Worth The Hype? 14K Gold Flex Magna Carta Mag 600 Fountain Pen

Рет қаралды 17,724

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 85

@jojo486- 8 ай бұрын

I have been using this pen aa a daily writer for the past few months and am extremely satisfied with it. The nib is very smooth and flexible. I have not encountered any problems with this pen, I just love it!

@inkflexibilities5399 8 ай бұрын

I can confirm that the tipping is a common issue on the mag 600. I have seen the same v-shape gap on the tipping on all 3 mag 600 pens I received (the latter 2 being replacements due to defective tippings). There are various degrees of the v-shape gap with the crocked tipping. Some may be bigger, causing more serious hard start problems. Some may be smaller. That gap messes up the capillary action and inhibits the ink from touching the paper.

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

Thats unfortunate to hear it seems to be a common issue. The geometry of a nib has to be bang on to ensure capillary action works perfectly. A small deviation can really mess things up

@Nothe76 6 ай бұрын

What needs to be done to fix this

@faniro4792 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for all the extremely documented, useful details you provide about the pen. We do need your precious work. Thank you very much Doodblebud!

@MrCabimero 8 ай бұрын

Saw some comments here about the nib/feed combo and not keeping up. Sorry I don't remember where I saw it on YT, but there is a manufacturer who makes a better feed for this . Again, at this price point, they should not have QC issues like those mentioned in the threads. You shouldn't have to monkey with the nib or send it out to a nib meister. .

@user-gl5ld9vm7i 8 ай бұрын

I bought one of these. Bad to no starts. Once it started to write, it was Skippy. Very poor writing experience. On top of that, the cap inside plastic liner came out. Couldn't seal at all. 😢

@bethcunningham4346 8 ай бұрын

I bought the Mag 600 from Pen Chalet after trying it at the Baltimore Pen Show earlier this month. What a fun pen!!! I’ve been using it just to play around with almost every day since buying it. I’m getting more confident using the flex and it really shows shading with the ink that I am using. I will try holding it further back. I agree that the construction is OK but that isn’t why I bought the pen. Thanks for reviewing the pen and showing your awesome writing!

@coffeeguyd 8 ай бұрын

From my own personal experience and what I've read of others, it is indeed the finer QC details that is keeping this pen from being the new modern gold standard flex pen. That being said, this is what so many of us flex nib nerds have been clamoring for, for decades: a "relatively" affordable expressive nib/pen that rivals the performance of the vintage greats. Hopefully other makers will take the success and attention that Magna Carta has garnered with the M600 and follow suit to give us more options in the future!

@EnCwoisant 8 ай бұрын

Dooooooodlebud! Been looking forward to see more reviews of this pen

@Volkmannx 8 ай бұрын

Modern flex nib or not, for this price I expect a more than decent pen. All reviews I've seen and read so far mentioned such quality issues. Anyway, thank you!

@michaelbradley6488 8 ай бұрын

I love the look of the new "Stacked Resin" version of this pen, kind of difficult to hold off purchasing one. Nice review. My softest nib is an M1000, which I would describe as spongy.

@davidbyers7246 8 ай бұрын

I got the Mag 600, and a Mag 1000 together. The Mag 600 is the best modern flex pen I have ever used by far. The Mag 1000 is not a flex nib, but one can get some line variation out of it as well, plus the Mag 1000 has a nib that is bigger than the nib on the Namiki Emperor!!!

@mihugong3153 6 ай бұрын

Hi David, I wonder if you ever tried FPRs Ultraflex? I have those in steel and 14k and am wondering if the Magna Carta would be a worthwhile addition.

@davidbyers7246 6 ай бұрын

@@mihugong3153 Hi, no I have not tried FPRs Ultraflex, but I must do.

@Goldilockszone123 8 ай бұрын

Mine will occasionally hard start also. Something that I’m more than willing to ignore. While not a perfect pen it is an amazing pen. It challenges me to learn how to use it to the utmost of it’s ability which is a great thing.

