There was a massive surge in the popularity of fountain pens a few years back and a huge number of people moved over from using a ballpoint or rollerball pen to using an entry level fountain pen. It would seem that more and more of those people who made the switch are now looking to upgrade to their first intermediate level fountain pen with a lot of people reaching out for a dedicated Pelikan m150 review each month.
Although many do consider the Lamy 2000 to be the undisputed king of intermediate price point fountain pens, the is a little cheaper Pelikan m150 while having very similar levels of performance. This allows you to opt for the Pelikan while still having an excellent writing experience while also saving around $50 over the Lamy.
Although there is a large amount of competition form other brands in the $100-$200 fountain pen price bracket, we would agree that the Lamy 2000 is number one with the Pelikan m150 coming in at a close second. That said though, the m150 can still make an excellent addition to your fountain pen collection and beats every other fountain pen model in its price bracket on the market at the time of writing.
Our Pelikan m150 Review
Due to the Pelikan m150 being such a popular pen and so many people reaching out specifically for a dedicated review of the pen, we have decided to publish this article going over our review of the pen. Our hope is that we will be able to help any of our readers who are considering the m150 and point out some of the advantages and disadvantages of the pen as we work our way through our review.
The Pelikan m150 Nib
The standard nib of the Pelikan m150 is made from gold plated stainless steel and although stainless steel nibs don’t tend to be as flexible or responsive as their solid gold counterparts, the actual design of the Pelikan nibs does increase the standard flex of the nib. As the nib on the m150 is replaceable, some people do opt to switch it out for a 14-carat gold nib but the additional cost of the nib usually means that you mays well opt to go with the Lamy 2000 that comes with a 14-carat gold nib as standard.
At this price point in the market though, especially for a Pelikan nib, the m150 performs very well offering a solid writing experience that the vast majority of our readers will be pleased with. The pen is available in the extra-fine, fine, medium, and broad nib sizes as standard directly from Pelikan but due to the replacement nib option, you can get a little adventurous if needed.
That said though, even at the higher price points in the market, double-broad, fine-medium, and oblique nib options are very niche and most people will opt for an extra-fine, fine, medium or broad nib anyway meaning the regular Pelikan m150 covers the bases for most people. If you are looking at picking up your very first fountain pen and looking at the m150 then the most popular nib sizes are the fine and medium options so if you go with either of them, you should be please with the results.
For those who don’t know, Pelikan is a German fountain pen brand and they stick to the standardised western fountain pen nib sizes so if you have a fountain pen from another western fountain pen brand such as Lamy or Parker, you can pretty much move over and stick with the same labeled nib size on your pen. If you currently have an Asian fountain pen then it could be an idea to downsize your nib selection though.
The major Asian fountain pen brands tend to stick to their own nib sizing convention that is usually a little bit smaller than the western nib sizing convention. Due to this, if you are currently using a Japanese fountain pen from a brand such as Pilot and it has a medium nib and you want to keep that font size, opt for the Pelikan m150 with a fine nib to keep a similar font when writing.
The m150 has a super smooth, wet writing nib that glides over all paper qualities ensuring that you get one of the best writing experiences possible when writing with the pen. Although the m150 is a super smooth writer, especially for its price point in the market, the wet nib can cause problems with feathering, bleeding, and ghosting when used on low GSM paper. You are able to easily overcome this by opting to use high GSM paper that is usually only a few dollars more than low GSM paper but avoids ghosting and bleed due to the paper being thicker.
The nib design of the Pelikan m150 also ensures that it is quick and easy to carry out the regular maintenance for your fountain pen such as standard cleaning. For optimal performance from the pen we would recommend that you clean it on a regular basis with a cheap flush cleaning kit to prevent in build-up of dry ink and grime.
The Barrel Of The Pelikan m150
Unlike some of the other fountain pens in the $100-$200 price point, Pelikan ensure that even their cheaper fountain pens have a barrel made from premium quality resin. This alone is able to push it to the top of the pile in our book as it offers all of the advantages of a steel, brass, or plastic pen barrel without having the downsides of each. Although more brands are starting to make the barrels of their pens from resin than anything else in this price point, there are still some that use steel, brass or plastic but this can come down to personal preference anyway.
