introducing: the moonman 80, a modern ode to the parker 45

Back when I was about 14/15 years old, my mum let me use her Parker 45 fountain pen. It had a gloriously fine nib and is potentially the start of my obsession with fountain pens. Since then, I've not found a Parker 45 in the same design (red barrel, steel cap) which writes as finely as hers did. Even when I tried to insert the nib into another Parker 45, it didn't seem to write as finely as I remember?

When I heard that Moonman were releasing a tribute to the Parker 45, I wanted in to see if it could be just as good. I opted for the olive colour and the teal offering too.

Design and Usability

The design is similar to the Parker 45 so aesthetically, it looks good. The plastic barrel and steel cap make for a lightweight pen, cap posted or unposted. I can't really fault its design but it does feel more flimsy than the two other Parker 45s I have used (one being the one mentioned earlier and another being an all-steel offering). The slip cap glides on smoothly and seems to form a tight seal. 

Nib

I found both nibs a bit disappointing. Poor ink flow, scratchy and although I went for a fine nib, it wrote a disappointingly broad line. All in all, not really the ideal nib for me and the line was too broad for me to consider tuning the nib for better ink flow.

Price

Extremely cheap - they came whizzing all the way from China for less than a fiver each if I recall correctly!

Overall

Although the Moonman 80 looks like the Parker 45 in design, it does not match up in usability. I guess you really do get what you pay for sometimes! I think I'll stick to the real thing in the future... That said, it's not a bad starter pen which sports a classic design.