Review: Faber-Castell Ambition OpArt Aqua Fountain Pen @goldspotpens @FaberCastell

Thank you to Goldspot for sending this Faber-Castell over for review!

ABOUT

Body Material: Resin
Trim: Chrome
Length (capped): 138.9 mm/5.46''
Length (uncapped nib-end): 121.1 mm/4.77''
Length (posted): 155.0 mm/6.10''
Barrel Diameter: 10.9 mm/0.43''
Section Diameter: 8.6 - 10.9 mm/0.33'' - 0.43'' chrome to barrel
Nib material: Steel
Weight (all): 30 g
Weight (cap): 16 g
Weight (body): 14 g
Fill type: Cartridge/Converter
Price: $100.00USD
Where to buy: Goldspot

PACKAGING

I like the packaging for this pen - fairly minimal and simple. It's not really exciting, but I don't feel like it's excessively wasteful. The firm cardboard box is white, slim, and has Faber-Castell and the logo on top, in silver. It's a clean and elegant look. The tray slides out to the side and the pen sits in a cardboard bed, inside a plastic sleeve, along with the instruction manual. the pen itself contained one short cartridge inside it.

APPEARANCE

This is a cute pen, and I have liked it ever since it came out! It's a round pen with blunt, flat ends. The finial is just a smooth chrome top. The clip is attached at the top, descending down the side, and I like the shape of it. There are no markings on the clip. The cap is chrome and has Faber-Castell and the logo engraved on it. The cap itself is relatively short. The end of the pen is also chrome, and is thinner than the barrel to accommodate the posted cap. The barrel is fun - it has a wavy fine guilloché design, in a dark and light aqua color.

The section is very small and is thinner than the barrel. There is no indent or flare before the nib; it's very plain, although it stands out against the barrel because it is shiny chrome. The pen looks like it's wearing a little barrel shirt, which is rather cute. I love the aqua color and the chrome trim offers nice contrast.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

This medium steel nib is a good shape and size for this pen. It has a single slit and no breather hole. There are many little dots all over the nib, but they aren't breather holes. The nib is also engraved with M and the Faber Castell logo.

Right out of the box, the nib wrote without issues. The Faber-Castell eMotion (broad, steel nib) is one of the most pleasant, smooth unmodified steel nibs I've ever used, so I had high hopes for this nib. This nib, although not as glassy smooth, was pleasant. It was a consistent writer with reliable ink flow, and was just dependable overall. It never gave any hard starts or skips. Why don't all nibs perform so well out of box?!

The nib wasn't too wet, but it didn't dry out either, even with fast writing, with pressure, and in long writing sessions. It was not a soft, springy nib, but with pressure, a small amount of line variation was possible.

Overall: a great nib; an excellent performer!

IN HAND

First, the spring-loaded clip is great. I really like the look of it, but it's practical and easy to use.

Here is where the pen let me down a bit, but I was pretty picky when assessing it. So on to the griping... the section is basically non-existent. If you grip the little chrome bit, your fingers will feel the sharp ridge of the start of the barrel. The intent is probably to grip the barrel, I imagine, rather than the chrome piece.

Unposted, the pen is a decent length, but when gripping the barrel, I found it a little unbalanced. The cap posts by clicking in place, but it's pretty heavy. When it's posted, it's a little top heavy. The cap posts by clicking in place, but the cap itself is quite heavy. When it's posted, it's not surprising that it's top heavy. It's more comfortable to grip near the middle of the barrel - to have somewhere to grip, but also to balance the weight of the pen. I actually prefer to use the pen unposted, and gripping near the bottom of the barrel, bordering on the chrome. I think those with larger hands would prefer it posted.

I'm bummed that I only had cartridges that could fit in here, although there is a converter that fits. the barrel is snug so most converters that I had fit on the section, but couldn't fit inside the barrel. It's not a pocket pen, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be supplied with a converter from Faber-Castell, especially at $100USD.

Once inked, the nib/section is so little that I usually end up gripping the nib to screw the section back into the barrel, which means I get ink on my fingers. No big deal for me, but you may not be so keen on that if you're doing this in a meeting, or somewhere you can't wipe your fingers on an ink cloth!

The last thing I noticed is the cap clicks in place very tightly. While this in itself is a good thing, it takes a good pull to uncap it. If you pull it with a twist without really noticing it, that actually unscrews the section from the barrel a little bit - then it has to be tightened. See previous point for the issue there.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

All my gripes aside, I still enjoy this pen quite a bit. This nib performs really well, and it did right out of the box - no tweaking, adjusting, or fiddling necessary - which is more than I can say for some other very expensive pens in my pen case... It's a reliable writer, it doesn't hard start, it doesn't skip, and it's very pleasant to use. The clip is great, the pen is cute but still classy, and it's affordable. Even with my gripes, I think this is a great pen and for someone seeking an affordable pen, steel nib, modern design, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. Now I just want a broad nib.

I received this pen free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.