The resin used on the barrel of the pen has been specifically designed to be as light as plastic so you are able to use the pen for long writing sessions without getting fatigue from its weight while also being as tough as brass or steel. This helps to ensure that if your pen is subject to any accidental falls or bumps, it should be able to take the punishment without issue and keep working as required.
As you would probably expect from a Pelikan M series fountain pen, the Pelikan m150 uses a piston filler system for the storage and delivery of its ink that is hidden away in the barrel of the pen. The Pelikan piston filler in itself is well worth the money and with most of the competing fountain pen models in the sub-two hundred dollar price bracket using a cartridge converter system, the m150 and the Lamy 2000 are in a league of their own due to their piston fillers.
The standard m150 is available in black, blue, green, and red with a golden trim to the barrel and cap. Unlike the rest of the Pelikan fountain pens with their higher price tags, the Pelikan m150 is not available with a silver trim variant or with limited edition colors and designs at the time of writing. As the other models in the Pelikan range have had multiple limited edition releases now without the m150 having a single run, we doubt that this will change.
The Cap Of The Pelikan m150
Unfortunately, back weighting can be a pain with many fountain pens at this price point in the market but the cap of the Pelikan m150 is made from the same, super light resin as the barrel. In addition to the design of the cap on the pen, this helps to ensure that you will have no issues with your m150 when posted keeping it as balanced as possible.
Unlike many of the other sub-two hundred dollar fountain pens on the market, the m150 also uses a twist lock system to secure the cap and barrel of the pen rather than a push lock system. We know that a large number of people do prefer the push lock system but in our opinion, anything over $100 should be using a twist lock to help prevent the barrel coming lose and going missing or getting damaged.
The clip on the Pelikan m150 is slightly different to the clips on their higher price point fountain pens but it still has the pelican had design to it making it unmistakable as a Pelikan pen. The clip does have a slightly higher level of flex to it than we would probably like due to the higher price tag but we feel that it is rigid enough to hold the cap to anything you clip it to. This will help to prevent the clip accidentally coming lose and resulting in your pen getting lost or taking damage in a fall.
As it is a Pelikan pen, the m150 does have one of the three Pelikan logos on its finial depending on the variant of the m150 that you purchase. All three logos with the mother pelican and a number of her babies are official Pelikan logos so if you currently own a Pelikan pen then there’s no need to worry if there is a different number of babies on the finial of your m150 as it is still an official Pelikan.
The Pelikan m150 Ink Reservoir
Pelikan has done a great job of keeping the m150 small and light while ensuring that the piston fillers ink reservoir is as large as possible. It offers a maximum ink capacity of 1.18ml bringing it above average and ensuring that the pen is able to hold a decent amount of ink that will be plenty for everyone no matter what you will be using your pen for.
The piston filler is very easy to refill when required allowing you to quickly and easily top up your ink levels in the pen as and when required and the ink view window on the barrel of the pen lets you check the pens current ink levels. One point of note about the ink view window on the Pelikan m150 is that it can be a pain to see through in some lighting so you may have to hold it up to a light source to check the levels in it.
Although Pelikan do try to get people to use their own Edelstein ink with their fountain pens, the cheaper Noodlers ink just as good but comes in with a cheaper price tag. On top of this, Noodlers ink is available in a wide range of colors and shades too ensuring that you are able to get exactly what you want out of your fountain pen.
Pelikan m150 Writing Samples
Conclusion
That brings our Pelikan m150 review to a close and as we have touched on above, we feel that the Lamy 2000 is ever so slightly better than the Pelikan m150 but the Lamy also has a slightly higher price tag. The m150 offers an excellent writing experience for its price and beats out every other competitor in its price range in our opinion and will make an excellent addition to your pen collection and is well worth picking up.
