Shaggy's Left Handed Journey In Writing

Hello again readers,

Today I want to give you my review of a pen that I recently got as a gift from my sister. This pen is the Majohn A1 pen. It is a Chinese version of the Pilot Vanishing Point. The similarities between these two pens brings a few questions to mind that I will explain my thoughts on near the end of the post. Let’s just jump right into the review.

As I stated earlier, I recently got the Majohn A1 as a gift and have loved writing with it so much that I have already had to put my second batch of ink into it. This pen is a Chinese company that has made this copy of Pilot’s Vanishing Point pen. Both of these pens are retractable fountain pens, with Pilot making theirs since the ’70’s and Majohn only making theirs for a few years now. This pen is a metal pen so for several reasons it can’t be changed into an eyedropper pen. This pen is offered both with and without a clip like the Vanishing Point, but it is nearly half of the price.

I love how smoothly this pen writes, even in my cheaper notebooks. So far the two inks I have used are Fountain Pen Revolution Blue-Black and De Atramentis Black Roses, and both of these inks have given the same kind of writing experience. This is a pen that I would recommend just for how smoothly it can write.

A slight update right in the middle of me writing this post, but mail just arrived and I was expecting another package which did indeed show up today. I was expecting another gift to show up today from my niece and nephew, and it wound up being a second A1 pen. I have already inked it up with Lamy Mango, and it writes really nicely. I chose this ink so that I would have one pen inked up with a more work appropriate ink and the other inked with a more fun color. The pen from my sister is the shiny black and silver version, while the other one is the matte black version.

This pen definitely raises some moral questions since it is so identical to the much more expensive Pilot pen. Many people will pass this pen up just because it is a “knock-off” pen, but I think there is a way that this pen could actually be a good thing for Pilot in the long run. One of the reasons I think that this pen is not something to just dismiss due to moral issues is the fact that it is a cheap version of this pen. If you purchase this pen with the intent to see if a retractable fountain pen like the Vanishing Point is something you want, you have to consider that this a steel nib whereas the Vanishing Point is also offered with a gold nib. There is going to be a difference in how they write as a result of this.

I think that when it comes to nearly any product, there is inevitably going to be this same kind of moral gray area with imitations. If we use these imitations as stepping stones to see if the type of product will be a good idea, then having a cheaper version is a good thing. That said there will be people who will only buy the cheap imitation products and try to pass them off as more expensive ones, so they do have their drawbacks to the original creators of the products. Morals are kind of tricky aren’t they?

I think that is going to do it for my review of the Majohn A1. I hope you found it entertaining and at least somewhat informative. If you have already purchased the A1 I would love to hear your thoughts on it, so please feel free to comment. I would also love to hear your thoughts on how to handle these imitations that are popping up in various markets. I think that my next post is going to be a little more in depth look at my own writing style, so that I can share how I work to prevent smudging my writing. Until next time readers. Stay happy and healthy, and keep on learning!

Shaggy