I must own up and say when I bought this pen, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was buying but it was very unusual, looked kind of cool, so I thought I have to buy one.
Since its arrival I’ve been unsure whether it’s meant to be Luke Skywalker’s pocket Lightsaber or if it belongs with all the other Sonic Screwdrivers in Dr Who’s toolbox or if it should be strapped to an M4. I’m still not sure but I’m going with pocket Lightsaber as this sounds coolest.
Sadly, as you’ve probably guessed it isn’t really a pocket Lightsabre it is in fact a small lightweight aluminium pocket pen with an over large cap that doesn’t post, or at least not very well; I tried it and it fell off.
Ok here is a quick run-down of the pen; to start with you can buy this pen in red, gold or black and I opted for the latter. It’s an odd looking pen with the barrel and the cap being made from cast aluminium with a knurled surface and both the cap and the barrel have five recesses.
At the top of the cap Fuliwen have added a spinning top piece and inside this is a red plastic ‘jewel’. The design does lead you to think this pen can be capped but as I said, above, I had no luck trying to do this. The section is also aluminium (as far as I can tell) and the nib appears to be friction fitted and is very well seated.
The ‘Lightsaber’ comes with a converter but mine also came with a spare in the velvet pouch; the converter is a push in converter and is a tight fit. The nib when compared to my Kaweco Brass Sport is slightly smaller and if I were to guess I would say it is around a size 4 – 4.5 and as you can see from the picture the Fuliwen is a slightly larger pen than the Kaweco; capped it is around 20mm longer and uncapped around 10mm longer.
To write with, well it can be done but I wouldn’t recommend it for anything more than writing a short note. I bought a Bobby soft medium nib and it is just that although from the western perspective this is a fine nib and on the dip test it writes very nicely producing an smooth even line, no skipping, the feed keeps up with demand and I wrote about half a page of A6 on a single dip before stopping which impressed me for such a small nib. Overall the feed held easily enough for a full page of A6.
I don’t expect Fuliwen ever thought that anyone would take this seriously as a daily writer but as a fun pocket pen to scribble the odd note it’s fine. If you are looking for a quirky fountain pen as a fun gift for someone then this will tick the box.
Is it worth your pennies?
I paid $15.98 USD for mine and it depends upon what you want it for. If you want a fun gift that looks a bit like a pocket Lightsaber then yes but if you want it as a pocket pen, then probably not. I would suggest you consider other options first, such as the Delike Alpha or any of the Kaweco pocket pens; but it’s your nickel and it does have a very nice nib and you’ll probably be the only person with one, so maybe.
Disclaimer: The pen was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.
The Indian Marmalade Company 