GullorFashion Elegant Black with Silver Cross-line Pen 79 Fountain Pen

Yes, this is transparently a 'knock-off'. I've heard tell of other Starwalker knock-offs that go so far as to bear the Mont Blanc star floating in their resin cap gems. This Baoer is not so egregious, but its aspirations are still readily apparent. It does fall short from emulation in other ways as well; the black rectangles, unlike the relief rubber on an actual Starwalker, are black enamel barely discernible to the finger from the metal body itself. Indeed, I own four of these pens (one in the rollerball variant), and on one of them, the enamel has begun to wear and chip, leaving ugly silver fingers blemishing otherwise clean lines. However, I didn't buy these pens with the intention of fooling anyone in to thinking I owned a genuine Mont Blanc. I wanted a nice looking pen in the style of the Starwalker, but without the financial ruin that would accompany the misplacement of one. And I got that much and more. The nib is a delight to write with; I have not yet inked two of the fountain pens, but the one I have, after a few days of 'breaking in' period, writes smooth and sweet, and starts reliably. The nib is definitely steel, and not the claimed 18k plated, but it is a good, good nib regardless - it puts down a Western medium line, with very little flex, and plenty of ink. I have only had skipping issues when scribbling at unrealistic speeds.As a warning, the pen I have been using (which I have owned for around 7 months, and purchased elsewhere) recently came apart. The grip and inner screw for the cap separated from the barrel, taking with it the entire nib and feed section. This was the result of the glue that held the two pieces together failing, perhaps from over-tightening on my part. The pen still functions the same, and the repair would likely be straightforward once I get the proper glue. I bought two more just in case though, because for the prices (This seller is the cheapest you'll find!), You don't get much better than this pen. If you're open to the idea of Chinese pens, this is an excellent one to start with, and a great expansion to an extant collection.

Its a very nice looking pen, considering it takes its inspiration from Mont Blanc. Its got a good weight to it as well, and the material certainly feels sturdy. There was the strange choice made to put a small plastic ball inside the converter itself, which I don't understand since the only purpose it serves is to make the pen rattle and sound cheap (although with a full load of ink this isn't really a problem).I noticed a slight leak when I was wiping the ink off from its first fill, but I haven't seen much of it since, so that's still kind of a question mark (but the last thing you want is for your pen to leak).As far as how it actually writes: it writes pretty much like a Bic ballpoint pen in terms of the pressure required to put out a good line. If you're okay with that fact, its a pretty flawless pen that does put out a good line when the ink flows well. That's why I was kind enough to give it a four star review, because it ultimately amounts to opinion.But if you're buying fountain pens for a silky smooth, near-pressureless experience while writing, look elsewhere. You can certainly do worse (most of the Jinhao line comes to mind), but you can do much better at an entry level price point (the Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy Safari and Parker Vector come to mind).I suppose in the end you have to ask yourself what you're looking for: looks or performance. Unfortunately at the entry level, you have to pick one or the other.

