HONG DIAN N12 Piston Fountain Pen Extra Fine Soft Nib, Grass Green Acrylic & Classic Streamlined Design with Metal Case Set

Hongdian N12 is a superb pen, light. well sized and the Teal Blue looks very good according to my wife :-). My first venture into EF nibs and it writes very well. On good fountain pen paper like Rhodia you get the extra fine line that you expect and quite wet, which I like. The one big advantage of an EF nib is that it works very well on plain paper where broader nibs just lay down too much ink, so I may gravitate more towards EF. Hongdian as a brand I have found to be very consistent and have never had a bad experience, although they have all come from the same supplier - Erofa, and I do prefer to source pens from them, if there is a choice. One final comment on the nib, it is a Hongdian nib with the Chinese "Knot" engraved on the nib. All of these "Knott" nibs write very well for me, smooth, just a little feedback and relatively wet. So I always look for these nibs in Hongdian pens.

Excellent fountain pen Gorgeous design Writes smoothly Well balanced in the hand Easy to refill Would recommend to all who are looking for a well designed reliable fountain pen at a reasonable price.

Downgraded after about a year. Good at times but not perfect. Next try = a TWSBI, not pretty but I've used others from them that write nicely. This is about my 5th attempt to get a fine nib red fountain pen for use with red ink. A c. £50 Nahvalur (the former "Narwhal" brand) one worked well for about a year, but then the cap cracked. £10-£20 ones from Lamy, Sailor and Kaco were too scratchy. This is looking very good after a day or so. (If you're thinking "why not just a biro or rollerball?", there are two answers. Red-ink biros seem less reliable than black/blue ones in giving a consistent ink flow. Plus the environmental side - once you find the right piston or converter pen, your only long-term replacement is ink in glass bottles.) It's a fairly obvious imitation of a Pelikan fountain pen - usually likened to their M800, which would probably cost you at least 20 times as much, though an M200 would be only about 4 or 5 times. I can't say how much better the Pelikan nib would be, or how much the differences in appearance would matter to you. The only things less than perfect for me are the absence of an ink window to show when the piston-filled chamber is close to empty, and as I have fairly small hands, the part you grip is about 20% thicker than I really want - the tapered shape of a Lamy 2000 or the slimmer TWSBI classic are better for me.

I like the overall look of this pen. It looks very similar to the Pelikan M200. It has beautiful, shiny resin body. It is a longer pen compared to the others I have (TWSBI Diamond, Staedtler). Despite this, it feels light. Too light perhaps. The quality of the golden plating seems to be good, it gives a nice shine. I can not say that the symbol at the end of the cap is the best feature of the pen. The cap itself comes off easily, the thread is made well. The nib writes really smooth. I felt almost no feedback. It tends to start slowly after a few days of no use already. I will try other inks than the TWSBI I used first. The nib size is big. It is really long. This needs smaller moves than pens with smaller nibs as the movements I got used to made my writing looks uneven. All in all I am happy with the pen, it is not perfect though.

A wonderful writing implement!

No dislikes, a smooth nib, nice resin pen in galaxy

Very nice

Will buy another in the future for sure.

This is a well built fountain pen that hits way above its weight class! The piston is smooth and glides seamlessly as you draw up ink into the body. It has great ink capacity. The nib is the real star of the show…smooth, bouncy, and juicy! Love this pen!

This is my second Hong Dian. I also have an N11. This N 12 is a piston filler and holds a good amount of ink. The N11 is a converter fill but still holds a decent amount even though both of these pen are wet writers. Both pens are beautiful and fit and finish is excellent on the ones I received. Both of these models come with what Hong Dian are calling "SOFT" nibs which have more spring and give to them then the standard nibs on most of their pens and replacement nibs. So far, I have tried the soft fine and the soft extra fine. Both write very well, especially for the price. This and the N11 are nice wet writers and take little effort putting ink to paper. They are smooth on high quality paper with some feedback, but not excessive, even the extra fine. The feedback does increase on cheaper copier paper, but it is still comfortable and reliable to use on even cheaper paper with no bleed through or feathering, despite the wet writing these pens are capable of. Some reviewers here I think are confusing a "FLEX" nib for this "SOFT" nib. This is NOT a flex nib. If you are expecitng that, you won't get it. However, this nib has a pleasant give and forgiveness in the hand. It is softer than say, a stock jowo or schmidt nib. That is what Hong Dian means by the "soft" designation. And I can feel it in the control and forgiveness when writing, which makes the pen more pleasant to use. I have a lot of pens and most are quite a bit more expensive. I'm impressed with these newer Chinese pens with the "soft" nibs. They are solid performers and a joy to write with for under $30.

He comprado ya muchas plumas Hongdian porque me gustan las estilográficas y porque estoy gratamente sorprendida por la calidad de sus modelos, lo que me hace siempre probar con otro más con confianza. En esta ocasión tampoco ha defraudado. El modelo en blanco era mi favorito a simple vista y no defrauda. En la mano es comodísima, tiene un tamaño perfecto. El plumín es suave y húmedo, sin ninguna pega en cuanto al trazo. La construcción del mecanismo de carga por pistón también parece sólido. Muy contenta con la compra.

Sehr schöner und gut verarbeiteter Füller. Schreibt wunderbar weich.

NIce material, nice nib, comes with a little wrench to dissassemble. Very nice.