Review: Pelikan M200 Fountain Pen with Fine Nib

The Pelikan M200 is a fountain pen that uses an inbuilt piston refilling mechanism. Pelikan actually patented this piston mechanism in 1929. Today, we see that type of inbuilt piston refilling mechanism in other fountain pens, such as the TWSBI 530 or the Pilot Custom Heritage 92.

The Pelikan M200 is a special edition pen that has evolved from the M150. The difference is in the body. M200 has the demonstrator clear transparent bodies. You can get the M200 in either clear transparent or Cognac which is brown transparent.

The M200 cost around USD $90 to $110.

The pen comes in a nice packaging box. It's held inside a soft faux vellum envelope. It's classy.

When I first took out the pen, I was surprised by its small size. It measures just 12.5cm with the cap on. Not only that, the diameter is quite small as well. It might be more suited for people with same hands. I like the size though. It's more compact than the TWSBI 530 that I also have.

The pen is mostly made of transparent resin. The high production quality ensures that no dust is trapped inside during manufacturing. The gold parts are plated with 24K gold. Sadly the nib isn't gold but that would have increased the price significantly.

I love demonstrator pens because it's really good to see the refilling mechanism in actual, and also it's great for checking out how much ink is left.

Compared to the Pelikan M150, the M200's cap has a big more metal extension just above the clip.

The stainless steel is plated with 24K gold, and it's available in four sizes: XF, F, M, B.

There's just a very simple Pelikan logo carved onto the nib surface.

Mine's the Fine nib and it is surprisingly smooth. The nib's quite thin though. Even though it's a Fine nib, the strokes look like they are from a Medium nib.

While it's not a flex nib, you can actually get thicker strokes when you apply some pressure.

The Fine nib feels more springy and can give you thicker strokes with pressure. The Extra Fine nib is much harder and has no flex at all. That's something to note if you want a more flexible or versatile nib.

Here's a look at the knob that you can turn to push or pull the piston.

One big advantage about this pen is the ink reservoir is quite big, so you don't have to refill this pen often. But refilling is very convenient also with the inbuilt piston mechanism.

Here are some sketches with the M200.

The strokes are much thicker than what I would expect from a Fine nib. That's okay because I prefer thicker strokes. Ink flow is great and the lines come out dark, just the way I like them.

The nib is smooth and just glides on the paper effortlessly. Again, it's another surprise because I had expected the Fine nib to be scratchy.

As mentioned earlier, the nib can create strokes of varying thickness to a certain degree. That's the third surprise from this pen. All are good welcome surprises.

Conclusion

I didn't know what to expect from this pen but after using it, I was really impressed and extremely satisfied.

It's a pen full of surprises. It's a wonderful writing and sketching pen with good ink flow, smooth nib, and a tiny degree of flex (only for the Fine nib and not EF) just enough to create thicker strokes. It looks nice, and it's lightweight.

All that for USD $110. I say it's really worth it.

While the TWSBI 580 may be bought at half price, I still prefer the M200 for its size. And I feel that the look is more elegant.

Highly recommended.

Definitely check out the other bodies available, such as the beautiful M200 Cafe Creme edition.

Availability

Check out more reviews of the Pelikan M200 on Amazon.

Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp