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Noodlers Ahab These are a joke right?

Doesn't make what I said not true, though. Noodlers gets a pass when they shouldn't because the guy is likeable and the stuff is USA made.

Edit: And that said, if you note earlier in the thread, I have no problems with my Ahab. It works fine. But $20 is still $20. People have the right to expect a product without flaws instead of a crapshoot.
 
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Doesn't make what I said not true, though. Noodlers gets a pass when they shouldn't because the guy is likeable and the stuff is USA made.
Bingo.

It's a catch-22.
I wouldn't mind spending a little time "tuning" a $100 pen.
But a $100 pen doesn't need to be "tuned" to work properly. Just a quick rinse, dry, and inking is all it needs.

The cheap Chinese crap isn't worth the time to tweak... but so far, they've been fine.

But my genuine made in the USA $20 Ahab?
"Oh, it is intended to be played with"
WHY?????
Is the manufacturer incapable of shipping a product that it ready to use?
The piston sticks.
"You need to grease the o-ring"
Okay... so I order a replacement o-ring and grease.
They arrive.
I install the replacement o-ring and grease it.
I load the pen. It still doesn't write worth a crap, I set it aside.
The next day, I try it again.
It won't flow.
I shake it.
It won't flow.
I pop the body off and attempt to give the piston a nudge to start the flow.
IT'S FREAKING STUCK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Lamy, and my $3 Chinese cheapies all have pistons that have a screw-type knob. Just a gentle twist and it bumps a bit and will start the flow on a pen that's been sitting in the cup unloved for a month.
Noodlers Ahab? Oh no... it's like a hypodermic. There's no "just give it a bump"
Loading and unloading is all it's good for, because attempting to bump it to start the flow will result in unloading at least 10% of the reservoir.

My results after spending far, far, far more than $20 worth of my time?


$pencomp.jpg

Note... the bottom lines are the Lamy Al-Star... not the AS-2000.
It had been sitting in the cup for 3 days untouched. I picked it up and began writing.
The top is the Ahab. It either won't flow, or it dumps.
 
BTW: After attempting that, I once again tried to play with it.
Took it apart, cleaned it AGAIN, reassembled.

Blobs. Tried to adjust the nib and feed as some here indicated to 4 or 7 or however many fins exposed. Mine wouldn't go in that far, and it stuck.
Attempts to withdraw the feed resulted in breaking fins.
 
I like my ahab a lot. But I definitely don't recommend it to people. It is just not a ready to go pen. It is something that one needs to be happy tweaking, almost like a 90% pen kit. It has a ton of room for mods that you can't do with most other pens and certainly not a $20 pen. That's the cool part of it.

I wouldn't compare it to a TWSBI that comes broken or breaks and you can't do anything but send it back.

Don't like it...here are plenty that will buy the ones you are unhappy with on the exchange.
 
I have a Noodler's flex pen (not Ahab) and I actually like it quite a bit. I don't care for the material, it feels like a plastic that will disenegrate under the right conditions. Maybe it'll dissolve if it gets wet, or dry rot easily in the sun. That's just how the surface "feels". I've never had problems writing with it. I don't care for Noodler's inks, nor the idolatry that's seemingly associated with Nathan and his products. I don't need an ink that will ruin my pen, one that I can write in 40 below or one that won't wash away. I'm not going to be writing in extreme cold and if I don't want what's written on the paper, I will just destroy the paper. Who cares how bulletproof the ink is? I've cracked too many noodler's ink caps and gotten ink everywhere and I can't stand how full they are. They're dangerous to open. But, my pen, I like it. I've been wanting to get an Ahab. Though, I really have no reason to. I did have one of the original flex pens and it wasn't good. Apparently some "improvements" were made. My newer pen is fine.
 
The big thing about the Ahab vs the original Flex pen is the size. I gave my original Flex pen to my dad after I couldn't get along with it. The Ahab is much bigger, feels sturdier and the nib is more impressive (looks wise, at least). Ironically the Ahab is the only 1 out of 5 Noodler's products I've tried that hasn't given me problems.

As far as the ink is concerned...I don't like how full the bottles are either. I know Nathan is paranoid about people thinking he's skimping them so that's why they're so full, but it's damn stupid if you ask me. I wonder if people have ruined a shirt because they weren't aware that the bottles were capable of belching on you? I spilled some Purple the first time I ever opened a Noodlers bottle. But I'm not sure if you can complain about that, because as long as you're careful and steady (or you know what to expect) it won't happen.

I'd have an easier time dismissing the brand as a whole -- ink and pens -- if the colors weren't so attractive. But I know that if I'm ever tempted to buy another color, I'm getting a sample first. I don't need any more inks that take hours to dry on 90g paper and are picky about what pens you use them in. I no longer use my 3 Noodler's inls in FP's anymore. They are reserved for dip-pen use only.
 
Ditto.

I love the inks and colors. Didn't have a problem with the bottle being topped off, but it was relaxing after drawing it down into a few pens.
I do like the Lamy bottles with the blotter strip in the base, but that's just something I think is "neat" and the bottle has a "nouveau classic" (how's that for an oxymoron) look to it, but Noodler's certainly has a very good selection of colors and their inks are solid.
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
The unfortunate thing is I really like the everything else about the Ahab. The color is attractive, and I do like the way it feels in my hand. I just received a Hero 1000 from isellpens.com. I inked it without even flushing it and it wrote way better than the Ahab. If the Ahab was a $40 pen that worked I think it would be a excellent pen.
 
The unfortunate thing is I really like the everything else about the Ahab. The color is attractive, and I do like the way it feels in my hand. I just received a Hero 1000 from isellpens.com. I inked it without even flushing it and it wrote way better than the Ahab. If the Ahab was a $40 pen that worked I think it would be a excellent pen.

