I've owned this pen for around 8 months now and here are a few of my thoughts -
1) My god does this pen look sharp in person. While in retrospect, I think the one version with the silver/chrome trim is more my style, I don't have any regrets about getting the Dark Age. When this thing gets pulled out in a meeting, it always turns into a conversation. If you're looking for something that can turn heads, this isn't a bad place to start.
2) The nib on mine is an Extra Fine, which like the body, I don't have any regrets about, but from photos, it seems there's a minimal difference between EF and M. While feedback isn't something I notice in everyday writing, it's there and if the line difference truly isn't as big as it is in other pens, I suppose I would have be "happier" with the M. That said, even with an EF it writes so smoothly, I often think about the silly "Dreamtouch" marketing and go "Hum, yeah, I get what they're saying". Part of that is, I'm sure, due to how wet this thing writes. I wouldn't call it a gusher, exactly, but it doesn't spare the ink.
3) Speaking of the nib, the rumors of "quality issues" seem to be somewhat true. In my case, the first copy I picked up had a bit of a misalignment that created a lot of scratching, hard starts, and flow issues. Thankfully, the folks at Goulet Pens were amazingly accommodating and rushed me out a replacement that I've been rocking out without issue. While I love Massdrop's customer service and have had nothing but great experiences, the nature of how they source brings up a minor concern should the same thing pop up here. I have no doubt you would get a refund should you hit the same problem, but I would be worried about not being able to get a replacement (or two, as some folks have had to contend with).
4) Despite having the pen the better part of a year, I still haven't made my mind up about writing posted or unposted. The pen has a good heft to it overall, but sometimes, writing with it posted for longer sessions can feel unbalanced and back heavy. Unposted, it feels really well balanced, but I'm so used to writing with my pens posted that it just feels short to me.
5) Cleaning it is a bit of a chore in my opinion, so I wouldn't suggest changing inks all that often. When trying to find a good ink for it, it felt like it would take twice as long as my other pens to flush. So for me, I landed on Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and I'm sticking with that until my bottle is empty AND I'm confident something will work better.
6) Here's a bad photo of my bad handwriting with this pen in a Code&Quill Origin notebook (100gsm paper)
1) My god does this pen look sharp in person. While in retrospect, I think the one version with the silver/chrome trim is more my style, I don't have any regrets about getting the Dark Age. When this thing gets pulled out in a meeting, it always turns into a conversation. If you're looking for something that can turn heads, this isn't a bad place to start.
2) The nib on mine is an Extra Fine, which like the body, I don't have any regrets about, but from photos, it seems there's a minimal difference between EF and M. While feedback isn't something I notice in everyday writing, it's there and if the line difference truly isn't as big as it is in other pens, I suppose I would have be "happier" with the M. That said, even with an EF it writes so smoothly, I often think about the silly "Dreamtouch" marketing and go "Hum, yeah, I get what they're saying". Part of that is, I'm sure, due to how wet this thing writes. I wouldn't call it a gusher, exactly, but it doesn't spare the ink.
3) Speaking of the nib, the rumors of "quality issues" seem to be somewhat true. In my case, the first copy I picked up had a bit of a misalignment that created a lot of scratching, hard starts, and flow issues. Thankfully, the folks at Goulet Pens were amazingly accommodating and rushed me out a replacement that I've been rocking out without issue. While I love Massdrop's customer service and have had nothing but great experiences, the nature of how they source brings up a minor concern should the same thing pop up here. I have no doubt you would get a refund should you hit the same problem, but I would be worried about not being able to get a replacement (or two, as some folks have had to contend with).
4) Despite having the pen the better part of a year, I still haven't made my mind up about writing posted or unposted. The pen has a good heft to it overall, but sometimes, writing with it posted for longer sessions can feel unbalanced and back heavy. Unposted, it feels really well balanced, but I'm so used to writing with my pens posted that it just feels short to me.
5) Cleaning it is a bit of a chore in my opinion, so I wouldn't suggest changing inks all that often. When trying to find a good ink for it, it felt like it would take twice as long as my other pens to flush. So for me, I landed on Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi and I'm sticking with that until my bottle is empty AND I'm confident something will work better.
6) Here's a bad photo of my bad handwriting with this pen in a Code&Quill Origin notebook (100gsm paper)