Note: I received a faulty pen the first time around. It didn't write properly and if it did it didn't write for long. If you want to skip all of that and just hear about the replacement pen then skip down to the end where it says "edit" start properly and if it did write it was't for long.So far, I'm not very impressed with the pen. First off, I'm very new to fountain pens. This is only the 2nd fountain pen I've purchased. Both have been very inexpensive pens since I'm just getting my feet wet as it were with fountain pens. I'll step up to something a little more expensive once I've gotten a little more accustomed to how things work with some cheaper pensThere are some things I like about the pen. I like the styling. The weight is nice, it's got a bit of heft to it which I like. I really like that the cap screws on instead of just a friction or "snap" fit. In fact, the cap also screws on in the posted position if you want it to instead of again, just a friction fit. I much prefer that if a cap is going to post properly that it screws on in the posted position. Pens that simply slide on when in the posted position I have a fear that over time they will wear away the finish on the pen from posting the cap and removing it.When it comes to writing with the pen, I'm not impressed, at all. That is, when it writes. Perhaps it takes a while to "break-in" as some others have posted and I just haven't written with it long enough for that to happen, but so far, it's very temperamental. Often, it doesn't want to start or it has lots of drop outs while writing. Often, I have to stop and tap the pen gently (nib down) to get it to start writing again. Many times I will only get once sentence before it appears to run dry. When it stops, it is as though the nib or at least the tip has gone completely dry. I don't know if this could potentially be due to some sort of vapor lock within converter or not. I'm just guessing of course.I'm using Levenger : Cobalt Blue bottled ink with it. Again, being new to fountain pens I just picked the ink at random so I have no idea about it's quality or characteristics in fountain pens or on the paper. I did flush the pen out very well and reinked it just to see if that would help and while it seems to have made a slight bit of difference, the problem still exists. One thing I noticed in comparison to the other very inexpensive fountain pen that I bought,is that the nib on this pen seems to have a very slight gap in between the tines. From the tiny hole in the middle of the nib, forward to the tip where the nib is split, you can actually hold the nib up and see daylight between the two halves of the tip. I can't see any daylight between the tines on the top of the other pen that I purchased. Also, when I push down ever so slightly with this nib you can see the tines separate a slight bit and then go back together when you let off the pressure. I know other nibs/pens will do this but this one seems to do it VERY easily. Also, the gap being there leads me to believe that perhaps that is what is causing the starting and stopping problems I'm having. It's as though that additional gap is impeding the capillary action and reducing the ink flow. I could be entirely wrong but that's the off the cuff thought I have regarding the less than stellar performance I've seen so far. Other reviewers have mentioned the pen writing much better after an initial break-in period. So, I'm hoping that might be the case with this one and I just haven't given it enough time to break-in. I'll keep using it and (or trying to) and hopefully it will settle down and write much smoother without the false stars and dropouts that I've been experiencing so far. I suppose I really shouldn't expect to much given the very inexpensive price. But, the fact that others seem to be pleased with the pen gives me hope that it will improve. I'll be sure to update the review and rating accordingly should the pen improve.Edit: I continue to have nothing but trouble with this pen. I flushed the pen out again along with the converter but nothing seems to help. I've written pages and pages and pages and nothing. It just won't start and then if it does I get a line or two with drop outs where I have to again stop and shake or tap the pen until it starts to write again. Oddly, I found that when it stop and won't write in the normal position, it WILL sometimes write upside down...or with the nib on the bottom and the feed on the top. In this position if it writes it writes a very fine line (finer than in the regular nib up position). I don't write with it in this position as I don't want to alter how the pen ultimately writes, but I did try it. I still think the whole thing hinges on the fact that the tines on the nib appear to be to far apart on my pen in my opinion. As I mentioned I can see daylight where the nib is split out to the tip. I can't on my other cheaper fountain pen which writes much better. I would have returned it by now but it's so cheap it wouldn't be worth the shipping to send it back. If I knew of a replacement nib I could swap in I might try that but i have no idea what nib(s) might fit this pen and given how cheap the pen is I don't want to just start buying nibs without having some idea of what nib(s) might fit.Edit: 12/16/14 I couldn't find the contact info for the seller so I contacted Amazon. In the past they have forwarded my comments on to a seller on my behalf and hoped they would do so in this case. My intent was to see if the nib was removable (by me) and if so, could they send me a replacement Nib so I could replace the Nib and see if that solved the writing problem. Amazon replied indicating I should contact the seller directly in this case and gave me their contact information. I contacted the seller and explained my situation. The seller responded saying they were sending me a replacement pen free of charge and asked me to be patient since it is coming from China. Once I get the replacement pen, I will update my review and rating as warranted.Just as a side note. I just noticed in the description for the pen that it says that it has a 18K gold-plated, stainless steel Nib. My pen has a steel Nib but it is certainly not gold plated. In fact, when looking again at the product picture, the pen in the product picture doesn't have a gold plated Nib either. I wonder if anyone actually got a pen with a gold plated Nib or if they are all just plain steel Nibs. Granted it only says "gold-plated", but even so I find it hard to believe they would sell a pen with a gold-plated Nib for this price with free shipping from China.Edit: 12/29/14 I received the replacement pen today from the seller in China. The bare pen was simply dropped in a small padded shipping envelope and sent. Upon receiving the pen, I took the cap off intending to take a quick look at the nib to see if it had the large gap the other pen had between the tines. However, the first thing that caught my eye was the piece of plastic shaving from what appears to be left over from when the feed was cut, was sticking out from the side of the feed. I simply picked it off but something like that doesn't say much for whoever assembled the pain or, since it was a replacement pen, much for the person who shipped it. If you were sending out a replacement item wouldn't you at least take a quick look at the item to make sure the item at least "looked" to be in good condition? I guess for $4.XX US you can't expect much. I'll get some ink in it and see how it writes and report back shortly.Edit: Continued: After finding the small shaving of what appeared to be feed material still stuck to the side of the feed, I pulled that piece away and then figured I'd better flush the pen. I figured if I found that shaving so obviously left over from the machining of the feed that I'd better flush the feed and nib well before using it to help get out any other particles or oils from the machining process out of the nib and feed. I used an ear bulb syringe to flush the feed and nib well with water. After flushing the feed and nib well, I patted the feed and nib dry as best I could. Ideally, I would have let them air dry for some time to remove any excess water but I was in a hurry to see if this pen performed any better than the first one I received. Initially, I was concerned because even though the pen did write straight away after filling with ink, the ink was very light with considerable, uneven shading that wasn't present before with this or any other pen I've used this ink in. I assumed this was probably a temporary condition due to some residual moisture left in the nib or feed from the flush I did. I figured it was diluting the ink ever so slightly. But after writing several lines, I was pleased to see the original ink color return and the unevenness disappear. So, it was just a little water left in the feed which mixed with some of the ink causing it to be a bit lighter. Once the water worked itself out, the ink looked fined. This replacement pen is far and away much better than the original pen I received. This replacement pen appears to write smoothly from the start with little pressure with only a couple of instances of skipping but I attribute them to my improper hold on the pen. I assume the pen might also benefit from a slight break in period to adjust ever so slightly to my style of writing with regard to angle, pressure, etc. I have increased my rating of the pen up to a three. Were I able, I'd probably give it a 3.5. Now that the pen actually writes properly I can get on with reviewing the rest of the pen. I like that the pen is of metal construction. It's got some heft to it but isn't to heavy. The pen cap screws on as opposed to a "snap on" or friction fit, cap. Also, the rear of the pen has some threads on it so;; you can not only post the cap, but screw it on in the posted position. Doing so does make the pen a little tail heavyd. However, I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing. Initially I was going to say I didn't like the pen posted but the more I write with it that way the more it grows on me. So, I'll have to think on that one a bit more. I think posting with this pen is going to be even more of a personal choice simply because of how it changes the balance of the pen. Some may like it, some may not. Then pen comes with a Universal Standard sized cartridge converter if you want to use bottled ink. The cartridge converter comes with a small plastic ball (I assume it's plastic). I'm guessing the purpose of the small palstic ball is to agitate the ink inside the cartridge converter and keep it moving and not allow it to stick to the sides of the converter. If haven't had the (working) pen very long so I can't say a lot about it but I do like it so far. I don't think you can go wrong for $4.xx (if you get a working pen). It appears to write smoothly and starts right off the bat without skipping. The few times I've gone back to it the pen has always started writing right away with any hesitation or skipping. In my opinion you can't go wrong since you if nothing else you get a universal size cartridge converter with the pen which alone is worth the cost of the pen. Or at least it was when I purchased it.

