KawecoCLASSIC SPORT Fountain Pen Black with 23 Carat Gold-Plated Steel Nib and Iridium Tip for Ink Cartridges I Sport Fountain Pen 13 cm I Nib: EF (Extra Fine)

Love the design and the colour. The nib is beautiful and it writes nicely. What lets the job down is the frankly nasty lightweight plastic, the evident moulding seam lines (both sides of the nib section, through the fluting of the cap and at the top of the barrel ) and the abrasive lip of the cap that catches on the hand. Finicky? Then don't claim in your puff that, 'We love the small details and the big differences that distinguish all our products from affordable mass goods.' I have Chinese versions of the Kaweco Sport that were much cheaper and better made. 'Refined from the past into today's times' translates as 'A brilliant idea betrayed by shoddy, cheapskate manufacture'.

The compactness closed (10.5 cms), and the fact that it becomes a normal-sized fountain pen when open and capped, are the selling points of this pen. Otherwise it's no-frills and somewhat overpriced at £20+, as was the extremely basic Kaweco Squeeze converter for another £20+ (actually, I think I blundered badly there - I've subsequently seen the converter sold for around £2.50!) . I wish I hadn't bought it in white as it looks cheap, like the stereotypical Essex girls' shoes! The other colours are significantly better when you see them in real life. The good-looking extra-fine nib on mine seemed to be marginally on the wet side but it works OK and the pen is comfortable to write with. I know comparisons are odious, but I have quite a strong preference for the Lamy Safari - it looks better, feels better and writes better, for a better price (at least in the UK), and the difference in closed length (the Sport is 3.5cms shorter than the Safari) is not significant to me. Maybe the Sport has a function as an inobtrusive back-up pen, stowed in a bag or briefcase with a couple of cartridges, for when your favourite pen runs out and you've no bottle ink.

I give the pen three stars and you may be surprised by that when you hear it didn't work properly. The reason is that it was a really nice pen. It was delivered quickly, had a nice easy to hold shape and wrote exquisitely. The problem was it refused to work straight from taking the cap off. It had to be shaken and, by the time I gave up and returned it 2 days later, it needed really vigorous shaking and would dry up as I used it. But here's the kicker - I genuinely loved using it (when it worked). The ink flow was brilliant and the product on the page stunning. I'm going to try again and keep my fingers crossed.

Looks nice and I was pleased when it arrived. It writes poorly, scratchy and Intermittent flow of ink. Had to go over work again to be able to read it. Would not recommend

Great pen.