The Lanbitou 3088 • Homage or Clickbait?
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- A review of the Lanbitou 3088 and comparison to the pen they copied with abandon. Badly.
No link to purchase the Lanbitou, but...
Ink: Waterman Mysterious Blue - amzn.to/3BcnPKP
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Seems to me that a certain Japanese pen company went to China to have the parts of their 80 € fountain pen made as cheap as possible with the understanding that the Chinese manufacturer can do what ever they please with the overstock.
Great video. I just did my side by side comparison of the 2 on Reddit fountain pens a few days ago. I came to the same exact conclusions, except that my Lanbitou pen broke 12 hours after I posted. My curidas had never failed me
I've had a Curidas in my cart for SO long! Still saving.... always enjoy your reviews James! 🙏💕
Mine spent a very long time in the cart!
Did you try it out in hand first (in a shop or so)? I think it's safe to say that the Curidas has really unusual ergonomics and that not everyone will find it agreeable.
The curidas fish mouth was worth watching the whole video for. God bless you. Edit: you should start a shadow collection of bad pens. Like a little museum of failures.
🤣
I am sorry, James, but I did decide on buying one of these, against your recommendations. I've always been intrigued by these retractable nib pens, but not enough to spend 80€ or more on one. For nearly 6€, I was willing to take the plunge. First, the bad: the pen arrived in another color than I had ordered and the little "fish mouth" door kept opening back up after I retracted the nib. That made the pen useless, since the nib dried out in about 10 seconds flat. Now, the good: I filed a dispute with AE and was promptly refunded. Considering I didn't have anything to lose, I tinkered with the pen and managed the fix the door. The pen still dries out if I don't use it for a week or so, but other than that, it's absolutely fine. The nib is actually surprisingly good for this cheap a pen. It has a bit of bounce to it, and I don't think that it's the nib itself that is springy, but rather the plastic housing the feed. If I disassemble the pen as if I were to ink it, that part of the pen is very flexible, probably because it's so thin. I'm not sure if that is the same case with the Curidas. All in all, I'm glad that I tried this pen. Would I buy it again? No. Will I get a real Curidas? Also, no. But in the end, I'm enjoying this little Lanbitou more than the sum of its parts warrants. Especially since I got it for free. :) :) :) :)
Nice to know you got your refund, I've not had to do that with AE and have wondered how well that works. An eBay seller who sold me a fake copy of the Wing Sung I'd ordered required I destroy the pen and send photos to issue me a refund. But to be honest, that pen was so bad I happily did so even though I thought it was unreasonable. lol
I do think it makes sense as a *much* cheaper way to test the waters on the retractable pen. Mine continues to dry out quickly (overnight), but the nib in this one does write well enough for office use. At this point I'm still using it out of curiosity to see how durable it is.
@@JG3Reviews What a nutcase, that eBay seller. If the pen wrote well, there was no sense in destroying it, even if it did still a warrant a refund, since you didn't get what you paid for.
AE handles refunds really well, IMO. I've been buying all sorts of things from them for years and although most purchases have been a positive experience, I've had to file about a dozen disputes for items that either didn't arrive, broke in transit or weren't as described. I always add pictures as evidence and so far, every dispute I've filed has ended in a refund, within a couple of days, even.
I also can't complain about the sellers there. A couple of months ago, I ordered a black Wing Sung 601A and it seemed alright until I went to ink it. Ink all over the place. On close inspection I noticed a hairline fracture in the section. I sent the seller a message with a picture of the cracked section and he sent me a new one, no questions asked.
Great, and honest review. Thanks! About 2 years ago, I bought 6 of the Lambitou vacuum-filler knockoffs of the TWSBI. After several episodes of leaking aggravation, all 6 pens were eradicated from my collection! Lambitou makes no Pen of their own design, they steel the format design of every pen they produce, they make no improvements on that design, and use the cheapest materials. And I can say this with all certainty, because I've bought their knockoffs of TWSBI, Kaweco Sport & Liliput, and the Moonman C1 eyedropper filler. Most of my experiences were okay, but there was always something aloof. And these knockoffs could even end up giving the original item a bad reputation. Shame on Lambitou! I agree, avoid Lambitou's knockoffs! God bless you too.