@evanbasnaw 8 ай бұрын

I got one and I love the nib. I have that same hard starting issue though. I decided to mix an ink up specifically for this pen trying to fix it. It turns out you can make an in so wet the pen no longer writes, just gushes. I didn't notice any hard starts though 😂

@zeus52452 8 ай бұрын

Interesting review DB. I did a purchase like that from Goulet pens of a Diplomat Nexus from their Bottom Shelf. I've thought about getting a Mag 600, but have been holding off. I may not need to get one now that I have a Pilot Namiki Falcon ELABO with a soft-fine nib on the way! Of course, I could still get one if the price were just right!!

@paulmchugh1430 8 ай бұрын

Nice pen. Beautiful flex and handwriting. I will have to look at getting this pen.

@gabemadorma2933 8 ай бұрын

Cool pen, thanks for the review DB! It writes a bit wet on the hairline, I wonder if the tine gap is wider than it should be.

@tayterlik 8 ай бұрын

The one that I have purchased feels a bit "sharp" on the border of being scratchy, but I have not decided to polish it, maybe this is just how it is here. Try to write in eyedropper mode - in my case it helped a lot with ink flow, much better writing experience, still some railroading if I try to write too fast (I am a complete noob in flex writing). It feels weird at the beginning, but the more I use it the more I like it.

@Johan-vk5yd 8 ай бұрын

Being able to do your own nib work definitely pays off. It might be that saving on QC, and being generous with return seems like a sound business calculation. But I’m not sure it holds up in the long run. Maybe it does?

@forgotMyUsername100 8 ай бұрын

I eyedroppered mine - works well, but starts getting fussy/over-wet with more ink left than some of my ebonite and thicker-walled acrylic eyedroppers. love that nib :)

@subhadipmaji4987 8 ай бұрын

Indeed it is a very good nib...I will suggest you heavily to try kanwrite 14k superflex needle point nib which is also one of the best 14k nib available in the market

@gabemadorma2933 8 ай бұрын

I’d be interested in seeing this, every now and again I see people post videos of impressive 14k Indian flex nibs.

@Pearlblue22 8 ай бұрын

Ooo nice to see you review this! ☺️

@RobinRhyne 8 ай бұрын

What a gorgeous writer!

@hmadrone 8 ай бұрын

Mine skips sometimes, too. I like it a lot, but I think that the Fountain Pen Revolution 14K Ultraflex pens offer a similar experience for about 2/3 the price, and that the FPR steel ultraflex offers a pretty decent flex experience for a lot less. The FPR ultraflex win a bit on the hairlines and also railroad and hard start a bit less, but the Mag 600 is an excellent pen, and that ebonite body really feels good in the hand. For consistency, though, my Pilot Custom 743 FA beats the others and produces decent line variation (although it has too much tipping to produce a fine hairline).

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

My 912 FA had a thicker hairline that I wanted to I send it off to get ground and now love it!

@daltonparker7792 8 ай бұрын

As badly as I want this pen, I have just seen too many QC issues with it, and for that price, I wouldn’t expect poor plating or tool chatter on the threads. For me personally, there are way too many issues for the price they’re asking on this one, but I do sports here they’re going with it. Amazing review as always though!!!

@millomancho 6 ай бұрын

2:42 Which ink is that?

@Doodlebud 6 ай бұрын

I really don't know. I should get better and remembering which inks I use. I'll ink a pen and use it for a few weeks to test it out but by the time I do the review I forget LOL

@Sapta_Chakra 8 ай бұрын

Your handwriting is beautiful

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@littletweeter1327 8 ай бұрын

The nib is great bu the QC seems pretty subpar. A friend of mine has gotten 3 of them and they all have huge nib problems. They're finally giving up and just sending it to a nibmeister since they were going to anyways for a finer grind. But its a great pen for people who want a taste of vintage flex but for some reason don't want to get a vintage pen.

