PARKER51 Fountain Pen | Black Barrel with Chrome Trim | Fine Nib with Black Ink Cartridge | Gift Box

What’s not to like about a classic pen - whilst lighter than the vintage and original Parker 51 it is still a lovely pen in the hand. Writes wonderfully but you need to use it consistently to shape the nib to your writing style - like any fountain nob. I bought a medium nib and a fine nib - prefer the medium at the moment as stillbreaking in the fine nib. High gloss and strong colour on the body of the pen - I bought teal colour to match my vintage one passed down to me by the Grandfather in the 70’s.Don’t let reviews that say it’s too light “compared to my old one” put you off - products always evolve and you get used to the lighter weight quickly

The pen is a beautiful writer and well made. I remember in secondary school it was the pen everyone wanted so it brings back lovely memories.

This pen (Parker 51, Burgundy and Chrome) is an excellent writer, exceptionally well constructed and comfortable to write with.It might seem pricey for a pen with mostly plastic construction, but both the pen itself and the ink cartridges are made in France, meaning you aren't just buying the pen, but French employee protections and labour laws, as well as the fit, finish and quality control that come with items not made in a crumbling sweatshop on the banks of the Yangtze.The barrel and grip are both plastic, but the plastic is of good quality and precisely moulded: there is nary a moulding line or sprue mark to be seen. The plastic components are also slightly translucent when the light hits them - particularly on the nib hood - which is quite charming. The lid is of metal construction, and is also very well put together, without any gaps or uneven-ness or blemishes. Each part of the pen fits together smoothly, and each part feels sturdy. The clip is neither too stiff, nor too soft - it's just about perfect for clipping into a shirt pocket. The nib is very typical of Parker pens - a little scratchy at first, but after a couple of sides of A4 all roughness was gone and it turned into a wonderfully smooth writer.It is a very light instrument, with the uncapped pen (containing an unused full-length cartridge) weighing only around 11.5 grams (about 2/5 oz), or 22.5 grams (4/5 oz) with the lid attached, making it perfect for long writing sessions and for keeping in a pocket without it being bothersome.The pen is rather small, with a capped length of 14cm (5 & 1/2 inches), an un-posted length of around 12cm (4 & 3/4 inches) and a posted length of just over 15cm (6 inches), as well as a circumference of only 4cm (1 & 9/16 inches) at the broadest point of the barrel. My writing hand is of average size for a man, being 19cm (7 & 1/2) inches in length and 9cm (3 & 1/2 inches) across, and the pen fits very comfortably in it when posted, while also not being unusably small unposted. If your hands are rather large, it might not be of a comfortable size for you to use. The pen is on the thinner side of comfortable girth (har har) for my hand, but comfortable nonetheless.Now, you may be saying to yourself 'this is a GLOWING review, but he didn't give it five stars!' Well, I tell thee, there is good reason for this.The pen comes in a nice box with a lid that springs open and shut, along with two ink cartridges (one black, one blue). However, it does NOT come with a converter, which at this price point it really should, regardless of where it was manufactured, ESPECIALLY considering that the converters will cost Parker a lot less to manufacture than they cost us to buy. As far as I'm concerned, any pen that costs greater than £50 should come with a converter as standard - in fact, it would be preferable for it to come with a converter and NO cartridges than the reverse - and given that this pen costs significantly more than £50 at full RRP (and still nine quid more on sale), and that it's mostly made of plastic (good quality plastic is STILL plastic, after all), there's really no excuse for it not to, country of manufacture be damned.The lack of a converter is cheeky and downright miserly on Parker's part, and it is the only thing preventing me from giving this pen a full five-star rating.TL/DR: Fantastic pen, made in France (not the Hundred Acre Wood), mostly plastic (but good quality plastic), sturdy construction, excellent fit and finish, smooth writer with a short break-in period, but doesn't come with a converter, which is unacceptable for the price.Overall, a good buy with an annoying gripe, presumably caused by a bean counter at Parker.

Used this for a few months, writes well, classic looks, however, with gentle pressure, the nibhead casing fractured. Cannot recommend.

Excellent classic fountain pen.

I have the same model pen with a medium nib which I found enjoyable to write with although the pen itself is lightweight and doesn’t feel as high quality as other Parker pens such as the Sonnet. This pen looks good but the nib was dry and not smooth so I returned the pen. Customer service was excellent and I may just have received a dud pen but I expect better of a Parker pen

Back to the 60s with this retro fountain pen. Smooth flowing comfortable to use. Great value.

Ignore the negative reviews and comparisons to the original 51. This is just the right weight, perfectly balanced when posted, and most importantly, writes beautifully.