Thanks, James. Enjoyed your "Breaking news, cheap copy stinks" review.
i,ve had mine for a week used it every day with no problems as yet no drying issues
I agree with Luis Lara's post. I have MANY pens including a VP at £150. My white Lanbitou 3088 F writes beautifully with no drying issues at all. A ridiculous bargain at less than £7. If it breaks I will just buy another as it is 21 times cheaper than my VP. Maybe I am just lucky or maybe I am careful. You do not need to separate the converter to fill, just unscrew the whole nib section. Applying silicone to the sliding metal parts overcomes any 'scratchiness'. Sometimes the trapdoor sealing the nib does not close - particularly if you let the press button return sharply. The trick is to let the nib retract gently. Failure to close the little trapdoor will be the reason some are reporting drying out issues. If it remains open simply push the press button a little and gently release.
Their brand name in Chinese is written as 爛筆頭 (Bad Writing or, if you ask me, "crappy pens"). Forewarned is forearmed. 😹
That's hilarious!
@@darkchocolate4643 Even more hilarious if Platinum were purposely having these sub-par units made in China under the pseudonym "Bad Pen 爛筆頭" to discourage people from buying knock-offs.
...or even maybe just to get people to try before buying a Curidas. Hmmmm.
@@edberney1162 You might be on to something there, Ed! ;)
I agree with many of the points you made. I have the Lanbitou but I don't own the Curidas. The reason I decided to buy the Lanbitou was to see if the pen felt comfortable in my hand. I don't have any pens where the clip forms part of the grip section. So, in a way, my purchase was experimental. The 'fish mouth' door on mine closes completely, which is great but the clicking mechanism is admittedly a bit rough or gritty sounding like yours. One thing I must bear in mind is that due to having quite a lot of pens this Lanbitou will never be my daily writer. I am not too concerned about reliability as I don't expect to write all day, every day with it. Of course the Curidas itself is not without faults. I remember on launch the cracked feed problem affecting many owners and one or two reviewers consider it to feel quite cheap in terms of build quality. At the end of the day, the Lanbitou has served its purpose for me. I think holding a pen with a clip between your fingers is just unnatural.
You are always so good and straight forward. Thank you
I've received mine. a few days ago. I had to apply some fixes to improve the closing of that lid and when I filled the pen with a wet Diamine ink it seems to work now. At least it survives a night without drying out. And I learned that the Curidas is too long for me so this pen actually saved me some money.
What kind of fixes did you apply to yours to help the lid? I noticed that mine is fine after about 12 hours, but when I left it for 24 hours, it's skipping a lot. The ink is Lamy Turquoise, and I've never had a problem with it, so I know it's not the ink.
@@snowbaby93 I've placed some small layers of scotch tape at the place where the "knob" of the lid rests when the nib is retracted so it added some push to close the lid and I added a small rim of soft plastic around the inner side of the lid to make it more tight. It still dries out after more that 24 hours. When I dip the nib into water, the pen immediately starts writing so it definitely is an issue with a dried out feed (and not the ink flow from the converter to the feed). I'm afraid though that this pen has serious design issues which are not present in the Curidas. Maybe Lanbitou cut too many corners.
Too bad I didn't see this sooner, I already purchased one. Still, mine appears to be put together better though the materials are still just as cheap. Only benefit is that I got to try a vanishing point inexpensively. 🙂 Thanks for the review!
"Better materials" So is the Lanbitou made of cheaper plasstic?
While some of the sounds were similar, the first thing I noticed about the sound of this one was the spring. You can hear the spring rattle around when being retracted. Even the Majohn A1 sounded more quality than this.
Thanks for an excellent review. It's an example of the adage, "You get what you pay for."
I've looked at all the reviews of this pen and I didn't read about the fact that the bodies of these pens are one way interchangeable. I have the teal colored Curidas and I purchased the non demo color grey and tan fake pens.. The entire Curidas mechanism (with the cartridge) can fit inside of them. So it allows me to change the look of the Curidas pen. The fake pen does not fit properly in the Curidas body because of the cartridge converter. I don't have a cartridge for the fake pens to see if they will fit the Curidas body.. I just wanted to pass this info on to those who might be interested.
Well Platinum couldn't just copy Pilot, due to legal reasons they tried once in the past and was shut down fast. So not really a matter of willfully trying to come up with something different, they just couldn't risk that battle.
I really like your handwriting sir..
Thank you!
I looked forward to the Curidas, but then it ended up being cheaper made than expected, which was disappointing. Still it was popular, so much so that the MSRP got raised substantially after it had been already announced. And even after some people had pre-ordered it. That sort of bait and switch is not something I can abide by, so never got one. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth for anything Platinum.