@jpfanfic4226 8 ай бұрын

I had the same issue with mine. I'll likely wait for an improvement on their QC or wait for another company to throw their hat into the flex nib ring.

@jimkrieger776 8 ай бұрын

This seems the right time to ask a question I've wondered about forever. Are very expensive standard nibs (F, M, B) on very expensive pens better writers than good quality Jowo or Bock or Sailor nibs? If yes, can you explain how they differ physically, and how their differences show up on the page?

@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 8 ай бұрын

If you are not talking about specialty nibs with italic grinds or some other grind to get away from the standard “ball” points on F, M, B then yes. They are better because someone has taken the time to check and tune each and every nib to make sure the customer gets the right balance between smoothness and feedback and ink flow (and of course everybody is different). I have at least twelve or more Jowo and Bock nibs that I was able to customize and improve the writing experience. Specifically for me it means a crisp, EF italic grind with good wetness and just enough feedback to feel “good” on paper. Each paper requires different nib tuning to achieve the perfect feedback/wetness. If you haven’t yet had a custom grind please do.

@jimkrieger776 8 ай бұрын

@@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 Thanks for the explanation. As it happens, I have two nibs that received special attention, both on Franklin Christoph pens. One was turned from broad into cursive italic by Mike Masuyama and it took me about a year to get the hang of it. The other was a steel broad that was tuned by FC's own nibmeister, Jim Rouse, who made it write more softly and smoothly. I'd describe both nibs as perfect, though my penmanship is very, very far from that. Yet I have wondered if, say, a Mont Blanc nib would produce a line that is in some way superior to the lines these nibs produce. I imagine the answer is no.

@michaelbradley6488 8 ай бұрын

I have owned two Montblancs, an older 146 with a fine nib and a new 149 with a medium nib. Both pens write well, the 149 writes more like a broad nib. Don't expect them to perform better than a customized / tuned nib.

@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 8 ай бұрын

@@jimkrieger776 Gernerally speaking I agree with you that the answer is no. Montblanc nibs are wonderful especially some of my vintage ones; some are very flexible and others are soft stubs or soft EF and others are flexible EF, for example but they have changed over the years (i.e. I love my 1920’s, 1952, 1960 - 1980 and some of my more recent ones 2020’s). Some of my late 1990’s and early 2000’s are just your basic gold nib lacking the softness and or wonderful flex or crisp italic character of the older ones, nothing special. It seems however that recently they have made some improvements. Of my recent ones my 2014 EF 146 did not impress me very much out of the box but my 2019 EF 146 was just amazing and required no tuning, adjusting or grinding, love writing with it and would say it is special. Both are limited editions so I don’t understand why the difference other than that Montblanc is a large company so there must be variation with both design and production across their product lines. I think if people don’t demand high standards and continue to pay their increasing prices then companies will reduce costs and simplify as much as possible … by reducing quality inspections and producing standard and more robust nibs.

@roseysnapper 8 ай бұрын

Great review (as always). Quick question: what’s the lovely dark blue ink you used with the Mag 600 in this review?

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

Im not quite sure which ink it was. I switched between several Diamine inks while I used this pen for a week before doing the review. I _might_ be Diamine Midnight

@bobabo 8 ай бұрын

I saw that same pen in the sale section and also wondered why it might have been returned! I was mighty tempted but ended up not making the purchase... I'm glad I at least have an answer now. 😅 I had the opportunity to test out these nibs at a pen show and they're SUCH a pleasure. True soft vintage flex reborn. It's just a shame it sounds like there are some QC issues.

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

The feel of the nib is really really nice. Seems like they just need a little TLC to get them perfect.

@JAVL1956 8 ай бұрын

Bought mine last fall from Appelboom,(with your rebate code)a bit of a disappointment. Skipping, hard starts, etc. My first flex, so tried to learn how to keep the right angle while writing. Agree the finishing is not top notch, packaging shoddy. Your video made me want to try again when I come home after Easter. Thank you, like your no nonsens reviews.

