Nemosine Singularity Fountain Pen Review

Nemosine Singularity Demonstrator

Some months back a reader emailed about the Nemosine Singularity fountain pen, and when an  Amazon.com gift card started burning a hole in my pocket I decided to add one to the cart (and the $15 price was too good to pass up).  I chose the Demonstrator model with a German fine nib, very happy to see in the description that it came with both cartridges and a converter.

This is a good-looking pen. Spare and elegant, with a few touches that aren't flashy or annoying, such as the top of the cap coming to a very slight point. When I started writing with it, my first thought was that the nib shaded more towards a medium than a fine.  As that's not my usual nib preference, I put the pen away for a few days and went to fill a few others to use. Going through my pen tray though, I pulled out several medium nibs I do have, as well as a few other demonstrators, and decided to see how the Singularity stacked up against them.

L-R: Nemosine Singularity, Monteverde Artista, Pilot Custom 74, TWSBI 530

The Nemosine actually does quite well against its more expensive cousins.  The capped pen measures almost 5.5 inches, just a bit bigger than the Artista but shorter than the Custom 74 and TWSBI in the above picture. 

L-R: Nemosine Singularity, Monteverde Artista, Pilot Custom 74, TWSBI 530

Posted, the Nemosine is just a shade under 6 inches, and again it compares well to the other Demonstrators.  But what about the medium nib, how does that hold up?

L-R: Nemosine Singularity, Monteverde Artista, Pilot Custom 74, TWSBI 530

The Nemosine has a very large nib, one of the biggest in my collection.  The only nib I have that is a match is my Pilot Namiki Custom 823.

L-R:  Seranne's paws, Pilot Namiki Custom 823, Nemosine Singularity

The larger nib does look a little strange on the smaller Singularity, a bit over-engined for its hull you might say.  But it is impressive, and I found that it writes very well.  I didn't have any of the usual dry-starts or skipping, and it has good hand-feel--not too heavy or too light, pretty well balanced, and overall very easy to use.

 I love the box it came in, with the Morse Code on the lower left spelling out "memory."  Nemosine is a variation of Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory and the mother, by Zeus, of the nine Muses.

The back spells out the details: the pens are made overseas, but their US home is Pittsburgh, PA.  I like that someone actually wrote on the box.

Nemosine takes the 3 year perfection warranty very seriously, and if there are any problems with the nib flow you can return it for repair or, most likely, replacement.  One of the funniest caveats I've ever read was on the company's web site:

** To forego a bunch of fancy legal jargon, we must reserve the right to rescind our warranty offer at any time, at our sole discretion, without notice. We certainly don't foresee any chance of resorting to this kind of action... but instead of paying a lawyer buckets of money to state the same thing within 3 pages of legal jargon, we figured we'd just protect ourselves by saying it outright. 

Nemosine's line vs. a few other pens

 But what about the nib line width, which seems more like a medium rather than a fine?  I got out a few other mediums I own, as well as two other fines, and tested them out.  The Waterman Hemisphere was definitely wider than the Nemosine, and the Faber-Castell Ambition was just a touch wider as well.

What surprised me was comparing the Nemosine Singularity to a Lamy Safari and Nakaya Decapod Twist, both fine nibs (for the latter, in every sense of the word).  The Nemosine wasn't that much wider than either of them, an almost undetectable hair's breadth of thickness.  So my initial reaction was definitely off, and the Singularity's fine nib really is a fine line.

This is a great pen at an amazingly low price, with different color and nib options that should keep most people happy.  I'm not sure if the pen is in any retail shops (they never got back to me, alas), but if you're inclined to buy one then Amazon.com is your best bet.  I can't think of a better pen at this price, and it's a great addition to the daily arsenal.