Pelikan M1000- Review

First Impressions

What can I say about this pen other than it is HUGE!! I have wanted this pen for quite sometime and the problem was the price. I have seen the price of this pen all the way up to the $400.00 mark. There was no way I was going to buy this pen as far as I was concerned. I searched everywhere to find this pen at an affordable price. I must have searched for about 2 weeks straight over my Christmas vacation. New Years Eve I ran across www.pengallery.com on the internet. They had the Pelikan M1000 in stock and there was a text box next to the picture. It stated “Contact Us for a Special Price”. So I contacted them and they replied to my email 10 minutes later. Well, they are located halfway around the world in Malaysia. I was a bit skeptical about buying pens from the Far East but I heard some really good reviews and feedback on their EBay store.

Appearance/ Finish 5 out of 5

I stayed home from work the day the DHL man was supposed to deliver the package. I was in the front room drinking coffee and watching “The Wiggles” with my daughter, 2 years old at that time. I saw this yellow jet come flying down the road. He raced up my driveway and I thought he was going to plow right through my garage. I just about wet my pants in anticipation. He got out of his van and sprinted to my door and gave me the package as I finished signing the paperwork. He then sprinted back out to his van and then laid rubber in my driveway and road. Thank God I was not going anywhere. I would hate to be on the road with this guy racing next to me!!!!!!! I opened the package and there it was, my Pelikan M1000. I brought out my Pelikan M600 to compare size. I opened the box and I couldn’t believe the size of this pen. It had a high gloss shine to it and it practically glowed!!! I was in total awe in the presence of this titan of a pen!!





Design/Size/Weight 5 out of 5

Wow, what can I say?? This is the largest pen in my inventory and it is the largest pen I have ever held at that time. The design is the typical Pelikan design of the M series. I consider it a very stealthy look and the design is simple but yet very complex. The Pelikan M1000 is the Flagship for the Pelikan M series and I consider this to be the pinnacle of German fountain Pen Engineering. The gold bands around the lip of the cap are made very solid and so is the Pelikan clip. Comparing this giant with the M600, M400 and M200’s, everything looked so small and delicate. The length of this pen is well over 5 ¾ (inches) capped. Posted, this pen is close to 7 inches and it is a mammoth of a fountain pen.
The weight of the M1000 is slightly less than the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck, if you can believe that. To some, this pen might weigh as much as a M1A2 Abrams Tank and it takes some getting used to especially if you post your cap. I find that this pen is made for both small and large hands. If you have smaller hands, you might not want to post this pen. Likewise, if you have large hands then it would seem reasonable to post your cap. Either way this pen is quite balanced and a lot of thought was put into the design. I believe that a lot of the weight of this pen is from the brass parts that are used in the piston filler. I will get into this in the next section.





Nib Design and Performance 5 out of 5

This pen sports a nib that is over 1 inch long and is made out of 18 kt gold that is two tone. The design is the common Bock nib design and has the Little Mommy Pelikan in a gold color etched in the middle of the nib. The Pelikan M1000 nib is approximately the same size as the Mont Blanc 149 nib. This is your typical Pelikan screw in Nib/feed unit. This makes swapping nibs a total breeze especially if you want to switch to a broader or finer nib.

One good thing about Pelikan is that they make nibs in various sizes. There is a nib size that will satisfy anyone’s tastes.
Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, Double Broad, Triple Broad, Oblique Medium, Oblique Broad, Oblique Double Broad and Oblique Triple Broad.

I bought the medium width nib and I was very surprised by the performance. I find it to be very springy and soft and I would not consider it to be flexible as would some of the vintage pens would be. I filled this pen with my favorite ink, Private Reserve 2004 DC Super Show Blue. The pen put down a very nice line of ink, especially when I applied a bit more pressure. With a regular writing pressure, this pen wrote h a nice wet medium line. The way the nib laid down the PR SS Blue was phenomenal. This nib ranked up there with some of the finest nibs made today. Might I add that this is one hell of a smooth writer. It happened to glide across the paper as Michael Jackson would Moonwalk across the stage, minus the cosmetic surgery and the young boys!! The way this pen wrote was so much better than I anticipated and it made writing with this pen so much sweeter!!







The Filling System 5 out of 5

This pen has the filling system that I desire most, the Piston Filler!! The M800 and the M1000 use brass parts for its piston and that is what makes for some weight in this pen. The knob on the rear turned effortlessly to move the piston mechanism up or down, depending on if you are turning clock wise or counter-clockwise. The piston provided an adequate amount of resistance so that the knob wouldn’t be inadvertently turned while in your shirt pocket, thus preventing accidental release of ink into the cap and shirt!!
The Piston chamber holds a good amount of ink but I feel that it is a bit less than the Mont Blanc 149 but I will not complain. Filling is very easy and so is cleaning the pen. I noticed that there is a lot of pressure in the chamber because when you empty the ink out, it doesn’t dribble out, it squirts out. I think this is why the pen writes so well because the chamber has enough pressure that the ink flows quite well and I have yet had a feed issue. I can leave the pen for a week, pick it up and write without hesitation.







Cost 5 out of 5

Ok, I would have given this pen a low score due to the MSRP and the costs at some of the popular fountain pen stores. Well, I found the M1000 at Pen Gallery www.pengallery.com which is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I spoke (by email) with Lai and he is really a fantastic guy and might I add, extremely honest. I was able to get this pen for $250.00 USD plus $15.00 USD for shipping via DHL. Yes, the shipping is a bit high BUT even with the cost of shipping included, there is no way you could touch the price, ANYWHERE except for buying it used and then still it may be more!!!
Since Pelikan raised the price of pens by 15% (if I remember correctly). The last time I checked Pen Gallery, it was at $325.00 USD. The price did jump up a bit but I also suggest checking out their EBay Store. I am sure it is listed as Pen Gallery in EBay. They sell a lot of pens with the “buy it now” option and you might even get a better deal there then on the main site. Do yourself a favor and shop around, you will thank yourself for doing that and I am sure you will save a nice chunk of change. Check with Pen Gallery and the Pen Gallery EBay store first, so far they have had the best price on the Pelikan M1000. Normally I would say $250.00 to $325.00 for a fountain pen might seem a bit excessive. You have to consider the price other stores are charging everywhere else and you also have to take into account that are also paying for Pelikan's "Flagship" model of the M-Series.




Conclusion

The Pelikan M1000 is the pen I have been waiting so patiently for. I have see so many pictures and heard so many things about it. With a bit of bargain hunting and some luck, I was able to get a great deal on this remarkable pen. The Pelikan M1000 is cheaper than the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 149 but it is as every bit of pen as the Mont Blanc 149. It is personal preference as to which pen you would want to buy. The Mont Blanc has curves but are the curves and the snowcap worth that much more than the M1000? That is a decision that you are going to have to make. I have to really confess that the Pelikan M1000 is one of the finest Oversized fountain pens on the market today, PERIOD!!!!! There were no corners cut here and the workmanship is simply perfect! Why is the Pelikan M1000 the flagship of the M series? That is an easy question to answer; it is a pen that has built its reputation on quality, performance and perfection. That is why this pen is a modern day legend.