Why would Lanbitou copy a low-volume pen?
Just to prove that they can get it right and Platinum can't? The Curidas was garbage in my experience and Platinum has zero customer service. Lanbitou made a much better pen and it sells at 1/9 the cost of the Platinum. My honest feeling from my experience from having both pens is they did it just to prove it was the manufacturing of the Curidas that sucks, not the actual design, and that it can be done and done well for 10 bucks US delivered not the insane 90 that the Platinum is selling for now.
I wonder if it's a home market driven decision? Maybe there was demand for an affordable click pen or Curidas clone? It does seem like it would be an odd choice if not.
@@JG3Reviews It solds about 24 to 30RMB in China.
As for the platinum curdias, The price is 428RMB.1/18
@@JG3Reviews And as far as I know，上海晶典, whose brand is Moonman, is imitating pens of pilot capless ,WS601,and MB P146
I haven't seen an imitation Capless. Interesting.
My only experience of this kind of pen was with a Pilot Decimo.
I sort of liked its novelty value.
Someone offered me a good price so I sold it and bought a Pilot Custom heritage 912 with the falcon super flex fa nib. A proper pen.
I have the same 912/nib. That's quite a pen.
yeah...i bought one of these... and it wont work with baystate blue.... lost money...
save yours for a better pen
I just put up a review on the Lanbitou within the past couple of days ago and did a full comparison as well with the Curidas. Our views are not all that dissimilar.
Great minds! 😆
Hopefully, the original review comes out soon!!!
I have been tempted by the Curidas though I'm not a fan of the stiff-as-nails Platinum nibs. Based on this review I do not feel tempted at all by the Lanbitrash 308911 call the police to report a theft. Allegedly.
Pilot got jacked up price after it was announced at a lower price due to popularity. So they took our money, and Lambitou took their design. Sounds about right.
Thank you for your review. When I bought my Lanbitou 3088, I did not know about the Curidas (!). I have used it for 2 weeks and the writing is smooth, it has never dried out, and the mechanism has never stuck and it is quite smooth, in my opinion... For a price tag of $10 it's very good value. Maybe they have fine-tuned the production so new batches do not have the teething issues you mention? Perhaps. The real issue for me is the absolute lack of respect for intellectual property in so many Asian manufacturers. How can they get away with this? Unbelievable!
Just look at Kaweco lying on s trademark application to trademark competitor's name in Germany, where they certified they know of no one doing business under that name. So disrespect and theft of IP is more universal then that.
Good review, I bought one simply because I can't justify the cost of the real Curidas. My big issue has been the now fairly well documented drying out issue which i still haven't managed to resolved.
The real crime is the high price of Curidas, when it is just injection molded plastic, and pretty cheap looking and feeling.
Curidas is still overpriced though... especially for a steel nib. At that price, I'd rather buy the Pilot.
It was overpriced when announced, and when they boosted the price it made it ridiculous compared to the vanishing point. Just get the Pilot clicky pen over the Platinum.
Definitely overpriced.
Just bought an EF. Hopefully a decent work pen
I bought 2 for less than 10 euros each, just as soon as they appeared. They simply did not write. I bought a spare nib, $3, and this one writes, but the pen dries out next day. Not too bad. It used to dry out 3 minutes after used. A real piece of crap. Still working on the one that writes. I asked for a refund for one of them and got it!
Too late, Rev. I ordered one already, though it has not arrived yet. Not sure when it will be here. Guess I'll save my buyer's remorse for when it gets here!
I ordered the Lanbitou because of cost. I didn't want to spend the price for a Vanishing Point, Decimo, or Curidas, to see what I thought of a "click" fountain pen when I finally had one in hand. I don't know. I'm just not convinced I'll like a fountain pen without a cap in my shirt pocket. And I figured that it will give me the same "hand sensation," as far as the clip being in the way or not of my grip, etc., but for a lot less cost. If I like it, at least well enough, maybe I'll move a Curidas further up in my want list.
I can see that use case. I've got a couple of pens like that where I bought the cheap pen to check out the form factor before spending for the real thing. Hopefully you get a good writer. Like I said, the nib on this one is it's redeeming factor, and I guess the cheapest way to have a backup nib.
You can wait for the Moonman capless.Cheap but better quality
@@JG3Reviews Update. The 3088 came. I like the nib, but the thing dries out and refuses to write whenever I retract it and put it away for more than a short time period. And I decided I do NOT like the basic form factor itself. Probably no Curidas in my future.
