Diplomat Traveller Fountain Pen review
4 August 2014
The Diplomat Traveller fountain pen is a metal barrelled pen that, as far as I know, is available only with a medium steel nib.
The nib is surprisingly good – I perhaps had low expectations but it’s smooth and very pleasant to write with. It takes international cartridges and my Monteverde converter fitted without any problems.
The Diplomat Traveller is a small pen (so you can travel with it, I suppose) but the metal barrel gives it a little weight and it feels robust and well made. It’s available in quite a few different finishes, from stately to garish.
The clip does it job (by clipping) and the cap closes with a satisfying click. If you’ve read more than a couple of pen reviews here then you’ll know I enjoy a satisfying click very much. Pens are all about bringing little moments of joy to everyday activities.
This is a narrow pen, which may be an advantage or a disadvantage to you. Unposted it’s also a short pen. If you have big, or maybe even just not-small, hands then you’ll quickly tire of writing with this pen unposted. It’s a shame, then, that posting the cap does not bring a little moment of joy. Quite the reverse. It’s soft and squidgy and feels like it will fall off. Every now and then, it does, if you haven’t pushed it on just a little more than you think you ought to.
Overall, this squishy posting does spoil this pen a little for me. However, it’s reasonably priced (in our world, anyway), well made and has a good nib. If you like how it looks, it’s worth considering.
Are you sure that’s the traveler? It looks like the Diplomat Esteem which has a wider body (maybe it’s the camera angle in the photos above). Either way great review. I have both the traveler and the Esteem and I’m convinced that the nibs on those pens are the best in the business. They lay down a very thick line of ink however and I’ve never had any hard starts or railroading.
Hi Ravena. Thanks for stopping by. It’s definitely the Traveller, it has a silver ring by the section whereas the Esteem does not. (At least as far as I can tell, I don’t own an Esteem – is this correct?) It’s actually a very slim pen, perhaps the photos don’t get that across. The nib is excellent, as you say.
The Esteem does look just like the traveler except it’s slightly larger. I have them both in the same pink color and I got the Esteem because I was at the DC pen show in 2013 and I thought it was the Traveler too and the lady at the table explained that it was the slightly bigger brother. The pictures you have make it look just like the Esteem which is why I wondered. Here’s a link so you can see what I mean: http://www.mydiplomatpen.com/Esteem.aspx
They’re really similar aren’t they. I would prefer the Esteem I think. This one is a little too slim for my tastes, good though the pen is.
Is the nib springy? I’ve read somewhere Diplomat nibs tend to be a bit and also how does the nib compare to your M200 as I’m thinking of getting a traveler as a good EDC pen
Mine isn’t particularly springy. It’s every bit as smooth as the M215’s nib but doesn’t glide in quite the same way. I think the M215 is a much better pen but I’d be more comfortable carrying the Diplomat Traveller around as it feels to be more robust.
[…] Pens! Paper! Pencils! reviews a Diplomat fountain pen. I once had a well-known person in the pen world try to tell me that within a few years, Diplomat would overtake Montblanc as the finest pen maker in the world. Yeah, ok. That was 5+ years ago. […]
That’s definitely the Traveler, I have the same model in the same colour. Posting is a bit of an issue, but it’s a nice light pen that flows well with the steel nib.
Thanks for the info on getting the cap to post. I love the weight and length of the Traveller when posted, but not at all unposted. My cap regularly falls off!! I was fearful of pushing it on too hard and damaging it’s ability to give that satisfying click when closing. Cheers