Ohto F-Spirit Fountain Pen - Fine Nib - Gold Clip

Well worth the price...

I purchased two Spirits—one in the silver trim and one in the gold—with the intent of sending one to my friend in London. When I received them, I noticed that the nib was not aligned with the feed on the silver-trimmed Spirit. So I sent the gold trimmed pen to the UK , hoping it would be okay.

I had ink flow problems in the one I kept, which improved when I managed to align the nib and feed. However, having run three kinds of ink through it, there are still some minor problems with the ink flow, with the pen skipping on the down stroke.

My friend in England, though, says the pen works fine. In a letter, he wrote:

“This is my first test of the Ohto Spirit. It already feels great—easily the best pen I have tried so far. Am using the cartridge (I had sent him a converter too). It ‘fired up’ right out of the box. Writes perfectly…I really like the ‘feel’ of the pen, substantial but not to large or heavy. It has that elusive ‘heft’ you have talked about.”

I have to agree with the feel of the pen. Nib problems aside, I enjoy writing with this pen. If it didn’t look and feel so good I probably wouldn’t have been so determined to get the nib alignment right.

GREAT pen for the price: nice feel, fine nib, nice looking, BUT it LEAKS into the cap! After a couple of months of daily use (it was nice enough, and affordable, so become the pen I carried with me every day) my hand is now stained with ink every time I use it. Too bad, I'll now have to prematurely retire it!

This is an awesome pen for the price, and one that I find myself reaching for very frequently because it writes so smoothly. Perfect ink flow every time, no skipping, no scratching. The look may not have the fit and finish of something ten times the price, but from a distance it's very elegant and the overall weight and balance are pleasing. I only deduct one star because the fine nib is in fact pretty broad.

I just got his pen a few days ago and I am not very happy with it. The pen is very smooth and looks great and also feels great but it writes really thick. I don't think I was shipped the wrong pen as it is the FF-10F that I received. It is supposed to be a fine nib variant but this is not fine. It writes thicker than even my medium waterman (Japanese pens on the contrary are supposed to be thinner in a given category than european pens). Since my writing is relatively small I can not really use this pen much.

So I would suggest that if you are looking for a fine nib pen this is not for you. Otherwise the en writes really smooth and nice...

Inexpensive fountain pen that has more quality than reflected in the price. Pen has a solid feel to it and fits my hand without having to post the cap. I started mine off with a dose of Noodlers Highland Heather and it seems to like the ink now that it is worked in a bit. Would recommend as a starter or for those prone to losing pens.