@abstractbybrian 8 ай бұрын

Where’s the link to the fantastic pen case at the beginning ?

@santauxia 8 ай бұрын

Nice review. What ink you have on the Pilot? Looks great.

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

I think its Diamine Sargasso Sea

@MrG0CE 7 ай бұрын

CAN U PLEASE MAKE A REVIEW OF THE FPR 14K ULTRAFLEX NIB PLEASE? WHENEVER U CAN OFFORD IT PLEASE :) I'VE SEEN REVIEWS AND COMPARISON AND I THINK IT'S THE WINNER AMONG MODERN FLEX NIBS.

@jpfanfic4226 8 ай бұрын

I bought one and the pen would not write, period. It was such a disappointment. Thankfully, the distributor fully refunded. That would be my issue with Magna Carta, perhaps their QC is not up to par. Case and point with yours as well.

@billclockwell 8 ай бұрын

It's starting to seem malicious, every reviewer somehow gets s perfect sapele and no one else does

@HomerIncognito 8 ай бұрын

There's quite a lot of negative reviews from regular people. They seem to have major QC issues.

@alihasanabdullah7586 5 ай бұрын

When even Chinese brands nowadays have better QC and attention to detail, you know you're doing something very wrong

@milcomilco2893 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting and encouraging video! Why encouraging? It is because once again I can see that fountain pen manufacturing made progress relating to nib flexibility. I made enough practice with dip-pens and I noticed the big range of line variation a dip-nib could make. Of course, the dip-pen equipped with a good flexible dip-nib is still superior in that matter to most of the fountain pens, but there are disadvantages that fountain pens typically do not have. The most annoying of those is the need of periodically dip the nib to recover its ink load. And, secondarily, the writer would face an increased scratchiness of the nib. Well, the fountain pen, according to its filling system, has a reservoir of ink and its nib is, as a rule, iridium tipped and smooth. A large amount of flexible nibs was designed and I mean the metal item. But, nowadays, the fountain pen manufacturers fight hard against a major draw back and that is the railroading. To eliminate it, despite the quality of the nib itself, a good alignment to the feed is needed. That's to say, the feed and the nib need to be in a tight contact and the material the feed is made of should allow a good ink flow control. For that, the ebonite feed would be recommended, as it is hydrophilic and malleable under hot water. However, I presume that, now and then, the feed to nib alignment should be re-made, as during writing with variable pressure on the nib, the nib would change its position towards the feed. So, I am afraid the fountain pens with line variation abilities need to get repeatedly some service during their life in order to avoid railroading and skipping. So, coming back to the question, the fountain pen in this video shows perfect alignment which is encouraging for other flex nibs users and the video itself demonstrated once again that the line variation abilities of fountain pens are under research and sooner or later those abilities would become regular features. Thank you once again and I hope you would show in a video the detailed process of making the alignment of an ebonite feed to a flexible nib.

@jeffreysanborn1005 Ай бұрын

Do you have any tips for me to improve my handwriting? I know it will take writing a lot to improve it. I am wanting to improve my cursive specifically. Should I find tracing worksheets or something like that?

@Doodlebud Ай бұрын

Here's a video I did on the topic kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqjOonaBYtySbZY

@derekdavis5720 8 ай бұрын

Hi good video and interesting pen. The only other video I’ve seen on this, the pen appeared to have nib issues. Not retailed in the UK so expensive to import. For someone who doesn’t like to tune their own nibs this pen could disappoint. My gut feeling is that I’d be disappointed with this pen which is a shame as in theory it’s right up my alley. Allowing for the extra import costs I was able to get a Scribo at an insanely good price which probably works out at roughly the same amount of money. It does seem like a good pen though. Thank you for a great video. D

@heartoflyn 8 ай бұрын

Have you had any burping issues? That’s the biggest gripe for mine. I “warm up” the pen by holding it vertically with the cap off before I start but that doesn’t really help. I’ve used the converter and I currently have it eye-droppered and it burps the same.

