Premium CZXWYST 699 Negative Pressure Vacuum Filling Fountain Pen - Black with Gold Clip & Solid Grip (0.5mm Fine Nib) - Original Gift Box Included - Ideal for Writing, Calligraphy, and Office Use

It is like a high end fountain nib pen except that it seems to leak from somewhere near the nib while in the cover, stored horizontally on my desk. I may seal it with a fine tip silicone sealant if I can find where the ink is spilling from.Overall this is a good pen for the price, however crack in section resulted in leak. See photo. This is not fault of seller, as I have purchased other pens from seller czxwyst with no issues. Perhaps I got a bad pen. It happens. Fortunately returns with Amazon are easy to do.I have about 5 years' experience with fountain pens, but I had never owned a vacuum filler before. So, I had to learn about backing off the vacuum plunger slightly to maintain ink flow to the feed and nib when writing more than a few lines. I inked it up straight from the box, and I had some leakage around the gold-colored rings at the back and at the front between the grip section and the body. So I had to disassemble these parts and add more silicone grease to the threads to prevent leakage.I also initially had some minor issues with hard starts. I believe the issue was that prefer to write with very little pressure of the nib onto the paper, and the nib came with just enough "baby's bottom" to cause the first stroke in a sentence to not put down ink. I fixed this by polishing the nib on the 6000, 8000, and 12000 grit micromesh pads from the set I bought from Amazon for the purpose of tuning fountain pen nibs.After these adjustments, the pen writes really nicely for me, has no ink leakage, and I have been carrying it around in preference to all my other pens for the past two weeks.The pen feels good in the hand and has just enough weight to let you know it's there but not so much as to feel heavy. When received it looked exactly as I thought it would from the online photo, and arrived in good condition as a new pen should. The filling mechanism works well also allowing a good volume of ink to be loaded. I like the shut off valve which helps to prevent leaks due to changes in elevation and pressure.On to the obvious, this really is a well executed clone of a pilot custom 823. It appears to be a hair longer but does not post as well as the pilot. Due to the length of the pen body I use it unposted which is my preference anyway.I can't speak to other folks experience with the writing using this pen but mine is superb. I have it filled with Monteverde Jade Noir ink and it is very smooth with almost no feedback. I also have a platinum 3776 and thought that was the best writing pen that I owned, I actually prefer the gold plated steel nib on this Wing Sung 699 to the 14k nib on the 3776.I feel that for the money it is hard to beat the 699 for value and writing experience. If you have been thinking about custom 823 but don't have the funds for it, I think this 699 will make you very happy.This pen is an excellent performer. I flushed it with water, emptied it and inked it with Iroshizuku Tsukushi. It started very quickly and has been writing well ever since with no skipping. The nib is extremely smooth and, best of all, this is a large pen that is very comfortable in my extra-large hands. The vacuum filling system worked splendidly right out of the box. A few months back, I bought a Pilot Custom 823, of which this is a rather blatant copy. The 823 wrote so smoothly, but the filling system was faulty and I had to return it. An irony that this cheap clone is working better for me at a tenth of the cost. The fine nib is a little finer than a Western fine, but not as fine as a Japanese one, it's more like a Japanese medium-fine. If this got lost or damaged, I would replace it with the same.The pen is beautiful. It writes very well. Not well like a Pelikan Souveran M800 or something, but very well. And the ink reservoir is extremely large. One fill for this pen lasts and lasts and lasts. I usually use it at my desk (rather than carrying in a shirt or jacket pocket, purse, etc), but so far no leaks, not even the "micro-droplets" that sometimes spatter the inside of caps. Feels good posted or not (I prefer posted). Has a nice heft to it. Without weighing it, I'd say in the hand it feels pretty close in weight to the aforementioned Souveran. Note others' comments about ensuring the fill cap is loosened just an eighth of a turn or so to ensure best ink flow.I've only had this pen for a day, so I can't speak to how well the plastic holds up over time (a problem that has been noted in other reviews,) but mine arrived in good condition, it writes very smoothly, and I am absolutely satisfied with it. I recommend this pen to anyone who, like me, is curious about vac fillers but doesn't want to blow a ton of money.I have a fairly large fountain pen collection. Mostly mid- level priced. This one caught my eye for its look. I generally don't like plastic or lucite pens but for the price and the good reviews, I gave out a shot. First thing I noticed was the weight. For a plastic pen, it feels good in the hand. It does have metal on the cap and foot. Very easy to fill with the negative piston system. Inked up very well. Writes very smoothly, no scratching. Holds alot of ink. I got the clear brown and gold do you can easily view the ink level. For the price this one is a no brainer.