Caran d’Ache: A Review

Caran d’Ache is a pretty well known Swiss brand. A lot like the Swiss army knife and Swiss chocolate that many people associate to as swiss products with quality. The Caran d’Ache is no different brand. They can be a brand you pay a good amount of money for and their fountain pen inks won’t at all be exception. But since I have only heard good things about them, I decided to get with their lowest costing pen which is the 849. The 849 body has a single piece of aluminium with a nice lacquer finish to it. It can be found in many colours; in fact even neon is available. So far I really love this pen. There isn’t much bad to say about it. The price on this model is affordable, the barrel comes with a wide variety of fun colours, its design is sleek and it is nice with just a touch of branding, the clip looks sturdy and well built. The pen is light weighing metal; the plungers are smooth and very quiet. It does not even make any noise when it locks into place. The 849 weighs in at 15 grams, compared to a Parker Jotter and a Zebra 701. It is 9mm wide with an hexagon-cal profile. The length is approx. 5 inches. The mechanism is almost basic top push button style and very simply built. The plastic components make me nervous. It works almost noiseless, you cannot annoy others with it if you are the nervous kind of guy. If you have a bad habit of clicking the pen then this would be good for you to not annoy those around you. The spring clip is affixed to the metal body of the 849 with just the right amount of pressure. It doesn´t eat your shirts or pockets. Although it is not a compact pocket pen it seems to fit nicely in the pocket due to its slim and compact body. I wish the Caran d’Ache was about one inch shorter. Then it could make a great watch pocket-pen. If you like long, thick and heavy pens then this wouldn’t be a good pen for you. It writes very creamy, and brings about the nicest writings that I found in a ballpoint. The pen is very solid in performance and the only confusing thing about this pen is how to remove the cartridge from the case. The Goliath refills are said to be good for 60 pages of writing and are quite expensive.

I would rate this Caran d’Ache as a bit overpriced. But an all-stainless Jotter is just as good, plus you like fancy colours like me, and have affections for Switzerland, then this one’s you probably must buy one.