Internet Scam or Hidden Gem? Ellington Fountain Pens

You've seen these fountain pens on Instagram, but how are they in the real world? Join me, won't you? For an honest look at this brand. Are they telling the true story or is it all marketing baloney!? Find out now!

Thank you Ellington for donating these pens to the Channel.
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[marcusballam]

I dropped my pen and the lacquer was chipped on the cap. I contacted Ellington and asked if I could buy a replacement cap! They asked me to send a photo of the damage, which I did. They sent me a brand new pen! If that’s not good customer service! I don’t know what is! Thank you Ellington.

[BullheadedGiovanni]

I hate lying to sell a product, it's disgusting.

[TheStockwell]

Figboot gently blew the whistle on Ellington a year ago. It's an AI company in every respect, from the fictional "Ethan Ellington" - and his painfully AI voice - to the breathlessly synthetic, AI quality of, well, every aspect of the company.

There's no crime in marketing a generic, entry-level pen as affordable luxury.

Creating a fictional character who tells of his dogged determination to create said pen is another matter.

It seems to be a functional, made-in-Asia contraption. My worry would be people getting one, hating it, and deciding the whole "pen thing" isn't worth their time.

Thus Spake Reddit:

"Based on a UK business and trademark search, Ellington Pens is owned by the same person who own(ed) Dryden Designs. Neither Ethan Ellington nor Michael Dryden actually exist. The person behind these two brands has other e-commerce websites with fake employee profiles and other unsavory business tactics. And that's just what I dug up in an hour's worth of internet search."

Have a safe and interesting week, Ye People of Pens. 😺

Best wishes from Vermont 🍁

[fossilimprint]

When a company lies so blatantly on their marketing, I avoid. I vehemently detest those tactics.

[ChristopherMay]

I picked one of the Stealth models on a lark since their marketing was so omnipresent; I figured it was worth the pretty low price of admission. It's not bad. It writes pretty smoothly, especially considering that I got the EF nib and getting that size to write smoothly can be a challenge. There are a few downsides for me. The first is the balance when posted. That octagonal decoration does add a lot of weight. Posting the cap throws all that weight on the wrong part of the pen and it's hard to exercise control. There are some situations where I almost always post my pens, so this one joins the ranks of pens like the Diamond 580 ALR that are a little more limited in where and how I use them.

The second minor issue was that the ink in the supplied cartridges is pretty awful. It feathered like mad for me and took more than the usual effort to clean out. For any would be buyers, I'd suggest throwing the cartridges away and sticking to a good bottle ink (I have Iroshizuku Take-sumi in mine).

The last and biggest issue for me is that the cap is probably the worst sealing of any pen I own. If I don't use this pen daily, it starts drying out and hard starting on me. That's kind of a shame. I have $6 Platinum Preppies loaded with notorious inks like Nitrogen that I can leave for weeks without troubles. Definitely not the case with this pen. Because of that, I tend to use it sporadically. I'll ink it up and use it heavily for a week but then will clean it out and let it sit for months because it's hard to use it so exclusively. Maybe I should try one of the Private Reserve Infinity inks in it and see if that makes it a little better behaved.

All in all, for the price point, I'd rather have a TWSBI Eco, though I do admit that the Stealth is a more elegant looking pen and might do better for certain environments.

Another nice video, Hemingway. I enjoy that you will look at pens at any price point and give them a fair shake. There aren't too many channels where you can see a video on an Ellington Pen and then find another talking about Montblanc's. Kudos to you for spanning the spectrum of our hobby!

[_Moondancer]

Very fun review! You know, if we didn’t try out those squeaky, mediocre pens at some point, we wouldn’t faint dead away at the quality of staggering Egyptomanias, buy greeting cards just to sign with silky stub-nibbed TWSBIs, or EDC the writes-as-good-as-the-14kt steel nib Kawecos. (As far as whether it’s worthy of review—the same was asked of the NYT review of Guy’s American Kitchen in Times Square. The place is thankfully now gone, but omg, Pete Wells’s takedown was one for the ages, and still a great read.) Would I want a squeaky pen? Hell no, but watching & hearing Hem endure one is very entertaining! Thank you, Mr. Jones!

[AlessandroVolta]

Just a tip, when you take off a pen cap, the way you are doing it, you risk hitting the nib. I would suggest laying the pen across the palm of your hand and grasp it in a fist. With your thumb and pointer grasp the cap and gently push it off. It is a one handed operation. The cap only unsnaps a few millimeters then you can just slide it off. This will protect your nib. Removing the cap is a one handed operation and it is impossible to accidentally hit the nib and knock the nib tines out of wack. I very much enjoy the content. Saw you at the show but didn't want to interrupt you. You are now a celebrity.

[fletcherchambers]

For my money, I'd opy for a Lamy Al Star or Twsbi Eco. Heck, Pilot Metropolitan... Great review!

[robertcalkjr.]

Thanks for the great video, HJ! I like the 'Stealth' pen. I'll order myself one in a few weeks. I like the fact that the cap stays on tight. I usually push the cap off with my thumb on the bottom of the pocket clip to try not to rub the nib too much on the inside of the cap. And the heavy cap won't bother me much since I don't like to post them anyway.

[davidparrishproductions]

Really nice music work here my friend! You really pack in a ton of visuals and sounds, so impressive! 🎶

[teresaharris-travelbybooks]

It's brave of you, to spend your pen dollars on an unknown brand. I'm glad it wasn't a disaster.

[andrewbrendan]

Thank you for the detailed review of the Ellington pens. I've been seeing the company's advertising on Facebook recently. As I think you said, these could be good entry level pens. Not the very best, but a good, solid pen that could be used a lot.

[mellow-jello]

When you hear affordable luxury, you know it's sus. If it is luxury, it is definitely not affordable. Jowo is smooth, but not the smoothiest pen. $34 USD manufactured in China is steep. Imo it reminds me of DW watches, all marketing, nothing impressive.

[peglegpiraterooster]

Looks like a mace in case you need to defend yourself. 😂😂 Love that one!

[jpfanfic]

A very fair review. Nice job. I agree it is a pen of conflicts. Good and bad. An ambivalent pen. Mine was an everyday carry when I didn't want to risk damaging a more expensive pen. But alas, they are not made for longevity.

[memjarias]

Great video thanks for posting. I was just looking into one of these pens. I think I’ll try one.

On a sidenote, there’s a pen that’s been going around in my feed called the webson Gill Admiral..
Have you ever reviewed it? What’s your thoughts?

[blktauna]

I have a blue one of these. Perfectly adequate for the price. Its decently made, writes nicely and I didn't believe a tiny bit of the marketing. I don't post so that's never an issue for me. Its a shade heavy for me so I don't use it much.

[sunnycharacter]

“It’s a demonstrator so it’s REALLY transparent…” haha brilliant!

[edcpreacher]

I got one of these as a first pen. I bought the stealth pen and got it in medium. I’m a journaler and don’t like a medium nib. The Ellington customer service was excellent both with follow up after purchase and with helping get a new fine nib. That makes a good company regardless of the marketing.

[lisawilson]

My sister bought me a boxed set with a bottle of ink, one Ellington pen, and a set of nibs. Clearly she saw a Facebook ad. Let’s just say I was not impressed. This will be donated.