Bexley Phoenix Fountain Pen Review

Writing with a fountain pen has become a resurrected art. With mobile technology enveloping our modern culture in almost every facet, many of our writing needs have been replaced by the keyboard or the touch screen. In recent years, many of you (especially followers of our blog), have heeded a call to return back to a more personal form of expression using pen and paper. Much like the phoenix arising from the ashes, the almighty pen has made a comeback and continues to grow in popularity.

The Bexley Phoenix collection is a new release of 2015 for the Ohio based manufacturer of fountain pens. The Phoenix is aimed to recapitulate the essence of the fountain pen's return to relevance. Each feature of this edition answers the questions of why the fountain pen has experienced a resurgence.

The Pen Details

Proudly made in the USA, the Bexley Phoenix is crafted from acrylic resin and features an internal piston-filling ink system with a clear or translucent barrel to view the ink that it holds. Part-demonstrator, part-acrylic resin pen, the Phoenix marries the two concepts of having an eye-catching acrylic used in the cap with the transparency of a demonstrator barrel. Part of what has made pens a modern luxury accessory is the wide array of beautiful acrylic resin materials that they are made from. There's a color design for every personality here - Solid black for the classical purist, Cappuccino for the latte-lover, Red for those who have a fiery passion for writing, and Blue Velvet for those who fine serenity and calm in handwriting.

The demonstrator barrel with ink window is a feature that has become such a staple in pen designs across all brands. Writers love watching the ink be sucked up into the pen and seeing the ink slosh around in the barrel as they write. Also, it's easy to see when a new fill up is needed.

And you won't need to worry about filling this pen very often. The internal piston mechanism has a capacity of almost a full 1 mL of ink.

Bexley Phoenix Demensions
Length Capped : 5.35"
Length Open without Cap : 5.125"
Length Posted : 6.45"
Diameter at Section : 0.43"
Weight : 0.92 oz.

The Writing Experience

Uncapping and filling the Bexley Phoenix is much like your standard Pelikan piston-filler model. However, it is noticeable that the finishing on the cap threads and the piston mechanism are not very smooth. In fact, they take a more encouraged twist to operate. Possibly, over time and use, the "stiffness" of unscrewing the blind cap will become looser and smoother. Right out of the box, it isn't so.

The pen filled right up on the first turn without any hesitation. I used J Herbin Cafe des Iles, since it has a lovely coffee bean on the bottle label and it goes well thematically with the Bexley Phoenix Cappuccino finish.

The medium, stainless steel nib on this pen wrote wet and juicy with a feather-light touch. I was surprised by how smooth this stainless steel nib performed without any adjustment. Writing on a Rhodia Ice 80gsm notepad, the pen effortlessly gave a rich, wet line.

Writing for an extended period of time was easier with the cap in-hand than posted on the back-end. The cap does post on the back, but not very securely. The writer would have to firmly fit the cap on the back-end in order to get it to post well enough. The black, front end section is a pleasure to comfortably hold while writing. From an aesthetic point of view, I would have wanted it to match the acrylic resin color of the cap.

A Few Choice Words

• Writing Quality : The stainless steel nib performs exceptionally well as a wet writer right out of the box. One of the smoothest steel nibs that I've experienced. The pen's size and weight is decent enough for a man or woman. (grade A)
• Aesthetic Quality : The resin caps are quite appealing and the novelty of an ink window is always fun and useful. The clear window could be polished more and the "frosted" white part that hides the piston mechanism is not very flattering. Really would have been more impressive if more of the pen was made out of the cap material. (grade B-)
• Utility : Piston-Fill system has a large thirst for writing fluid. Writers who prefer the cap posted may not be happy with the loose posting of this pen's cap. Tight cap & blind cap operation. (grade B)
• Price : Drawing another comparison to Pelikan, the Bexley Phoenix $219 MSRP price point is similar to a Pelikan Tradition Series M200 with a steel nib. The money is better spent with the Pelikan. (grade C+)

Final Grade : B
While the Bexley Phoenix does provide a fountain pen that stores a large amount of ink and writes exceptionally well with a steel nib, the fit and finishing of this pen leaves something to be desired at this price level.

Vote for Goldspot Pens 2012 Pen of the Year

It's that time of year again! As we exercise our right to vote for the national election today, here is a poll for pen lovers that is more lighthearted in spirit. We asked the fine folks at Fountain Pen Network to nominate candidate pens that debuted in 2012. After receiving over 40 responses, we have picked the top nominees for 2012 Pen of the Year.

The Nominees Are :

Delta Momo

 Lamy 2000 Stainless Steel

Conid's Fountainbel Bulkfiller Demonstrator

Fountainbel-Conid Bulk Filler by Darren McDonald

Visconti Opera Mosquito Filler Demonstrator and Blue Typhoon

OMAS 360 LE Red

Edison Beaumont

 Pelikan m205 Taupe

 Bexley Hometown Ohio (Cities Collection)

Please note that you can click on any of the nominees to find a larger pic or more information to help you decide. There is also a write-in option if your choice is not present on the list (Please keep it clean, folks.) Voting will be open until Monday, November 12th at 11:59pm Eastern US Standard time. The winner will be announced next Tuesday, the 13th. Have fun and cheer on your favorite pen from this year! Vote below and share with your friends:

Lets do the Jitterbug!

Get your dancing shoes on! The new Bexley Jitterbug! has become the talk of the town and it is easy to get swept up onto the dance floor. According to The Bexley Pen Company, the Jitterbug! design arose from finding a small cache of 70-year-old art deco style clips. The gold clip is paired with 4 exciting acrylic resins to produce a sharp and lively pen design.

As many fountain pen collectors would know, the terms "fountain pen" and "pocket friendly" are usually not found together when discussing a pen design. The Jitterbug, with its 4" size (capped), aims to fill the need for a pocket-sized writing instrument that is high on quality and writing comfort.

For most writers, such a small writing implement is not very comfortable to write with, which is why the Bexley Jitterbug was designed so that when the cap is posted on the back, the pen is a manageable 5 3/8" long from nib to crown. Take a look below at the image of a Jitterbug when compared to a Noodler's Ahab Flex, which is known to be a slightly larger-than-normal sized pen.

Putting the compact features of this pen aside for a moment, lets talk about the acrylic resins chosen for these pens. They are absolutely gorgeous and fit the theme very well. In the case of the red acrylic model (shown below), the material is partially translucent, which adds to the depth and richness of the pen's visual appeal.

There were only two drawbacks to the Jitterbug! that were apparent when reviewing this collection. The first being the filling system. Due to its limited size, the Jitterbug can only use international size ink cartridges or eyedropper directly into the barrel. Sure, the eyedropper route will let you use bottled ink and enable a larger capacity that the pen will hold, but you may come into some excessive flow issues as the ink falls below 1/3 full. The second issue I noticed was more of a pet peeve in that the cap doesn't post as deeply and securely as I would have preferred for such a small pen. When the cap is posted on the backend, it has the ability to be posted on a slight slant, which doesn't feel fully secure. Some people may argue with me on that point, but I have talked with many customers in the past who value a deep, secure posting of the cap.

Despite my own reservations about the pen, the Jitterbugs! have been a hot seller and continue to waltz their way into writer's hearts. If you own a Jitterbug, we would love to hear your thoughts on the design in the comments below. Do you use cartridges or fill via eyedropper? How do you feel about the cap posting and the size in your hand? Drop us a line anytime.