Bortoletti The Crown Fountain Pen

Couldn't agree more. Another thing I dislike about this type of section is that it allows a manufacturer to design a generic section, and then crank out an unlimited number of barrel designs to fit it--creating what is essentially the same damn pen, over and over again. In other words, they're just putting new outfits on the same Barbie. [image]

In addition to the quality issues you (and several others) have mentioned, I'd like to add that generally speaking slick metal sections are not very practical as the grip is adversely affected, making the pen very difficult to hold while writing. If metal sections float your boat, my recommendation would be to look elsewhere - for something more 'non-skid' (the Faber-Castell Loom is a good example of a metal section which has embossed rings around it to aid with grip). I won't get into the additional issue metal sections have - the potential for corrosion over time when using non-pH neutral inks.

Come on, if you want to buy badly-balanced, garish, overpriced toys, Jinhao has cheaper and much more entertaining offerings, like their dragon and cobra pens.