mabe some cleaning and adjusting will ultimately leave you with a nice pen; if you want to put in the effort. I have one of those Genius Iridium nibs, in a Delike pen. Thankfully it writes well. I'm impressed that you traced the Simplpens company to that office building. It's kind of horrifying to know that anyone willing to pay their fee, can operate in this way.
That's capitalism, functioning exactly as intended.
Thanks for taking the dive for us, David. Your objective evaluation of this regrettable piece of nonsense will save so many of us from tossing our money at a pretty thing.
Shall we compare this to a new Visconti Opera I recently purchased. It did not write. Nib was entirely out of adjustment. When that had been resolved the pen leaked ink profusely from the top of the ink reservoir where the ink window intersects the main body leaving my hand covered in ink. The Visconti retails for more than $700. Plus the overall fit and finish was lack luster. I’d say the $28 Simplpen did the pen thing better than the Visconti; it wrote and didn’t leak ink. I sent the Visconti back. In summary quality control on many fountain pens are lacking and unpredictable regardless of price. I find Italian pens are more problematic than most and barely much better than current Chinese offerings IMO.
I bought that pen last year on the "two for one special". Love the coloring! My nib was not as bad as yours, but I'd rather have a Preppy or Safari. I gave the other one away to a friend. I did use it and after a month and a half it broke. It was pretty while it lasted. I feel bad for giving a bad pen away.
I actually know the business owner. He is a brilliant German kid. He is on the autism spectrum. His story is inspiring you should actually try and contact him. He worked part time jobs to afford making this pen because he wanted a pen that cater for the sensory issues people in the spectrum care for. He learned to make the website and make the videos and photography all by himself. As for the address issue this is normal for non US resident small business owners to have a front company represent them for tax, legal and logistics as they have to use local fulfillment companies to deliver. He is nice kid you should talk to him. I will send him the video hopefully you guys can sort this out. Knowing him the quality issues with the nibs probably will annoy him more than you LOL
I agree that it is a unique and eye-catching offering, thanks for taking one for the team 😀
At least ink comes out ... I was almost expecting that it wouldn't write at all ...
After having to realign the feeder to the tines. Sure it wouldn't work at all!
I’m shocked it wrote!
There is/was a pen company advertising on facebook, heavily implying their pens are made in the UK, yet their pricing made me extremely sceptical. Turns out, it was Chinese made stuff, not necessarily bad per se, but their products were the lowest quality imaginable. It happens.
I wouldn’t focus too much on the Wyoming Corporate Office thing. It’s extremely common for even US based companies to incorporate in Wyoming or Delaware. There is a similar building in Delaware called the Corporation Trust Center where over 200,000 companies are registered, including Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola.
His point was that this company is choosing to not be transparent.
Thousands of companies also incorporate in the Cayman Islands and Ireland. Probably other places that fly under the radar too. Whether anyone is trying to be secretive is up for debate. But usually it’s tax reasons and ease of doing business in a location other than the companies’ origin. On a related tangent, the reason you see so many, shall we say, weird company names on Amazon is because there are scores of companies trying to sell spatulas and sock and other random stuff on Amazon and they just need a quick trade mark. “Brands” are not as important as they once were. So lots of seemingly strange or nontraditional ways of doing business might be due to how globalize commerce is these days.
I NEVER trust a company that can't spell.
Lol I can't spell either
@@inkyfingers1045 And that's why I won't be buying any of your pens!
I fell for the IG advert a few months ago. The colours and shapes caught my eye, and they had a 2-for-1 offer. Mine didn't even receive boxes, just wrapped in bubble wrap. They rattled which I though was a cartridge or converter. Nope, it was the caps. The Threads are so misaligned that the cap won't tighten properly. The nibs are dire.
Though they look nice they have taught me lesson to never buy from an IG advert unless it's a known company. They have given me 2 pens to practice my nib tuning though.
I had seen this pen advertised on Instagram as well and was curiuos to see a review. You're the first to do it, so cheers for that! And I'm glad I waited out this review before even considering buying one.
Thank you taking one for your subscribers, David. Maybe it was the camera angle but it looked like one of the times is a bit shorter than the other. While the exterior of the pen is interesting, it is the nib that you need to use the pen. This nib is horrible. It could also explain the skipping of the nib.
The fit and finish of the nib and feed is atrocious. If you can swap nibs and clean the feed, it may be a decent pen.
I have seen pens from China that look and perform much better right out of the box and cost half the price.
David, Thank you for the review. I have seen the ads for it online. I agree the colors are interesting. Too bad about the nib. Is the nib unit removable where another brand could be put in its place?