I use this fountain pen as a daily writer. The threaded cap prevents it from drying out as quickly as some pens with snap-on caps. I also like the feel of the grip, which feels better to me than some of my other fountain pens (such as my Pilot Metropolitans). Don't expect heirloom quality, but rather view this as an inexpensive, perfectly functional pen for daily use. I like it so much I ordered two more. I kept one and gave the other to a friend.

Me sorprendió lo bien hecha que estaba esta pluma, bonita y elegante.

À ce prix là, je n’osai pas y croire, et pourtant...Très bel objet, écriture trop fine à mon goût, mais là c’est tout à fait personnel. Prévoir un etui si c’est pour offrir, il arrive dans une petite housse plastique de base. Belles finitions ressemble vraiment à un stylo haut de gamme. Je l’utilise avec le piston fourni. Sans problème.

Estoy satisfecho con la compra. Desde luego la relación calidad/precio es buena y, además, se adapta muy bien a los dedos para asirla y escribir con ella. Viene con un cartucho para que sea cargada con tinta de manera manual pero yo lo he sustituido sin ningún problema por unos cartuchos estándar y me va muy bien.La recomiendo como opción económica para los amantes irredentos de la escritura a mano, con pluma (como yo).

Most inexpensive fountain pen I've bought and love it the most! Better than my Lamys and Pilot Metropolitan. It does go through a fair amount of ink but that might be due to how much i use it😃

デザインとねじ式キャップが気に入って購入しましたが、落下したときにお尻のねじ部分がぽっきり破損。もう一本購入しましたが、やはり同じ部分が同じように破損。1本目は返品期限が過ぎていましたが、2本目はまだできるとのことなので返品します。2本まとめて。他のものを選択した方が良いでしょう。