Orange and Swirl // Pelikan Souveran M600 Special [REVIEW]

Pelikan Souveran M600 Vibrant Orange
Special Edition 2018 Piston fill 14kt Gold F nib
$440 USD (Pen Chalet)
Currently Inked: Noodler’s Apache Sunset $12.50 USD (Pen Chalet)

A much delayed review finally! Since my Holiday Haul, I’ve acquired quite a few other goodies but frankly no time to sit peacefully and share about them. I finally had some time during the long weekend (back in May) to start this one, completing the main portion of my review — the doodle spread — and now having taken a few more sittings to photograph, edit and write, it’s finally done.

Here we have the Pelikan Souveran M600 Vibrant Orange Fountain Pen. I never imagined I would belch out this amount of money again for another Pelikan. One was truly enough. But (there’s always a but), this one caused another tossing and turning of debate before I finally caved. It seems a bit odd to be touting a Special Edition pen that usually by now you can’t get anymore, but, in this case the pen is still available and on a good ‘sale’ –> at $385 on Goulet. That being said, the special edition factor has sort of worn off a bit. For some reason, the availability of the pen makes the appeal drop a little bit. Such is pen addict life. Anyway, it’s time to take a look at the smaller cousin of the M805

Look
Does this pen look super awesome? You bet!

Beautiful and mysterious, just like the Ocean Swirl. The pen colour is named ‘Vibrant Orange‘ for good reason, because under the right lighting conditions, this pen sure is vibrant! In classic Pelikan Souveran design, the cap and barrel of the pen are cased in a beautiful orange swirling resin. I’d argue it doesn’t quite sparkle as much as the Ocean Swirl does under sunlight, but it does reflect light a lot more brilliantly even when it’s not direct. The finial, clip, cap edge and barrel base is lined with some nice gold accents, while the barrel end sports the classic black resin twist knob for Pelikan’s famous piston filler mechanism.

The m600 is a bit smaller than the m800 series. I’m not a super technical user, but having smaller hands, I’d say the m600 series is a little more comfortable in hand. The overall capped dimension measures 13.25cm or 5 1/4″ in length with the nib measuring around 2cm compared to the m805’s 2.5cm length nib. The nib itself is a two-toned nib, unlike the mx05 series, touting a mix of gold and silver. To each their own, but I’m probably a fan of a single toned nib. Knowing this prior to purchase, I still decided to buy the pen because of it’s overall quality and look.

Packaging is pretty standard for Pelikan. The single pleather case it comes in does feel a little cheap, and feels like it’ll break easily if used too often. So I keep it aside and generally avoid using it. It looks great for initial photo shoots though. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all these fancy boxes — right now they just sit stacked up inside my bookcase. I play Tetris with every new pen I get. Welp!

Feel
I like how this pen fits in hand for sure. It’s almost so basically comfortable that I don’t really notice anything. No news is good news right?

The pen is very easy to use, with great balance and feel. The resin isn’t too slippery and smooth nor is it cheap feeling like a typical plastic pen. Maybe I’ve been getting used to picking up metal pens as of late, so a quality plastic pen is always much appreciated. If anything, this is on the upper echelon of quality, given its price, so I would expect it to be this excellent!

The nib is more on the scratchy side, but not quite as scratchy as my Japanese fine points like the platinum . The ink flow is solid, though the scratchy aspect does tend to make me feel like I have to put a little more pressure to get the consistent line. It’s also possible this is due to the ink I’m using (more on that at the end!). Another strange thing I noticed was how the nib glides across paper. It kind of feels like the nib is levitating just mere millimetres above the paper. I haven’t felt this in other pens, so it definitely is a unique factor for this pen. I didn’t notice it on the m805 Ocean Swirl since I had it custom grinded. I wonder if it has to do with the way the nib is made, where the tip is more bulbous.

Drawing with it is pretty standard. I think I definitely enjoy drawing with a standard nib than a modified one. Unfortunate, but I find I’ll likely use this one more than the Ocean Swirl given the choice purely because of the nib. If not though, I would favour the Ocean Swirl for sureee in all other aspects! I have to say the little bulb at the end of the nib makes it less favourable to draw with compared to some of my flatter pens. The offset from the page takes some getting used to, especially when trying to draw more precise things.

Holding the pen in my two grip styles was also pretty standard. And by standard I mean, quite comfortable. At the end of the day, this Pelikan is a well balanced, well weighted pen with very little negatives to claim for it. This does make for a pretty bland review. Fear not – that’s what doodles and photographs are for – filling the void.

Value

I think I will defer to my opinion on value to my post about the Ocean Swirl. This is again, a Pelikan, and many pen enthusiasts already know Pelikans cost a hefty. It’s a beautiful pen and functions practically stunningly. It’s a tad cheaper than the m800 because of it’s smaller size, but it still costs a decently high price. Not for your everyday person’s pocket change. So where then lies the value? If I had to guess and speculate by experience, probably pleasure, enjoyment, and comfort. If you think the pen is beautiful and you treasure using it all the time, then there’s no price on that.

For me, I tend to forget fully just how much a pen costs if I enjoy using it. I also use the heck out of a pen when I do enjoy it, and not surprisingly end up scratching or banging up pens quite often. That being said, I just can’t forget how much these Pelikans cost, and hence tend to shove it away in a box for fear of irreversibly damaging the pen or scratching it up. The other thought, is that I like using my fountain pens best for drawing, and because of this, if the pen doesn’t work for drawing as well as another one, I tend to not give it as much love. The weird bulb on the nib of this pen is one of those things that make this pen on the edge. I have to say drawing isn’t THE best experience with this pen, but it’s still an excellent writer.

In my opinion, Pelikans are for the pen enthusiasts. It’s not a beginner collector’s pen, purely based on price, regardless of how excellent it functions. (Unless you’re ballin out of your mind – then I apologize, go for it xD) If you enjoy fountain pens, love orange (or whichever next special edition colour there is) and are up for a prize quality grail level pen, then I think it’s definitely worth owning at least one Pelikan as a pen collector. Other than that, the price is probably a little too steep to bear.

Conclusion
Pros/

Beautiful build
Excellent quality
Huge ink well
Excellent and smooth writer with a little feedback
Ink doesn’t dry easily

Cons/

Steep Price
Little nub on the nib that takes some getting used to

Ink
Hello new ink! This is Noodler’s Apache Sunset. Now my third Noodler’s ink I’ve bought. So far I have been happy with all of them, though unfortunately have strayed clear of the Baystate Blue because of permanent dying situations 😦

The Apache Sunset is a really cool ink. It also matches the pen so wonderfully so I am quite happy with my combo. The ink has some interesting variation in the way it dries. That makes it a little less consistent than some of my darker inks, but overall I do enjoy the effect. As for drawing, it takes some getting used to and adjustments, because I don’t have control of what level of ink is going to ploop out and dry darker or lighter. It’s a vibrant orange ink for a vibrant orange pen and also a very affordable ink price.

That’s a wrap, thanks for reading! It took me a really long time to tie this one together. Reallyyy long. But I’m glad I took my time since it makes writing/drawing my review more enjoyable and less rushed. Rushing is never ideal, unless you’re on a deadline and perform excellent under pressure! I’m a little in between >:3