Why on earth would you bother when there are decent Chinese pens for less, and excellent non-Chinese pens from legitimate retailers for just a little more??!!
I’m adding my thanks for this review. I’ve never seen a new nib in that condition. The finish is nice, though, but not enough to make me feel confident about buying one of these pens, especially after reading the comments.
When I first read the name of the brand, I thought it was "Simpleton." But I guess that's fitting given how bad this pen is. It's a shame too. It looks so pretty, but every time I saw the ads something in me was suspicious that they were just cheap trinkets rather than proper writing instruments.
I will never take my fountain pens for granted ever again after watching this... that nib is in pain
I have two Yiren pens. Perhaps the first I purchased a number of years ago when I rediscovered fountain pens. I'll send them to you if you want them! 🤭 (Pretty colors, limish green and candy applish red).
I'm actually surprised it is made of a nice heavy metal, the nib is so disappointing. If it had a good nib I would definitely be intrigued.
Loved the design, its a shame the nib is of such poor quality, I wonder if it be worht it to replace nib and feed? or even possible
At least you got at USD 28 FP with a crap nib but writing, so far doesn't skip, so far doesn't leak and trims (as there are no trims) won't rust. Use a spare Jinhao nib, grind it to your likes and feeder. Maybe you will be lucky.
I wasn't with that Indian Himalaya V2 GT. The gold colored trims showed many rust dots after 1 year of storing, the no quality plastic converter had cracked, the EF Ultraflex nib (made of a sort of metal thinner than paper) railroaded when flexing and finally it started to leak after using it as an eyedropper from the nib and feed. All that for USD 49.
I agree with you, looking at the "legal" way of hiding in the open by using Wyoming Incorporation laws, return address with just a PO Box no and no name looks untrustworthy. Why all that, selling just fountain pens, no MDW's, is beyond my understanding.
I tried to find it on that well known chinese platform, not listed their. Anyway, better not to touch those offerings regardless how big the curiosity is.
Thanks David. I also received this pen, in a 2 for 1 offer so didn't feel bad about it being ho-hum. The nib looked much better on both of my pens, maybe something happened with yours?
Still waiting on that Pelikan Twist review. Surely it’s better than this pen!
I've never been one to change nibs can I change that nib to a different nib what I need to change the feed as well
Amazing how nice you are to such a garbage pen.
Gee wiz, that nib is ridiculous! Even most of the cheap kit pens have better nibs.
Probably all China made, but not as good as Jinhao and the like.
Why be coy about being Chinese, when there are quality producers like Jinhao, HongDian and Asvine?
@@archivist17 Exactly my point. Those particular manufacturers make great products!
"Yiren" /// lololololololo 🤣
That section reminds me of Benu pens. Right?
No.
I wish I'd seen your review before I bought my "two for one" Simplpens. My nibs look a lot better than yours, but they perform just as poorly. The cap threads don't always align when you try to screw it on and the edge at the top of the barrel just below the threads is too sharp for me to hold comfortably.
Why did you buy from them when there are better offerings for less, or legitimate pens from legitimate retailers for just a little more??!!
Funnily, this nib still writes better than some nibs Visconti produced.
I've heard this nonsense repeated constantly ... and never had a prob with any of my Viscontis.
I have never had a problem with a Visconti nib. They write great for me.
@@halfsourlizard9319 and I’m sure there are plenty that write wonderfully. Mine had some issues, but still wrote. There are plenty that straight up don’t write though. I do believe it has improved since they switched back to gold nibs. Glad yours wrote well! Enjoy!
@@phillipmillman3290 glad to hear that! When Visconti’s write well they’re absolutely fantastic pens imo. Hope you enjoy your pen!
@@halfsourlizard9319I agree. I think the “lore” of Visconti having bad quality control is cemented in the fact that they are expensive and yes, for a while they did send out over polished nibs from time to time. It became a joke and people just ran with it. I am not saying they are perfect, just victims of the illogical “online comment forum” syndrome. In the automotive world you’ll still read people talking about [a Brand] being unreliable because of some experience _literally_ thirty years prior. If Visconti were that problematic they would not be carried by prominent retailers.
There is less than no excuse for selling a pen with such poor qc and a non-functional nib. It perplexes me that anyone would go through the effort of producing such trash!
Because, unfortunately, some people will purchase it based on the low price. 😢
@@psychedianic but the price isn't that low, and certainly not competitive with Jinhao.
@@jacobus57 it’s an attractive pen for the price point of under $30. The lack of qc makes it worth much, much less.
Let's review some Sailor pens. Great new designs on the market and always top quality.
There just might be a review of a fairly new Sailor coming up within the next week or so.
Great! @@FigbootonPens
Dude…… your handwriting.