V200 Titanium Vacuum Filling

I am fairly new to the world of fountain pens, and I wanted to try some different filling systems. To date, all my pens are cartridge converters, perhaps because all my pens are less than $100.00. When I saw this, I thought I would give it a try to better understand and appreciate vacuum fillers. The price is great, but the pen is lovely. I got a fine Asvine nib, and I love that it is a smooth writer. This is a great pen and the price is less than many other vacuum fillers. It is a fine pen for a very reasonable price.

Bought the V200 <EF> Asvine nib about two weeks ago as my first fountain pen. Paired it with the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black and a 24lb cotton paper. I am extremely pleased with the purchase. So much so that I bought my wife the anodized version of the V200 for her first pen, two days after this one arrived. Both have written excellent out of the box, with no tuning required. The piston rod on mine did have a slight warp. My wife's was flawless, so I think it was just a fluke, since I haven't seen it mentioned in any other reviews. The only impact this has is when the tiny O-ring on the end of the rod intereacts with the end of the feed. This one takes a little fiddling to seat the O-ring properly and get a complete shutoff. Again, my wife's pen functions perfectly, so I have something to compare against. That is literally the only negative I have to point out, though. Everything else is immaculate. Fit and finish are, with the obvious exception, impeccable throughout both pens. Operation of the vacuum filler is flawless, even with the curved rod. The section is comfortable with the kind of micro-grip you only really get from brushed metals. The thread profile here is also very easy to the touch. No sharp edges or burrs. Solid, well-built feel, right down to the cap. I haven't had any trouble feeling where I should stop twisting, but if over-tightening is a problem for you, it does not have any kind of thread stop. It is metal to plastic, both top and bottom. I don't recommend being hasty with the blind cap in particular. That would be possible to cross thread pretty severely. Simple solution is to treat it like a fine instrument and it should serve admirably. It is also quite simple to unscrew the section from the barrel and fill the reservoir with a dropper or syringe, which is what I like to do.The writing experience has been smooth and problem free. The few exceptions to that have been my own lack of knowledge or experience and not really anything to do with the pen. No hard starts or skipping. Really nice, super-fine line writing in reverse. The nib itself is beautifully polished and engraved with some decorative scroll work and the size of the point. The Asvine produced nib and feed have worked without a problem, right out of the box. I have no experience here, but I would personally say that it feels pretty stiff. Little to no line variation, which is a desirable trait for me, at least in this context. Asvine also offers replacement nibs in all four colors, for a little over $5 each. Replacing them is as easy as unscrewing one and threading another one in. I have only traveled with it once, but that was by bicycle and not over perfectly flat terrain. No leaks or burps during that trip.Would absolutely recommend and have plans to buy another in the next few days. If you are into demonstrator type pens, this one is offering some phenomenal value.

I love pens. I’m not quite a collector, or I don’t think of myself as one. I have a lot of pens ranging from the pretty expensive (montblanc and montegrapa) down to the very cheap (I love a Sakura Micron) and dozens in between. I also have been on the hunt for the perfect blue ink and so I have maybe 10 blue inks of various stripes. The last few years I’ve been fascinated by vaccuum exhibition style fountain pens. I love them for a number if reasons. 1) you’re freed from the fiddly internal vacuum cartridges which never properly work (or heaven forbid the awful disposable ones) 2) you can hold a lot of ink 3) you can clearly see that ink and 4) the engineering is fascinating. The reigning champion for me has been a TWSBI 580 diamond that I bought in 2019. It is the pen I benchmark others against, whether cheap or expensive (it can be had here on Amazon for 55USD and is well worth it). The TWSBI has a medium nib which I love. But on certain papers and in certain contexts it’s a lot. So yesterday I received the Asvine titanium vacuum pen with a fine nib. So far I’m very Impressed and I think it’s a real contender with my TWSBi. Build quality is excellent, perhaps slightly better than the TWSBi, although time will tell how it ages. Weighting is good and actually slightly better than the TWSBI, especially with the cap seated on the back (We’ll get to this in a second, but I think the reason is that the filling mechanisms are different) The nib is great, ink flow is consistent and uninterrupted, it’s slightly less smooth than the TWSBI But hard to assess how much of that’s combination of age and the much finer nib, there is slightly more “scratch” albeit very nuanced. The one draw back versus the TWSBI, which isn’t all downside is the vacuum mechanism. The TWSBI has a screw driven piston. To fill the pen you twist the back of the pen all the way clock wise, insert the nib in the ink pot and twist all the way counter clockwise. The twisting action is actually what drives the piston. Twisting counter clockwise pulls the piston head back and draws the ink into the barrel. The Asvine on the contrary, does not have a screw based system. It’s a smooth piston rod. You unscrew the back, pull the piston rod all the way out, insert the nib into the inkpot and drive the piston forward. Driving the piston forward forces the air from the barrel creating the vacuum that pulls in the ink. It’s a cool concept, but I have not been able to get the barrel more than 1/3 full. It seems that you have much less control over the filling process with this system than the TWSBI. That being said it’s mechanically more robust than the TWSBI as the only moving part is a titanium piston rod, vs the much more complex mechanism in the TWSBI. Further when you’re not filling the back cap Screws down tightly to the barrel of the pen, This is, of course, where the cap sits when writing. Attached pics Are using the excellent Noodle xfeather dark blue. I Hope this helps. Cheers

I have found Asvine fountain pens to be well made and good writers; amazing quality for the price. This V200 <F> nib clear Titanium vacuum filler lives up to my expectation. It has a screw cap and the clear body makes it easy to know how much ink is left. The body holds a generous amount of ink. It is comfortable in my small hand, but due to the weight, I usually use it unposted. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because vacuum fillers are not my favorite, but really it’s an excellent pen for a very reasonable price; especially if you like a little weight to your fountain pens.