My SO got the true writer metalist fiber tip pen and swears she will never write with another pen again. She is not a pen freak like I am, but she definitely has fallen in love with that pen. Waxes quite poetic about it in fact.

Her ONLY complaint is that you can't get all of Levengers cool fountain pen ink colors for the fiber tip pens.

-kmorris

I have a True Writer fountain pen, a Metalist rollerball, and I bought my boyfriend the "Illuminator" for Xmas. (Which incidentally, he just ordered a fiber tip refill for, so the reply earlier sparked my interest!)

Here are my thoughts:

Metalist Rollerball: I honestly don't know why people bother with ballpoint anymore. I love these rollerballs, especially the extra fine tip that levenger carries. (I'm excited to test out that fiber tip too.) This is a beautiful pen. It has a clear coat finish, which will mark up if its subjected to a harsh fall. (I have one levenger folio with a pen sleeve everything falls out of. So unfortunately this one has kissed concrete a little more often than I'd like.) The only issue I have with these pens is that they are heavy, which is both a good and bad thing, and secondly, the caps don't really stay on the pens very well and I find that irritating. But other than that, it's lovely. I keep it on my desk sometimes at work and people come in occasionally to sign documents and everyone always comments on its good looks and how nice it writes. Seriously, I cannot think of one person who tried it out and didn't say something nice about it.

Illuminator: This is a GORGEOUS pen. The Illuminator series has this beautiful, jewel-like sheen. There are subtle striations in the metal on the pen and it reflects the light beautifully. I seriously catch myself just staring at it and admiring the finish all the time. I know that sounds weird, but it's true! The body is exactly the same as the metalist, so I have the same issues with the weight of the pen (they are heavier than their resin counterparts) and the pen cap staying on, but still, this one is beauty. I want to get another one for me....I wish there were more color options available.

Fountain pen: I thought this was a gorgeous pen when I got it (periwinkle). It was my first introduction to "real" fountain pens. I have really mixed feelings about this pen. I assumed it would be fairly good quality because levenger items usually are. However I was very disappointed because this pen constantly, catastrophically leaks. And the next day it would be dried out and would refuse to write, so I'd have to play the game of trying to wet the nib and get it going again. The ink would get everywhere from the leaks....the inside of the pen cap is stained badly and shows through because the resin is translucent. I can't get a q-tip or anything into the end of the pen cap to clean it. I can't tell you how many times I opened this pen up and the barrel was full of ink and I walked around work with blue hands for the next 2 days.

I found out that there isn't much you can do if a levenger fountain pen doesn't work - fountain pen stores won't fix them, replacement nibs aren't available, etc. I kinda gave up on this pen for awhile.

But then, I moved across country, and after not using the pen for ages, I gave it another go. And it worked much better. I don't know if it was the humidity of the new place (Moved from MI to FL) or what, but it leaked less often and most days I could pick it up and write with it, and not have to worry about the nib being dried out. I still had some leakage issues, but not quite as bad. In the end though it just became too much of a hassle and I stopped using it again. I moved back to MI and this weekend I put a fresh cartridge in it and tried it out on my moleskine and it wrote great - sometimes it feels scratchy. So I am going to put it in rotation again and see what happens.

In contrast, I have purchased cheap waterman demonstrators which have been drama-free and have written beautifully, so I don't think it's just that I don't know what I'm doing.

I have a Levenger True Writer Metalist ballpoint. It is a very beautiful pen, unfortunately I'm not crazy about the way it writes. It has way too much drag for me. And their Fine point doesn't seem to be much different than their Medium point. Although admittedly, I do wonder if I was actually given a Medium point when I asked for a Fine point when I was in the store to get the refill. The point doesn't seem any different and there are no markings on the refill to indicate it's anything other than a ball point (no color even listed).

I had been thinking about buying a roller ball but I bought one of Levenger's "Roller Ballpoint" refills instead. It's basically a rollerball refill for their ballpoint pens. I liked that much better (even if the fine point isn't very fine) but I either got a defective one or the design is bad because while I can twist the cartridge out to write with it, when I twist it back the cartridge doesn't retract. The only way to get it to go back in is to push it down on something. Obviously not a solution so I ended up just shoving the refill into a desk drawer.

Parker is my far and away favorite pen. I have about half a dozen. Even their $6 jotters write wonderfully. I got a Mont Blanc as a gift a few years ago and love it, but I still prefer my Parkers.

And oddly enough, I tried to see if my Parker refill would fit in my Levenger True Writer just this weekend. It did not fit. I can only speak for the ballpoint refill, no idea about other types of pens and refills.

I'm a huge Levenger fan, but unfortunately, not the true writers. I ebayed mine about three weeks after I got them. I didn't think they wrote any better than a $5 ceramic roller ball and the weight of the pen was wrong for my hands. I'm still looking for the perfect roller ball. I now own a Mont Blanc Starwalker - it's pretty close - but still quite heavy.