Customer Reviews

My ohto started out fine. Unique style for an affordable price, however the finish being aluminum is prone to small dents with hard falls. There is plain block text on the back of the cap which betrays the budget orgins of the pen (reads: fountain FF-10N Japan). Worse, the barrel and nib assembly have gotten stuck and won't align correctly and the two peices that comprise the cap (shiny inner tube and blue outer) seperate easily and sometimes cram together and have to be removed with pliers. Otherwise writes well with a medium wet nib.

If this pen was rough, then I wouldn't mind. If this pen wrote consistently with a bit more pressure, then I wouldn't mind. However, this pen does not write. Nothing short of hard pressure will get this paper to consistently mark the page, but even though it does so the ink flow is not consistent.
I'm confused as to why this is such a terrible pen. I have the less expensive F Spirit and have no complaints whatsoever. Do not buy this pen.

I've had this pen for about 3 years now. Its interesting design is simple and elegant despite being relatively inexpensive. It does have a few issues, such as the grip being uncomfortable if you typically grip the pen further up while writing. This pen uses standard ink cartridges and converters but does not work with Ohto converters (which are slightly too narrow to fit). In general, it's a very solid pen that was definitely built to last.

bought this pen some time ago, decided i wanted a fountain pen just for the looks and the fine point. didnt bother with the original ink cartridge. 3 converters and a specific ink brand(wont name names), but the pen just wouldnt flow properly or give a consistent stream. well i wanted to give it another go before buying another pen, went with the salor "jentle ink" and what a difference. like night and day, it feels smoother and has not disappointed me yet. i would recommend this pen and that ink to anyone looking for entering into fountain pens.

This is a wonderful pen. First off, this is the first fountain pen I've used. I bought one of the Ohto converters to go with it - fits great. I like the weight and feel of it. The pen has a medium sized barrel which I prefer over the typical very thick fountain pens. It is a nice quality metal and looks great. The nib is a medium, not fine one. It writes smoothly and doesn't leak. I use a bottle of Diamine ink that I bought and it works great with this pen. I've written pages and pages of study notes over the past month and I've not had any problems with it.

Originally bought this pen from ebay and the nib was quite scratchy but that was easily solved. Been using it for a number of months now as my every day pen at work and it writes beautifully with Pilot/Namiki ink, but I did find it was too wet with all my Noodler inks. No problems with build quality.

I've had a bunch of these pens and I wouldn't have anything else. The other reviews state that the pen is scratchy and the ink looks watered down. Well that may be with the supplied ink, but I NEVER use that. I have a few of the Noodler's inks, namely the Aircorp Black and the Ottoman Blue and both write Beauuuuutifully. Maybe the ink has a lubricating factor to it, but they run smooth as can be. Both colors I listed are not only beautiful to look at, but neither of them have any nib-creep what-so-ever. I've given away these pens to a couple people when they ask where I got them. They are professional looking and I get plenty of compliments on them. I keep and Black and a Silver on me at all times.

I only have 1 complaint about it. There is what looks to be a brass ring on the inside with threading on it, otherwise the pen is mostly aluminum. I think, over time, the brass and the aluminum start to interact in such a way that causes corrosion. After a time the threads will start to gunk up and/or the brass ring gets a bit loose and twists inside the frame. As long as you use the pen enough, the corrosion won't have time to really set and gunk up the threads. Wipe the threads down each time you refill it and you should have a pen that'll serve you for as long as you don't lose it.

As I previously stated, I don't use the ink that comes with the pen. I get the converter to go along with it each time I buy one. It can be found here: http://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Fountain-Pen-Converter/pd/5433 Jet pens has free shipping for any thing over 25 dollars, so I usually buy 2 converters so I can easily change colors if I want. It's worth it because the cost of buying the second converter is less than shipping, so it works out. That combined with the fact that a fountain pen is meant to be re-used over and over, it just doesn't make much sense to buy those little disposable vials of ink and then throwing them away.

It looks as though Noodler's Ink isn't sold on this website anymore, but they can be found with a google search. I recommend Aircorp black and Ottoman blue, they're my two favorote colors. Aircrop black is semi counterfeit-resistant.

This pen was garbage. Usually, I am a bit more reserved with my adjectives, however, seeing as that's where this pen eventually ended up-- after a week of trying to make it write--it is quite fitting. I bought this pen with the Ohto blue-black ink cartridges and was never able to write a full letter, forget even a word!

I have subsequently bought at Lamy Safari with an extra fine nib and couldn't be happier.

I agree with the first reviewer. I can't get this pen to write consistently without moving the pen extremely slowly. When not moving the pen slowly the ink is released inconsistently and feels scratchy. Since this pen is relatively cheap perhaps it should be expected that a consistent line is difficult to achieve. The look of this pen is very attractive and modern. Despite the pen's attractive look, I regrettably can only give it 2 stars because pens are used primarily for writing and this pen suffers in that category.

