Franklin Covey Lexington Chrome w/Gold Tone Medium Nib Fountain Pen

This pen came in a nice little container (I wasn't expecting a box for such an inexpensive pen), and I have a lot of good things to say about this pen:- It has a very nice design, especially with the gold nib.- It feels perfect in the hand - not too heavy and not too light.- It is the perfect size for my hand in both diameter and height, (I would consider my hands as fairly "normal" sized).- It is very affordable.- It is very smooth; one of the smoothest fountain pens I have.- I got it to flow right after inserting the cartridge that came with it.- The ink doesn't feather for the most part- I find that most Cross cartridges (that's what I think came with this pen, correct me if I'm wrong) lay down ink more consistently than Parker cartridges; if the ink is black then it's black, unlike Parker's black ink, which ranges from a very light black to a slightly darker black.I've only had one problem with this pen, although it was my fault for the most part. Seeing as how Cross refills are very small, I thought the barrel of this pen was meant to hold an extra cartridge. So after I inserted the cartridge that came with the pen (which is in the barrel and takes a bit of shaking to get out), I put another Cross cartridge in, facing the other way. I tried reattaching the barrel and ad difficulties getting it to close, so I twisted even harder. Very stupid of me, as I soon found out that I had jammed the second cartridge in the barrel. I tried many things to get this out, such as squirting soap and shaking it, using a toothpick, using tweezers. I ever tried to suck it out with my mouth and then with a vacuum, but nothing worked. I finally managed to dig it out after about an hour with one of my aunt's titanium crab meat pickers (which she would later give me a huge scolding for). It has curved ends which were perfect, although I did mess up a few times and ended up scratching up the inside of the barrel, but that was better than not being able to use the pen at all. I got it to come out by penetrating the cartridge all the way with the crab meat picker, then giving it a nice twist in order to secure the cartridge and then pulling very hard. It finally came out after an hour, a wasted cartridge, a crab meat picker gone to waste, and ink all over the sink as well as my shirt. But it was worth it for such a nice pen, and I learned my lesson. Moral of the story is not to put an extra ink cartridge into any barrel. I know some fit, but even if I'm sure, I would rather just carry an extra fountain pen all the time than have to go through this whole mess again.

I found myself missing my fountain pens after several years and found that most stores don't carry them any more. After scanning many other Parkers and Pilots I settled on this one which is only a little more expensive than some disposable fountain pens available online.This is a nice writing instrument, with a good weight and size and writes decently. This is made by Cross for Franklin Covey also you are guaranteed good quality although not the same level as the 5 times more expensive genuine Cross line up. The chrome and black lacquer look nice for business use. The nib writes with medium thickness and the writing is smooth, especially if you don't let the ink dry by leaving the pen open without the cap.It came in a ordinary plastic package so may not make the best gift. However, I bought it for my own use and I am very pleased with it's performance. It came with one black ink cartridge, so you should order more with the pen. I found more detailed pictures of this pen on the Franklin Covey website if you want a closer look.

I am relatively inexperienced when it comes to fountain pens, but am quite particular about my writing utensils of all kinds. I write every day and have used this pen for the majority of my writing since the day I got it. The pen itself is gorgeous, holds nicely in my small hands, and has the perfect amount of weight to keep my thumb from going numb after long writing sessions. Mine came with an ink cartridge hidden in the barrel so I was able to use it right away. I have never needed to prime it, the ink is very smooth-flowing, and the nib does not scratch. The ink itself seems to be decent (minimal feathering, and pretty true black color though when examined closely the black appears grey), but certainly not the best available.The product writes nicely, is a fantastic starter fountain pen or a cheap one to bring everywhere. My only complaint is not with the pen itself but the lack of information about ink replacement possibilities. I decided to buy another fountain pen because there was no information about converters that fit this one and the international-sized cartridges (the only ones that fit this pen) are an add-on only item for amazon. I was hoping I might find a converter for this one so that I can switch inks more regularly and have a larger selection for ink-types, but the cartridges are convenient and great for how much traveling I do.Overall, this is a fantastic, high quality fountain pen and I love that I have a beautiful pen that I can bring everywhere and use all the time without a steep investment.

This was my first fountain pen as a young adult. It's still going strong. I bought this as a gift to go with a planner for my mom and she liked it. I opened it to make sure everything was good before giving it. The great thing is the pen body. It's a nice weight, looks normal, and HAS A CLIP. When you get into pens you get very willing to take all the bits apart, flush them, customize nibs, put in weird ink, and it amounts to having trouble grabbing a writing implement that will just write a regular line in black. Because this one was a high school graduation gift I don't do all that and am rewarded with a pen that writes.

For the money its hard to beat..but I had to replace the ink cartridge with a better one like the Cross refills. I bought 3 and gave one as a gift. All three pens had the same issue; if the pen is left unused for several hours, the ink on the ball point dries up. You have to drag the ball point across the paper a bit before it starts working. Its a 2 star as is and a 5 star with a reliable Cross refill, so I averaged it to 3 stars for the inconvenience. The Pen has a nice feel and looks deluxe....its just needed a good ink cartridge. I bought the Cross refills and I am very happy with the pen. Its still a good value for $4 more (ave. cost of a Cross refill).