@@TheNightowl001 At least it was good for you to filter out the Curidas at the Lanbitou price. I've decided it at lives gives me a decent spare nib should the need ever arise.
When you review a pen that can be bought eight times, for the same price as the one its knocking off. Don't you think it's going to have issues?
Every review of this pen is comparing it to the Curidas. It's currently £8.90 sterling on UK Ebay. Cheapest I can buy the Curidas in the UK is £75. It's never going to be as good.
It's not that it isn't as good. It just isn't good. I have more tested two copies, not dry out faster than an average fountain pen left uncapped. Both very bad QC regardless of price. I have many pens half the Lanbitou's price that are better.
Greetings from Australia.
Great review.
I certainly won't be buying this pen.
Thanks for the review.
I've been hoping for a cheap, retractable fountain pen for a while because I'm a student and don't have the money to get a proper Curidas or Vanishing Point. Just wanted something quick and inexpensive for notes, and I think it succeeds in that regard. I haven't had any issues with the springs yet, so it's unfortunate that is an issue with yours. The nib does dry easily if it hasn't been used for several hours, but running it under a few drops of water gets it going again. I got the EF version and it's definitely a Western EF.
I kinda disagree. This Lanbitou costs $3.66 on AliExpress including shipping but Curidas costs $90 without shipping. Is it a bad product. Absolutely not! Compared to my Pilot Capless Matte Black (which costs around $120) I can't say my pilot writes 40 times better than this cheap $3 pen. You get what you pay for. I would even say, you get more than what you pay for. If it cost between $30 - $50, I would consider the comparison you pulled out. Until then, for those people, who can't afford $100 on a retractable or just want to try out a fancy retractable pen without breaking the bank, I still find this to be an amazing retractable pen.
If they'd made the design their own, even just a *little* I would agree. They are just a small bit of labeling away from counterfeiting with this one. In our market, I've not seen a 3088 for less than 10, and initially they were nearly $20 plus shipping (the first week or two they were out...probably didn't move many).
@@JG3Reviews I am Chinese, I can tell you that in China, The price of 3088 is less than 4 dollars（24rmb）
And I have talked with the manufacter about this product and they made some progress after talked with many users， though they didn't change the shape.
Do you have a link to a $3.66 Lanbitou 3088? The cheapest I see them on Ali is 8 bucks.
@@darkchocolate4643 not sure why.. but everytime I post comment with the link it gets disappeared :( . BTW, this is the title of the gig that I bought from. Search with this instead -> Press-type Fountain Pen Plastic Ink Pen EF/F Nib Converter Filler Stationery Office Supplies writing Fountain Pen
@@wahed_zaman You're an absolute legend, thanks very much!
Before I watch this video, if it’s cheap chinese crap knocking off good quality crap I’m interested. If it’s a recheapining of cheap chinese crap im stickin with Karas and getting outta the pen fad before it collapses
Your comment makes absolutely no sense. What do you mean?
Lol I mean I’m tired of a market flooded with glass pearls and copies of glass pearls
Well it is a fad that collapsed about 60 years ago, but it is doing fine regardless.
Just out of curiosity, it is legal to purchase these pens?
Just because they ganked the design doesn’t make it illegal. Not saying they’re in the right, but they’re still selling their own product, that they produced, under their brand name.
If they stole the EXACT design (because I’m fairly certain the two pens’ parts are not interchangeable) and then stuck a Platinum logo on it and sold it as a genuine Platinum, you still wouldn’t be in trouble. Who on earth is going to go after the consumer who was bamboozled into buying a counterfeit pen from China?
Shameless or shameful? :P
You are comparing a 10 buck pen to a 90 dollar pen
I'm comparing a knock off to the original. Price differences were not as big as IP issues in the purpose of this review.
@@JG3Reviews True, but Platinum jacked the price up substantially after announcing it to be much lower. Quality of manufacturer wise it is like the Preppy, and should be priced likewise. (Although Preppy does not dry out as fast, holds more ink, and writes about the same for less then tenth the price.)
Damn... if you know a bit Chinese language, you'll laugh to death... "Lanbitou" means "rotten pen nib"... What would you expect from the pen when you see this name?
A old Chinese saying goes that:
好记性不如烂笔头
The rotten pen nib is better than good Intelligence.
I've been quite weird about this brand for a long time till I asked their factory director.
Thank you for stating The obvious about Chinese copies. Just quit buying this garbage, right? Right!