I like the pen, its a nice modern look. and its pretty cheap. so you cant really complain a whole lot. other reviews have said that it feels "scratchy" and has flow problems. and they are right. it can feel very scratchy and it can have severe flow problems that make it all but unusable. but iv found though that this pen can can be quite pleasant to write with after you clean it. when freshly cleaned and refilled it doesn't feel very scratchy and the flow can be quite good.

as to the ink being to watery. like some have mentioned. get the converter. its very inexpensive. iv switched ink to noodlers polar black. which isn't as watery as the cartridges. but the flow issues didn't get any better or worse. so perhaps its just a bad feeder design.

overall its not a bad cheap option if you just want a pen that looks good and you don't mind cleaning it a bit more often then your used too.

You cant replace the tip if it breaks and if it does you have to buy a new one

Regarding this pen and considering some reviews on it, I can say that I am (together with a few?) a happy owner. Being a compulsive buyer, I bought 3 at once, fearing I could let one fall onto the floor and thus I would have another handy. And I was right.

It has a sleek, modern design, without all those burlesque, expensive (and sometimes to me, annoying) make-up that many expensive pens do have and I really enjoyed this pen. The only cons I can see is the size, and it´s not a matter of hand size but rather, taste. If this pen were slightly shorter, I could rate it #5.

Putting the size aside, this pen is very good for daily use. I had no bad experience with the nib, it writes good, does not scratches neither drag. Unfortunately, some buddies did not like it. Well, I can say that the quality of the writing does not depend upon the nib only, but the paper and the ink do play a (an important) role.

I am using Trident´s Universal Black ink, which leaves a uniform trace, it does not fade into any gray tonality. And please remember that different types of ink *do* influence the quality of your writing of the *same* pen. When I write on plain paper (the majority being porous), it writes averagely (and towards a good writing), but on glossy paper, it´s like butter.

I had no problem with any of the mechanical parts of this pen so far (I´ve had bought it some 3 months ago and use it on a daily basis) and taking into account the size, nib, material, weight, I can say that, at least to me, this pen is very good for a day-to-day usage, and just like many other pen, it favors a cursive writing flawlessly (at least in my experience). As an overall and final comment, I can say I am satisfied, do not regret my purchase.

The OTHO Fine is very stylish and sleek.... looks like it's going 310 knots just laying on the desk!!

The pen really lays down ink however when writing. If you use a course grade of paper, like most recycled papers are, it bleeds.

I also have the Pilot Petit1, and it rights nicely. If you're looking for a pen in the same category of size and material.... check out Lamy pens. Cannot go wrong with German engineering.

This pen is so pretty. But the nib drags, you really have to go slow to get a consistent line, and when you do, the line comes out looking like you watered down the ink to save money. I wouldn't recommend this pen; it's sitting in one of my drawers, useless.

I agree with the Petit1 preference - if the OHTO fine could write as well as the petit1 does while keeping its stylish looks, it would be among my favorites.

My experience with the OHTO fine is that the ink is a watery black, almost gray, and the pen skips and drags, even though the nib is nowhere near as fine as that of the petit1. It was my first online fountain pen purchase - I wanted something a little lighter than my Lamy Studio which is a bit heavy for me to use every day - but this pen isn't it.

I love the petit1s except that they're a tiny bit too short to write comfortably with; the top of the cap pushes into the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. If pilot made a sligtly-less-petit1, I'd be all over it.

Flow is exceptionally bad.

It is very shiny, and has a nice solid weight.

The nib, however, is a very cheap stainless steel nib (it's labeled "Iridium Point Germany", which, as I've heard, means it's actually Chinese, and designed to be misleading). The flow tends to be pretty poor, with lots of skipping.

It's an OK pen, but liquid ink pens I use regularly have better consistency and better control at the tip.

For a fountain pen at this price, it's not bad at all. And it's also quite a beautiful, sophisticated, modern-looking pen.

The Petit1 Pilot pen had a much better performance and it's much cheaper. I'm definitely getting the Petit1 refills, but I wished it had the fine looks of the Ohto Fountain pen!

This is very pretty, and the slim barrel feels both solid and evenly weighted. With the cap posted, it becomes almost too top-heavy for my taste.

I'd read some reviews elsewhere and wanted to see what the fuss was about. :) It's a decent pen, but for the price I'd stick with the Pilot Petit1. Though I've been capping the Fine carefully whenever I pause, it's a bit slow to start writing when the nib touches the page. Swapping ink cartridges (I ditched the crap Ohto cart for a Pelikan one) helped, but it hasn't solved the problem.

Nothing I've read specifies the nib size. I'd guess this is on the fine side of medium; it writes a wider line than the Petit1, which I'd definitely call a fine nib.