Parker Classic SS Chiselled Vector Fountain Pen Medium

I was given a calligraphy set once as a gift and it included one of these pens only it had a red plastic body instead of stainless steel. I'd forgotten all about the set, but recently moved and rediscovered it. To my dismay I found that the pen itself was missing.After some hunting to figure out what model Parker had been in the kit, I decided to get this one as a replacement hoping that it would also fit the calligraphy nibs in the kit which I still had. It does much to my joy!I've just been keeping it inked up with the fine(F) nib unit installed along with a Parker cartridge in blue. I don't know that the F is really a F. It has a thicker line than my F Platinum Preppy. However, unlike my Preppy, I've never had flow issues with this pen. Right out of the package I just slapped a ink cartridge on it and started righting.With the combo of nib and ink, it's handled just about any type of paper I've thrown at it thus far. It's even been pretty good on receipt paper.The body is lovely and feels good in the hand. For me it feels a bit too short unposted and just right when it is. The clip is pretty robust. I keep it clipped to the top edge of my purse so it's always easy to find, but because the walls of my purse don't have reinforcement, it's constantly getting knocked about as shift things around. The clip is still just as tight as the day I got it.I know some find metal barrels to be too slick, but this has just enough grip that I've never thought it was going to slip out of my hands.If you want to do a lot of writing though, maybe get a thicker pen. This is very thin for a fountain pen. For longer writing sessions I could see where you'd get some decent hand fatigue. A chunkier barrel is usually preferred for long writing sessions. I've actually ordered a TWSBI 580AL in blue from the Goulet Pen Company to use for when I'm working on one of my novels and will be writing for hours.But as an Every Day Carry fountain pen, can't recommend this Parker enough. The nib is nice and sturdy and forgiving so if I need to let someone borrow it, I'm less concerned about them hurting the nib. The stainless steel body is rugged and stands up to the abuse of being carried around all day. It's sleek and looks really nice. Especially the subtle pattern on the cap. It's also not budget busting so if it goes missing or gets lost I'm not out a ton to replace it.

I've used Parker Vector fountain pens for decades, they've always been nice. This one is rather beautiful, in addition to being pleasant to write with. To see it in person, it looks like it would be about ten times as pricey as it actually is. This pen writes identically to other models from the same manufacturer that cost about half as much, but really, it just looks fantastic. I bought this model particularly because I liked the way it looked in the picture, and I like it even better in person.I really enjoy writing with a fountain pen, I feel it is more flowing and comfortable than a ball point and I like the way the nib glides over the page as I write. I also feel that the wider line it makes looks softer and makes my handwriting look softer, less harsh. This pen is a perfect example of such a pen. It comes with blue ink; blue fountain pen ink dries a somewhat lighter blue color than most blue ball point ink, and isn't entirely to my taste, so I bought black refills for the pen instead. The black dries a rather satisfying shade of black, blacker than the average ball point. You may note that I mention the ink drying - it does actually need to dry, and you need to not smudge it in the few seconds between when you write and when it dries. It's quite fast, I really do mean just a few seconds, so mostly I suggest you not worry about it. One other aspect to be aware of is, if you write on thin, cheap notebook paper, fountain pen ink will soak through where you pause the pen for a moment, and leave dots on the next page. Conversely, it looks wonderful on a nice, heavy bond paper.Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this beautiful pen, and glad I bought it.

the top feels a bit cheap, not what I was expecting from a Parker Pen. The whole pen (with the ink cartridge) too feels cheap.

Once I took the pen out of the box it came in, I noticed the ink cartridge it comes with had not actually already been put in the pen. Long story short, after digging around trying to find the instructions, (which are under the platform the pen comes on, which pulls out.) the instructions show that you put the black end of the cartridge facing down in the pen. It took running water over the end of the cartridge to start the ink flow.With all that settled, I wrote a little. The writing I did was very smooth, though the cartridges don't write extremely dark. (You would need to buy the converter and a non-Parker kind of ink to write pitch-black.) If you turn the nib at too much of an angle, it will refuse to write. With that said, it does have more reliable ink flow if you write slower. That means if you typically need to hastily scrawl things down, this may not be the pen for you.The pen has nice looks since it is made of stainless steel, but just from weight and feel, I don't think that it's uber strong like lamy safari pens.Overall, this pen seems to meet my needs as a student: it's pretty sturdy, no frilly things to worry about wrecking, it doesn't cost a lot, and it's refillable, so I can use it for a long time, pending I don't lose it :)update:I have had the pen for a year now, and it is still great. I use Pelikan Turquoise ink.

It is a piece of trash, just one day without use and the ink is dry and it needs to wet it. I do not recommend at all.