Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen, Medium Point, Black Barrel/Black Ink PIL90010 Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked up a couple Varsity pens as a lark a few weeks ago. When I removed the pen from its packaging, I immediatly noticed how light the pen is. I personally am a fan of light pens. Heavy ones may seem impressive when capped, but I find them suboptimal for actual use; they drag your pocket down and cause hand fatigue after long use, or even moderate use if the pen is not perfectly balanced. Much of the point of writing with a fountain pen, to me anyway, is their ease and expressiveness.
When I posted the cap and took the pen for a spin, I was shocked! Frankly, I was expecting a scratchy, skippy horrorshow of a writing experience. Instead, I was treated to a smooth, reasonably expressive line of dark black. The point could be a bit finer. It's marked 'M', and advertised as "fine", which is reasonably accurate, as Pilot nibs seem to run to the fine side.
My only real gripe with the pen itself is that the "clip" is quite nearly worthless. The ink window may or may not be worthless, as well ... either that, or the ink capacity is exceptional. Granted, though the pen has seen daily use, it hasn't been *heavily* used, because of the one serious gripe I have.
The ink, though dark and reasonably quick drying, isn't even permanent enough to address envelopes, let alone write anything really important. I would especially caution against writing any checks using this pen! Granted, the vast majority of fountain pen ink is about as waterproof as tissue. None the less, given that the pen is not refillable (not withstanding the hacks some have attempted), it would have been nice for Pilot to use a more durable ink.
Finally, I can't help but comment on te inDUHvidual below who gave the very low review because "they are tipped with Pilot's trademark rollerball". This makes it clear (as if the rest of the review did not) that this person has absolutely no clue about fountain pens. Virtually all fountain pens have a small steel ball welded to the nib. This happens before the nib is split, so the "ball" is actually two halves. On a cheap steel tip like the Varsity, it's not such a big deal -- it basically makes it easier to create a smooth writing pen. But on a gold tipped pen (as most are over $150 or so), it's vital, or the point would wear in no time.

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