Fountain Pen Revolution Jaipur Review
2 November 2015Fountain Pen Revolution is a family run company that specialises in sourcing and selling Indian-made fountain pens. If having read the following, taken from their website, you don’t instantly want to try out something that FPR have to offer, I don’t know what to say to you:
FPR was founded in 2011 and is family owned and operated. My sons and I sit at the kitchen table and clean, inspect, and maintenance every pen we sell. Our passion at FPR is to provide reasonably priced quality fountain pens made in India and to be a blessing to our community. We invest a percentage of all profits back into the communities where our pens are made. We believe in old-fashioned honest business practices, good family fun, and that we should give to those around us in need. We also believe that fountain pens are not just for the rich or only for our grandparent’s generation. By offering quality products at a very reasonable price with personal service we hope to spread the joy of fountain pens to a new generation of writers. Join the Revolution!
This is such a breath of fresh air, particularly in a hobby where some pens can cost an absolutely fortune. But are any of the pens actually any good? Read on to find out.
These pens were sent to me free of charge so I could write a review. I’ve kept one and passed the other on to a fellow reviewer. These are my honest opinions.
Price: $18 to $21 depending on the nib
Nib options: extra-fine, fine, medium, broad, 1mm stub, flex
Barrel options: solid blue, red, or black; clear; clear with blue, red, or black cap
Filling system: piston
Size: 13.5cm (5.3″) capped, 15.8cm (6.2″) posted, 1.3cm (0.5″) diameter
Weight: 17g (0.6oz)
The Jaipur is one of FPR’s own line of pens, made in India. I’m not entirely sure what it’s made from but it smells like a milder version of a Noodler’s pen so I’m guessing it might be vegetable resin. I find the smell of Noodler’s pens offputting but the Jaipur isn’t so bad. It looks and feels okay: cheapish but not fragile.
I was able to try two different pens, one with a clear barrel and a flex nib and one with a solid blue barrel and a medium nib. Flex nibs aren’t really my thing but a quick test with this one found it to be able to keep up with quite heavy pressure without railroading (see the handwritten review). The medium nib is hard as a nail but smooth and easy flowing. I really enjoyed writing with it. They’re also a standard number 5 size and so can be swapped from something different if you like.
The Jaipur is filled using a simple piston and it works really well. There’s an ink window in the solid body version. It’s a thoughtfully designed pen: simple and effective. The clip, likewise, isn’t going to win any prizes but does the job properly.
It’s interesting to see the piston mechanism in the clear version of this pen but the budgetary nature of the resin is a little more obvious in this version. The solid colour version looks a little higher quality.
The cap screws closed and pushes on to post. It posts securely and as the whole pen is so light it doesn’t affect the balance at all. They’re comfortable in the hand whether posted or not.
Some Jaipurs are proving to be a little leaky on arrival. I had no problems with the clear one but the solid coloured pen leaked a little through the join between the feed and the section. A little silicon gel and a good firm push soon sorted that out but not before a blob of ink had landed on my page.
All in all the Jaipur is a really fun pen. It’s comfortable to hold, it has a simple and very efficient filling mechanism, a reasonable clip, it can post if you want it to and the nibs are a lot of fun. Hopefully the leaking issue will be soon sorted out but despite that the Jaipur is really good value and I recommend trying one out.
Pros
Decent flex nib
Simple piston filler
Good value
A lot of fun
Cons
Slightly smelly
Unadventurous colours
Some pens need adjusting to stop leakage
Hi.. agree with your review… so far the two pens I have from FPR haven’t leaked. My first was the Triveni Jr Ebonite with a flex nib.. some railroading which Kevin fixed by sending two replacement feeds free of charge. Since then we’ll I enjoy the flex more than I have with the Ahab. I have the Blue Jaipur with Stub nib. Wrote smooth and wet out of the box… very little line variation. . The tipping possibly needs adjustment. But for the price… a very interesting option. I’ve ordered another Jaipur with a flex nib.. these come with an Ebonite feed… let’s see how that works out. Good value for money pens. Hopefully they will supply the Ebonite pens with an Ebonite feed… with flex nibs that would be interesting as well. Finish quality can be improved as you’ve mentioned.
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