The Numbers:
Weight: 34g
Length (capped): 137mm
Length (uncapped): 123mm
Length of cap: 58mm
Price: Various on Ebay
Material: Metal and plastic
Filling Mechanism: Cartridge and converter (Included)
Colours: Gold, Silver and Bronze
Intro:
Before I go into the review of the Baoer 507 I would like to give my thanks to Maybelline of On Fountain Pens for the loan of the pens for review. Do check out her website for more reviews of pens and inks.
Appearence:
The Baoer 507 is a black pen with gold accents. I really enjoy the barrel design with the chinese style painting of horses. The clip is very stiff and you can't use it one handed. The grip section is a black ridged plastic material. It is nothing fantastic or special but I like the ridges on the grip section as they help with the grip.
The pen is front heavy when unposted which helps with the ease of writing. The cap posts securely on the back of the barrel but that makes the pen back heavy and uncomfortable for me to use properly. The snap on cap closes with a satisfying click. Though the cap is made of cheap plastic there is a metal insert at the top of the cap which adds with the weight of the cap. The Baoer 507 is tipped with a gold shiny finial while the brand name is emblazoned around the top section of the cap. The Baoer 507 is a hefty pen, it feels a little too heavy for my liking. Overall, all these elements add to the premium feel to the pen.
Performance:
The Baoer 507 comes with a two tone nib. Mine writes very much like a stub nib, with the vertical strokes are thinner than the horizontal strokes, though I suspect Bao Er doesn't offer any nib options for their pens. I am putting it down to poor QC but it is a happy conincidence for those who prefer a stub over other nib sizes. Given the stub-ish nature of the nib, it has a reasonable amount of line variation. The nib is smooth doing horizontal and vertical strokes but it has a little feedback when doing diagonal strokes. Other than that oddity, the nib writes reasonably well.
Also when I first fill the pen, I had a hard time getting the nib to pen. I tried pushing the ink out till it flows out of the nib but it still didn't write. However, after a couple of tries doing that, the nib wrote without problems after that.
Conclusion:
The Baoer 507 is a surprisingly well made China fountain pen. it is a value for money cheap fountain pen. You can find one on eBay easily to add one to your collection. Once again my thanks to Maybelline of On Fountain Pens for the loan of the pens for review
Pros:
* Value for money
* Snap on cap
* Beautiful barrel design
* Post-able
Cons:
* Heavy
* Weird QC on the nib
* Hard to get ink to the nib
