# Montblanc star walker rollerball or fountain?



## Gmt20

I'm looking to buy a decen pen and came across the star walker line which I really like, especially the duoue and mystery models. I am was initially looking to buy a rollerball for convenience but now thinking of a fountain pen. How practical are they for daily use? Any thoughts on this model?


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## The Duke

I would definitely go with the rollerball. I have a meisterstuck fountain and it is just not great for daily use.


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## Drop of a Hat

Some people use fountains on a daily basis. I tried it, and hated it. Very irritating and annoying. My advice? Keep the fountain pens for special occasions and buy a rollerball for daily use. 

I love the blue starwalker btw. Nearly bought one quite a few times.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## OrangeSport

After reading countless posts online about Montblanc rollerballs and having then spoken to several Montblanc dealers, I would not buy one. It seems they have a bad habit of drying up and needing new refills if they aren't used for a while. If you want convenience I would suggest one of their ballpoints. They write very nicely and are much more reliable.


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## OrangeSport

The 16th post on this thread sounds a little concerning about Starwalkers' quality.....


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## D N Ravenna

As someone who uses fountain pens exclusively, you may be hearing about what the ink does. Certainly different inks behave differently in fountain pens. Why not the ink in rollerball cartridges? I've heard of some people adapting their favorite cartridge to the pen. Not sure, but you may be able to do the same here?

Dan


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## SergeyR

I cant say anything about this model , But i do use my fountain pen as daily user and have no problem with it . 
I tried many pens and one what works best for me is Aurora , amazing pen , I dont wanna touch roller ball again .
just my $0.02


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## Monocrom

Only one luxury brand knows how to make a proper, truly high-quality, rollerball refill . . . Pelikan. (And that's coming from someone who used to make his living as a high-end pen salesman.)

Others fall terribly short. Pilot's G2 model uses a very good rollerball refill. But a G2, even a limited edition one, is far from luxury.

Overall, I've found that fountain pens really aren't good for daily use. I'd recommend a rollerball, but not one from Montblanc. I'd honestly recommend looking into Pelikan's offerings.


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## Preston

I went with the ballpoint for my Starwalker and have no complaints about it's writing performance, go with fine point as well. Only thing to concern yourself with is the mechanism at the tip end, make sure it's the full metal mech, the plastic type breaks easily if you drop the pen or in my case you let someone use it and they like to enthusiastically finish their signature with two hardy taps to dot their i's, this action broke my pen. Cost me $80 to fix as Mont Blanc wouldn't honour warranty when I told them what happened.

Still love my Starwalker though!










Peace,
Preston


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## Therightadvisor

I'm in the pen talking mood so forgive me for bumping a few day old thread. Sounds like I'm on the same page as several others in this thread.

I currently own 4 starwalkers. Two are rollerballs and two are ballpoints. I've owned another Starwalker rollerball and fountain pen as well.

I will confirm what a few others have said:
1.) Stay away from the "precious resin" Starwalkers. They feel cheap. I believe the only one they sell now in precious resin (a fancy work for plastic if you ask me) is their black/plat
2.) The Starwalker fountain pen nib wasn't my favorite. It's personal preference, but the nib just looked cheap and felt cheap to me. I ended up selling mine a few weeks after buying it.
3.) My Cool Blue ballpoint and Metal/Rubber Starwalkers get the most notices of any of my pens. The Cool Blue is an awesome color
4.) As far as the refills. I haven't had any issues with them, but I have a ton of them so I guess I don't notice. I bought about 40 refills on ebay a while back for about $2-3 each. 
5.) With Mont Blanc, you aren't paying for the perfect writing instrument. You're paying several hundred dollars for the name, reputation, and honest hype. At the risk of sounding sleezy, they're status symbols more than they are pens. All I mean is that they're terribly overpriced, but people seem to like paying extra for that white mountain top (I'm pretty guilty of this).


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## Monocrom

Number 4 is going to be problematic.

MB does something that no other pen brand does . . . Those refills that fail inspection, their factory seconds, end up being sold in bulk to office supply stores. Typically ending up on eBay. The dedicated pen shops get the good stuff. This is why there is such a big price difference if you buy a MontBlanc refill from a dedicated pen shop such as Joon's, compared to places such as Staples or Office Max.

The following scenario played out an average of once a week or so:

1) Customer comes into the pen shop.
2) Customer says that the refill inside his MontBlanc ballpoint or rollerball pen, leaked.
3) *First* question we ask the customer: "Where did you buy the refill for your MontBlanc pen?
4) Customers response = _Every other place except a dedicated pen shop.
_
*No exception to the answer. *There was never a case of a quality MB refill from a dedicated pen shop being defective. Not even once, the entire time I worled at Colorado Pen Company.

It's MontBlanc's dirty little secret that everyone in the industry is aware of. Especially on the retail side.


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## OrangeSport

Interesting information Monocrom, thanks!


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## Monocrom

More than happy to help. I've seen too many MB pens gunked up due to poor quality refills. Ironically, from MontBlanc.


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## Gmt20

Thanks for all the useful info. I have made up my mind and going to go for a rollerball for the ease of daily use. I am thinkng of going for the Duoue model or mystery model. Does anyone own these pens/ Please post some pictures.


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## Jonifive

First post on a watch forum and it's about a pen! I use my Starwalker ballpoint everyday, never lets me down. I also own the fountain pen which is very poor compared to the other MB's I own. The nib is actually quite nasty. Just compare it to a 146 or 149. 

Never had an issue with the refills, but it is used so much they never get chance to clog.

Must agree with the earlier posting re: Pelikan. Wonderful pens.


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## The Toecutter

Starwalker withe the fineliner tip

Rollerball sucks. It's scratchy and skips

Foutain pen only takes cartridges....that sucks

Some ppl have used an universal converter, but thats a hassle..


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## chatman

I wouldn't buy any Montblanc as a rollerball or ball point - too much money to spend on such a generic writing mechanism. A good ballpoint or rollerball experience can be had most anywhere, but if you're spending Montblanc money, buy their fountain pens. That's what they're best at. Once tuned perfectly Montblancs are delectable writers, and many are quite practical. Indeed, the Starwalker fountain pen is among their most practical models. I have a metal one with an extra-fine nib and love it as a daily writer. The pen travels well, takes cartridges, always writes smoothly and reliably (with just the right flow rate), and never leaks.I can't use bottled inks with it but given the reliability of the Starwalker fountain nibs (in my experience, anyway), I can live with that constraint.

Then again, I _*only *_write with fountain pens, resorting to rollerballs only on the rare occasion where I am completing carbon copy forms. I love the experience of writing with fountain pens - the wet flow, the line variation, the multitude of possible inks, and the effortlessness with which the line appears on the page. If you aren't so into fountain pens as writing and drawing tools, this advice may not be as germane to you, particularly since they do require some maintenance that a rollerball or ballpoint does not. But if you want to explore fountain pens, a Starwalker is a pretty good (if expensive) place to start.


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## Newnice

If you're not sure, buy the rollerball. Fountain pens are like cars with manual transmissions or record players: they are more work, but as long as you accept the quirks they can also be more rewarding.


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