We are spoiled for choice these days. The days when you had to fork out a considerable quantity of beer tokens for a good piston filler are gone. This Caliarts Ego II came for around the price of two pints of foaming nectar (unless you frequent a very posh pub).

I’m not really tremendously fond of piston fillers. Usually I prefer a pen that doesn’t hold so much ink. That may seem perverse but even the nicest ink begins to pall a little after a fortnight. On the other hand (who needs to be consistent all the time?) it’s nice to have a good note-taker on the desk that you don’t have to think about. It just goes on and on.

Stylistically, transparent pens have absolutely nothing going for them. I usually avoid them but made an exception in this case in favour of cheapness and convenience. It really is convenient; the cap is the screw-on type but it only requires a turn and a half so it’s fine for note-taking. It is quite entertaining to watch the Eclat de Sapphir sloshing around in there.

Remarkably, considering the price, this Caliarts comes in a tin with a wee spanner, ‘O’ rings and a spare nib and feed unit! I chose fine as I usually do and it’s a very pleasant nib. You will have noted that the turn-button and tassie are bright red. The more conservative among you will have taken that as an indication that the pen should be filled with Diamine Cerise or some-such red ink but that’s not for me. I prefer a contrast. If I had thought about it I would have filled it with Woodland Green.

This isn’t really a review. I, myself, get annoyed with those people who have hardly binned the packaging the pen came in before writing what they call a review. I would prefer to give the pen six months of heavy use, then tell you about it. Even though Chinese pens are vastly improved from the junk they offered a decade ago they still have an unfortunate habit of disassembling themselves in a permanent fashion after a while. All I can really say by way of review for the moment is that the nib is very good indeed, the grip is comfortable and while the pen takes a small ocean of ink it doesn’t fill completely.