The Kaweco Perkeo is one of the best starter fountain pens on the market. At $18, it provides a great bang for the buck, and adds fun colors that break the traditional fountain pen mold. That combination of price, functionality, and style is right on the mark, so why would you add $11 to that total and spend $29 on what is ostensibly the same pen?
Have you seen the Kaweco Perkeo Infrared? Throwswalletatcomputerscreen
Kaweco excels at making stationery fun, and the Infrared, at least for me, is funner than most. I’d like to think that if I were given a day in the Kaweco laboratory that this is exactly what I would come up with.
From an aesthetic perspective, it is completely off the charts. The red, almost hot pink, translucent faceted plastic barrel and cap are stunning, with subtle silver lettering on the cap, and a small finial on top. The clear feed underneath the silver plated nib is the final piece of this awesomeness pie, allowing you to see the ink in action.
The only nib options for the limited edition Infrared are Fine and Medium, so of course I chose the narrower of the two. The nib and ink flow have been great, at least on my second go around.
What happened the first time? I discovered that shimmer ink and smaller, #5-sized nibs and feeds, are a questionable combination.
As a somewhat regular user of shimmer ink, I do consider what pens I use them in. When I ordered this pen from Vanness Pens, I added in a bottle of their amazing Robert Oster Shake & Shimmer Free Spirit Ink, which I thought would be a perfect compliment to the Infrared. I was right, except it didn’t flow well. I’m so used to never having any shimmer ink issues that I didn’t even consider the smaller nib and feed area for the ink to flow through, but it was a definite roadblock, and a lesson learned.
The shimmer ink cleaned out flawlessly, and I re-inked it with the equally as bright Robert Oster Blue Lagoon. That’s more like it. The ink flowed through the feed and out the nib perfectly, and the Fine nib was firm and controllable.
There is a ridge inside the barrel that lines up on the last turn to “lock” into place with the notch above the section threads.
The Perkeo barrel itself is lightweight, and comfortable to hold. Like many starter pens, the grip section is molded in such a way to promote a traditional grip, so that could be a problem for some. The cap snaps on and off firmly, so there are no threads to unscrew. The barrel does have threads, and a unique “lock” section to keep it from twisting apart easily. Sounds like a great every day carry setup to me.
Postable, if needed.
That’s what I think of the Kaweco Perkeo as a whole. It’s a great starter pen, while offering enough quality and performance for experienced users to add to their regular rotation.
As I mentioned above, at $29 it is $11 more than the standard Perkeo for no difference other than the unique limited colorway. And neither model ships with a standard international converter, only short Kaweco cartridges. That’s a large price jump that’s absolutely not worth it if you aren’t in love with the color like I am. And honestly, it surprised me that Kaweco priced it as such. That clearly didn’t stop me, and I’ll definitely be getting my money’s worth from it.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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