PARKERSonnet Fountain Pen | Red Lacquer with Gold Trim | Medium Nib | Gift Box

A gift to my wife, she loves it. At first it did not work well, but we discarded the Quink blue ink, supplied and used Quink washable blue (that I use in my Sonnet) and the pen soon began to write perfectly. Maybe the pen needed to 'wear in'. A really nice instrument.

Bought for my wife’s work, as writing with a decent fountain pen makes it so easy. And this pen does precisely this. Her opinion is that the pen flows beautifully, smoothly, allowing for a considerable lack of writing hardship, making her day all the better. She loves it, well please with the style and weight. Looks gorgeous. I watched her writing and, it looks effortless and the letters are formed elegantly.

Pen comes with 2 ink cartridges and a converter to use with an ink bottle. With the ink cartridge, the pen wrote directly. Writing experience is super smooth, no scratching and feels effortless. Ink needs some time to dry, about 30 seconds. I like the size and weight of the pen, it is comfortable in the hand and has a quality feel to it. The silver with gold trim is a very nice colour combination, looks quite smart. I also own a Parker sonnet rollerball pen in matte black and slightly prefer the matte feel although the silver looks more impressive!

Beautiful pen.

I have used Parker fountain pens for 50 years and have never encountered any problems. However, several reviewers complained about the performance of the pen's nib, which gave me serious pause for thought.Obviously, I eventually took the plunge, and I am so glad that I did. From the outset, the pen performed flawlessly, which is actually unusual; in my experience, even good pens need time to bed in as the nib gets used to the user, or the user gets used to the nib. Not so with this pen; perfect from the outset. Perhaps it was a happy combination - Jacques Herbin bottled ink providing the ammunition.The pen's visual appeal will obviously depend upon individual taste, and I usually opt for the faithful black and gold, but, for some reason, this red version caught my eye and, in the flesh, I think its a real looker.Shorter than my Waterman Expert, and more regular (torpedo) shaped than the Waterman's 'Perfecto' cigar shape, which I love, I still immediately felt at home with it.At a reduced £97, it's still not cheap (yes; I know many pens cost hundreds, & some thousands) which, for many will make buying it a financial gamble (me included!), but for me it is a gamble that paid off - I'm delighted with the purchase and am now looking for any excuse to put (this) pen to paper...

Not bad, but not the quality I was expecting from Parker and the Sonnet reputation. My pen dries out overnight, unless I keep it in a pen case. The nib isn't as smooth as I'd hoped it would be. There is a well known problem in the manufacture of the lids for these pens that I didn't know about before ordering that causes this very issue. Shame, I wont buy another or can't recommend.

I bought six of these; the nib has been scratchy and seems defective on three of them. I am uncertain about what has happened with quality control. The others have been lovely to use.

Glad to receive the genuine article!