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

I haven't eyedroppered the pen yet so that issue hasn't come up for me

@kristiw.1823 8 ай бұрын

My husband got this pen for me, for Christmas. It was a pure splurge that he was so proud of, since he knew how much I love vintage flex, but are frustrated by not being able to use "fun" inks in them. I have a love/hate relationship with this pen (which has been replaced once by Goulet, due to flow issues). I've converted it to eye-dropper, to try to help achieve maximum flow, but it still can not use any shimmer inks, and hard starts with dry inks. The Reddit fountain pen community has educated me on my expectations that a modern ebonite feed flex pen should be able to handle shimmer inks... which I have received with as much grace as I can. But the frustration is still there, in my heart. My nearly beaten down "fancy b...." (per my sister), finds the pen aesthetically boring and not worth the price, but I won't sell it because it has sentimental value, being from the love of my life. Uninspired black pen would have been fine, if it could have handled ink more dependably. Waiting now for someone to design a better feed for it....'cause my dang FPR Ultra Flex can handle shimmer, so why can't this one?!? Rant over. Thank you, Mr. Doodlebud, for reviewing this, so as to demonstrate that some of this isn't just user-error. 🤭☺

@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 8 ай бұрын

Too bad your Mag 600 is not what you need it to be but since it already writes well I think some nib turning may help. Does it have hard starts (and it works fully flexed?) or is the feed plugged up??? It might be tricky but if you can check the tine spacing to see where it is at then you or someone can decide if it makes sense to open it up. If the tines are 0.002” or 0.003” then going up a little to 5 or 6 thou in one step increments might just do the trick. Unless of course you can see that the feed channel is where the shimmer is getting stuck and then there is the more involved process of opening up the channel. If you or someone does open up the tines make sure to go above the tip point. Good luck.

@kristiw.1823 8 ай бұрын

@@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 Thank you for those suggestions! I think it's the feed, since the flow is very good when the ink makes it to the nib. Does that make sense? I might be using the wrong terms.

@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 8 ай бұрын

You are probably right if other inks work well but with my pens I was able to increase the wetness so that even dry inks work well. Your situation is different with shimmering inks but I wonder if you pull the nib and feed do you see the channel is plugged (with an eye loop)? Also if you clean the feed with a tooth brush then does it work for a little while and then how long before it stops working? Just some thoughts to help you pin point the problem. I know someone who pulled the nib and feed, cleaned it really well and then the problem went away. Some times you need to pass a thin shim through the feed.

@kristiw.1823 8 ай бұрын

@@dimitridiakovasiliou2453 It does work for a little while, right after cleaning the feed well, but clogs quickly. 😔

@jpfanfic4226 8 ай бұрын

I've got a few vintage pens with flex nibs that were half the price of the mag 600, and can handle shimmer just fine. Yes I was brave but I do know how to service them if ever there was a problem. Still, I've had a terrible time with the Mag 600. So sad.

@SweetMimi84 21 күн бұрын

Can you compare this nib with Tom Studio pro-flex nib

@Doodlebud 21 күн бұрын

If I get one of their nibs to compare I will

@bbrachman 8 ай бұрын

Completely off video topic but could I request an investigation? Fountain pen ink in a ball point, rollerball or needle type pen. I know a few exist. My Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint is leaking into the cap. A mess when the cap comes off. I would love to find a clean storing, rollerball type pen that uses fountain pen ink. Any interest?

@Doodlebud 8 ай бұрын

Did this one several years ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJOYq32PlM2Xfs0

@bbrachman 8 ай бұрын

@@Doodlebud Thanks. I may have watched it a long time ago. Amazon has the same pen. $1.98 per pen but want $10 US for shipping. It is against my religion to pay more for shipping than the item shipped. I will check out Ali Express. Never ordered anything from them. Thank you!