Review 4: Tesco ‎£2 "Plastic Fantastic"

Soooo I went shopping, gravitated towards the stationery aisle, and saw this. Total impulse buy. Ah well, might as well review it! Since it doesn't have a name, I've dubbed it the Tesco £2 Plastic Fantastic, henceforth known as the T2PF.

First Impressions

Considering it came in a blister pack, this didn't actually look too bad! It's cheap (this whole pen costs as much as one fill of Iroshizuku ink in my M600!), but hey, it comes with ink cartridges and it's still a fountain pen at the end of the day. It's aimed at school kids by the looks of it, with a sturdy all-plastic construction and washable ink, and a firm steel nib that should stand up to most abuse. That said, I don't think the T2PF would be out of place as a backup or travel pen, especially in environments less hospitable to more expensive writing instruments! The benefit of a cartridge filled pen, of course, is that you can simply leave an unopened cartridge in it, chuck it in the bottom of your bag, and it'll be there and ready for those inevitable out-of-ink emergencies (or for the dreaded moment when someone asks to borrow a pen!).

The colours available (from a quick rifle through the stock) include red, green, blue and yellow. I chose blue.

Weight:

- Capped: 12g

- Uncapped: 8g

- Cap: 4g

Dimensions:

- Length capped: 14.3cm

- Length uncapped: 12.2cm

- Length posted: 15.4-16.2cm depending on depth

- Barrel diameter: 10mm at the widest point

- Section diameter: 8mm in the middle of the taper

Construction

Although the T2PF is lightweight, the plastic doesn't feel too terrible. I have my doubts about how much abuse the clip would be up to, but the rest of it feels pretty sturdy. The whole package is slim and unobtrusive, and might be mistaken for a rollerball or gel pen at first glance.

The barrel, cap, clip, feed, in fact everything on this pen is made from injection moulded plastic. There are mould lines on the section and cap - not obtrusive, but there - but not on the barrel.

The cap is a push-pull affair, with little plastic nubs to hold it in place. It's firm to remove, but clicks into place with a satisfying sense of security. I shouldn't imagine this would be at risk of coming undone in a bag. A minor niggle is that the sharp clicking when capping the pen can flick a tiny ink droplet into the cap. Not a problem, but it's noticeable because of the clear cap!

The clip is moulded plastic, attaching directly to the piece forming the top of the cap. It's springly and holds te pen in place in a pocket, but I don't think it'll be up to much of a beating. It's a shame, as otherwise this would have made a decent job site pen; even a metal wire clip would have increased the resilience and functionality!

The barrel is actually a rather pretty jewel blue, with room for a reserve cartridge to sit behind the active one. Unfortunately the spare doesn't seat tightly, so rattles around a bit. The barrel is easily long enough to use a converter.

There is a small hole at the end of the barrel preventing this pen from being converted to an eyedropper.

Nib and Feed

The feed appears to be moulded plastic, the nib is steel. No markings on the nib at all. Although not stated, I reckon this is a fine nib.

Not much more to say on this front really!

Writing

The ‎£2 Plastic Fantastic was surprisingly good out of the box. A quick check with the loupe showed a tiny tine misalignment, and after a few seconds of poking the nib is actually rather decent. It's somewhere between smooth and feedback-y, not toothy but not glassy either. Definitely not an unpleasant writing experience.

The section bugs me a little. It as three moulded ribbed patches, intended to provide grip when holding the pen in a tripod grip. Unfortunately they're very close indeed to the end of the section, forcing the user to either comply with a tight low tripod grip, or put up with the faintly annoying ribbing when holding the pen their own way. Perhaps it would suit smaller kid hands more used to ballpoints to transition?

The T2PF is quite a dry writer; on the plus side this would help prevent smudging when writing, but it hardly shows off inks!

A little writing sample with the supplied blue ink cartridges (on Oxford Optik Project Book paper)

Thoughts and Opinions

I don't think this would be out of place as a backup or travel pen, especially in environments less hospitable to more expensive writing instruments! The benefit of a cartridge filled pen, of course, is that you can simply leave an unopened cartridge in it, chuck it in the bottom of your bag, and it'll be there and ready for those inevitable out-of-ink emergencies (or for the dreaded moment when someone asks to borrow a pen!).

At this price range, the competition is mainly from disposables and cheapos such as the Pilot V-Pen and the Platinum Preppy. It's a decent contender versus these two I suppose, and comes without the branding and stickers that put me off the other two I mentioned! Just looks a little more professional without screen print and stickers all over it. Of course, if you're willing to stalk eBay and wait a bit for shipping, you can snag a Jinhao or Baoer from China for about the same price, but that's a topic for another review!

On the topic of the supplied ink, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a dusky medium blue, nothing special but perfectly pleasant to use for notes. It's also enturely washable, so good for messy schoolkids!

So, a few final thoughts. It's cheap, it's plastic, but at the price it's basically disposable, so this is a decent contender for a school or backup pen. The writing experience is good for the price, but let's face it, this pen is a downgrade from just about every "premium" fountain pen on the market. But at £2, what can you honestly expect?

Thanks for reading!

Alex