The Campo Marzio Design USB pen

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

It arrived in the mail from Italy (via the Campo Marzio shop in Sydney - YAY) and a lovely little package this is:

A sweet green box, the guarantee in a nice little scroll, and the cartridges in a handy ink bottle (yes, it's a cartridge filler).

The colours are bright, the design simple, so far so good. 

7/10

APPEARANCE AND DESIGN

The orange is bright, the purple bright too; but they work well together in a fun way.

This is a simple pen (with a little gimmick).  The end of the pen pulls off (it's a bit of a pull, but that makes it nice and safe) and, Voila! a USB!

I'm not a major fan of metal sections, but in this pen it works well enough; and matches the steel nib well.

This is a pen that attracts mostly with it's colours and it's rear end; the actual shape of the pen and material is utilitarian - but that's cool.

I'm not sure what the pen is made of (or what it's called for that matter...the web site just calls it a USBFP), but it seems to be some sort of enamelled metal - again utilitarian; but OK.

The cap pops on and off with a satisfying "click", and fits snugly on the body of the pen.

The only little issues in design are that:

• the clip (metal) is extremely stiff and you'll have trouble flexing this over more than a shirt sleeve; and 
• the pen does not post either on top of the USB, nor with the USB end removed - an opportunity lost!

As for the USB stick; I'd have to say I was surprised when I plugged it in to see what capacity it had and what might be on it. The disc was blank (no advertising material - good); and my iMac tells me it is a 4Gb USB - not bad. Not sure about replacements; but that should keep the average writer (or very average in my case), going for a little while.

6.5/10

WEIGHT AND DIMENSION

Closed the USBFP measures 13cm.  With the cap removed it's 12cm; and with it's USB end removed it's 10cm (getting quite small by this stage).

It's a reasonably thick pen, about 1.4cm wide in the body, and about 1cm for the metal section. 

The pen is also reasonably heavy. I haven't weighed it, but certainly heavier than a Noodlers Ahab or Lamy Safari. Nevertheless, capless, it balances well in the hand.

6.5/10 (reduced for diminishing size)

NIB AND PERFORMANCE

The accompanying nib is an Iridium point Steel nib from Germany (so says the nib).

...and the black, plastic feed is marked with a "5" (not sure if that is a mark out of 10, but could be).

The nib however, seriously lets this unit down. While the nib worked relatively quickly out of the box, (more fine than medium), and the scrolling looks lovely,  it is a little scratchy, quite stiff, has no real feedback and gives the whole pen a cheap feel all over - even a touch tinny. 

Very disappointing. May possibly loosen over time, but you need your pen to call to you to write again - not happening.

5/10

FILLING SYSTEM

Cartridge. Good that they give you Pelikan cartridges with the pen (6) black. But not a big fan of cartridge pens (as the sole filling system) and those cartridges are really hard to get out of the narrow bottle opening.

5/10

COST AND VALUE

This was not an expensive pen. About AU$75 which, at time of writing, translates to about US$67; so I shouldn't be harsh. The memory on the USB alone should assist with part of that price. The colours are cheery, the size is good (USB still inserted), the balance is nice the nib?, well... this is a fountain pen, and pens like the Lamy Safari, Hero Summer, Platinum cool and Pilot Metropolitan all do a better nib for much less.

5/10

CONCLUSION

Loved the idea, loved the pics and packaging; but...

This is a fountain pen blog, and this pen is not up there in the writing stakes. While the memory capacity is impressive, the writing potential is forgettable.

FINAL RATING:

58/100

0-50 = to be avoided at all costs
51-60 = if it’s cheap and you don’t really care….
61-70 = a nice pen with the makings of something better (just don’t spend too much)
71-80 = A better than average pen with just a few flaws that stop it from being really good
81-90 = A good pen, a keeper only a few minor places off being great
91-95 = Now THIS is a pen! If you can get it: keep it, love it, cherish it, and keep it away from the dog
96-100 = Grail