Another ditto.

It remains in my pen cup because it looks so sweet.
If it weren't for the horrible convertor design, I'd try to retrofit a different nib into it, but the whole reason that I bought it was because of the capabilities of the flex nib.
Meh.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
The funny thing is, as much trouble as I had with the $20 Noodler's, my $10, and $3, and free... BentonClay Chinese imports have been trouble-free.
Not the smoothest nibs in the jar, but they write and write well.
SWMBO loves her dragon and dancing ladies.
My Shakespeare is the smoothest of the bunch... maybe even a touch nicer (though not as beefy) as my Lamy Al-Star.
At one time, I owned 4 Chinese pens that cost me $7 each. I got rid of 3 of them, because they were fine nibs. Other than that- I flushed them, filled them, and they ALWAYS wrote right off. The Ahabs are aesthetically pleasing, and the theory of the flex nib is great. But function has to follow form.
 
I have some really cheap pens that have worked perfectly right away. The Pilot Petit 1 and Platinum Preppy have never given me any problems, and each of those is under $4. Maybe the alliteration has something to do with it.

My two Ahabs worked well out of the box, then developed flow problems. After a fair amount of cleaning and tweaking, they worked well again. They continued to work well while I used up all the ink in them, but now I have cleaned them and set them aside. I may use them again eventually, but there are others I just like better.

Although I learned something about nibs and feeds in the process, I can understand the frustration of people who wanted a working pen, not a course of instruction on pen maintenance. It's one thing to make it easy for the user to tweak the pen, but even at the $20 price point, the maker should be able to provide a ready-to-go writing instrument, or at least one that needs no more than a quick flush. People who find out about Noodler's pens through a forum like this one may know in advance what to expect, but someone browsing Amazon or eBay for an affordable first pen is likely to be taken by surprise.

[Edit] I'll add that I do have one Noodler's pen that's a keeper, the regular $15 Flex Piston. Not the new Konrad, but the one preceding it. I've never had a problem with it through several refills, and it feels more comfortable in my hand that the fatter Ahab. The ink capacity isn't great, but it's a demo model, so I always know when to top it off. Even with it, though, I can't help wonder if I was just lucky enough to get a "good one".
 
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The Ahab isn't made in the USA. I believe it's assembled here. Nathan said in one of his videos that he wanted to have it manufactured here, but he had to send the manufacturing overseas in order to keep the cost down.

I like the Ahab. I've owned 3 of them, plus a pair of Creepers. They are finicky pens, but you can get some interesting lines out of them.
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
NEWSFLASH!

Today I decided to give it another try. I removed the nib and feed, flushed the feed and removed the breather tube from the Ahab, put it back together without the breather tube, and now it works. I'm not sure if the feed was blocked or there was some issue with the tube, or the nib and feed were not adjusted correctly, but now it writes consistently, with zero skipping and perfect flow.

Since I have no idea which one of those things corrected the issue I can't help any of you guys that gave up on the pen, but I at least feel a little better that this stupid pen didn't get the best of me.
 
NEWSFLASH!

Today I decided to give it another try. I removed the nib and feed, flushed the feed and removed the breather tube from the Ahab, put it back together without the breather tube, and now it works. I'm not sure if the feed was blocked or there was some issue with the tube, or the nib and feed were not adjusted correctly, but now it writes consistently, with zero skipping and perfect flow.

Since I have no idea which one of those things corrected the issue I can't help any of you guys that gave up on the pen, but I at least feel a little better that this stupid pen didn't get the best of me.

Well done, Derrick. If I had to guess at the culprit it would be the feed. Whatever it was, glad you can enjoy the pen.
 

oc_in_fw

Fridays are Fishtastic!
NEWSFLASH!

Today I decided to give it another try. I removed the nib and feed, flushed the feed and removed the breather tube from the Ahab, put it back together without the breather tube, and now it works. I'm not sure if the feed was blocked or there was some issue with the tube, or the nib and feed were not adjusted correctly, but now it writes consistently, with zero skipping and perfect flow.

Since I have no idea which one of those things corrected the issue I can't help any of you guys that gave up on the pen, but I at least feel a little better that this stupid pen didn't get the best of me.

I am a glutton for punishment. I am going to try again without the tube. I hope it works- I really like the way the pens look (Bumblebee and Arizona)
 
The Ahab isn't made in the USA. I believe it's assembled here. Nathan said in one of his videos that he wanted to have it manufactured here, but he had to send the manufacturing overseas in order to keep the cost down.

I like the Ahab. I've owned 3 of them, plus a pair of Creepers. They are finicky pens, but you can get some interesting lines out of them.
As mentioned above, if he sold it for $40, or even $60, and it worked out of the box as well as my Lamy, I'd be happy as a clam.
The body itself is beautiful!

The problem is, experiences like this tend to turn people off to the maker... certainly did me.
Now, if Noodler's makes another flex nib that works without having to fiddle with it, I might be willing to give it a try, but based on my experiences I'd be shy to do it without multiple solid recommendations.
 
The Noodler's pens are pretty clearly Indian in origin. A pen called the Chelpark Maverick is made using the same injection molding as the "Nib Creeper" style pen. The Ahab is clearly made using at least many parts of the Camlin SD injection molds. I haven't figured out anything specific about the Konrad and its origin at this point, but I'm looking around and pondering it.
 
Even if the origin of the various parts is India or wherever else, it is assembled in the US if I'm not mistaken. And as such, and since the flaws are "easily correctable," they should be corrected during the assembly stage. Unless specifically sold as a "kit" pen, as noted above.
 
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